Ships & Modules

The first thing you have to realize is that Eve is just one giant game of rock paper scissors, albeit a very complicated one. Every ship fit in Eve is designed to do one or two things very well, and cannot do everything at once, hence the saying that there is no best ship in Eve. All ships are simply tools that have a counter, and it's our job as pilots to decide how, when and where to apply those tools.

Someone that fits rocket launchers to a bomber to kill cov ops frigate explorers is pretty much only capable of performing that one role. If he were to attack anything larger or capable of shooting back, he'd be dead.

A pilot with an MWD on his ship is probably toast if he gets scrammed.

An active tanking T3 can be taken down extremely easily if neuted out.

Etc.

Proficiency with fitting comes with experience. It takes a long time to learn what goes well on what ships, and some vets are still terrible at it. The best thing you can do is start with small ships, a preferred combat style and surround yourself with knowledgeable people. If in doubt, browse battleclinic or use google.

I think this is the part that needs explaining the most. If I were to list a specific ship and fitting, how would you know what to send against it? Experience might be part of it but I imagine the bulk of reason is because I listed a 'paper' fitting so you chose a 'scissors' fitting to counter it. And while it's easy enough to say "your enemy is paper so choose scissors", it's much more difficult to know what exactly makes the enemy a paper, why it loses to scissors and how to build scissors so you can beat him. It also would be helpful to know what beats my scissors and how to spot it before it kills me.

+1000 to this.


This skill, can absolutely tell you what kinda of tank your enemy has, or even his entire fit.

Like a Thorax with Neutron Blasters is probably shield tanked and paper thin but does a ton of DPS. Where as one with with Electrons will be armored either active or buffer, but still a large tank for a T1 cruiser. For thorax with Rails will be Micro fitted with one LSE and will try to kite you.

Or a Ferox with 200mm autocannons is going to have a huge tank, probably dual ASB's, Same goes for a Maller, Autocannons= Bait tanked. A ferox with 5 Neutrons and two Ions will be buffer tanked and have a NOS.

It comes with experience with playing around with all ships types and coming up against them but the ability to quickly have an accurate estimate of what your opponent is using is beyond helpful.

I know you just used it as an example of what's possible but to someone who doesn't know what a Thorax is or what the requirements/stats of Neutron Blasters are, this statement really help us know why it is likely shield-tanked. The problem I see is, most newbies are going to be asking questions that seem to specifically call for this kind of response but because it doesn't help me understand the 'why' of it, it doesn't really help me become a master fitter. I don't think that's a problem with the answer but rather the question.

What this tells me is that before I can truly understand proper fitting, I need to learn everything there is to know about every ship, module and ammunition in the game. Know the stats and requirements by heart and be able to identify them at a glance. It's a daunting task, to say the least, but until I have it all memorized, I'm going to be stuck relying on either decent builds I've found on the internet or sub-par builds I've attempted to create on my own.

It's an overwhelmingly daunting task but I think it's ultimately what separates the wheat from the chaff. Once a player gets it all memorized, they'll be able to make the same kinds of analyses. They'll know that a particular weapon uses a lot of CPU and that the ship they're equipped to doesn't have a lot to spare. This means that certain other modules can't be fitted and by process of elimination, this is what your opponent is most likely using. With enough combat experience, you'll then be able to determine what tactic they're most likely trying to employ and be able to come up with a counter strategy.

So the big question I have is, where would be the best place to look for organized information to help with the memorization aspect?

Utter bullcrap.

The best ship in EvE is the Friendship

Mega pulse lasers ii is the only weapon you'll ever need...

and Ishtars even beat that some say

*ducks*

If you know who you are about to fight and have the time, you can run their name through z kill or any of those killboard sites and have a look at what they've lost, usually you can expect them to be flying something similar again.

of course this only applies if you have the time waiting for them to engage or you to engage them.

However if you want something to browse over and get ideas and some explanations, there are blogs out there with that sort of thing.

Basic Ship Fitting Theory

Keep in mind that the meta changes fairly quickly and while the information you find is helpful, it may be outdated.

Still it can be a good place to start familarising yourself with things.

The Altruist