Ships & Modules

I know that the endgoal is probably a Vargur or more likely a Machariel, but I'm trying to help a newbie friend out and since I personally hate Minmatar ships (AMARR 4 LYFE) I'm not really sure what the progression ought to be.

I've recommended a rifter -> thrasher so far, and that should be fine while he grinds level 2 missions, but what after that?

Excellent thanks. And am I correct in advising him to stick to autocannons instead of artillery? AFAIK arty is only good for alpha/instablap stuff and has terrible dps

no, actually artillery is preferable for all of the ships for PVE until you get to the mach/vargur and the TFI (assuming were talking about the typhoon) actually uses missiles.

Well once you have t2 everything (including guns) all you really have to do is train gallente BS and large autocannon spec and that easily slides you over.

Nobody said it will be a quick transition, you will definitely be missioning for at least a month in your mael before getting into a mach/varg

Minmatar does have a missile lineup now that their ships have been rebalanced.

Breacher -> Talwar -> Bellicose -> Cyclone -> Typhoon
(Frigate) -> (Destroyer) -> (Cruiser) -> (Battlecruiser) -> (Battleship)

Bear in mind I haven't tested them out as I don't have missile skills so I can't attest for if they compete with the turret ships (not counting the guns vs missiles arguments).

For the turret lineup it might be easier with meta artillery for low skilled pilots as rats in lvl 1-3 missions dies so quickly, but for lvl 4's I'd recommend autocannons (even for the Maelstrom). Artillery/Autocannon discussion is somewhat preferential though, and you should fly what you like, NOT what people says you must fly with.

Given that the Maelstrom turns like a half sleeping dinosaur engulfed in quicksand and has the capacitor of a mosquito, I wouldn't try that, tbh.

As for the missile path, it's good enough, not as focused as the Caldari one, but it works for the most part.

TFI sadly is worse than either a Maelstrom or Mach in every possible way, at least for PvE. The only thing it brings to the table is a little more EHP and lots of useless low slots, which even if you throw some nanos in will not make it into a Mach. Its tank is terrible, and it doesn't have the speed or bonuses needed to sig tank or dictate range and project damage like the Mach does.

The reason the Mach is so expensive is because you will complete missions in 1/5 the time compared to the alternatives like the Mael, so just keep that in mind when you're setting your priorities. Running L4s in the Mael is borderline unbearable because of it's glacial speed and inability to do anything other than sit around like a bump on a log soaking up damage and getting speed tanked by everything.

The Mach is fitted and flown in a completely different way, because most of its tank is from its low sig and high speed, and you can dictate range on any NPC target, making it easy to one shot even elite frigates. The only thing that can ever slow you down in it are the missions where you get dropped into a room on top of five elite frigs that insta-web you. In that case, you'll need to rely on drones to unstuck yourself (and that's pretty much the only time you ever need to launch them).

No, you deal ~87-90% damage at 40km with 1400s. You will deal ~50% damage at 83-86km. Assuming we are talking about EMP/Fusion/Phased Plasma here. Mael will pop BSs at 40-50km with two volleys (thats two volleys from all your four groups).

if you want the missile path

L1 = talwar
L2 + L3 = cyclone
L4 = typhoon

i use them and it's really good, you need some drone skills though

When I first started playing, I went up through L3s with a thrasher. At level 3, I had to fight skirmish style at med/long range, flying perpindicular, etc (actually, all skills you need for pvp, so an excellent training scenario to fight in higher level than your ship).

Eventually I switched to a passive Hurricane (don't know if that works these days) and then into a Mael. An artillery mael works just fine for l4s. No need to switch to close range or anything. No need for faction ships either. Save your ISK.