Ships & Modules

Hoo boy.

You have autocannons equipped. Stop that. Autocannons have low DPS compared to other options, and your ship doesn't have bonuses to projectiles (which is what autocannons are).

You need to start doing research. You want hybrid turrets. That's what your vexor has bonuses for. That means blasters in this case. What level is gallente cruiser? Get that to IV right away, then focus on training up to T2 drones and T2 guns.

Here's my suggestions as someone that started out in a Vexor about 12 months ago. I still fly them a lot in PVP as they are cheap, very deadly (~730+ DPS with guns overheated, my skills and a stationary target at my optimal range) and they are widely underestimated.


High slots:
- As many 'meta 4' medium blasters as you can fit, all of the same type (Ion/Electron/Neutron). Meta level is on the stats panel, higher is better, M4 is close to tech 2 performance but doesn't require any more skills than the tech 1 base version.
- Do not overheat your guns in PVE except in emergencies. In PVP, ALWAYS overheat them except in odd situations.

Drone bay:
- Ogre 1 x3. Train into these ASAP.
- If you can't use those, Hammerhead 1 x5. These do around 15% less DPS than the three Ogres. Technically you get more DPS with 2 Ogres, 2 Hammerheads and 1 Warrior, but then your drones move at different speeds to each other.
- Drones 5 is your friend. Gallente pilots should get this as their very first level 5 skill.
- Also carry Warrior 1 x5 and five ECM drones. The ECM drones are for escaping unexpected PVP situations.


Low slots:
- Drone Damage Amplifier 2 x2. If you can't fit tech 2, go with tech 1 but look to upgrade soon.
- Three armor tank modules (Damage Control II if you can use it, otherwise meta 2 or 3 as 4 is expensive, Medium Armor Repairer II or meta 4, and a mission appropriate armor resist module)
- For PVP, you want a big armor plate in there too, at the expense of something.


Mid slots:
Personal preference. I'd go with a web, meta 4 or tech 2 (helps Ogres hit frigates), an afterburner and a warp scrambler (for if you get attacked but do not want to flee). If you live in highsec the scram is not needed unless under wardec. The Omnidirectional Tracking Link module might sound good, but it is really only good with sentry drones, and tech 1 sentries are terrible.
Keep your last slot free for mission-specific counters to EWAR you expect to face (e.g. ECCM if the mission has jamming rats, a SeBo if it has tracking disruption).


Critical skills:
Drone Interfacing 3 (prereq: Drones 5). Get 4 in time. 5 can wait six months.
Gunnery skills to 3 (inc medium hybrids)
Ability to fit a tech 2 armor tank (use meta 4 until then)
Gallente Cruiser 3 (4 in time. 5 can wait a LONG time)
Thermodynamics 1 (which has a fair number of prereqs, all things you will want anyway). Lets you 'overheat' modules to get 10-30% more out of them for a short time. Very good in an emergency (including every PVP situation).



Edit: My fit, solo PVP oriented:
High: Full rack of Heavy Neutron Blaster II, Void M ammo
Mids: 10mn Afterburner II, 2x meta 4 multispectral ECM (Hypnos), 1x Warp Scrambler II (might be meta 4 instead, cannot remember). The ECM is a controversial choice.
Lows: 1x 400mm Steel Armor Plate II (might be meta 4 800mm, not home to check), 1x Damage Control Unit II, 1x Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II, 2x Drone Damage Amplifier II
Rigs (controversial choice): One of each hybrid rig (+10% attack speed, +10% damage, cannot remember names).
Drones: 3x Ogre 2, 5x Warrior 2, 5x ECM

The ECM modules and drones let me disengage from a fight that I thought was 1v1 but that suddenly becomes 3v1 and sometimes just get critical jams that win you a fight. The hybrid rigs help you kill someone fast, before help arrives. Again this is a PVP fit, hence the tank that's focused on keeping me alive long enough to kill someone but with no way to repair damage between fights.

A lot of tips have already been mentioned, but here's a couple more:

1) NEVER mix gun sizes, it's terrible beyond words.

2) Nothing wrong with using projectiles on non-bonused ships as they use no cap, but mostly the faction variant will be better due to ship bonuses.

3)
Hybrids: Gallente / Caldari
Projectiles: Minmatar
Lasers: Amarr
Missiles: Caldari / Minmatar
Drones: Gallente / Amarr (primarily, every ship with a drone bay should make use of it. Amarr / Gallente is more focused on drone damage on some ships though.)

4) There's no shame in asking for help on the forums fitting ships, but there's always trolls. Remember to use the search function as well! (Note: Some ships may have been rebalanced since some of the older fittings you find)

5) Better skills yield a lot more dps, but don't forget to get the skills for other things relelvant up as well. Tech 2 guns enables you to use specialized ammo for close and long range with each weapon. Some of these ammo types are really good, others are very situational in their use.

6) The dps you see from others is often calculated with all skills at 5 for easy comparison purposes, and is calculated through a fitting program such as pyfa or EFT where you can try out fitting ships out of the game. In game numbers for tank / dps is calculated differently from those programs, so don't be surprised if they're not the same.

7) Use the ships bonuses to your advantage, and don't just get the minimum skills for them in the long run (lots of skills to train as you start out, but try not to skill into everything at once as you will be the master of none).

For example your Vexor has:
Gallente Cruiser skill bonus per level:
5% bonus to Medium Hybrid Turret damage
10% bonus to drone hitpoints, damage and mining yield

So with Gallente Cruiser skill at 5, you would get a whopping 25% bonus to Medium Hybrid Turret damage, and 50% bonus to drone hitpoints, damamge and mining yield.

Usually getting the skill to 4 is plenty for some time, as getting the last level takes very long.

Feel free to send me a mail if you're curious about other things I haven't covered, or something else entirely.

'Agree with much suggested already. I'd likewise highlight the importance of Tech 2 light drones. Training drones to 5 asap & the drone supports to 4 would be a good route to go early on.

Finally training Propulsion Jamming to support the use of Stasis Webifiers which will help you effectively apply your damage on targets via your hybrids & drones.

I will toss some advice into the ring as well...NEVER use a fit you found on Battleclinic. 95% of them are crap.

Ask here on the forums, ask in corp/alliance chat, and check killboards for fits. Download EFT or EveHQ and make sure you can fit everything before purchasing it.

Don't forget your slot 6 thru 10 implants. Some give generic turret damage whereas other are specific to turret type (e.g. medium projectile turrets)

Would short or long range targeting be more preferred? In my opinion letting the drones handle anything 20km+ would be best, and use short range weaponry. Yay/Nay?

Also keep in mind people love to lie about & exaggerate their DPS to look cool. Take every DPS claim you hear with Lot's Wife.

There is no magic skill that will suddenly give you 200 dps, however some of the more time efficient skills are:

Drones 5
Scout drone 5
Weapon upgrades 4
Gallente drone specialisation 2
Combat drone operation 4
Medium hybrid turret 4
Gunnery 5
Surgical strike 3
Rapid firing 4
Gallente cruiser 3
Sharpshooting 4
Trajectory analysis 4
Motion prediction 4

NPCs target drones quite often and will kill them if not recalled. Would not recommend sending your drones too far away.

Light drones will only get targeted by frigates
Medium drones will get targeted by cruiser and down
Large/Sentry drones will get targeted by all NPCs