EVE General Discussion

T2 tank is a must, as are T2 drones. After that you are better off flying the Nightmare than similar T1 battleship. You are more likely to survive in the Nightmare since it a better hull to start with.

Do not be ashamed of using cap modules and rigs, just remember that CCC and SMC (edit: and Cap Rechargers vs Batteries) are complementary and using both together will help avoid stacking penalties. As your skills improve you will do more DPS for less cap, especially if you look at cap boosters instead of mountains of cap modules.

Fly with friends, use cap chain or logistics support, and have fun. But please be careful and don't try pulling full room aggro until you have the DPS and tank to cope :)

The only skills you really need to V are the capacitor skills, since you'll be using both weapons and a tank that sucks down cap as if it were going out of style, and the V:s that unlock T2 drones.

Beyond that, IV:s all around works well enough. It unlocks the T2 tanking equipment you need, and provides ample bonuses for everything else. Of course, since the basic rule of skill training is that anything worth training is worth training to IV, that's not really saying much.

Not if you use an ASB. It uses cap charges. At that point the only thing you're spending cap on is the hardeners, tracking computers, and the guns. I dug out my fit for an example. Here's how I fit mine:

[Nightmare, Missions]
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
Tracking Enhancer II

X-Large Ancillary Shield Booster, Cap Booster 400
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script
Tracking Computer II, Optimal Range Script
Thermic Dissipation Field II
EM Ward Field II
Thermic Dissipation Field II
EM Ward Field II

Tachyon Beam Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency L
Tachyon Beam Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency L
Tachyon Beam Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency L
Tachyon Beam Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency L
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]

Large Energy Locus Coordinator I
Large Energy Discharge Elutriation I
Large Energy Discharge Elutriation I

It offers about 13 minutes of cap usage with everything running which is plenty. Less if you don't have great skills of course, but even 15 minutes is enough. If you are concerned about capacitor replace the Locus rig with another Discharge rig (it only adds 3km of optinal anyway), and you'll have about 28 minutes of cap. Tons. Note that this is better than 3 CCCs, which will offer only about 18 minutes.

If you are still concerned about capacitor, consider using faction hardeners (Dread Guristas are fine) or swapping one of them out for a shield boost amplifier. If still concerned about tank, you could swap one of the lows for a damage control to get a little more resists on the shield, but you really shouldn't need to.

Adding faction heat sinks adds about 60 DPS in total, but I personally don't bother. The Nightmare is quite good enough without them. No need to turn yourself into a gank magnet.

Anyway, there's probably better builds out there, but this one works well enough for me. All you really need is half decent cap skills, gunnery skills, and the T2 shield stuff. You can use faction tachs (that's what everyone used before CCP reduced fitting reqs), meta tracking comps, etc., it will be fine. As Tippia mentioned you WILL want T2 drones and decent drone support skills, but that's a given for any ship.

You don't need to be cap stable for missions. You only need enough to finish the job. Dead rats don't shoot back. You're whacking cruisers with one volley, and battleships with 2-4, depending. Missions are over quickly.

People that fly faction ships without BS5 in both races are called Kill mails.

Meta 4 or faction guns, T2 tank, L4 BS skills, energy emissions IV - and you are ready to join incursion fleets.

Agreed. Get those support skills up, or you'll be sad (and in a pod).

Skills don't matter. Just officer fit it and you'll be fine.

Oh and come to M-0 and AFK in a safespot.
You'll be fine don't worry.

But of course if you can warp in at range the stupid NPC frigates love to just charge in at you in a straight line. So snap killing them at range is always nice option.

I personally wait until I can fully T2 fit a ship, guns included, and have its ship command skills to at least 4. But thats just me, I don't like to fly a new ship unless I can fly it pretty well. I didn't fly my first pirate BS until I had close to 9mil SP in gunnery alone. 3mil SP total is very low for any sort of battleship in my mind. Realistically though, its as people say - you don't NEED T2 guns. Pulse and hybrid guns really benefit from T2 ammo, and T2 drones are a big improvement... but meta tachyons are ok.