In YC114 each major empire faction, having been embroiled in a harrowing, extensive, long-term war, recognized the growing need for support and logistics functionality in their vessels during the kind of protracted interstellar warfare that might otherwise prove exhausting for its participants. Both Frigate and Cruiser-class ships were put under the microscope, and in the Minmatar Republic the outcome of the re-evaluation process led, among other developments, to a redesign and redeployment of the Scythe.
The Scythe-class cruiser remains the oldest Minmatar ship still in use. It has seen many battles and is an integrated part in Minmatar tales and heritage. With its redesign, past firmware upgrades for mining output were tossed out entirely in favor of two new separate systems that focused on shield transporting and logistics drones respectively.
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A mark for your clan, a word that means more than family.
The Scythe is a Tech 1 logistics cruiser, with bonuses to shield repair. It is designed to support 3 medium shield transporters and a shield tank while remaining capacitor-stable. Achieving all of these things can be a challenge for pilots with limited skills.
Like its smaller counterpart the Burst, the Scythe offers pilots a good way to try out flying in the logistics role. The same player (not character) skills of organization, quick reactions and steadiness under fire are used in piloting the Scythe's more powerful T2 equivalent, the Scimitar.
Skills
Further information about additional or recommended skills to pilot Scythe for a specific or its common role(s) can be written here.
Tactics
With decent character skills, the Scythe can run cap-stable, supporting its fleetmates successfully without capacitor transfer from other logistics ships. This makes it a more convenient ship for fast-response fleets scrambling to form up quickly to defend a system or leap on a target of opportunity, when there is less time to organize a "chain" of mutual capacitor transfers. This fast "grab-and-launch" quality synergizes well with shield logistics, as the fits used for fast-moving gangs often have buffer shield tanks.
The Scythe's capacitor-independent nature does not make it a solo logistics ship. Scythe pilots should work as a team to save ships and to keep each other alive. Depending on the size and type of fleet, logistics ships will be coordinated using watchlists and/or broadcasts and/or a logistics squad commander who will call out logistics targets.
