EVE New Citizens Q&A

I've always liked the idea of being able to snipe at people from afar. In RPGs, I tend to play archers or mages, in shooters, I gravitate towards sniper rifles and the like.

After reading up a bit, it seems like the Caldari is the one to go for since they do long range with gauss/railguns, is this correct? If not, which group specializes in long range damage? Which weapon type has the longest range?

In PvE, I am guessing that this ability is beneficial, being able to hit the rats long before they hit you. Is the ability to do long range damage beneficial in PvP as well?

I don't much like the frigates of the Caldari but the Corax looks sweet.... but then I see it does missiles/rockets. The Cormorant might be the one I want but I don't quite like the way it looks. Yes, I'm judging ships by their looks at the moment Having said that, the Naga looks killer as well and does hybrid turrets!

Well, everybody has both a long range and short range turret

Long Range:
Hybrids (Gallente / Caldari ships) -- Railguns
Projectile (Minmatar) -- Artillery
Lasers (Amarr) -- Beams

Short Range
Hybrid -- Blasters
Projectile -- Autocannon
Laser -- Pulse


I'm not sure with missiles (since they change names each size ... and the flight time thing kinda makes them 'meh')


With that in mind though, each weapon platform has its own strengths and weaknesses -- for example, while you "can" hit out to stupid long range with a railgun, the DPS is less than blasters ... and people can get "under" your guns (i.e. close enough that you can't track them anymore).

Yes, but I'm sure someone does long range better than everyone else? Or is the range for a railgun roughly the same as an artillery or beam weapon? A quick look at the market shows optimal ranges as 31km for Railgun Medium, 24km for Artillery Medium, and 25km Beam Medium weapons. Obviously skills and other things come into the equation as well.



Noted, this is mainly for PvE solo mostly, or PvP with support.



Well, as a long-range player, I'm used to this a bit.... it is annoying shooting at things that die before my weapons get to it but such is the case with long range.



Yep, but again, surely someone does long range better than a different race/weapon type?



I guess this means tracking for long-range weapons is crap? I guess that makes sense if comparing with a short-range weapon that needs to rotate quickly to track a close target.

For frigates and destroyers, considering only dps at max range, I'd say t2 railguns with spike are the best.

Especially on Caldari hulls that can have up to 100% bonus to optimal range: Cormorant and Harpy.

For example, a Cormorant with a snipe fit can easily have 100+ dps @100km, with good skills.

Don't know what's best regarding cruisers and above.

I just want to be able to reach out the furthest and thus be able to shoot first. Obviously, shooting with a good chance of hitting.

I LOL at the suggestion of ship aesthetics. I just spent a good part of the afternoon looking at the ships. I guess with a bias to Caldari. Maybe I should look for weapon effects videos too just to see/hear how different weapons sound like. But no... no. I like long range better than pretty effects or wake-the-neighbors sounds.

I guess I'll be playing with rails, blasters, and missiles!

PS. love the sig, Iria!

http://o.smium.org/loadout/6597

The "longbow" Cormorant fit.

Of course, it has no tank. And isn't cap stable with the microwarpdrive online (not just active. If it's online, you're not stable)




One small interesting feature with missiles:

If you have long range missiles, and a fast ship, if you dive towards your enemy at the same time as firing, you can increase your apparent rate of fire (as viewed by the missiles hitting the target) As each wave has less distance to travel.

Congrats for CSM and many thanks for your website!

When will you be getting your cool CSM icon?

For my mission running, I use a hybrid Cormorant for lvl1 missions, a rail Moa for lvl 2 missions and a rail Ferox for lvl 3 missions. In the Ferox I can put in iron charges and shoot the rats at 70km and then put in antimatter for under 30km for more damage. The goal is to be able to destroy the frigs with your alpha damage before they get to you, but if they do, then you can pick them off with your drones that the moa and ferox has, my tank is nearly unbreakable too, I usually have 2 shield hardeners on for the primary rat damage and another hardener for its secondary, then one resist amplifier for each. I can be cap stable for 12 min!

And yeah, rails have the best range and blasters have the best damage.

Don't think you need t2 guns, the prototype gauss guns have the same stats as t2 guns but the t2 use more cup and powergrid , and the gauss guns need A LOT less skills to use.

Just to clarify a few things.


- there is no "best" long range weapon system. They all have benefits and tradeoffs.
---- Railguns hit out the farthest but deal mediocre damage per second with mediocre tracking.
---- Beam lasers are medium-long range sniper weapons that deal high damage per second with high tracking (for a long range weapon system).
---- Artillery cannons are medium range sniper weapons that have terrible tracking, terrible damage per second, but extremely high volley damage (one good shot can insta-kill someone).

- While many Caldari ships have range bonuses this does not mean that they are the pre-eminent snipers of the game. Any ship can be made into a sniper ship if you know what you are doing and some ships can even be superior to others in certain situations.
---- Example: A Naga can be fit into a wicked sniper boat... able to effectively engage anything between 100km and 250km. However it is bulky and slow. If an enemy has probes out they can easily warp to me before I can get away. On the other hand, a Zealot (Tech 2 Amarr cruiser) can get in, fire a few volleys, and warp out of a battlefield without breaking much of a sweat... at the cost of a slightly lower engagement range.

- To effectively engage at range requires speed and agility. Tanking damage is a secondary concern. If you are caught, you are pretty much dead no matter what.

- For any long range ship, regardless of class, your greatest fear will be small, fast ships. If they can get into a close orbit around you, your weapons will no be able to track them and you will die miserably.
And yes... battleships can totally die to a single frigate. It's not common, but it happens.

- Missiles are considered to be quite good for PvE purposes even at range. And in PvP missiles are certainly not bad (despite what you may hear).
No, the problems stem from delayed damage in ranged combat in addition to damage application being more "class specific" compared to turrets (ex. Heavy Missiles are good at dealing damage against cruiser and larger sized targets, but are not terribly effective against anything smaller).

Just for kicks I have a Manticore with 120 km range, but it takes almost 15 seconds for the first volley to hit:

[Manticore, Ratting Sniper]
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Ballistic Control System II

Medium Shield Extender II
Upgraded EM Ward Amplifier I
F-90 Positional Sensor Subroutines, Targeting Range Script
Limited 1MN MicroWarpdrive I

[empty high slot]
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Torpedo Launcher II, Scourge Javelin Torpedo
Torpedo Launcher II, Scourge Javelin Torpedo
Torpedo Launcher II, Scourge Javelin Torpedo

Small Hydraulic Bay Thrusters I
Small Rocket Fuel Cache Partition I