Ships & Modules

Hello there, Lyrac.

In my opinion, what you have to ask yourself is "where do I go from here?"

Caldari, as they are, heavily favor missiles at the moment - the strategic cruiser, primary battlecruiser, primary command ship, main missioning battleship, both navy battleships, marauder and more are all missile-centric, so you have to consciously opt against them. That's not to say the hybrid platforms are bad - Rokh is popular, Naga is awesome and the little Merlin is amazing, but if you want to grow further in hybrids, you're mostly better off with Gallente.

Secondly, if you're going Blasters, understand that you'll be very short ranged. Take for instance the fit you linked - it does decent damage, but at 2800 meters optimal, with another 3k falloff. Even with the longest range ammo, you're not getting past about 18km (optimal + 2x falloff, so expect the dps at that range to be like 1 :p). What if I told you I made an Omen Navy fit that has over 600 dps and can still hit you for 400 dps 20 km out? What about the stabber that has pathetic damage compared to you, but kites you outside your blaster range and still has a point on you? Of course that navy Omen costs a whole lot more and Stabber's ehp is laughable compared to the Moa, but as you can see, there's no be all-end all fits, you'll always be juggling the preferences.

When it comes to missions, it is my honest opinion that missile boats are a better choice for a caldari pilot. However (and that's a huge however), I also believe that a pilot can make anything work if he sets his mind on it. Railgun ships can work - Rokh can do level 4 missions - now more than ever thanks to the Micro Jump Drive - and from there, you can always work towards the Kronos or the Vindicator. The latter can even be shield tanked to considerable success, making it a proper upgrade from the Rokh (other than the fact that you have to get different battleship skills).

For pvp, it doesn't matter much, both missiles and hybrids have their uses, go with what suits you. Actually, scratch that, if you go with hybrids, you'll have gun skills for when you realize how awesome lasers are ;)

Dear Caitlyn and Rancor,

thank you for your kind and informative advice.

It seems to me that generally, both the hybrid and missle path are viable options,
whith missle path being better in PvE generally,
and both weapon types being generally viable in PvP.

Also, as you pointed out, playstyle should be major factor in my decision, and If I like one type better than the other I can make it work if I really want to.

Considering that a Caracal or Moa only cost about 11M ISK, that I have specialized guns so far, and that my overall investment in skill and money is relativly low (about 1 week), I think I have the option to try out both ways before deciding on one for the middle term.

I shall therefore buy a Moa, have fun with it, make money through L3 (and if it goes not so well, L2) security missions, train missles simultaneously, buy a Caracal, have fun with it too, and then decide.
In the worst case, I will have wasted a week of time, bought a cruiser and equipment I dont need and could sell with loss, paid a insurance I dont need, and trained skills that are mostly useless in the middle term.

That seems a reasonable risk for producing a good decision which will affect my game strategy in the following months heavily.


Also I will incorporate the information deliverd by you into my initial post, since everybody likes lists.

Moa --- > gank and tank but dedicated to fight to the end.

Caracal -----> more nano, but still good tank and gank .... u can usually run out of.

Before jumping into the cruiser wagon .... train 2-3 frigs .... merlin (as moa) and kestrel/hookbil as caracal.

Missioning with railguns is far more skill intensive than missile, and can be frustrating at times. You will need to have decent drone skills also as large rails don't track that well. Worst case is you get into a rokh for lvl4's and don't like it.. then switch to gallente. Mega does better in missions. So If you like hybrids, I would say stick with them.
Each race and weapon has pro's and con's they can all mission and they can all PVP.

You should play eve how you want/enjoy

for missioning ... take the caracal ... much more easier to deal with them .... HMLS caracal with painter will solve ur issues.

Moa is pvp boat kinda useles for pve ... however I recommend u train ur skills on smaller boats first.

My experience suggests the Moa is fine for missioning; it has the shield resistance bonus and now a damage bonus. You'll have to be a little more choosy on your targets, but not horribly so.

You are correct that the Caracal is more flexible due to damage type selection.

To the OP-

As someone else mentioned, if you like/prefer hybrids, then use a Moa. If you want the platform that is a bit more versatile, then use a Caracal and train the missile skills up. They really don't take that long.

HEHE.. i did mention lots of skill and frustration with hybrids But at least you found out the best way to see what works for you in eve.. try it.. so +1, also the test server is a great\free place to be doing this as you get into bigger more expensive ships.

Missiles are not bad for PvE except Cruises and Torps, those are the worst weapon systems in game.
But, Guns outperform missiles on every aspect in PvE: Insta damage, 1-shotting small rats, much better damage projection and many other things.

Also good incursion fleets usually don't take missile ships, because of bad performance.

All in all it's much better to train guns. You'll be able to do both, PvP and PvE with them, unlike missiles.

You can find an excellent commentary on using Moa for PVP here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99Y-HQQNmok