Spider Tank
The Spider tank, or squadron tank as I previously referred to it, is another assisted tanking strategy that revolves around teamwork. This time, instead of simply doubling the DPS tanked (as with the circular tank), we can multiply it as far as about twelve to sixteen times that of a solo tank, or more. Now that that has your attention, I can explain how to execute a successful spider tank and describe what it is.
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"Spider tank" is just a fancy name I made up for a form of concentrated remote tank (I'm allowed to name my inventions, surely ^^;). I first decribed this idea in the article "The Squadron Effect" and have since had the opportunity to test the setup with a few pilots. The idea behind this tank is similar to the circular tank in that you switch a repairer for a remote repairer and then use the additional low slot for more resistance gear. This time, instead of forming a chain and constantly remote repairing one buddy, you need to form a squadron of pilots small enough that every member can target every other membr and then repair only people who are being attacked.
The idea behind the system is that if your enemy all gang up on one of your squadron, every other ship can remote repair him. That is, when enemies concentrate fire, you concentrate repairers on the target to counteract it. In larger scale encounters, this works better for shield boosters as they boost the shield instantly rather than waiting for the cycle duration to end as armour repairers do.
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Above and to the left is an image from an old article which shows what happens when someone (the one with the red dot on him) in a 6-man squadron is attacked by focus fire and needs repaired. The other members of his squadron are seen here remote repairing his ship for a total of five repairers, dramatically increased compared to a solo tank setup.
To the right is another old image showing what happens when two people are attacked.
To actually pull this off would require a lot of good timing and training but the benefits are immense. As seen from the recent PvP tournaments, where ECM was not allowed, these kinds of exotic logistical tanks work extremely well when you have no fear of losing a target lock. With a few good ECM modules and a little discrimination before entering a fight (as in don't fight a blackbird or a scorpion), you can be fairly confident that you won't lose a target lock and this strategy will be effective in helping you defend against an outnumbering opponent. Missile and drone ships which don't need to get to any specific range for their weapons make excellent choices for a gang which operates this strategy, given the close proximity that you need to be in for remote repairers (approximately 10km fof the large ones).
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It is entirely possible that we will see people using this tactic on the PvP battlefield soon. When your enemy can't gank you by overpowering your tank, he will find it exceptionally difficult to take your squad out.
-- Nyphur
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