Skill Discussions

Hello fellow Capsuleers!!!

I've been playing for around 8 months (12mil SP) earning a good profit from level 4s using my Rattlesnake. My skills are mostly drones (4mil SP) and now since i finished Drone interfacing 5 i am skilling for t2 sentries. Also, i am joining a nullsec corp soon and mostly my activities will be PVE (ratting).

After watching some videos and read some threads i decided to go for a Chimera using sentries instead of going for a fighter Thanatos for the ratting activity, mostly because of bettter tank (and since i wont use fighters thanny`s stat will be useless). I made a skillplan for my self that will take me around 130 days to be able to fly a Chimera. The skillplan mostly has the carrier's requirement skills plus capital shield tanking and advance drone interfacing to 4 caldari carrier to 4. (Also I know 130 days is a journey i am willing to make!)

The Question though is: Is it too early to get into a carrier? and also: What skillplan should i follow for a ratting carrier?

I'd forgotten about that one. Always a good read to revisit.

As for the original question: it's probably too early to be really effective. You honestly need more or less perfect cap skills and depending on which carrier absolutely perfect fitting skills. At the very least, you should factor in the full suite of capital navigation skills into your training time, including calibration 5 (which is even more important these days). Don't forget cyno operation either: you want to be able to light your own emergency cyno if possible.

If you really want one, of course, you should go for it. It's definitely a major move with a large number of skill points that won't help you at all with subcaps. It can be frustrating to realize you just spent six months on skills that, oops, it turns out are useless for anything you like to do.

Hmmmm... Interesting! I have read that crossing zebra article before creating this thread!
By perfect cap skills you meant : https://gyazo.com/138ffd70bde3fdcc0c58849c9420fdb1 or capital skills like carrier V or capital ships V? (From engineering fitting skills I only miss Weapon upgrades V and its not in my skillplan)

The idea was to use Chimera as an ultimate drone boat to earn more iskies from cosmic anomalies. I watched enough videos on youtube and the isk ticks were a lot bigger than using a Rattlesnake for those same anomalies. I wouldn't want to use the carrier as a logistic or pvp ship (when my 130 skilque is complete). I just wanted to know if it can be effective just with the requirement skills and very good drone skills!

Speaking from experience: Are carriers "that slow" on doing pve activities?

The fact i might regret it though will keep me thinking about this decision... I might concider going for perfect Rattlesnake skills first then!

I am almost certain that the "Fighter Damage Bonus" affects sentries as well, at least it did a year ago.

EDIT: Apparently they did patch this. Also, the Chim has CPU issues, so be aware that you will need to use faction mods in many circumstances.

8 months, mmm?

You might find this sobering:

https://zkillboard.com/ship/23915/losses/

A few random thoughts:

Do you have an alt that can scout or light cynos for you?
Because if you're going to run 2 accounts for ratting activities, it gets to the point where you should think of other options.

The trouble with carriers is agility. Slow, cumbersome movement that will almost certainly get them caught at some point.
When strangers come into local and see a carrier on D-scan, it's going to make them want to hunt you.
Not saying it can't be done, just that it's not as easy as it sounds.


I rat in a cloaky Tengu. It has crappy DPS but it is super agile and it can go almost anywhere. Serious ratting requires traveling a few jumps sometimes. I tell myself that there isn't one rat, or ten, whatever, that is worth losing my ship over. A carrier might kill rats 3 times faster, but the other issues make it a bad ratting platform for what I do.

I think your skill plan is lacking something... 130 days sounds short to me.

I think you should work towards a carrier if you live in null. But I'd pick away at it and rat in something else, more agile, less expensive. Squeeze in a cap skill here and there, while still improving the Rattle, Sentry V, tank skills, etc, etc.

I have known guys that ratted in carriers and even in supers. But those guys weren't 8 months old, and they weren't asking for advice on it. I'm not sure you'll find any veteran that will think it's a good idea to advise you to go for it *at this time*. Your age/time in game, is a factor here.

... and carriers are being overhauled into fighter-only capitals, with the repping abilities transferred to Force Auxiliaries (a.k.a. FAX).

http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/reworking-capital-ships-and-thus-it-begins/