Warfare & Tactics

So my friend and I just started playing, we are going to start learning how to PvP in Tech 1 Frigates. He is going to fly a typical auto-cannon/armor tank Rifter, and i was looking for something with a little more dps at the cost of tank.

What is really appealing to me is a Kestrel with Rockets, and going for max dps. We plan on choosing our targets cery carefully, and getting a number advantage. I was also looking at a Tristan with Blasters, but like I said, I want to maximize DPS to the fullest. Glass Cannon/Max DPS/Fast is my play style in every game and it's what I'm best at and I would like to incorporate it into EVE while I train up my skill points.

Tristan is mint but newer players will get more out of the incursus simply because it doesnt need both missile (rocket) and gunnery support skills, and can run reallly well with just a 200 plate so resist and armour rep skills arent needed either.

Everyone but me loves Rifters but I think they encourage lazy gameplay but I can't argue that they aren't effective ships. Caldari with very low skillpoints are generally horrible and Amarr are probably a better area to go for for larger ships too. The entry level Amarr are generally tough to fly with the exception of the slicer, which is a navy frigate therefore not cost effective for newcomers.... its also quite cap intensive which demands high skillpoints too.

I believe you might be interested in the

[Incursus, Incrediblustus]

Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S

Experimental 1MN Afterburner I
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

Damage Control II
Adaptive Nano Plating II

Small Anti-Explosive Pump I
Small Hybrid Locus Coordinator I
Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I


Hobgoblin II x1

Breaks 200dps on heat and almost no tank, finest Gallente glass in a tiny form factor cannon format. Try more sensible versions with a 200mm plate or a small repper, I like the repper version best, or MWD with lesser guns. Keep Null loaded.

OTOH. who would want to use inferior guns. Light Neutron Blaster, best small turret.

yeah def incursus.
my fav t1 frig by far.

This is Minmatar. Gallente is glass cannon but lacks the fast part and yes, you will need drone skills.

The only reason I'm hesitant to fly an incursus is because I want to use missles/rockets later on. I was going to go Kestrel --> Carcal --> Crow ---> Drake, then decide what to do after that. Is the Merlin better than a Kestrel going for DPS? I feel like it would be best for me to use a rocket frigate because I plan on using rockets/missiles later on and I feel training a weapon I don't plan on using would be a waste of time. Plus, If I'm going pure DPS wont the Kestrel be able to keep up with the Incursus?

For my Kestrel I was thinking about going:

[High Slot]
Rocket Launcher II x 4

[Mid Slot]
Medium Shield Extender II
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Experimental 1 MN Afterburner I

[Low Slot]
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Ballistic Control System II

[Rigs]
Small Core Defense Field Extender I
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Small Bay Loading Accelerator I

And yes haha, I am a total noob. I have only been playing for 4 days so I'm not sure if this fit is good or not.
Thanks for all the input btw

Frigates with only one drone slot liike the Incursus aren't really going to benefit as much from high drone skills so don't really worry about that being a significant factor, just train the drone skills up a few levels. Sure train them later but for starters work on tech II GUNS or Missiles, and your ships support skills in general.

Also, when it comes to armour tanks, while reps are nice, while training up you can live with putting a plate and damage control on for tank since they are less skill intensive than either reps or resistance modules (nano plating and armour hardeners).

Also as a general rule when coming into PVP from a completely new character. Support skills to 3 makes a huge difference to your ships. Supports to 4 is great. Some skills are important to get to V as soon as possible, particularly the ones that give access to tech II guns and tanking modules (Tech II damage control and guns should be a priority for your ship). For frigates, mwd's, scrams, webs, nos and ewar mods don't have to be tech II... Some ships I have perfect skills for still will be fitted with x5 webs, j5b scramblers and 'knave' nosferatu's.

Furthermore, consider thermodynamics to be something fairly important to push for as soon as you can since the extra damage that heat provides really can be the difference between living and dying.

Overall while the list of 'needed' skills can seem quite overbearing, fly with what you have and realise that a lot of the hurdles of getting into PVP are simply the lack of experience. Sitting around waiting for skills to complete just means you aren't getting that vital experience under your belt.

Just to reiterate, once you have level 3 in the relevant skills for a ship then you are more than half way to having those perfect skills and it really doesn't take that long to achieve. Do not ever let people put you off by saying you lack the skillpoints to PVP. These people simply do not understand where the true skill in combat comes from ♥

If you want to check what skills your ship or modules need you can do so easily in EFT then make an evemon skillplan that allows you to fit your ships as you wish to... http://go-dl1.eve-files.com/media/corp/ladyspank/incursus_skillcheck_example.jpg

The lack of range dictation would hopefully be covered by the wingman mentioned in the OP. That said, I do love the merlin, and its tech two counterpart, the Hawk is a decent missile slinger but needs active shield tank skills. To OP, I would say that missiles need some help to reach their full damage potential, especially once you get to the larger classes. I would try both gun and missile ships to try and get a handle on what you prefer in practice as opposed to theory. If DPS is your thing, you will probably want to shoot for something like the Gallente Megathron or Talos, Caldari Rokh or Raven (PVP Raven needs a gang to web/paint targets so the torps can do their thing) or the VERY skill intensive Minmatar Typhoon.

By the way, a good ship for you might be the Gallente Brutix. About as straightfoward a ship as there ever was.

Oh and for drones, you should certainly train Drones itself to 5, but think about going for ECM drones first, as making an enemy do zero damage can be better than you doing a little more.

I'll chip my vote in with the Incursus folks.

Tristan is a beast but easily the most SP-intensive T1 frig game with its triple-split weapon system.

I've also gotten a number of (mostly comedy) kills over the years in an Imicus. Nobody takes it seriously because it's got a 2/2/2 layout and crap for PG but with good drone skills 3 hobs can do a decent amount of DPS for a T1 frig while you kite them around.

You expect anyone worth fighting to stick about when you are using an ECM drone Imicus with hardly any dps and no ability to maintain range while slowly plinking away and expecting them to stick about while you (probably) perma-jam him?