Fit Kitchen: The Vedmak

So I’m glad I wrote this article after the recent changes. The Dreaded Collective Update switching tracking speed to optimal range is a very welcome change which opens more kiting possibilities up. It also gives me an excuse to fly it some more and make use of that sexy Alliance Tournament zebra skin. Maybe next I’ll find some reason to use the Damavik.

Also a small note on any of these fits with neuts. You can easily swap them out to use bonused smartbombs instead and that’s a very good idea! With that said, here are the stats:

Precursor Cruiser bonuses (per skill level):
5% bonus to Heavy Entropic Disintegrator damage
7.5% bonus to Heavy Entropic Disintegrator optimal range
Role Bonus:
100% bonus to Remote Armor Repairer range
50% reduced Energy Neutralizer capacitor need
50% reduced Remote Armor Repairer capacitor need
50% reduced Smart Bomb capacitor need

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High Velocity Vedmaks

One of the best things you can do with the Vedmak these days is to use it in a “kitey bullshit” role. Like an even more laser-y Omen Navy Issue. With one tracking computer, it can reach 20.6km optimal range with Occult for ~500-1,100 DPS depending on drones, heat, skills, and spoolup. Combine that with great tracking and you’ve got a very capable little point range kiter. Switching to Mystic for the range will give you another 31km while dropping damage to 300-700 DPS. Tetryon, Baryon, and Meson do what they always do and give some nice alternatives around these numbers so make sure you carry at least 500 of each.

So if we’re looking to make a kitey Vedmak then there are three ways to go about it. Shield or armour 50MN Microwarpdrive and 100MN Afterburner with whatever kind of tank I can squeeze on there. A shield fit is probably the simplest way to use the ship and seems to channel its inner Oracle. Pure shield and damage with a point being entirely optional if you’re solo. The extra tank can also be traded away for a tracking computer to shoot out to your optimal range of about 67km. Then again, a Standard Frentix will do the same thing for you so maybe keep the tank.

Moving over to a more traditional armour tank for the Vedmak it makes a lot of sense to go for an ancillary rep based setup to keep your speed high. Picking armour also means more defensive EWAR by way of a web, a better (medium) neut, and an actual cap booster. As for the raw tank you’ll be looking at 17.6k EHP plus another 16.4k over time from the rep (267 EHP/s). It still outputs nice DPS to 45km and I definitely like it. Against other kiters, though, it might be more valuable to approach them and burn them down with your superior Occult and neut pressure.

Finally, we have the overpropped Vedmak. I’ve used this a bunch and it’s really good fun, just super vulnerable to neuts. Despite that, I still recommend going with a dual prop setup as I have done here. That’s because the 100MN won’t keep you as safe as you think it will up close with your target. The second T2 rep is not for running all the time, it’s use is to prevent you from being burned through your armour and to get you out of sticky situations. You’ll be dropping to 2 minutes of cap life to use both, but that should be enough to get away from the battleship that you accidentally made friends with.

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Brawly Bois

If I’m going to write about kitey ships then I need to write about the alternative, too. And the Vedmak isn’t a bad brawling ship by any means, there’s a reason why it did so well in the abyss prior to the Ikitursa being released.

My favourite Vedmak in this format would be a dual propped “fast response” style ship. Hyperspatial and 3s align will get this cruiser on grid faster than most assault frigates. With a set of three remote reps you could rely on these to save someone from the brink of death while heavier ships land. It isn’t a solo fit whatsoever, though, and you should be wary of neuts or DPS being sent your way. Heat the afterburner and pray.

Another way to do it is to go all in on the afterburner with a solo fit that features dual local reps. This is similar to the 100MN style, but with more DPS and better cap stability, partly thanks to the Nos. It might seem at first like this is a silly thing to do with the new range bonus but instead think of it this way. Having the range means you are completely free to delete kitey tackle as you see fit by loading Meson. When actually brawling, though, this is about as good as a T2 fit Vedmak gets. 673 EHP/s omni tank and up to 1,000 DPS outgoing puts it on par with some combat battlecruiser setups but with the agility and speed of a cruiser.
An alternative dual prop version of this Vedmak is easily created by changing a few mods around like this.

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Afterthoughts and Extra Fits

This was a bit of a shorter article than usual since I can’t really think of that many fits for the Vedmak. It has plenty of options, but they all revolve around doing DPS in a particular way with a slight detour into the emergency responder repping ones. Trying to make them beefy and tanky just doesn’t work so well and leaves you wanting more by way of an Ikitursa or Drekavac.

Speaking of the Ikitursa, though, it’s possible to make a Vedmak perform in a similar-ish role at range now. Tank is quite low at 51k EHP with links and the 244m price makes me wish I was buying Aug Navies instead. But hey, it’s neato. 89km damage is nothing to be shy of and it could certainly beat out the equivalent pirate or navy ship doctrines. Again, you get that by simply spending money.

I’ve also experimented with an 80k EHP no-weapon buffer bait Vedmak, a 700 EHP/s passive shield regen Vedmak, and the 45k EHP bulkhead Vedmak with bugger all CPU. Outside of playing with the tank like that the only things left are to start doing silly things like an XLASB tank (tried that too) or a no-gun full logi Vedmak. If anyone has anything else that I’ve completely missed then I’d love to hear about it. The image below is the aforementioned long-range HAC-style version.

o/