Ok, I know this question has been asked before, but bear with me.
Me and 2 other friends would like to PVP together as a small group, and I need a ship with high-ish maneuverability and speed (not lurking titan) that can do as much dps as possible.
I am not limited in terms of budget being I currently have just over 2 billion Isk to spend so suggest the best possible ship, loadout, and skill I would need to master.
Summary: Fast, High DPS, (idc if its outclassed by much bigger ships that makes sense, but nothing with a straight upgrade to it)
if you jump straight into the best possible ships for that role you will just end up being an easy kill for experienced players - I hope this is an alt and you actually have some experience on your main
Orthrus/Loki/Gila/Phantasm are all great options
Navy Osprey is a better option if you’re still learning how small gang PvP works
Caracal/Bellicose/etc. is an even better option if you actually don’t know what you’re doing
Hell, you should probably be flying frigates or destroyers, to be honest.
I would start by putting all of you in cheapish “glass cannon” frigate setups. The Tristan, Atron, Merlin, and Rifter all come to mind.
A “glass cannon frigate” is basically: a Microwarpdrive, a Warp Scrambler, a Stasis Webifier, the second biggest “frigate level” turrets you can find, a weapon enhancement module (e.g. Heat Sink, Drone Damage Amp, Magnetic Field Stab, etc).
Fit everything in that order!
Anything you can fit past those modules is up to you. You can add tank, more speed… whatever.
Now… you may ask, “but Fluffers… what is the point of this? I want to be able to kill stuff and mitigate the risk of death!”
The point behind using cheapo frigates in this manner is…
your inexperience guarantees that you are going to die (sorry… but it is true. We have all been there). So you might as well go for “full-tilt murder-mode.”
frigates are relatively cheap compared to other ship classes. This means you can take more chances!
frigates pretty much use the same mechanics as larger classes of ships. Larger ships are simply slower and require more invested skillpoints and player experience to reach their full potential.
(expanding on the last point) by fighting (and dying) in frigates you learn what ships are good at killing smaller ships (like frigates) and which have trouble dealing with smaller ships.
Taking all the above points together: You are effectively experimenting a bit to see what lives longer, what deals more damage, and/or what is more survivable… meanwhile you are trying new things and sharpening your preferences for what you like to do.
Additionally, by flying and fighting as many ships as you can (win or lose) you are exposing yourself to different tactics and fits that other player use… which you can incorporate (or counter) in your own fits/tactics.
.
Once you have mastered frigate level combat I would suggest that one of you move up to a cruiser while the other two stay in frigates. Cycle around to see what setups work for you.
My personal recommendation?
One person flies in a Stabber (or a Stabber Fleet Issue) equipped with Dual-150mm Auto-cannons and a Shield tank (don’t forget to equip a Microwarpdrive and Warp Disruptor!)
Have the two frigates run down and pin targets until the Stabber can get in range and bring its firepower to bear.
The current “meta” (what ships are popular, currently, for PVP), is cruisers, or in some cases battlecruisers, because the cruiser class has a very nice balance between mobility (you can fly around looking for fights, you can maneuver during the fights) and “enough slots” to do some serious stuff (DPS, jamming, remote repairs, etc.) with it.
Otherwise:
Tech 1 ships offer “versatility” and “cheap” - you can just refit the ship and it will perform a different role
Tech 2 ships are specialized - you are focused on one role but gain huge vulnerabilities / weaknesses, but hopefully you have friends to bring support ships to “cover” those vulnerabilities.
Tech 3 ships have some sort of gimmick or feature that’s built into the ship - you kinda need to know what you’re doing to bring the gimmick to fruition (it’s not hard, just not newbie-level, like, how to achieve check-mate with a knight and a bishop vs. check-mate with 2 rooks).
So that’s why you see people above suggest cruiser-level ships, of various tech levels. But the idea to learn PVP by using frigates is a good one. Don’t go for 2 billion; don’t learn in “bling” ships like that. Learn in cheap ships then upgrade if the ratio of performance/cost makes sense.
Regarding “much bigger ships”, this game is balanced so bigger ships have their role to duke it out with other big ships or stations. Large scale wars, etc. It’s specifically implemented via the weapons; big weapons can’t track small / fast targets and will do minimal damage. A wolf-pack of a few frigates can take on a solo battleship and likely win. It’s a lot about tactics and what advance intel you have about the enemy’s likely ship and fittings. So cruisers are in the sweet spot, as far as your options for any scenario.
As stated by Fluffers, my favorite is an Atron with 3x 125mm Railguns and a MWD which makes 3500m/s with web and scram. To be quick is more useful than being well armoured at the beginning, that’s what I learned by crossing half a dozen bubbles with that ship without being caught. And it still is cheap to lose and easy to build/buy.
But if you want to spend ISK: In recent days we had severe problems with a Tengu guy - it’s said to get away very quickly if sh!t hits the fan
