Warfare & Tactics

While I like the idea you're looking at here, most fleets aren't really built along racial lines. You provided the example of Gallente using damps to force the enemies in close, but the Maulus can also be used in a kiting fleet against other long range ships to prevent them from targeting you (just as a quick example).

That aside, if you're just looking at individual ships, you should pay attention to the tank bonuses - the Gallente and Minmatar have bonuses for active tanks, and their logistics ships are designed to be run on a solo set up. The Amarr and Caldari have resist bonuses (which scales with both their own tank and remote reps), and their logistics are designed to be run with a cap chain.

The other kind of noteworthy thing for Minmatar is that their ships have really small signature radii. For both turrets and missiles, this means that your ship straight up takes less damage as long as it's moving, which means that Minmatar ships are often a bit hardier than their numbers make them out to be.

Take a look as to what the ship does, what it is "meant to do" and do the exact opposite. Moa used to be a sniper boat? Nah, fit blasters. Thorax is a Gallente Hybrid Platform, fit blasters? No way, kitey rails!

Ventures for mining? Nope, lets go do FW 'Venture' edition. Basically what I'm saying is that people will look at certain stats of a ship and abuse those stats to fit their own preferential fighting style. Pushing ships to extremes as opposed to constantly seeking a more standard balanced fit.

Its entirely ship to ship, class to class.

None of the races really has a set playstyle anymore.

But i guess gallente are the most brawly, minmatar/caldari are the most kitey and amarr are the most baddie.

But thats a massive oversimplification.

Your idea would have been spot on a few expansions ago, but since then CCP has homogenized the 4 races, so they can each have a ship that performs a certain role, albeit some better than others. Each race has a kiter, a brawler, a Tanky guy, and the EWAR boat. I wish it was still "Minmatar are kings of kiting, Gallente #1 brawlers, etc..." But sadly, it isn't like that anymore. There is little distinction between what each race can do.

Alright... get ready for a wall of text here. I'll do my best to lay out how combat styles and racial ships work out.

(note: I'll be speaking in generalities and gross simplifications as the details of certain ships, fits, and tactics are walls of text in their own right.... exceptions apply to everything).



Gallente:
Strengths:
- generally fast acceleration and the second fastest top speed.
- favor close range "brawling" combat with some medium range "skirmishing" here and there.
- potentially some of the highest damage dealing ships in the game.
- favor active armor tanking (see: repairs incoming damage).
- fairly flexible with regards to tank style and preferred weapons. Many Gallente ships have numerous medium slots so you can fit a decent shield tank and more than a few ship have no bonus towards any particular turret type (meaning you can use weapons other than hybrids)
- drones are a weapon system that operate semi-autonomously from the main ship they are launched from... consuming no on board resources beyond storage space... which allows you to focus on other things during combat.

Weaknesses:
- blasters are the shortest range weapons in the game. Ships that employ range can easily orbit beyond their engagement envelope, leaving you helpless.
- drones require serious micro-management and can be easily killed by skilled opponents... leaving you without any means to fight.
- very dependent on capacitor power to function properly. Run out of power and you are a sitting duck.
- Gallente ships can potentially be very "fat"... not having the speed to close range quickly enough.


Minmatar:
Strengths:
- generally very high top speeds.
- favor medium to close range fighting (note: ignore "optimal" range and focus more on "falloff")
- can use weapons capable of high volley strikes that can potentially kill an enemy in one shot.
- VERY flexible when with regards to tanking styles and weapons. Many ships can be fit for shield or armor, damage or range, speed or brawling, drones or turrets or missiles, etc.
- excel in "skirmishing" tactics.

Weaknesses:
- autocannons (short range) can deal anemic damage if used improperly.
- long/medium range artillery cannons have terrible tracking relative to other long range weapon systems.
- due to their flexibility, Minmatar ships require more skillpoints than other racial ships to get the most out of.
- generally cannot field the beefiest tanks (exceptions apply).


Caldari:
Strengths:
- can potentially have some of the longest ranges in the game (see: sniper tactics).
- focus equally on missile and hybrid weaponry.
- possesses some of the strongest shield tanks in the game.
- arguably possesses the most potent Electronic Warfare in the game: ECM.
- missiles never miss anything within their range.
- ships that can perform certain tactics are often VERY good at them.

Weaknesses:
- possess somewhat limited point defense capabilities.
- possesses some of the slowest ships in the game.
- missiles operate on mechanics rather unique unto themselves. They may never miss... but the damage applied can be near non-existent against opponents they are not specifically designed for.
- Caldari ships are rather inflexible beyond what they are designed to do.


Amarr:
Strengths:
- can field some of the beefiest armor tanks in the game (if not THE beefiest tanks in the game).
- lasers can switch ammo almost instantly... allowing you to quickly change range and apply damage accordingly.
- focus primarily on laser weaponry and drones with room for weapons of your choice.
- possess some of the best "fleet" style ships in the game and can hold their own in "brawling" situations.
- can employ capacitor (see: energy) warfare in addition to turret disruption... making them able to hamper or virtually shut down many common ships.

Weaknesses:
- some of the slowest ships in the game.
- somewhat inflexible with regards to tanking style (armor only).
- many ships (usually laser based) are extremely dependent on capacitor power to function. Run out of energy and you are as good as useless.
- can also use drones (with all their strengths and weaknesses), but not to the degree that the Gallente can.



Tactics:

There are a plethora of tactics in EVE. But most of them can be boiled down to three categories...

Brawling: the most simple form of combat. Basically you get in someone's face and either try to deal as much damage as possible or outlast their ability to absorb damage. This form of combat requires you to "commit" to an engagement which is not a good thing if your opponent has backup on the way. Large tank (buffer or active) and DPS numbers rule here.

Sniping: come in at long range and try to kill your target before he/she can escape. Ships that employ this style often have little to no tank, preferring to deal as much damage as possible and get out before anything can intercept them. Sadly... you often cannot force anyone to sit around while you pound away at them without help (to pin down the target).

Skirmishing: there are two ways to do this... 1) stay outside of your targets engagement envelope while keeping him/her in yours... this often requires speed and some manual piloting to pull off. 2) Get in close and try to "out track" a target's weapons by being as small and fast as possible.
Either way... speed is the name of the game.


Keep in mind that ALL racial ships can perform all of these tactics with varying degrees of effectiveness. The trick is to figure out which configuration works best for YOU!


And with others you can gain even MORE effectiveness by having different people perform some of the above and/or employ various "support" mechanics in the form of Electronic Warfare, Logistics Support (see: healing), and Command Bonuses (see: gang/fleet buffs).


Hopefully this helps.

in fact nope.. more then ever this are oversimplified. With texception of the apex of nano age, I dont remember atime where so few ships were relevant in small scale PVP (the scenario depicted by the OP)

Battleships were made even weaker than what they were, BC are very rarely seen now, command ships are not worth the training time.


Most combat returned to Hacs, T3, faction cruiser and logistics in high sec at least.

tbh sounds like you have no clue at all about what happens in small gang meta right now :/

People fly ships from every race, across different classes and models. To further complicate the meta, most ships have 2-3 very different "standard fitting styles" with viable variations.

I do agree that BCs and BS are very niche these days, but the problems with BS as class was already clear to everyone except CCP during their rebalancing, and their issues were not fixed. However, this discussion was about racial features, which have changed, and imho for the better.

Hisec is not and has never been relevant in any PVP discussion.

Just think that every ship has a fighting style or two and it should help :)