EVE New Citizens Q&A

Hello,
You can learn some basics looking in https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=topics&f=251 and read the sticky "FAQ ho do i fit xyz ship" out there.
Also put http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Category:Ship_Database in your bookmarks. There is a description of ship and some of their fitting (some may be old fit however but it will give you a starting point)
If Tech 2 modules aren't available for you, look for the tech 1 instead!

Usually, you will want modules that strengthen your ship bonuses, so learn to read the ship description before anything else to choose the right ship for the right task :)

Ok, so primer on fitting ships:

1. Ships have several limitations: they have a limited number of high slots, med slots, and low slots; for the high slots, they also have a limited number of guns vs. missiles that you can fit into those slots; and finally each ship has a limited amount of power and CPU, which limit the SIZE of modules that you can put it.

1a. Frigates have 30-50 power grid, so you can only fit "small" sized modules. You'll notice if you look at the medium or large modules and weapons, that they require 150+ or even 1200+ power grid; orders of magnitude more than the frigates can supply. So that makes it so even if you use the few modules that add power grid (micro auxiliary power supply, reactor control, power diagnostics), you're never going to get a medium gun to fit into a frigate, or a large gun into a cruiser.

1b. Mining, industry, and electronics modules require a lot of CPU; ships that are intended for mining, for electronic jamming, or for combat probing, will have extra CPU, whereas pure combat ships will not be able to fit these things without using up all their low slots with extra co-processors.

2. The market can function as an encyclopedia, allowing you to browse and right-click to show info on anything (you don't have to buy stuff if you just want to look at the info). The ship equipment is neatly organized into categories, armor, shields, etc., making for an easy browsing experience.

3. Frigates rely on speed and agility to survive. Bigger ships are too slow for that, forcing you to install an actual tank (either shield or armor). For a frigate, you put some guns on it, you put an afterburner or MWD (to move faster), and you're set. For cruiser and bigger, you have to use either shields + shield resistances, or armor + armor resistances. Which one is best depends on the slots of the ship: shields use mid slots, armor uses low slots. So if the ship has lots of low slots, then it's an armor ship; if it has lots of mid slots, then it's a shield ship. Typically Caldari ships are shields; some Minmatar ships are shields too.

You have to have a strategy for fitting your ship:

4. Start with the weapons. Each weapon (lasers, hybrids, projectiles, missiles) has a long range and a short range version, for each class of ships. For example, rail guns are long range, blasters are short range. Artillery, autocannons. Beam lasers, pulse lasers. Light missiles, rockets. Decide if you want to stay at long range and snipe at the enemy, or if you want to get in close and really make some holes in them. Fit ALL the high slots that you can with the weapon you've chosen, do not mix/match weapons, fit all of them the same.

5. After the weapons, think about speed. Whether short range or long range, you typically need an afterburner or microwarpdrive to make sure that the enemy is kept at the perfect distance so your guns can kill effectively. Afterburners can be ran continuously, whereas MWD's are more of a great burst of speed then your ship is drained (good for getting in and getting out). In addition to your own speed, consider a stasis webifier module if you're running a short range setup; the webifier will slow down your target and keep it there so you can kill it.

6. After you've made sure that you're faster than the enemy and can keep it at the correct range for your weapons, it's time to think about defenses. If your ship has 4+ medium slots, use shields, if it has 4+ low slots, use armor. Never combine the two; the idea is to use the limited power grid that you have for the absolute biggest defense; the enemy will shoot you with everything they have, so think of the incoming damage as a tsunami wave - it's better to have a single tall wall than to have 2 low walls. The typical defense is a shield booster + shield hardeners (or shield resistance amplifiers), or armor repairer + armor hardeners (or energized armor membranes). For bigger ships, you can also put in a Damage Control module; this will double the resistances of your hull (after the shields are gone and the armor is gone, the hull is all that remains), giving you more time to run away and save your ship.

6a. Again, frigates don't have enough slots to set up a proper shield or armor defense; by necessity with frigates you'll have to do with just a small shield booster or just a small armor repairer, and no resistances. Instead, make sure that your afterburner is a really good one, and you'll have to either stay out of range of the enemy guns, or (the more common scenario), get UNDER their guns by orbiting very close and very fast.

7. After weapons and defenses, you should consider some utility for the medium slots, if you have any available: target painters make the enemy easier to hit, webifiers slow the enemy down, and for PVP you will absolutely need a warp disruptor or warp scrambler, because anyone that you shoot can just warp away laughing at you; you need to tackle PVP targets.

7b. If you're fitting your ship for guerilla tactics, you should reserve 2 of the low slots for DPS modules. Things like Heat Sinks, Magnetic Field Stabilizers, ballistic control systems, these make your guns do a lot more damage, and damage is king.

8. Finally, any slots you may have available, think about capacitor juice. The capacitor functions like mana in other MMOs, if you run out of it, you won't be able to keep up your shield repairs, armor repairs, or continue to shoot your guns. For PVE scenarios, you're looking at cap rechargers and capacitor power relays, because the fights are prolonged. PVP fights, on the other hand, are very short affairs, either you die or the other guy dies, happens very fast, so you need a Cap Booster with booster charges (pills), to give you quick injections of capacitor juice at critical moments.

EFT ( Eve Fitting Tool )

Evemon

Eve Uni wiki

Use google to find the above.

EFT is a very useful tool. There are videos on how to use it but Eve uni has instructions that are pretty good. The Eve Uni wiki in general is just a good starting point for any information that you are looking for in Eve. For example if you want to know how to fit a ship google the ship name. You might have to add the word "eve" after it if the name is in common use out of game. The fits that Eve Uni gives you won't be perfect but they are a good starting point. They also give you a good explanation about the strengths and weakness of the ship in many cases.

Evemon is a great tool for helping you plan your character training. However I want to caution you against waiting for skills to train. Evemon can easily lead to you waiting for skills to train if you use it improperly. You should never be waiting for skills to train in this game.

many fitting choices are typically decided by the ship bonuses. If the ship has a bonus to lasers, you fit lasers. If it has a bonus to shields, you fit a shield tank.

If a ship has no tank bonus, look at the slot layout. Shields are typically mid slot items, if a ship has a lot of mid slots, a shield tank is usually recommended. Armor is typically low slots. Do not fit both.

OP note how Trevor uses words like "typically" and "usually", there are times when what he says is not true, there are no rules that fit in all occasions. In the end you will have to learn how to fit a ship. In the mean time having friends to link potential fits to is helpful.