Ships & Modules

NApoc needs pretty good skills, tengu is better for lower SP players because it's quicker to train for and it has good tank and damage. Legion is also great but people always say it sucks. I'm not sure why really.

First of all you need to realise that a battleship in and of itself isn't a goal, you could play for 10 years, never fly a BS and do fine. If you're looking for a ship that can run lvl 4 missions really well then yes a battleship hull generally makes sense. When do you want to run missions (which is a choice, there's no "must run missions" in EVE) then you have to take damage types into account which depends on where you do PVE. If you do missions in Amarr space then ships using lasers will work fine, if you do missions in Caldari or Gallente space then they're mediocre at best and if you live in Minmatar space they're terrible. So, first make sure that you NEED a BS (based on what you want to be doing) and then account for WHERE you'll be using it in PVE.

I'll list the 4 factions and most obvious newbie friendly ships


Amarr:
(n)apoc, easier to fit than the Abaddon but doesn't perform as well (doesn't really work well on low SP)
Armageddon, really good sentry ship that allows for damage type selection (so it works fine everywhere)

Caldari:
Raven, easy to use allround lvl 4 ship. Not fantastic mission completion times and only "ok" dps
Scorpion NI: Exactly the same dps as a normal raven but more tank

Gallente:
Dominix, awesome sentry ship, works on low SP

Minmatar:
Maelstrom, good allround ship
Typhoon, better missile ship than a Raven but has similar issues




The Tengu is not as good at ppl brag about. First of all it's forced into kinetic damage type which is only ideal against Guristas (when only looking at the main npc factions). Against Serpentis and Angels it's mediocre and against Sansha it's outright horrible. Same for its tank really, it works great vs Guristas and serpentis but is kinda problematic against Sansha.

Also, it has no drones and that means you waste dps time from your main weapon system to take out frigates which is a waste. The realistic dps isn't brilliant either. On top of all that it's an easy and obvious gank target and would you do missions in Blood raider space it gets neuted out really fast (being a cruiser).

So, just forget about the Tengu, it's not brilliant at all (apart from some limited situations like doing anomalies in Guristas space). It's funky and expensive and thus generally people go "cool, hurrrdurrr" without understanding or acknowledging (f)actual game mechanics.



For missions the Legion is a pile of shite, dps with HML is terrible and range with HAM is also terrible. Avoid.

What other options would I have with a NaPoc rather than missions?

Realistically Battleships aren't used much at all outside missions, incursions and 0.0 fleet combat. A Napoc wouldn't be used for anything other than missions (and even there it's not the best option because that'd the Abaddon, Nightmare or Paladin). It's just a Napoc that requires less SP to work than the Abaddon while not performing at the same level.

All sounds very negative but that's not the issue, EVE generally doesn't have a "natural progression" where bigger automatically means better. Everything has a role, a place and a counter so "biggest I could find" generally tends to be the wrong way to choose a ship :)

If you're looking for an answer to the "what is the best way to get ahead, plan ahead and get into the game while choosing missions as main income and flying Amarr" then the answer would probably be "get Amarr BS to level 4, then swap to int/mem based remap, train up sentry drones and get a sentry Geddon". Partly because you need drones any way, partly because drone ships tend to work well on low SP AND you can select damage types and mostly because it also allows you to train up your support skills (which are vital) really fast. It's not the most fun way of approaching it, also because you won't actually use lasers much for a while, but it sure is the most effective and efficient.

Up to you to decide what you find more important; efficiency or personal preference. Both are valid choices as long as you consciously MADE that choice.

Nitpick: the vast majority of Serpentis ships are weakest against kinetic damage. Unless you're specifically talking about the Phi Overseer, kinetic is the preferred damage type, not thermal. So Tengus are fine there.

I'm going to make an assumption and assume you are fairly new to Eve still. I think this because you (OP) asked about your first BS and immediately went for the bling faction boat.

Please keep in mind that ability to sit in a ship does not confer the ability to use it well. I strongly suggest you try out a T1 BS first. Someone with low skills that sits into a BS too early is more likely to get ganked, and definitely more likely to lose it to rats, which would be very embarrasing.

Don't fly anything you can't afford to lose.

So, train Caldari and ignore amarr?

Amarr are fine. They have a plethora of great PVP hulls across every size class and they are good at PVE as well. The Armageddon is a solid PVE boat when you are shooting rats that aren't weak to EM/Thermal. And people tend to forget about the Khanid ship line when blitzing lower level missions. Their dread is acceptable and of course there is the almighty Archon.

Thanks for that, I am trying to bling out with the NaPoc but I won't touch it till I t2 gun and tank it. I would appreciate some fitting help though, and why do you say the tengu isn't all that anymore?

your first choice should be if you want to train missiles or not. the problem is missile support skills work only for missiles while gun support skills work for lasers projectiles and hybrids. missiles are a great pve platform but has limited uses in pvp and even some pve content (incursions).

your second choice is how are you going to make your isk you need, be it for pvp ships or plexing your account. granted as a new player you dont know what is out there so the advice to grab a t2 large gun and a battleship 4 skill and then focus on support and drone skills is great. you can then explore eve while training skills you will always use and not waste any time on skills you might not need in your chosen isk/fun making activity.

that said napoc missioning in amarr space is perfectly fine and you will be flying one of the sexiest ships known to mankind. you can then always train into a paladin for pure lv4 ownage or nightmare for incurtions.