Ships & Modules

It would all depend on what are you going to do with those ships.
PvP, exploration, missions, wormholes ?


How could it be?
T2 drones are better in every aspect. More damage, speed, tank, tracking. So no it would not be "just as good".
If you want to really use drones you will need to train it all the way up to t2 + DI level 5 to get most of it.

Cruisers V

PvP: Amarr (coz of Lazors)
PvE: Gallente (coz of drones)

My opinion.

Eventually? Both.

Short term? I'd recommend Amarr cruiser V over Gallente cruiser V. I have Gal Cruiser V and the only t2 cruiser hull I've used is the Ishtar - which greatly benefits from heavy and sentry drones, especially for PVE... and needs at least HAC 3 to get an L4-friendly drone bay. I used a Proteus briefly but my gun skills are lulz and fully fit out for drones the performance is underwhelming (but the tank is awesome).

I'm training Amarr cruiser V now - after detouring through Caldari Cruiser V and missiles over the past year I look forward to blowing stuff up in a Sacrilege and trying out the Pilgrim/Curse.

Heavy/sentry drones are spiffy for PVE and are useful in a broad variety of ships - with t2 scouts and lights you're in the sweet spot for Arbitrator hulls. Combine with t1 laser crystals and with a little attention you can stay deployed indefinitely.

I agree you should train T2 big drones for Ishtar, but if you like drones you should get them anyway :) Ishtar shares the top spot in exploration with Tengu (very different ships and both have their pros & cons) and is also used in PVP.

I fly a cloaky Proteus in wormhole PVP, sometimes solo, and it's often regarded as the best* ship for this. However, solo wormhole PVP is EVE on hard mode. Even ratting targets have very good tanks, and breaking them in any cloaky ship solo can challenging. Your ship should also be able to tank sleepers, while you deal with the target. Maybe C1 and C2 holes have more suitable (ratter) targets, C3 and above it's Tengu/RR battleship land due to the toughness of sleepers.

Solo you can snag haulers, scanners and hacking ships in higher classes, but ideally you would want a partner or small gang with you. Pilgim/Legion+Proteus would make a nice little team. Anyway sneaking around solo and even just trying to steal kills from ratting parties is HUGE fun, regardless the of the actual value of the kill. Anticipating their moves, striking at the right moment only to disappear in to the darkness, while they panic and smack local offers great satisfaction

Proteus is like a hammerhead shark in this role.

Here are some good tips https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=105018&find=unread

A solid working knowledge of wormholes and general PVP mechanics is recommended before even considering taking any of the ships you listed into a wormhole. I'd dare to say the chances you meet people who know exactly what they are doing are very high, and people are not often alone.

* everything is situational, but Prot has the highest dps and this is important when you need to take the target down as fast possible

He said that he wants some WH PVP.

So Gallente Cruiser V and Proteus could be a good idea.

Proteus: coz of cloaky brick with bonused tackle and enough DPS to kill things, all in one sweet-looking package. And with drones.

Legion: uber tanky T3, no ammo issues, very decent dps and actually overall better than Proteus

Plus, by training Cruiser 5 Amarr you get the best Amor logi in the game (Guardian)
- the best HAC in the game and probably the most used one actually with Vaga because those are the ones actually able to fit something and do stuff in a variety of situations where all others are trash.
-awesome Recons if not the best for solo stuff/pvp
-decent HIC

In a few weeks with BS skill at 4 you can access to the best Carrier in game (Archon) the second best Dreadnaught and the best Super Carrier/Titan

You can't go wrong with Amarr it's all good, Gallente is a very specific opportunist game play and will bring you more pain than fame overall. Doesn't mean you can't have fun with, just means this specific game play style does not fit in the majority of eve gaming. If Gallente ships, including T3's were that good you'd probably see more of them and this is not the case.

But as someone said above, train them both is the best choice.

I have all Cruisers to V except Gallente now. I trained Amarr Cruiser V just a few days ago and strangely enough it was for reason that you completely missed at the start of the thread.

Amarr Cruiser V unlocks the Guardian, which is the core behind each and every armor WH group. Forget Proteuses/Lokis/Legions that cost bilions, the group lives and dies with the Guardians. I've spend a lot of time in one of the best WH alliances and it was often said and proven that if you want to save up some ISK, yet still be the main component of a fleet you just have to pilot a Guardian (Logi V is somewhat needed, but not essential). You can also look at some of RnKs videos and see that the gang doesn't really matter, because the Guardian group is what keeps it all from falling apart.The Devoter is also an extremely good HIC, practically the best option for a HIC in an armor group.

If you plan on visiting nullsec any time soon the Zealot will help a great deal in that.

Last but not least, Cruiser V gives you access to the Damnation and the Absolution, both of which are extremely good. The Damnation being fielded whenever possible in WH space and the Absolution is sometimes used instead of Legions.

I'd say go for Amarr Cruiser V, it gives you a lot of options for the SP investment. However, the Cruiser skills open up so many option that it would be wise to consider training 1 or 2 more.

In my mind, gallente Cruiser V offers too little to warrant me spending time on it, but that's just me.

Actually, I have to admit you are terribly right. Unless you print your own Isk, T3s are not appropiate training ships.

Totally depends what you want it for. Ishtar is great for PvE -- especially against Guristas and Serpentis. It's seen better days for PvP. Pilgrim is an odd ship that can get a gank in here and there and can be competently fit as an all-purpose exploration platform. Curse still -- after all these years -- has a great reputation as a solo/small gang killer. Gila is like an Ishtar minus the sentry bonuses plus a somewhat better passive shield tank.

I personally prefer the Amarr ships that Amarr Cruiser V makes available to the Gallente ones (like Curse and Pilgrim, for example), but that's just personal opinion.