Ships & Modules

The new Punisher is p awesome.

Every race has its strong points and weak points. Amarr frigs might have issues, but their Battleships are frikin awesome. Amarr guns themselves have nice optimal range and are good for beginners.

Minmatar race can fit their ships multiple ways. Shield or Armor, Missiles or Guns, Speed or Brick, etc, etc. If you continue to train Amarr, 90% of the skills will cross over later. [edit here] My point in this was: Minmatar takes a little longer to train well, because the ships are so versatile.

As for PvP, You will probably lose every ship you ever fly in PvP. Until you experience 100 fights or so, most losses will NOT be because of the race of ship. Your #1 goal is to learn from every loss.

Amarr is def a good PvP race in general.
Also, fly what YOU like. It is your game and your time.

Eve is a long term game. Goals take months and even years to attain. Asking questions this early is absolutely the right thing to do.

GL

Im constantly being told exactly the same thing - Amarr are almost non-existent because in every class and role, they have a more potent counterpart. Maybe its because Im not talking to many Amarr players, but thats becuase I dont meet many.

Which race (ships) and weapons would you recommend cross training into? I suppose Caldari are the least viable (shields x armor). Minmatar?

Don't fly a Drake. It's the worst ship in the game.

Punisher is good.
Coercer is good.
Arbitrator is good.
Maller is good.
Harbinger is good.
Battleships are all good.

Vengeance is good.
Retribution is good.
Zealot is good.
Curse is good.
Pilgrim is good.

There's 11 ships that are all good in the Amarr line up, from every ship class.

Amarr might be lacking abit in the T1 department but their T2's are awesome, and the harbinger and battleships are also all awesome.

Yes amarr is generally abit more fleet oriented, but they do it good.

amarr are definitely better fleet ships as most fleets are RR and they have the staying power for a slug fest. on the other hand you see small minmatar gangs raising hell because they are fast and hit hard.
so go with what feels right for you.

One option would be to train for the Drake, because it does everything. Then once you are proficient on the drake go back to training toward Amarr battleships.

The Drake is the ultimate Noob PVP ship. It is relatively inexpensive. It is as glamourous as a minivan, and just as common, so it does not get primaried. (They will shoot at the glamorous ships first.) If someone does decide to shoot at you, it can take a beating. And best of all, it can hit anything it can lock. In your early PVP encounters with your heart pounding and your hand shaking from the adrenalin rush, it is nice not to have to wary about optimal range, as you will be doing good just to lock the correct target and activate your weapons, and the Drake is still decent later when you are more experienced and calmer. (The Drake is not the “bestest ever”, it is just good at everything, easy to fly, does not require a great deal of training to be effective, and does not cost much.)

Another option is to just switch to Minmatar. The Hurricane is probably the most common PVP ship in low and Null sec. It can be armour or shield tanked, and it is also very common, which means you usually won’t be the juiciest target in the fleet, although they get primaried more often than Drakes. If you stick with Minmatar, all three of their battleships are used commonly in PVP. If you decide to cross train back to Amarr, the Armour skills, and many of the gun skills are transferable.

I fly Caldari, but if I had it to do over again I would train Amarr Battleships to 5 rather than training Caldari Baggleships to 5. There is just a lot more demand for Amarr Battleships in PVP. But below Battleship size, Caldari and Minmatar have the best PVP ships. (And I am not just talking about the Drake and Hurricane.) There is a massive jump in training time when you go to Battleships, so I suggest you train for your choice of Battlecruisers, then pick the Battleship you want to train for based on what you want to fly, rather than what race you have been training. It does not take that much time to train frigates and cruisers to 4 on another race’s ships to qualify for battleships for that race.

As others have said, it will take many fights before you can honestly tell yourself that the ship was holding you back, and that your piloting was flawless. The new Punisher is pretty good and hits a little harder thanks to the damage bonus. I've been using the following fit with pretty good results.

3x Dual light Pulse
1x Nos

1x Scram
1x AB

1x 200mm plate
1x small armor rep
1x DCU
1x Heatsink

1x Energy collision rig
1x Energy optimal rig
1x Aux nano pump/anti explosive rig

Use scorch and Navy multi, and remember to always keep your transversal up. The punisher has a tiny signature radius of 37, so abuse that all you can!

The crusader is the best frig sized hull in the game bar none.