Ships & Modules

What race do you like the looks/style/weapons of?

Tanky like the merlin does just what you say gets in close and hit hard and tanks nicely. Or you could use a Kestrel and use rockets....less dps but you don't have to worry about things like angular velocity and tracking etc.

Pick a race you like the sounds of and grab some fits. or reply here and see what people suggest.

You need to tell us your skills for us to recommend you a specific ship/fit. That being said, I'd suggest any mwd/buffer/scram ships as those tend to be easy to fly and are also quite versatile.

Incursus and about 3m skill points. Choose between rails and blasters - both are viable depending on the opponent.

merlins got the tank, high dps & pretty cheap just get close and blast away u dont have to worry about rep and drone like the incursus seeing u asked for simple mode pvp

1) Specify preferable tactics. Mobile MWD frig with minimal tank, or slow and thick AB brawler? Or maybe something else?
2) Get EFT/Pyfa. Fit all possible frigs for your tactics. Do some ingame tests if stats doesn't tell you enough.
3) Choose one that seems to suit the role better.
4) Profit!!

I would usually suggest Incursus/Merlin, they are both solid, tanky brawler ships, but recently I've been having great fun on one of my chars with a close-range condor.
Often others do half the work for you and rush in to catch you expecting you to be kite fit.

I've posted a relatively low-skill, relatively low cost version with some room to spare on fitting. Going too cheap on the fit will be counter-productive imho, as you end up losing more ships in the long run. Downgrade stuff to T1 though if you can't fit it yet.

The great thing about this fit is you are completely cap stable even with the small neut running!

Just get in close, overheat your top rack, switch everything on and orbit at about 5km. You're still faster than most other frigs even if you are webbed in return.
It really is easy mode pvp, you have NO tracking issues as you are using rockets, NO cap management to do as you are cap stable, can shut down a lot of other frigate's tank, weapons and tackle with your neutraliser, and are fast enough to often still escape from a 1v1situation if it all goes wrong.
The downside is you are somewhat fragile and can't take a lot of punishment compared to other brawlers - the neut is your 'ace' to try to mitigate this somewhat.

Have fun.

[Condor - Rocket Neut Fit]

[High Slots]
Rocket Launcher II - Caldari Navy Scourge Rocket
Rocket Launcher II - Caldari Navy Scourge Rocket
Rocket Launcher II - Caldari Navy Scourge Rocket
Small Energy Neutralizer II

[Med Slots]
Experimental 1MN Afterburner I
Medium Shield Extender II
Warp Scrambler II
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I

[Low Slots]
Micro Auxiliary Power Core II
Damage Control II

[Rigs]
Small Bay Loading Accelerator I
Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I

Thanks for the replies everyone!

It looks like Incursus or Harpy is the way to go. Really, one of the big reasons for me asking these questions was to find a ship that everyone agreed was solid at what it was supposed to do. That way, when I die, it will be all on me. No way can I say that it was because my build was crap. Later, when I get more experience, I'll start messing around with other builds. I'm especially interested in Amarr ships, because I like the looks of their ships the most.

Thanks again!

The brawling condor above really does chew through most other brawlers you meet.

I stopped using it as I found it too easy and I like a challenge....