EVE New Citizens Q&A

Wow, good question.

I tried FW once. I was interested in the 'orbital bombardment' so I studied that aspect.

I noted only 'small' weapons could be used in orbital bombardment, so I found a ship that could mount eight small weapons.

I found the Coercer and armed it with lasers and the 'tactical' crystals. I vistted the militia office and enlisted. I hurried to a nearby FW site and contacted the 'locals'. I told them I was fitted for orbital bombardment.

I was immediately told to follow two other destroyers to a planet needed such attention. I followed.

When we jumped into the target system, my escort vanished, but the enemy was waiting. Thus ended my only attempt at FW.

Hope you fare better.

For mission running, Stealth Bombers are used fairly regularly in FW. Many FW missions involve killing a couple BS's inside a plex, and SB's provide fairly safe and easy travel to & from the mission site, as well as solid dps to kill the target.

For PvP, not so much. SB's have a hard time applying dps to frigates, and are generally low-tank ships themselves. Their damage bonus is only to torpedo's.

Covert Ops are used for scouting, and occasionally as a very unconventional attack vessel (see battle helios, buzzard, etc). They sport lots of mids for ewar, used to disable your target, but lack dps and tank making them more of a gimmick combat vessel than your standard frigate.

For a beginner in Faction Warfare, a Stealth Bomber is a powerful tool that can do 5 things fairly well...

- scout: Find out which systems targets are lurking in and getting "eyes" on them for friendlies (which greatly assists gangs and fleets in being able to field the right equipment).

- DPS: a well skilled Stealth Bomber pilot can add a good 400 to 500 DPS to a fight at 40+km ranges (note: this applies only against ships larger than Cruisers). Just be aware that drones and small ships will easily ruin your day (i.e. don't stick around if someone starts looking at you funny).

- Shadow Fleets: same concept as the Assault Frigate "Wolfpack" gangs... but with cloaks. The "advanced" form of this is the "Blop-drop" where a Black-Ops battleship jumps (see: teleports) you to a target that has been caught by a friendly fleetmember..

- Bunker/Hub Busting: if a system goes vulnerable, you can bring a Stealth Bomber in to deal decent and consistent damage with the ability to cloak and hide if a superior force comes along to crush you.

- run missions: as someone stated above, most FW missions (especially the higher level ones) only require that you kill a battlecruiser/battleship or structure... which the Stealth Bomber is ideal for. Plus, you have the added ability to warp off, cloak, and wait if hostiles show up to ruin your day (note: FW missions can be seen and warped to by anyone in system... be they neutrals or enemy militia).
However, you might need a bit of assistance as Stealth Bombers are not well known for their tank.


More advanced cloaking ships would be the Force Recon Cruisers. They lack the "instant attack" aspect of the Stealth Bomber (see: their ability to target is delayed after dropping cloak), are slower, and don't always deal good DPS... but they can take FAR more damage than a Stealth Bomber can and can employ powerful Electronic Warfare to cripple enemies.
For solo people... the Pilgrim and, to a lesser degree, Arazu stand out.


Frigates and Destroyers are the current "bread and butter" ships in FW. All are good in their own ways... the trick is to play to each ones' strengths and learn the weaknesses of the others.


ShahFluffer's guide to Faction Warfare:

1. SET UP YOUR OVERVIEW!! Make it so that "friendlies" do not show up (helps prevent friendly fire incidents and reduces clutter) and especially make sure that militia status supersedes outlaw/suspect status (quite a few militia members have low security status, making them "blinky," and attacking them will incur a large penalty on your standings with the militia... and will often result in your swift termination at the hands of these friendlies).

2. Buy ships and mods in bulk (mostly frigates and destroyers) and fit all of them in about 2 or 3 different ways ways for flexibility (ex, shield-fit, armor-fit, DPS/gank-fit, nano-fit, etc). Have them sitting, pre-fit, in an easy to access station... preferably one in low-sec that many other militia members use.

3. You will lose a lot of ships in militia. Have a steady source of income to replace stuff (which can often come from plexing FW systems).

4. Do not give away friendly fleet locations and/or friendly ship types in Militia Chat. The enemy has many spaiz!!!

5. Learn the area well. This will help you when you are looking for stuff to kill or escape from hostiles.

6. When looking for a fleet, type "X" into militia chat and eventually you will get picked up.

6i. Alternatively, go out and roam a bit. If you stumble upon a friendly fleet, they might pick you up. If not, keep looking (and try killing some stuff while you're at it).

7. Once you join a fleet, join audio (be it the in-game EvE audio, Ventrilo, Teamspeak, Mumble, Jabber, etc) and LISTEN.

7i. LISTEN SOME MORE.

7ii. ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE LISTENING????

7iii. If you cannot figure out where the fleet is by listening, ask [politely] by typing in fleet.

8. The FC (fleet commander) is GOD himself and his orders should be followed to the letter (ex. even if you're in a frigate, SHOOT THE GODDAMN "PRIMARY" that has been called). Try to keep idle chatter to a minimum (unless it's slow) and don't say anything when an engagement is underway. If you have a question... use your best judgement and ask afterwards.

9. Get to know the "regulars" within your timezone. Good things will follow if you make friends with them.

10. Listen to everyone's advice... no matter how abrasive it is. Chances are, they know what they are doing and you don't.


And most importantly... have fun!!

As stated in previous posts, YES stealth bombers are extremely useful in Faction Warfare and FCs often request them in their fleets. They are also excellent lightweight assets for IHub attack fleets (the Infrastructure Hub is attacked in order to transfer control of a system to your faction when the system is vulnerable).

Try and get into a player corporation that has joined Faction Warfare - they are usually new-pilot friendly, can teach you the ropes, and offer more involved fleets than players in the NPC corporations.

T1 frigates are your best option most of the time. They are cheap, good PVP ships following the ship attribute overhauls. They can also access the "novice" complexes which are most frequently populated.

You'll figure it all out once you sign up for your faction. There are no secrets to it or specific ways - it's just a great way to learn PVP and make ISK. Have fun!