Ships
From EVE Wiki
This is the final portion of this guide. It details the general aspects of each race's ships, and lists all of their frigates. I'm also including a general description of the race's design aesthetics, just so you know what they look like. I won't go beyond frigates with this guide, as it's intended to help you select a ship more easily. By the time you're ready to fly something bigger, you'll probably know what to do. Because Mining and Fighting are the primary activities most new players engage in, I have two categories for each race. The first is Mining frigates, with 1 being best and descending from there. The same goes for fighting frigates. Sometimes, certain frigates are best for a unique role, so I'll mark them with an * and explain why. Simply put, anything not good at mining will go under fighting. Also, the lower items are usually cheaper, and I'll indicate relative cost in a description, so usually you should save up a small amount of ISK to buy a cheaper frigate. You always want to get out of your starter frigate as fast as possible! It's there to give you a starting point, but it is extremely poor compared to the other frigates.
- See Also: Ships List.
Contents |
[edit] Ship Classes
[edit] Frigate Class
- The frigate class of ships consist of light and fast, but comparatively fragile ships. Players start with the ability to fly basic frigate-class ships. Generally frigates lack the durability or damage output of larger ship classes and are at most able to fit three to four small weapons. However, frigates are significantly faster and more difficult to hit than larger ships. They remain cost-effective because they are cheap and, in large numbers, can become dangerous to larger ship types. Due to their relatively small size and speed a skilled player may mount electronic warfare or navigational interference systems on a frigate in order to immobilize larger ships.
Six types of frigates exist for each major faction.
- Covert Ops and Stealth Bombers are frigates designed to mount cloaking systems that allow them to fly undetected. Although they are relatively fragile, they are designed to be able to vanish when threatened. The Covert Ops is able to mount a special cloaking device that allows the ship to warp while cloaked. They also excel at utilising scan probes to locate enemies. However, the cloaking device will deactivate if the ship gets within 2 km of any other ship or celestial object. Additionally, cloaking devices cannot be activated if a hostile target lock is present. The Stealth Bomber can mount battleship-class cruise missile launchers, allowing it to unexpectedly decloak and deploy considerable firepower before cloaking again, however they cannot cloak until the missiles have hit their target. Stealth bombers also cannot warp while cloaked. A single type of Covert Ops and a single type of Stealth Bomber exists for each major faction.
- Interceptors are designed for high-speed dogfights and preventing enemies from escaping. Interceptors have a smaller signature radius and higher speed than regular frigates, making them difficult for larger and generally slower-tracking ships to fight. They also have a much higher warp speed than other vessels, allowing them to cover the distances between stargates and other system navigation points quicker than most other ships, allowing them to outrun their targets and await in ambush. Interceptors are primarily used for harassment and to pin down larger enemy ships until more powerful backup arrives. Two types of Interceptor exist for each major faction, one catering to a high damage output, and the other catering to trapping enemies.
- Assault ships are frigates that are designed with firepower in mind. They are more durable than normal frigates, with the capacity to mount a stronger weapon loadout and stronger defenses while sacrificing speed. However, ordinary cruisers generally outclass Assault Ships in any situation where their large size and slow speed would not pose a problem, at a lower cost. Two types of Assault Ship exist for each major faction, each catering to a more specialized style of combat.
- Electronic Attack ships are frigate equivalents of combat recons. While lacking in electronic warfare capabilities and firepower in comparison to the cruiser sized equivalents, their lower cost and size greatly increases their multitasking ability. A single type of Electronic Attack ship exists for each major faction.
[edit] Destroyer Class
- Designed specifically for anti-frigate warfare destroyers typically mount eight small weapons. Destroyers gain bonuses both to range (50%) and tracking speed, making them adept at eliminating small, agile targets, yet are penalized by a rate of fire reduction (25%) rendering them incapable of dealing significant damage to larger ships. Also, destroyers lack the CPU or power output to fit eight of the most powerful weapons in their size category.
Although destroyers excel at their intended purpose of taking out frigates, they fare very poorly against cruisers and battleships, as their defenses are simply too weak to survive engagements with larger ships. Their armor and shield capabilities barely exceed those of a frigate, yet their signature radius is almost on the level of a cruiser, so they are targeted and hit by larger-sized weaponry more easily. One type of destroyer exists for each major faction.
- Interdictors have fewer turret mounts than normal destroyers, but do not suffer any rate of fire penalties. They are also faster and can mount a comparatively large number of missile launchers than their Tech I counterpart. Their main purpose is to launch special warp interdiction spheres, which prevent warping for two minutes, within a 20 km radius. This allows Interdictors to disable large fleets for long periods of time. A single type of Interdictor exists for each major faction.
[edit] Cruiser Class
- Medium-sized vessels designed to perform a broad variety of functions, Cruisers are larger and slower than frigates or destroyers but are significantly more durable. Their increased power systems allow them mount generally 4 or 5 medium-sized weapons. Four types of cruiser exist for each major faction.
- Heavy Assault ships are cruiser-sized ships designed with combat in mind. Unlike battleships, Heavy Assault ships have a comparatively high speed and manoeuvrability, allowing them to effectively battle larger and slower opponents. Heavy Assault ships also feature vastly increased damage resistances, than their Tech I counterparts. Two types of Heavy Assault ship exist for each major faction, each catering to a more specialized style of combat.
- Heavy Interdictors are cruiser equivalents of the destroyer based Interdictors, combining warp disruption with the combat capabilities of Heavy Assault ships. Rather than using probes, Heavy Interdictors use a Warp Disruption Field Generator module, which prevents all ships within its range from warping (including itself). When the module is loaded with a special "script", Heavy Interdictors may focus their disruption power into a single target, giving it the ability to stop even Motherships and Titans which are normally immune to targeted warp disruption. However, the generator prevents remote assistance, increases the signature radius of the ship and reduces the effectiveness of propulsion modules. However, this also effectively increased their agility, allowing Heavy Interdictors to slow down rapidly. A single type of Heavy Interdictor exists for each major faction.
- Logistics Ships are designed exclusively for the purpose of aiding allies in combat. Their role in combat is to remotely repair, and boost allies, which is made easy by their bonuses to such tasks. Recently, Logistics Cruisers have been granted increased resistances, and a number of special bonuses allowing them to field battleship-sized remote repair modules. A single type of Logistics Cruiser exists for each major faction.
- Recon Cruisers are split into two sub classes: Combat Recon and Force Recon. Both ship types are, like Heavy Assault ships, specialized for certain types of combat. Force Recon ships can equip the same covert cloaking module as the Covert Ops frigate, while also having strong electronics warfare bonuses. They also have a reduction in fuel consumption for generating cynosural fields. Combat Recon ships, share the bonuses of their stealthy siblings, but boast superior electronic warfare capabilities and combat effectiveness, instead of the ability to utilise advanced cloaks and cynosural fields. Two types of Recon Cruisers exist for each major faction, one Combat Recon class, and one Force Recon class.
[edit] Battlecruiser Class
- Battlecruisers fall between cruisers and battleships, and are mostly designed with combat in mind. They are capable of a slightly larger damage output than a cruiser, with 7-8 weapons as opposed to the 4-5 on a cruiser. They are also much more durable than cruisers. As compared to cruisers, their major disadvantage is their larger signature radius and decreased manoeuvrability, allowing the larger guns of battleships to target and hit battlecruisers easier than normal cruisers. Two types of battlecruiser exist for each major faction.
- Command ships are split into two sub classes: Field Command and Fleet Command. They are designed primarily to command fleet operations. Fleet Command ships may utilise an increased amount of modules to assist their allies, as opposed to a single module on normal battlecruisers. They also have increased resistances. Field Command ships may only utilise a single assistance module, but have increased resistances and an increased amount of module slots. Two types of Command ship exist for each major faction, one Fleet Command ship, and one Field Command ship.
[edit] Battleship Class
- Battleships are a fleet mainstay, and most experienced players will own one. Although they are slower than many combat-oriented ships, they are significantly more durable, and mount impressive firepower in the form of six to eight large weapons systems.
Three types of battleship exist for each major faction.
- The Black Ops battleships specialize in infiltration and covert operation. Equipped with a jump drive, they can jump short distances to pass enemy blockades. Black Ops are the only ships that can lock on to the newer Covert Cynosural Field Generators modules. Black Ops can also utilise Covert Jump Portal Generators, to assist in sneaking allied forces behind enemy lines. The resource consumption on the Black Ops jump drives and the Covert Jump Portal Generator is very high, which requires conservation of jump fuel. However, Black Ops can also use ordinary jump gates to assist in the fuel saving. A single type of Black Ops is available for each major faction.
- Marauder ships are heavy battleships which focus on deployment for long periods of time. While they can only mount 4 weapons, they inflict double the damage for their mean weapon type, as well as having less capacitor usage and decreased ammunition consumption. Marauder ships also have large cargo holds for capacitor boosters or spoils of war. They have optimized sensors allowing them to lock on up to 10 targets at a time, but only have the sensor strength level of cruisers. A single type of Marauder ship exists for each major faction.
[edit] Capital Class
- Dreadnoughts are combat behemoths, capable of mounting capital-sized weapons. Dreadnoughts are also vastly more durable than even the toughest battleships and heavy assault ships. They are designed for extended sieges of static installations, such as starbases or player-corporation owned stations. Despite their ability to absorb damage, dreadnoughts have difficulty defending themselves against smaller ships due to their comparative size. Dreadnoughts also have the ability to enter siege mode, rendering them unable to move and effectively eliminating their tracking rate, but multiplying their offensive capabilities by five and defensive capabilities by four. A single type of Dreadnought exists for each major faction.
- Carriers are employed primarily to deploy super-heavy combat drones known as fighters, and also support allies with bonuses to remote repairing. Carriers can operate the fighters remotely and assign them to other commanders, allowing them to fill a role away from the immediate frontline. Carriers may enter triage mode, similar to the siege mode of dreadnoughts, to greatly increase their defenses and logistical capabilities, in exchange for their offensive power. Carriers may carry a ship maintenance bay, and a small corporate hangar for storage. A single type of Carrier exists for each major faction.
- Freighters posess the largest cargo holds of any ship class in the game (around 40 times that of the best Industrial class ships), but are very large and travel very slowly, reaching a top speed of just 0.7AU/s in warp, making even moderately short warps take approximately a minute. Freighters are also entirely unarmed with no room for modification or expansion. Their unrivaled capacity for cargo transport however, makes freighters very valuable commodities to corporations or players that need to move large goods or large quantities of materials from one place to another. Freighters can carry many "packaged" ships within its hold, but are incapable of carrying any capital class ships within their hold, due to their size. A single type of Freighter exists for each major faction.
- Jump Freighters are an increased form of Freighter. They are significantly faster and more agile, and boast a larger capacitor, but lose a large portion of cargo bay size in exchange for a jump drive, allowing it to jump between systems without the use of a stargate. A single type of Jump Freighter exists for each major faction.
- Capital Industrial Ships are designed to assist mining operations and the movement of ore. They have the ability to compress ore, making it smaller to transport, and give out bonuses to other miners nearby. They can also carry a ship maintenance bay, and a clone bay. However, to use these extra abilities and modules, it must anchored in space, and cannot move. They also have drone bonuses and a bonus to shield transferring. A single type of Capital Industrial Ship exists.
[edit] Super Capital Class
- Motherships are similar to, but considerably larger than, carriers and are the second largest ships in the game. Motherships offer all the same features as a carrier, but in considerably greater amounts, and are completely immune to almost all forms of electronic warfare. Motherships contain a ship and items hangar, and can fit cloning vats. Motherships, along with Titans, are the only ships that cannot dock at a station, and so must permanently remain in space. A single type of Mothership exists for each major faction.
- Titans are the largest ships available. They can perform the same functions and roles as Motherships, and are the only ships capable of creating jump portals through the use of a Jump Bridge Array. Although their offensive power is overshadowed by Dreadnoughts, they are the only ship capable of utilising doomsday devices - area-of-effect weapons that inflict heavy amounts of damage on every ship within a large radius, but prevent the Titan from jumping out of the solar system for 10 minutes, and take an hour to recharge. A single type of Titan exists for each major faction.
[edit] Industrial Class
- Industrial ships are designed for cargo transport, and not combat. They are large, slow, and almost completely defenseless, but have large cargo holds. Between two and five types of industrial ship exist for each major faction.
- Transport ships are designed for hauling cargo through dangerous systems. Transport ships have vastly higher defences than Industrials, allowing them to survive against focused assaults. There are two types of transport ship available. The blockade runner, which is very fast and has increased resistances to warp disruption, but has a much smaller cargo hold. The deep space transport is slower, but has much higher defenses and a larger cargo hold. Two types of Transport ship exist for each major faction, one blockade runner, and one deep space transport.
- Designed specifically for efficient mining, mining barges are not race-specific but instead are badged as being created by Outer Ring Excavations ("ORE"). Mining barges are unarmed, though their large drone bays allow them to deploy a small number of combat drones that provide adequate defense in high-security systems. Mining Barges (along with their Tech II Exhumer counterparts) are unique in that they are the only ships capable of fitting high-powered strip mining modules and ice miners. Three types of mining barge exist.
- Exhumers are mining barges with enhanced defensive and mining capabilities. Unlike standard mining barges, where the larger the ship, the more capable it is - each Exhumers fulfils role, which it performs better than any other mining ship. Three types of Exhumer exist. The Skiff is specialized in Deep Core Mining, the Mackinaw is specialized in mining Ice, and the Hulk is specialized in mining asteroids.
[edit] Amarr Empire
Amarr ships look sleek and balanced. They are usually symmetrical and have very solid designs, and always have a yellowish tint to them, with some reflective gold plating. They usually appear very big and gleaming, and they always have some kind of menacing name like Punisher or Apocalypse.
Amarr vessels have thick armor, always. Even if their shields seem poor, their armor is the strongest of the races. Their ships all recieve bonuses for using laser turrets, and they usually have the Capacitor to use that much power at once. Still, even in an Amarr ship, if you go overboard with lasers you'll drain your capacitor quickly, and Amarr ships are usually slow or moderate in speed. Finally, Amarr ships usually have a large number of low power slots, and a small number of medium slots. With all this considered, Amarr vessels are big and tough, and not very flashy.
Common Features:
- Strong Armor and Bonuses
- Abundant Low-Slots
- Laser Bonuses
- Large Capacitors
- Radar Sensors
- Fusion Propulsion
[edit] Caldari State
Caldari ships have a grey hue to them, making them look metallic and utilitarian in design. They have alot of flat surfaces and look pretty similar to what a human spaceship of a few hundred years from now might look like. One thing to note, however, is that the focus on using space efficiently makes them sometimes appear...strange. Indeed, symmetry was not in the blueprints for most of these, and you'll often see ships with wierd angles and off-balance appearances. Most Caldari ships are named after birds, from Crows to Ravens. The odd Caldari ship is named after a non-avian creature, like the Scorpion.
Caldari ships are high tech. They have flashy toys and huge shields. They also boast the most medium slots of any race on average. Their armor often suffers for this, and they don't usually have a huge number of low power slots, either. Many of their ships are also missile users, and the Caldari have the best missile ships in the game. Those ships that don't use or specialize in missiles use hybrid turrets.
Common Features:
- Powerful Shielding and Bonuses
- Hybrid Bonuses (Range)
- Missle Bonuses
- Mid-Slot Abundance
- Gravimetric Sensors
- Magpulse Propulsion
[edit] Gallente Federation
Gallente ships have a blue-green organic hue. They have smooth curves and rarely have totally flat surfaces or jagged angles. However, their designs prioritize aestethics over symmetry, and can appear even more bizarre than Caldari ships. You can see this even in your rookie ship, and many ships look more like they were grown organically than built. Gallente usually name their ships after Greek and Latin words as an expression of their literary excellence, like the Navitas (Latin for energy, zeal) or the Imicus (Latin meaning, roughly, an attack of the mind).
Gallente ships are usually well-rounded, with good attributes across the board. They also use hybrid weapons as their main weapon. The most noteworthy aspect of these vessels is their enormous drone bays. Gallente ships are easily the best drone ships available. Every Gallante frigate has some kind of drone bay, and most have a pretty large one.
Common Features:
- Large Drone Bays and Bonuses
- Hybrid Bonuses (Damage)
- Varied Mid-Low Slot Distribution
- Magnetometric Sensors
- Ion Propulsion
[edit] Jovian Directorate
Not much is known about Jovian technology and their rare appearence shrouds these ships in mystery. Known for their technological superiority, the Jovian ships all possess large defensive capabilities and massive attack potential. Only seven Jovian ships have been seen by capsuleers' eyes, most having a light green tint and sharp appearence. The one exception is the Enigma frigate, which has a bright red hull.
Common Features:
- Near Impenetrable Defense
- More fitting slots than average ships
- Very Strong Sensor Strength
- Not flyable by players at this time
[edit] Minmatar Republic
Minmatar vessels appear patchwork and pieced together. They often feature large solar sails, and industrial surfaces. Most Minmatar ships are dark brown/reddish in color. The ships are not usually symmetrical, not because of aesthetic preference but because the Minmatar seem to make them out of whatever they have available, or tailor them for performance. Indeed, many Minmatar ships look like flying engines with guns attached. If you fly one, disregard all jokes at the ship's expense. Duct tape and chewing gum are cheaper than welding...
Minmatar ships are usually good across the board, like their Gallente counterparts. The most notable exception is speed. Minmatar ships are the fastest in the known galaxy, easily outdistancing their counterparts. Their main weapons are usually projectiles, but they can also mount a healthy number of launchers on most ships, and are second only to the Caldari in that aspect. Their medium and low slots are not exceptional, but not poor either. Fast, solid ships.
Common Features:
- High Velocity and Bonuses
- Low Targeting Delay and Bonuses
- Low Resistance to ECM (Sensor Strength)
- Projectile Bonuses
- Ladar Sensors
- Plasma Propulsion
[edit] ORE
Recent newcomers to the ship design world, the independent Outer Ring Excavations faction has released three new ship blueprints into general circulation. The Mining Barge class of vessel does not fall under any existing category or school of design, but stands alone, though somewhat influenced by Gallante technology, as it had once been a corporation under the Gallante Federation. This is evident in its use of Magnetometic Sensors and Ion Propulsion, both of which are also used by Gallante designs.
ORE mining barges are silvery in colour and while functional, are somewhat more rounded and sleek and symetrical than typical Caldari designs. The barges feature active flame stacks on the upper surfaces to vent heat from internal processes and are generally very slow and bulky to fly. Clearly they are only suited to one task; mining, but do extremely well at it, and are the only ship-type able to use the Strip Miner and Ice Miner modules.
Common Features:
- Strip Mining Use and Bonuses
- Ice Mining Use and Bonuses
- Magnetometic Sensors
- Ion Propulsion
