Marauders

Amarr Amarr marauder designs.		Caldari Caldari marauder designs
Gallente Gallente marauder designs.		Minmatar Minmatar marauder designs.

Marauders are tech II battleships specifically designed to aid in various types of npc-hunting without becoming overpowered in pvp.

Marauders are purpose built mission ships.

The Marauder Role Bonus turns 4 physical weapons into 8 effective weapons, and their Tractor Beams have twice the base range, as well as having 3 utility high slots.

They are also characterized an active tanking bonus, and a web or target painter effectiveness bonus.

Given the high skill requirements and ship costs associated with these ships, they will generally be well and expensively fit. It is common for these ships to be equipped with faction, deadspace and officer equipment and tech 2 rigs. Due to their role bonus they are also some of the few ships to use faction ammunition cost effectively in missions.

Their very low sensor strength, low scan resolution and very high cost usually make them unlikely PVP ships.

Looting and guns

All marauders have the number of weapon hardpoints reduced to 4. To balance this they all have a special 100% bonus to weapon damage. Effectively turning the 4 guns into 8. This reduces the amount of ammunition and, in some cases, capacitor spent while retaining the same damage. The bonus also gives the marauders several free high energy slots into witch the player can fit tractor beams and salvagers to effectively loot the battlefield during combat. This role is further aided by a 100% bonus to tractor beam optimal range, increasing the looting sphere from 20km to 40km. Few rats orbit outside 40km although some do. Further, alla marauders have a cargo space of 1150 cubic meters, almost double that of a regular or faction battleship.

Tank and E-war

All marauders have a tanking bonus fitted to their race's chosen tanking type. Minmatar and Caldari marauders have a 7.5% bonus to the effectivness of shield boosters and Gallante and Amarr marauders have a 7.5% bonus to the effectivness of armor repairers. Further, alla marauders have a slight resistence bonus to their race's favored enemy. EM for minmatar, thermal for caldari, kinetic for gallante and explosive for amarr. All marauders also have an e-war bonus to further aid their race's chosen weapon systems. That is; target painters for caldari, to increase missile damage against smaller craft, and stasis webifiers for the other three, aiding in the tracking towards smaller craft that gets too close in orbit.

Weakness in pvp

One could easily imagine marauders as incredibly powerful short range pvp ships. Using their free highslots to fit nosferatu or energy neutralisers and their huge cargo bay filled with capacitor boosters. To make sure marauders are not too powerful in pvp they all have a very low sensor strength making them easy to target jam using ECM. Combined with the cost, a marauder can run in the area of 750 million isk, marauders are indeed a rare sight in pvp.