Thoughts About the Newbie Atron

So there is this contest on Battleclinic to submit an Executioner or Atron fit for a new player interested in bounty hunting which I mentioned on Saturday.

I put together a fit that I thought would work:

Its cheap, simple to use, and grows with the player.

Over at Jester's Trek Ripard posted his version of the Newbie Bounty Hunting Atron:

[Atron, Battleclinic contest]
Damage Control II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste
Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
Anode Light Neutron Particle Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
[empty high slot]
Anode Light Neutron Particle Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Anode Light Neutron Particle Cannon I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I
Small Ancillary Current Router I
Small Low Friction Nozzle Joints I

I commented and we had a little back and forth:

I want to expand on my thoughts here, particularly about afterburners and microwarp drives. And bounties.

Ripard went with a MWD on his fit with the logic that you need to be able to be as fast or faster than a target to catch them. This is true when you are running down targets that do not want to be caught but if you are chasing a target over multiple jumps than a long point and fast lock time are more important.

I'm willing to bet that chasing a target with a bounty you are more likely to be faced with someone willing to turn and fight and in that case the MWD can become a liability.

When I am flying solo in low sec in faction warfare dominated space, my ship of preference is a afterburner fit Incursus, or if I'm feeling lucky, an afterburner fit Daredevil that operates almost the same way. Most fighting takes place near acceleration gates of plexes, either just outside or just inside. Sometimes you run into a target at a gate. If they turn and fight, a MWD may get you into range faster but if the enemy has a scram you are dead meat. If they have scram and web, you are REALLY dead meat! MWDs are great for getting tackle but not surviving a fight so I only want a MWD on a ship that will get a tackle and then have support come in to make the kill. Also, if I'm going with a MWD I'm fitting a long point to avoid scram range.

With an afterburner, if a target turns to fight then your scram and web puts you on even or better footing than your opponent if they scram and web you in return. Your afterburner still gives you some speed boost. Yes, there is some danger in getting kited and you need to be aware of that and use whatever you can to your advantage to close range to the magic scram range, or break his point and warp out to try and get better combat positions. Sitting inside a plex on the warp in point is an excellent example.

But overall, let's be realistic: a newbie player trying to do bounty hunting in ANY ship is going to die a lot to the players with bounties on them. I just think they will have a better chance or surviving in an afterburner ship than a MWD one.