EVE New Citizens Q&A

There are so many different options within each component of your fit that advice like "just fit tank" is barely helpful. Instead of learning items you should be learning concepts.

1. Weapons
Determine the weapon types based on desired range. Most important with weapons you will notice that they have a thing called optimal range. So make sure that all your weapons have the same effective range.

2. Defences
Defences come in 4 types which can be grouped in two ways. Shield and Armour. Or Buffer and Active. Thus a defence can be Shield Buffer, Active Shield , Armour Buffer, or Active Armour. These types should rarely be mixed. The type of defence you choose should be determined by the design of your ship, it's bonuses, and number of low or mid slots.

3. Propulsion
Most ships should have some form of propulsion, and this means fitting either an afterburner or microwarp drive in one of your mid slots. The ability to close, evade, chase down, or maintain range on an opponent is such an important ability that it often decides the battle. MWD are very powerful, however, they come with some serious drawbacks to your powergrid and your capacitor drain. Meaning that it will limit what armour and weapons you carry. It will also increase your capacitor drain and reduce your endurance in a battle. So this is something to consider.

4. Tackle modules
The best combat ship in the world means nothing if your opponent can simply warp away. So most player combat ships will have a warp disruptor or warp scrambler. Which one you take depends on how close to your enemy you want to be, and what it is you will be fighting. Thus, you should become familiar with the "holy trinity" of mid slots for PvP. Warp Scrambler, Statis Webifier, and Afterburner.

5. EWAR modules.
As you have already designed your ship around a desired engagement distance, it makes sense that you should select EWAR modules which are also most effective at that range. Though on an EWAR ship you will often do this in reverse. By designing your range around the EWAR modules and then selecting a weapon (if any) which can work at that distance.

1. Load drones and ammo in their respective holds, especially if you are making a bunch of ships to grab quickly.
2. Fit rigs, if known and needed.
3. Make sure all parts i want to add are the right size.
4. Install parts, usually wepons and and repair modules first, then the prop (AB or MWD)
5. Make sure all parts I want to add are the right size.
6. Check capacitor time with given equipment. Make sure to turn off item you will no be using in combat (probe launcher, cloak, tractor beams, salvager, etc).
7. Adjust gear and modules to get cap right.
8. if cap looks too good to be true, it is. Go back to step 3.*
9. If ready, undock and group guns and drones.
10. Give snazzy name to ship and save fitting.

*My first Machariel had an awesome cap stable fit in EFT. When I built it I found I had way more cap than I needed, so I added more damage mods. I blew up shortly after in a L4 with webs and scrams as my tank melted instantly. Turns out I accidentally fit a medium shield repair mod instead of the large I had purchased. Some lessons in Eve are expensive.