Vexor
Vexor was one of my main tools back in the early days. It is a tough little nugget with surprising versatility. Being a drone boat it gives you lots of options with the many high slots and the four lows make for an adequate passive shield tanker too.
When I started I threw in whatever I could afford, but after getting into exploration I moved to a passive shield tank and it served me really well. With the affordable medium rigs you can turn a Vexor to pretty much anything you happen to need.
Three fits here: a budget mission runner, a low sec complex runner and a low sec ratter (untested)
Budget Mission/Complex Runner
This is my old mission/plex runner Vexor from back when every isk counted. It’s truly a budget ship with some better parts added where it counts.
The drones should be changed based on your enemies. I’m used to run mostly Serpentis plexes, hence the Vespas. You should probably change the other damage type mediums to light drones. Lights operate well against frigates and you can carry a shitload of them to give you leeway in micromanagement.
The fit is designed to give you good durability while fitting a MWD for mobility (nowadays this even works with missions, whereas you used to have to swap in an AB). The damage is mostly relying on the drones with the single rail in for agro management and structure pounding. The web is there to slow down the most annoying fast frigates that your drones have trouble hitting (if you’re only fielding medium drones). Tractor and salvagers allow you to work your way through the wrecks while the drones are doing their thing.
It was a pretty tight fit with my skills back then. If you don’t run the gun and web continuously it’s pretty cap stable with the tractor and a salvagers running.
Looking back: In retrospect I would now probably change a few things. Primarily, the buffer tank is no good for missioning; you really want to swap one of the plates for a medium repper. But of course that will give you cap problems as the reppers are really power hungry. With some rigging (CCC) and pulsing the repper you will get an ok tank out of it though.
[Vexor, Mission/Complex runner]
800mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
800mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane I
Damage Control II
10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Medium Shield Extender I
Stasis Webifier I
250mm Railgun I, Antimatter Charge M
Small Tractor Beam I
Salvager I
Salvager I
Salvager I
[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]
Vespa I x3
Vespa I x2
Hammerhead I x3
Hammerhead I x2
Low Sec Complex Runner
This is pretty much the Vexor I have last used. Ever since I got my Myrmidon, it has become the ship-of-choice for my exploration, but I did a fair share of complexes with this Vexor fit too. It is a complete passive shield tank, with a profession module in the mids that can be swapped for more tank if necessary.
For combat sites I opted for more firepower instead of the ease that a tractor beam and additional salvagers give. I use the meta items where possible as they really give you the best value for money. There is really no reason not to go for the meta 4 items either, but I’m often kinda cheap that way.
The rigs are what makes the tank here so not much leeway there and I consider a cloak a necessity for my low sec ships. And I usually pack a flight of ecm drones for the GTFO moments that you sometimes get in low sec.
A word of warning though; the car recharge rate on this baby is horrible with that number of shield power relays. Once your cap is empty it will be 20 minutes to recharge it fully.
[Vexor, Lowsec passive shield tank]
Type-D Power Core Modification: Shield Power Relay
Type-D Power Core Modification: Shield Power Relay
Type-D Power Core Modification: Shield Power Relay
Type-D Power Core Modification: Shield Power Relay
10MN Afterburner I
Codebreaker I
Large Azeotropic Ward Salubrity I
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon I, EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon I, EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon I, EMP M
Prototype Cloaking Device I
Salvager I
Medium Core Defence Field Purger I
Medium Core Defence Field Purger I
Medium Core Defence Field Purger I
Warrior II x5
Hammerhead II x5
Hornet EC-300 x5
Low Sec Ratting (untested curiosity fit)
This is a passive shield tanked Vexor for low sec ratting. The original from Scrapheap Challenge forums had a full blaster fit, but I’d rather have some salvager with me and the remote repper will do wonders for drone survivability. It might be low on dps, but we’ll see.
My stats against Angels give: 58 shields tank, 19K EHP, 185 DPS.
Looking back: I can’t remember when I put this together, probably around the time when I eventually got my first Thorax for null sec ratting. Swap the modules for meta items if you want to try this and drop in some rigs too. And I do think this will be a bit light on dps, but you never know.
[Vexor, Low sec ratting]
Damage Control II
Shield Power Relay I
Shield Power Relay I
Shield Power Relay I
1MN MicroWarpdrive I
Large Shield Extender I
Large Shield Extender I
Small Remote Armor Repair System I
Small Tractor Beam I
Salvager I
Salvager I
Prototype Cloaking Device I
[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]
Hammerhead II x5
Vespa EC-600 x5