Warfare & Tactics

Me and a friend are often wanting to go roaming, but due to him being cheap as **** and bad at pvp, and me not wanting to fly 2000 times (isk wise) what he's flying, there's always issues with what the two of us can fly.

Pilot 1) I can fly any Caldari, but my skills are mainly in Missiles, and I can fly ECM ships well, and I'll feel confident in a Crow within a day or so... shame it operates without a web.

Pilot 2) My friend can fly minmatar, but the most expensive thing he'd ever consider flying is a T2 Frigate... at a push.

We've gone out in a Blackbird and a Rifter which I suppose wasn't too bad, but our combined firepower is barely enough to kill a pod.

I had an thought about a Dual Webbed Navy Hookbill and a Thrasher or something with lots of AC or Artty...

Anyone got any ideas about what two cheapy (ish) fits fly well together roaming in Low/Null sec, considering my friends gimpped budget and skills?

Is your friend willing to fly a BC? Hurricane and Drake would be best bang for your buck in terms of targets you can engage. If you're sticking too smaller targets rifters/thrashers and stuff are always good - don't fly something really shiny if he's being cheap, both because you'll get spacemad and because two cheaper frigates are more likely to get fights.

The above mentioned griffin+rifter can work, blackbird + anything, caracal and rupture, pretty much any mix of the decent pvp ships will do fine while he figures stuff out.

I was thinking, I have a navy hookbill which has too much money sunk into its fit, what about that and a minmatar cruiser with some big guns?

Dual web makes anything little get ripped apart by slow tracking guns right?

if your caldari and trying to pvp i suggest to train a new race then because they are in general bad at pvping and even worse at solo/small gang pvping.

Wow. Nobody's suggested [blank] + Falcon?

Fully insured Hurricane isn't going to be much more expensive than a T2 frig.

And as the Falcon pilot you get the pleasure of making your friend feel like an untouchable badass.

I agree with the Blackbird + Rupture or Griffin/Kitsune + Rifter (Wolf/Jag).

Solve the problem of scaring people away by keeping the ECM ship hidden. On the other side of the gate or a safespot. Pick a fight with the high DPS/low-ish tank tackle, warp/jump in your ECM, lol at tears.

Solve the problem of your friend being a cheap-ass by giving him the tackle ship hull. 4-5 mill is nothing and if it motivates him to work with you, it's worth it. Plus with ECM it's probably going to survive a few fights, so huge bang for the buck here. I'd give him 3-4 hulls and 1 full fit and dare him to come up with a new excuse.

Falcon.... 100m+ for the hull makes me nervous flying with an inexperienced partner. As I rule, I would not fly a Falcon if you are the most expensive ship in the fleet. For the same price you can blow up quite a few lesser ECM ships. If you decide you like ECM though, Falcon w/Recon V is what you're aiming for as a long-term goal.

You will get more fights if you stay out of the ecm boats.

Frigs, I would go with a kestral and rifter, cheap, fun and you will get a lot of fights.

Cruisers, aml caracal and a rupture, cheap, fun and with good piloting and practice they can murder frig gangs.

Battlecruisers, Drake and Hurricane, not as cheap, but can engage a wide range of targets

Then again I don't know what your skills are like or where you plan on roaming.

Also, the hookbill if a great ship too, but not nearly as cheap as the kestral.

Best combos:

Frig: Rifter + Punisher

Cruiser: Rupture + Caracal

BC: Cane + Drake


I would recommend you start small with the frigs, get to know the lay of the land. Engage only at planets and pirates in belts, avoid gate fights because those tend to be bait situations. Once you and your friend get some experience and hopefully have a pattern down move up a ship class.

Keep it clean and don't smack too much. Props to you. Expect to die so leave the expensive implants + bling at home.

The ultimate 2 man pvp combo is a mining Vexor ( ideally named Chribbanator ) with lasers, ab dual point and 1600 plate with a Blackbird cloaked close by. Be ready for alot of hate and tons of tears.

Aside from that fly cheap. For the price of a t2 frig you can get your buddy into a rigged t2 fit rupture with isk to spare or a fast tackle stabber.

In general people don't run from T1 so you'll get more fights.

With only 2 of you it's unlikely you're going to be aggroing on gates so you need to be reasonably juicy but not overly scary targets to score action.

Never underestimate the value of a good tackle frig partner. It's the difference between getting the kill or ' the one that got away'. Riffter with mwd and 24k point can lock and hold for your warp in. TD in the mid can be hell to gun boats. Vigil with a painter makes you missiles even more painful. Same with the belicose/stabber combo if you buddy gets a little more confident and puts some more isk up.

Caracal is a good choice, ham cerb is a beast with good skills. Navy Osprey is hideously ugly but has very interesting bonus's as a fast hit and run boat and generally they're cheap.

Best advice is to think about your fleet composition a bit. Ya there's only 2 of you but this can be an edge. Don't both fit web's or scram's. Mix up td's, painters, multi-spec jammers, to cover more possibilities and options.

Have fun good hunting.

+1 for Rupture+Blackbird. Lots of win there.