Ships & Modules

join a corp with vets that can teach you.
check karmafleet or pandemic horde or brave newbies or test alliance.

as alpha you want to rat and farm npc so you can eventually plex your account and pass omega.
gallente vexor is one of the best ratting ships.
that's why you want gallente :)

to mine you pass from a venture to a mining barge, then an exhumer and finally to a rorqual.

I wouldn't mine in anything as an alpha, the yields are just way too low. Vexor would be a poor alpha miner as alpha's can't use mining drones, and the cargohold is small meaning you either have to jetcan mine and risk getting ore stolen, or make very frequent trips to station. And the venture will mine more with mining lasers.

As far as race goes I favor gallente as they can train small/medium hybrids and small/medium drones giving them a bunch of options. many ships can use rails and drones giving the combo synergy. Also the gallente frig/cruiser lineup is pretty good.

caldari isn't bad, rails + missiles are an okay combo, but ships don't typically use rails and missiles at the same time so there are no synergies to be had training multiple weapon systems. Caldari can train very limited drones. Ships like the caracal are great, and once you get out of alpha they have some very nice BC hulls.

Amarr is decent lasers + drones resulting in similar synergies to gallente, but I'm not a huge fan of their cruiser lineup. It's not bad I just like gallente a bit better.

minmatar, not great and my least favorite alpha race. Minmatar ships are all over the place, shield tanks, armor tanks, projectiles, missiles, drones are spread out all over and due to the alpha SP limitations you can't get the most out of minmatar ships. Minmatar is mainly limited to projectiles and missiles, with a tiny amount in drones. And I think their frig/cruiser lineup could use a little work.

The gnosis is a battlecrusier that anyone can fly and it really favors gallente and amarr as it gives bonuses to all medium guns, missiles, and drones. This is where the gallente and amarr gun+drone skills really shine and make them my two favorite alpha races.

While agree with you on the fact Gallente can be a great alpha clone but I beg to differ on the aspect of Minmatar being terrible, yes we have a diverse range that is sort of out there and about but I can argue our ships relatively cheaper both to buy and produce, relatively more module slots compared to other ships of the same role, and greater flexibility in terms of outfitting. I mean you can slap on modules picked from rat corpses and have a fully outfitted ship regardless of where you are, so Minmatar has its advantages when it comes to ratting and what modules you can tack on, given enough duct tape and bubble gum. We also probably can output a lot of damage per round with some of our projectile turrets, with my personal thrasher being able to deal out 1.2k damage a cycle.

I feel we have the better small ship line up though compared to some others who are kind of meh, Slasher is a ship that needs the right kind of fitting to be effective though, Thrasher is a minmatar staple, and a rifter is commonly used for speedtanking since if you slap a microwarp or afterburner, you are going to be tearing through space. Our cruiser lineup could use some minor tweaking since I've flown a rupture, and a stabber, the rupture could stand to be tweak to be less of floating defense platform, stabber is fine, just needs a little more firepower though thats a personal issue, bellicose i havent tried, and the scythe seems to be a heavy duty logi ship. As far as my prior statement, you gotta admit, fixing up a Minmatar ship with decent outfitting made from salvaged junk and modules can take you far, especially with the proper skill set.

I agree with Chainsaw's comments about mining as an Alpha. The types of ore you will be able to mine safely as a new character will not be very valuable, so making isk from mining is going to be slow. On top of that, a vexor is a combat cruiser and not a good choice for mining. A venture can carry over 10 times as much mined ore as a vexor can.

As for whether Gallente is the "best" choice for an Alpha character, that's kind of like saying chocolate is the "best" flavour of icecream. Different people have different preferences. What might be "best" for someone else is not always going to be "best" for you.

If you want to concentrate on PVE, Gallente is a very good choice. Gallente specialise in two specific weapon systems, hybrid turrets and drones. Hybrid turrets only do two of the four different types of damage in the game, but those two damage types are the types of damage most NPC pirates are vulnerable to. Gallente also has the most options for ships that carry drones (little remote controlled ships you carry and launch from your ship. Combat drones can attack hostile ships for you). Gallente have some ships with special bonuses to make combat drones more powerful, and even among the Gallente ships that do not have bonuses for drones, those ships typically can carry and use more drones than similar ships from the other empires. Each main empire has it's own set of drones that do a different type of damage but the drones all use the same skills. You can use drones from any of the man empires, it does not matter which empire you started the game with.

If you want to PVP, you can do that as a Gallente Alpha, but personally I'd lean towards Caldari for that. Caldari use hybrid turrets just like Gallente, but Caldari also use missiles, which Gallente don't use. Caldari aren't very good for drones. A Caldari Alpha cannot train certain drone skills that a Gallente Alpha can train, plus Caldari ships tend to have limited drone capabilities. Missiles on the other hand are a pretty good weapon system. They can do every type of damage in the game, just pick the right type of missiles.

Amarr are very similar to Gallente in terms of the skills that an Alpha can train. Amarr specialise in laser turrets and drones. Amarr ships have almost the same drone capabilities as Gallente ships, including special bonuses on some ships to make drones more powerful. Lasers are similar to hybrid turrets, they do two types of damage, but lasers do not need to be supplied with ammunition, they use "crystals". The basic tech 1 crystals never wear out so you don't need to keep buying more of them like you have to keep buying more ammunition for hybrid turrets and missiles.

For an Alpha character, Minmatar are very similar to Caldari, they can use missiles and Minmatar also have projectile turrets instead of hybrid turrets. Projectile turrets can do any type of damage, it's just a matter of selecting the type of ammunition you want to use. Minmatar ships have similar drone capabilities as Caldari ships, and a Minmatar Alpha is restricted to the same basic drone skills that a Caldari Alpha has.

Just get a full account. If you look at the things 15 USD gets you in the world today - 30 days of Eve game time is a really great deal. 15 little ones frees you from all the hassle, limits and compromise of the alpha. Do the alpha, and if you like the game, open that wallet and get one of the best deals on the planet.

If you're thinking you're going to enjoy Eve over the long haul on an alpha account - it's just not going to happen. You'll eventually want all the things, so run the alpha to the end of its usefulness and then get in the game. And, if that's the plan, none of this alpha stuff really matters. It's free training until you want more - at that point swap over and keep going.


Long term - alpha Is a dead end. If you intend to be alpha only - you're wasting your time on a game you're not going to stay with.

Breacher is the best scram kiter in this game,IMHO, if you take ISK/effectivity into account. Slasher is one of the very few alpha clone instalockers. Stabber is an antifrigate platform but hardly a cruiser , I would say. I mean if you take a look at its bonuses, fitting capabilities and , mainly , absence of tank, worthy of a cruiser. Unless you range tank with it ;) Rifter was good, from what I have heard, but got nerfed years ago. Wreathe is the best universe T1 hauler.

But I would mostly agree with the rest of the Muffinmixer's post. Maybe just notice, that gallente frigate Tristan can be also fitted for kiting. You will have troubles to slide into occupied FW PLEX in it, though. Due to signature, speed and agility: you will have hard time to escape initial scram after the slide.

Scram kiting distances will not let the kestrel rocket range bonus shine. Overheated they have same DPS (hobgoblins on Breacher), but Breacher has better agility and speed. So it will be passive tank on kestrel vs Breacher active tank, This Breacher can be fited to actively tank 265 DPS and still punch 130 DPS at 8-9 km (cold scram range)
[Breacher, NotMuffinmixer's Breacher]

Damage Control II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Pro-Nav Compact Missile Guidance Enhancer

1MN Afterburner II
Warp Scrambler II
Medium Ancillary Shield Booster, Cap Booster 50
Medium Ancillary Shield Booster, Cap Booster 50

Rocket Launcher II, Mjolnir Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Mjolnir Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Mjolnir Rage Rocket

Small Ancillary Current Router I
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Small Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I


Acolyte II x2

This is DPS version of Breacher, able to output 193 DPS and still tank 130 DPS
[Breacher, 193 DPS output hot]

Ballistic Control System II
IFFA Compact Damage Control
Nanofiber Internal Structure II

1MN Afterburner II
Fleeting Compact Stasis Webifier
Warp Scrambler II
Medium Ancillary Shield Booster, Cap Booster 50

Rocket Launcher II, Inferno Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Inferno Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Inferno Rage Rocket

Small Bay Loading Accelerator I
[Empty Rig slot]
Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I


Hobgoblin II x2

Sample Kestrel fit, that deals same DPS:
[Kestrel, 192 DPS output hot]

Ballistic Control System II
IFFA Compact Damage Control

1MN Afterburner II
X5 Enduring Stasis Webifier
Warp Scrambler II
Medium Shield Extender II

Rocket Launcher II, Inferno Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Inferno Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Inferno Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Inferno Rage Rocket

Small Bay Loading Accelerator I
Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I
[Empty Rig slot]

Breacher does 1296 m/s cold, Kestrel 1044. I think most brawlers will be able to dictate range at 1000-1200 m/s cold speed. Like that Incursus, for example:
[Incursus, typical brawler]

Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste
IFFA Compact Damage Control
Prototype Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane I

1MN Monopropellant Enduring Afterburner
J5b Enduring Warp Scrambler
Fleeting Compact Stasis Webifier

Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S
Light Neutron Blaster II, Void S

Small Processor Overclocking Unit I
Small Semiconductor Memory Cell II
Small Auxiliary Nano Pump I


Hobgoblin II x1

Thanks