As you probably know if you've been reading my blogs, our alliance has been talking about moving to null sec in a month or so. There are a lot of political changes taking place in Null sec right so we're waiting for the dust to settle before we set up to rent a system from someone, plus we want to give our corp members time to prepare for the move. There are two primary corps in our alliance but we might as well be one corporation the way we all work together on a daily basis. Technically there is a 3rd corporation in our alliance, but they live on the other side of the planet and we don't talk with them much.
Right now almost everyone is making sure they have either a T2 Frigate or T2 Cruiser to be able to fleet up with in case of emergencies or random Low/Null sec roams. Right now the only T2 frigates I can fly are the Stealth Bomber, Covert Ops Scanning Ship, and the Electronic Warfare ship. I can fit my stealth bomber the way I need to, but I am need about another week to make those skills more developed to be efficient. After I have my stealth bomber sufficiently effective I'll be moving on to a T2 cruiser. I've got about 30 days of training to sit in either a T2 Logistics, T2 Recon, or T3 Strategic Cruiser. I know that flying a strategic cruiser is just awesome, but I'd probably have to add an additional month of training to not lose a ridiculous amount of ISK buying the ship, fitting it, and then find out I can't fly it well and get popped.
That leaves me with either a T2 Logi , T2 Force Recon or the T2 Combat Recon ship. I'm not overly concerned with being a "fighter" per se and dealing lots of DPS, I actually enjoy helping out the fleet more, but I do want to be able to hold my own if necessary. If I only focus on the short team, I think I'd choose the T2 Logi, which is in line for my long term goal of flying a T2 command ship which is about 90 days away from me. If I train for the T2 logi, then the 30 days spent will also be taken out of the 90 days I need for the command ship, bringing it down to about 60 days leftover.
This is a huge commitment though since it's going to pretty much decide my future in Eve Online for a very long time. My alt is currently training up to fly a Freighter and eventually a Jump Freighter, so luckily I have that path already figured out and I'm comfortable with it. Choosing to NOT be a combat pilot and to be a support pilot on my main character seems like a much bigger decision. In the event that people are not around I won't be as effective by myself.
If we do end up moving out to Null Sec, I'd like to be able to go ratting on the belts by myself to make some ISK. My alt is also a miner so I can always make ISK that way, but it's not as fun. I've still got another week before I set my training queue so maybe something will transpire over the course of the next few days that helps make this choice more clear.
You are so very wrong about all your assumptions in this post.
ReplyDelete1. In case of real emergency, you hide in your POS or Station. No if, no buts, if your opponent is not retarded your group will likely die in a fire since no one in your group seems to know anything about pvp.
2. The best defense against hostile aggression is avoidance: cloaking devices, warp to towers, or even warp core stabilizer. The worst defense is shooting at the aggressors and fail to kill them efficiently. In the former case, sheer boredom will deter further aggression unless its personal, while in the latter case you've just provided kill mails and a fun fight for the hostiles that will come back for more.
3. T2 frigates and cruisers are NOT better and is usually very cost ineffective unless in highly specialized roles. What you want is to have a good T1 fleet concept (with good synergy: eg everyone fights long range with shield tanks with logistics support) for cheap roams until you guys know what you are doing.
It is also a grave misconception that strong ships means pvp success: that is untrue, pvp success comes from fully utilizing the potential of the fleet composition you are flying and scouts. Many of the most successful veterans spend the vast majority of their time flying thrashers, hookbills and navy slicers. They are successful because they can avoid bigger threats.
The truth is that as new players, you can never hope to overwhelm any veteran group who can bring billions and capitals ships what not trivially. The fights you are most likely to get are either ganks against unaware pve players (where almost anything would work) or fights that the opponent knows your fleet composition and decides to give you a fight "for fun". T2 does not help you in those kinds of encounters much.
There is an exception however, with T2 recons where combined with other T1 ships can utterly annoy and grief wannabe aggressors that may get you a reputation as a group not to be messed with because fighting you is so annoying. A large number of logistics, falcons and rapiers will make you an unattractive group to fight, but if you know how to use it you probably would not have said the sort of thing above.
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My suggestion:
Talk to your group so they don't bring a kitchen sink T2 fleet to fights and die horribly. A good fleet concept beats expensive ships any day.
As for yourself, figure out a low skill point ratting battleship fit that does 500 dps and tanks 500 dps and train it. It should take you only a week to train a workable dominix if you have okay drone skills already, which you should get anyways as a gallente pilot.
Then take it slow and nearly max out performance of your T1 hulls before moving to T2 unless you really is going to train falcon. I suggest the perfect throax -> brutix -> t2 large blaster -> Talos route.
Having poor support skills and underperforming your ship's potential is not a problem at all in PvE, but gets you killed in pvp.
This is because people will run away if they see a powerful ship, so all the fights you will get against non-n00b opponents is when they are matching or exceeding your ship's potential.
Thanks for taking the time to respond. Since I've only been gaming for 2 months I have no ground to stand on to argue with you, but I do disagree with some of your points. If I die a horrible death and lose a bunch of ISK, the worst that could happen is.... I lose a bunch of ISK. Not a big deal.
DeleteYou are the FIRST person I've met in Eve that suggests that I run to train for battleships. Everyone else suggests that I fly something well before I move on to the next group.
I do agree that in a wormhole hiding in your POS is the best defense, but I don't recall talking about a POS at all in this post or previous posts. I might have though, I'll have to go back and look.
The beauty of eve is that there are many ways to enjoy it. I respect your opinion and I do thank you for the feedback.
Battleships are commonly used in PvE to compensate for a lack of skills. It is similar to using faction ships. The base ability of the hull will allow a surprising amount of compensation until it suddenly runs out.
DeleteThe thing about waiting is that it is about flying and fitting well. That takes time. A task can be approached in a smaller hull or a more effective manner. Also if you are PvPing the skills cross over properly. There are many unspectacular skills to learn that once combined make the most basic hull amazing.
T2 ships are better in that they are specialized. But this specialization must be used properly. Also remember a lot of PvP in Eve is an ISK war. People will kill the most expensive thing on the field first unless there is falcon. ISK efficiency isn't just a matter of I can afford but also how will people look at my ship/fleet comp.
I finally decided I'd spend the 3 days that I've been avoiding up until now to fly battleships. 3 days is nothing.
DeleteI never thought about the whole "more appealing target" when you fly a T2 ship. That definitely makes sense.
Just don't take it into PvP quite yet :)
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