EVE New Citizens Q&A

49 year old player from the US, Eastern TZ. Taking a break from ED to try out EvE.
I had a question about destroyers. People are telling me to get a destroyer like Catalyst for Sisters Arc. I like the looks of the Tactical Destroyers better.

Are they all pretty decent for pvp as well? One favored more over the others?
I'd like to get into some small gang pvp and terrorize some folks.

If anyone has some fits or ideas, hit me up with them.

Thanks!

First: Welcome to EVE!

Second: You are going to hear this a lot about pretty every ship in the game; "it depends."

Tech 1 Destroyers are basically slower, slightly beefier frigates with WAY more "punching power." If you train up their respective weapon system a bit then they should all be able to get you through the Sisters of EvE Epic Arc with only slight difficulty.

With regards to the Tactical Destroyers (see: Tech 3 Destroyers)...
They are indeed better than the regular Tech 1 ships of their class. But...
- they are also A LOT more expensive (see: 1-2 million versus 60 to 80 million),
- require more skills to get into (I believe Destroyer level 5),
- need higher skill levels to get the most out of (see: with low weapon skills, the difference in "punching power" between and T3 and T1 Destroyer will not be that significant).
- the insurance payout (see: the payout the game gives you when you die) is not that good for "high-end" ships. You will get more "bang for your buck" if you die in a Tech 1 ship.


Now in general... all ships can be effectively used in PvP. They simply can't be used in all roles as it is impossible to fit for every tactic and countermeasure.
Specialization is king here.

However, as a newbie you are given the benefit of the doubt and can experiment to see what works and what you like. Don't be scared... don't wait for your skills to be at "max level" (this is not that kind of game)... and, most importantly, be social.
Having friends and allies in EVE will help you ways that no amount of skillpoints or experience ever can.

As ShahFluffers says, tactical destroyers are a more advanced type of ship.
For the price of one tactical destroyer you could buy many, regular destroyers. Some of your skills are going to need to be much higher just to get a tactical destroyer out of the station and into space compared to a regular destroyer.

Ultimately, which ships you choose to fly is something you get the final decision on. If you really want to be flying a tactical destroyer as soon as possible, you can. The only way the game will block you from doing that is because there are certain skills you must train up to certain levels before your character can operate a tactical destroyer. As long as you have the rights skills trained up to the right level, you are capable of flying any ship you want.

On the other hand, just having the skills alone won't allow you to get the most out of an advanced ship. Knowing how to use the ship effectively in different situations is just as important as having the skills needed to make the ship fly. Tactical destroyers and tactical cruisers are very flexible and adaptable ships, but part of what makes them so strong is knowing how to use them in a variety of different situations. Spending some time in a regular destroyer could save you from making an expensive mistake while you're still learning.

It's your isk and your time, fly whatever ship you want to fly, but be aware that you will not be able to fly an advanced ship like a pro straight away. You can easily make mistakes that cause your ship to explode because you've overestimated yourself (been there, done that). You'll be doing your in-game wallet a favour by making those mistakes in cheaper ships to begin with.

I just want something fast and furious with dps to mess up someones day
I've learned in other games, bigger isn't always baddest. fast and agile ships usually work best.

I will try some things out and see what fits my game play style I guess.
Appreciate the helpful advice!

That is true of eve as well. Ships in eve tend to fill roles rather than be all purpose vessels. The bigger ships are not necessarily better. If you plan to solo pvp, i would point out that eve is not designed to play solo and ships in eve can be difficult to solo pvp in effectively. Its possible to do but your target selection on what you can kill is very limited while even a small gang( and gangs are far more common) can easily take you out.

"Classes" of ships and their uses are"
*Frigates-Fast, agile, low dps,uses speed to negate most damage. Often used for tackle( to catch and hold other ships). Great for a fast moving gang. Tackle is always needed in a gang. Being the cheapest class, they are the cheapest ships to pvp in. Frigates in numbers can be deadly to even a capital ship

*Destroyer - Slightly beefier and slower than frigates. They are still quite fast and are often used as tackle or support tackle, in small fast gangs. More dps but still squishy. They are also fairly cheap.

* Cruisers - probably the most used and most balanced class wise. Cruisers are that middle point between dps/tank/speed/utility. Not quite as fast but still decently agile. they can pack a bit of punch. and some variants can tank like a battleship. They are the most used because of the sheer number of different ships and because of the balance between dps/tank/speed/utility. The t1 versions are pretty cheap yet but the t2 and t3 versions will put a dent in the wallet.

* Battlecruisers- Battlecruisers are of limited use in pvp right now. There are very few people flying them as doctrine ships. They are more tanky than cruisers with more dps but they are nearly as slow as battleships especially when you start fitting plates to them. They are used more so at the moment as a cheap PVE precursor to a battleship.

* Battleships are big and slow. They can pack a lot of firepower but will have a hard time hitting small fast targets. The are the most tanky of the sub caps generally speaking. Their size and lack of agility and poor ability to hit smaller targets make them of limited use in pvp. Usually they are used in alliance warfare for bashing structures and as a sub capital fleet against capitals. They have been used effectively solo with great skills.

* Capitals and super capitals are pretty much for alliance warfare though some people have been known to solo pvp in a carrier. They can tank a lot and dish out a lot. But they are easy to catch and usually a gang of ships will pile in to kill one.

Ships also have tech levels which we can t1, t2, t3. They are as follows:

* T1- Low skill version. Limited abilities. You can think of this as the base model for a car. They are good to learn the game in. Cheap to lose but performance is generally unimpressive at best.

*T2- Pricey but the performance increase is worth it. T2 ships are pretty role specific and will shine in their role. They shine the most when they are set up for a specific purpose( tackle, dps, ewar, etc) in a fleet. rather than trying to cover multiple roles.

T3- The most flexible of ships. T3 destroyers are really good right now. T3 cruisers are like the swiss army knife of eve. The cruisers can be fitted to do many roles well...just not all at once.

Pirate/navy faction - pirate and navy faction ships are really popular for pvp now. Their price varies. Many fall in the price range between t1 and t2 of that class of ships though some exceed the t2 price. Pirate/Navy faction ship offer ( usually) great performance. They dont require a lot of specialized skills to fly like t2 and t3 but the pirate( not the navy) require dual training into two different races and sometimes into two different weapon systems. Pirate and navy ships are better for solo pvp than t2 ships in my opinion.

You also have a similar setup to modules. t1> meta level( these are just named t1 modules such as "50Mn YT-8 compact microwarpdrive") > t2 modules > faction modules( these are marked with a green tag in the corner of their portrait ( such as Domination 50mn microwarpdrive) > deadspace modules ( these will be c,b,a or x type modules) marked with a blue tag in the corner of their portrait > officer mods marked with a purple tag in the corner of the portrait.

T1 named and t2 are the most used for pvp. though faction and deadspace are also used often now. You will rarely see an officer mod in pvp unless its on a capital or the player is rich and likes to throw money away.

After reading all the comments, I decided to train up for a Stabber. I like that its cheap enough to buy a lot to fly and die. But it has speed and DPS to hunt frigates and destroyers. I think it will be a good platform to learn on while flying with a corp learning some pvp.

Solstice is in horde doing whatever his owner does.
and he looks kind of fat......
anyhow thanks for mentioning.

d400 did that? nice! ^_^
i had no idea. :)


(ps: i invented the fitting. the first ever double-volley victim was a pilot of TEST ...
... sitting inside the gate, advertising his alliance. cheers were had.)

heh not insta-lock because you still have a lock time, a sensor booster with a scan resolution script and the signature analysis skill will cut that down.

It's Insta-pop; alpha strike means dealing enough damage to destroy something in one hit, an arty Thrasher can hit hard enough to do that to shuttles, pods and some frigates.

edit: You should know that if you do this in hisec to someone who isn't suspect, criminal or otherwise flagged, Concord will come and kick your arse and you'll lose some security status; killing pods loses more security status than killing ships, the consolation price is that, if you can beat someone to it, you can collect their corpse as a trophy

What weapons provide the DPS like that? Lasers? Rails?

Thanks for the great help. I'm in cruiser class with stabber, so I will cross train to fly a blackbird and try ewar too. I figure I could help in small gangs one way or another. more options!