Hey everyone! Newbro here, been having fun in abyssals and with hi-sec mining, dabbled in low-sec some and have been ganked once in low-sec and had multiple other close calls, primarily with tech 3 cruisers.
My question is this, I have a friend who is about 1 month into the game, is there feasibly a pair of duo frigates or even destroyers that could challenge a single tech 3 cruiser or is low sec pvp or ganks for us as a duo going to be largely an effort in futility?
Quick edit - Both of us are omega. I’m a little further along in skills, I’m sp’d into Amarr assault frigates for abyssals and my friend is currently skilling into a retribution for the same reason. Would be great if we could duo a combination of amarr frigates, but open to other options as well!
The great thing about EVE is that a frigate is more than capable of killing any ship.
And like so many things in EVE it also depends. It all depends on the person you are facing and the fit he has. Some T3 cruiser setup for PVP flown by somebody that knows how to handle their ship can make quick work out of frigates before you even hit armor (if it is an armor T3).
I would rather suggest cheap cruisers, like the Thorax, build for closing range quick and neutrons to apply heavy damage fast. They are cheap I guess, and will melt an active tank cruiser very fast.
Otherwise stick to frigates and just gang up on other t1 cruiser and frigates.
As Kane mentions, in capable piloting hands (and a dash of fortune) frigates can do wonders. However, newbs may not have that kind of fitting knowledge and piloting knowledge to make the magic happen. That’s OK, the core loop of the game is: plan, prepare, execute, fail, learn, repeat.
I’m assuming your friend is in a T1 or faction (not pirate) frigate. It’s likely going to have a tough time surviving an average T3C. Assault frigates definitely give some better options. But it’s not a cakewalk. Size mismatches mean light drones (if any) of a T3C are most likely going to be a problem for the frigates. You’re also going to have to take advantage of range control since that’s likely where your numerical advantage lies (number of ewar). This requires fitting skills in combo with knowing target fit matchups that are good/bad. Not impossible, but requires planning and careful execution. Learning what that is sometimes requires making a large scrap heap.
Kane gives good advice. If you don’t want to both run cruisers, you yourself can run 1 cruiser 1 frigate together. One is a quick scout/tackle with modest DPS, cruiser brings in the hurt. Try out different combinations. Plan to lose it all. And importantly make sure you’re both enjoying it. If not, swap roles up.
Ultimately try things out and learn. If you have specific questions there’s a lot of other people here that would love to talk shop.
Just a quick note: in Eve community lingo, the word „gank“ is exclusively reserved for a specific kind of PvP in high sec, and the word‘s use with PvP anywhere else — including lowsec — sounds very strange.
