EYES ON: Frigates, Tech 1 Gallente

 

GALLENTE

A fiercely independent race, the Gallente are noted for their stubborn tenacity. Likewise, their ships hold the same values, being known for strong active armor tanks and thick hulls. With ships wielding some of the highest damage in New Eden, and speed to get it there, the blasters and drones of the Federation are common sights on battlefields across the cluster.

Atron: Brawling/Scram-kiting

A common sight in PvP, piloted by both new players and veterans alike, Atron frigates are officially a tackler. With a cap usage bonus to propulsion jamming, they do the job well, but are somewhat unique in their ability to couple it with high damage from blasters. Often fit with a Damage Control Unit and Ancillary Armor Repairer, plus triple bulkhead rigs, well over half of their hitpoints are in hull, which can allow them to tank far more off that AAR than you might think. Can also scram-kite rather well, thanks to their falloff bonus and the range given by Null ammo. Always carry Null, Void, and Faction Antimatter with blaster boats, because dying to a lack of range is awful. A wonderful little boat, and a perfect one to help you learn PvP. 

Incursus: Brawling/Scram-kiting

If one boat summed up Gallente philosophy, this would be it. Lots of hull, lots of damage, and massive repair bonuses. It's jokingly called “cargo tanked,” because if you have cap boosters, you can stay alive til the cargohold is empty. Like this. That's the effective hitpoints of a well tanked cruiser. Sadly, it has the reputation of being no more than a bullet sponge. There are three general fits you see: Dual rep/scram/cap booster, AAR/scram/web, and scram/web/rails. All are good in their niches, but all tend to do badly versus anything kitey. They really can shine in a fleet though as a tackler against things that apply to them poorly. One odd little niche they excel at is a cheap alternative to an Astero for highsec combat sites. When fit with an AB, single rep, faction appropriate tank and damage mods, web, rails, and cap battery, you can use them in lower difficulty combat signatures, and for anomaly ratting. They do pretty well, they’re cheap, and highsec has loads of places to swap a railgun out for a core probe launcher for scanning. Just make sure to swap back before running the sites.

Imicus: Exploration

Literally the ugliest ship in EVE. I refuse to fly it, despite it being a really good option for ambushing the unprepared. It’s able to field 4 light drones, instead of the 3 fielded by the other races’ T1 exploration frigates, and has great slot layout and tank options. Budding explorers could do far worse than this, if you can overcome its’ looks of being a hotdog with a kickstand. Almost never seen in PvP, just fly a battle Heron.

Maulus: EWAR/Scram-kiting

An EWAR boat specializing in Remote Sensor Dampeners, which cut the lock range or speed of a target by a substantial amount. With Level 5 skills, and T2 damps with a script, the number is about 52%, and even with diminishing returns, a pair of them on a target can cause serious problems. Take a Garmur, with a lock range of 36km. Two range scripted Damps will reduce it by 52% and 47% after DR, resulting in a lock range of approximately 10km. Good luck kiting with that range. Two scan resolution scripts will make a battleship take over a minute to lock a frigate. You can see how this can be powerful, especially when applied to enemy Kiters, Logi or EWAR. In a fleet, this can easily take a Logi boat out of a fight, or force it to come in close…where your fleetmates will permanently take it out of said fight. Not overly strong of a combat ship on its own, the Maulus can be a dangerous scram-kiter when fit with a scrambler and two webs, plus whatever turrets you like in the highs, and its drones for damage. Good for control, decently tanky with hull rigs, and a lot less threatening than something like a Tristan. You’ll get a lot more fights with a Maulus, because it’s an unexpected threat. Remember that when you see one on scan.

Navitas: Logi

Armor reps with options is how I like to describe the Navitas. It has one less low and one more mid slot than an Amarrian Inquisitor logi frigate, and because of that is both less tanky, but more versatile. You can put in a Sensor Booster to increase your ECM resistance, a Remote SeBo or Tracking Computer to help friendlies, or even EWAR, such as a Target Painter to help your fleetmates apply better. The other two mids will almost always be a prop mod and a cap booster. Great ship, and one I fly regularly in roaming frigate fleets, though its remote repair range is still a bit short at ~13km. Mine are always named “HEY LISTEN,” in honor of a certain fairy we have all tried to kill at least once.

Tristan: Almost Everything

Where do I start with this ship? It's just good at *YES.* You can fly it with any weapon system, no weapon system, armor, shield, or hull tank, and it will still do well. The only real downsides it has are that it’s a bit slow, the drone bay only gives you 3 spares, and everyone knows it's good. The most common fits are a high damage microwarpdrive fit with a Medium Shield Extender, a scram/web brawler with blasters and facemelting damage, and a triple neut, AAR/hull tanked scram fit with a cap booster. There is really no bad fit for it, and you can pretty much fit an effective one with whatever junk you have around your hangar. It is at a bit of a disadvantage til you get T2 light drones though, so put in the skillpoints there, before going for Gallente Frigate 5 Most of those bonuses are pretty minor. It can also be a good early SP substitute for the Astero, which is pretty much what you get when a Tristan, Helios and Punisher have a wild night in Jita.