need help with choosing a ship

tvalentine · June 2008

alright im aiming for a Flycatcher for when i get the skils and money, but i was wondering what ship i should go for before that one. I like missles but im unsure what the difference is between heavy,light, assault, etc. Any help is appretiated.

ProfRed · June 2008

I love the Myrmidon and the Drake. I fly one or the other almost 24/7 no matter how far I get up the spaceship command line.

Anti-Fanboi · June 2008

If all you are going to do is just missions then just go for a Battleship. Skip battle cruisers altogether IMHO. Especially if you are Caldari and have built up some missile skills and need to figure out if it's worth investing in heavy missiles or cruise missiles.

If you want to do PvP, Ratting in 0.0, and maybe run a few level 3 or even 4's from time to time then a Drake ( and most other battle cruisers )cannot be beat out side of Command Ships like the NightHawk or a Battleship like a Raven for mission running. Admittedly a Nighthawk requires you to be proficient with BC's first anyways. Of course being as Command ships are specialized T2 battle cruisers they are very expensive to replace compared to T1 battle cruisers.

As for your missile question....Cruise missiles are great against cruiser sized or larger targets ( ie Battleships ) but frigates or spider drones in missions will take a little longer to kill. Heavy missiles can do alright with smaller stuff and can kill battleships but they take a little longer to bring a battleship down then cruise missiles. Rockets are great for ships that come very close to their targets and can deal some nasty damage. Torpedoes and assault missiles of any kind are shorter ranged but hit harder or fire more rapidly. In anything at a level 3 or below mission you'll do fine with heavy missiles ( the long range variant ) but for level 4's cruise missiles are better because they can take down the big battleships down faster in a level 4 mission. For mission running missiles are better then guns (guns rock in pvp). Drones can be as good as missiles but you need to be skilled in making sure you always get aggro in a mission instead of your drones.

In the end fly whatever makes you happy. The only thing I will stress which is very important is that you max out your support skills ( shields/armor tanking skills, energy grid skills, weapons skills, etc... ) before you move up to a new ship. Being able to equip a ship with T2 mod's vs just using T1 Meta 4 mods makes a world of difference in terms of tanking rats in a level 4 mission.

Also make sure you investigate each level 4 mission and figure out what rats are triggers for new waves that spawn or which ones gain you tons of aggro if you kill them when flying with a friend who is tanking. It is very easy to lose a ship even a BS in a level 4 mission. If you are not prepared on how to properly clear that mission of rats you can easily be webbed and popped by rats.

PS - Drone boats like the Vexer (crusier), Myrmidon (battle cruiser), Eos ( Commad Ship ), and Dominix (Battleship) are also great for mission running. If you understand how to keep aggro off your drones and on you. Basically your drones should do the killing while you should be gaining all aggro in order to tank.

tvalentine · June 2008

thx for the info, and i do like the raven, and i hate drones. But the only thing i have a problem with is getting the money ATM ...... all i really know how to do is do missions and i do plan to pvp later when i get more established.

EDIT: also is the flycatcher any good?

EDIT2: what do you put in hardpoints?

Anti-Fanboi · June 2008

Originally posted by tvalentine
thx for the info, and i do like the raven, and i hate drones. But the only thing i have a problem with is getting the money ATM ...... all i really know how to do is do missions and i do plan to pvp later when i get more established.

EDIT: also is the flycatcher any good?
EDIT2: what do you put in hardpoints?

To make money in Empire space you should run missions if you have no interest in mining, hauling, or manufacturing, trading, exploring etc...

To maximize the amount of money you make look into the social skills like Negotiation, Social, Connections and other specialize connection skills as well. Train those up to get the most LP and ISk for you time spent. The LP you earn by flying missions for one exclusive NPC corp can help you buy NPC faction gear and ammo. That ammo and gear you can sell for a nice profit if you like on the market or via contracts. Training up your Trade skills is nice so you can put up more items/contracts to sell stuff but not a requirement.

Also wreckage salvaging and reprocessing crappy T1 modules can in time give you access to tons of minerals and salvage ( they make rigs out of salvage ) to sell on the open market.

Again to do that you must train the skills that allow you to salvage wrecks and the skills to reprocess scrap metal/modules efficiently. You can reprocess modules without those skills but you'll lose minerals do to your inefficiency in refining. This salvaging and looting of wrecks for modules to reprocess or to sell is best done in level 4 missions only IMHO.

Level 3 and below missions are not worth salvaging and I'd only loot NPC tags or T1 meta 4 modules if you want to loot your wrecks. Otherwise you want to get missions done as quick as possible and do as many as possible until you are ready for level 4 missions.

As for the flycatcher it's more designed for pvp. It might be good for level 1 and 2 missions but for level 3+ it wont be worth using. Avoid training T2 ships. Most T2 ships are highly specialized for specific PvP roles. The Flycatcher is designed to setup warp bubbles for gate camps.

I'd say max out frigates and any other skills needed for your next ship which should be a cruiser like the Caracal. Make sure that you focus on the skills that will make you an ace Caracal pilot. Train your missile skills to level 4 or 5 along with any other relevant skills that effect your tanking, energy grid, cpu grid, navigation skills etc... In time you'll notice that the ISK will start building up. After you are maxed out with cruisers start working on your support skills for the Raven. Once you get to fly a Raven Battleship you can easily branch out to a T2 ship of your choosing.

Don't be in a hurry though to get to the next level of missions or to fly another ship because really it's best to be a complete pilot then a half-arsed pilot who can barely tank in a Raven.

PS - Now that I think about it you'll probably end up making more ISK as a mission runner then had you decided on mining. Mining takes a very long time to develop. To make big money fast in mining requires you to train a ton of support skills ( most of which are useless for pvp ) to get you there. Oh and make sure you select a agent that gives you mainly kill missions. Also get EFT and EVEMON to help you plan out your ship and your character.

The link below should help you out some more. Enjoy

http://myeve.eve-online.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=347028

tvalentine · June 2008

Originally posted by Anti-Fanboi

Originally posted by tvalentine

thx for the info, and i do like the raven, and i hate drones. But the only thing i have a problem with is getting the money ATM ...... all i really know how to do is do missions and i do plan to pvp later when i get more established.

EDIT: also is the flycatcher any good?

EDIT2: what do you put in hardpoints?