EVE New Citizens Q&A

There are several FW groups that focus on small vessel combat, such as Rifterlings that focus on Frigates and Cruisers.

You can definitely find fights in small ships in FW. Also fights in big ships. (You will also find yourself in the latter when you are looking for the former, too, but then again, that holds for all combat pvp in EVE.)

Please note though that there is a role for small ships and new pilots in fights that involve big ships, too. A tackler frigate can be useful from day three of playing or so (IIRC that's about what it takes to fit a basic tackler these days - definitely before you are out of trial, though). EVE does not really have a progression from noob gear to high-level gear. A battleship cannot do everything a frigate does, despite being bigger and more expensive. There's a lot of frigate pilots who have been playing for years and just stay in the small ships because that's the role they enjoy.

Holy crap, for once I wasn't the one giving myself a shameless plug!

Rifterlings does indeed focus on frigate and cruiser size ships, and to further engender participation in this sort of combat, we are also explicitly "newbie-friendly": we don't mind showing you the ropes and basics of pew pew. Also, in a frigate, dying in a glorious fireball is normal (or even expected) for people of all experience levels, and yet everyone can learn something new. To this end, we also provide free T1 frigates and equipment for those frigates.

FW is also extra-nice for frigate/cruiser centric PvP as there are public but size-limited PvP areas: the FW complexes. For example "Minor" ones only admit T1 frigates and destroyers, which makes it less likely your frigate will be dropped by something far too powerful for you to challenge -- and it means more fun fights when flying with a wingmate or two.



While this is true, there are also inherent disadvantages to flying bigger ships, such as their speed, signature radius (making them easier to hit or scan down), scan resolution (target small things more slowly), and probably most importantly, their guns' inability to hit small things despite doing devastating damage to large things. Get two or three frigates together and they will be able to take down almost any solo battleship, despite it having far more tank or damage than the frigates, and costing many times more.

Anyway, welcome to Eve, and I hope to see you around!

Ed: I should mention that I haven't heard of any other frigate/cruiser-centric FW corps, but out of fairness I should point out the Black Rebel Rifter Club, which has a similar focus and is bigger than Rifterlings is. However, I don't think they are as newbie-friendly.