Confer with Arthur: Armor Tanking

Arthur Asimov, still a certified systems engineer

Howdy there folks! Last week we covered the marvel of shield tanking using technology brought to us by Ancient Jovians so now we're gonna deal with a more primitive form of defense. The armor tank!

Yes, armor. The glorious 'ole layer of metal that protects your structure from being blown to kingdom come. Now, why it makes much more sense to base your defense on naturally regenerating and cooler sounding shields, there are some . . . Gallente pilots who prefer usin' armor instead. Some of those Amarr folk do it too. One again I'll be usin' invaluable experience, and the defensive works of Friedrick Psitalon.

You see, folks who tank using their armor as their source of protection follow a different philosophy then us Caldari. They accept that their shields will be chewed away swiftly, and call that “borrowed time” before they have to engage their tank – saving their capacitor juice for later. The risk involved is not insignificant; armor tankers who “lose their tank” are immediately takin' damage on ship structure, and the end of that yellow brick road is a cruise in your pod!

Armor tankin' is a fairly easy concept: slap an armor repairer on your ship and turn it on. What makes an armor tank effective is the relatively low cost “per point” of armor repair (a shield tank repairs 1 shield for 1 energy, typically, while an armor tank can give as much as 2 or 3 armor for 1 energy.) No boosters exist for armor repair, except in the case of the Brutix – a ship type with a bonus to armor repair.

Armor repairers, armor plates, and armor resistance enhancements are all “low slot” items, which also makes them rather popular for pilots who have other uses for their mid slots – afterburners, webbing modules, warp scramblers, etc.

Typically, Armor Tanking is supplemented by resistance enhancers, but some fellas choose to install extra plating. Plating requires a specific, relatively minor amount of CPU and greatly increasing amounts of Power Grid as you increase plate density. Repairers likewise tend to take a moderate amount of CPU and greatly increasing grid. Hardeners tend to take very little grid, and a moderate amount of CPU.

While Active Shield Tankers tend to rely on Capacitor Boosters to supply them with large amounts of capacitor, Armor Tankers have another, surprisin'ly more efficient option: capacitor regeneration items. A total of four items exist – two for the medium slots, and two for the low slots. (Sound familiar to our shield regeneration items?) The medium slot items are simple: Capacitor Rechargers (just like Shield Rechargers) and Capacitor Batteries (which function in the same way as Shield Extenders, including their affect on recharge rates.) The low slot options are (again, these may sound familiar) Capacitor Flux Coils and Capacitor Power Relays. Much like Shield Flux Coils, Capacitor Flux Coils lower the maximum capacity in exchange for faster regeneration. In this case, though, the other option is nearly always better: Capacitor Power Relays. A CPR lowers the shield boost rate (basically, the opposite of a Shield Boost Amplifier) in exchange for faster capacitor regeneration. This is rarely an issue for armor tankers, though, who usually do not even fit a shield booster module (except those creepy Amarr I reckon).

As far as your skills go, you're gonna want to have excellent knowledge in running energy management and operation, since you'll be able to repair a lot more times with more juice in your ship. Knowing how to fit hull upgrades and good mechanic knowledge means you'll have a LOT more armor to work with, and repair systems skills speak for themselves on this.

The Gallente Brutix, notice the phallic design of the craft

 Your advantages: Speaking in cap terms, Armor Tanking is a middle ground between Passive and Active Shield Tanking methods. Obviously, it uses more capacitor than Passive Shield Tanks, but it is considerably more efficient than Active Shields. Armor tanks take their bites of capacitor every 10 seconds or so, allowing a ship more time to regenerate capacitor between bites. Armor tankers also have a much easier time increasing their resistances to very high levels. Armor tankers have a slower rate of “healing” than an Active Shield Tanker, but usually much quicker than a Passive Shield Tanker. Handy!

Your disadvantages: Right off the bat, I'm gonna say Caldari ships aren't very good at armor tankin'. Not to mention that the middle ground is just that: the middle ground. Your rate of healin' may not be as swift as is needed in extremely high damage situations. It is still possible to run out of capacitor, though it may happen more slowly than an Active Tanker. Lastly, you have to be ready to move fast if your Armor Tank should fail – structure doesn’t tend to be very durable lessen you're running a mighty fine hull tank!

That just about wraps things up for specific tankin' skills, as I'm sure you can play around an figure out how to run the "hybrid shield tank" and the rarely seen "hybrid armor/shield tank". I regret to inform you folks that I will not be sharing the mighty secrets of the Hull Tank, but after years of searching you might find it as well!

Join me next week when we talk more 'bout ships!
'Till next time fellas! Fly safe! Fly smart!