Gila / Ishtar / Vagabond - Min/Max Abyss

[Raylas_Astra]

Hello, everybody. I’m a pretty new player in New Eden and generally prefer PVE content in all the MMORPGs I’ve played.

After reading/researching a lot into it, I think I’ve set my long term goal for Eve Online to conquer the Abyss. There seems to be three cruisers that fit the bill and are capable of tackling the higher level abyssal filaments (though I plan to start on T1 and slowly… very slowly… work my way up). I want to ensure that I’m making the right training plan, and not wasting a single minute of training on something not geared to min/max the cruiser of choice.

In order to execute my battle plan I do have some questions for the more veteran Eve Online players. For the questions regarding the 3 cruisers, if answers can sort them (best to worst) that would be helpful. But if you just want to answer with whats best, that works as well (I would be happy just to get a response).

1. Which has the lowest learning curve of the 3 Cruisers (Gila, Ishtar, Vagabond)? I’ve seen videos and live-streams of these being played at T6 and they appear to be the most consistent.

2. Is there a .emp source that outlines the skill required to Min/Max certain ships (with their respective Abyssal fit)? This is something I’ve been searching for, but have not had any luck thus far. I’ve been focusing on the “Magic 14” right now, but eventually I’ll need to start training into the Cruiser line of choice. I’ve played around in EVEMon (a tool I found while searching for skill plans), but I’m taking shots in the dark at building a cohesive plan… and am afraid I’m completely wrong.

3. Which of the 3 Cruisers are the most forgiving (i.e. take a sucker punch only to stand back up and say “thank you sir, may I have another”)? Reason being, this will be something I probably share with my brother and dad (also new Eve players). My brother tried a Vexor, but it didn’t survive the aforementioned sucker punch.

4. Which of the 3 Cruisers is the easiest to progressively fit? We obviously do not have the capital right now to sink into a 2-4 billion isk fit; but want to slowly work our way into fitting more and more expensive modules as we slowly work our way up the abyssal tiers.

I know I’m asking a lot of questions, but I would really be grateful to any advice the community can provide. So far the people in the game have been really friendly and helpful, so I thought I would give the forum a try.

Thank you all!

[Cypr3ss_Deteis]

1. by ‘learning curve’ I’m going to assume you mean training times as opposed to ‘working out how to fly’, and to that i’d have to guess “Vagabond” because the Gila would require 2x cruiser skills @V to be ‘maxed’ and the ishtar would require multiple medium drone specialization skills @V, where the Vagabond ‘only’ needs med turrets @V & the two spec skills… potentially only one if you decided (for e.g.) autocannons are all you’ll need for Abyss content.

2. Not that i’m aware of, the best way to get the optimal skill training plan would be to identify a fit and then generate a skill plan from that, and then finally push the ‘relevant’ skills to V. If you use Pyfa with your character it will allow you to copy missing skills to the clipboard, which can then be imported into a new plan in EveMon.

3. I’d probably of suggested the Vexor or Moa but it will come down to how it’s fit (i.e. a buffer fit will take a heavier punch than an active fit) but it will most always, when your starting out, come down to being aligned so you can warp away when things get too spicy.

4. Again I think this will come down to what fit you decide on (and fitting skills), Pyfa can give you an idea of the cost of modules and you can play with switching Meta IV (just starting) to T2 (got skills) to Faction/deadspace (got skills & isk to burn).

Hope this helps, and hopefully someone with more specific knowledge of Abyss can impart further advice… if you haven’t already I’d suggest having a read over this post, while the info is old it should still be mostly relevant.

Regards,
Cypr3ss.

[Raylas_Astra]

Thank you for the awesome reply, Cypr3ss!

The site you linked is a great and very detailed read, also thank you for linking the Pyfa information. I would see some websites where people would link their fits and I’m assuming its from that client (I kept trying to figure out what program they were using).