EVE New Citizens Q&A

Your race doesn't matter.

What you fit on your ship and which ship you fly does.

Because you are an amarr character, you start in Amarr space. But you can train and fly anything you want.

However, if you look at most (not all) Amarr ships, you will see they get bonuses to Energy turrets, which means that general rule is that you fit lasers on them (there are exceptions of course).

All ships also come with hardpoints, so some ships can fit guns but no missile launchers, some the other way around and some can fit both of them.


Also, no race has a very specific playstyle they fully stick to. As each ship has so many ships that they kind of mix up eventually.
But in general:

Amarr - Laser boats (with some drone and missile ships in their shipline) + Armor tanking.
Caldari - Hybrid and missile ship lines + shield tanking (Hybrid preference = Railguns)
Gallente - Hybrid and drones ship lines + armor tanking (Hybrid preference = Blasters).
Minmatar - Projectile and missile ship lines + armor OR shield tanking (some minmatar are preferred shield tank others armor tanking, some can get away with either an armor or shield tank).


What I find funny though:

You state you started as an Amarr pilot, yet you are Minmatar.

J'Poll is right that race doesn't really matter. All it really does it decide your appearance and some starting skills.

Beyond this... any race can train any ship or weapon system they desire without penalty.

The trick however, is that some ships are better with certain systems than others.


Let me expand on some of this...
(NOTE: these are generalizations... there are exceptions for all of them)

Amarr - slow moving ships that excel in using armor to absorb damage. Many of the ships are geared for laser weaponry though there are some that employ missiles, drones, and/or Electronic Warfare (see: de-buffs).
Typically, Amarr ships operate better with other ships... either as support vessels or "front-line soldiers." Think Roman Army.

Caldari - medium mobility ships that use shields for defense. Their weapon systems are evenly split between long-range Hybrid weapons and Missile Launchers... and they have some ships that are very strong in a specific (and much disliked) Electronic Warfare system.

Gallente - primarily brawlers that use armor to protect themselves. Their close range weapon systems can dish out the highest damage in the game at the cost of range and some of their ships are heavily specialized in the use of drones (which are semi-autonomous).
Gallente ships are a bit more flexible than Caldari or Amarr ships in that some vessels can take advantage of defensive and offense systems that they are not specialized for (if they are at all).

Minmatar - the "wild card" race. They primarily use projectile weapons (the close range variants have a semi-flexible range and high tracking... and the long range version deals the highest volley damage in the game) and have more than a few ships that can use missile systems.
Many of their ships can use shields or armor for defense with some leaning more towards shields.
Minmatar ships are often the fastest and most mobile in their class... giving them an edge in skirmish combat.



So now let me briefly explain fitting principles...

- smaller ships are faster, but have trouble soaking up damage... larger ships are tankier, but move like snails. Don't try to make a ship do what it can't.

- fit weapons and mods according to what bonuses the ship has (check the info)... there are some exceptions to this.

- don't mix weapon types or sizes... not only will you be unable to link them together (so they fire at the same time) but you will only be somewhat effective at different ranges as opposed to fully effective at one range. The same applies to ammunition.
Exceptions do apply.

- if the ship has lots of medium power slots... shield tank it.

- if the ship has lots of low power slots... armor tank it.

- if the ship have equal amounts of both... it can go either way and/or be fit for speed.

- Never "dual tank" (fit a shield and armor tank at the same time) unless you are being bait for someone else. It cuts into your ship's overall resources leaving you unable to do anything beyond soak up damage.

- Offense, Defense, Speed, Utility, or Electronic Warfare... choose 2.5 of those attributes when fitting. No one ship can do everything at the same time.

- shield tanks tend to be faster and pump out more damage... armor tanks tend to have bigger overall tanks and more room for Utility/E-war abilities.

- have a purpose in mind when you are fitting a ship. Is it designed to kill stuff quickly? Fit for offense and speed over all other considerations. Do you want to avoid conflict and just explore stuff? Fit for defense/utility and speed.

- remember that bigger is not always better. Slapping on the biggest weapons or mods may make your "numbers" look nice, but they may not have the ability to apply their damage/effects well and/or take up precious powergrid and CPU for other, equally necessary equipment.
The same argument can be applied to cost as well.

- (for PvP) destroying your opponent through pure damage isn't the only way to win. You can use e-war (Electronic Warfare) to "even the odds." There is no shame in throwing sand into the eyes of someone who outmatches you.

Electronic Warfare is basically the EVE version of "de-buffing."

You have your choice of (in no particular order)...

Energy Neutralizers - "destroys" the reserve energy in a target ship (NOTE: this doesn't work on NPCs).

Nosferatu - siphons a bit of energy from a target ship... provided your energy level is lower than the target's.

Tracking Disruptor - "slows" a target ship's turrets so they are less likely to hit or cuts their range down (NOTE: this does not affect missile ships).

ECM - "breaks" any target locks that a target ship has and disables them from re-acquiring target locks for about 20 seconds.

Warp Disruptor/Warp Scrambler - disables a target ship's ability to warp. The "Scambler" version has a shorter range (8 to 9 kms) but can also disable the ability to use Microwarpdrives and Microjumpdrives.

Sensor Dampener - cuts a target ship's locking range or targeting speed.

Target Painter - makes a target ship appear "bigger" on sensors, making them easier to target and hit.

Stasis Webifier - cuts a target ship's speed by 50 to 60%. Certain ships have bonuses that increase this to 90%.

Wow, that's a lot, do Minnie's use specific ones?

Target painter sounds very effective in a gang