<b>Minmatar Cruiser bonuses (per skill level):</b><br>10% bonus to missile damage<br>10% bonus to Target Painter effectiveness<br><b>Recon Ships bonuses (per skill level):</b><br>60% bonus to Stasis Webifier optimal range<br>20% reduction in Cloaking Devices CPU requirement<br><b>Role Bonus:</b><br>80% reduction in Cynosural Field Generator liquid ozone consumption<br>50% reduction in Cynosural Field Generator duration<br>• Can fit Covert Ops Cloaking Device and Covert Cynosural Field Generator<br>• Cloak reactivation delay reduced to 5 seconds<br>
1,180 GJ
315 m³
Force Recon Ship
480
40 m³
Minmatar Republic
Recon Ships
Can Use Covert Ops Cloak
4
Bellicose Class
0.59
Force recon ships are the cruiser-class equivalent of covert ops frigates. While not as resilient as combat recon ships, they are nonetheless able to do their job as reconaissance vessels very effectively, due in no small part to their ability to interface with covert ops cloaking devices and set up cynosural fields for incoming capital ships.
3
4
11040000
8
230
6
750
Liberation was won in Pator's light, but it is secured in the shadows he casts.
The Rapier is the Minmatar Force Recon Ship. It can fit a covert ops cloak, and warp while cloaked. It can use both covert ops cynos and normal ("hard") cynos. It shares a web range bonus and a (little-used) target-painting bonus with the Huginn.
The Rapier can perform well as a "hunter" for a black ops fleet, able to strike from hiding, pin a target down, and pop a covert cyno to bring in stealth bombers and black ops battleships. Less glamorously, it also sees use as a hard cyno ship to help move other ships around New Eden. Since the Rapier can light hard cynos, its presence implicitly threatens an escalation in a fight, potentially drawing out escalations from opponents; this fact and its relatively weaker tank compared to the Huginn tend to make the Huginn preferred for direct PvP gang combat.
Skills
As a mid-sized Tech 2 ship, the Rapier deserves strong fitting skills and support skills. Recon Ships should be trained to IV before a pilot undocks a Rapier, and training the skill to V makes a big difference to the web range and the CPU available for fitting.
Tactics
The Rapier's bonus to web range does not increase the range of warp disruptors or warp scramblers, and webbing a target without pointing it can actively speed up the target's escape by reducing its align time. For a hunting Rapier, therefore, the limiting factor on attack range can sometimes be point range rather than web range, and for this role it might sometimes be worth investing in a faction or abyssal warp disruptor rather than (or before) special webs.
