Ships & Modules

I'm trying to decide what race I want to train advanced cruisers for.

Which is race best for pve? which race is best for pvp? Which race would be better to train for to be able to easily pvp/pve interchangeably?

I'm a newish player, and I've heard that the caldari's the best for pve due to the tengu and basilisk. I know amarr has the curse and guardian. Is the legion any good? Minmatar has the loki... and what else is worth using? I've heard the Ishtar was a great drone boat for galentte. Do they have anything else worth looking at?

I recommend Caldari/Minmatar.

Tengu simply rules above all other T3, capstable 100MN AB is awesome both for PvE and PvP, (in nullsec I mean) while Loki is one of the most versatile T3, from solo hunter to sniper or brawler, lots and lots of good setups available. Basilisks are used more often these days then in the past. Passive shield tanking skills come very useful in PvP, so whether you fly Drakes or Vagabond/Cynabal every sp you invested in it pays off. Huginns are welcome in most roaming gangs.

Gallente shines in the capital range, unknown how the hybrid unnerf will affect it.
Legion is not very good, Zealot/Guardian is king only in AHAC-gangs, Curse.. maybe in lowsec, not seen a single one in nullsec in the past few months. Also, it is nearly always called primary, which is bad on an empty stomach.

Quite an open ended question with a hell of a lot of opinion involved in answering it.

I'll touch on them a bit but understand - everyone is going to think this or that ship "sucks" or "is good" or "is best". All of them tend to see a good deal of use.

Logistics -
Guardian (Amarr) - best for a group of logistics backing up armor tanked ships.
Basalisk (Caldari) - best for group of logistics backing up shield tanked ships.
Scimitar (Minmatar) - best for a single logistics to back up a small gang of shield tanked ships.
Oneiros (Gallente) - arguably the worst - best for a single logistics to back up a small gang of armor tanked ships.

The last 2 pretty much require logistics 5 training to use them well. They aren't that difficult to get cap stable which the first 2 don't do easily at all. They also do not get energy transfer bonuses vs the first 2 - so Amarr and Caldari ships, in teams, can exceed 'cap stable' and actually provide extra energy to others in a fleet. *IF* they have other logi there to share energy transfers with.

What type of support would you like to provide if you flew one?

HIC's -
All are decent - Onyx seems to be one of the most popular but they all can get the job done well.

Role is heavy tackler from hell. They tend to pack battleship level tank on a cruiser hull so can take a healthy beating - especially being as battleship class weapons don't hit them all that decently.

In highsec and lowsec, they use a script to turn their bubbles into beams that can tackle any ship in the game - from a titan to a deep space transport. The only way to break the tackle is to get outside their range or make them stop using the device - kill it or neut it.

In nullsec they are moving bubbles that only T3's can "ignore" by fitting a special sub-system. Nothing else can warp out of that bubble and it surrounds the ship which can fly around a bit - albeit slowly.

HAC's -
a lot of variances here. Mass opinions. These are the damage dealing cruiser class ships.

I suppose you'd want to look at the "weakest" ones but all of them are decent.
Minmater - Munnin is less popular than the Vagabond
It's bonuses are to optimal range vs the vaga being falloff. Projectiles tend to "live in" falloff and the minmatar ships are about speed - the vaga also gets a speed bonus.

Gallente - Demios is less popular than the Ishtar
The Demios is a gun ship - primarily blaster fit. As such it needs to be up close and personal to do it's task and... "hybrids have issues". The Ishtar is a drone boat - solid drone skills and it shines like any drone boat can/will. It can also field a full flight of 5 sentry drones (battleship class weaponry).

Caldari - Eagle is less popular than the Cererbus.
Eagle is a hybrid gun ship. Hybrids have issues and Caldari tend to avoid guns over missile skills. Cererbus is a missile ship - Caldari? Yeah. Cererbus is more popular.

Amarr - no clue really. I hear good things and mutters about both.

T3's -
Expensive compared to the other options but - In order of popularity:
Caldari Tengu - top contender for "best PvE' ship in the game. Also used in PvP but less popular than other options.
Minmatar Loki - can do decently at PvE but PvP it does seem to shine better. Booster fits seem common but DPS use from them is also popular. Fast, agile and able to do the usual "flexibility" gig.

Almost a toss up on which is thought less of - Legion or Proteus. Armor tends to be less popular in these smaller mid-sized ship classes. They tend to be far less agile and lacking in the GTFO ability.

Amarr Legion - but the Legion is a nice ship for armor HAC gangs. It can do PvE well but tends to be a bit slow for most folks tastes in PvP.
Proteus - Hard to get solid tank and good DPS on it. Armor tanked makes it less agile but it can show some serious damage numbers *IF* it can get in blaster range.

Recon's -
All are thought well of by their pilots. The Curse and Pilgrim are held in fairly high esteme due to their abilities at soloing. If it's soloing you are into - they may be your best options but all of them work very nicely in the right types of gangs.

---

Again, a hell of a lot of opinion in how this stuff works out. "Best" is often more aligned to your style of play and which ship fits it. Trying to solo the world? Like "in your face" or "long range"? Into Support style stuff - command or repair? ...

Don't ignore one just because it's not as popular as another. Figure out your style and find the one (or ones) that fit(s).

I just want to say thank you for the educated in depth responses. You've been very helpful.

Check your kb stats.

Most numerous t3: Tengu
Least numerous t3: Proteus
T3 most killed: Tengu
T3 that get most kills: Proteus

Pve and pvp are different, undock moar

I'm looking for some Gallente ship but I can't see it, do you think I have some bug??

I'm sure you had too much PUDDI

I monitored that list for about 8 months - it changes around quite a bit.

Examples:
- Tengu wasn't on it for a chunk of time then suddenly rose up very high as, I believe it was PL, stated to use gangs of them.
- Melstrom was on their big many months back as the "alpha mael" was very popular.
- Gallente ships show at times and other times don't.

FOTM style uses.

Another thing to look at is the WEAPONS used in kills - that gives a slightly different picture being as you'll often find hybrids in that list but few hybrid packing ships in the ships listing.

If a bit more looking is done, you'll get a better feel for the actual usage versus just hulls but that hulls list does help folks see what is currently popular for use.

You are at any point free to show us anything indicating that the Proteus has more kills than the Tengu.