Over the course of your Career Agent missions, they will have given you some of the following ships. They are more powerful than your rookie ship. They are also more specialized, and each ship is built for a specific purpose.
Frigates are some of the fastest and smallest ships in New Eden. This makes them very difficult for larger ships to hit. Their guns also track very quickly, allowing them to effectively fight other frigates. However, their raw defensive and offensive power is relatively weak.
The Condor is the Caldari fast-attack frigate. It is extremely quick, and packs a decent punch. Its bonus to the capacitor cost of Propulsion Jamming modules also makes it good at “tackling” enemy ships, holding them in place. However, it is relatively fragile.
Here is a recommended fit for the Condor.
The Kestrel is the Caldari heavy attack frigate. It gets substantial bonuses to its four missile launchers, allowing it to deal substantial damage in close with rockets or lob light missiles from extreme range. Its good number of midslots also allow it decent defenses or good utility. However, it is somewhat slow.
Here is a recommended fit for the Kestrel.
The Merlin is the Caldari heavy combat frigate. It has very powerful shields, and decent firepower and flexibility. However, it is rather slow.
Here is a recommended fit for the Merlin.
The Heron is the Caldari exploration frigate. It has substantial bonuses to the use of scanner probes and relic/data analyzers, making it a powerful option for exploration-minded capsuleers. However, it is fragile, and weak in direct combat.
Here is a recommended fit for the Heron.
The Bantam is the Caldari logistics frigate. It has potent bonuses to remote shield booster modules, allowing it to “heal” allied ships in battle. However, it is not very useful to a solo pilot.
For this reason, we recommend that you do not use the Bantam for now.
The Griffin is the Caldari electronic warfare frigate. It has powerful bonuses to the effectiveness of ECM jammer modules, allowing it to render enemies unable to lock targets and thus helpless to fight back against attackers. However, it is extremely fragile and has little direct combat capability, and is not very useful to a solo pilot.
For this reason, we recommend that you do not use the Griffin for now.
The Venture is a mining frigate, not specific to any one empire. It has powerful bonuses to its mining lasers and gas harvesters, as well as a vast ore hold, allowing it to accumulate massive amounts of raw resources. It also has innate resistance to warp disruption, allowing it to escape attackers more easily. However, it is not particularly suitable for combat.
Here is a recommended fit for the Venture.
Destroyers are designed as a counter to frigates. They are “glass cannons” - they get large numbers of frigate-class guns, with substantial enhancements to their range and tracking, making them able to swat frigates out of the sky with ease. However, their defenses are little stronger than a frigate’s, and their larger size and slower speed makes them less able to avoid the fire of larger ships. They are also lacking in any utility besides their damage output.
The Cormorant is one of the Caldari destroyers, focusing on hybrid turrets. Its seven hardpoints for hybrid weapons have enhanced accuracy and massive boosts to their range, allowing it to reach out and destroy smaller enemies at extreme distance. However, it is very slow compared to frigates, and its size makes it much easier to hit. Additionally, it has very little utility outside of its weapons' damage output.
Here is a recommended fit for the Cormorant.
The Corax is the other Caldari destroyer, focusing on missiles. It has seven launcher hardpoints, and a bonus to missile range and damage application, and comes with a comfortable four midslots, allowing it to mount a strong shield tank. However, it is slow, and its poor CPU and powergrid make it difficult to fit properly.
Here is a recommended fit for the Corax.
Cruisers, as a class, are the most well-rounded ships in New Eden. With comfortable slot layouts, decent firepower, good defenses, moderate speed, and moderate price, they’re the standard by which other ships are measured.
Cruiser fittings will not be provided in this guide. By the time you’re getting into a cruiser, you should be creating fits for yourself; see Fitting if you need some pointers.
Battlecruisers are to cruisers as destroyers are to frigates: much more heavily armed, but substantially slower. Battlecruisers are also significantly better defended, yet also more expensive.
Under the old alpha clone rules the only battlecruiser that alpha clones could
use was the Gnosis. however, since December 2017 (EVE Vegas) alpha clones can
now fly up to a battleship.
Battlecruiser fittings will not be provided in this guide. By the time you’re getting into a battlecruiser, you should be creating fits for yourself; see Fitting if you need some pointers.
Industrials, as class, are non-combat ships focused on the transport of goods across New Eden. They have massive cargo holds, but are slow, clumsy, and poorly armed at best - if they’re armed at all. They can be a great boon to a marketeer, industrialist, or even a combat pilot restocking on gear or moving locations, but are borderline useless in combat and a favorite target of player pirates.
The Badger is one of the Caldari industrials - a ship line focused on hauling goods from place to place. It has a massive cargo hold, and can mount sufficient defenses to stave off light attacks long enough for reinforcements to arrive. However, it is extremely slow and clumsy, and is borderline useless in combat.