Implants and Logistics – A Logibro’s guide to implants.

Implants have a wide range of uses in EVE Online. Training implants increase your attributes and lower your skill training times; mindlinks increase the effectiveness of command links; sets of implants apply unique bonuses to ship characteristics, such as warp speed, align time, shield or armor amount, or sensor strength; and others reduce fitting requirements ensuring you can online every module.

There are many, many uses for implants. This article explores and higlights the usefullness of even the cheapest implants for a logi-focused pilot. We will explore a range of implants and their use-cases and build up to complete sets of implants for specific hulls.

But first, the basics.

To be able to plug in basic implants, you must train Cybernetics to level 1. Some will require you have it trained to 5, which allows you to plug in any implant, along with Informorph Psychology which allows you to install jump clones.

It is possible to plug in up to ten (10) implants at once and each implant fills a specific slot (1-10). Attribute enhancers take slots 1 through 5 and Skill Hardwiring implants slots 6 through 10. Specific sets of implants provide will provide an overall bonus, which we will return to later.

Implants are destroyed if you unplug them, or if your pod is destroyed, but it is possible to jump clone into a different clone, leaving the implants behind. You can jump clone back into that pod once your jump clone timer exires, or if it is in the same structure as the one you are currently docked in. Using jump clones enables you to have sets of implants for specific hulls. As you can see I have a specific pod for my logi sin:

This pod is primarily focused on providing extra Armor HP for the Sin. The Mid-grade Amulet set provides an additional bonus, as well as the ‘Noble’ Hull Upgrades. All together, they increase the EHP of the Sin by nearly 74,000, but they also cost 1.25 Billion ISK.

Because of the cost of these implants, this type of pod is not one you would run on a standard logi ship.

So what implants can you get away with running with standard logi? Let’s look at the Deacon and Kirin Logistic Frigates and the Guardian and Scimitar Logistics Cruisers.

Deacon

Our Deacon is fit with a microwarpdrive and capacitor booster. It is cap stable at 39.5% injected. The trouble with a cap-injected Logistics frigate is cargo capacity: You can only hold 21 cap boosters, meaning there’s a good chance you’ll run out if you’re heading out on a roam. This is where capacitor implants can help relieve the strain on your ship’s cap.

These implants cost around 750,000 ISK each and whilst they only increase your cap stability by a fraction, but it’ll help reduce the amount of cap boosters you use, allowing you to focus on repairing fellow pilots.

Kirin

Our Kirin is fit with an Afterburner and the capacitor lasts 3m42s. We can’t use as many capacitor implants here, but with a Standard Mindflood Booster we have 8m12s of cap, which is enough for an engagement, so let’s instead look at speed.

The afterburner and frigate combination means our signature radius is small – hostile ships will have a tougher time tracking us the faster we are and the smaller our sig is. Combined with a Agency ‘Overclocker’ SB3 Dose I booster should mean your speed is on par with the rest of a fleet, if not faster.

Guardian

Our Guardian is fit with an Afterburner and is cap stable at 87.9% in a logi chain. We don’t need implants for capacitor, so let’s instead combine a mixture of survivability and maneuverability.

Our EHP has increased from 73,510 to 74,926 EHP and our top speed and maneuverability has been increased. If you do not have your Navigation skills to Level 5 (specifically, Acceleration Control and Navigation) these implants can help bridge the gap between you and your fleet mates. Instead of falling behind the pack and being the primary target for the enemy, you can keep up with them.

Scimitar

Our Scimitar is fit with a microwarpdrive and for maximum cap efficiency. The cap lasts 4m18s with the Improved Mindflood Booster active. We can bring that up to 8m with implants:

If you don’t lose your pod each time you undock, these could be an affordable alternative to Improved Mindflood for every fleet.

Although their effects are negligible in some areas, they shine in others.

Chosing implants ultimately boils down to personal preference and opinion. Does a 1% increase in EHP on a Kirin really warrant 15m ISK of implants? Would you be more inclined to go for capacitor implants of a similar price? Are you using implants for the sake of using implants?

Sensor Strength

One small squad of cheap Griffins can wreck havoc on a logi wing and every logi pilot knows the frustration of being jammed. A Low-grade Grail set can increase the sensor strength of our Guardian by 12.1, totalling 58.7 with Radar Sensor Compensation 5 and an ECCM script in our Sensor Booster.

For Minmatar Hulls, swap the Grail ‘s (Radar) for Jackal (Ladar), Caldari Hulls Talon (Gravimetric), and Gallente Hulls Spur (Magnetometric). If you’re really not worried about losing your pod, upgrading to High-grade’s will boost our Guardian’s sensor strength to 75.3 with the ECCM script.

You can see the sensor type on your ship fitting window:

Survivability

Alternatively, you may opt for more survivability and go for an Amulet pod for Armor or a Nirvana pod for Shield:

This brings our Guardian from 73,510 EHP to 88,117. A High-grade pod brings us to 110,250 EHP, though these pods are expensive and usually used only for capitals.

Substitutes for incomplete skills

The other option is to consider implants to substitute incomplete skills. Rapture‘s will increase your capacitor, Snake‘s your velocity, Nomad‘s your agility. A Low-grade Rapture set brings our Scimitar with Level 4 skills from 3m12s capacitor to 35.3% cap stable.

Hull-specific suggestions – what do I fly with?

My logi pilot is a perfectly skilled logi pilot – other than capital ship skills, there’s nothing left for me to improve, but this isn’t enough! I’m fortunate enough to not lose a logi ship that often, so I tend to run a reasonable set of implants tailored to each hull and doctrine fit:

Logistics Frigate

Armor MWD

Shield MWD

Shield AB

Guardian

Oneiros

Basilisk

Scimitar