Ships & Modules

Hi all,

I'm in FW and really enjoy small scale and solo PvP. That's why I tried alot of different ships and fittings. This are my thoughs and experiences so far. I'd really appreciate if someone with similar and more experience could rate this and add something maybe.

I like kiting and speed over tanking because it seems the best solution when fighting outnumbered. And I'm almost always outnumbered in PvP. Which is no problem for me, in fact I enjoy this 'underdog' role. It's far more rewarding when I win a fight.

Minmatar is obviously best suited for kiting. But I just don't like them. Maybe I don't trust in rust ^^

I tried some Amarr nano fittings. Funny enough the most tanky, slow and 'clumsy' faction offers very good kiting ships. This is bacause of good base speed + many low slots (speed and damage) + very good damage projection at kiting range. But I think Amarr is a bit too extreme. They are very good in kiting and tanking - there's not much in-between. Which means they are not very flexible. For an Amarr kiting ship this means: if all works as planned they are top notch. But as soon as something goes wrong (which happens quite often) they are helpless and dead very soon. Example: a scrambler frig manages it to get under the guns. Game over. Same for ewar. Amarr is very vulnerable to almost any form of ewar and not that flexible.

So flexibility. Left over to choose for me is Caldari and Gallente. This is where I stuck atm. I made good and bad experiences with both. I'd like to hear some other opinions. My thoughts so far:

- To nano Caldari ships means less damage compared to common Caldari fittings - just because of limited low slots. To nano Gallente ships (inherently armor tanks) means more damage, range and tracking compared to common Gallente fittings.

- Caldari ships are slower but more agile compared to Gallente ships. Agility is more important if the fight starts on close range and not in favor of a kiting ship. I call this flexibility.

- Gallente ships offer more speed and more cap. This is essential for prolonged fights. Some cruisers are even favoured for lasting MWD use: Thorax and Deimos.

- Caldari missile ships are somewhat invulnerable to ewar. They can maintain damage under difficult conditions. They always hit, no tracking + good range. Example: an long range tackling ceptor against an AML Caracal or HML Drake. Both cannot destroy it but the ceptor cannot sustain for a long time. Against the AML Caracal at least.

- This is a problem I see with Caldari. Tactics is decided on fitting window. An AML Caracal is good against frig size but quite low on damage when fighting bigger stuff. An vice versa. Turrets can be used in more situations. Piloting more than fitting decides here. Over all: Caldari missiles are more fail safe, turrets offer 'peak damage or nothing'.

- Except Gallente have alot of drone boats with bonus on them. Which is a huge benefit in terms of flexibility. Drones are destructible but more adaptable. In addition Gallente drone boats have high slots for 'stuff' such as neuts to GTFO. Also there are always 25m3 left for a flight of ECM drones. I got out of some nasty situations (facing 2 of the new, boosted ASs) only with help of a small neut + ECM drones. I'm not sure if a Caldari ship would have survived this.

- On the other side: kiting + dones does not make much sense on paper. If I were attacked by a done ship which is not reachable for me, I'd just kill the drones. Gallente rail boats are interesting now. But when comparing long range turrets and missiles...I think missiles are just more adaptable in comparision. Maybe the mix of drones and turrets makes the difference.

Overall I thend to favor Gallente. But I'm still not sure. Missiles are more subtle. I did at least two kills only because my opponnent decided is warp a bit to late - I killed him with one, last volley. I'll continue to make my own experiences. But I'm curious to hear some other opinions.

In the same vein as Liang's post:

• Frigates: Slicer, Retribution, Harpy, Enyo, Ishkur, Taranis, Wolf, Daredevil, and many others -- all you have to do is aim for 120+ DPS at 18+ km. Many of these ships can do much more than that (I myself am particular to the Retribution).
• Destroyers: Cormorant, Coercer (if you have someone else tackling, or want to go balls-to-the-wall no-tackle)
• Cruiser hulls: Vagabond (if it goes less than 2500 m/s you're doing it wrong), Ishtar, Cerberus; against few enemies you can also play with Recons like the Rapier, Huginn or Curse.
• BCs: Talos, Drake, Hurricane.

Lasers with Scorch and autocannons with Barrage are your friends. Drones also work if you have the micro skills to pull them in on time. Sometimes missiles are okay. Railguns are good, but you have to mind your tracking.

Canes and Cyclones are always fun
I run Crusaders and the occasional Slicer frigate wise
Stabber Fleets for cruisers

Rapiers/Lokis/Tempests in fleets.

i'm leery of nano/shield fits for gallente ships. While the dps projection and speed look good, you end up with your tank being 1slot + rigs unless you also give up having a point. Vigilant has an extra midslot, but then you're also going without the web, or web with no tackle and 2 slots for tanking.