EVE New Citizens Q&A

I'm planning to train interceptors and I've read that I should just cross train into other races but I want to use Caldari and since I'm going missiles the obvious choice is the crow. Most posts regarding the crow are 2 years old so my question is:

Are crows decent now for fleet pvp or should I just cross train?

Crows are... weird.

They are in the same class of short range combat interceptor as the Crusader, Claw and Taranis. However, it gets a range (velocity) bonus to its missiles, which doesn't quite fit in with the "brawling" way. Its damage is also a bit anemic with rockets as well, so it cannot fit as well into the same role that the other combat interceptors occupy.

More commonly, the Crow can be used with light missiles in order to kite a target at 15-20 km using a warp disruptor and its superior speed to keep distance.

Crows are not commonly found in "fleet PvP", though, same as the other three combat intys. They are more popular in small gangs, where the supplemental damage and the warp scrambler is very welcome.

The other class of intys, the tackle intys, featuring the Stiletto, Ares, Malediction and the Raptor (in the case of the Caldari lineup) are usually more useful due to more survivability, faster warp speeds and a range bonus to their warp disruptors. Unfortunately, the Raptor is the slowest of the four tackle interceptors (by far) and has extremely hard fitting restrictions and a difficult slot layout, so it is very unpopular. It can still serve its role, but nowhere near as well as a Stiletto, Ares, or Malediction can. Sorry about the bad news.

If you're curious, I wrote a guide to fitting/flying fleet tackle interceptors which can be found here: http://www.thewholefrigate.com/2011/12/case-study-in-tackler-interceptors.html

Hope this helped!

I use the Crow (sometimes a Raptor if no Crows are available) all the time in large fleet operations, and I am quite successful with it. It is one of my favorite combat roles to fly (followed closely by ECM).

While the Crow may have a little slower warp speed I have found that if you are on the ball when chasing a target you can usually catch all but the fastest targets. I burned and caught targets that had a four system jump on me and then held them there until the rest of my fleet arrived.

My general rule is if you enjoy flying it then fly it. In terms of DPS I'm not horribly concerned with it because I usually have a solid fleet of damage dealers behind me. My job is to catch them, tackle & web them and keep them in range of my fleet so they can send that pilot home. I usually don't even activate my weapons until I have tackle, web and am orbiting at a range of my choosing with my MWD on.



That is an awesome read, if you are going to fly an interceptor then read it. Read it again and then once more just to make sure it's hammered in.