Speed tank is the best tank. Be aware of these two warp core stabilizers already built in.
But to be honest, I had no idea what I was doing at that time. I was able to shoot the rats and mine at the same time, so it worked out fine for me at least until i started the advanced security missions at the career agent’s. Well, basically I copied the setup of each corvette you get at the very start.
This is not recommended, each ganker may die watching the killboard by critical overlaughing!
But what I want to say is: There’s many mistakes that are not so bad if you just have fun. Trial and error, in the end it’s just a game, just for fun.
BTW, we had 26 Venture kills yesterday: Venture | Kills | Ship | zKillboard
It is the most inconspicuous bait ever, and I even have a tackle venture in the wormhole for Herons and that kind of prey.
A light-missile Kestrel will absolutely amaze you compared to a turret frigate in PVE.
However, a railgun Merlin is a stepping-stone to a railgun Cormorant destroyer. Without exception, all my alts are currently sitting in Cormorants.
One of those alts recently did a 3/10 combat site with ease, just for fun. It even escalated, which was a nice bonus.
I went the missile route originally: Kestrel → Caracal → Drake → Raven
In my opinion, the first-steps in learning to fit ships is to experiment with fittings. Find fittings that YOU like to use, and ignore what others tell you that you ‘must’ do.
Does the ship hull have a weapon bonus of some sort? If so, that’s probably what weapons you should fit! (If it doesn’t specify a weapon, but instead ‘tracking’ that’s short-range blasters, and ‘optimal’ is long-range railguns).
How many slots does the hull have? Mid-slots > low-slots, shield tank. Low-slots > mid-slots, armor tank. Mid-slots = low-slots, can be either but usually shield tank to allow room for weapon enhancing modules which are low-slots.
Does the ship have a big (for class) drone bay and few high-slots? Drone boat!
Is there a resistance ‘hole’ (lowest resistance)? Example: most Caldari ships have an EM resistance hole, so they usually need to fill it … but only when facing omni damage or EM: Sansha, Blood Raiders, or Rogue Drones. Guristas mainly do kinetic & thermal, so there is less of a need to reinforce vs. EM or explosive. Shields are naturally strong vs. explosive, and armor is weak against it. Thermal is considered the weak-point of all ships.
Try to fit an afterburner. You take a lot less damage when you are moving, and even less when the attacking turrets can’t easily track you.
Never mix tanks or weapons! In other words, don’t go 50% armor and 50% shield, or 75% long-range weapons and 25% short-range weapons.
Generally you don’t want to fit multiple fittings for capacitor, and if you do need more capacitor, consider fitting a capacitor booster instead. You can even make the cap charges yourself using reprocessed ‘junk’ and an un-researched cap charge BPO. Cap charges are HUGE so you don’t want to move them around, and moving the materials and BPO is actually a lot easier! It takes about 10 minutes to manufacture a LOT of cap charges.
[Cormorant, Better Rat Trap]
IFFA Compact Damage Control
Power Diagnostic System II
1MN Afterburner II
Multispectrum Shield Hardener II
Sensor Booster II
Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I
Small Hybrid Metastasis Adjuster I
Small EM Shield Reinforcer I
Targeting Range Script x1
Iron Charge S x5000
Tungsten Charge S x5000
Iridium Charge S x5000
Lead Charge S x5000
Thorium Charge S x5000
Uranium Charge S x5000
Plutonium Charge S x5000
Antimatter Charge S x5000
I primarily use Iridium, and switch to Antimatter for more punch at closer ranges.
This is bad advice, because EVE is a learning game, and ignorance is fatal.
There’s always a reason why a fitting is proposed, and after gaining some experience you will be able to see what’s good or bad. But because of the notorious “it depends”, a bad fit for you can be a marvellous fit for others.