EVE New Citizens Q&A

Okay, so I've just began and I have a few questions.


1) What race is the "better" race for pvp?
2) What's the differences between each races main ships?


Also, if you have any tips feel free to post em!

The guy above me is 100% right. You can pretty much just create a char you like the looks of and then go from there.

Your simple questions lead to very complicated answers, but that is the nature of Eve.

No race is better or worse at pvp. From a purely character screen selection perspective, each character is the same. You can create an Amarr Character and jump in a rookie ship and run to Gallente space and never see the inside of another Amarr ship again. That's your choice.

As for the ships as they are described generally.

Amarr are generally the slowest in speed, heaviest in armor and use lasers as a weapon system. The Amarr also use drones frequently and have ships with missiles, so the generalization is a just a generalization. The Amarr also prefer tracking disruption and capacitor drains (vamps) as their Ewar components. The Amarr generally do EM (electro-magnetic) damage.

Minimatar are generally the fastest ships in the game, tend to be more versatile. Generally they are shield tanked, but also depend on a speed advantage to mitigate some of the incoming damage. They favor projectile weapons which do combination of damage types depending on the ammunition but there are ships with missiles and drones. (Again they are more versatile). Minimatar ships generally favor explosive damage. They prefer webs or modules that decrease the speed of other ships and use target painter to increase the size (signature) of the other ships to make them more vulnerable to damage.

Galentee (the master race). Galentee are more middle of the road but are not thought of as more versatile than the Minimatar. They are generally faster than the Amarr, and are armor tanked, but generally have lighter armor. They many times receive bonuses to hybrid weapons which is a sold middle of the road weapon system that trades range for better damage or range with less damage. Galentee ships also receive drone bonuses in many hulls, making them very powerful in the current meta. They receive bonuses to warp disruption on certain ships and bonuses to sensor dampners which can either decrease the locking range of another ship or can increase the locking time of another ship.

Caldari. Caldari ships are more the mirror image of an Amarr. They are faster (slower than Minimatar) but are more heavily shielded. They generally favor missiles in all forms, although they have ships with hybrid weapon bonuses. Missiles are very versatile in their own right, as they never miss so long as the missile is in range. They can do a wide variety of damage types but generally favor kinetic damage. Caldari also receive bonuses to ECM which breaks your ships ability to lock onto targets, which is percentage based.

Beauty of Eve is that every generality above was qualified. Generally slower or faster, favors amour over shields. But the individual skills of both the player, and the character play very important roles. Pvp is really about maximizing your ships strengths and countering your ships weaknesses. It's about learning the modules that make your ship better and about learning how to fight effectively given your choices style or preferences.

My word of advice is to pay attention to what you want to do and how you think the game should be played. Do you want to get in close and brawl or stay out at range and kite? Do you want to fire missiles or do you want the pleasure of laser pew pew? Choose what you will. Enjoy your game, and be confident that your ship properly fitted and flown can win in the correct situation. (Well maybe it might, but just drink the kool-aid).

Form follows function.

1. Remember Neverwinter Nights? You can make a "stupid" mage, or a "very smart" orc and have a good time with those characters. Well Eve is similar. You are limited to capacitor and powergrid usage. What is "best" is going to be determined by what you want to do - next is going to be how you do that.

For example, I happen to know that J'Poll sometimes does venture fleet roams. I sometimes fly a "salvaging venture" in low/null sec and make about 25 million an hour off that particular boat doing so. However the venture is really a "mining frigate". Some people may say its not meant to be used in the way people are using it.

When I first started playing eve I was in awe of people that discovered how to exploit their ships and adapt to situations with "fits" that caught people totally off their guard. I was literally "scared" of one guy that was "theoretically" a corp leader, even though in his 5-6 years of playing he has never been in a corp outside the npc corp.

Fly safe o/

As others said, there's no real best race or ship for pvp.

Even inside the same class, ships tend to follow very different trends which are more dependent on their actual role than race (like frigates are fast and meant for tackling, destroyers are anti-frigate platforms, etc - this is universal for all races of ships).

The only race specific things you'll encounter are the prevalence of weapon systems used by their ships (minmatar ships have bonuses to projectiles and missiles, caldari for missiles and hybrids, gallente for hybrids and drones, amarr for lasers and drones) as well as electronic warfare (webs, target painters for minmatar, ecm for caldari, sensor damp for gallente and tracking disruptors and neuts for amarr).

You will eventually cross-train for everything, as each race of ships has very useful things.

Whichever you choose drone skills will not be wasted, every race uses them but the Gallente ship range generally makes the most of them, especially in the smaller ship classes.

I know I'm going to train skills between them, but having a hard time deciding between the two as my starting race/faction.

But, while I debate on that, what skills would you recommend for a beginner?

You forgot the most important thing...If it includes a interiour rear view mirror, you MUST have one so you can hang your fluffy dice somewhere.

If I were to roll a new character I would skill gallente (no matter who you start with - just what you skill up for).

Their ships are widely used in 3 classes I see: frigates, destroyers and cruisers. And I mean most of them.

Every race has ships that are good, and they are pretty balanced however I noticed people don't fly amarr and minmatar t1 frigs a lot. And these are the ships you will start your pvp with most likely.

Caldari ships are pretty common but missiles have separate support skills and they will be a pain in the ass to level properly. Sure - they work for both pvp and pve, but so do drones, and everyone will need these at some point. So why waste time?

From what I see - minmatars are the worst off in frigate class. Their only upside is that their navy frig is cheap and easy to replace (seriosuly - it's a huge benfit, and makes the ship very popular), and that breacher is a beast. But breacher requires missiles (and a bit of drones) so I would, again, advice you not to get into these.

Why? My main is caldari and it took my 5 months to skill him up so he could fly rocket ships well enough to cross train. Not whining - it was fun as it lasted, but did hurt when all I could fly was a condor and a kestrel (and a hookbill I love and can't afford to spam at enemy)

for newbs like us, i've been told as much as possible to train Engineering skills as a priority because it heavily dictates the mods you can equip...then train support, defensive and offensive skills on the sides.