Ships & Modules

As a new character, (old returning player with another acct) I'm working on my skills for Gallente frigates, etc. I keep reading that small hybrid turrets are fine. So, T2 ... small hybrids are in the plans.

BUT, I've heard that Med/Large hybrids are not preferred. Does that apply to ships with hybrid bonuses? Say Thorax, Vexor, or the non-Mega Battleships? Mega seems OK with tracking. I see a lot of talk about Myrm, et al using projectiles.

Given the time it takes at the start of a new account, is it wiser to skill up Med/Large auto cannon's to T2 vs blasters?

Thanks in advance for your input.

"given the time it takes at the start of a new account" when you are done with proper support skill training etc gallente and med/large hybrids will probably be the new fotm

I've been flying mainly gallente for pvp for the last month or two.

Small hybrids are awesome. Blasters do sick damage and the rails work well on ships with a tracking bonus.

Blasters:
Your tracking is only marginally worse than auto cannon's and WAY higher than lasers.
Your optimal is higher than Auto's but your fall off is much lower.

Secondry advantage - Price

You can get hybrid rigs from 10K isk - that's pocket change compared to other weapon systems. You can also buy T2 rigs for hybrids from as little as 2.7M isk. That's rediculously cheap.

I've been using the Incursis, Tristan, Thorax and Vexor, Myrmidon.

Medium rails and up make me sad damage wise - they just arn't that good.
Medium Blasters on the other hand seem to be fine. Ion Thorax with faction ammo, overheating and delicious drones can easily push 560 dps. Throw in second set of ECM drones to keep your squishy self intact till you in blaster range and you can kill stuff so easily it's ********.

Overall I feel Hybrids mostly rails are borked. I don't have much experience with large ones either. But small and Med blasters are plenty awesome.

Also 2 links on turrets:

http://evefng.blogspot.com/2011/09/everything-you-never-asked-to-know.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EVEFNG+%28EVE+FNG%29

http://evefng.blogspot.com/2011/09/turret-talk-two.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EVEFNG+%28EVE+FNG%29

You can train hybrids ahead of time in preparation to the hybrid buff coming soom™

People have been doing just that for the past 3 years.

I think the negative view of hybrids may have some root in the fact that they're not necessarily as adaptable as other weapon systems for unexpected PvP and most people's experience with them in BCs is disappointing. I'd argue that if a task can be accomplished in a frigate or destroyer, it can be done well with hybrids, especially T2s. I'd also suggest that if you're aiming for L4 missions in battleships, hybrids are an excellent complement to well-developed drone skills, adding some useful alpha and contributing about 60% of your dps. If you know what you're going to fight and you are skilled/equipped to overcome tracking issues, hybrids work well.

Yeah, I've had T2 Hybrids up to Large for a while, but recently got up to speed on T2 med Autos for my Myrm, and I've been gobsmacked at how much better an all-round weapon system Autocannons are.

However, what the poster above said is right - Hybrids aren't totally useless, especially for PvE if you know what you're getting into. 425 ii Railguns with damage mods on a Megathron are not to be sniffed at, but even dual 250 iis, or 350 iis, on a Domi in L4s add a non-negligible extra bit of dps; likewise (as I understand it) Blasters are still fairly competitive up to Heavy Neutron iis in PvP.

Basically, Hybrids will unglamorously do the job in PvE, but are overall outmatched by Autos in PvP most of the time (except for some specific situations).

The recent Hilmar blog post answered my question.

I guess it is now: To Hybrid or ... Hybrid. I will go Hybrid.

FOTM incoming. Hybrids are the new projectiles. Skill away.

Easy, make it 40k optimal, 1k falloff.

If you want that ^^^ just go for torpedo ship , high dps 15km range with mediocre skills , no falloff .

Truth is blasters cannot hit because they HAVE to fight in close quarters which demands high tracking.

Pulses have much worse tracking than blasters but at 40km it doesn't matter

Other thing is short ranged ships cannot participate effectively in a fleet:
Fleet by nature are spread - for instance 10 ships coming out of a gate can be 30 km apart. You want a gun that can cover that 30km spread - you can't be MWD'ing to the primary and back to the next because you'll spend your time moving and not shooting (plus if you're tackled you can't move at all).
Truth is if you see a blaster ship in your opposing fleet you can throw dual webs from 30(or from 15 if it's midsized) and effectively take it out of the fight , until you've killed it's buddies. Sometimes I feel like blaster boats bring knives to gun fights.