Skill Discussions

Haters gonna hate and with great power comes great hate and all that. Heavy missiles are a strong weapon system, very popular and hated because of the previous two.

If you like missiles, fly them.

I personally really like having access to both missiles and guns. I do see missiles as mostly a PvE skill set, though stealth bombers break that mold.

If I were at a point to choose which road to go right now, I'd probably back away from missiles. The Drake, Tengu, all bombers, and some missile frigates are perfectly capable ships and the Caracal is still one of the premier anti-frigate weapons in the game. The issue I have, though, is that the support skills lead only to missiles and with all of the upcoming balance talk, I'd prefer to have a stable set of supports that helped me adapt to several metagame scenarios. Since missiles don't provide that and guns do, I'd walk that road instead.

But it really is up to you. Both are quite usable right now. I just worry how it might look in 6 months.

One thing you should consider along with this is that the Caldari turret ships are generally fairly lackluster in both pve and pvp, the best turret ships are generally in the Amar and Minmatar line with laser and projectile turrets respectively.

I have a few points. In no particular order.

Heavy missiles are a great weapons system. Several ships use them, and even though there is a delay, the offset is that range is your friend. They are also a great weapons platform for new players. Not so much tracking, transversal, range issues to deal with.

ISK:
If you truly are aiming for PvP, I recommend doing missions for isk. This will let you train combat skills while making isk. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone, and all that.

Guns:
Guns seam to be more fun imo. They are racial and each race has its parameters. All races have a 'Long Range' and a 'Short Range' version. Missiles do this too btw. with Torps and Cruise, Heavy and Assault, etc. Generally the short range versions do more DPS. (Damage Per Second) I will list the short guns below and let you figure out the long guns. (To save a wall of text)

Caldari and Gallente Hybrid Guns: Blasters and Rails. Blasters are very short range. Massive damage, but you have to get close to use them or your screwed. I'm talking bump the paint almost for most apps. The term is called 'Optimal Range'. Fall off is a secondary range, but DPS drops severly in falloff for these guns.

Minmatar Projectiles: Auto Cannons and Artillery. Auto cannons also have short 'Optimal Range' but they have a great falloff. They do good damage in falloff and most pilots fly in that range. Minmatar ships in general are fast, so it is possible to do both. Minnie ships don't have the best tank...but they do have the best GTFO factor.

Ammar Lasers: Pulse and Beam. Pulse is the short version. Damage type is limited but decent. The strong point is great Optimal, and decent falloff to boot. Second strong point is ammo. There is never any reloading with crystals, and changing them is instant. No reload time = DPS in longer fights. Amarr ships are a great line all in all. (Sexy in most cases) Great tank , not nearly as fast.

EVE is really fairly balanced. There is not really a "Bad" race. If your in doubt about which race of guns, train the support skills as a priority. These are really what "makes" the gun any way.

Inexperience or idiocy. Missiles rock

Pretty solid breakdown right here.

The Hookbill --> Harpy ---> Hawk --> Merlin chain of Caldari brawler frigates are really nice. Though they are all fitted somewhat differently for PvP.

I like the RLM Caracal as a frigate hunter, but it lacks the tank to tangle with most other gank-fit cruisers and requires you to sacrifice way more tank or DPS than you'd want to in order to fit tackle. The HML Caracal is a nice BC hunter is swarms, but the fitting cost of the HML's on a cruiser hull can force many pilots to sacrifice other necessities...or at the least spend quite a bit of isk on fitting implants.

DRAEK...fackin' DRAEKS...they're everywhere. The ubiquitous, perennially loved and hated signature Caldari hull. Capable of performing nearly all tasks well. Whether you're in a WH, Plex, mission or fleet PvP, you can use this bird with great success.

As for the Caldari BS hulls...they are mostly designed the same way - to run missions. The blaster Rokh CAN be used in large fleet PvP as a disposable heavy-hitter, but there are better choices. The rail Rokh is overall a lackluster choice.

Sorry if this is a stupid question but what about useing projectiles and auto cannons in the place of hybrid turrets would that
make a huge difference if your ship were for example a Naga as long as gunnery skills are up to par?

@ Corphius. Paikis covered it pretty good there.

Just to add a couple things, I have never flown any Tier 3 BC, but I assume they all have the large gun offset/bonus so they can fit (Racial Specific) large weaponry. With that in mind, I would just assume the only real Tier 3 for Projectiles will be the Tornado.

Other ships do come to mind though. Rokh, Ferox are 2. These ships don't have a very usefull bonus for their racial guns. Keep in mind, that Hybrids use cap. Projectiles do not use cap and they have a better alpha strike. (single shot damage) So you gain cap, range, alpha. Sad but true for these 2 nice ships.

I have heard of Apocs and Myrms also fit with projectiles. Apoc because it has 8 slots (Alpha strike suicide ganks) and Myrm for cap usage I assume.

In general though, look for the ship bonus's to clue you in on the best fit for that ship. DPS bonus, Rep bonus, Range bonus, Drone bonus, etc. Any of those will give your ship a specific advantage that should be used.

You should be focusing on getting into a Drake and Then Tengu.

Only train standard/light missile laucher, Heavy Missile Laucher and Siege missile Launcher. Focus on the Drake and Tengu like I said. Ignore all other missile launchers. Once you've maxed out skills for those 2 ships. Then train for a stealth bomber and bombs. Then you'll be able to use that siege missile launcher.

Once that's done. Think about skilling for another rance and start skilling gunnary skills.