There I was, warping away from another camped gate, breathing a sign of relief that the blinking red pirates were busy with somebody else this time, and wondering about the fact that the camping party included yet another heavy interdictor.
I have noticed a lot of heavy interdictors flying around in EVE online.
Yes, they have been available for a while (though not long enough for them to actually appear in the EVE Item Database), but I was under the obviously mistaken impression that they were going to be somewhat rare… somewhat special.
Instead, they seem to be everywhere.
I know three people in EVE online who have them or are training to fly them… and let’s face it, the number of people I regularly talk to in EVE online (or regularly distract with silly questions, leading to their untimely death), is a number less than I have fingers and toes… and would remain so even if I lots a foot.
My last explosive encounter was with 2 heavy interdictors, a broadsword and an onyx, and when I lost my Drake, the five ship pirate fleet also included a heavy interdictor.
I checked with the updated version of EVE Mon and discovered that, despite not having done any up front work towards one, I am a mere 30 days of training from being able to fly the Caldari version, the Onyx, and use the warp disruption field generator, the fitting that makes the heavy interdictor so useful to gate campers everywhere.
Not that I want to fly one. They are a bit pricey, they have no value versus NPCs, and I would only end up losing it in taking it out to PvP.
But as somebody whose trading activities brings him into low security systems, this abundance of warp halting ships can give one pause.
My ongoing tactic of flying the cheapest hauler around, the lowly badger, and hoping I look too cheap to bother with is likely to end badly, I know. Two alternatives were suggested.
First, fly an interceptor and let speed protect, but lose most of my hauling capacity.
Second was go with a blockade runner, a transport ship sub-type, that has some inherent protection against warp scrambling, but which is expensive and offers no protection
I realize the importance of making sure that offense can overtake any defenses available, but the easy availability of heavy interdictors might be taking that a bit too far.
The Ancient Gaming Noob 
The Blockade Runner’s built in warp stabs have no effect on the Heavy Interdictor’s warp disruption field ray. In essence, the Warp Disruption field beam is a 28-30km warp disruptor of strength 99 which beats anything any ship in the game can muster in terms of warp core stabilizers.
However, the Block Runner aligns fasts, and gets to warp fast. So outfitting one with inertial stabs to align even faster means you can many times get to warp before they have you locked.
Over though, your best defense against these beasts is a friend scouting the way.
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I’m with you on this one… The intended purpose of the Heavy dictor was an admirable ideal, but I think CCP may have gone a bit far with this one.
For me the fact you can get into a Heavy dictor without ever having flown a regular interdictor (Interdictor is not a skill prerequisite) is just amazing… Nearly every other Cruiser class T2 ship requires you to have flown the frigate equivalent (AF ->HAC, Cov ops -> Force Recon).
I think if CCP had stuck to Interdictor being a requirement, there would be a lot less out there, instead the regular interdictor is dying off, and any person with some
T2 cruiser skills is training for and flying heavy dictors.
Te intention of the 99 point jam, was to allow them to catch Mom’s and the like on gates, but of course they are just as effective at catching near anything else, and they have a tank for africa. Hence they have become the low sec gate campers ship of choice…..
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Yes, adding in Interdictors V and its predecessors as a requirement at least bumps the time frame for me to fly one from 30 to 73 days.
And looking at the default damage resists they have, they can tank some serious incoming fire.
A pretty powerful ship to have them lurking behind every low sec gate.
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Indeed, a corp mate was discussing “effective hit points” the other day (EFT), and joining the conversation I commented that it sounded like they were talking about capitals (a new carrier pilot myself)…
To which they replied that no in fact they were discussing Heavy Interdictor fittings?!?!
It will be interesting to see if they will be “balanced”, as in 0.0 combat they do need that tank to survive…
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Hictor tanks are really easy to break, actually. Even a broadsword with rigs can barely tank as much as a battleship without faction gear. Their ehp might be high, but effective dps tanked is only around 8 or 900 with maxed skills, t2 mods and t1 rigs, and that leaves your cap to die an ugly death and denies you propulsion. Giving yourself cap takes it to more like 600 dps effective tank. Takes a little bit to beat down but otherwise not very special, honestly. Not to mention if it’s in bubble form it can’t be remote-repped (which I suppose is not an issue in lowsec..).
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One suggestion I have heard (although not tried) is to fit a MWD and cloak to a blockade runner. Upon emerging at gate, hit the cloak function key and immediately hit the MWD. The MWD will still engage and the cloak would prevent anyone from locking. Add some overdrive IIs in the lows and you might just get outside the bubble before the cloak kills your speed bonus.
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Actually it’s hit the MWD and a second later hit the cloak and change direction. Cov-ops 101 really – your cloak breaks the MWD but you still get the full acceleration until it ends its cycle.
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