Ships & Modules

Hey pilots- I'm getting to a point where I'm going to be training into T2 and then into T3, but I'm not really sure which race I should go with or why. I'm looking to get into a C5/5 WH corp that runs armor doctrine, but aside from that tank style, I'm really sorta lost.

I figured I'd ask the community, since you guys have had experience with literally every ship, and you're in a position to advise on best/worst lineup.

I don't intend on doing any big fleet work in the WH, although later on I may. I expect small to medium gang sized pvp with sleeper site running, of course. I really haven't trained any weapon systems up thus far, and I have actually trained all the races' BCs to get a good idea of their playstyles.

But, this is where I hit a wall. I'm not really sure which race has a solid all-around T2 lineup. For example, I like the design of the Sacrilege, but I never see any of them...so, does this mean that HAM Sacs are terrible, or just no Amarr T2 where I am? Same is true for Muninn or Cerberus HACs.

So, it's just my lack of exposure with tech 2 lineups that I'm really missing. Any thoughts or advice or insight would be most appreciated! Thanks all.

I'd choose from either Gallente or Amarr. Proteuses and Legions are the big buffer heavy hitters, Astartes and Absolutions are quite common as well. Proteus is an excellent cloaky ganker for general PVP and heavy tackling, Legion has a bit more range in fleet engagements.

T3s are better at being HACs than HACs at the moments due to their vastly bigger buffers and since ISK is not an issue here

For higher class PVE people seem to favor caps, supported by webbing Lokis or then RR Tengu fleets (at least for C5s). Consult with your corp how they do stuff. Both are also viable PVP ships, Tengu perhaps not as common in w-space as the other three, being worse than the others at close range where most engagements happen. Loki can do a passable armor config, and basically all four complement each others in small gang when you don't have to worry about logi compatibility.

Anyway, since this is a game and all, you should choose ships that you really like. Max your character and player skills for those ships and you'll be more valuable pilot than someone grudgingly succumbing to strict fleet doctrines.

Personally I wouldn't switch my Proteus for any ship. Cloaky version is highly usable 99% of the time, and very often the crucial ship in a gang.

what part of 'armour tank' points to minmatar CSs?

@OP, if youre just goign to be flying a T3 (not a bad thing) go for loki or proteus.
both are a solid PVP choice and excel in armour fleets. loki is also useful for capital escalations.
legion is not as good as either the loki or proteus, it is lacking for most roles.

if you also want to fly T2 armour ships a lot, you can't really go minmatar since they don't have any T2 ships that work better with armour.
amarr have by far the best T2 lineup for armour with guardians, zealots, absolutions, pilgrims, damnations ect all being staple in WH fleets.
gallente have a decent T2 listing too but it is notably weaker than amarr.

if youre coming to the issue from a totally low SP point of view, I would highly recommend getting into T2 amarr ships and once youre skills are there for that, cross train into minmatar or gallente. probably minmatar so you can use a loki in armour fleets and also have a lot of great shield and solo/small non logi supported options.

from a personal point of view, i love my proteus, like my loki, use my 100mn tengu for solo stuff and don't fly my legion.

You should be seeing Zealots, but not Sacs. The problems with the Sac:
- It cannot simultaneously focus on tank and gank
- It is armor tanked.
- It's DPS isn't so hot even if you focus on it to the exclusion of all tank.
- It doesn't range tank very well.
- A web is really nice for damage application with HAMs
- The Sac is very very different from all the other ships in the Amarr lineup.

I don't know how to properly answer your question from a T2/T3/Faction perspective. Instead, I'm going to name the ships that come to mind and answer with hearts. Maybe you'll derive how much I <3 each race.
- Amarr: Zealot <3 <3
- Amarr: Sac
- Amarr: Phantasm <3
- Amarr: Pulse Legion <3 <3 <3
- Amarr: Curse <3 <3
- Amarr: Pilgrim <3 <3
- Amarr: Neut Legion <3 <3 (There are very real uses for this)
- Amarr: Ashimmu
- Amarr: Devoter <3
- Amarr: Absolution <3
- Amarr: Damnation <3 <3
- Amarr: Geddon <3 <3 <3
- Amarr: Apoc
- Amarr: Abaddon <3 <3 <3
- Amarr: Bhaalgorn <3 <3 <3
- Amarr: Oracle <3 <3 <3
- Amarr: Link Legion <3 <3 <3

- Gallente: Ishtar <3
- Gallente: Gila <3
- Gallente: Deimos
- Gallente: Vigilant <3 <3
- Gallente: Arazu <3 <3
- Gallente: Lachesis <3 <3
- Gallente: Scram Blaster Proteus <3 <3 <3
- Gallente: Phobos
- Gallente: Astarte
- Gallente: Eos
- Gallente: Domi/NDomi: <3 <3
- Gallente: Mega/NMega: <3
- Gallente: Hype: <3
- Gallente: Vindicator <3 <3 <3
- Gallente: Talos <3 <3 <3 <3
- Gallente: Link Proteus

Looks like Amarr has a slight edge for me? I can probably do this for the other races if anyone is really curious.

-Liang

Ed: I had to post it without my No Love hearts. Assume that I don't like the Deimos, Astarte, and Sac. I really don't like the Eos and Link Proteus. I'm neutral to the Phobos and Apoc/NApoc