Know Your Wormhole Enemy: Cyclone

In the Know Your Wormhole Enemy series (name shamelessly stolen from the Eve Altruist series of posts and then mutilated) I'm going to look at a variety of different ships, how they are often fit and flown in wormhole space, and what they mean to you. This may include, but will not necessarily be limited to; example fits, engagement scenarios, how you should react to their presence on directional scan, at a POS or on grid, what good counters to them are, and how you can potentially use them.

This post will cover the Cyclone.

Overview

The Cyclone is a Minmatar Battlecruiser that has a bonus to Rate of Fire for Heavy Missile Launchers and Heavy Assault Missile Launchers - it should be noted that the bonus does not cover Rapid Light Missile Launchers - and a significant bonus to the effectiveness of shield boosters. It can field a single flight of medium drones or a flight of lights with another flight in reserve.

Cyclones are always seen fielding a shield tank both in k-space and wormhole space - although they have sufficient low slots to mount a semblance of an armour tank, doing so ignores their shield boost bonus and sacrifices one of their other advantages - their speed. The Cyclone is the fastest Battlecruiser in the game and they will generally be fit to take advantage of that - they are faster vanilla than a Hurricane is with two Nanofibers!

The Eve Altruist post covering the Cyclone and the other Battlecruisers can be found here.

What is it used for in wormhole space?

Cyclones are rarely seen in wormhole space; for a PvP ship something with a better tank or better damage output is preferable, and for PvE usage the mighty Drake still remains the favourite as it's resistance bonus works very well with a passive recharge tank. As with the other Battlecruisers, the main time they are used in wormhole space is by pilots without the wallet or skill points required to fly Tech 3 ships for PvP, and will only be seen in shield or 'kitchen sink' fleets - but this is far from abnormal in lower class wormhole systems.

How is it typically fit?

For a Cyclone PvE it in wormhole space pilots need to decide between trying to use the active tanking bonus that the Cyclone provides and the tank stability under neut pressure that a passive recharge fit gives you. As there are no other Battlecruisers that are likely to be active shield tanked running sleeper sites, I'm going to use an active tanked example, although you are more likely to see a passive tanked one running sites in practice.

[Cyclone, WH PvE]
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Damage Control II
Ballistic Control System II
Power Diagnostic System II

Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Large Shield Booster II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II

Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Salvager II
Core Probe Launcher I, Core Scanner Probe I

Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Core Defense Capacitor Safeguard I
Medium Core Defense Capacitor Safeguard I

There is almost certainly some room for improvement available in this fit, but it gets you 317dps at a range of around 47km using Scourge Fury Heavy Missiles and an active tank of 277dps... while the capacitor holds out. That capacitor will last for three minutes of constant boosting as long as you're not running the Microwarpdrive at the same time - but the reality of running sleeper sites is that you only need the maximum boost amount for a relatively short time during the site - the rest of the time the incoming DPS is reduced through sleepers being destroyed and passive recharge helps with shield levels to a degree.

A passive fit with the rigs switched to Core Defense Field Extenders will give a 208dps omni tank with 61k EHP - not as strong as the Drake, and the damage isn't as high, but you can at least close range with the further off sleepers that spawn in some Class 1 and 2 sleeper sites.

There is the possibility of fitting twin 425mm Autocannon IIs instead of the probe launcher and salvager, but with short range tech 1 ammunition they will only provide a rather paltry 64 dps on top of the launchers, increasing it to 381. I'd go for the utility instead.

On with a sample PvP fit that is also active tanked:

[Cyclone, WH PvP]
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Pseudoelectron Containment Field I
Ballistic Control System II
Co-Processor II

Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
X-Large Ancillary Shield Booster, Cap Booster 400
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Faint Warp Disruptor I
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II

Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Nova Rage Heavy Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Nova Rage Heavy Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Nova Rage Heavy Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Nova Rage Heavy Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Nova Rage Heavy Assault Missile
Medium Unstable Power Fluctuator I
Small Unstable Power Fluctuator I

Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I

With a more limited engagement range and the use of Heavy Assault Missile Launchers the Cyclone can kick out 438dps to 17km with Rage missiles. Perhaps more significantly the lack of sleepers obsessively targetting drones means that a full flight of mediums can be fielded, jumping the damage to 567dps with Valkyrie IIs, or 596dps with Hammerhead IIs. If Rage missiles are substituted for Javelin missiles it can push out to 30km range but at the cost of the damage dropping to 292dps not inclusive of drones. With a pair of Adaptive Invulnerability Fields it ends up with 45k effective hit points with an extra 42k added by the Ancillary Shield Booster - assuming it manages to get all of it's charges off overheated. For smaller groups it's probably a good idea to switch an invulnerability field for a stasis webifier to help with damage application using the Heavy Assault Missiles, but for larger ones the extra tank is probably of more value.

How much of a threat is it?

Running a site: A Cyclone on a site is very unlikely to be bait - all of the mid slots are required to fit enough tank to survive sleeper sites in a class 2 system and don't leave any room free for a point... nor does it have enough spare tanking capacity to survive any form of attack on top of the sleeper NPCs for any length of time. The amount of damage it can kick out is also on the lower end of the scale, so virtually any Tech 3 ship - even those with the least tank and gank - should be able to take one on solo.

As backup in a POS:

If a Cyclone is sat idling, expect it to be an active shield Heavy Assault Missile fit as that is the most dangerous. Realistically, relatively few are seen in wormhole space although use as a second responder where it can loiter out of point range and pour in firepower is one of the more likely applications.

On the field in a fight:
Any Cyclone in a fight is going to be able to apply its damage from outside of point range, and is likely to be relatively fast. Without long range web or fast tackle, running after a Cyclone is a good way to split up your fleet and other targets that you will be able to hold point on and apply damage against more effectively are likely to be better targets. Even if it looks like it is dying relatively fast, remember that it is likely to have an Ancillary Shield Booster fitted and at least half of it's tank is likely to come from boosting once it is near the end of its shield buffer - possible significantly more if it has links online, or the pilots has drugs or crystal implants available.

Remember that against the low signature radius of armour ships that make up the majority of wormhole brawling fleets the on-paper damage output of the Cyclone may well be significantly reduced, pushing it further down the target priority list. On the other side of the coin, most PVP Cyclone fits will be using at least one medium and one small energy neutralize, and the high speed and good damage projection means that it can be a considerable risk to logistics ships if left unchecked.

How do I counter it?

The Cyclone will not be vulnerable to tracking disruption due to its weapon system of choice and has no real reliance on its capacitor... so it's probably not the best idea to be fielding Curses or Pilgrims against them. Like the other Battlecruisers, the Cyclone is a reasonable target for jams if there is nothing higher priority such as e-war or logistics ships on the field, but unlike the others it is actually a reasonable target for sensor dampener as they can force it to close in to point range. The best counter, similar to the Drake, is pure damage, particularly in a larger battle where it may be possible to overwhelm the tank provided by the Ancillary Shield Booster.

Final note: If you encounter any inaccuracies on this page, please contact me ingame with an EVEMail to "Fellblade" or on twitter @OV_Fellblade and I'll try and get them sorted.