About spider tanking

[avl90]

Well, there was a lot of spider tanking in the last tournament which usually use the same type ships.

Why is that?

 

[LT COL KILGORE]

Re: What class of ships are good at...

Why is that?

Here is your answer; http://wiki.eveonline.com/wiki/Spider_tank

 

[Dr Zaius]

I split this off into a separate thread so we can discuss spider tanking here.

Bear in mind that spider tanking is one of those things that looks great on paper, however, it can be very difficult to execute properly in the middle of a battle. For starters, spider tanking requires that members lock other members of their own fleet in order to use the remote rep module. While this is simple enough in theory, in practice this can easily lead to incidents of fratricide as members get confused about which locked targets are friendly and which ones are the enemy. Good communication and experience will help mitigate this issue, but even an experienced fleet can make mistakes if the battle grows hectic and people simple go into information overload.

Another issue with spider tanking that it works best if the fleet is comprised of very similar ships. Since remote reps don't have a long range, the technique only works if the ships remain close together. Obviously, this can be a problem at some gates or if the fleet becomes scattered due to confusion or differences in ship speed due to different fits or skill levels. Also, if the fleet is employing remote armor repair modules, then a ship fitted with a shield tank is a problem. This all needs to be worked out prior to the battle.

Another threat is electronic warfare. Spider tanking requires locking friendlies in order to rep them, so if the fleet gets jammed it will break the locks and no one will be able to get rep. It that happens the tank will break and the fleet will probably die.

 

[avl90]

The article talks mostly about battleship fleets using this. Is it something that cruisers and frigates can make use of or is it too unmanageable due to the speeds of the ships?

iirc, most of the fleets in the tournament were built around cruiser size ships, with a frigate or two and a battleship or two. The frigates came across to me as point "leftovers" (filler) but I'm not sure what the singleton/pair of battleships were doing in most of the fights.

 

[Dr Zaius]

The article talks mostly about battleship fleets using this. Is it something that cruisers and frigates can make use of or is it too unmanageable due to the speeds of the ships?

With frigates the best defense is not to get hit in the first place. Speed and maneuverability are the keys to survival here, as well as sound tactics. I've never seen anyone try to spider tank a frigate fleet and I doubt it would work as it would simply take to long to lock the friendly ship and begin the rep process. By the time rep could begin the ship would likely be destroyed.

Bear in mind that no spider tank fleet is going to last if the cap runs out. This is precisely why the technique is widely used by carrier pilots. Carriers are designed with logistics support in mind and get bonuses for remote rep. In fact, these bonuses are significant enough to actually allow the carriers to create cap out of nothing, meaning a well organized carrier fleet with a spider tank can be a formidable force multiplier on the battlefield. They can tank a tremendous amount of damage and send a gigantic fighter swarm in return.

 

[Revthought]

The article talks mostly about battleship fleets using this. Is it something that cruisers and frigates can make use of or is it too unmanageable due to the speeds of the ships?

iirc, most of the fleets in the tournament were built around cruiser size ships, with a frigate or two and a battleship or two. The frigates came across to me as point "leftovers" (filler) but I'm not sure what the singleton/pair of battleships were doing in most of the fights.

Short answer from someone who runs in remote rep fleets every day? Yes. It can work. Especially on cruisers.