Welcome to the first of several posts about various Minmatar ships. I will cover popular fittings, descriptions of how to use them effectively, and why it is/is not fun to fly. Pencils ready? Lets begin.
The Hurricane is the tier-2 Minmatar Battlecruiser specializing in all-out projectile weapon gank. It excels at being an Autocannon laden pwnmobile or as a midrange Arty boat. The 5% increase in projectile weapons damage and rate of fire per Battlecruiser skill level certainly encourage pilots to use the ship in those aforementioned roles. The Cane is also the fastest BC, has the highest scan res, and has a great slot layout making is one of the most versatile ships in the game. Let’s get down to some raw numbers now:\
Bonuses:
- 5% increase in projectile weapons damage and rate of fire per Battlecruiser skill level.
- 99% reduction in CPU need for Warfare Link Modules
| High Slots |
8 |
| Medium Slots |
4 |
| Low Slots |
6 |
| Rig Slots |
3 |
| Power Output |
1350 MW |
| CPU Output |
400 tf |
| Turret Slots |
6 |
| Launcher Slots |
3 |
| Max Targets |
6 |
| Shield Capacity |
4297 |
Shield Resists
(EM/EXP/KIN/THERM) |
0/50/40/20 |
| Armor HP |
4688 |
Armor Resists
(EM/EXP/KIN/THERM) |
60/10/25/35 |
| Capacitor |
2250 |
| Drones |
30 m3 |
| Drone Bandwidth |
30 Mbit/sec |
| Cargo |
475 m3 |
| Max Speed |
165 m/s |
| Insurance Cost |
10,950,000.00 |
| Insurance Payout |
36,500,000.00 |
| Required Skills |
| Primary |
Minmatar Cruiser |
III |
| Secondary |
Battlecruisers (skill) |
II |
Now that we’ve seen the raw data, lets take a look at some fairly common fittings and their roles. These are all based on the assumption that the pilot can fit T2 stuff. In the event that a pilot cannot, use the best named available. Best named will fit easier as well.
Active Armor Tank Hurricane
- High
- 6x 425/220mm Autocannon II, depending on skills (RF Fusion standard, Barrage for range, RF Uranium for tracking)
- 2x Wildcard (missiles, neuts, gang mod)
- Mid
- 1x 10MN MWD I
- 1x Warp Disruptor II
- 1x Stasis Webifier II
- 1x Medium Electrochem Booster w/ 800s
- Low
- 2x Medium Armor Repairer II
- 2x Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
- 1x Damage Control II
- 1x Gyrostabilizer II
- Drones
- 6x Light ECM Drones or Warrior II’s
- Rigs
- 2x Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
- 1x Medium Nanobot Accelerator I
Get in close with Republic Fleet EMP M, or stay out of web range of a BS with Barrage. The rigs should run you no more than 15 mil and will boost your tank by about 100 DPS, depending on your skills.
Passive Armor Tank Hurricane
- High
- 6x 425/220mm Autocannon II, depending on skills (RF Fusion, Barrage, RF Uranium)
- 2x Wild Card (Heavy Assault Launchers, Neuts, Gang Mod)
- Mid
- 1x 10MN MicroWarpdrive II (Tech I is just as fast and cheaper; if you’re using neuts, though, a T2 will give you more cap to spare)
- 1x Warp Disruptor II
- 1x Stasis Web II
- 1x Sensor Booster II
- Low
- 2x Gyrostabilizer II
- 2x Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
- 1x 1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plate
- 1x Damage Control II
- Drones
- 6x Hobgoblin II’s or Hornet EC-300s
- Rigs
- 2x Medium Projectile Ambit Extension I (may require you to downgrade the guns but will let you hit well past 20km with Barrage)
OR
- 3x Medium Trimark Armor Pump I (may make it difficult to catch frigates and cruisers but adds lots of EHP fighting bigger ships)
A great lowsec roaming ship when in a heavy gang due to the sensor booster getting you tackles a battleship gang would normally miss and the plate tank allowing you to tank sentries for a decent amount of time. Use RF Fusion for heavy armor tanking targets and keep barrage in case you find yourself getting kited just outside of web range. You can also swap out midslot mods depending on what you’re doing. Swap the sensor booster for ECCM if you’re messing with enemies who like to use Falcons, or a scram for better tackling.
Shield-Gank Hurricane
- High
- 6x 425 Autocannon II (Republic Fleet EMP M, Barrage M)
- 2x Named Medium Neuts (I use 50w, Diminishing are like 10mil a pop)
- Mid
- 1x Y-T Named MWD I
- 1x Large Shield Extender II
- 1x Invulnerability Field II/Large Shield Extender II
- 1x Warp Disruptor II
- Low
- 3x Gyrostabilizer II
- 2x Tracking Enhancer II
- 1x Damage Control II
- Drones
- 4x Hobgoblin IIs (or ecm drones)
- 1x Hammerhead II
- Rigs
- 2x Polycarbon Engine Housing I
- 1x Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
This is THE solo/dualbox cane fit. Take a covops/falcon alt to scout and murder everything. Invuld/LSE have comparable ehp, LSE fit doesn’t use cap. You should have no problems with most pve setup ships except command ships or possibly ones that fit scrams. If you want a faster variant you could drop the tracking enhancers for nanos and use 220 Vulcans although you’ll lose dps and range. This my personal favorite. If you find me in space, I will more likely than not be in this fit.
PvE Setups
Anomaly/Ratting Hurricane
- High
- 6x 425mm AutoCannon II
- 2x Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II
- Mid
- 1x 10MN Afterburner II / 10MN Microwarpdrive I
- 1x Large Peroxide I Capacitor Power Cell
- 2x Cap Recharger II
- Low
- 3x Gyrostabilizer II
- 1x Medium Armor Repairer II
- 2x Rat-specific Hardener II
- Drones
- 6x Hobgoblin II (except for Angels, use Warrior IIs)
Customize your ammo and hardeners depending on the weaknesses of the local rats, and replace the 2 missile launchers with a tractor beam/salvager if you use the same ship for ratting/looting/salvaging.
The DPS for me with the TB/Salvage variant is around 570, and given the resists it can tank almost any standard spawn. Factor in the close orbit on a BS, and you can effectively permatank two BSs. The T1 version scales reasonably well in terms of tanking, but even with best-named turrets and missile launchers, it can be very slow chewing through high-end BS spawns (~350 DPS with typical newbie ratter skills). Bring lots of rat-specific ammo.
The only annoying parts are the slow approach when a rat is 50km away (which can be dealt with by switching to a MWD and only pulsing it to get in close). It also has the advantage that it costs almost nothing to lose (EFT prices the fit out at about 70M for n-type or 73M for T2 hardeners), even if you don’t bother to insure it. A few hours of ratting will make you back the investment, especially given the loot and salvage.
If you’re comfortable with increased cost, you can add Auxiliary Nano Pump and Nanobot Accelerator rigs. It doubles the cost, but ups the tanking, is still cap stable (with an AB), and allows you to permatank any three BSs as long as you can orbit one up close. A cheaper rigging option is shield screens (rat-specific, about 500k each), which give you a stiffer passive shield buffer in front of your armor, often enough to where you can kill the first battleship before even having to start your rep.
Looter/Salvager
- High
- 4 x Small Tractor Beam I
- 4 x Salvager I
- Mid
- 1 x 10MN MicroWarpdrive II
- 2 x Large Shield Extender II
- 1 x Rat-specific hardener II
Low
- 5 x Expanded Cargohold II
- 1 x Nanofiber Internal Structure II
- Rigs
- 1 x Medium Salvage Tackle I
- 2 x Medium Auxiliary Thrusters I
- Drones
- 4 x Hobgoblin II
- 1 x Hammerhead II
If you don’t bring light drones, you will lose this to tackling rats, bring some light drones, even if they’re Warrior I’s
Fitting an Invulnerability Field II instead of a third extender gives you about 1500 more EHP and a smaller signature radius at the expense of cap, but this thing is drowning in spare cap every time the MWD shuts off. This ship is absolutely phenomenal for looting and salvaging. Tons of tractoring and salvaging, 1600 m3 of cargo space, 1275 m/s without implants. It will tank any rats left behind for chaining easily and will even tank a battleship spawn for a decent amount of time.
Well there you have it. I hope that this guide will show players the Gospel According To Hurricane and the brilliant light that it can burn into a pilot. I really love this ship and have been pleased by its performance over all. I will say that getting the hang of it will take lots of trial and error (as shown by my 4 hurricane losses in a week), but the reward is well worth it.
Fly safe gentlemen.
