Ships & Modules

First, you don't need Teamspeak to join a corp. There's several laid back small corps of people who just like not being alone, or at least have some people to chat with.

For solo nullsec, it's tough. I'd recommend starting out in lowsec.
And if you want to stay on frigates, i'd recommend anything but Minmatar. Your choice, really. You'll also find that you can spend months, probably a few dozen months, in training and maximizing frigates, but you can also pretty quickly crosstrain into several races and weapons on frig scale.

I'd probably recommend you to start out with Gallente, as the Blaster-Frigs are pretty fast in ramping up damage.
And both, Enyo and Ishkur, are very strong for both PvE and PvP.
From there on, with bringing up some shield-skills and Caldari Frig, you already unlock the Harpy, another very strong Blaster Frigate, this time from Caldari. From here, you need a few rocket skills, and you're in a Hawk, a very tanky frigate.
And then it's basically Amarr Frig to V and you got a Vengeance, a very tanky Amarr Frigate.
And then it's small energy weapons, and you got the retribution.

So basically, go Gallente, and then look around.


Edit: If you do wanna start out in lowsec, i'd recommend going to the region of Khanid. Very calm, very few traffic, and not too far away from the Amarr Tradehub.

Thanks guys,,

I was wondering if you think a HARPY would do the trick..

I got a Merlin and it seems like the next upgrade keeping the skills value and all?

Merlin > Harpy is a good progression, both are solid ships and can be quite versatile. However as mentioned above, solo in NPC null is pretty harsh and you won't get many good fights and PvE will also be a challenge. I suggest you join Faction Warfare in lowsec, that way you'll have lots of friends and backup (which you really need to make the best of this game IMO), a way to make money and PvP in a new player friendly environment.

The Minmatar frigate lineup is the weakest in my opinion. The Rifter is useable but one of the more lackluster T1 frigs, the Slasher is decent, Vigil sucks, Jag is also at the bottom of the barrel in terms of AFs, Wolf is decent but 2 mids really limit it's useability.

I personally omitted minmatar for two reasons cited by op and only because these two;

- solo NPC null
- frigate

Minmatar frigs will struggle with the rather high DPS needed to burn down boats *quickly before backup arrives* that routinely tank battleships, off damage or not. Boasters can give you cruiser DPS in a small platform.
Best blaster frig platforms are Gallente, pirate faction and the harpy.

Daredevil wouldwork great, but it's expensive and lacks the t2 resists you get from the enyo (or Ishkur/harpy ).
Choice between harpy and gallente solo where you expect to be outnumbered I would choose the lowest sig, thus armour.


That's my rational anyways. Minmatar would be fine if you weren't expecting to be solo in EVERY possible encounter.

Edit: included time reference

I have to ask, since I am looking at a similar goal as the OP. Is e-war something I should invest points in, for solo via an assault frigate? Or will the mid slots be better used for other things?

I generally find station in NPC Null with decent agents are usually camped to hell by alliance that live there. Unlikely you will be able too find strays in these NPC systems. I suggest you pick lowsec. On the ship to train, it depends on region you plan to do mission. T2 ships have specific resist that is attuned to their traditional enemy faction, e.g., minmatar. High resist vs EM.

I would not be so quick to dismiss minmatar ships. Selectable damage in frigate fight is very valuable - more so when you are fighting T2 opponent with their high natural resist.

I would suggest you cross train frigate for all 4 races. As a bonus, it will allow you to unlock pirate factions which are very strong (some borderline OP...). Good luck!

I'd go with all racial frigates IV*, get a load of frigates and trash 'em. After that you simply figure out which one you liked best and go look for a fitting T2 Frigate.

Not that training all racial frigates to V takes a whole lot of time - four weeks I recon at standart distribution and no implants. Minus one for the one racial frigate you will need to fly any sort of AF makes three to unlock the remainder. Sensible time investment if you don't care for anything bigger.



For the question regarding E-War. Tracking disruption is sensible and very powerful. Unbonused ECM wont do much if at all. Dampening is usually overshadowed by TD as frigates usually have a quite longer targeting range than they can shoot at (unless they have light missiles <.< ). Target painting lastly is of decent interesst if you decide to dedicate yourself to mssile ships as the advanced target painting skill, whatever the name was, is really handy to have if you want to shoot smaller ships than your weaponsystem with missiles (e.g. frigates with HAMs or HMs) and have room to fit a TP.




*takes like two days and will guarantee that you never run out of viable options or diversity (flying only one ship can be boring- e.g. I just bought a Mael yesterday to test it out and sold it again after one mission; but it was a nice change of pace)

Whatever race you fly pick on frig fore brawling one for kyting. Fly both while training towards an AF

Comming back to Minmatar Frigates, a Claw is an interesting choice here. You can get 200 dps out of it while still having a good buffer tank and a small repper for occasional repairs. The best thing is, you do not need to worry about bubbles and it has a damn small signature making it hard to hit for larger rats.

However if you go more into missions and need to tank for longer time, then a Wolf is a nice choice. It has a lot of dps (more than a Claw) and if you go against Amarr-Space-Rats it has insane resists against EM/Therm damage types.