Now that my Golem has fallen victim to the increased bastion cycle time (RIP) what should be my next nullsec ratting ship? Go the cheap route and use Ishtars or rather all-in with a ratting carrier?
I thought nullsec belt ratting died long ago. Are you talking about anoms ect.? Sorry, can't really help you as I'm LS and have avoided PVE for a very long time. Only recently dipping my toes into abyssals (a bit of a hypocrit as I do disagree with the instanced content)
Honestly I know its more pricey but iv always preferred running a gila to the Ishtar. I feel you tho, iv had to scale back use of my vargur since the increased bastion time came into play.