Ships & Modules

I want to brawl. I started playing in 2008 when Minmatar was "Winmatar" - things have changed. I have 10 million skill points, mostly invested in Minmatar ships and projectile based weapons.

Looking at all the ships, I'm starting to think that the common thread is "kiting" throughout the whole thing - high speed, long range is a prevalent theme for minmatar.

I loaded up EFT and started comparing ships in the Minmatar lineup to the Gallente "equivalent" and came to the realization that Gallente Brawlers are just straight up superior in terms of damage and tank. Minmatar has an advantage in terms of signature radius, speed, range, fitting, capless weapons, and in some instances - tracking.

So I come to you, dear forum: Which Minmatar ships are the best for in-your-face brawling? Or should I just bite the bullet and cross-train to Gallente?

That's what I was thinking. I was considering testing out a Cynabal to do exactly what you just said. My main concern is whether ot not it can get under blasters. I was thinking that a tracking distributor would go well to ensure that speed tanking works, but the TD then takes the places of something else, making it seem like an iffy decision. I was hoping to slap a web/ab/mwd/scram/cap booster. I could go without the cap booster but the cynabal already starts with a low capacitor. I haven't messed around with it much in EFT yet as I was thinking I should undock with one and see how tight of an orbit I can get with an AB on.

*edit* also, in regards to speed/sig tanking, that only works in 1v1. Once you are dealing with multiple enemies on grid, you can't keep your transversal high unless all of your enemies are clumped together in the center of your orbit (which is never) . This makes speed tanking not so good - and at that point, you might as well try to burn in a straight line away from the targets to see if you can spread them out and start taking them on one-by-one. Kiting itself has an issue; competent pilots won't take the bait of a kiter as more and more players learn that leeroying into the trap of a kiter is bad.

So after digging deeper into the older threads here on Ships & Modules, and comparing ships in EFT, Minmatar is not looking as good as it once was :(

when i see "the right pilot" near the name of a ship i automatically know it's a subpar ship.

cyclone, breacher, slasher are good brawlers
sleipnir and claymore are good brawler as well if you don't mind the price tag
typhoon and maelstrom are good brawlers assuming you wont get blobbed .
and by good i mean ships that with equally skilled pilots have a fair chance of winning a fight, of course a muninn with a good pilot can beat a deimos with a bad pilot but that doesn't make the muninn a good ship

Cool, thanks so much for the feedback. I was thinking Cyclone and Sleip were the best in the cruisers for Minmatar brawlers. I'm not ready for the long train time yet, but for now I'm going to join up with some others and fly a Wolf for my brawling needs. Main reason people have said Wolf isn't good as a brawler is because of a lack of mid slots. In a 2+ man fleet it can still perform (I think/hope anyways).

Hey mate,

Look up (google) the dual prop dual rep stabber fleet issue fit. Its an oldy but a goody. Uses Dual 180mm autocannon, 2 MARs, and dual prop with a cap booster, can take on a small group of frigates and/or a couple of cruisers and come out on top. Its the definition of brawling - get in close, orbit with AB and pound them!

One of my absolute favorite cruisers.

T

The Breacher is my preferred minnie frigate to brawl with; almost like a mini-Hawk minus the obvious resist profile, but you can patch holes w rigs, slap on x2 MASB w rockets and an AB, and you're set. Cyclone and Sleip are awesome, there are some excellent PvP vids out there with those two highlighted: Crystal clone w blue pill is preferred for solo work with those two.

good luck!

classic minmatar kite ships have a very small enable list these days

blaster boats you will never get under, but you could just straight up kite them. drones and missile will become the bane of your existence. and they're both quite popular today

artillery is pretty much unfittable to most attack ships, and the cane

stabber is great, it's like a much less tanky/punchy vaga

2008 minmatar were NOT winmatar. They apex was around 2010 after the PRojectile changes. IN 2008 they were considered the WEAKEST of all 4 races.

100MN AB Vaga with a large shield booster is pretty strong warlord ship.

I've got a dual prop stabber fit that ive been meaning to try out, it costs a total of 23mil including ammo. So less than some t2 frig hulls. Depending on the upcoming navigation changes things may just be going back to Winmatar