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 Slasher is the Minmatar 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 Slasher.
The Rifter is the Minmatar heavy attack frigate. It gets substantial bonuses to its projectile turrets, allowing it to deal good damage. It is otherwise well-rounded, with decent speed and defenses, and its slot layout allows it a high degree of flexibility. However, that flexibility means it does not excel strongly in any one aspect.
Here is a recommended fit for the Rifter.
The Breacher is the Minmatar heavy combat frigate. Its bonuses to shield boosters allow it to shrug off a great deal of incoming damage, it can deal acceptable damage with its rocket launchers, and it has good speed. However, its relatively weak powergrid can make it difficult to fit well.
Here is a recommended fit for the Breacher.
The Probe is the Minmatar 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 Probe.
The Burst is the Minmatar 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 Burst for now.
The Vigil is the Minmatar electronic warfare frigate. It has powerful bonuses to the effectiveness of target painter modules, allowing it to render enemies substantially easier for its allies to hit. 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 Vigil 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 Thrasher is one of the Minmatar destroyers, focusing on projectile turrets. Its seven hardpoints for projectile weapons have enhanced accuracy, damage and range, giving it a powerful offensive punch. It is relatively fast and well-defended for a destroyer, but still slow compared to frigates, and its larger size makes it easily targeted and destroyed by larger ships. Additionally, it has very little utility outside of its weapons' damage output.
Here is a recommended fit for the Thrasher.
The Talwar is the other Minmatar destroyer, focusing on missiles. Its seven missile launchers get a substantial bonus to their range, and it mitigates the signature penalty of Microwarpdrives, allowing it to use them to avoid incoming fire as if they were Afterburners. It is also relatively fast for a destroyer. This makes it a natural fit for long-range, high-speed “kiting” tactics with light missiles. However, its damage output is relatively low, and it is rather fragile.
Here is a recommended fit for the Talwar.
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 Wreathe is one of the Minmatar 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.
Here is a recommended fit for the Wreathe.
Industrials are a favorite target of many players - and even in high-security space, where CONCORD will appear to punish illegal attacks, they will usually arrive after your attackers have reduced your ship to a flaming wreck. Be mindful of your surroundings, and try to keep your cargo’s value under about 20 million ISK.