EVE General Discussion

Back into the game after not playing for a very long time. I'm checking out what to do in general, as I remember almost nothing, but there's one thing I'm having trouble with.

Differences in ships between factions. While many other skills seem to be focused on specializing into a field, the faction of ships you specialize into seems to be a bit more of a 'dedication' (for want of a better word) than other options. I'm sure someone has written up a practical guide on the general differences between, say, Caldari and Minmitar ships. Something for new players to pick a direction to train in, starting out, but I can't find one.

If it helps, I think I'll be focusing in nulsec exploring, trying to avoid combat whenever possible. In addition, the old recovered account has a character specialized in Caldari ships (but not excessively so) with a bit of Gallente training. I have no problem re-routing what factions ship I specialize in, if I have a good reason to. But the sooner I find out, the sooner I can queue the necessary skills.

And, ofc, you are not limited to that.

For instance, I wouldn't hesitate putting something like 800mm Auto's on a Geddon or similarly bonused ship.

The fun is in what you can come up with.

Guns/Missiles -

Missiles are pretty self explanatory. Rockets, Hams, Torps are your short range high dps options. LML, HML, and Cruises are long range lower DPS options. Multi-dmg types, ofc. Little cap usage.

Projectiles - Mainly exp/kin(but other dmg options available) Autos, decent tracking, excel in falloff at speed, primarily for kiting.
Arty's, poor tracking, high alpha.

Lasers - Mainly EM dmg, highly cap intensive. Pulses are your short range option. Beams long range. Secondary choice in drone boat, unless you are rocking a Pilgrim or Curse (or other similar ship.)

Hybrids - Mainly Therm/Kin dmg Less cap intensive than Amarr, but still cap intensive. Blasters, super short range, super high DPS, poor tracking. Rails, long range variant, lower DPS, ofc.

Drones -

Combat drones come in light, medium, and heavy variants. These are your mobile drone types. Sentries act as a non-mobile sniping drone. Racial types correlate to the damages outlined above in the weapons explanation.

There are also mining drones, E-War drones, salvage drones and logistics drones.

Gallente is the superior choice in PvE, but that comes down to preference.

And for your final question.......

Shield tank - Passive regen, reppers rep at the end of cycle, and it is your top line of defense.

Armor tank - No passive regen, reppers rep at the beginning of cycle, and it is the second line of defense, giving you a little buffer with your shield, provided you use a DC II.

Other than that....

Just read, read, read.

Side note: I might have how the reppers work backwards, at which point, I am sure someone can correct me. Sorry, it's evening on a Friday night and I have already began getting ****** up. vOv

NOTE: These are all generalizations and exceptions DO apply.

Lasers - Pulse lasers are short range, Beam lasers are long. Both have medium tracking, deal medium damage (relative to its class) and consume a lot of capacitor power. The saving grace of these weapons is that they require little ammunition (Tech 1 crystals are infinite, Tech 2 and Faction Crystals break after a lot of use), can swap ammo almost instantly (allowing them to adjust range and damage quickly), and are are relatively long range for their respective classes.

Hybrids - Blasters and short range, Railguns are long. These are weapons of extremes. Blasters can deal massive amounts of damage (more than any other weapon system) and have very high tracking, but their range requires you to get into a target's face. Railguns can fire at extremely long ranges but their damage is not the best. Both use capacitor power but not as much as lasers.

Projectiles - Autocannons are short range, Artillery is long. Autos have high tracking (compared to Lasers) and decently long range (compared to Blasters) but win in neither category. Autocannons also operate primarily in "falloff range" so their "on-paper" damage is less than other weapon systems. They make up for this though by having a wider array of ammunition to punch through a target's weaknesses.
Artillery has one of the shortest ranges and worst tracking compared to other long range systems, but it makes up it by dealing HUGE amounts of damage in single volleys.
Projectiles do not use capacitor power.

Missiles - Rockets, Heavy Assault Missiles, and Torpedoes are short range... Light Missiles, Heavy Missiles, and Cruiser missiles are long range.
Missiles never miss any target so long as they are in range (unlike turrets)... however they are more "class specific" in terms of how they apply their damage (ex. Torpedoes will deal terrible damage against a Frigate). Some ships have specific bonuses towards certain missile damage while others do not. Missile damage is always "pure" and not mixed with anything else.
No launcher uses capacitor power.

Armor - can create some of the "beefiest" tanks in the game in terms of raw hp. Some racial ships have bonuses that can enhance "pure hp" setups while others can create some nifty "active tanks" (see: regeneration) that soak up damage.
Since armor takes up low-slots you often have to make compromises in order to fit speed and damage modules (because speed and weapon enhancement modules also use low-slots) on top of speed penalties you often suffer from fitting bulky plates and some armor rigs.
You make up for this though by being able to fully use your mid-slots for utility and electronic warfare.

Shields - can create some of the most absurd "active tanks" (see: regeneration) in the game. As with armor, some racial ships have bonuses that can enhance "pure hp" setups while others can create some nifty "active tanks" (see: regeneration) that soak up damage.
Since shields take up mid-slots you often have to make compromises in order to fit utility and E-war (because utility and E-war modules also use mid-slots)... which may or may not cut into your already lower shield hp.
You make up for this though by being able to fully use your low-slots for speed and weapon enhancement.



Drones - Light Scouts are good against Frigates, Medium Scouts are good against Destroyers and Cruisers, Heavy Drones are good against Battlecruisers and up.
Ships Cruiser and up require some use of drones as supplementary damage and point defense... however certain ships (mostly belonging to the Gallente and Amarr) have bonuses specifically geared towards drone use.

Drones are semi-autonomous and do not consume any ship resources outside of the drone bay and bandwidth (allowing a degree of flexibility in fitting your ship)... however as a penalty, they can be shot and destroyed by anyone and require a fair degree of micromanagement.
Sentry Drones are a class of their own and are basically stationary turrets... with all the benefits and pitfalls of them.


As far as racial ship choices go...

Amarr - ships tend to be tankier and slower than their class counterparts in addition to having having a larger than normal capacitor to draw power from.
Some Amarr ships tend to be someone inflexible in terms of what you can do with them (sometimes being better suited for gang/fleet support than running solo)... other Amarr ships are "jacks of all trades" with a plethora of options and a "trick" they can be fitted for (ex. a Prophecy can fit turrets, missiles, or support modules in addition to using drones... but regardless of its configuration it is usually a very tanky ship).

Gallente - not as tanky as Amarr ships, but not as bulky either. They can usually burn forward in a straight line very well but tend to lack the agility to turn quickly. Some ships excel in "brawler" type setups while others are a bit more flexible in terms of what they can do given their more "spread out" fitting slots. This race is defined mostly by its weapon systems of choice; hybrids and drones.

Minmatar - while possessing some of the least "beefy" of ships in terms of tank, Minmatar ships tend to be some of the most agile. Many of their ships put extra emphasis on fast, skirmish tactics while others are a fair bit more flexible in terms of fitting setups.

Caldari - Think "shield version" of the Amarr. Many Caldari ships can a bit slow and cumbersome while others are
one trick ponies" that do their trick very, very well.

So you want others to do your research. have fun with that.

From what you said you want to be doing, you could always look at the new SOE ships.

Or just go into the tech 3's and keep sub systems and fits ready to swap out for what you need at the time.

For the most part though I always tell people they should train into Recon ships. :P You have a lot of options available especially if you've already trained each races cruiser to 5 as well. Recon ships was the first tech 2 spaceship command skill I trained to 5 and its worth it.

You'll most likely train to 5 in all races frigates, cruisers, and perhaps bs as well anyhow eventually, so there is no harm in looking beyond the race you started with.

Its nice to have the option available to you. I went the cross training route for all ship classes of every race to 5. ( Frig, cruiser, bc, dest, bs, etc. ) It opens up a lot more options for you and you feel less constrained by your choices.

Though you of course need the supporting skills for each race as well to effectively cross train.

Heh, the only thing that is probably worth ganking is the ship itself, which won't be lootable :D. With your estimate of about 8000 damage to worry about, it's not there, being closer to 4000, so it would get destroyed, but it's probably a safe flight, I can't imagine anyone will look at a Blackbird and think it has cargo worth risking a ship over. If I find anything too valuable (or too big, the ships are probably going to be sold), I can always see about liquidating it where I am.

Also, apparently, the place I had found to be my 'home base' was Jita... which is the most populated space in the game, according to the wiki. I assume this makes it a perfectly fine place to hang around, what with all the business going there. Any reason that I might want to find a quieter place to act as my main stash whilst I go galavanting about the galaxy?

RE: Jita....

Sometimes you will be locked out of the system at peak hours because it is full. You'll end up waiting around at the gate for your turn to enter. Move your home base 1 jump away if you want to stay around there.

Also, generally in EVE more people in system = less safe. Not more safe.

Hah, okay, I'll stay away from Jita. I didn't want to stay there, I just noticed that's where the bulk of my stuff was. I'll be moving out of there then. With the 'less safe' comment though, the trick will be getting out of there. I have a Badger in dock there, which would be good for hauling stuff to another area, but it might be worth blowing up for pirates in the area.

Any advice for a new place to plant my feet? 1.0 security might be safer space, but also have more people. Would a 0.8 sec area be a nice balance? I'll be venturing out to low-sec eventually, so maybe somewhere closer to one of those areas, while still being reasonably safe would be ideal. However, given the risk of large cargo movement, I don't want to have to do it again if I turn out I'd rather be somewhere else :D

Character sheet and assets suggest a I had a second home after Jita, that's still reasonably close to it. Seems as good a place as any, so unless there's a reason I should stay as far away as possible from Jita, I'll be setting up shop there.

With that move, and some more training missions, that'll be everything I need for now. Once I get settled, I might want to see about corporations, but that's for another time.