Hey guys, happy new year to all of you! So…I’m fairly new to eve, I’ve been playing for a few months and I’m enjoying the game A LOT. I do mostly exploration and mining on my main character. Yesterday while watching some pvp I decided to try it for myself. So I made this character for pvp only. She’s a Caldari. You guys got any tips for pvp? Like best frigates and how to start doing some pvp?
1 Like
If you want to start off with some cheap t1 Frigates for PvP, Caldari have 2 great ships.
The first is the Merlin, a close range brawling blaster ship.
The Merlin is fairly cookie cutter. It’s a very solid brawling ship that relies on getting close and just unloading everything. Light Neutron Blasters are already one of the strongest Frigate weapons platform, and the Merlin gets a +5% bonus per Caldari Frigate skill level on top of it.
Your strategy is very simple. Burning towards your target, hit them with a Scram and Web, and then turn off your MWD and begin to orbit a 500m while shooting them until they die.
Here’s an MWD based fit:
[Merlin, *Generic Merlin - MWD]
Micro Auxiliary Power Core II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Medium Shield Extender II
Fleeting Compact Stasis Webifier
Faint Epsilon Scoped Warp ScramblerLight Neutron Blaster II
Light Neutron Blaster II
Light Neutron Blaster IISmall Core Defense Field Extender I
Small Core Defense Field Extender I
Small Core Defense Field Extender IVoid S x240
And here’s an AB based fit:
[Merlin, *Generic Merlin]
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II1MN Afterburner II
Medium Shield Extender II
Fleeting Compact Stasis Webifier
Warp Scrambler IILight Neutron Blaster II
Light Neutron Blaster II
Light Neutron Blaster IISmall Core Defense Field Extender I
Small Core Defense Field Extender I
Small Core Defense Field Extender IVoid S x240
Up next is the Kestrel, the second T1 Frigate that Caldari have. I personally really enjoy the Kestrel.
The Kestrel operates on a fairly similar strategy. Burn towards your target, hit them with a scram and a web, and then orbit them at range while firing your rockets into them. The Kestrel also gets a nice +5% damage bonus to rockets per Caldari Frigate level. However, the bonus that makes the Kestrel REALLY shine is the +10% Light Missile / Rocket velocity.
In EVE Online, there are projectile weapons (autocannons and artilleries), lasers (beams and pulses), hybrids (railguns and blasters) that all apply damage instantly to the target. Missiles on the other hand, must fly from your ship to your target ship. Because of this, the range of your missiles is based on two things (1) how long can those missiles fly, and (2) how fast are they flying.
The Kestrel’s +10% velocity bonus means that at Caldari Frigate 5, your missiles are flying 50% faster, effectively giving you increased range. That additional range has the main benefit of allowing you to keep hitting your opponent, while their guns can’t reach you.
Against another frigate, or even some Destroyers, you’ll be able to use both your Scram and your Web to keep your target at juuuuuust, under 8km. Other Frigates that try to shoot you with Blasters will find that their shots can’t reach out that far. Autocannons might be able to hit you, but you’ll be far inside their falloff range, so they’ll only be hitting you with a tiny proportion of their dps. Lasers will have to swap to a lower damage, longer range ammo in order to effectively hit you.
[Kestrel, *Generic Kestrel Fitting]
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Medium Shield Extender II
Fleeting Compact Stasis Webifier
Faint Epsilon Scoped Warp ScramblerRocket Launcher II
Rocket Launcher II
Rocket Launcher II
Rocket Launcher IISmall Processor Overclocking Unit I
Small Core Defense Field Extender I
Small Core Defense Field Extender ICaldari Navy Mjolnir Rocket x200
2 Likes
I would suggest doing a Google search for “solo pvp”. There are many articles that make for interesting reading. I would also suggest practicing on SISI, the test server.
1 Like
You need something, that will at least give you idea what is going on before you pop. So frigate yes, but the tanky one. And not active tanking - you still will not get enough time to react. Something like merlin with cruiser size shield extender or tristan with cruiser size armor plate.
And join some active PvP crew you like - there is a lot of small things, that one need to know and they are best explained in examples…
2 Likes
Better advice! 
2 Likes
-
Definitely recommend to join other PvP people! (You will learn alot!)
-
Fly cheap! (People are more willing to fight with you)
-
Don’t stay too long in one location! (Little girls will find out what you fly and they will undock something that kills you, before you kill one of them)
** Most importantly! Dont worry about killboard, just get on to it! It’s a game and you supposed to have fun!
Have a good fights!
o7
1 Like
Something I found on the stay frosty website which may help, it is a little bit more generalzed than specific ship (becuase it doesnt really wortk that way, there are so many variables and things to consider).
Wow , thank you so much guys. This is super helpful!
Here are a few threads for you OP.
Most of the information in them is quite relevant and may help to give you ideas on where to go and how to approach things.
Everyone says the old players hate new players and that’s simply not true. We hate new lazy players who drag the game down. We will gladly help new players who are actively engaged in the game.
4 Likes
I find it helps a lot to watch videos of pvp, because it can give you ideas and tactics to try. Also, always pick your opponent from what damage you want to deal, in comparison to there resistances.
I hate new players who ridicule old for being “try hards” when there just jealous. It happens to me a lot.
2 Likes
I hate everyone.
Where’s my gold sticker?
Hi, OP! So glad you came by the forums, your attitude is good, and I think you’ll go far. Few bits of advice from my time spent pvping:
Videos help a lot, especially good ones about cheap ships. Blight’s Wretch is one of my favorite dirty pirates, and does great solo instructional. I’d recommend all his stuff, but heres one on the Kestrel for starters:
Fly cheap, you’ll die a lot. Expensive fits and ships will get you an advantage, but also be a bigger blob magnet. I’ll probably never stop doing it, but for learning, go easy on the isk. Itll let you learn more in a shorter time.
In that vein, if you like pvp, and want cash flow, look into a good Factional Warfare corp. I’d recommend Ushra’khan in Minmatar, but any established one will help you grow. The main way is by how FW complexes work. The capture point is behind a gate which will only allow a designated size (and smaller) ships in. So in a Novice, you only face Tech 1 frigates. In that circumstance, a well flown Kestrel can shine, since it wont get dropped on by cruisers. T1 frigates and destroyers have real value in FW, and are a great way to learn. Plus the LP from complex captures makes you isk while doing it. Another plus to FW is that your faction’s hulls become a lot cheaper. A 20 million isk Firetail only costs you a rifter and LP, so you can afford to fly them. Even if you only give it a month or so, you’ll learn lots.
Beyond that, ask, experiment, and go enjoy eve. We are happy to help you get better, so we get a good fight when we kill you later 
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.