So for some reason I decided i am gonna get more involved with the game. I want to take take fleets out and become a content creator for my guys. I want to start with Assault frigs because they are still a tech 2 ship but kinda cheap. The problem is i know nothing about fitting a ship for fleet combat encounters and would love some help and constructive criticism. Anything that i should be on the look out for? Any help at all will be very much welcome. thank you in advance
Firstly, good for wanting to pick up the role.
Why Assault Frigates? That’s an expensive way to learn - you and your fleet will loose ships. More so as you are all learning. It’s not a bad thing, but it’s an expensive lesson. Bigger, more expensive ships are not a “guarantee win” - good co-ordination and knowledge help you pick your fights.
For example, https://zkillboard.com/kill/74610694/ and https://zkillboard.com/kill/74610741/ got themselves caught in a T1 frigate fleet (with a Command Destroyer - but ignore them) - a mix of tackle, damage dealers, repair and E-war - all cheap and expendable. And that’s the big learning point: get used to loosing ships. Stop being attached to them. You can’t do that if each ship represents a major loss to your fleet-mates.
The other question is where do you want to fly? Almost anywhere outside of hi-sec will work for you, though if you are in lo-sec be aware of the suspect flags and gate guns. Make sure you’ve stocks of ships to fly in the local area so you can grab something to replace losses.
FC-ing is more than just calling “shoot” but it can be rewarding. You might want to see if you can joint a public roam to start with to get an idea of how fleets work then try flying a kitchen sink fleet without worrying about co-ordination attack, tackle, e-war, and logistics wings. Like the rest of Eve, FC-ing is a brutal learning curve, but I believe the view from the top is good.
Fittings: Eve University has good examples, and the killboards are normally informative. Compared to mission running, you are worrying less about capacitor (fights don’t last long - they are normally short and brutal if you’ve picked the target well) and buffer rather than active tanks - you’ve not got time to repair armour or boost shields, and probably can’t resist an attack without logistics support anyway.
And a scram/web to stop your victim escaping.
the roams are going to be in Null. Im going with assault frig because most of my corp are all bitter vets (want to fly nice things) but we just joined a new alliance that is gonna have both skilled and unskilled pilots. The assault frigs offer a good tank, damage and maneuverability. They warp fast ( granted i could just use a t1) and we have a few systems to go through that people like to drop big stuff in so i want to be able to get through them quickly enough but still be able to make a pit stop if the target is good enough. im trying to balance cost, speed, tank, damage output, and maneuverability. The price tag will be high enough to hopefully make people pay attention if they are going to go on the fleet if people are that worried about it. Am i thinking in the wrong direction on this?
That makes sense now. Personally I’d allow the newer and poorer players to bring T1 equivalents - they are not likely to hold you up significantly.
I was rather assuming you were all new players - sorry.
Balancing damage, tank and mobility (on grid and across systems) is always a challenge and a personal choice. You may find your older players have fits they’ve found work well, use their experience.
Though you may just start a heated fitting discussion among them!
Personally, I like the Amarrian Assault Frigates, but that’s my preference - and you can have a doctrine that’s basically the “Punisher + T2 Equivalent” where both have the same characteristics just one is nastier than the other.
But that’s personal preference and so ignorable.
Assuming newbro status is always the safest way to go. I have some PVP experience but its mainly f1 pushing or more recently solo pvp in t1 frigs. My corpies and I are all coming out of wormholes so they don’t have any decent fitting by what i have seen so far. I have run a crossed a good bait punisher with EHP of a t1 crusier and have the fit (somehting like 16k to 18k EHP . Should i stuff the new bros in that possibly since it is lower cost?
Personally if going down the Punisher route I’d go for a more balanced fit rather than just a brick tank. Give the newer players the feeling they are more than just bait. One under appreciated thing about a punisher is that it’s not locked to a particular turret type - the Projectile Punisher is rather effective. But it means if you don’t have T2 small energy turrets you can fly the recommended fit with different turrets.
A good Punisher fit costs about 8m ISK, a third the price of a fitted Assault Frigate.
An option for new players without skills for T2 frigates is to fly e-war. If they keep their wits about them they are a huge force multiplier. A Crucifier can cripple a turret ship especially where the rest of the fleet are small ships.
I was thinking about throwing a few into ewar as well. Thank you for the info!!!
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