Yeah, that's just one example with a Breach FG dealing high alpha damage. Against less damage over more time I think the hardener fit will be better.

I believe both fits have their place. In your example the plated fit would fare best, in other cases the hardener fit might be the best.

But as I also said, the hardener nerf was wrong. With the old numbers the hardener fit would be even better, so CCP did break the hardener fit somewhat, but that's to be expected at this point.

Rules for resistances.....

If you say have 1000 hp and have 25% resistance your ehp is now 1500.

Now if you have 1000 hp and 50% resists you have an ehp of 2000.

So plates and reps for drop ships and plates reps and resists for hav's. Dropships don't really have a high enough hp bank to take full advantage of the resistances so should opt for speed and reps.

You are also assuming that the perfect alpha breach FG is also going to aim perfectly and not have a single fire delay from aiming, evasive action, or obstacles.
Your example gives NINE SECONDS for the ADS pilot to take evasive action. If the ADS pilot sits like a moron for 9 seconds waiting to be killed, he's going to die no matter what fit he has. Because he's that bad a pilot.

However an ADS taking a mixture of lower end forges & swarms is going to be better off doing a move/shoot and pounding the Inf & the multiple AV trying to drive him off while he has a hardener.

Assuming a perfect 30s hardener also, +33/s*30 = +990 EHP.
Which is significantly more than the plate fit has.

I fly Pythons but I watch my brother in his Incubus.

Keep in mind that adding armor plates reduces your maneuverability noticeably. Even with high ehp, a dropship isn't going to tank high end forges or rail tanks so your best bet at surviving is being able to avoid damage. I still would recommend brick tanking over active for a variety of reasons, but I would advise no to be over confident in its tanking ability and to use an afterburner.

I'd like to clarify that that is old footage, and it has been my build to run Heavy Plate, Heavy Rep, Afterburner ever since the hardener nerf. I will go back and read the thread now, and thanks for showcasing that vid :p

There is no reason to ever fit a hardener now

Nope, I run Advanced Heavy Plate, Advanced Heavy Rep, Advanced Afterburner, XT 1 Missile Launcher. You can fit the Complex Afterburner with a Proto Rail. You may be able to squeeze in a complex AB on the XT as well if you max out the fitting skill, but I haven't calculated it, and I don't have any points in that skill

If you could just toss that clarification in your OP somewhere I would appreciate it, since I feel that running hardeners now is for noobs :p

I've been enjoying it, the biggest weakness is damage stacked railguns now, you rely HEAVILY on the afterburner to save you from those or double forge / rail - forge three hit combo. Dodging the third shot is crucial.

>Reading this thread
>See no mention of people running passive reps

My vehicle armor reps aren't maxed, but I'm running ~250 HP/s rep. This feels much more survivable than an armor hardened/plated Incubus. It is especially effective against swarms (unless multiple people) and in a dropship battle, you essentially out-rep the enemy because no pilot will ever hit all 8 missiles (or ~14 railgun shots in a burst) on another decent pilot.

At max armor rep, a Complex Heavy Armor Repair and a Complex Light Armor Repair will net you 275 HP/s. You can still fit an XT-1 and an afterburner, just need to put in a PG module.