Ships & Modules

Last night I bought a Kestrel, and ended up spending 2 hours trying to find a fit that would give me enough power for all four launchers and an afterburner (started with a MWD, but couldn't pull enough energy to power it)

This is what I ended up with:

High
[ Light Missile Launcher I ]
[ Light Missile Launcher I ]
[ Light Missile Launcher I ]
[ Light Missile Launcher I ]

Mid
[ Afterburner I ]
[ Shield Booster I ]
[ ~empty~ ]

Low
[ Micro Auxiliary Power Core I ]
[ Micro Auxiliary Power Core I ]

When I asked in Rookie Help Chat what I should use to increase my power grid (before coming up with the above fit), I was pointed towards this:

Small Ohm Capacitor Reserve I

and this:

Reactor Control Unit I

Obviously, the Cap Reserve did nothing to solve my problem. It wanted power I already didn't have, rather than increase the available power. The second was a step in the right direction, but after further reading in E-Uni's website on powergrids and Cap, I found that this performed better with larger ships, as it gives an additional % of base power. So I settled on the MAPC I, giving me a flat 10mw more for each one I installed.

I am getting the feeling that often I have half-assed fits because I don't know what is available to me, or can't make heads or tails of the differences in a particular module class, simply because making side-by side comparisons in Eve is a bit unwieldy. Ex: are all modules that add additional power/cpu exclusively low slot modules? Are cap modules exclusively mid slot? etc ...

-Now, this isn't for a specific mission type or anything, I'm just trying to better learn to fit ships. I have the EFT and am learning to use it, but still a rook - again, it seems the EFT is great if you already understand what you are doing. So , my question is this: Am I going about this the wrong way? Seems when I do find a fit that works, it is almost accidental, and I wouldn't know if I muffed up a fit until i was blasted out of the sky because my fit was weak. Is it just practice and experience that I am missing?

Thank you.

[Kestrel, Level 1 Missions]
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Power Diagnostic System I

Limited Adaptive Invulnerability Field I
Small C5-L Emergency Shield Overload I
Experimental 1MN Afterburner I

Upgraded 'Malkuth' Light Missile Launcher, Scourge Light Missile
Upgraded 'Malkuth' Light Missile Launcher, Scourge Light Missile
Upgraded 'Malkuth' Light Missile Launcher, Scourge Light Missile
Upgraded 'Malkuth' Light Missile Launcher, Scourge Light Missile

Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Small Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I


EDIT: Updated with the new module names for the meta items.

There a TONS of options and that's what makes it so cool.

Definitely look into the meta 2 and 3 items for reduced fitting requirements. They don't cost much more usually and can be the extra little bit you need to fit stuff.

This is just general advice. There's a compare module tool in eve - open a module's info, go to 'variations', then click 'compare' at the bottom. Sort them by meta level. Meta levels 1-2 should be affordable and will likely have better fitting requirements.

The best things to increase your available CPU and grid are skills. Engineering increases powergrid, Advanced weapon Upgrades lowers the grid requirement for weapons. Electronics and Weapon Upgrades for CPU. These will stack and improvement is pretty dramatic. With these skills at a good level you wouldn't need to fit the Micro Aux PCs to fit your launchers.

I don't know how to answer on whether you're going about fitting the wrong way :( Fit for what the ship is supposed to be doing, I guess, then figure out how to keep it alive.

You're on the right track. Eve is a jargon-riddled game. Take your time, get your skills up, keep at it, and it will fit together eventually. Battleclinic fits can give you a good idea of the ship's general fitting styles and limitations.

I found this in the EveOpedia guides page. - exactly what you are talking about.

One of the things I understand about this game is how everything I choose, from implants to race to the skills I choose, has an effect on how ships perform, how modules perform. Is there a map, showing what implants effect what skill, ship and module properties, what skill is related to which module I may or may not use, what ship is boosted towards what skill or module . . . etc, etc . . . as I write this I am already thinking that, even if there is a map, it would be either illegible or a 1GB+ file.

Thank you again for your help.

This. You are a 24 day old character. There was a time when being new was even harder. And one point you started with **** all for sp. And, there were things called the learning skills. Until you trained them your attributes were **** and your abilities were even worse than you are experiencing now. The saving grace of the learning skills was they taught a player about the importance of skills. Mods can give you more grid, but your greatest gain will come from skills.

Weapons upgrades and yes training it to 5 so you can train AWU is a necessary evil even for a new player. That and the base fitting skills, engineering and electronics. Also some more obscure skills that will have "upgrades" in their names can ease fitting problems. Read the descriptions of the skills on the item database pages of the eve-wiki. Good luck with your time in eve.

Yeah Kestrel can be hard to fit 4 Standard Launchers onto with low skills, but as said above, skills will give you more powergrid than modules at the start. I trained Electronics V, Engineering V and Weapon Upgrades V (Which unlocks Advanced Weapon Upgrades which you can train to III in less than a day which I did and left there for quite awhile) within my first month or so of playing as I kept being told again and again that they were the best skills for noobs to train.

On a side note the Kestrel is an excellent ship and you should keep training for it, I used one all the way to the end of the Sisters of Eve arc and never lost it, excellent range and an afterburner will keep you alive against most enemies in L1/L2s.