EVE New Citizens Q&A

Ages ago the common theme when it came to using rockets was "don't" as they're about as much use as a chocolate teapot.

Then I heard that they had been fixed, then later on we were told that they are still useless.

So, if one if flying a frigate missile boat are they still really that useless or would one be better off throwing stones and using strong language?

- Myfanwy

Rockets are currently a very viable set up for PvP. Especially on ships that get hull bonuses to complement them. Lots of good PvP set ups out there with rockets as the weapon system. Just keep in mind that your roughly at the blaster vs rail gun argument. Blasters (ie rockets) give you better DPS. Railguns (ie missiles) give you better range. Everything is a trade off (as I am sure CCP intended it to be).

To be fair both options you've outlined sound fun (rockets and/or strong language).

Missiles (and rockets) are still great weapon systems. They don't suffer from tracking disruption, falloff, or transversal. On the downside, they can be very dependent on signature radius and the speed of your opponent.

For solo PVP work they are (as outlined above) an excellent choice. As a rocket wielding pilot you can stay outside of blaster optimal range and pound away. Equally, I would assume you could 'get under the guns' of some lasor/autocannon pilots by hugging them as close as possible and keeping a high transversal. Of course, webs and a scram may well ruin your day either way.

Similarly, a Golem (or Raven or *gasp* even a lowly Drake) can cruise (pun intended) through most PVE content with ease (I'll also throw in the Caracal and Corax are great for entry level PVE).

Where a lot of the negative energy comes from is fleet work.
In a medium sized group (and larger), the fact that damage is applied instantly from guns makes a huge difference if you're trying to get enemy ships off the field thereby reducing the incoming DPS quicker. The longer the range the more this applies.

In higher end PVE (i.e. incursions) where fleets are attempting to remove NPCs from the field as quickly as possible missile ships are seen as a detriment because when an enemy ship explodes before the missile salvo hits - it essentially becomes wasted DPS. That coupled with the flight time of missiles can color them in a negative light for our DPS theory crafters.

I have seen fleets of missile ships used to good effect. Where they better than a fleet of gun based ships? Maybe not, but sometimes doing the unexpected has advantages (in PVP).

While I may have missed a lot of finer points, in my opinion, this is what the argument against missiles has come down to.

Thanks, I must explore this Test Server thing one day.

Anyway, the Hawk is one for the list. Thanks for that.