In the first article, we saw the first two pairs of AT prize ships from the Minmatar Republic and the Gallente Federation be a little underwhelming (with the exception of the Adrestia). Compared to modern day regular ships they are barely, if at all, stronger. In 2010 the CCP game design team really got into stride and started think big with these prize ships. Part one was “meh, I guess that’s kind of cool”, part two is “HOLY FUCKING SHITBALLS!”

ATIX 2010 – Malice & Vangel – Won by HYDRA RELOADED, Second place: Outbreak

Malice – 130B+

Amarr Frigate bonuses (per skill level):

4% bonus to all armour resistances

20% bonus to Energy Vampire and Energy Neutraliser optimal range

10% bonus to Energy Vampire and Energy Neutraliser falloff range

20% bonus to Energy Vampire and Energy Neutralizer drain amount

Role Bonus:

100% bonus to Small Energy Turret damage

50% bonus to Small Energy Turret optimal range

The Malice is the ship the Cruor wants to be. Drop that Minmatar webbing nonsense, go all-in on lasers, neuts and a rock-hard armour tank. Who needs webs when they don’t have enough cap to turn on a prop mod in the first place? That said, this year Cruors get a two point reduction due to the Blood Raiders sponsoring the tournament. Two points for a Cruor versus four points for a Malice, is it really worth doubling the points?

The first ever kill by a Malice was a T1 fit Kestrel by Gavjack Bunk of HYDRA RELOADED, who accounts for the vast majority of Malice killmails in non-tournament play, with the next significant pilot being that of Tinkerhell, renowned unique user. So far, four have been lost, all of which in tournament play. Three of the four were lost in a single match of the first New Eden Open, brought by XXXMity in their fight against Ronin and Pixies. Unfortunately, the tournament ships were insufficient to win them the match and they all perished. The last Malice lost was just under a year later in 2013 during ATXI, in the first game of match 123, Exodus. Vs. HYDRA RELOADED. Hydra lost their Malice but won the match, was it worth 130B? They went on to win second place, granting them the Chremoas which we’ll visit later, so I’ll go for a yes on that one. Another notable appearance is when Pandemic Legion brought FOUR of them in their match against Rote Kapelle. Despite losing the match they did not lose any of the Malices they fielded.

In tournament play:

ATX Pandemic Legion vs. Rote Kapelle – loss

NEOI Expendables vs.Guiding Hand Social Club – win

NEOI XXXMity vs. The R0NIN and Pixies – loss (Kwark forgot to turn his links on, a 300B Isk mistake)

ATXI HYDRA RELOADED vs. Darkside. – win

ATXI HYDRA RELOADED vs Exodus. – win

ATXIII Warlords of the Deep vs. Black Legion. – win

ATXIII The Camel Empire vs. Agony Empire – win

ATXIII Warlords of the Deep vs. The Methodical Alliance – win

ATXIII Pandemic Legion vs. The G0dfathers – win

ATXIII The Camel Empire vs. Exodus. – win

ATXIII The Camel Empire vs. Pandemic Legion – win

ATXIII Warlords of the Deep vs. The Camel Empire – win

That final match being the grand finals of the last Alliance Tournament. In ATXIII the Malice was so prevalent because it synergized beautifully with the double TFI core team that was so popular in the first two weekends.

Probability of Malice sighting this year: 3 out of 5 (it would be a 4, but I think the point cost in comparison with the Cruor drives it down a little)

Vangel – 110B

Amarr Cruiser Bonuses (per skill level):

4% bonus to all armour resistances

20% bonus to Energy Vampire and Energy Neutraliser optimal range

10% bonus to Energy Vampire and Energy Neutraliser falloff range

20% bonus to Energy Vampire and Energy Neutralizer drain amount

Role Bonus:

50% Bonus to Rapid Light Missile, Heavy Missile and Heavy Assault Missile Launcher rate of fire

50% bonus to Armour Repairer amount

The Vangel is the bastard love child of a threesome between the Sacrilege, Curse and some demented Gallente engineer, which then went on to murder its parents and anyone else who it damn well pleased because good luck trying to stop this unholy bastard of Amarr engineering. Forget the Bhaalgorn, if bloody Omir is flying into battle he’ll be in one of these. Not only does it self-rep 50% better than an equivalent fit Deimos, it has twice the base cap AND crazy-powerful nos to keep the reps running.

Well, nearly.

The RoF mega-bonus means that you don’t get much bang for your buck when using the missile system of choice, rapid lights. Further, filling the resist holes for a reasonable tank as well as making use of the mids as well as having strong damage from HAMs and strong neuts is really awkward to fit due to needing 2 BCUs to get real damage, which eats into your somewhat restricted CPU. Further, you are quite slow even without a plate, which means getting in range to apply your damage can be difficult.

The first ever kill with the Vangel was made on the 29th of July, 2011 when Shiroi Okami of HYDRA RELOADED killed the dual-rep Myrmidon flown by BecBop of Rainbow Unicorns From Space. After that, you could see it in the hands of Ninja Unicorns With Large Horns, Tinkerhell of Nocturnal Romance, Bluemelon of Rooks and Kings (at the time), then Taya Greathame of Snuff Box decided on July 22, 2012 to fill his killboard with Vangel kills by killing a bucket-load of unfit Rifters in Sujarento. Two pages of zkill worth. Since then it’s had a fair number of outings, mostly in the Placid/Syndicate area by the usual suspects. Really, if you want to go hunting for limited issue ship sightings, the north-west is the place to be. Thus far there have only been two Vangel losses, the first by Count MonteCarlo of HYDRA Reloaded to Stain Empire Tornados in Uemon, the second by Calsys of Darkside, to a small group of Light Style battlecruisers in a wormhole.

In tournament play:

NEOI Expendables vs.Guiding Hand Social Club – win

The Vangel is so close to being amazing but for the fact that CCP forgot that it’s usually useful for ships to actually have a noticeable damage output.

Probability of Vangel sighting this year: 1 out of 5

ATX 2012 – Cambion and Etana – Won by Verge of Collapse, Second place: HUN Reloaded

The Cambion and Etana are probably the strongest reward ships CCP has ever given as prizes for the AT, if not in their own right, certainly as a synergistic pair.

Cambion – 160B+

Caldari Frigate bonuses (per skill level):

4% bonus to all shield resistances

Assault Frigate bonuses (per skill level):

5% bonus to Light Missile and Rocket Launcher rate of fire

Role Bonus:

115% bonus to kinetic Light Missile and Rocket Damage

50% reduction in module heat damage amount taken

The best way I’ve heard the Cambion described is if you copy-pasted the stats of the Drake onto a Merlin hull, and then made it fast, really fast. Imagine a Garmur went to the gym and pumped steroids for three years, then followed that with a decade mastering the art of fucking up your life at a Shaolin monastery. With just a T2 MWD, no speed mods, links or implants, you’re going 3.2km/s before you overheat. Some of the fits used in previous ATs have reach 27k EHP, or you can fit to to have some 700 DPS local tank. You thought the Svipul was cancer? Think again. The heat bonus means you can heat all the things, certainly through a 10-minute AT match without much worry for burning out your modules. It makes for an incredibly sturdy part of your support wing for holding down opposing ships, either to screen or grab something for your DPS ships to bring their armaments to bear on.

The first ever kill with the Cambion was made by Nameless Reaper of Kraken, killing the Punisher of menstrual madness on the 18th of September 2012. Outside tournament play, the core pilots of the Cambion are (unsurprisingly) Tinkerhell, Blumelon, Rudex X and Bob FromMarketing amongst others. Thus far, despite their relative high use to other tournament ships, only four have been lost, all of them in tournament settings. The first was DHB Wildcat of whistleblowing fame, who lost the first ever Cambion in NEOI to The Reputation Cartel, though his team, the Goggle Wearing Internet Crime Fighters did go on to win the match. The next one went down to Pandemic Legion in ATXI, flown by Duncan Tanner of HYDRA RELOADED, snatched away in the final seconds of the match. The last two went down only last year in one of the the most expensive matches in tournament history, the massacre that was Pandemic Legion vs The Camel Empire in ATXIII in which a total of four AT prize ships went down (one Etana, one Moracha and two Cambions).

In tournament play:

NEOI Goggle Wearing Internet Crime Fighters vs. Asine Hitama’s Team – loss

NEOI Goggle Wearing Internet Crime Fighters vs. The Reputation Cartel – win

ATXI HYDRA RELOADED vs. Pandemic Legion – win

ATXI HYDRA RELOADED vs. Exodus. – win

ATXIII Warlords of the Deep vs. The Tuskers Co. – win

ATXIII Warlords of the Deep vs. Exodus. – win

ATXIII The Camel Empire vs. Pandemic Legion – loss

Given the “one unique” rule, and the fact that you would tend to run Cambions in pairs with an Etana to help them not die, I think they’re much less likely to be seen this year compared with previous years.

Probability of a Cambion sighting this year – 3 out of 5

Etana – 160B+

Caldari Cruiser bonuses (per skill level):

160% bonus Remote Capacitor Transmitter range

20% bonus to Logistic Drone transfer amount

62% bonus to Remote Shield Booster optimal range and falloff

Logistics Cruiser bonuses (per skill level):

17% reduction in Remote Shield Booster and Remote Capacitor Transmitter activation cost

Role bonus:

50% reduction in Remote Shield Booster CPU requirement

50% reduction in Remote Capacitor Transmitter powergrid requirement

40% reduction in module heat damage amount taken

Can fit Covert Ops Cloaking Device and Covert Cynosural Field Generator

People forget that the Etana was in fact the first prize ship to be a covops, not the Chremoas/Moracha pair of the following year. The Etana is essentially a pirate faction Basilisk, with more slots, fitting, cap, speed etc etc etc.The only place it’s worse than a Basilisk is that it has a lower sensor strength. This naturally means that it synergises perfectly with the Cambion and drastically improves the defensive capability of any shield AT team that decides to take their wallets out. Given that we don’t have ETs this year, the nigh-unkillable mobile Etana-Tinker is dead, making the Etana a less likely sight. That said, the Etana doesn’t have to be scared of facing a multi-AT ship team blasting it to pieces making it actually a little less scary to risk fielding in that regard.

Tracking the use of the Etana is a little more difficult compared to other uniques as it is a logistics ship, and therefore does not show up on killmails. I may very well miss certain instances of it being fielded in tournament play due to this, so if you see that I have missed one, please comment and I’ll update the list!

I am reliably told that the use of Etanas on TQ has been primarily through members of Verge of Collapse “skynetting”. The first kill however, in an Etana by Rengas of VoC was a Tengu in Wicked Creek, which seems to have been a good old fashioned BlOps drop. The zkill list here is unsurprisingly short, though it looks like some of the Black Legion. Boys had some fun roaming with one fit with officer jams in northern lowsec. Thus far, five have been lost, all of which were in tournament settings, the links to which you can see below.

ATXI HYDRA RELOADED vs. Pandemic Legion – win

ATXI Verge of Collapse vs. Darkside – loss

ATXI HYDRA RELOADED vs. Exodus. – win

ATXII The Camel Empire vs. Pandemic Legion – win

ATXIII Pandemic Legion vs. Shadow Cartel – win

ATXIII The Camel Empire vs. Pandemic Legion – loss

ATXIII The Camel Empire vs. Pandemic Legion – win

Probability of an Etana sighting this year – 4 out of 5