Table of Contents1. Introduction2. Preparation

1. Preparation Checklist2. Agony Empire Rules of Engagement3. Client Setup for PVP4. Overview Setup5. Voice Communications in PvP6. Agony Fleet Manager7. Fleet Navigation_in_0.08. Skill Training for PVP

3. The Hydra Principle4. Basic PvP Mechanics

1. Tracking and Orbiting2. Electronic Warfare3. Bubbles and Warping4. ECM5. ECCM6. Advanced Tracking

5. Clones and Podding6. Recommended Ship Setups

1. T1 Hydra Punisher2. T1 Hydra Kestrel3. T1 Hydra Long Range Kestrel4. T1 Hydra Merlin5. T1 Hydra Incursus6. T1 Hydra Tristan7. T1 Hydra Rifter8. T1 Hydra Arty Rifter9. T1 Hydra Crucifier

10. Standard Griffin11. T1 Hydra Maulus

IntroductionIntroduction

In order to learn how to fight back, the student of PVP needs to realize that Eve Online combat isincredibly rich and diverse. It requires not only character skill points but also a good amount of playerskills. The difference between a lost encounter and a won encounter is more often the player skills thanthe character skills.

The lessons taught in PVP-BASIC are fundamental to Eve combat and make a starting platform for thestudy of tactics, strategy and dynamics of Eve PVP. These skills are applicable to all kinds of Evecombat, regardless of whether you're defending your mining fleet from Pirate attacks, or stalking lawlessspace in search of targets of your own.

The goal of PVP-BASIC is to provide you with the basic skills and confidence required to fly as part of asuccessful PVP gang, as well as being an introduction to combat in 0.0 space.

This class is aimed at players who are new to PVP, or with limited PVP experience.

The core topics this class will be covering are:

1. Ship Fitting and Electronic Warfare2. Safespots and Basic Fleet Movement3. Scanning and Recon4. Basic PVP Mechanics

Format

PVP-BASIC is usually run over 2 days:

The first day will be a mixture of theory and practical, generally taught in highsec or lowsec.On the second day, we will be head into 0.0 and put those skills to practice in a hostile situation.

Each day is likely to last around 4 hours, however students are welcome to stay longer.

Prerequisites

Skills

1. Caldari, Amarr, Gallente or Minmatar Frigate 1+2. Afterburner 1+3. Propulsion Jamming 1+4. Sensor Linking 1+5. Warp Drive Operation 3+6. Weapon Disruption 1+7. Electronic Warfare 1+

The following skill plans can be imported into EveMon to check your character's minimum abilities forthe class. (Right click and do a save-as, then you can import it via EveMon.)

Armarr Skill PlanCaldari Skill PlanGallente Skill PlanMinmatar Skill Plan

Preparation

It will be assumed by the instructor that all of the following preparation has been done prior to the start ofthe course. The instructor will assume you have read all articles and wont rehash them completely.Furthermore, the instructor will not make the entire class wait if you are not present or don't have yourheadset working.

1. Study the Agony Empire Rules of Engagement2. Read all of articles indexed below, especially the PVP-Basic Preparation Checklist. Note that many

of these articles will not be available to you until your signup has been processed.3. Setup your overview before class, we do not cover this in class. Overview Setup.4. Make any applicable client setup changes, we do not cover this in class. Configuring the EVE client

for PVP v2.0.5. Buy and fit at least 2 ships and move them to the course location. Note that we will swap out EWAR

in class so bring a range of spare EWAR modules.6. Come on Teamspeak before the course to verify that your microphone and headset are working.7. Arrive BEFORE the class, set your clone location to the starting location of the class, and make sure

your clone is up to date.

Preparation

Preparation ChecklistThis document is intended to help you make sure that you've done everything you need to do to be readyfor your BASIC class. You don't have to do things in this order, but following the suggested order shouldminimise the amount of time that you spend on preparation.

Please note that access to the reading material is not usually granted until roughly one week beforethe class. Many of the links in this article may not work until then.

Enrollment

Make sure have correctly enrolled in the class, that you know when it is, and that your payment has beenmade (either by yourself, or through a corporate account on your behalf).

Connect to the "Agony Public" channel

To do this, first click the speech bubble icon in the top right of any chat window, to open the Join Channelwindow.

- Type in "Agony Public"

- Click 'Join'.

Connect to the Teamspeak 3 server

Read the Setting Up Teamspeak article and follow the instructions there on connecting to our TS3 server.This gives you even more options when it comes to asking us for help. NOTE: If you don't have amicrophone, you still need to connect to TS3 so you can listen to the class. There is no point in attendingif you can't hear the instructor!

Check your skills

Ensure that you have trained the required skills, which can be found on the classes wiki page. For PvP-BASIC, these are:

* Propulsion Jamming 1+ * Afterburner 1+ * Caldari, Amarr, Gallente or Minmatar Frigate 1+ * Sensor Linking 1+ * Warp Drive Operation 3+ (yes, we really mean it, not having it can delay the movement of the fleet) * Weapon Disruption 1+ * Electronic Warfare 1+

(Optional) Prepare your jump clone

Check the enrollment post to see which system the class is gathering in. You might want to have a jumpclone at that system before the start of the class. The pod survival rate in our Basic classes is around 95%- most people don't lose any ships. Most people who lose their ships don't lose their pods. But losing allyour implants is something we'd prefer you didn't risk. Please read the Jump Clones article for moreinformation.

Consult the enrollment thread so see in which system the class ismeeting & set your autopilot there.

Often classes are gathered in Nonni, but not always. This is why you should check the enrollment threadfor your class to see where it will take place. Otherwise you risk gathering all your equipment andfrigates at the wrong location. Nonni is a reasonably major manufacturing center, and is definitely the bestplace to buy your frigates so that you won't have to haul them. Other trade hubs in the area are Sobaseki (4jumps from Nonni) and Jita (5 jumps from Nonni). Torrinos (8 jumps from Nonni) tends to be well-stocked, but it also tends to be expensive.

Start reading the rest of the articles, browse the PVP-Basic forum

You can find the articles in the Wiki's PVP-BASIC page and the forum HERE.

Buy your frigates and fittings

Choose one type of frigate that you think you'll enjoy for the duration of the class. Have a look at theRecommended Ship Setups for BASIC, but understand that it is not all inclusive. Having your classfrigates in different types seems like a really good idea in theory, but in practice it tends to be frustratingand annoying. Don't choose a frigate with a mining laser bonus. Don't choose a frigate with anastrometrics bonus. Don't choose an assault frigate, interceptor, or stealth frigate - they require differenttechniques to fly than a tech 1 frigate, and we won't be covering those techniques in this class. We usuallydon't use target painters in the BASIC class, so don't choose a Vigil.

Each of your frigates is going to need an afterburner. For certain frigates, this doesn't give optimal combatperformance, but it's the right choice for most frigates. There are a number of training exercises where theinstructor will say "turn on your afterburner" - not having one means you miss out on some of theeducational value. Don't buy or fit microwarpdrives. When we say 'afterburner' we mean 'afterburner'. Ifyou feel like fitting named, t2 or faction afterburners, then go for it. Just remember that in 0.0, the realquestion is not 'if' you lose your ship, but 'when'.

Purchase electronic warfare modules for remainder of your midslots. The midslot items are vitallyimportant to a hydra fleet, so you buy those and make sure you can fit them before you look at fittingweapons. Be aware that different midslot items require different amounts of CPU - don't be afraid to uselighter-caliber guns to make sure you can equip your ewar. (If you're loaded with cash, consider buying amixture of gun calibers so that you can maximise your punch once the ewar is finalized during the class.Similarly, named modules can help, if you can afford to lose them.)

With ammunition 400 rounds per weapon should see you through nicely (so if you have 3 weapons youwill need 1200 rounds). If possible, bring an ammunition type that gives you an optimal range around 9-10km, and also an ammunition type that gives an optimal range roughly equal to your frigate's fastestcircular orbit.

Gather everything at the system & station specified in enrollmentpost.

This system changes from time to time - see your enrollment thread to find out where the class will start.

Fit out your frigates and insure them

Set up your frigates with identical fittings in every slot and get the platinum insurance on each. During theclass, you're reasonably likely to be asked to change your fittings around, but you may as well makecertain that there's at least one configuration that works. If you're looking for something to squeeze intoyour low slots, an overdrive might be the best choice.

Set your medical clone to where your extra frigates are located.

In the unfortunate event that you do get podded, waking up 50 jumps away from the class and your extraships would ruin your evening.

(Optional) Finalize your jump clone arrangements

Ensure that your regular clone (the one with the implants!) is in some other station, to avoid confusion andaccidental clone-loss that can result if two jump clones end up in the same place.

Configure your overview and your graphics settings

Follow the configuration instructions that are a part of the BASIC course material (link ). Yes, you reallydo need to turn off your sound and effects, and you really do need to set up your overview so that you can'tsee anything beyond the essentials. If you don't do this and you're lucky, your overview will be clutteredand you might cause a friendly fire incident. If you're unlucky, your client will crash when you jump into asystem full of hostiles.

Recommended modules for Basic

3-4 of the following modules:

Remote Sensor Dampener (with both scripts - Targeting Range Dampening and Scan ResolutionDampening)Tracking Disruptor (with both scripts - Optimal Range Disruption, Tracking Speed Disruption)Overdrive Injector SystemNanofiber Internal StructureStasis WebifierWarp DisruptorWarp ScramblerShip scanner (only need 1)

Note: Agony recommends you bring meta 1 or 2 named variants - these are usually better than plain t1and easier to fit, while being similar in price.

Griffin pilots, bring 2 of the following:

ECM - Spatial DestabilizerECM - Phase InverterECM - Ion Field ProjectorECM - White Noise Generator

Fit racial jammers, not multispecs; they consume less capacitor and have lower fitting requirements.

Ammunition:

1000-2000 rounds of ammunition per frigate

Depending on what ship you may also wish to bring:

Small Remote Armor Repairers are good for healing fleetmates after the battle.Small Nosferatus - OK for short range ships (Rocket, Blaster or Autocannon ships) but better fit aremote armor repairer in remaining high slot.Micro Auxiliary Power Core (to boost your powergrid)Co-Processor (to boost your CPU)Small Armor Maintenance DroneCapacitor Power Relay/Small Capacitor Battery - not recommended unless your ship is very cap-intensive

We'll explain why in class, but DO NOT fit these modules on your ships:

Sensor boostersTarget Painters

Agony Empire Rules of EngagementThe following rules of engagement should be adhered to by all Agony members as well as participants onPVP University classes and other Agony gangs.

1. In 0.0, Agony operates NASI (Not Agony Shoot It). For the purposes of this policy, anyone flying ina class or gang operated by Agony is considered to be Agony for the duration of that gang, as isanyone currently set blue to Agony. During those periods when Agony has temporary blues, thispolicy is equivalent to NBSI (Not Blue Shoot It).

2. Agony pilots have a right to respond in their own defence in any security space. This includes actingpre-emptively where it is clear that the other party is seeking to engage the Agony member.

3. Agony members may not engage in general lowsec piracy, nor do we engage in suicide ganking inhisec. However, Agony pilots are free to engage any of the following in lowsec:

4. In hisec, Agony members may only engage legal targets (i.e. war targets and pilots with a criminalflag).

While we generally avoid running classes in areas which Agony has blues, pilots friendly to Agonywill be shot at if they engage one of our students on a course. This rule applies REGARDLESS OFYOUR CORP STANDING OR WAR SITUATION with the Agony students. For the duration ofthe course we protect the students as our own.

Class Peace: For the duration of Agony PvP University classes, all students are required to observea cease fire regardless of politics with other students. This means that you MAY NOT FIRE onanother student in a course whatever the circumstances (unless we explicitly tell you to). If you do,you will be podded and potentially banned for life from all Agony courses. This cease fire appliesas long as the student is considered to be on the class or traveling to or from the class.

Students in Agony PvP University classes may encounter, from time to time, people that are set blueby the student's corp. That student is advised to not fire on the blue target but is also advised that therest of the gang will not hold fire. Targets of these gangs should keep in mind that they are mixedcorporations and the presence of a blue pilot does not guarantee your safety. To avoid drama,students taking a PvP University course should advise their alliance or corp that they are doing soand that the class might very well fire on those friendly to that corp or alliance.

With regard to blue standing, Agony has no interest in NAPs or any arrangement where standingsare set to avoid hostilities. Agony only sets blue standing on a temporary basis when we will beworking directly with the blue party, and where maintaining that standing will increase ouropportunities to PVP.

Please note that Agony does not take PVP personally, and has no problem whatsoever with beingshot at, set hostile, or otherwise engaged by you or your corporation without this having any effect onour attitude towards you or your access to Agony classes and services. We enjoy fights, and we'llactually be much more offended if you don't shoot us! Similarly if an Agony pilot engages youwithout provocation (which they will) this doesn't mean we don't like you, it just means we like toPVP. This is true regardless of how friendly we are with you and whether you've taken classes withus in the past. We observe the Class Peace but after that you're fair game.

Client Setup for PVPIntroduction

Rule number 1 for life in 0.0 and PvP combat is that lag kills. Your graphics settings might look cool, butif these settings cause your client to lag when 10 hostiles land on grid and a battle starts, you are dead.The last thing you want is a slide show when you're in a 50 pilot gang going against another 50 pilots. Forthis reason, before engaging in combat in EVE you must take time to set up your client properly. Toreduce lag, 0.0 and other PvP pilots turn off several game effects.

With the Apocrypha update to EVE Online on March 10th 2009 CCP has done away with the classicclient. Now players can run only Premium and Premium Light clients. All the bells and whistles ofpremium client look great, but these additional features can drop your frame rate through the floor,especially when there is a large number of ships on grid (example: a PVP-Basic class). To reduce thechances of this happening, explore the options you get when hitting "Esc" key to bring up settings menu.Across the top you will see a row of tabs. In this article we will only be dealing with three of these tabs:Display & Graphics, Audio & Chat, and General Settings. Then we will move on to EVE Mail settings.

Configuring Client Settings

Display & Graphics

Display Setup: Find a check box named "Advanced Settings" and check it to expand display settings. Youmust decide whether you want to run EVE in windowed or fullscreen mode. Fullscreen mode will lightenthe CPU load, but makes it more difficult to tab between different windows. For Mac Os users theshortcut to switch between fullscreen and windowed client is Apple+Return.

Resolution/Window Size: One thing you will discover very fast with EVE is that you need to utilize theentire screen and the higher the resolution you can support the more room you will have. Run your clientat the highest resolution possible, but keep in mind that you also want a good frame rate. This can be atricky balancing act. You can press Ctrl+F to see your frame per second (FPS) count in game, or useFRAPS to measure it. Generally you want to keep your FPS count between 30 and 60.

The most important setting in this panel is Present Interval. Here you want to select “Interval One†.This will limit your FPS to 60. When sitting in a station your client can have very high FPS count (up toand over 200). This will put a great deal of strain on your video card, which has been reported to lead tooverheating and your system shutting down or worse.

Effects: Turn off "Turret Effects", "Effects", "Missile Effects", "Camera Shake", "Ship Explosions", and"Drone Models". For large scale fleets it is best to have these effects" turned off, however, in small scalefights leaving them on can be beneficial. It will allow you to visually distinguish between differentelectronic warfare effects, such as when your ship is being webified or warp disrupted, as well as let youto see remote repair and neutralizer/nosferatu effects. Turn off “Sun Is Occluded by Ships†and turnon "Use LOD". LOD stands for "Level of Detail. Turning it on means that EVE client will use simplified3d models to show things that are far away from the camera. Enabling LOD can result in smoothergraphics.

Graphic Content Settings: Again, our goal is to have the lowest lag possible, therefore select the lowestsettings for all options.

Audio & Chat

Audio Engine Settings: Uncheck "Audio Enabled†to turn off sound. The sound in EVE provides moresituational awareness, but the load it puts on the CPU can cause the game to lag. For many players turningthe sound off when playing the game improves its performance. Another important reason for turning offsound is that it can distract you and you will not hear important information relayed on Vent.

Voice Settings: Most alliances and corporations in EVE use either Ventrilo or Teamspeak. This way ifthe server goes down or one of pilots becomes disconnected, he or she will still be able to use voicecommunications and hear what is being said. EVE Voice however is a nice alternative to use when yourVent or TS goes down.

Chat: Logging chat can create extra lag, but the information stored in the logs can be very useful. Whetheryou want to leave this option on of off is up to you.

General Settings

General: Find the box that says “Show Session-Change Timer†and place a check on it. You canhave other boxes set to whatever you wish. This option will display a small circle at the top left corner onyour UI when your session change is on. Mousing your mouse over the circle will display the time leftuntil the change is complete. Being able to see the session change timer is very important in PVP, forexample, in a situation where you have to evade a gate camp. Session timer is enabled every time youchange or leave your ship, every time you dock or come through a gate, and every time you jump clone orget podded. Refer to the following article if you do not know what the session change timer is UsingSession Change Timer.

Help: Uncheck the “Show Damage Notifications†box. "Damage Notifications" are a small pop-uptypically seen in the middle of your screen informing you of damage dealt or received every time you takeor deal damage. Needless to say, this creates quite a bit of lag in large group PVP situations. This optioncan be quite useful in small scale PVP and PVE however.

Another important change is to set the “Auto Target Back†option to zero (0) targets. When checked,your ship will automatically target-lock on any ship that locks target onto you first. If your modules arecycled this will make them activate on the locked target. However, often in combat situations the ship thatlocks you first is not the one you want to be shooting at. In 0.0 or any other kind of PvP you will bechoosing targets much more intelligently, not letting them choose you. The ship locking you might be afriend simply trying to test locking time (or a logistics pilot in your gang). If your weapons are cycled youmight end up killing your friend's ship. There are also several tricks used in empire space that can get youCONCORDed if your auto-targeter is enabled. It is a good idea to have this option turned off.

Layout: You can set this up any way you like.

Configuring EVE Mail

This last setting is located in your EVE Mail window. To open EVE Mail, look at the left side of yourEVE client and find the third icon down from the top. Click it to open.

Once your mailbox is open, click the triangle in the top left corner to access settings, and set 'CSPAcharge' to 0. This means people don't have to pay money to invite you to fleets, etc.

Next, right click on the Inbox again and turn blink off. Whenever your ship gets destroyed you will receivean email stating the amount of ISK that has been transferred to your wallet via insurance. This will promptyour mail box to blink, which causes a small amount of lag.

Other Settings

It is also a good idea to turn off the blinking effects of your wallet. Each time your ship gets blown up, youwill receive some ISK from its insurance. If your wallet settings are set to make your wallet blink, it willblink upon this event and cause a small amount of lag for your client. In turn, it will make it more difficultfor you to enter warp with your pod and avoid getting pod-killed.

If you find that your EVE client loads slowly and is persistently being bugged by various small bugs itmight be time to clear your cache. It is a good idea to periodically clean it out in any case. To do thispress "ESC" button and go to "Reset Settings" tab. Find "Clear all cache files" option and click on"Clear". You will have to restart your client after this.

After applying all of these setting, your EVE client will be as lag free as possible. If you are stillexperiencing large amount of lag in PVP you may have to upgrade your computer.

Overview SetupIntroduction

The aim of this article is to introduce you to the basics of overview setup, as well as prescribing a simpleoverview setting which will be effective for the PvP-BASIC class.

It is essential that you correctly configure your overview before taking part in fleet activities - this willhelp avoid friendly-fire activities, and make locating your targets much less difficult.

Overview Basics

First of all, there are three important aspects of overview setting which it's useful to understand. Theseare:

Filters - Presets which can be saved and loaded, which determine the objects shown to you in theOverview or highlighted on screen with brackets. This is the core aspect of overview setup, uponwhich all the rest is based.Tabs - In the same way as a ‘tabbed browser’ like FireFox can display multiple web pagesand provide a tab to get quickly to each one, the Overview can be configured with up to 5 tabs withunique names and settings. This lets a pilot very quickly change the items listed in the Overview.Brackets - The small squares, triangles, diamonds and circles displayed in space around your shipto highlight the location of ships, gates, planets and other objects.

Filters

The overview window is probably the most important window you will ever use in Eve. Unfortunately,due to the sheer amount of information it can display, it can also be the most cluttered. I'm sure you allremember that glorious day when you rolled your first character and undocked, and your overview lookedsomething like this:

As you can see, there's a whole lot of stuff on there that you will never actually need to see. By modifyingyour filters, you can fine tune exactly what does and doesn't show up in your overview window so thatyou're only seeing the things you actually care about. Not only does this drastically reduce clutter andmake objects on your overview easier to locate, but it also avoids incidents of shooting the wrong thingdue to a misclick on your overview.

To edit your filters, we must first open the overview settings window. To do this, click the small whitetriangle in the top left corner of the overview window, and select 'open overview settings'. This windowis where we will carry out almost all overview related tasks for the remainder of this article.

To set up your filters, simply select the 'Filters' tab. This will provide you with a window that looks

something like the following:

As you see, you can tune your filters according to two things:

Types - What kind of object is it? This lets us do things like remove sentry guns and asteroids.States - What is the status of the object? We can use this to, for example, stop gang members orpilots with high standing from appearing on our overview, while keeping those who are neutral orhostile.

When creating an overview filter for the first time, it is always a good idea to first click the 'Deselect All'button at the bottom of the window. This will give you a completely blank filter to work with. When youhave finished working, simply click the triangle in the overview settings window, and choose 'Savecurrent type selection as...'.

A few common overview filters you might find useful are:

Missions - shows only the various npc ratsLoot/Salvage - shows only wrecks and cargo containersTravel - shows only stations and stargates (obviously don't use this in lowsec or 0.0!)

For PvP, our needs are a little more specific. Most pilots have multiple PvP overview filters and switchbetween them depending on what they are trying to do. We will discuss a specific filter setup for PvP-BASIC later in this article.

Columns

The next section for us to think about is the 'Columns' tab (the 'Appearance' tab is quite self-explanatory).

The Columns tab allows you to choose what information you see about the objects on your overview. Youcan also use the 'Move Up' and 'Move Down' buttons to change the order in which these columns willappear in your overview (top column will appear first). Most of these are self-explanatory, there are a

few which may need an explanation, which are the following:

Radial Velocity - This is the speed at which the distance between the object and you is changing. Anegative number means the object is getting closer, a positive one means it is getting further away.Transversal Velocity - This is the speed at which the object is travelling on a plane perpendicularto your position (e.g. across the screen as you look at it). An object with 0 transversal is eitherstationary or moving directly towards or away from you. This is useful for determining how easilyyou can hit an object/it can hit you. However, since it does not account for the distance between youand the object, this option has effectively been superceded by angular velocity.Angular Velocity - This tells you the rate at which the angle of the object in relation to yourposition is changing in radians per second (conveniently the same unit as turret tracking!). Thisserves a very similar purpose to transversal velocity, but accounts for the fact that e.g. a ship with500m/s transversal at 1km away is effectively orbiting you much faster than one with 500m/stransversal which is 100km away.Tags - This is for numbering targets when in a gang, but has been replaced in almost all situations bybroadcasts and/or voice comms.

Overview Tabs

The final section of the overview setup window that merits discussion is the 'Overview Tabs' tab. Thisallows you to create tabs, as mentioned earlier, which provide easy switching between overview (andbracket) settings. You can create up to 5 tabs here.

The 'Tab Name' column dictates (predictably!) the name which will appear on the tab.

In the 'Overview Profile' column, you can use the dropdown to select which of your saved filters youwant to appear in your overview when that tab is active.

Similarly the 'Bracket Profile' dropdown lets you decide which brackets appear on your screen when thattab is selected. Brackets work off exactly the same saved filters as your overview itself; most users willprobably either leave the brackets box as default or just use the same filter for both, though moreadvanced users might want to create specific settings for their brackets too!

A simple tab setup might be: one for combat, one for looting and one for travel. Again, more advancedusers are likely to have more specific tabs, much of which is down to personal preference.

When you're finished editing, click 'Apply'.

You can only have 5 tabs but many more filters. It is useful to keep one tab as "variable" tab to be able toload whatever filter you require.

Setting up your overview for PvP-BASIC

In this section we will go through step by step the process of setting up an effective overview setting forPvP-BASIC. We will work through the Overview Settings window starting with Filters>Types andmoving right.

Types

First of all, click Deselect All. Then, starting at the top, go through and re-select the following:

CelestialChargeDeployableNPCShipStation

Do NOT enable wrecks, cans, asteroid belts on your overview. These objects are not crucial for you tosee and can be warped to by using brackets on screen if needed.

States

Select everything other than the following:

Pilot is in your alliance (obviously you don't want to shoot alliance mates)Pilot is in your corporation (as above, but for corp)Pilot is in your fleet (this one is essential for PvP-BASIC due to the large number of pilots fromother corps that you will be flying with)Pilot has high standingPilot has good standing (these will hide pilots who are blue to you, which can help prevent youshooting friendlies. Whether you check these is up to you, and is likely to depend on whether youhave any blues!)

Please note that 'Pilot has neutral standing' always needs to be checked. Thanks to the wonderful featuresof Eve, unchecking this will mean just about everything else disappears too!

Appearance

Colourtags

Colourtags display a pilot's status in relation to yourself. They are a small icon which appears next toobjects both in space and on your overview. They are very useful for identifying which pilots are validtargets, and which are not. Remember that entries higher up the list will overrule those lower down, sothe order is highly important! We recommend you rearrange your colourtags as follows:

Pilot is in your fleetPilot is at war with your corporation/alliance

Pilot is at war with your militiaPilot is in your corporationPilot is in your alliancePilot is in your militiaPilot has high standingPilot has good standingPilot has horrible standingPilot has bad standingPilot has bounty on himPilot (agent) is interactablePilot is an outlawPilot has security status below 0Pilot has a neutral standing

It is essential that fleet is first to avoid friendly fire incidents on the class. We recommend you turn on allof your colour tags, since it's essentially more information for free! You can also check the 'apply to shipsand drones only' box, since you don't need to that a stargate is neutral!

Backgrounds

Backgrounds are obviously, backgrounds. Like colour tags, they appear on icons both on the overviewand in space. They are also pretty obvious, which makes them a great way to make various objects standout!

As with colourtags, the order is important. Use the same order as above. Right click to change colour orturn blink on/off.

As for which of these your turn on, and the colour you choose, the following is recommended.

Set all fleet, corporation and alliance pilots as well as as those with good or high standings asvarious shades of blue. These are the pilots you do not want to shoot under any circumstances, soshould be made obvious as such.Set all valid empire targets (pilot is at war with you or pilot is an outlaw) as red and turn blink on.That way it is very obvious who you can shoot in empire without getting concord or sentry gunaggro, and who you can't.

Since gang is at the top, any classmates who are at war with you should still appear blue. Remember, youcannot shoot other classmates under any circumstances!

Ewar

These provide a small icon to the right of your overview when a pilot is using electronic warfare on you.Make sure they are all turned on! The warp disruption icon is a particularly useful one to have turned on.In case you get pinned down but have ECM support, you can call for jams on the ship that is holding you.

Columns

In PvP-BASIC, the most important function of the overview is to help you locate a primary target as fastas possible. For this reason, we recommend you cut down the columns visible in your overview to justthe following, all of which assist in this task.

Make sure the following columns are turned on and in the following order:

Icon - useful to differentiate objects.Distance - tells you how far away objects are, if you are in range, etc.Name - the most common way to call a primary target is by name, so this column is essential!Type - sometimes a target will be called by ship type e.g. 'target is the megathron' or with both namea ship type e.g. 'target is Deadmeat in the megathron' so this column is also essential.Alliance - useful for knowing who is who in the middle of a fight, or for quickly identifying e.g.whether the ship that just appeared is allied with the 10 other neutrals in local.

Ensure that the Name and Type columns are large enough to fit pilot and ship names to at least 5 letters.Also make sure the Alliance column is big enough to display the largest alliance tickets (also 5 letters). Ifyou prefer to play EVE in windowed mode, you can set up your overview to have many columns butexpand it on screen to see only 4 by default (Icon, Distance, Name, and Type) then when needed expand itfurther to see other columns.

The overview window should be quite tall, since when the fleet is engaging 50+ hostile ships you want tobe able to find the correct one quickly, and if your overview can only fit a quarter of the opposing fleet onit this will be quite difficult! A properly set up overview tends to take up about half of the right hand sideof your screen.

By default your overview should be sorted by distance. This will also ensure that all ships which are ongrid with you usually appear at the top. When a large battle is imminent, re-sort your overview by Namecolumn. To do this, just click the column heading at the top of the window.

When creating your own overview settings, you may also wish to include other columns such as velocity,radial velocity or transversal velocity. Obviously you want to avoid clutter, so only include informationthat is relevant to what you're doing (e.g. if missioning in a turret ship, angular velocity might help youdecide whether or not you can track something).

Additional Overview Filters

Other filters we recommend setting up are:

A filter or tab for drones - open the filter you made above, check everything in the 'Drone' folder andsave it under name of "Drones". Occasionally the class might get into a fight carrier supportingenemy ships. In this case the FC might order the gang to kill his drones/fighters. Having themshowing on the overview will enable you to target them quickly.A filter or tab with nothing but planets. When your ship is about to blow up, select this filter, choosea planet, and keep hitting 'warp to'. As long as you are not in a bubble, this should give you a decentchance of getting your pod out in one piece.

Voice Communications in PvPCommunications in PvP

Introduction

This is a really well written article that covers the topic of voice communications in PVP Universityfleets. It was written by a student, Spinward who is now a member of Agony, for other students, in aneffort to make some of the jargon and concepts easier to get to grips with. Don't be too concerned if youdon't understand some of what is written here. When the class start on its 0.0 roam it will all fall intoplace once you experience it firsthand.

First, the disclaimer: I'm not Agony. I'm not an instructor. I'm a week one noob who took a class!!!

I just finished the accelerated PVP Basic course last night and thought I would share some of my noteswith future students. Reading this post might make you a little more confident and save some time in class.Have a great time; I did.

After attending a few more PVP-BASIC courses as alumni, I'm now a three month noob! I have added alittle more info and re-arranged the post to make it flow a little better. Even so, there's a lot of informationhere and it may take a few reads before it sinks in, but you're paying a lot to attend this class (ISK andtime) and I think this will help you make the most of your investment. Besides, the more you know whenyou arrive, the easier it will be to focus on the fun stuff: bringing death and destruction to the enemy!

General

Voice communications is an invaluable resource for a fleet. It allows you to act and react faster than theenemy. Good disciplined comms lets the Hydra Fleet to maximize its effectiveness because the FC (FleetCommander) can coordinate the weight of weapons and EWAR on the enemy's vulnerabilities. The Fleetdepends on mobility and surprise; both of these are hard to maintain without voice communications.

Voice Comms vs Text Chat

There tends to be some confusion about when you should use voice comms and when you should use textchat. In general, voice is used in the theory section for answering questions and having a properdiscussion with the instructor. Text chat can be used for administrative things such as late arrivals (try toavoid this), Ventrilo problems (there are always a few) and asking for links to the Agony Fleet ManagerTool (you'll love this application when you see it).

During the practical section in lowsec, you can still ask questions and carry on a discussion with theinstructor over Vent. However, if the fleet is approaching a gate, don't use voice for questions so that theFC can listen for recon and intelligence reports. You always want to know what's on the other side of thegate and sometime reports come in at the last second. Keep using text chat for admin and easy to answershorter questions. If you raise an important point in text, the instructor or one of the agony members willbring it up on vent so that everyone can benefit.

In 0.0, you have to be selective about when to talk on vent. However, it is your class so don't be afraid touse Vent to ask questions. Just listen before you key your microphone so that you don't "step on" someoneelse's question. If you hear "break break", "recon" or "battlecomms", stay quiet until the urgency passes.The word "urgency" is really the key to using vent. Voice comms are used when things are urgent becauseseconds count and typing is too slow. If there's nothing "urgent" going on, get your questions going. Theseinstructors have tons of information for you so dig it out of them.

Battle comms: When the FC (or for the purposes of a class, anyone) calls battlecomms, all members ofthe fleet should be quiet and listen for orders. During this time, the FC will be hearing reports, issuingorders or just taking a moment to think. It's our time, as students, to hold questions on vent. If it issomething urgent, you can still use gang or squad chat to type your question.

Break Break: Someone has urgent information on the fleet's tactical situation for the FC. Everyone listenup; hopefully it's about your next victim.

Recon: The scouts that are flying ahead or behind the gang will start their report by saying "recon". TheFC needs to hear this info, so save your questions for later or type them into fleet chat.

You, Me and I

Don't use these pronouns. Instead always identify yourself with your character's name. Refer to yourself inthe third person (like that Seinfeld episode) "George is getting angry" and "Jimmie needs a new pair ofshoes". It definitely feels weird at first, but start doing it every time you talk, even in the theory section.Just say "This is George. Why should jammers be on manual?" It makes it easier for the instructors tokeep track of who's asking (they do watch the Vent as well) but it also helps people get into the rightmindset for when they get into 0.0 space. Now in 0.0, it becomes much more important. The FC needswill sometimes need to know who is talking. By not identifying yourself you are wasting valuable secondsof your FC's time by forcing him or her to ask "who said that??".

Once you have some more PvP experience, you should be able to get around 0.0 by yourself and may notneed help from the FC. If that is the case and Vent is busy, just type your report/info into gang chat and saysomething along the lines of "no assistance needed". The FC may come pick you up anyway because hewants to look after all his students but he may not be able to because there are 29 other students to lookafter as well.

Here's a couple examples of brevity or the lack thereof:

Wrong: Did you jump? I think I missed the jump. The lag is killing me. Is everyone lagged?Better: (ifyou need help): George is still in E-3 at the D-0 gate. Lagged. Request orders.Best: (you don't need anyhelp): George is lagged OR George is behind.

Now that's not the only right way to phrase this report, but I hope it is a good example of brevity,precision, use of 3rd person when speaking on Vent. It also leads me right to my next few points.

Brevity and Precision

Be precise when you make a report. Tell the FC who, where, and what, but keep it as short as possible. Ifyou practice PVP quite a bit and often fly with a particular gang in game, those players will come to

remember your voice and you can cut your reporting down even more. However, in class, nobody knowsyour voice and the instructor is trying to keep 30 students on the move (read herding cats).

Be very careful confusing warp and jump, especially if you are providing intel. Providing bad intel getsFCs ticked off very quickly.

Don't Be a "Narrator"

In these examples, Jimmie is the tackler and George is in our fleet; Easy Meat is the target ship.

Jimmie: "one point Easy Meat"FC: "everyone warp to Jimmie"George: "ok, I'm warping to the gate.....got him locked and webbed... ok missiles away... he's targetting me now.... he's shooting...I'm tankingpretty well, at 80% shields...into armor now....he's into structure...muhahaha I do crazy dps....he's dead"

All the details are interesting to you, but there's zero reason to be broadcasting them on vent. Commsshould be limited only those details that are significant to the FC.

A better example might be:

Jimmie: "one point Easy Meat"FC: "everyone warp to Jimmie"George: "web"...."Easy Meat isaggressed"FC: "get the pod"

This way, the FC knows that the target has a web on it and, since he has aggressed, cannot go through thegate. You haven't used up much time on Vent, so the FC is free to be thinking and listening for intel to planthe next steps.

Saying the J word

Jump is an order to be given by the Fleet Commander only.

As a student, I pretty clearly understood that there's no need for a student to ever say the J word. Try notto say it five times while talking back to the instructor about how "warping off instead of going through thegate wasn't your fault" ... yeesh ... it was not pretty. If there's time, the instructor will usually play it out tosee how many times you'll say the J word before you realize it. I'm not sure but they may have a bet goingevery class!

There is a good reason for avoiding the J word. Imagine you are on a gate waiting for your scout to tacklesomeone on the other side. You are keyed up with the excitement of the upcoming kill (the adrenalin reallystarts flowing on those first few kills) and someone says "So when do we jump?". What your mouse fingerheard was JUMP and you are gone, gone, gone. No calling it back; your brain is still translating the "blahblah blah JUMP" but not fast enough to stop that damn finger.

There are some euphemisms you can use instead of the J word: "We are 7 systems from our destination","The target went out the gate", "go through the gate", "four gates to go" etc.

Someone does this every class so try not to let it be you by starting the habit now! (It does become ahabit...I'm even hesitating before I type the J word in these notes)

The J word vs Warp

Warping is done within a system, while you have to use a gate to Jump. Don't get them mixed up whentalking to the FC. It can be a completely different tactical situation when you report that the ship you aretargeting "warped off" or "went through the gate".

Chatting and Talking Back

There's probably going to be a good amount of Vent chit chat going on between the instructor, the Agonypilots, and some alumni. They know when to chat and when to keep their mouths shut. I didn't so I keptmine shut unless I had a question. If you have a question, ask it; if you have it, I'll bet at least one or twoother people have the same one but are afraid to ask.

This is the "talking back" portion. The instructors expect mistakes to happen. Why else would we be inthe class? More important than any mistake is how you handle yourself afterwards. So if you do make amistake, identify yourself and get to where you are supposed to be. It had to happen to someone and thistime it's you. No big deal, next time it'll be someone else. If you need help, you'll get it (the other Agonypilots were a great help) but don't talk back or try to launch into a long explanation of what happened andhow it isn't your fault. They've been teaching a long time an know that 'stuff' happens so just say "on myway" and get on with the grunt. That next kill might be just through the gate and we all want a piece of it.

Students Chatting and Vent -> By chatting, I mean shooting the sh... er... breeze (idle chit chat about pizzaor WoW or whatever). You can do it at the right times but if you can keep it in the text chat, you will keepyour FC happy. The FC will call battlecomms if he or she needs vent clear.

Going through a gate

When you approach a gate, the Fleet Commander will give you your orders. If he's busy and doesn't giveorders, the default instruction is to Hold on Gate, meaning you should orbit at 500m/1000m (i.e. wellwithin jump range, which is 2500m). If you don't hear any orders, go with the default. If you think youmissed or aren't sure you heard the order, ask "orders on the gate?". Other orders your FC is likely to useare:

Jump on contact - go through the gate as soon as you are out of warpJump and hold cloak - go throughthe gate immediately but do nothing to break your cloak on the other side. That means don't move or cycleweapons/ewar. The priority is keeping your cloak up so that you don't betray the fleet's position.Align -bring your ship around to point at the next stargate (normally double click beside the gate. If everyone isheading the right direction, the warp looks fast and tight)Jump and Align - go through the gate and quicklyalign to the next stargateJump and Re-approach - go through, break cloak and use afterburner to get to thegate. Orbit at 500/1000mJump, Jump - go through the gate immediately

The default order after going through a gate is to Hold Cloak (i.e. do not do anything - you'll remaincloaked for up to 60 seconds).

Do not shoot anything unless the FC has told you to. If you do, you will end up aggressed and unable to gothrough the gate for 60 seconds. This can hold up the class, ruin an ambush, or get you podded, and you'llhave to make a long run to catch up. If this happens, stay calm and make a report. You'll be given

instructions. If the FC is busy in an attack and you're in immediate danger, warp away to stay safe and thencatch up when you can. The instructors will help you as soon as they can. They really do want you to live,learn and kick butt during this class.

If you do end up aggressed and alone on a gate with enemies inbound, the best place you can warp to is anasteroid belt, planet, or the star. On the way there, create a midsafe bookmark, and when you landimmediately initiate warp to it. You will be safer at this safespot than if you stuck around sitting at acelestial object.

If you end up going through a gate alone and there's nothing but the enemy on the other side and have noidea what to do next, here's your plan. Don't break cloak. Do a scan. Then warp out fast. (If you can warpout to a place that you are already aligned to, you're ahead of the game.) As soon as you arrive, warp toanother location in system again to confound pursuit. While you're warping, read your scan and make agood report to the FC. For example, "Recon, two Ravens, Hurricane, and two Raptors in K-T 100km off7-U gate". After your second warp (third if you're worried), put your speed on so no one drops right ontop of you and figure out your next move.

If you are late going through a gate or joining the gang say "Friendly incoming" just to avoid an uncoolpanic or friendly fire accident. Actually, if vent is clear, you can start saying "Friendly incoming to X-70"as soon as you start getting close to catching up, so the FC can keep track of where you are. He may haveorders for you or ask for information.

Electronic Warfare Orders and Reporting

The fleet will be broken up into several EWAR groups: Track Groups (ships with tracking disruptors)and Damp Groups (ships with sensor dampeners). When you go into battle, your group will be giventargets for weapons and EWAR modules. Here's a quick list of the voice calls that you use when a moduleis active on your assigned target. Don't make the call until your module is active but if you can't hold themodule on target (ie running out of cap) let the EWAR leader know before it drops.

Active Module - what you sayWarp Disruptor - PointWarp Scrambler - ScramSensor Dampener -DampStasis Webifier - WebTrack Disruptor - TrackTarget Painter - PaintJammer - Jam

You might also hear such things as "Easy Meat is primary" or "get a point on him" or "web him". Most ofthe communications was pretty self explanatory but that list above was just the one word. When you're inTrack Group One and you hear "Track Group One on Easy Meat", target Easy Meat's ship and put yourTD on it. Once you see the icon on the target, say "Track". One exception is for Jammers. You are notactually jamming until you see the grey countdown bar underneath the locked target. That's when you call"Jam".

You may end up being engaged by more than one target. The procedures are the same but now the FC hasto order and hear reports on more than one target. For two targets, the orders might be "Easy Meat isprimary. Damp Group Two on Easy Money." Everyone will be engaging Easy Meat except that DampGroup Two will be attacking Easy Meat while locking Remote Damps on Easy Money. This means thatEWAR reports need to include the name of the target pilot. For example, you might hear the followingreports: "Point on Easy Meat; Web on Easy Meat, Damp on Easy Money" and so on.... I think this isbeyond the Basic class but you can see that it would be impossible for the FC to keep track of the

situation without including the target's name in EWAR reports.

Now if you lose track, run out of cap, have to warp away or get podded, you have to inform the Gang thatthe EWAR module is down. That's when you would say "Minus one point" or "Lost damp". You'll alsoneed to tell the leader if you are out of the fight or coming back. If possible, try to make the report beforeyou actually lose track or run out of cap. Once again, jamming is a little different. Remember to call "lostjam" before the countdown timer runs out. That way another pilot can try to replace you before the pointor web or damp is actually lost.

For example, Jimmie has been targeted by the Vagabond your fleet is killing:

Jimmie: "Warping out, minus one point, will return"

Remember there are no reports for locking target, firing, losing shield or getting into armor. It seems tohappen all the time and you can't take up time on Vent that's needed to coordinate the battle.

Broadcast - the red-headed step child of Eve Communications

People don't talk much about broadcast but it's used every gang. The broadcast window appears on thelower right hand portion of the overview underneath the Fleet Window. In PvP Basic, it is used primarilyto send navigation orders.

The FC will say "destination broadcast" (or something like that) so you find it, right click and select setdestination. Alternatively, the FC may say "waypoint broadcast". Now a waypoint and a destination lookthe same in the broadcast window so you have to listen. If the FC says "waypoint" you, find it, right clickand select set waypoint.

There can be problems sometimes so here's a few tips. If you try to set destination and you get the errormessage "cannot set the same destination", don't stop there. Go back to the broadcast, right click thedestination, select remove waypoint. Then try setting the destination again.

The other problem I've seen is when a destination and a couple waypoints are broadcast at the same time.Sometimes people set them in the wrong order and confusion sets in. Normally, the first one is thedestination and the rest are waypoints. So set the first as destination, then set the next one above as awaypoint, then the one above that and so on. If you have any doubts, use gang text chat to confirm that thethe destination is (for example) x-70 and there are 9 systems to go. If you're wrong it, you can sort it outbefore you align to the wrong gate and are tackled because incorrect alignment slowed down your warp.

Duties - just the basics

There are a few of the duties that you'll hear about. It's unlikely you'll get one but it's nice to know whatthey are all about.

XO - Executive Officer. A second in command who deals with administration, squads, damp/track groupsetc. This frees up the FC to think about tactics. In Basic, this is an assistant instructor and the XO termmay not even be used.

EWO or EWARO - Electronic Warfare Officer. If the Fleet is big enough you might have one of these

who coordinates the ewar groups for the FC.

Scout, Recon, Skirmisher - these guys all do different things depending on their ships and skills but, forour purposes, they are all eyes in other systems finding us targets. Listening to how they report and thequestions the FC asks them has really helped me.

360 Scan - An agony pilot or alumni or two will be assigned the duty of constantly scanning for threats.Everyone should be doing this on a regular basis but by assigning the duty, the FC is just making sure he'salways got someone scanning for targets/threats.

Local - An agony pilot or alumni will be watching local to see if the number goes up or down in yoursystem. He or she will also try to find the incoming pilot's information for the FC. Ideally, the local pilotreports one new pilot in system, their name and alliance to the FC at the same time that the 360 scan pilotreports a new Iteron in system.

Probe Scan - Normally agony or alumni assigned to scan for probes that may be used to track down yourfleet when in a safe. Alternatively, detecting these probes gives us the info that a cloaked covops is insystem.

Rear Guard - Normally an agony pilot assigned to follow the gang last through a gate. He's kind of theherder to bug you if you're slow to go through and to tell the FC when everyone is in the next system.

That's all folks. Hope it was of some value.

Cheers. I hope to see you in my sights soon as you try to warp your pod away from my Rifter of Doom!Enjoy PvP; I am.

Agony Fleet ManagerWhat is this about

Fleet manager tool allows the fleet commander to quickly survey the composition of the fleet anddistribution of the electronic warfare and remote repair module on the ships of the participants.

During lecture the instructor is going to go over with you how to enter your ship setup into thisapplication. You do not need to do this before class. On the day of the 0.0 roam the the FC will ask you toinput your setup once again. So it does not matter what setup you input during lecture portion. You arefree to change your setup between the day of lecture and the day of the roam if you need to do so.

Trusting the Site

1. Open http://agony.skrewed.me/fleet-manager/ in your in-game browser.2. Click "Options" menu and then trusted Sites.3. In the "Add To Trusted Site?" dialog box, click the "Trust Website" button.4. Click the reload button to refresh the page. The site should now load without an error.

Dragging Your Fit to Chat

1. Open the ship fitting window.2. In the top right corner is your ship name.3. Click on the ship name and drag it into a chat window. Press Enter to 'say' your ship name in

chat.

Copying the Fitting

1. Right-click on the ship name in the chat window.2. Select 'Copy'.

Joining the Fleet in Fleet Manager

1. Click the Fleet owner name (Azual Skoll in the example below) to select the fleet.2. Click the "Join Fleet" button.

Pasting Your Fitting in Fleet Manager

1. Click the text box in the "Enter Ship Fitting URL" dialog box.2. Paste in your fitting.

Viewing the Fleet and Your Fit

1. Check to make sure that "Yes" is listed under "Joined" for the fleet you are joining.2. Click "View Fleet" to open the fleet.

Locating Your Fit in Fleet Manager

1. Your name will be highlighted in blue.2. You can sort the Pilot Name column to quickly find your name. All columns are sortable.3. Click the "Update Fitting" button if the FC asks you to change your fit and you need to update it.

Fleet Navigation_in_0.0Introduction

When taking part in an Agony course you will be in a fleet of 50 or more frigates with additional agonyskirmishers and recon pilots. The roaming section of the course can cover a fairly large area. The fleetwill progress through low sec space, where your flight commander might find targets of opportunity, aswell as through multiple 0.0 regions.

The fleet will be most effective if it is able to move smoothly as directed by your FC and change directionwithout delays where required. This Wiki article will go through some of the basic things to keep in mindwhen moving together with Agony fleet.

Prior to the start of the roam

Setting Destination

When the FC chooses a route he or she will usually set a destination to a particular system. Thedestination will be typed and linked into fleet chat, as well as broadcasted at the top of the Broadcastwindow.

Right click on the system name in fleet chat or the yellow "Travel to" option and select "Set Destination"as shown on the picture below. Once you have set destination you can see the number of jumps and theroute your fleet is currently on by opening the map. You will also see the next stargate en route highlightedin yellow on your overview.

Watch List

Watch list allows you to quickly warp to a member of your gang. In a fleet of 60-70 ships if a memberwhose name starts with an 'S' relays to the gang that he or she has a target tackled, you will have to scrollthe fleet window all the way down to letter 'S' before you can right click on that member's name. Watchlist allows you to have that member's name always visible such that you're always ready to warp to himor her.

Before the 0.0 roam begins you will be instructed to add certain pilots to your watch list. Their nameswill either be typed into fleet chat or they will be asked to x-up. To add somebody to your watch listsimply right click on their name in fleet window then select "fleet" option and then "add to watch list".Make sure to add the fleet commander to your watch list as well.

Watch list can only hold 10 members. If there are more support members than 10, you can omit thoseplayers whose names start with the beginning letters of the alphabet and instead proceed to warp to themthrough the fleet widow (since they will be at the top anyhow).

Another use for watch list is that if you have been to a station or a safe spot to repair and need to return tofleet or just catch up your position in system, you can open your watch list select your FC, right click andselect warp to member.

In the picture below I am adding Neo to my watch list and have already added in Aether. Now I canquickly select "warp to member" by r-clicking on Aether's name on my watch list. "Warp to member"command will warp you to 0 meters. However you can also pick to warp to member at another distance,which for example might be needed if that player is in a covops ship and should not get decloaked.

During The 0.0 Roam

Listening to FC's Orders

The fleet commander will give specific orders on what actions he or she wants the fleet members to take.During the roam, you should not be activating gates and initiating warp anywhere without hearing FC'sinstructions to do so first. When FC wants you to activate the gate and come into the next system you willhear a characteristic "jump, jump!" command. Do not jump without hearing this order first!

Only time you should warp around independently is when you have gotten lost or lost your ship and aretrying to reconnect with the fleet, or when you are leaving the fleet.

"Friendly Out/In"

Agony scouts and alumi who volunteer to fly in support of the main fleet are permitted to move aroundindependently. When activating a gate on which the fleet will be sitting, they will say "friendly out" or"friendly in" to indicate a friendly activation. This way the rest of the fleet knows that it is friendliescoming through the gate. If you saw a gate activate but did not hear "jump, jump!" command from your FC,do not assume that you need to active the gate also and go to the next system.

If you have to activate a gate on which your fleet is sitting inform others about it on Ventrilo by sayingloudly and clearly: "friendly out" or "friendly in". This way the fleet knows that activation is friendly anddoesn't proceed to throw a bubble on the gate and sit on it waiting for a neutral to show up, which willdelay fleet's movements to find the actual targets.

Also please refrain from saying "jump" on Ventrilo. This word is reserved for FC use only whendirecting the fleet to activate gate; other members of the fleet should use other words and phrases todescribe their movements.

Fleet Warping

The fleet commander is able to warp the entire fleet to a particular celestial object or bookmark withinsystem using the "warp fleet" option shown on the picture below. During the 0.0 roam this will be themain method for moving the fleet. Sometimes, prior to warping the fleet the FC will give orders to alignto the destination and sometimes he or she will simply cold warp the fleet without prior alignment. WhatFC chooses to do will depend on whether the fleet has to move fast or can take its time to move morecohesively. It also depends on the ship composition of the fleet. In PVP-BASIC everyone will be infrigates that align and warp within approximately the same time, such that fleet cohesiveness will notsuffer much from cold warping.

Aligned Warps

Before entering warp your ship must be within 5 degrees of your destination and 75% of your ship'smaximum velocity. The goal of alignment is for all ships to achieve this, such that when FC warps thefleet all ships will warp together and instantaneously.

You can align to destination by either selecting the item from your overview, right clicking and selectingalign or by clicking on "Align To" button in selected item window. Often you will be aligning to the nextgate on your route in yellow, but sometimes you will be changing direction to take a target of opportunityso do listen carefully to the instructions of the FC.

Cold Warping

If your FC does not give the order to align and instead cold warps the fleet, ships will be entering thewarp at slightly different times depending on how fast they can accelerate to 75% of their max speed. Youwill see that your fleet mates warp off in smaller groups based on their ships and skills.

Not only will the ships enter warp at slightly different times, but they also have the potential of warpingthrough the system at different rates and arriving at the destination at slightly different times. All T1frigates warp at the speed of 6 AU/sec, interdictors warp at 9 AU/sec, and interceptors warp at 13AU/sec. When a fleet of ships warp together (i.e. in the same warp bubble, such as when performing analigned warp) all ships in the group will warp at the lowest speed of a member of a fleet. A group ofinterceptors will all warp together at speed of 13 AU/sec; a group of T1 frigates and interceptors willwarp at 6 AU/sec. If the FC cold warps the fleet, the interceptors will arrive at the destination long beforethe other ships. This is because not only do the more agile ships generally enter warp quicker, but sincethe fleet is not warping as a group every ship will travel at it's own warp velocity.

Cold warping is used when the fleet has to move quickly. In such situations, it becomes easy to miss thefleet warp that FC issues, especially if you didn't make haste coming through the gate from previoussystem. To not get lost listen carefully to instructions of FC as to where the fleet is proceeding and warpthere independently if you did not catch the fleet warp. It is also generally only used with fleets ofrelatively agile ships (if you cold warped a mixed fleet with battleships in it, all the other ships wouldleave the scene long before the heavies would, leaving your big guns very exposed).

Gate Protocols

To make things easier for the FC, we have default orders for both arriving at a gate, and entering a newsystem. If your are in either of these situations and no order has been given yet, you should follow thedefault order.

When arriving at a gate, the default order is to 'hold on gate', which means you do not jump through, and

to orbit the gate at 500m. Your fleet commander will not tell you to do this over Vent every time; you willjust have to remember to do it automatically whenever you are halting near a gate. The FC has to receiveintel from the next system and make sure that all of the fleet or at least most of it has arrived at the gatebefore ordering to jump.

When orbiting the gate you should take care to keep within its 2,500 meter activation perimeter (gateactivation range). Turn your afterburner on only if your can keep your ship within this distance. In fact, itis preferable to orbit the gate with your afterburner on if potential hostile ships show up because in thiscase it will be more difficult to snipe down your ship.

Sometimes the FC will order you to "jump on contact". This will indicate that the fleet is moving quickly,to catch a target for example, and you are to activate the gate as soon as you arrive on it.

Once you come through a gate, your default order is to 'hold cloak', which means you should do nothinguntil you hear further orders - this means that your ship will remain cloaked. The gate cloak will last for60 seconds. Once the whole fleet is through the gate and your FC has assessed the situation, they will giveyou a new order (usually to align, unless there are targets present). If your gate cloak runs out and you stillhave not received any orders, or if your FC orders you to 'power reapproach' the gate, you should returnas fast as possible to the gate and as before, orbit it at 500 meters.

If you do accidentally move through a gate or are catching up to the fleet it is important that you announcethis on ventrilo by saying "friendly out" or "friendly in". In fact in general, if you make a mistake such asthis it is much better to achnowledge it and let your FC know what has occurred, rather than just keepingquiet and hoping nobody will notice - the latter can often get you, or worse your gang, killed.

Stealth Bombers and Bombs

Enterprising 0.0 stealth bomber pilots will very soon take note of a passing frigate fleet and will starttrailing it and making bombing passes when fleet is holding still. This happens on almost every 0.0 PVP-BASIC roam. You need to make sure that you are prepared and aware of the threat that bombs present tosmall ships.

Stealth bombers are frigate-sized ships capable of warping around under cloak and launching bombs andtorpedoes. While torpedoes are of little consequence to other small ships, bombs are definitely somethingfrigate and destroyer-hull pilots should be concerned about. Bombs are a type of weapon that hascharacteristics of both smartbombs and missiles (consider them to be flying mega-smartbombs). Theyhave a flight time of 15 seconds during which time they will cover distance of 30km from the point thatthey were launched. After this time they literally explode, doing damage to everything within 15km radiusof the explosion center. The stealth bomber does not have to be on grid for bomb to go off and willalways attempt to warp away right after launching one. Only thing that reduces damage done by a bomb issignature radius of a ship.

To avoid losing your ship to a bomb do the following:

1. Enable bombs in your overview. This can be done under "Charge" section. Otherwise you won't seethem!

2. Fit a damage control on your ship. Don't forget to activate it when fleet is in warp or orbiting agate. Great majority of frigates and destroyers will survive 2 bombing attempts with a damage

control on (Griffins are an exception) whereas without DC they won't survive a second bomb.3. If there is just one bomber throwing a bomb, and if you have a warp disruptor fitted, start locking

and approaching it immediately. If it is not aligned very well you might as well catch it. If you do nothave a warp disruptor on you may attempt to move out of explosion radius by jumping gate orwarping off to a celestial.

4. If you see three or more bombs flying your way, warp away or jump! Few frigates or destroyers willsurvive 3 bombs even with damage control on. Once you escaped immediately try to rejoin fleet.

Bombs will often instantly kill frigate and destroyer-sized ships that are running a microwarpdrive. Thisis because a microwarpdrive will boost a small ship's signature radius 5x making it be almost the size ofa battlecruiser, so it will receive a much higher damage payload. A single bomb will usually not kill onefrigate or destroyer, but it can still do significant damage. If multiple bombers can attack at once, you arefree to warp out or jump gate in order to save your ship unless given order by FC to do otherwise.

Broadcasting For Repairs

Very often after being hit by a bomb you will find yourself in armor or even hull. If you have takendamage and cannot repair yourself, use the Broadcast window to broadcast for repairs. With broadcasts,other members of the fleet who have brought remote armor repairers and maintenance bot drones will beable to see you requesting help. To broadcast for repairs utilize the buttons located at the bottom of theBroadcast window, as is shown on the picture below. Do not ask for repairs over Ventrilo. Generally,repairs will be done after a fight, not during. If you are taking damage during a fight, it is best to getyourself to safety, and broadcast for repairs once the fleet is at a safespot.

Disconnecting

The fleet will not wait for members who have disconnected from the game. It will be up to the pilot whohas been dropped out of the fleet to catch up in such a situation.

If you have lost connection, indicate so on Ventrilo to the rest of the fleet, as briefly as possible. Otherstudents will suddenly see you appear on their overview as a neutral and may occasionally proceed toshoot your ship. To avoid incidents like this, report on Ventrilo "<your name> in <frig type> hasdisconnected". If you dropped from Ventrilo too, get back on it as soon as possible to hear what the fleetis doing and where it is going. Then log back into the game and x-up for a fleet re-invite in Agony Publicchannel.

After the Roam

You may leave the fleet freely whenever you find that it is time for you to go. Sometimes the FC willindicate when the fleet is passing near empire for members of the fleet to make a safer trip back. You canuse these instances to make your way back.

Once you have sat through the lecture, you have graduated the class and can come to any subsequentclasses of the same type as you attended free of charge. This means that you can fly on as many roamswith Agony classes as you wish as well as re-attend the lecture. For more information about this pleaseread the following article: Alumni.

Maps

It is a good idea to have maps of regions you're traveling through open during the 0.0 roam. You can thensee for yourself how the fleet is moving through the territory, which would be particularly interesting toan aspiring gang leader or FC and useful in case you have to leave the fleet soon or if you get lost ordisconnected and have to catch up. You can print the maps out or alternatively have them open on yourbrowser in the background.

Links to EVE maps: Ombey's 2D Maps and Dotlan EveMaps.

Summary of This Article

Make sure to add fleet scouts and fleet commander to your watch list.Watch the Broadcast window for new destination broadcasts.Do not go through gates without hearing your FC say "jump jump" first.Do not independently warp anywhere without an order from FC.Do not independently engage anything without order from FC.Never say "jump" on Vent - only FC can use this word.Use Broadcasts to request remote repairs.Enable bombs on your overview. One bomb will not kill a frigate, but if you see more or if you arealready damaged warp out or go through the gate or you may go pop. When you see a bomb flyingtowards you, never activate a mwd.The default order when holding on a gate is to orbit it at 500-1000 meters, making sure you keepwithin 2,500 meter activation perimeter.After activating gate, hold cloak until you hear further orders on the other side. If no orders havebeen given and your cloak has dropped, re-approach gate and start orbiting it at 500-1000 meters.If you have accidentally activated a gate which is on grid with the fleet, say "friendly out" on Vent.Alternatively listen to others saying "friendly out" to determine whether the gate activation you justsaw is friendly or if it is a target that just came into system and needs to be shot at.If you have disconnected say so on Vent. Indicate what ship people should not be shooting at (i.e. "<your name> has disconnected, please do not shoot at the Kestrel").Optional: print out maps to follow fleet movements.

That's it. Good luck! And as the saying goes in Amarr: may you never lack targets for as long as you liveand your life be as long as that of the Emperor.

Skill Training for PVPIntroduction

Whether you are devoting yourself to PvP full time or training up a PVP alt, it is essential to know how totrain up your character to get the most out of the time it spends training up skills. A new character withlow skill point count is much more limited in what he or she can fit on a ship. It also cannot do as muchdamage or tank as well as a character that has been training for years. However, proper training that isfocused on important PVP skills can let you compensate for this.

So that means we race right to Interceptors right? Wrong! This is one of the biggest mistakes that playersnew to the game make. They want to undock in that newer or bigger ship and they race right through theprerequisite ship skills to get there. However, once they get that new ship they find that they can't fit itwell, can't do much damage, can't tank. They see that the ship is inferior to what they are used to flyingand that they are useless in it. The euphemism often used for this is "growing into a ship," which translatesto "I'm flying this too soon and hoping I get the skills before someone crushes me." Instead, your best betis to think about what support skills the ship requires and concentrate on training up these. In EVE someskills are beneficial for flying practically any ship - these are called core skills.

Core Skills

Core skills are the base gunnery, navigation, missile, drone, electronics, engineering and mechanic skillsthat will allow you to fly your ship better, equip more guns, run more drones and hit better with missilesand turrets. Keep in mind that you don't have to study drones if you don't intend to use them; same goes formissiles, while turrets are a requirement in most tech 1 frigates. The skills that you should focus on are thefollowing.

Drones:

Combat Drone Operation: +5% Bonus to drone damage of light and medium drones per levelDrone Durability: +5% bonus to drone shield, armor and hull hit points per levelDrone Interfacing: +20% bonus to drone damage, drone mining yield per level; level V required forcarriersDrone Navigation: +5% increase in drone MicroWarpdrive speed per levelDrone Sharpshooting: +5% increases in drone optimal rangeDrones: operation of 1 drone per skill level; level V required for T2 dronesElecronic Warfare Drone Interfacing: +3000m to drone control range of all drones per levelScout Drone Operation: +5000 meters per skill level to drone control range; level V required for T2drones

Electronics:

Electronic Warfare: -5% capacitor need for ECM and ECM Burst systems per level; level IVrequired for T2 jammers (useful for Caldari recon pilots) and use of ewar dronesElectronics: + 5% bonus to ship CPU output per skill levelElectronics Upgrades: -5% in CPU need of modules that require Electronic Upgrades skill (signalamplifiers, co-processors, backup arrays) per level; level V required to pilot covops, stealthbombers, and electronic assault frigatesPropulsion Jamming: -5% to warp disruptors, warp scrambler, and stasis web capacitor need perskill level; level IV needed for T2 web; level V prerequisite to interdictorsSensor Linking: -5% capacitor need for sensor dampeners and tracking links; level IV required forT2 dampeners (useful for Gallente ewar pilots)Signature Analysis: + 5% improved targeting speed per levelTarget Painting: -5% capacitor need for target painters per skill level; level IV required for T2target painters (useful for Minmatar ewar pilots and battleship pilots)Targeting: +1 extra target per skill level, up to the ship's maximum allowed number of targetslocked; level V required for logistics ship pilotsWeapon Disruption: -5% capacitor need for weapon disruptors per level; level IV required for T2tracking disruptors (useful for Amarr recon pilots)

Engineering:

Energy Grid Upgrades: -5% in CPU need of modules that require Energy Grid Upgrades skill(power diagnostic units, capacitor batteries) per levelEnergy Management: +5% to capacitor capacity per level; level IV required for use of MicroAuxiliary Power Core

Energy Systems Operation: -5% in capacitor recharge time per skill levelEngineering: +5% to ship's powergrid output per levelShield Management: +5% to shield capacity per skill levelShield Upgrades: -5% in shield upgrade powergrid needs (shield extenders, shield rechargers);level IV required for T2 shield passive hardenersTactical Shield Manipulation: skill at preventing damage from penetrating the shield, including theuse of shield hardeners and other advanced shield modules; level IV required for use of T2 shieldactive hardeners

Gunnery:

Controlled Bursts: -5% reduction in capacitor need of weapon turrets per skill level; do not train onMinmatar ship pilots as projectile weapons use no cap to start out withGunnery: +2% to weapon turrets' rate of fire per skill level; level V required for large turretsMotion Prediction: +5% per skill level to weapon turret tracking; level IV required for short-rangeT2 medium gunsRapid Firing: +4% bonus per skill level to weapon turret rate of fireSharpshooter: +5% to weapon turret optimal range per skill level; level IV required for long-rangeT2 medium gunsSmall Turret: +5% damage to damage per level; level V required for small T2 turretsSurgical Strike: +3% bonus per skill level to the damage of all weapon turretsWeapon Upgrades: -5% per skill level in the CPU needs of weapon turrets, launchers andsmartbombs; level V required for piloting HACs

Mechanic:

Mechanic: +5% to structure hit points per level; level V required to pilot assault frigatesHull Upgrades: +5% to armor hit points per level; level V required for T2 armor active hardenersand T2 EANMRemote Armor Repair System: -5% capacitor need for remote armor repair system modules perlevelRepair Systems

Missiles:

Missile Bombardment: +10% to all missiles' maximum flight time per level; level V required to fit abomb launcher on a stealth bomberMissile Launcher Operation: +2% to missile launcher rate of fire per skill level; level V requiredfor siege and cruise launchersMissile Projection: +10% to all missiles' maximum velocity per levelRapid Launch: +3% to missile launcher rate of fire per levelRockets: +5% bonus to rocket damage per level; level V required for T2 rockets

Optimizing Training

When training the skills, you want to get the most out of the time you spend training; this means that thebenefit you get from the skill should be significant for the time that you invested into it. For example,Controlled Bursts skill gives a 5% reduction in capacitor needs for turrets. The first level takes maybe 20minutes, the second perhaps an hour and a half. Training this skill to level II will result in 10% reductionin capacitor needs within just 2 hours of training. However, to go from level IV to level V of this skillwould take about 7-10 days, just to gain another 5% bonus to capacitor need reduction. In that same timeyou could have trained 3 or 4 more skills from level III to IV and gotten significantly more bonuses inother areas. So the moral of this story is: train level V skills only when you absolutely have to or havenothing else to train.

It is advisable to get all of your core skills to level 2 as fast as possible. Then you will have achieved10% bonuses in many areas: reduction is capacitor needs, 10% better tracking, 10% more missiledamage, and so on. Your pilot will be vastly improved in a very short period of time. Once you are donewith level II's, start moving these skills to level III and finally to level IV. As a general rule, train a skillto level II if you are going to occasionally use it, to level IV if you will often use it, and to level V if it isa "gate-opener" skill (prerequisite for another skill) or relates to something you want to heavily specializein.

As you work through your training you will pick up other skills here and there that you will need to trainto level II or III as prerequisites. When you pick those skills up, train them up quickly and then resumeyour training process.

If you follow these simple guidelines, you will be able to maximize abilities of your low skill pointcharacter. Just remember not to use your best implants unless you can set a jump clone because in PvP it'sonly a matter of time before you will get podded.

EVEMon

An indispensable tool for monitoring your skill training and planning your future in Eve is EVEMon. Thisprogram will let you compile a skill plan spanning over a year as well as optimize attributes for you skillplan in case you wish to respec your character.

The Hydra PrincipleIntroduction

A frigate fleet is not simply a blob of people in frigates. Blobs are disorganized, often poorly fitted messof ships that rely on sheer numbers to win. This is a mistake in judgment made by many and repeated bythose who have never flown in a proper fleet. The tech one frigate fleet properly configured would utterlydestroy a frigate blob of the same size. The key to learning how to build a fleet and not a blob is to studythe configuration of a frigate fleet.

In the PVP-BASIC class, our focus will be on getting you into PvP in the easiest way possible. Since youwill lose ships in PvP, the easiest way to get started at it is to fly a frigate. In Agony there are a number ofexperienced PvPers who actually prefer to PVP in smaller ships and not always T2. When you first startout learning how to PVP, you will be losing ships quite quickly. Even if you love that shiny battleship, itwill go a lot easier on both your wallet and your ego if you lose 300-500K ISK ships instead of 50-200million ISK ones.

Keep in mind that even if you're an expert PvP pilot in a frigate, that does not guarantee that you knowhow to PVP in battleships and vice versa. There are a lot of dramatic differences between flying the twoship classes. However, there is a lot of generic PVP knowledge that you will acquire flying frigate classships that you can later apply to PVP in bigger ship sizes.

This article will introduce you to selecting and fitting the right ship to meet PVP-BASIC classrequirements. Once you complete reading this article, you will not only know how to fit your own ship,but also how to fit out an entire fleet.

Selecting a Ship

For the purposes of PvP, T1 frigates can be divided into a five categories:

combat frigateselectronic warfare frigatesastrometric / scan probe frigatesfast tackler frigatesmining frigates

Combat frigates are designed to inflict damage and put out as much firepower as possible. These shipsare Punisher & Inquisitor for Amarr, Merlin & Kestrel for Caldari, Incursus & Tristan for Gallente, andRifter & Breacher for the Minmatar. These ships have both decent firepower for their size and severalmid slots where they can fit electronic warfare modules. There is no "Best" frigate among these; each hasits own strengths and weaknesses. The Kestrel frigate puts out comparatively an enormous amount ofdamage with its four launcher slots and bonuses, but then a Rifter is a much faster frigate that can be usedto catch up to fast targets. The Punisher is tough with good damage output, but its two mid slots aresomewhat limiting. This doesn't mean that this ship is not welcome in a Hydra fleet, but rather that itsEWAR module options are more limited.

The second category of T1 frigates is the electronic warfare (EWAR) frigates. These are Crucifier with abonus to tracking disruptors, Griffin with a bonus to ECM jammers, Maulus with a bonus to sensordampeners, and Vigil with a bonus to target painters. Vigils also receive a velocity bonus per level ofMinmatar frigate skill, and as such can be used in a fast tackler role alike Rifters.

The third category is "scan probe" or astrometric frigates. There are Heron (Caldari), Imicus (Gallente),Magnate (Amrr), and Probe (Minmatar). These frigates are useful as cheap scan platforms. If you everwant to practice some scan probing skills but do not have skills to fly a covert ops frigate, these are yourbest bet. They do not fare so well in comparison to other frigates in PVP, however.

Next up are the fast tackler frigates: Executioner (Amarr), Condor (Caldari), Atron (Gallente), andSlasher (Minmatar). These are the smallest and quickest of all frigates. With a base speed of over400m/s, they can best give a simulation of interceptors speeds when fitted with a microwarpdrive, whichwill make them reach speeds of about 2,500m/s. Keep in mind though that unlike interceptors these shipsdo not receive bonuses that reduce signature radius penalty of mwd.

And finally, we have the mining frigates: Tormentor (Amarr), Bantam (Caldari), Navitas (Gallente), andBurst (Minmatar). With mining and cargo bay bonuses, these four don't have a place in a combat frigatefleet.

For PVP-BASIC class you should pick the frigate that you are either most interested in trying out or havethe best skills for. If you have a lot of gun skills, don't go with a missile boat. If you have a lot of EWARskills you might want to choose an EWAR frigate.

Fitting Your Ship

Propulsion

Once you have purchased your ship, set up your propulsion first. Having an afterburner fitted to yourfrigate is an absolute must - do not fit a mwd. A propulsion module will give you the fastest orbitingvelocity that you can possibly achieve, thus ensuring improved viability for the ship. Some of you mightbe wondering why we don't permit students to fit microwarpdrives on PVP-BASIC and PVP-WOLFPACKS classes. The reason is that while mwds are great for covering long distances quickly, theywill light you up like a Christmas tree as far as the opponents firing at you will be concerned. A frigatewith the microwarp drive running will have the signature radius of 150 to 210 meters, meaning that youwill be as big as as battlecruiser while having the hit points of a frigate!!! If at this point the enemy gunsor missiles hit you, you will die very quickly! Keeping your signature radius small is critical in ensuringthe survivability of your frigate.

Another reason to fit an afterburner instead of a microwarpdrive is that often during 0.0 roams, the classfleet runs into stealth bombers. These stealth bombers will throw bombs at the fleet, which are an area ofeffect weapon that follows missile mechanics. Bombs immediately kill any frigates and destroyers thathave their microwarpdrives running. And when you hear "bomb! bomb!" on Venrilo it is difficult not topanic and hit your mwd in attempts to run away, only that any such attempt will turn you right into awreck. An afterburner on the other hand allows you to escape such a situation quickly, while maintainingas low a signature radius as possible.

As such, the only real reason a frigate or destroyer should fit a mwd is to achieve the initial tackle.However on the class you will be accompanied by Agony and alumni tacklers and interdictors inspecialised ships who will take care of the initial tackle.

Low Slots

Tanking is the process of absorbing or repairing damage from an enemy. In a frigate fleet we rely on ourspeed and low signature radius to keep us alive. If the enemy can successfully hit you, you will tank for aslong as you can sneeze, regardless of how much HP you've got. As well as this, many tanking modulessuch as armor plates and shield extenders actually have penalties to speed or signature radius, so you endup taking more damage!

For these reasons, we forget the conventional tanking modules and focus on the strengths of our ship class.Use your low slots to instead fit a better speed tank (utilize modules such as Overdrives and Nanofibers)or if you need them, fit engineering modules such as Micro Auxiliary Power Core (MAPC) that willhelp out with fittings for the rest of the ship. The only exception to this rule is the Damage Control(DCU). You might consider fitting one of these if you have an extra low slot because it almost doublesyour effective hit points, thus a damage control might give you a couple more seconds of survivability.Damage control is an active module so you will have to remember to activate it to receive its resistancebonuses. Don't fit armor repair modules; If your ship takes armor damage, there will usually be severalpilots in fleet with remote repairer modules who will help you out with this after the fight.

Note: your speed will be your primary form of tank so if you choose to upgrade anything then a namedafterburner and named speed-enhancing modules are a good starting point. Meta 1 or 2 named modules

are typically very cheap (sometimes cheaper than T1!) and will give you much better performance thannon-named T1 mods.

Mid Slots

A frigate fleet should be treated like the many-headed Hydra of the Greek mythology whereby cutting offthe monster's head was futile, since two more would simply take its place. A properly fitted hydra fleetcan easily turn a battleship into one large wreck while not losing any ships in process. By spreading outelectronic warfare evenly across the fleet, even if one or a few ships are lost, the effectiveness of entirefleet is not diminished. The key to setting up the Hydra Fleet lies in the mid slots.

Lets think of a 20 pilot fleet. If we require all of our pilots to equip a warp disruptor then we can get 20points of warp disruption on the opponent. For sure he won't be warping anywhere soon, or at least notuntil he kills every one of these 20 ships. However, we would be wasting some of these warp disruptorson this battleship because even a ship with a full load of warp core stabilizers (stabs) in the lows canhave maximum of 8 points of stabilization. Therefore, if your fleet can muster 9 warp disruption points,then it can pin down anyone. In reality, encountering a combat ship with stabs is very rare event in PVP,because stabs give some significant penalties that impair the PVP ability of ships. Most stabbed ships youwill encounter will carry only one stab. However, equipping your fleet with only 3-4 points is also a badidea because if you lose one or two of the pilots who have a point, then you are down to very few points.So what you want to do is hedge your bets. Make only 8-9 people in your fleet of 20 equip warpdisruptors. This will allow you to lose a few pilots and still be able to hold onto the target and otherpeople in fleet can use their extra mid slots for other items, such as stasis webifiers for example. Thepilots with the 8 stabs might be able to get away, but this is a such rare occurrence in PvP that it wontmatter (and if there is an interdictor flying with the fleet their stabs won't help them!).

Once you have determined how many warp disruptors you need, you will have some number of slots leftover for various other modules. The most interesting modules to put in these slots are:

stasis webifiers (webs)warp scramblers (scrams)tracking disruptors (tracks)remote sensor dampeners (damps)and electronic counter measure modules (jammers) - griffins only!

We apply the many headed hydra principle to these modules same as we applied it to the warp disruptorsin example above and equip our fleet accordingly. In order to understand how many of each you need, youwill have to understand a little about how EWAR works.

High Slots

After you have fitted your afterburner, propulsion enhancing or engineering modules, and mid-slotelectronic warfare modules, use the remainder of your frigate's grid and cpu to fit weapons. You have tomake sure that the weapons you fit will be able to do decent amount of damage at 6-10 km range (i.e. noblasters).

If you have a utility slot - an open high slot that cannot fit a turret or a missile launcher - fit it with remote

armor repairer if it will fit. You also have the option of fitting a nosferatu or energy neutralizer there,however, there are a few arguments against using these modules. Most targets will die before you can getwithin range where you will be able to activate a small nos or neut. In case of smartbombing battleshipsyou won't be able to get into this range at all. And as far as larger targets go, a new nos or neutralizerswon't have a significant effect on their cap reserves. Being able to remotely repair your fleet mates is amuch more useful function.

Rigging

Since small rigs are quite cheap, many pilots may choose to rig their ships, although this is not arequirement. If you choose to fit rigs, it is important to remember a few things:

Avoid fitting rigs which compromise your speed or signature radius (armor and shield rigsrespectively). While the extra HP may sound good, we rely on high speed and low signature radiusto avoid being hit in the first place, and you will actually take more damage with these rigs fitted.Fit to your ship's strengths. If you are using quite close ranged weapons, speed rigs are a great idea.If you are flying an electronic warfare frigate such as a crucifier, fitting rigs which enhance thestrength of your electronic warfare can be very effective.

Examples

For some example fits, as well as discussion on each ship type, see our Recommended Ship Setups forBASIC.

Testing Your Ship

After you have fitted all the modules on your ship, take it out to an asteroid belt to test it. Lock a rock andstart orbiting around it. You will notice that you might be orbiting at a slightly greater orbit distance thanyou specified. This is because your inertia will always be putting your ship a bit off its circular path.

You should choose an orbit that is at least 6km from the asteroid but no more than 10km from it. Thecloser to 6km you can get, the better. However, you don't want to get closer than 6km or you run the riskof being killed by a battleship with smart bombs equipped. It's best to stay out of this range and let thebattleship run out of capacitor and then destroy him. Pick your ammo accordingly.

Right click on the orbit button on selected item window and set the distance that will yield you 6-10kmorbit (see An Introduction to Tracking and Orbiting if you are not clear on how to do this). When you areclose to a target, you will be able to simply click on this button and your ship will get into its correctorbit.

You can also test out your ship on a friend or a corp mate. To test your ship with a friend who is not inyour corporation, just jet an item in a can and let him pick it up. Then when he does this, he will bemarked for aggression and should turn red on your overview. Shooting at him will give him rights to shootback at you. You do not need to do this with members of your corporation (careful! corporation does notmean alliance!). You can freely shoot at corp members forgoing the jet can.

Overview of EWAR Modules

EWAR modules are perhaps the most important asset of a large Hydra fleet of small ships. They can helpyou turn that scary battleship into a paperweight and make all the difference between winning the day andlosing the battle. The most important factor to consider here is proper balancing of the amount of EWARmodules. All EWAR modules have stacking penalties which means that after a certain number ofmodules being placed on the target, the benefit of each additional module becomes less and less.

Stacking penalty:

first module gives 100% of its effectsecond module - 87%third module - 57%fourth module - 28%fifth module - 10%sixth module - 3%

Several electronic warfare modules, such as sensor dampeners and tracking disruptors, can be used withscripts. Scripts can also be loaded into tracking computers, sensor boosters, and warp disruption fieldgenerators (these modules are used only on heavy interdictors). When loaded into a module, scripts workto modify the effects the module gives. For instance, a basic Sensor Booster I gives a 25% bonus to bothtargeting range and scan resolution. Using scripts, you can make one of those bonuses be 50% at theexpense of the other becoming 0%. A scan resolution script will make it give 50% bonus to scanresolution but no bonus to targeting range. A targeting range script will act the opposite way. In PVP youshould aim to bring both types of scripts for your modules (they are very cheap). In our Hydra fleetalways load your electronic warfare modules with scripts. This is because for reason of stacking it isbetter to have two tracking disruptors, for example, applied to target with opposing scripts loaded intothem rather than have two unscripted tracking disruptors applied.

Stasis Webifiers

Webifiers are essential to frigate fleets because they slow the opponent's sub-warp velocity. Withoutwebifiers, it would be impossible to kill many targets because they would merely power up to the gateand jump out before you could break their tank. Furthermore, some ships will move so fast that many ofyour fleet members are unable to catch up, allowing them to pick off the faster ships while others arearriving. Webs allow us to slow down those fast targets so that the rest of the fleet can close in for thekill. Webs have a range of 10km (a bit further if overloaded).

Webifiers work by applying a velocity modifier to the targeted ship's maximum velocity. For example, thePatterned Stasis Webifier module slows the target by 55% which means it applies the modifier 0.45 to themaximum velocity of the ship. So a single web thrown on a target going at 1000 m/sec will slow it downto 450 m/sec.

Stacking penalty does get applied to stasis webifiers. A single 55% web will slow the target going at1000 m/sec down to 450 m/sec. A second webifier applied to the target will be only 87% as effective.This means it is not actually a 55% web anymore but a (0.55 x 0.87) = 48% web. Additional webificationeffects will get applied to the target's remaining velocity of 450 m/sec. This means that it will now be

going at 450 x (1-0.48) = 234 m/sec.

A Vagabond heavy assault cruiser is able to reach speeds of over 4000 m/sec. A Vagabond webbed withthree patterned stasis webifiers will be doing: 4000 x (1-0.55) x (1-0.55x0.87) x (1-0.55x0.57) = 644m/sec - our afterburning frigates will easily be able to catch up to it at this speed.

Referring back to stacking penalties it is clear that there is really no need to apply more than 5 stasiswebifiers to a target, as the 6th module will give only 3% of its effect. Applying our hydra principle wewould want to have 7 or 8 webifiers in fleet.

Related skill: Propulsion Jamming, gives 5% reduction to capacitor need per skill level, level IV isrequired for use of T2 stasis webifiers.

Warp Disruptors and Scramblers

Warp disruptors and scramblers destabilize the warp core of target ship making it unable to execute awarp. Each warp disruptor destabilizes the warp core by 1 point. Each warp scrambler destabilizes it by2 points. Scramblers also have another important ability: they shut off microwarpdrives and make yourtarget unable to re-activate it. Since afterburners are still rare in PvP on ships larger than frigate size, thisleaves most targets dead in the water; that Vagabond that was flying at the speed of 4000 m/sec willsuddenly be going a mere 400 m/sec after being scrambled. Add webifiers to the mix, and he isn't goinganywhere!

Warp disruptors have active range of 20-24 km, which is about twice than that of warp scramblers.However, they consume much more capacitor than warp scramblers (running one warp disruptor isequivalent in capacitor usage to running one 1MN microwarpdrive) and do not deactivatemicrowarpdrives. However, the extra range is excellent for achieving a fast tackle. Interceptors receive abonus that reduces cap use of these modules enabling them to run cap stable setups with a warp disruptor.

Warp scramblers have an active range of about 8-10km (can be further if the module is overloaded).

Related skill: Propulsion Jamming, gives 5% reduction to capacitor need per skill level, level II givesused of T2 warp scramblers and disruptors.

Tracking Disruptors

Tracking disruptors have modifiers that apply to tracking speed and/or optimal range of the opponent'sturrets. This makes it much more difficult for opponent's guns to hit you. However, tracking disruptorsonly work to cut damage of ships that rely on turrets and do not affect missile ships or drone ships in theslightest.

Tracking disruptors are affected by stacking penalty just like stasis webifiers are. The more trackingdisruptors you put on a ship, the less of an the effect each additional tracking disruptor will have on thetarget ship. Having 5 tracking disruptors on a ship will mean that it probably can't hit a planet at pointblank range. Applying the hydra principle we would want 7 or 8 tracking disruptors in our fleet.

Note that the stacking penalty can be circumvented by having fleet members use different scripts intracking disruptors. Half the fleet can use optimal range scripts and half can use tracking disruption

scripts, as these effects do not stack with one another.

Related skills: Weapon Disruption, gives 5% reduction to capacitor need per skill level, level IV neededto use T2 tracking disruptors; Turret Destabilization, gives 5% bonus to effectiveness of trackingdisruptors per skill level; Long Distance Jamming, gives 10% bonus to optimal range per skill level;Frequency Modulation gives 10% bonus to falloff per skill level.

Remote Sensor Dampeners

Sensor dampeners make it more difficult for enemies to target you. Firstly, they apply a scan resolutionmodifier to lower the scan resolution of target ship; the lower the scan resolution, the longer it takes theship to target you. Secondly, they apply a maximum targeting range modified to your opponent. This willmake the target ship unable to lock you from a distance.

Sensor dampeners, just like tracking disruptors and stasis webifiers, are also subject to stackingpenalties. This means that having more than 5 damps applied to a target will have a very negligible effecton it (the 6th module will only apply 3% of its effects). This also means that you will not be able to cut atarget's targeting range beyond a certain range. All of the frigates in our Hydra fleet should be configuredto orbit at 6-10km, so they will be well within the locking range of great majority of ships even withmultiple range-cutting dampeners applied to them. The targeting range script is still useful however whenfighting against multiple targets, where one or more targets are sitting and firing from range (i.e. a sniperEagle, Cerberus, Muninn, or battleship). However frigates have targeting ranges of about 30-40km andwill not be able to lock any snipers from that distance.

For close range fights involving Hydra frigates the sensor resolution script is much more useful. If youhave 10 or 12 dampeners in a fleet, you are probably doing pretty well.

Related skills: Sensor Linking, gives 5% reduction to capacitor need per skill level, level IV needed touse T2 damps; Signal Suppression, gives 5% bonus to effectiveness of sensor dampeners per skill level;Long Distance Jamming, gives 10% bonus to optimal range per skill level; Frequency Modulation, gives10% bonus to falloff per skill level.

Target Painters

Target painters increase the signature radius of the target by applying a tag to the target that makes thetarget easier to track. These modules are most important when engaging small ships with larger ships.You can think of a target painter as making it easier to follow someone in the woods because they havebeen hit with a yellow ball from a paint ball gun. The increased signature radius means that guns targetedat the painted ship hit it more often; instead of glancing blows and misses, they will score perfect andexcellent shots more frequently. The target will also receive more damage from over-sized missiles beingfired at it. This increases the damage per second (DPS) output of the larger ships firing on the paintedsmaller target.

Also keep in mind that everyone firing on the target benefits from the effects of the target painter, not justyou. Experiments have shown that 5 target painters are usually sufficient so we would want about 8 in theoptimal fleet. However, target painters are nearly useless for a frigate or a destroyer fleet because smallturrets and launchers already have very good resolution and most of the targets we will be encountering

will be larger ship classes. For this reason, we advise students to not bring target painters to the PvP-BASIC class.

Electronic Countermeasure Modules (ECM)

ECM prevents your opponent from locking you at all and causes them to break any locks they haveestablished. These modules can literally turn a dangerous pilot into a spectator. However, ECM jammersare virtually worthless on ships that do not give bonuses to them. While you can fit ECM modules to anunbonused ship, it is generally not advised for this reason. One useful point to note is that unlike webs,tracks, and damps these modules do not suffer from a stacking penalty, so there is no upper limit to thenumber of ECM modules a fleet can make use of. Only one Tech 1 frigate has an ECM bonus: the CaldariGriffin.

There are two types of ECM modules in game:

multispectral jammers that jams all ships in game equallyracial jammers that work best against one race but poorly against three others

Each race in EVE has its own kind of locking sensors. Racial jammers hit one kind of sensor more thanthe others, while multi-spectral jammers hit all 4 sensor types equally. Following is a list of each race'ssensor types and the corresponding ECM jammer type.

Amarr - Radar - White Noise ECMCaldari - Gravimetric - Spatial Destabilizer ECMGallente - Magnetometric - Ion Field ECMMinmatar - Ladar - Phase Inverter ECM

Racial jammers have better optimal range than multispectral jammers. They also have lower fittingrequirement and consume less capacitor than multispecs. However multispecs are statistically better tobring to small scale fights where 1-6 enemy ships might be involved or where you have very few jammersavailable, while a rack of different kind of racial ECM modules does better in medium to large scalefights where there is a good chance that you will encounter ships from each race.

For PvP-BASIC, we prefer that students bring racial jammers rather than multispecs.

As was stated previously, ECM is not susceptible to stacking, however, it is a chance-based module,which means that unlike other EWAR modules it will not work 100% of the time within its optimal range.The calculation for chance to jam a sensor is fairly simple: the strength of the jammer for a particularsensor is divided by the strength of locking sensors of the target. For example, a jammer that has a strengthof 6 would have a 6/14 x 100% = 40% chance to jam a ship with a sensor strength of 14. Therefore, thestronger the jammer is, the higher the chance is that it will jam the ship. When ECM strength surpasseslocking strength of the target, the target will be permanently jammed.

ECM is especially powerful when combined with Sensor Dampeners loaded with scan resolution scripts.ECM will cause the target to drop lock, while sensor dampeners will prolong its re-locking time.

Because ECM chance based, you should not be overly reliant on it in PVP. Whenever it works, however,it certainly adds a nice surprise factor as well as considerably cuts the dps of the enemy ship.

For a more in-depth look at electronic warfare, including the calculations it involves, see our EWARGuide

Accounting for Losses

Inevitably, you will suffer losses. At some point it could be that your losses become a detriment to theconfiguration of your fleet. For example, if you lose 2/3 of your ships with stasis webifiers, you may findyourself not being able to slow down targets enough. Thankfully, by distributing your EWAR across thefleet as per the hydra principle, your fleet gains an element of graceful degradation, and becomingcrippled in one particular area is unlikely without losing a significant portion of the fleet.

However things happen, and should you find your fleet lacking in one or more areas there are possibleways to address this. The most simple solution is to have fleet members carry alternative mods in theircargo, so that they can dock and switch if needed. The second, cheaper option is to maintain a communal'weapons stash' somewhere near your area of operations where your fleet can stop and modules can behanded out where they are required.

Note that not all 0.0 space has stations, and not all of those stations are dockable. Conquerable stationsand outposts are unlikely to allow your to dock unless your corp has been set blue to the owner. It ispossible to use a carrier (or orca) to refit your fleet, however deploying either of these ships to support afrigate fleet is generally far too expensive to be practical.

In order for you to be able to easily rebalance the fleet, your pilots should train all the skills required tofit each of the EWAR modules that you can put in the mid slots, at least to minimum levels. This is reallynot that many skills to train up so it should not be a problem for any pilot who has been playing the gamefor a few weeks.

The Optimal Fleet and Smaller Fleets

Now that we have gone over all of the principles, lets put it together to figure out what the optimal size ofour fleet would be. We need the following modules in the fleet:

8 Warp Disruptors

4 Warp Scramblers

8 Stasis Webifiers

8 Tracking Disruptors

10 Dampeners

8 Painters

8 Racial Jammers (varying types)

This sums up to be 54 mid slots. Assuming 2 to 3 slots per ship, we need 18 to 27 pilots to form anoptimal fleet. In fact a frigate fleet of this size would pretty much blow anything out of space.

However, you don't always have 18 pilots available to fly with you, so sometimes you have to make dowith less. Also, you may not always have characters trained in ECM in your fleet to run the jammers. Inthis case you can make up for lack of ECM with additional sensor dampeners.

5 Warp Disruptors

2 Warp Scramblers

5 Stasis Webifiers

4 Tracking Disruptors

10 Dampeners

4 Painters

This is a grand total of 30 modules which means 10 to 14 pilots - a much easier number to manage and isquite workable in situations where you are fighting close to home and pilots who lost ships are able torefit and be back in the action quickly. This number of pilots could still destroy battleship or even a smallgang of T2 ships.

If your fleet is rather small, you should try to keep a balance of the modules and tailor it towards what youanticipate fighting. If you have just 5 pilots and intend to hunt interceptors then make sure you don't skiphaving enough scramblers and webifiers. If you intend on fighting battleships then you should aim to havesome ECM, dampeners, and tracking disruptors. If you are the gang leader, have your fleet members listout their mid slots (the offensive modules only) into gang chat and ask them to refit if needed before yougo out fighting. Also keep an eye on what you are losing either from people losing ships or leaving fleet.

You should generally be able to tell a pilot that just logged on what he should fit before he joins in yourgang.

If you follow these principles, ships will die fast at the hands of your frigate fleets and blobs of ships willdie even faster in the disorganized mess that they are in. In the process you will have loads of fun andinflict a lot of damage to the enemy.

Basic PvP MechanicsUnderstanding Characteristics of Your Ship and Weapons

Signature Radius

The signature radius of your ship can be looked up in its information window. At first glance this number,measured in metres, seems to simply give players an impression of how big each ship is. Howeverthere’s much more to it than that! The signature radius of a ship influences how much damage it takesfrom guns and missiles, how easy the ship is to scan out, and how quickly it can be locked.

Imagine trying to throw a sandwich at a Stop sign. Easy way to do it is face on, so you’re throwing itat the front of the sign; hard way would be throwing is side-on where the sign is only a few millimetersacross, and the largest target’s probably the post the sign is nailed to.

Now imagine trying to shoot a Tempest battleship. Tall and long, the Tempest should be much easier to hit‘side on’ than from the front as it has a much larger cross section when viewed sideways (drawing1 and 2 on diagram below). EVE does not work this way. The game sees all ships as spheres (clue lies interm 'radius'); as far as EVE is concerned your battleship is just a well-armed ball with a 400m radius asis shown on drawing 3 below.

1. 2. 3.

In EVE, it’s preferable to have a small signature radius. A larger ship 'catches' more damage incombat, is easier to scan probe down, are generally slower and less agile, and ships with a smallersignature radius quickly achieve target-locks on larger ships.

It is easy to see by comparing different ships that the signature radius is relative to the ship class. Frigatesand interceptors have inherently small signature radius while battleships and capital ships are much largerin comparison.

Base sizes of different ship classes assuming no other factors are affecting their sig. rad.:

Frigates T1: 30-42 metersInterceptors: 30-36 metersAssault Frigates: 33-39 metersDestroyers T1&T2: 75-80 metersCruisers T1&T2: 100-160 metersBattlecruisers T1&T2: 240-300 metersBattleships: 320-500 metersCarriers: 2,800-12,400 meters

Base sizes of drones:

Light combat drones: 25mMedium combat drones: 50m

Heavy combat drones and fighters: 100m

Factors that work to increase signature radius:

Shield RigsShield ExtendersMicrowarpdrives (only when turned on)Being painted with a Target PainterInertia Stabilizers

Factors that decrease signature radius:

Training “Shield Rigging†skill - only applicable to Shield RigsTraining “Interceptors†skill - only applicable to InterceptorsTraining "Electronic Attack Ships" skill - only applicable to Hyena EAFUsing Halo implantsUsing Skirmish Warfare links

Considering the lists above, we can see that increasing a ship's signature radius is generally easier thandecreasing it.

Signature Resolution

All guns in Eve have an ‘area of effect’ similar to that of a shotgun, or an artillery shell. Imagineshooting a tennis ball from 30 feet away with a shotgun – sure, the ball would get blown to pieces, butit would only have been hit by a few of the pieces. Most of the pieces would have spread out a little andmissed the tennis ball.

In Eve, it is easy to imagine this being the case with a blaster – after all, they spray out hot plasma andit is intuitive that it could spread. However even artillery shells in Eve have this ‘area of effect’,known as the Signature Resolution. One way to think of this is to think of the artillery shell as anexplosive charge. Similar to real life artillery, they don’t simply hit target like a bullet does. They hitthen explode. That explosion could be small or large, and on really big guns the explosion is really big.

Signature resolution of different turret sizes:

Small turrets - 40 metersMedium turrets - 125 metersLarge turrets - 400 metersCapital - 1000 meters

The Signature Resolution of a gun measures the size of this area of effect in the same way that theSignature Radius measures the size of a ship. The relationship between the two determines how much ofthe gun’s damage the ship will take (other factors contribute, too, though!).

Our tennis ball example above describes the situation of a “Really Big Gun†shooting a little ship.For example, a 1200mm Artillery Cannon I has a signature resolution of 400m, and a Cormorant destroyerhas a Signature Radius of only 90m. Therefore the Cormorant will only be subject to a small portion of

the damage that the gun is trying to deliver, as the gun’s total damage will be spread over a circlewith a 400m radius, and the destroyer is only 90m in size.

In the picture below, a turret with greater signature resolution is shooting at a Malediction interceptor.Out of 15 shots placed you can see that many will miss the ship. On the other hand a turret with lowersignature resolution shooting at a Caracal cruiser will be able to hit it many more times and potentially domore damage.

Explosion Radius & Velocity

The explosion radius is the missile’s equivalent to a gun’s signature resolution. In the same waythat a gun has an area of effect, so does a missile. A missile will hit for reduced damage if the explosionradius is greater than the ship's signature radius. For example, a torpedo with a large explosion radiuswill hit for greatly reduced damage on a frigate with a small signature radius. On the other hand, astandard missile will hit for full damage against a battleship.

Another factor that decreases damage delivered by missiles is the ship's velocity. If the target's velocity isgreater than the explosion velocity of the missile it will take reduced damage. This effect is combinedwith effects of signature radius on missile damage.

Scan Resolution

The length of time it takes for one ship to lock another is determined by the targeting ship’s scanresolution and the target's signature radius. The higher the scan resolution, the faster a ship will lock ontotargets; and the higher the signature radius of a ship, the faster other ships will lock onto it. This is why afrigate can lock a battleship in very little time, but a battleship will take ten times longer to lock a frigate.The length of lock time is very important if you are trying to catch someone.

Imagine you are attempting to use a satellite to find a vehicle lost in a forest. The two things that willmake it easier to find will be the resolution of the satellite’s camera, and the size of the vehicle – afire truck will be easier to find on a high quality picture than a motorbike on a low quality picture.

Sensor boosters improve scan resolution, allowing the ship lock other ships faster.Sensor dampeners decrease the target’s scan resolution, thus increasing its locking time.

Generally, Minmatar ships have the highest sensor resolution and lowest signature radius characteristicsthan ships of other races within the same class. This makes them be able to lock targets quicker than shipsof other races, while requiring longest time to get locked back. Caldari ships generally have the lowestsensor resolution in game. Gallente and Caldari ships have the biggest signature radii in game.

This table compares the locking times of a few common ships. These are rough numbers, using the rawship attributes without skills applied.

Sensor Strength

A ship’s sensor strength determines how difficult the ship is to jam with ECM and how easy it is tofind using scan probes. Generally speaking, Caldari ships have the highest sensor strength in game, whileMinmatar ships have the lowest sensor strength, making Minmatar ships slightly easier to jam and scandown than ships of other races.

The sensor strength and signature radius of a ship both determine how easy the ship is to find using scanprobes. The lower the sensor strength and the greater the signature radius, the easier the target is to scanout. For example, a rigged Vargur with only basic rigging skills will have a signature radius of 500m, andthe paltry sensor strength of 11. Its signal strength will be 500 divided by 11, which equals 45. Thismakes Vargurs incredibly easy to scan down. In contrast the Rook has a sensor strength of 32 and asignature radius of 173, meaning its signal strength is 5 making it much more difficult to get a 100% resulton.

Note: Other factors such as the distance from the probes to the target, whether the target is in dedspace,and the probing pilot’s skills also contribute to the signal strength returned on a scanner results list. A100% signal strength is required to warp to a probed target.

ECCM modules and sensor backup arrays can be fitted to ships to increase their sensor strength, makingthem both more difficult to jam and more difficult to scan down. ECCM are mid-slot active modules thatcome in omni as well as racial varieties. Backup arrays are low-slots passive module that come only inracial varieties. When fitting a racial ECCM or backup arrray, be sure to fit the correct one for your shiptype!

Amarr – Radar Caldari – Gravimetric Gallente – Magnetometric Minmatar - LADAR

Formulas

For the totally obsessed amongst you, here are the formulas behind the theories above. You do not need toknow this stuff!

According to Akita T, the damage formula for turrets is: z is the "To-Hit Chance", a number between0 (0%) and 1 (100%) x = random number between 0 and 1 (generated for each shot)

z = 0.5^{[Angular/ModifiedTracking]^2 +[(max(0,Range-Optimal))/Falloff]^2} where Angular =Transversal/Range, and ModifiedTracking = TurretTracking * TargetSig / GunSig

If {x<0.01} Then {quality = 3} else {quality = x + 0.5} If {x<z} Then {damage = quality x expectedbase damage} Else {missed shot}

In not so many words, what this means, is that : * DPS goes down a lot faster as chance to hit does *chance to hit is never 100% whenever any transversal is involved * within optimal, after sigadjustments, if "adjusted turret tracking" equals target's angular velocity, you only have a 50%chance to hit, and you deal a bit under 40% DPS overall * you can get hit in a fast, small ship by alarge gun with lousy tracking... it just has a very low chance to hit (but not zero)

According to Stafen, the damage formula for missiles is: Damage = Base_Damage xMIN(MIN(sig/Er,1) , (Ev/vel x sig/Er)^(K x ln(drf)))

Where sig = ship's signature radius vel = ship's velocity Er = Explosion Radius of missile Ev =Explosion Velocity of missile K ≈ 0.586 drf = damage reduction factor which changes according tomissile type

drf for T1 missile types: light = 2.8 rocket = 3.0 heavy = 3.2 heavy assault = 4.5 cruise = 4.5 torpedo= 5.0

According to Blazde, the time it takes for one ship to lock another is determined by: seconds =((40000 / ScanRes) / (asinh(SigRadius) ^ 2))

According to Trillian McMillan, the percent chance for ECM to work is: (ECM jamming strength forthe target's sensor type) / (target ship's sensor strength) x 100 Example: 6 point of radar jammingstrength / 20 sensor strength on Apocalypse x 100 = 30% chance to jam it on first cycle Multiple ECMformula (multiple modules/cycles): Chance_to_jam = {1-[(1-E1)*(1-E2)*...*(1-En)]}*100 With E1,E2... En being each of your jammers' chance to jam the ship. If all your jammers are equal,E1=E2=En, then this formula is simplified to: Chance_to_jam = {1-[(1-E)^n]}*100 n being yournumber of jammers on the target.

Tracking and OrbitingIntroduction

This page is intended to provide a brief overview, along with diagrams, of tracking, spiraling, andorbiting. Spiraling and orbiting are of special concern to small, fast ships that often get used to approachand tackle targets for a gang. Understanding the basics of tracking and how it relates to the way youapproach other ships and the way you orbit them will let you minimize the damage you receive, keepalive, and meanwhile put a point on your target or get within web/scrambler range.

For more detailed information on tracking, you can see our public article on the subject HERE.

Basics of Tracking

All turrets in game have this property called tracking. Here is a close-up picture of an Amarrdreadnought, Revelation, firing off its Giga Beam Lasers in all its glory. Imagine for a second that it is nottrying to kill a stationary POS, but instead it is trying to hit a moving target. To track the target's movementeach one of those Giga Beam Lasers will have to move around its axis, but because they are so big andunwieldy it will take them quite a bit of time to move a few degrees.

How fast each turret moves is called its tracking. Tracking is measured in radians per second (1 radian =57 degrees). The more radians a turret can cover per second, the greater the probability is that it will hit atarget. A turret with tracking of 0.05 rad/s will be able to track a moving target better than a turret withtracking of 0.003 rad/s, hence it will be able to place more hits. If turret places more hits, this increasesits damage output. Thus tracking affects how much damage a ship's turrets are able to do to a target.

Frigate-sized turrets rotate around their axes much faster than cruiser-sized turrets, which in turn rotatefaster than battleship-sized turrets, which in turn rotate faster than capital-sized turrets.

If you would like to see more on how tracking works, visit the Tracking 101 Visual Guide

Turret Comparison Table

Here is a table listing tracking ranges for T2 turrets of different types. Among short-range weaponsblasters in general have the highest tracking and pulses have the lowest tracking. Among long-rangeweapons railguns in general have the highest tracking and artillery has the lowest tracking.

Note: These numbers do not take into account player skills and ship fittings. Motion Prediction skill canboost these figures up by 25% and because the bonus of this skill is listed in percent it will also amplifythe difference between these tracking figures. Tracking computers can boost tracking by about 30%;tracking enhancers can boost it by approximately 9.5%.

Angular Velocity

Small fast ships can exploit the inability of larger-sized weapons to track well in order to reduce theirdamage output. They do this by keeping a high angular velocity with respect to target ship that is greaterthan target's tracking.

To explain angular velocity, first let's talk about 'transversal velocity'. Transversal velocity is thecomponent of the ship's velocity which is perpendicular to the target. In simple terms, if you looked fromtheir perspective your transversal velocity would be how fast you are moving across their field of view.So, if your ship is moving at 1km/s directly towards or away from your target, your transversal velocity is0. If you are moving at the same speed, but at 90 degrees to your target (i.e. in a perfect orbit), yourtransversal would be the full 1km/s.

The problem with using transversal velocity however, is that it doesn't scale with distance. A ship with atransversal 100m/s which is only 10m away is going to be very hard to track - even though he is movingslowly, he is effectively orbiting you very quickly. However, the same ship with a transversal of 100m/s10km away would be almost stationary from your perspective, and would be much easier to track.

To solve this problem, we instead use angular velocity (both angular and transversal are columnsavailable in your overview). Angular velocity is quite simply transversal velocity divided by distance tothe target (i.e. the radius of their orbit). This gives you a value in radians per second. Sound familiar?

Since both turret tracking and angular velocity are given in radians per second, tracking becomes fareasier to understand.

An Example

Allow me to present an example: if an Incursus orbits a Maller at velocity of 2000 meters/second at adistance of 2000 meters, the angular velocity of Incursus (transversal divided by distance) will equal 1.0radians/second. Now if the tracking of Maller's turrets is 0.03 radians/second, it will have significanttrouble placing hits on the frigate because frigate's angular velocity outpaces its tracking. In other words,the Incursus is orbiting the Maller faster than Maller's guns are able to turn.

If angular velocity of Incursus is greater than Maller's tracking, this does not mean that the Maller will notplace any hits on the Incursus at all. It will still be able to hit the frigate but rarely. Even a dreadnoughtfiring at an orbiting frigate still has some probability to hit it, but this chance is so small that for practicalpurposes we say that it is equal to zero. The greater the disparity between the two numbers, angularvelocity of your ship and tracking of turrets on target's ship, the smaller the probability is that it will hityou and the less damage you will receive.

Spiraling

So where does spiraling fit in, and how does it help?

Spiraling is the process of approaching a target while keeping your angular velocity as high as possible. Ifyour target is a turret ship and you approach straight towards it, your angular velocity will be 0 and youwill find yourself sitting in a wreck within the first few vollies. By approaching at more of an angle yougive yourself greater angular velocity, and the higher your angular speed is compared to the tracking of itsturrets, the more likely it is that you will survive the approach. When doing this, you will find your idealapproach path is in the shape of a spiral, hence the name.

You can see how you are doing by enabling the Angular Velocity column in your overview. In the picturebelow I am orbiting a gang of three battleships. I predict their tracking is probably in range of 0.03-0.07rad/s so I am doing very well against the Redeemer and the Nightmare. I am not doing so well against theAbaddon that is sitting at a bit of a distance. If Redeemer and Nightmare were instead cruisers armed withmedium-sized weapons I would be doing marginally ok as their tracking would probably be in range of0.10-0.18 rad/s.

Spiraling: How To

The nearer to the instructor you click, the lower your angular velocity will be with respect to him. Thecloser to 90 degree angle you click (as if you are entering a 50km orbit around the instructor) the higheryour angular velocity will be but also the longer it will take you to reach the instructor (your target). Soyou have to find a balance that gives you reasonably high angular velocity without going too far out ofyour way. In real PVP situations if you give your target too much time, it will simply warp away as youare trying to approach it. However if you hurry too much and choose a narrow angle approach, you canend up getting sniped down.

Once your ship is roughly level with the target, rotate your camera again and repeat the process. Once youhave approached 30km away from the target you have the option of switching to picking orbits from theright-click menu: 30km -> 20km -> 10km -> scram/web. It is advisable, however, that you continueapproaching the target piloting your ship manually for as long as possible. The navigating systems of shipsin EVE have a tendency of picking a random direction every time you change orbits via r-click menu. Thismeans that when you are orbiting a target at 20km and select a 10km orbit your ship can reverse direction180 degrees and your angular velocity will drop. At this point you may get hit and take a lot of damage.Thus it is advisable to guide your ship into correct orbiting distance manually for as long as possible. Toget better at manually directing your ship, practice the spiraling approach on a friend or any miner you canfind in a belt sitting still.

Things will happen quite fast, especially once you get close, so don't worry if you aren't 100% accurate.Once you are just outside your desired orbit range, you can click orbit and you're done! Your final pathshould look something like this:

Watch the angular velocity column in your overview. If you can keep it above about 0.15 you should beable to evade most damage from medium and large turrets.

When Spiraling Is Not Useful

Remember that while spiraling is a very useful tactic, there are some situations where it is not benecessary or even counterproductive. For example:

If the target is jammedIf the target is using missiles or dronesIf you are well outside the target's targeting rangeIf you are confident that you can get into orbit before the target is able to lock you (e.g. interceptor vsbattleship)

Missiles are self-guiding and missile launchers have no tracking. When tackling a missile ship, youshould aim to achieve as high a velocity (regular velocity, not transversal or angular) as you possibly can.Careful: this doesn't always mean that you should turn on your microwarpdrive, because a mwd willboost your signature radius 5x increasing the damage you take from oversized missiles. The fastest pathinto the tackling range of a missile ship is a straight line.

Orbiting

Once you have approached the target by spiraling down on it, you will need to set your ship into orbit otcontinue keeping up your angular velocity. In PVP-BASIC you should try to orbit the target somewhere inrange of 6-10km. In real PVP how close or far off you choose to orbit will depend on several factors,such as your and your target's tracking and optimal range, whether the target is potentially armed withwebifier and warp scrambler, and whether you need to get into your own web/scram range.

In order to maintain a full speed orbit around any entity, you need to consider the effect of inertia. Asyour ship accelerates in a straight line, it builds up inertia that resists the ship turning. The more inertiayou build up, the longer it takes you to turn. Since inertia is a function of (mass x velocity), you have toeither reduce velocity or mass to turn your ship faster. The faster you can turn your ship, the closer it canorbit to a target. If you put a microwarpdrive on a Thorax and tried to orbit an asteroid at 2000m, youwould go flying off into space because it couldn't turn fast enough. The Thorax would move in and out ofthe orbit in an elliptical rather than circular pattern that would consistently deteriorate. A frigate bearing amicrowarpdrive would have similar problems.

The main problem with an elliptical orbit is that it messes up your angular velocity. Instead of beingconstant, your angular velocity will go up and down depending on where you are along the ellipticalorbit. When it goes down, the enemy has a better chance to hit you. Furthermore, if you have set up yourguns for an optimal of 7km and then you move in and out of 7km in an elliptical orbit, your guns will notbe hitting for their optimal damage.

You should avoid an elliptical orbit and instead seek to maintain a stable, circular orbit around the targetwhile flying at a good speed. To do this you will have to either increase the agility of your ship ordecrease the speed of your ship. You can improve the agility of your ship through the training of EvasiveManeuvering and Spaceship Command skills as well as putting nanofibers or inertial stabilizers on yourship.

Setting Default Orbit

Sometimes you want orbiting range to be something other than defaults available from r-click menu(500m, 1000m, 2500m, and so on). You can change this distance via Selected Item window. Click on anycelestial object that is within 150km of your ship. Then right click on the orbit icon in Selected Itemwindow and pick "Set default orbit distance". Type in your desired orbit distance in meters, for example,12.5km as is show in picture below. Now if you approach another ship and click on the Orbit icon yourship will get into 12.5km orbit around it.

Electronic WarfareIntroduction

This article is intended to provide an in-depth look at all forms of electronic warfare, along with thecalculations required to predict their effects.

Warp Scramblers and Warp Disruptors

Warp scrambling prevents another ship from entering warp. This is the primary type of ewar used in anykind of pvp, because it allows you to prevent your target from escaping from an unfavorable situation - ifyou can't keep your target from running away, killing them becomes very difficult!

Methods of application:

The most common forms of warp disruption are the targeted modules. These come in three forms:

Warp Disruptors (known in voice comms as a 'point')- these provide 1 point of warp disruption at arange of 20km (t1 and named) or 24km (t2). Their sole effect is to prevent the target from enteringwarp.Warp Scramblers (known in voice comms as a 'scram')- these provide 2 points of warp disruption,ranging from 7.5km (t1) and 9km (t2), with named modules falling somewhere between the two. Themost notable difference however is that warp scramblers also disable the target's microwarpdrive,making them excellent for holding down fast targets.Warp Disruption Field Generator (with focused script) - by loading it's regular module with afocused warp disruption script, a heavy interdictor is able to replace it's bubble with a warpdisruption module of infinite strength. This can have a range of anything between 24km and 30kmdepending on the pilot's heavy interdictors skill level. This is the only form of targeted warpdisruption which affects super capitals.

Warp disruption can also be found in the form of bubbles. For more on bubbles, see the Bubbles andWarping article (PvP-BASIC article).

Working Mechanism:

With the exception of 'deep space transport' ships, all ship have a base warp core strength of 1. Eachwarp disruptor or scrambler activated on that ship deducts from that either 1 or 2 points respectively.Once this value is reduced to 0 or lower, the ship can't enter warp.

Bubbles follow a different mechanism, however that is outside the scope of this article.

Skills affecting:

Propulsion Jamming - 5% Reduction to capacitor need of scrambling modules per skill level. Anchoring -Reduces time to deploy anchorable bubbles.

Specialized ships:

Arazu/Lachesis - Gallente Recons, get 20% bonus to warp disruptor/scrambler range per reconlevel.Keres - Gallente EAF, gets a 10% bonus to disruptor/scrambler range and disruptor cap use perEAF level.Interceptors - All interceptors get a role bonus reducing cap use by 80%. The fleet interceptors(stiletto, malediction, ares, raptor) also get a 5% disruptor/scrambler range bonus per level.Interdictors & Heavy Interdictors - These ships are specialised in deploying warp bubbles (the

standard dictor drops a static bubble, while the heavy version generated a bubble which moves withthe ship). The heavy dictor can also use the focused warp disruption script.Proteus - Gallente strategic cruiser. Get's a 10% bonus per level to disruptor/scrambler range whenusing the 'friction extension processor' electronics subsystem.

Counters:

The counter to standard warp disruptior/scrambler modules is the Warp Core Stabilizers. Each WCSadds one additional point of warp core strength to the ship. Meaning that if a ship has one WCS fitted andno natural bonus to warp core strength, you will need 2 point of disruption to keep it from warping.

Deep space transport ships have a natural +2 to their warp core strength.

The only direct counter to bubbles is the interdiction nullifier subsystem for t3 cruisers, however, due tobubbles having limited range, a speedy ship configuration is an indirect counter.

Stasis Webifiers

Stasis webifiers quite simply decrease the speed of a the target ship.

Methods of application:

Stasis webifier modules ('web') are a midslot module, and the only common form of stasis webification.These have a range of 10km and reduce speed by between 50% (t1) and 60% (t2).

Webifying also comes in drone form. However the effect is very weak (especially when stackingpenalties are applied) and these drones only come in heavy size, meaning anything that the drone cancatch, probably doesn't need slowing down anyway.

Working Mechanism:

This is fairly simple. Each stasis webifier has a certain speed reduction amount.

So for a ship travelling at 1000m/s hit by a t2 webifier (60% reduction):

1000 * (1 - 0.6) = 400m/s

Note that like many forms of ewar, webifiers are affected by stacking penalties. Please refer to section 9of the guide for more info.

Also, the slowdown of the ship is not instant. It is gradual and depends on the mass and agility of thetarget ship. It is entirely possible for a webified ship to be carried back out of web range by its existingmomentum.

Skills affecting:

Propulsion Jamming - 5% Reduction to capacitor need per skill level.

Specialized ships:

While stasis webififers are common on all ships, it is the speciality of the minmatar t2 ewar ships:

Huginn, Rapier - Minmatar recons. Both get a massive bonus of 60% per recon ship level to stasiswebifier range.Hyena - Minmatar EAF. Gets a 20% bonus to webifier range per EAF level.Paladin, Kronos - Amarr and Gallente marauders, both receive a 10% bonus to webifier strength perbattleship level.Loki - Minmatar strategic cruiser. Gets a 30% bonus to web range per level when using the'immobility drivers' electronics subsystem.

Electronic Counter Measures (Target Jamming)

ECM is a form of chanced based ewar designed to disrupt a target's locking capability.

Methods of application:

The most common form of ECM is the targeted ECM jammers. When successful, these break all currentlocks which the target has established, and prevent it from locking again for 20 seconds. They come intwo forms:

Racial jammers - these are the most common form of jammer. While they can be used against anyship, their strength is much higher towards their specific racial sensor type. (For example, a t1minmatar jammer has a strength of 3 vs ladar, and 1 vs the other sensor types).Multispectral jammers - these have an even strength across all sensor types, higher than a racialjammer's 'off' race strength, but lower than it's specific racial strength. (For example, a t1multispectral jammer has a strength of 2 vs all sensor types). They also have significantly lowerrange than racial jammers.

Here is a small table on racial sensors and jammers (Race - Sensor Type - Jammer):

Caldari - Gravimetric - Spatial DestabilizerGallente - Magnetometric - Ion Field ProjectorMinmatar - LADAR - Phase InverterAmarr - RADAR - White Noise Generator

The less common module is the ECM Burst. This is an area of effect weapon with a relatively highjamming strength (6 for the t1 version). However, it only breaks locks and does not prevent re-locking.Note that only one ECM burst may be active at the same time, meaning that fitting more than one is fairlypointless.

Motherships (soon to be renamed supercarriers) can fit a specialised 'remote ECM burst' which has thesame effect, however it is much larger, more powerful, and is centred on a target ship rather than the user.

ECM can also be found in the form of:

Lockbreaker Bombs - This is a form of bomb launched by a stealth bomber, which upon detonationperforms essentially like a more powerful ECM burst.

Drones - ECM also comes in drone form, with light, medium and heavy variants which vary in speedand jamming strength. Since ECM is not affected by stacking penalties, ECM drones are the onlyform of ewar drone to have achieved mainstream popularity. Due to the reliance of ECM modules onthe ship's bonuses, ECM drones are the most effective form of ECM for non-bonused ships.

Working Mechanism:

Jamming is chance based. Every ship in eve has a characteristic known as sensor strength, which iscompared with the strength of the jammer vs their racial sensor strength.

This is calculated as follows:

Chance to jam = jam strength / sensor strength

In case of ECM bursts, a separate chance roll is performed for each ship in range.

The chance to jam a target with multiple jammers is a simple deduction of Bernoulli's formula:

Chance to jam = (1-(1-Jam strength/Sensor strength)^Number of jammers)

Where J is the jamming strength of your jammer, S the sensor strength of the target ship, n the number ofjammers and C the jamming chance in %.

Or to put it simply - the chance of each jammer failing, multiplied together, and subtraced from 1.

Jammers also have an optimal and a falloff range, please refer to section 8 on how to calculate the falloffmultiplier. Note that multiplying the strength of the jammer by the falloff multiplier is incorrect, becausethe checking for falloff and the checking for jamming chance are two separate events - you must multiplythe result from the chance calculation by the falloff multiplier to get an accurate answer.

Modules/Rigs affecting:

Modules:

Signal Distortion Amplifier - Lowslot module, 5% increase in jamming strength and optimal rangefor T1 version, 10% for T2.

Rigs:

Particle Dispersion Augmentor - 10% increase in jamming strength for T1 version, 15% for T2.Particle Dispersion Projector - 20% increase to optimal range for T1 version, 25% for T2.

Skills affecting:

Electronic Warfare - 5% Reduction to capacitor need per skill level.Signal Dispersion - 5% bonus to strength of all ECM jammers per skill level.Long Distance Jamming - 10% bonus to optimal range per skill level.Frequency Modulation - 10% bonus to falloff per skill level.

Specialized ships:

ECM is the realm of the caldari. The following ships get a bonus to ECM in some form:

Griffin - Frigate, gets 15% bonus to jammer strength and 10% bonus to Jammer capacitor need perlevel.Blackbird - Cruiser, gets 15% bonus to jammer strength and 20% bonus to Jammer optimal range perlevel.Scorpion - The only battleship in game truly dedicated to a form of EW, gets 15% bonus to Jammerstrength and 20% bonus to Jammer optimal range and ECM burst range per level (note - this is the

only ship to receive a bonus to ECM bursts).Kitsune - Caldari EAF, gets a 20% bonus to jammer strength and 10% reduction in cap use perfrigate level, and a 10% bonus to jammer range per EAF level.Rook, Falcon - Caldari recons, get 10% reduction to jammer capacitor use per caldari cruiser leveland 30% bonus to ECM Target Jammer strength per recon ship level.Tengu - Caldari strategic cruiser. Receives a 10% bonus to jammer strength per level when using the'rifling launcher pattern' offensive subsystem, and a 10% bonus to optimal range per level whenusing the 'obfuscation manifold' electronics subsystem.

Counters:

There is a direct counter available - ECCM, which gives a percentual increase to a ship's sensor strength,making it hard to jam it. Projected ECCM can also be used, which is a remote module with a higher effectthan local ECCM, but for obvious reasons will be ineffective if you are jammed yourself.

Example:

A Scorpion with lvl5 caldari BS, lvl4 Signal Dispersion and 5 T2 Multispectral Jammers jamming amegathron.

T2 Multispec base strength = 2.4With bonuses applied = 2.4*1.75(for BS 5)*1.2(for signal dispersion 4) = 5.04Megathron's sensor strength = 21

Chance of success using 1 jammer = 5.04/21 = 0.24 = 24% chance to jam.

Change of success using 5 jammers = 1-(1-0.24)^5 = 0.746 = 75% chance to jam.

Sensor Dampeners

Sensor dampening reduces a ship's scan resolution (affects targeting speed) and/or targeting range.

Methods of application:

Remote Sensor Dampeners ('damp') are a targeted midslot module which reduces both scan resolutionand targeting range by 15% (for t1). Can be loaded with scripts for scan resolution dampening (increasesscan res effect to 30%, removed targeting range effect) and targeting range dampening (increases targetingrange effect to 30%, removes scan res effect).

Sensor Dampening is also available on drones and come in three flavors, from small to heavy, howeverdue to heavy stacking penalties their effects are fairly limited, and they are rarely used.

Working Mechanism:

Each sensor dampener reduces a targets locking speed and/or range by a given percentage.

To calculate the Optimal range reduction for one dampener used against a target, the following formula isused:

This can be calculated quite simply as follows:

New scan res/targeting range = base scan res/targeting range * (1 - damp percentage).

Note that while this is simple as far as targeting range goes, locking time is not linear with scanresolution. For those interested in a complex formula, the calculation for lock time is as follows:

T = (40000/(M*X))/(asinh(Y)^2)

Where X = scan resolution of your ship with positive bonuses applied, Y = sig radius of the target, M thescan resolution reduction multiplier of the dampening module or drone and T the locking time.

Modules/Rigs affecting:

Rigs:

Inverted Signal Field Projector - 10% increase to effectiveness for T1 version, 25% for T2.Particle Dispersion Projector - 20% increase to optimal range for T1 version, 25% for T2.

Skills affecting:

Sensor Linking - 5% Reduction to capacitor need per skill level.Signal Suppression - 5% bonus to effectiveness of sensor dampeners per skill level.Long Distance Jamming - 10% bonus to optimal range per skill level.Frequency Modulation - 10% bonus to falloff per skill level.

Specialized ships:

While all ships can be effective with dampeners, the gallente have several ships which specialise in theiruse.

Maulus - Gallente Frigate, 5% bonus to damp effectiveness per level.Celestis - Gallente Cruiser, 5% bonus to damp effectiveness per level.Arazu, Lachesis - Gallente Recons, 5% bonus to damp effectiveness per cruiser level.Keres - Gallente EAF, 5% bonus to damp effectiveness and 10% reduction in damp capacitor useper frigate level.

Counters:

The direct counter to dampening are sensor boosters (as well as remote sensor boosters) and signalamplifiers, which increase your scan resolution and locking range.

Example 1:

Maulus with frigate 5 and signal suppression 4 and 2 tech 2 damps (targeting range script) vs a raven withlv 5 signature analysis and lv5 long range targeting.

T2 damp with script = 34% reduction in targeting range

With 25% ship bonus and 20% skill bonus = 51% reduction

Raven's base targeting range = 94km

Targeting range with 1 damp = 94 * (1 - 0.51) = 46km

Targeting range with 2 damps = 94 * (1 - 0.51) * (1 - 0.51 * 0.87) = 26km!

Example 2:

Maulus with frigate 5 and signal suppression 4 and 2 tech 2 damps (scan res script) vs a raven with lv 5signature analysis and lv5 long range targeting.

T2 damp with script = 34% reduction in scan resolution

With 25% ship bonus and 20% skill bonus = 51% reduction

Raven's base scan res = 106mm (i.e. 18 seconds to lock the maulus)

Scan res with 1 damp = 106 * (1 - 0.51) = 52mm (i.e. 37 seconds to lock the maulus)

Scan res with 2 damps = 94 * (1 - 0.51) * (1 - 0.51 * 0.87) = 29mm (i.e. 66 seconds to lock the maulus)!

From these examples, you can quite clearly see just how effective remote sensor dampeners are!

Tracking Disruptors

Tracking disruptors severely impair the effectiveness of turrets by heavily reducing their optimal rangeand/or tracking speed.

Methods of application:

Tracking disruptors ('track)' are targeted midslot modules. They reduce both tracking speed and optimalrange of the target ship by anything from 18% (t1) to 20% t2. Like remote sensor dampeners, thesemodules can be fitted with scripts which double one attribute in exchange for removing the other.

Like many other forms of ewar, tracking disruption is available via drones, however like dampeningdrones the stacking penalties and reduced effectiveness mean that they are rarely used.

Working Mechanism:

Each tracking disruptor reduces the tracking speed and/or the optimal & falloff ranges of turrets.

The effect can be calculated simply as follows:

New tracking speed/range = old tracking speed/range * (1 - tracking disruptor percentage).

Modules/Rigs affecting:

Rigs:

Tracking Diagnostic Subroutines - 10% increase to effectiveness for T1 version, 15% for T2.Particle Dispersion Projector - 20% increase to optimal range for T1 version, 25% for T2.

Skills affecting:

Weapon Disruption - 5% Reduction to capacitor need per skill level.Turret Destabilization - 5% bonus to effectiveness of tracking disruptors per skill level.Long Distance Jamming - 10% bonus to optimal range per skill level.Frequency Modulation - 10% bonus to falloff per skill level.

Specialized ships:

While tracking disruptors can be effective any any ship, it is amarr ships, which receive bonuses to them:

Crucifier - Amarr Frigate, 5% bonus to tracking disruptor effectiveness per level.Arbitrator - Amarr Cruiser, 5% bonus to tracking disruptor effectiveness per level.Sentinel - Amarr EAF, 5% bonus to tracking disruptor effectiveness per frigate level.Curse/Pilgrim - Amarr Recons, 5% bonus to tracking disruptor effectiveness per cruiser level.

Counters:

The direct counter to tracking disruptors are tracking computers and tracking enhancers, as well astracking links (the remote equivalent of the tracking computer)

Example 1:

Crucifier with frigate lv5 and turret destabilisation lv4 using 2 tech 2 tracking disruptors (range script) vsan Armageddon with sharpshooter & trajectory analysis lv 5 using mega pulse laser iis and scorch ammo.

T2 track with optimal script = 40% reduction in turret optimal, 40% reduction in turret falloff

With 25% ship bonus and 20% skill bonus = 60% reduction in turret optimal, 60% reduction in turret falloff

Base Optimal of Acpoc's megapulse iis = 45kmBase Falloff of Apoc's megapulse iis = 10km

Optimal range with 1 damp = 45 * (1 - 0.6) = 18kmFalloff with 1 damp = 10 * (1 - 0.6) = 4km

Optimal range with 2 damps = 45 * (1 - 0.6) * (1 - 0.6 * 0.87) = 8.6km!Falloff with 2 damps = 10 * (1 - 0.6) * (1 - 0.6 * 0.87) = 2km!

Example 2:

Crucifier with frigate lv5 and turret destabilisation lv4 using 2 tech 2 tracking disruptors (tracking speedscript) vs a Megathron with motion prediction lv 5 using electron blaster cannon iis and antimatter ammo.

T2 track with tracking speed script = 40% reduction in tracking speed

With 25% ship bonus and 20% skill bonus = 60% reduction in tracking speed

Base tracking speed of Acpoc's megapulse iis = 0.086

Tracking speed with 1 damp = 0.032 * (1 - 0.6) = 0.034

Tracking speed with 2 damps = 0.032 * (1 - 0.6) * (1 - 0.6 * 0.87) = 0.018!

To put this in perspective, here's a graph showing the damage output of this megathron tracking thecrucifier with a transversal velocity of only 35m/s (10% it's non-afterburning speed):

As you can see, the mega goes from being a serious threat, to being a paperweight at the hands of a singletech 1 frigate.

More tracking info can be found Here: http://www.agony-unleashed.com/wiki/index.php?title=Tracking

Target Painters

Target Painting increases the signature size of the target, making it easier to hit, and increasing friendlylocking speed against the target.

Methods of application:

Target Painters 'paint' are midslot modules, which increase the target's singature radius by between 25%(t1) and 30% (t2).

Working Mechanism:

The working mechanism of target painters is fairly simple.

Modified signature radius = old signature radius * (1 + target painter percentage)

Modules/Rigs affecting:

Rigs:

Particle Dispersion Projector - 20% increase to optimal range for T1 version, 25% for T2.

Skills affecting:

Target Painting - 5% Reduction to capacitor need per skill level.Signature Focusing - 5% bonus to effectiveness of target painters per skill level.Long Distance Jamming - 10% bonus to optimal range per skill level.Frequency Modulation - 10% bonus to falloff per skill level.

Specialized ships:

While target painters are effective on any ship, it is mainly minmatar ships which receive a bonus to them:

Vigil - Minmatar Frigate, 5% bonus to target painter effectiveness per level.Bellicose - Minmatar ruiser, 7.5% bonus to target painter effectiveness per level.Hyena - Minmatar EAF, 7.5% bonus to target painter effectiveness per frigate level.Huginn/Rapier - Minmatar Recons, 7.5% bonus to target painter effectiveness per cruiser level.Vargur/Golem - Minmatar and caldari marauders, both receive a 7.5% bonus to target paintereffectiveness per marauders level.

Counters:

None

Example:

Let's try to illustrate why target painting is sometimes useful. A raven shoots a caracal with a torpedo.

A torpedo has an explosion radius of 400m.

A caracal has a signature radius of 145m.

Due to how missiles work, the torpedo does: 145/400 * 100% = 36.25% of it's normal damage.

If our torpedo had a damage output of 500, it would now only do 181.25 damage against the caracal.

Now, let's assume the raven is using two t2 target painters without any advanced skills on the caracal.

Signature radius bonus from one T2 target painter: 30%Signature radius of Caracal with two target painters applied: 145m*(1+0.3)*(1+0.3*0.87) ~ 237.7m

Torpedo damage with two painters: 237.7/400 * 100% = 59.425% of normal damage.

If our torpedo had a damage output of 500, it would do ~ 297.1 damage after the painters have beenapplied, which is about 64% more damage than without the painters.

Of course, signature radius affects other things such as locking speed, turret tracking etc.

Capacitor Warfare

Cap draining with Nosferatus or Neutralizers reduces your targets cap and in some cases adds it to yourown.

Methods of application:

Energy Neutralisers ('neut') - a high slot module which expends your own capacitor to drain a largeramount of your opponent's capacitor.Energy Vampires AKA Nosferatu ('nos') - a high slot module which drains your opponent's cap andadds it to yours. These drain a small amount than neutralisers, and will not have any effect unless theopponents % cap remaining is greater than your own.Drones - There are neutralizing drones available in various sizes, but due to low neutralising amountthese are rarely used.Void Bombs - These are a form of bomb used by stealth bombers, which neutralises a large amountof cap from all ships within its area of effect.

Working Mechanism:

The mechanic for these is simple, each of them have a cycle time. Every cycle time seconds the capamount is drained from the enemy.

There is a major difference between NOS and neuts however:

In case of NOS, the cap drained is added to your own, but only as long as you have less cap (bypercentage) than the ship you are draining cap from. Meaning that once you have (percentually) more capthan the target ship, no capacitor is drained from it anymore.

In the case of neuts you sacrifice a certain amount of energy but get a much bigger effect on the targetscapacitor and it also removes energy from their capacitor when you have more energy than they do.

For efficient capacitor warfare it is smart to combine neutralizers and nosferatus.

Modules/rigs affecting:

Rigs:

Egress Port Maximiser - 15% reduction in cap use for t1, 20% for t2.

Also, one should mention the existance of Talisman pirate implants.

These implants reduce the cycle time of your Nosferatu and Neutralizer modules.

According to Entity's Pirate Implants FAQ a lowgrade set will result in a 26.94% reduction and ahighgrade set in a 38.12% reduction of module cycle time.

Skills affecting:

Energy Emission Systems - Decreases cap usage amount by 5% per level.

Specialized ships:

While cap warfare can be effective on all ships, some amarr ships tend to get a particularly hefty bonus tothem:

Curse - Amarr recon, gets 20% bonus to nos/neut amount and 40% bonus to nos/neut range per reconskill level.Pilgrim - Amarr recon, gets 20% bonus to nos/neut amount per recon skill level.Sentinel - Amarr EAF, gets a 20% bonus to nos/neut amount per frigate level, and a 40% bonus tonos/neut range per EAF level.Legion - Amarr strategic cruiser, gets a 10% bonus to nos/neut amount per level when using the'Energy Parasitic Complex' electronics subsystem.

Counters:

There are no direct counters to cap warfare, however there are two viable indirect methods of counteringit.

Using a cap booster to instantly replenish lost cap.Using a nosferatu of your own to drain cap back in your direction.

EWAR and Falloff

Many of the EW modules have a falloff range.

Like guns (if tracking/sig radius is ignored), a module has a 100% chance to hit from 0km to it's optimalrange. At optimal+falloff the chance to hit drops to 50% and at optimal +2xfalloff it is 0%. This meansthat at optimal+falloff there is a 50% chance that the module will fail and not do anything.

To determine the chance of success in falloff range, we use the following formula:

C = 0.5^((R-O)/F)^2)

Where R is the range from you to the target, O the optimal range of the module, F the falloff range of themodule and C the chance of success.

As a result, you will get a multiplier. This is a chance multiplier. In case of jammers, just multiply thecalculated chance by it. In case of other modules, this will simply show you the chances of the modulesucceeding at a given range.

Stacking Penalties

Many of the EW modules are stacking penalized (essentially all the percentage based modules, e.g. webs,damps, tracks).

So if calculating the effect multiplier with multiple modules, you need to keep the stacking penalty inmind.

For calculating the multiplier we use the general stacking formula:

M = M1*S1*M2*S2*...*Mn*Sn

Where M(1..n) are the effect multipliers of module n and S(1..n) are stacking penalty multipliers formodule n. The modifiers for the first four modules are as follows:

* Multiplier for the first module, S(1) = 1* Second module, S(2) = 0.8708860* Third module, S(3) = 0.5705831* Fourth module, S(4) = 0.2829552

The formula to calculate the stacking penalty for the nth module is:

S(n) = 0.5^[((n-1) / 2.22292081) ^2]

Where n is the number of the module modifying the same attribute and S the stacking multiplier applied tothat module.

Also keep in mind, that you need to sort the modules according to their strength in descending order.Meaning if you have 3 modules with different strengths, then the strongest module will suffer no stackingpenalty and the weakest module will suffer the stacking penalty for the third module.

For this reason, it is generally considered ineffective to have more than 3 modules stacking on the sameattribute (in most cases the fourth module can generally be replaced by something more useful).

Stacking & Scripts

One useful workaround in large fleets is assigning scripts across the fleet so that half are using one scriptand half are using the other for a given module. For example, instead of having 6 unscripted damps (inwhich case the 4th has a very low effectiveness, and 5 and 6 are almost useless), you can have 3 dampswith range script, and 3 damps with scan resolution script, and never have more than 3 modules stackingon the same attribute.

Other References

ECM - Electronic Counter MeasuresECCM - Electronic Counter Counter MeasuresEWAR Certification

Bubbles and WarpingIntroduction

The purpose of this article is to explain the basics of warping, warp core stabilizers (WCS) and warpdisruption fields (Bubbles) for new players or students that have not ventured into 0.0 space. This articleis intended to be a primer, rather than a definitive guide to all warp disruption mechanics, providingenough information to de-mystify the subject.

Warping Basics

There are three requirements to enter warp: Speed, Direction, and Capacitor.

Speed: In order to enter warp, your ships must accelerate to 75% of its sub-warp speed. On the ship'sspeedometer (beneath the capacitor display) there are three small notches indicating 25%, 50% and 75%of maximum speed. For the purposes of warping, 'maximum speed' includes the effects of all propulsionmodifiers, including microwarpdrive, afterburner, overdrive, nanofiber, and rig bonuses as well as stasiswebifier penalties. MWD's and AB's do NOT help you enter warp faster, but getting webbed often does,as it lowers your sub-warp speed making it easier to achieve 75% of it.

Direction: In order to warp to an object your ship must turn to a heading within 5 degrees of thedestination. Until you are aligned, your ship will not enter warp even if moving above the 75% speedrequirement. A potential method of preventing a ship from warping is to continuously bump the ship out ofalignment. This can be practiced by small agile ships against larger slower targets (i.e. a HAC against abattleship).

Note: If your ship is not moving at all, the time to turn towards the destination is nil. Your ship simplyaccelerates in the direction you attempt to warp in. Hence the time to enter warp is only the time ittakes to accelerate to 75% of max velocity. The way your ship model is facing is irrelevant and has noeffect on how long it takes your ship to align towards a destination. This is because EVE doesn't quitework like real life and treats your ship as a symmetric ball that can be easily pushed in any direction,no matter which direction the ship model faces on your screen (i.e. there is no such thing as passivealignment).

Capacitor: In order to enter warp, a ship must have some capacitor left. Any amount above zero will getyou into warp. However, to reach your destination, especially if its far away, you may need a significantamount of capacitor (this is dependent on skills and ship size). If you don't have enough, you'll enter warpbut only travel part of the distance.

Note: By purposely draining capacitor, a scout can warp part way to get within scan range of a distantgate. This way he or she can check it out while simultaneously avoiding getting into anycamps/bubbles at the gate.

In summary: The time it takes to enter warp is determined by the time it takes to turn to a heading within5 degrees of the destination plus the time it takes to accelerate to 75% of its sub-warp speed.

Disruptors, Scramblers and Warp Core Stabilizers (WCS)

Almost all ships have a base warp core strength of 1. If their warp core strength ever drops below 1, theship cannot enter warp. There are three modules that alter a ships warp core strength.

Warp disruptor: The warp disruptor, also called a point, is an offensive module that reduces a target'swarp core strength by 1 point. This single warp disruption point is enough to prevent most ships fromentering warp. Tech 1 warp distuptor has range of 20 km, tech 2 hits a little bit further - to 24 km. Beaware that there are several ships in game that receive a bonus to range of warp disruptors andscramblers. These ships include several interceptors, Gallente recon ships and electronic attack frigate.When you successfully apply a warp disruptor on a target, it is appropriate to call "point on <target>"over Ventrilo.

Warp Scrambler: The warp scrambler, also called a scram, is similar to warp disruptor in that it canalso destabilize the warp core of a target and prevent it from warping. Warp scramblers have a range ofabout 8-10km and reduce a target's warp core strength by 2 points. They also have an additionalfunctionality - they can disable microwarpdrives. Disabling a ship's microwarpdrive is often essential inpreventing that ship from flying away to escape. The difficulty with scrams is their short range.Approaching to 8-10km takes time and it also puts you within the scram and web range of your target.Again, be aware that several interceptors and Gallente recon ships as well as EAF get ship bonuses toscram range. When you successfully apply a warp scrambler on a target, its appropriate to call "scram on<target>" over voice comms.

Warp Core Stabilizers: The counter-measure to warp disruptors and scramblers are warp corestabilizers, also known as stabs or WCSs. Every WCS you fit to your ship increases your warp corestrength by one. As such, if you have 2 WCS on your ship, your effective warp core strength would be 1base + 1 WCS + 1 WCS = 3 in total. To prevent you from entering warp, it would take three warpdisruptors or two scramblers.

Note: Transport ships (Impel, Bustard, Occator, and Mastodon) and Skiff exhumer have a base warpcore strength of 3, enabling them to resist 2 points of warp disruption. The Blockade Runner ship class(Viator, Crane, Prowler, and Prorator) do not receive this bonus, but instead receive a bonus to allowthem to fit Covops Cloak II and thus warp while cloaked.

Heavy Interdictors (HICs)

Heavy Interdictors, the scourge (or heros - depending on your perspective!) of low-sec, are commonlyreferred to as HICs. Aside from their ability to carry a bubble about with them (see below), HICs can befitted with an 'infinite point' warp disruptor, rendering any number of WCS useless. Combined with fastlocking times, a HIC is capable of stopping any ship, including super-capitals, from entering warp.

Bubbles

Bubbles are a cornerstone element of 0.0 warfare. A bubble is the common name for a warp disruptionfield, which is seen as a large shiny sphere of between 5km (t1 small) and 40km (t2 large) in radius.There are several devices and ships that can create bubbles, but the bubbles themselves have mostlyidentical attributes regardless of the type. Bubbles perform two functions: First, ships cannot initiate warpif they are inside the bubble. Second, ships warping to objects near bubbles can be 'sucked' away fromtheir intended destination (a gate for example) and into the bubble. These attributes are used to causeconfusion and delay a victim's ability to escape by warping away, allowing the aggressor the timerequired to destroy the trapped ships.

In order for a bubble to catch a ship by pulling it out of warp, the following criteria must be met:

The bubble must have been deployed before the ship initiated warp.The bubble must be aligned with the point the ship is warping to. For example, if a ship is warpingfrom one gate to another, in order to get caught by a bubble at the destination gate, that bubble needsto be lined up so a straight line drawn between the two gates would also pass through the bubble.The bubble needs to be on grid with the celestial, bookmark, can, wreck, or fleet member youwarped to.

Important: These mechanics are subject to change. The mechanics have been changed a number oftimes in the past and may change again in the future.

For these reasons, a common trap is to locate a bubble around 50-70km in front of, or behind a gate -ensuring that anyone who warps to the gate at any distance will be pulled into the bubble. The maindifference for placing the bubble behind the gate instead of in front is that the victim will then need to turnaround, as well as 'drive' back to the gate to escape. (See picture below.)

Types of Bubble

Mobile Warp Disruptors

Mobile warp disruptors need to be anchored in space in order to activate. They can be carried in anyship's hold (assuming there's space - they are quite large) to the deployment location and recovered againfor later use. They require varying levels of "Anchoring" and "Propulsion Jamming" skills to operate.They are quite hardy and take some significant effort to kill - but can be shot down by an enemy with timeand willpower.

The effective range of small mobile warp disrupters is too short to be placed directly on a gate andcapture pilots entering a system. For this reason they are typically placed in front of or behind gates tocatch ships warping in.

Large mobile warp disrupters are often deployed centred on a jump gate so when a victim arrives in thesystem through the bubbled gate it must decloak inside the bubble. The ship won't be able to warp awayuntil it has powered out of the bubble in the direction of a suitable warp destination, allowing time for thehostile forces to get warp disruptors and webs locked and activated. This is a classic form of gate camp.

Heavy Interdictors & Warp Disruption Field Generators

Heavy Interdictors (Onyx, Phobos, Broadsword and Devoter) can equip a Warp Disruption FieldGenerator. This clever device is a high-slot module which generates a warp disruption field around theship without having to anchor anything. The bubble has a base radius of 16km for the T1 variant, or19.2km for the T2; this range increases by 5% with each level of the Heavy Interdictor skill trained. Likeother bubbles, it cannot be deployed in Empire space. Activating the warp disruption field has someunusual effects on the HIC. It reduces the ship's mass making it very agile, drastically reduces theMicrowarp Drive and Afterburner speed bonus and prevents the Heavy Interdictor from receiving anyremote support from his gang mates.

Interdictors & Warp Disruption Probes

The 'regular' interdictor is a tech 2 destroyer capable of fitting an Interdiction Sphere Launcher, which isa device used to deploy Warp Disruption Probes. When fired, these probes immediately create a warpdisruption field with a 20km radius. The probes have a life of only two minutes, after which they explodewith a distinctive pop. Training the Interdictor skill to higher levels allows the pilot to deploy probes inrapid succession, known as 'rolling bubbles', to continuously catch victims. The probe remains wherever

it was deployed, as opposed to the Heavy Interdictor's warp field that is generated by a module on theship itself. Regular interdictors have significant points of differentiation to heavy interdictors and bothhave distinctive useful roles on the battlefield.

Basic Evasion Techniques

Detection

The best way to deal with a bubble is to know its location before you encounter it. This means scoutingvaluable cargo, or slow ships, using ships that are capable of escaping should they go through a jump gateand find themselves in a bubble. The Covops frigates are the masters of this art. Using bookmarks to warpto a location on grid with a destination gate, but 200 to 300 kilometres away from the gate (and out ofalignment from the previous gate) is another essential technique to avoiding being caught in a bubblewhen travelling. Of course this requires that the pilot already has bookmarks!

Finally, when travelling in unfamiliar or unbookmarked space, scanning gates before warping towardsthem allows pilots to determine whether there's a bubble on the gate. This is especially worth doing ifthere's a number of others in Local.

Escape

When warping into a bubble, a ship's warp is stopped at the edge of the bubble and its momentum carriesit slightly inside. Light ships with low momentum won't penetrate far, and won't have far to fly in order tomove back out of the warp disruption field. An alert interceptor pilot will be able to power out of abubble and escape quickly, so long as he's quicker than the enemy's Energy Neutralizer or Stasis Webequipped ships. Larger ships will fall deeper into the bubble, take longer to turn and accelerate, and maybe required to attempt to fight their way out. If the bubble is centred on the gate, it may be possible topower to the gate and jump through - but Detection and avoidance is far more important in ships of cruisersize and larger.

When jumping through a gate into a bubble, similar options apply. The size of the bubble will determinewhether the quickest exit is outwards, or back towards the gate. The class of ship being flown dictates theoptions available to a large degree. Cloaks are certainly an option, although larger ships are very slowwhen cloaked and even a poorly skilled gang will be able to decloak a battleship that's caught in abubble. Ships that can travel at speed while cloaked (Recon, Stealth Bombers and Covops) are far morelikely to affect an escape, especially if fitted with an afterburner or microwarp drive - which can beengaged for a single cycle immediately before cloaking.

Terminology

Bubble: Friendly name for less than friendly warp disruption field.Bubble Up: Usually used by HICs,means the bubble's activated. Bubble down means deactivated.Bubblecamp: Gate camp, or station camp,or any bunch of ships using a bubble to catch prey.Bubbletrap: A bubble set up to trap people, usually bypulling them away from their intended warp destination.Caught in a Bubble: Oops, I didn't scout this gateout first, now I'm about to get killed.Dictor: Interdictor (Sabre, Flycatcher, Heretic, Eris)Hictor, HIC:Heavy Interdictor (Onyx, Broadsword, Phobos, Devoter)Pop a bubble: (Usually from an Interdictor) -Fire a warp disruption probe to create a bubble.Holy [CENSORED] I'm [CENSORED][CENSORED] by a [CENSORED]ing bubble!!!: Typical victim's reaction.

ECMECM (Electronic Counter Measures)

Introduction

ECM disables targeting sensors making a ship unable to lock onto anything. When applied to a target eachECM module has a certain percent chance to jam its sensors. The % chance to jam a target is equal tojamming strength of ECM module divided by sensor strength of target ship x 100%. For example, if atarget has sensor strength of 18 and ECM module has jamming strength of 6 the chance that this one ECMmodule will jam the target on first cycle is 6/18x100% = 33.3%. It is important to remember that ECM ischance based so sometimes you will will get very lucky and succeed in all of your jamming attempts andsometimes you will fail to jam anything. ECM modules do not stack, meaning that second and thirdmodules applied to same target have the same percent chance of jamming it as the first module applied. Incase of successful jam, the duration of the effect is 20 seconds which is one ECM module cycle.

From this follows that the higher locking strength of target ship, the more difficult it is to jam its lockingsensors. Of all the ships present in game capital ships have the highest sensor strength, and some -motherships and titans - are completely immune to effects of ECM. Among the sub-capital ships,battleships and recon ships have the highest sensor strengths. Frigates have the lowest sensor strengths,with the exception of T1 e-war frigs - these have sensor strength comparable to that of T2 cruisers. Withinthe same class of ships, Caldari ships have highest sensor strength followed by Gallente, then Amarr, thenMinmatar whose ships are the easiest to jam in game.

Locking Sensor Strengths of Various Ship Types

ECM: Modules and Rigs

Similar to other electronic warfare modules, ECM jammers have optimal and falloff ranges. These workexactly the same way as optimal and falloff ranges of turrets. Within optimal range your jammers willalways hit. However whether the hit will be successful or not is determined randomly and based on yourpercent chance to jam. When you move out of optimal range of your ECM modules your chances of gettinga hit will decrease, further decreasing your probability to jam anything. For example, if your jammershave optimal of 50km and falloff of 30km this means that within 50km you will always get a hit and at80km you will get 50% chance of a hit. If you have 38% chance of jamming a ship this means that sittingat 80km your ECM modules will hit only half the time and out of this half only 38% will be successfulhits.

Different race's ships in EVE have four different locking sensor types: Amarr use Radar sensors,Minmatar - Ladar, Caldri - Gravimetric, Gallente - Magnetometric. Multispectral jammers, aka "multis",jam all four sensor types equally. So if you're using multispectral jammers you don't have to concern withremembering which jammer jams which race because they jam all races equally well. However, if youare using racial jammers then you have to watch for applying correct racial jammer to correct ship. Racialjammers jam one sensor type much stronger than a multispec, but acts rather weakly on three others.Racial jammers are color coded such that it is easy to remember which ones jam which ships. The colors

of the jammers correspond to the color of background of locked ships.

Multispectral jammers have poorer optimal and falloff ranges and use more capacitor than racialjammers, as such ECM pilots often prefer to use racials instead of multispecs. Statistically it is better tobring multispecs to small gang combat (small being 2-5 ships) and racials when you're expecting to fight abigger gang where it is likely that the enemy gang will feature at least one ship from each race.

Module Comparison Table

Other ECM enhancing modules and rigs

Particle Dispersion Projector rig bonus applies to optimal not only of ECM modules, but also of sensordampeners, tracking disrupters, and target painters.

Modules that affect ECM optimal range and/or strength are affected by stacking penalties. Effects of PDPand PDA rigs and Signal Distortion Amplifiers are lessened as more are added. Each subsequent rig ormodule fitted will give an effect, but once you get beyond 4 effects on the same stat (e.g. 3x SDA in lowslots +1 PDA rig) the increase is negligible.

ECM: Skills

Each ECM module is affected by 4-5 skills. To be an effective ECM pilot you need to train all of these up

to level 4: - Electronic Warfare IV: 5% reduction in capacitor need for ECM and ECM Burst systems perlevel - Frequency Modulation IV: 10% bonus to falloff for ECM, damps, tracking disruptors, and paintersper level - Long Distance Jamming IV: 10% bonus to optimal range for ECM, damps, tracking disruptors,and painters per level - Signal Dispersion IV: 5% bonus to strength of all ECM jammers per level - ShipCommand specific skill IV (bonus depends on ship) - Long Range Targeting IV (you need to be able totarget as far as you can jam, also counters dampeners)

ECM: Ships

ECM is electronic warfare of the Caldari. Among Caldari ships there are one T1 frigate, one cruiser, onebattleship, one electronic attack frigate, two recon ships, and one black ops ship that receive bonus toECM modules. It is not advisable to fit ECM modules on other ships that have no bonuses to ECMstrength as chance of jamming anything without these modules getting some bonuses is rather small.

Caldari Frigate Skill Bonus: 15% bonus to ECM Target Jammer strength per level; 10% bonus to ECMTarget Jammers' capacitor need per level.

Caldari Frigate Skill Bonus: 20% bonus to ECM target jammer strength per level; 10% reduction in ECMtarget jammers' capacitor need per level

Electronic Attack Ships Skill Bonus: 10% bonus to ECM target jammer optimal range per level; 5%bonus to capacitor capacity per level

Caldari Cruiser Skill Bonus: 15% bonus to ECM Target Jammer strength per level; 10% bonus to ECMTarget Jammer optimal range and falloff per level.

Caldari Cruiser Skill Bonus: 5% Bonus to Medium Hybrid Damage per level; 10% Bonus to ECMcapacitor use per level

Recon Ships Skill Bonus: 30% bonus to ECM Target Jammer strength per level; -96% to -100%reduction in Cloaking Device CPU use per level

Role Bonus: 80% reduction in liquid ozone consumption for cynosural field generation and 50%reduction in cynosural field duration.

Note: can fit covert cynosural field generators

Caldari Cruiser Skill Bonus: 5% Bonus to heavy & heavy assault missile Launcher rate of fire per level;10% Bonus to ECM capacitor use per level

Recon Ships Skill Bonus: 30% Bonus to ECM strength per level; 10% Bonus to heavy & heavy missilevelocity per level

Caldari Battleship Skill Bonus: 15% bonus to ECM strength per level; 20% bonus to ECM optimal andfalloff range per level

Caldari Battleship Skill Bonus: 5% bonus to cruise and siege missile launcher rate of fire and 10% bonusto cruise missile and torpedo velocity per level

Black Ops Skill Bonus: 30% bonus to ECM target jammer strength and multiplies the cloaked velocity by125% per level

Note: can fit covert cynosural field generators and covert jump portal generators. No targeting delay afterdecloaking

Tactics

Damage Avoidance

Damage avoidance is the preferred survival tactic of ECM ships. They do this by keeping distance fromenemy, engaging while being aligned, and warping out when in danger of being tackled. Upon engagingenemy ECM ship has to align and be ready to warp out. Sort your overview by distance and watch out fortacklers on approach. ECM ships fit practically all of their middle slots with with ECM modules tomaximize their effectiveness in their given role, which does not leave much room for a shield tank.Sometimes, in large fleet situations where ECM ships are in danger of being sniped down they are givenan armor or shield tank. Keeping distance is, however, still the best form of tank an ECM ship can use.

ECM ships should warp in independently from other ships in gang. Warp-in point for ECM ship should besomewhere on the edge of its optimal range. With racial jammers Griffins have optimal of about 40-50km,Falcons and Rooks 60-75km, Blackbirds 90-110km, and Scorpions can jam from up to 180km with goodewar skills.

In combat ECM ships do little to no actual damage. Their primary goal is to reduce the ewar and damageabilities of enemy ships. This role should not be sacrificed for an ability to do damage to other ships.

Picking Targets

ECM ships pick their targets somewhat independently from the rest of the gang. When picking targets,ECM pilot has to consider which ships when jammed would be a bigger loss to the enemy gang. Obvioustargets are other ECM ships and ships set up to perform remote repairs of any kind. An ECM ship such asRook or Falcon can jam up to 6 different ship if the pilot is successful in all of the jamming attempts.Logistics ships make it impossible to kill anything by performing armor, shield, or cap transfer to theprimary target. One logistics ship is often reinforced by second logistics ship, making it very hard to out-dps and kill it. Forcing logistics ships to drop lock on each other makes them much more vulnerable.Besides eliminating enemy's e-war and RR abilities, another focus of ECM pilot should be decreasingdps of enemy gang by targeting their heavy hitters such as battleships, battlecruisers, and HACs.

Jamming primary ship sometimes makes little sense as it is likely to go down very soon. Unless primaryship is another EWAR ship, logistics, or a heavy tanker it often makes sense to jam other ships fromenemy gang than primary target. If your gang of 5-10 ships is killing a Cerberus, it is likely to go downvery fast so do not waste your jams on it. Jam that Vagabond picking off your tacklers or that Drake that iscausing distress to your gang's Rapier.

When gang is retreating, start listening to gang members calling out enemy tacklers to jam. In this situationyou can save your gang quite a bit of ships by jamming enemy ship that are holding points on yourretreating gang members.

Cycling Jammers

An ECM ship pilot should aim to jam as many targets as possible in combat. As such it is detrimental toget multiple successful jams on same target with more than one jammer fitted to your ship. You could havebeen applying that second jammer to another target or saving it in case another neutral ship warps on grid.

To prevent this from happening turn off auto-cycling on jammers (right-click on each ECM module whenin space to see this option). Now your jammers will automatically turn off at the end of each cycle. Youwill have to do more micro-managing, but as a result you will do much more damage to enemy gangbecause you will be using your jammers to maximum capacity.

Bookmarks are very important to have for ECM pilot. Make several bookmarks at the very edge of youroptimal range around objects of interest in your home constellation. This way you keep maximum distanceaway from hostile gangs and stay within optimal range such that your ship will be most effective injamming ability. Place your bookmarks out of plane from all the warpable objects in system, such that ahostile interceptor cannot simply warp to planet X then warp 100km back to gate and land right on top ofyou. Make at least 2 bookmarks at each object in home constellation so if you get spoofed by a hostile intyat one location you can simply warp out and warp back to your second bookmark and start jamming again.

Watch out for bubbles, whether hostile or friendly they will pull you in and make you unable to warp toyour optimal range. ECM ships often get primaried first, so if you end up in a middle of a fight in a bubbleexpect to die quickly. When engaging always engage at a bit of a latency to avoid being called primaryright away.

Cloaky Cloaky Falcons

Falcons are different from other ECM ships in that they have the ability to warp around cloaked. Thisgives them special ability to be on grid with enemy ships and provide intel or warp-in points. Falcons canalso mount a scan probe launcher and scan down safespotted ships, however, they do not receive bonusesthat covert ops ships do to scan probing.

It is crucial, however, for Falcon pilots to not reveal their presence until enemy commits to the fight. Apilot in a cloaked recon ship is like a wildcard of the gang. Once the ship decloaks and enemy is madeaware of its presence, the "surprise suckers!" element is gone and enemy gang will re-evaluate theirposition or possibly start thinking of ways to primary and kill the Falcon fast. It is also risky becauseenemy covops will see your general location and may head your way to give other ships a warp-in or runa scan probe cycle on your location. This is why it is important to hold cloak in many situations, even if itmeans that you are not going to be present on a killmail.

You should inform your gang members that you will decloak and jam only when you hear them calling forjams or when enemy commits a significant force to the fight. When gang members commit to a fight theyshould not automatically assume that there will be a Falcon decloaking to save them at each instance.

Drones

Drones are like missiles that keep on hitting. Unlike missiles, however, they keep hitting even if the owneris jammed. Regular combat drones are not susceptible to jamming. You can lock a drone and apply ECMmodule to it, and it will show you a gray bar as if the drone is jammed, however the drone will continuedoing its damage.

Drone control range is about 45-57km depending on pilot's skills. This range can be extended by fittingDrone Link Augmentor modules. Each drone link augmentor adds another 20km to this range, however,few ships fit these besides dedicated drone boats. When an ECM ship gets drone aggro, even from five

T1 drones, they will do sufficient damage to prompt it to warp out, since ECM ships have very weaktanks. The best way of avoiding getting hit by drones is to either jam their owner before he can releasethem or stay out of his maximum drone control range (keep at 60+km distance).

Statistics: Calculating Your Chances

Calculating % chance to jam over one ECM cycle is very easy - just divide ECM strength by target'ssensor strength. To determine percent chance of jamming a target over several ECM cycles we usederived Bernoulli formula to determine probability of success: Pr = (1-(1-p)^N) x 100% where N isnumber of ECM cycles and p is probability of success to jam. Example: You have an ECM module withstrength of 6 and you're trying to jam a target with sensor strength of 18 you have 33.3% chance ofjamming it on one cycle. Probability that you will be successful in jamming the taget over 2 cycles is Pr =(1-(1-0.33)^2) x 100% = 55%.

Other References and Quizzes

EWAR GuideCounter ECM TacticsElectronic Counter Measures Quiz - test your knowledge of ECM game mechanics by answeringthese 15 multiple choice questions

ECCMIntroduction

For more information about ECM please consult the following article ECM - Electronic CounterMeasures.

Counter-ECM Modules

ECCM modules increase ship's sensor strength thus decreasing the probability that its lock will be brokenby ECM. There are two versions of this module:

The mid-slot ECCM module is called very plainly "ECCM". It is an active module that boosts ship'ssensor strength by 80-96%.The low-slot module is called "backup array". It is a passive module that boosts ship's sensorstrength by 40-48%.

Both types of these modules exist in racial varieties that boost only one type of sensors as well asomni/multi varieties that boost all four sensor types. There are no differences in fitting requirementsbetween omni and racial ECCM. However, for mid-slot ECCM modules the omni module consumestwice the capacitor per cycle as the racial module, making fitting racial ECCM beneficial for your cap.Best performance is given by the best named racial ECCM. Not only does it have lower fittingrequirements than its T2 counterpart but it also consumes much less capacitor.

Quite often ECCM modules get omitted from ship setups that are posted on forums. Many players do notconsider these modules to be essential in fits since they are good for doing one thing only - counteringECM ships. However many gangs and fleets come with one or several Falcons and Blackbirds. Whenyou're going against opponents who have been reported to have ECM ships there is absolutely no excuseto not fit ECCM. In this situation all ships in your gang suspect to become primary for getting jammed -logistics, heavy damage dealers, your own ECM ships - need to fit some ECCM modules. Mid-slotECCM modules will cut your chances of getting jammed by half, which in battle is quite significant.

Counter-ECM Ships

ECM ships try to keep at the very edge of their ECM optimal distance. For Griffins and Kitsunes this isabout 40-50km range, for Blackbirds this is 70-100km, for Falcons/Rooks - 50-80km, for Scorpions -100-180km. When going against a gang with ECM ships your gang has to be able to quickly handle targetssitting at these ranges. Several approaches can be used to achieve this.

Mid-Range Hitters

Any ship capable of hitting targets located 100km away is a good defense for practically all of theencounters with ECM ships in game. Examples include T2 pulse-fit Apocalypse capable of hitting at 60+km at optimal, Drake capable of throwing missiles to 60+km distance, Cerberus capable of hitting targetsfrom 140+km, HAC-snipers such as sniper Eagle, Munnin, or Zealot all of which can snipe to 100km,sniper Rokh or Megathron, sentry-drone assisted Dominix and Ishtar. Missile ships are an especiallygood defense because they can load FoF missiles and do damage even if they are being jammed.

Fast Ships

Ships capable of covering 50-100km distance fast are useful for running off ECM ships. Most ECM pilots(unless heavily drunk) will warp off if they see a Vagabond approaching them, for example. Even thoughsome ships such as Falcons and Rooks have a good chance of jamming HACs, most pilots prefer to nottake any chances with an expensive recon ship.

Interceptors

The advantage of launching interceptors at an ECM ship instead of missiles or ammo is that they can serveas a point for other gang members to initiate warp to. Average speed of an interceptor piloted with goodnavigation skills is about 4,000-5,000 m/s. At this speed it is able to cover 50-100km distance in 10-20seconds. ECM ship pilots sometimes easily let interceptors approach them, knowing well that the strengthof their ECM is enough to jam it permanently and avoid getting tackled. What ECM pilots do not count onis that an interceptor can be fitted with several ECCM modules significantly improving its chances oftackling. Even if the tackle was not done successfully, inty pilot can serve as a TAM and also make abookmark at the spot of ECM ship.

Counter ECM Tactics

FoF missiles

FoF stands for "friend or foe". These missiles can be launched and will hit nearest target even if their hostship is being jammed by ECM. All ships relying on missiles for their dps should always load some FoFmissiles into their cargohold. This way during a fight you can reload and continue adding to damageoutput of your gang instead of sitting perma-jammed and unable to do a thing. There are no FoFequivalents to torpedoes and heavy assault missiles some some missiles ships such as torp-Ravens,HAM-Drakes, stealth bombers, and Sacrileges are unable to use FoFs to their advantage.

Drones

If you become jammed by an ECM ship and it is the first thing that has aggroed you, your drones willauto-aggress on it , but only if it is within their control range. For normal combat drones the drone controlrange is 45-57km depending on pilot's skills. Sentry drones can hit up to 100km but your ship must haveseveral drone link augmentors fitted to extend your normal drone control range to that distance.

Your own ECM

Sure way to make an ECM ship ineffective is to jam it with your own ECM. ECM pilots sometimesbecome complacent thinking that they can jam everything on the field. At this time they may let aninterceptor approach them, or even a HAC or a T1 cruiser or destroyer. If a friendly ECM ship decloaksand jams them at this point, the enemy ECM ship will drop lock. This will un-jam the tackle and allow itto place point after which all you need to do is apply a bit of damage to the ECM ship and it will melt(ECM ships typically have very weak tanks).

Dampeners

Dampeners serve to reduce locking range of ECM ship making it unable to lock anything. ECM shipswould often sit at the very edge of their locking range so that getting hit even by one dampener will makethem drop lock (exception are Falcons and Rooks). Dampeners have shorter optimal range than ECM andas such don't hit as often at extended ranges. However, within optimal range, effect of dampeners is notchance based, unlike ECM, and once they hit it is always a successful hit. With Recon IV, Long RangeJamming IV, and Frequency Modulation IV on a Lachesis or Arazu rigged with two Particle DispersionProjector rigs dampeners have 59km optimal range and 84km falloff. This means that in <59km range adampeners on Lachesis or Arazu will always hit, and between 59km and 143 km it has between 100 and50% chance of hitting target.

ECM Ship In-Line

A roaming ECM ship is unlikely to have bookmarks around gates and stations in systems where it isroaming. As such, to get into its optimal range but still be as far away as possible, it will rely on warping50, 70, or 100km from other objects. You can therefore observe which object it is in line from, warp tothat same object and warp back at same distance. With some luck you will land right on top of it.

Scan Probing

Covops or any other ship fitted with a scan probe launcher can scan out the location of an ECM ships. Thescanner can then warp the rest of the gang to its location or even warp itself and try to place a point. Theadvantage of this tactic is that ECM ship pilot might not pick up combat scan probes in the air and yourgang will catch him or her off the guard. The disadvantage of this approach is that it will take a while toposition the probes and run a scan and by that time the fight may be over. This approach works best whenyou already have probes pre-positioned on grid. In this case it takes about 5 seconds to run a scan andanother 10-30 seconds to warp your combat ships to it.

ECCM Setups

Anti-ECM Interceptor (Crow) Lows: Overdrive injector II Gravimetric Sensor Backup Array IIGravimetric Sensor Backup Array II Mids: Warp Disruptor II 1 MN Microwarpdrive II ECCM-Gravimetric II Highs: Rocket Launcher II Rocket Launcher II Rocket Launcher II E5 Prototype EnergyVampire

Anti-ECM T1 Frigate (Vigil) Lows: Overdrive Injector System II LADAR Backup Array II LADARBackup Array II Mids: ECCM - Ladar II 1MN MicroWarpdrive II Remote Sensor Dampener II, TargetingRange Dampening Highs: 200mm AutoCannon II, EMP S 200mm AutoCannon II, EMP S Drones:Hobgoblin SD-300 x1

Other References

Ryysa's Electronic Warfare GuideEWAR Certification

Advanced TrackingAll About Tracking

Tracking in EVE seems fairly complex, however in reality there is simple math behind the scenes. Thislittle article plans to break-down the tracking equation to help you understand how it works in-game, andhow you can best improve your hit quality. Also, EVE-O hasn't been wonderful at explaining tracking, sothere may be a few things here that previously you thought worked differently.

Tracking Formula

Here is the EVE tracking formula:

It looks like a complex piece of math at first, but it's really 3 easy parts combined together:

Part 1a: (Transversal / (Range * Tracking)): Transversal / Range is Angular Velocity. In otherwords, part 1 is the comparison of angular velocity (the combination of ship movement) versus theguns ability to rotate and track.Part 1b: (Sig_Res/Sid_Rad): The comparison of the ships signature radius versus your gunresolution. Larger guns struggle to hit smaller targetsPart 2: max(0,Range-Optimal)/Falloff: Entering distance into the equation

So to summarize the formula, it is:

50% ̂[ (Part 1a * Part 1b)^2 + (Part 2)^2 ]

Key Points

The above math results in the following key points:

You will only be doing 100% of your damage (EFT related numbers) if you are firing within optimaland have NO transversal.Tracking is not binary, i.e. if angular velocity is equal to gun tracking, and gun resolution is equal toship radius, you will have a 50% hit chance. It is not a binary line where you suddenly can no longerhit.At optimal + falloff, you will have a 50% hit chance. At optimal+ (2x falloff), you will hit 6.25% ofthe time.EVE has some random numbers and chances of wrecking hits on the final formula, which means a50% hit chance will result in 39.5% of EFT DPS. A 100% hit chance is actually equivalent to 102%of EFT DPS (or somewhere around there). More is explained in the math section if you areinterested.An increase to target signature radius is equal to an increase in your turret tracking, e.g. a 30% sigradius increase (T1 Target Painter) is equivalent to a 30% tracking bonus (e.g. via a T2 trackingcomputer)

Gun Resolution and Signature Radius

EVE-O explains that Gun Resolution is the area in which the 'bullets' will spray. If Gun Resolution isgreater than Signature Radius, then your damage will be reduced accordingly. This is only true if there istransversal. If you are standing still, you will be hit for 100% of the damage.

If you look carefully at the tracking formula, you will notice that Part 1a and Part 1b are multiplied byeach other, and Part 1a contains Transversal. As we all know, multiplying a zero will result in a zero,leaving only distance being taken into account for your hit chance.

Note that this is different to missiles, where your sig radius will always result in you taking less damage.It also explains why large artillery can instapop frigates, and why unbonused torps cannot unless the targetis kind enough to be stationery with his MWD enabled :)

Target Painters do what for tracking?

For the purposes of turrets, an increase to your tracking speed (e.g. Tracking Computers) is performingexactly the same function as an increase to the targets Sig Radius. Therefore, anything that increases eitherof those two factors will provide the exact same increase in your ability to lay down the hurt. Therefore,some simple numbers:

T2 Target Painters: Sig Res +30% (with skills, 37.5%). Available to whole gang and can be furtherincreased to 50% with ship bonuses (Vigil, Bellicose, Hyena, Rapiers, etc.)T2 Tracking Computers (tracking speed): Tracking Speed +30% (no skills to increase). Available toyour ship onlyT2 Tracking Enhancer: Tracking Speed +9.5% (no skills to increase). Available to your ship only

The most efficient means of increasing your ability to hit a fast moving target with turrets is with a TargetPainter, assuming you have the skills, or can place the TP onto a bonused ship. If you combine T2 painterswith skills and ship bonuses, it's 66% more effective than a T2 Tracking Computer with speed scripts.

Just pay attention to optimal and falloff with Painters, that's the balancing attribute.

Now, EVE also has this wonderful attribute called 'stacking penalties'. Therefore running two Trackingcomputers means the second one suffers a penalty. Since an increase to Sig Radius and Tracking Speedare different attributes, these don't stack. So imagine having two Target Painters lighting up a target, andtwo Tracking Computers. It's a substantial boost to your ability to hit.

But tracking only really helps when trying to hit fast moving targets,right?

Not at all. The issue with tracking is that it is invisible to you, which is also why I believe TrackingDisruptors are so potent, people do not see the impact unless they are paying attention to damagenotifications. Obviously when tracking crosses the line of 'can / cannot' hit, it's very apparent, and most ofthose fine line situations are against fast moving targets. However, let's take another example, in this casewe have:

battlecruisers orbiting each other (guns sizes matching target size)at close range (autocannons vs blasters)using no propulsion modsusing close-range, fast tracking weapon systems and ammo

The two test cases are a Hurricane with 220mm Vulcans (Motion Tracking V vs. none), and a Myrm withElectron Blasters (Motion Tracking V vs. none).

The fully skilled Hurricane pilot is doing:

102% more damage at 500m19% more at 1,0004% more at 2,0002% more at 3,000.

The fully skilled Myrm pilot is doing:

156% more at 500m27% more at 1,0006% more at 2,0003% more at 3,000

Note, these percentages are created by having 25% more tracking (due to skills). However, this numbersare even greater if the tracking difference is greater, e.g. through a Tracking Computer, or Target Painter.

So how do I increase Tracking?

Train up the Gunnery: Motion Prediction skill (5% per level)Fit a Target Painter, Tracking Computer, Tracking Enhancer, or rigsFly a ship with tracking bonuses (thrasher and Megas are a good examples)

Show me some graphs

Comparison of Target Painters vs Tracking Computers (with Tracking Speed scripts)

An increase in Tracking Speed and Signature Resolution result in the same thing for tracking with turrets.Target painters provide a greater increase to turret tracking than tracking computers.

Here is a graph of a Hurricane Artillery setup (650mm T2 guns firing T1 ammo) at a Vaga orbitting at4,000 m/s

Green line: Standard setup (100 DPS at 20km)Pink line: 2 T2 Tracking Computers on the 'cane (150 DPS at 20km)Blue line: 2 T2 Target Painters on the 'cane lighting up the Vaga (160 DPS at 20KM)Yellow line: 2 T2 Target Painters (non-bonused ship) lighting up the Vaga, and 2 T2 TrackingComputers (180 DPS at 20 KM)

Comparison of Hurricane with autocannons and tracking skills

Red line: No gunnery tracking skillsGreen line: Motion Prediction V trained (25% tracking increase)Pink line: Motion Predication V and a T2 Target Painter (25% + 37.5% tracking increase)

Conclusion

I hope the above helped you to understand how turret tracking in EVE works. Obviously tracking isimportant, however like all things in EVE it's a balance of skills and fitting.

Will Motion Predication skills and a Tracking Computer (tracking speed) / Target Painter always providea turret user a benefit? Yes, in all circumstances except where transversal is 0 (i.e. both ships never have*any* lateral movement for the entire engagement), and very negligible (and probably not noticeable)when fighting at extreme range. However, where you are not fighting up close, or you start shifting beyondthe peak of the DPS curve, tracking becomes largely irrelevant and range starts to play a bigger factor.Personally I am not planning on fitting a Target Painter on my Hurricane any time soon, I would rather fita Tracking Disruptor, however do not assume that the Motion Predication skill is not doing anything foryou, it just could be doing a lot.

Math detail: Part 1

So now that we have the parts, let's use an example to try bring it together.

A vagabond is orbiting your poor stationary battlecruiser at 20,000 meters, and this nano pilot makes thisvagabond power at 4,000 m/s (darn nano heads). You fire up your Heavy Pulse lazors and (trackingcalculation kicks in):

Transversal = 4,000 m/sRange = 20,000 mAngular Velocity = 0.2 (transversal / range, or 4,000/20,000)Heavy Pulse Tracking = 0.08 (rounded) * 1.25 (skills) = 0.1 (rounded)

So, your guns are moving at half the speed (0.1 rads/sec) that the vaga is orbiting you (0.2 rads / sec). Ifyou were to punch in the data into the hit formula, your damage would be extremely close to 0. However,this is only half of the story, and zero is nowhere close to reality. Let's punch this data in part 1:

Part 1:

= 0.5 ̂(Angular Velocity / Tracking)^2

= 0.5 ̂(0.2 / 0.1) ^2

= 6.25% (Due to hit quality and wrecking hits, this will result in you doing about 3% of your EFT DPS)

Math Detail: Part 2

Tracking is an arbitrary number, guns don't really track the physical target and it's not an on/off switch.For example, if the angular velocity was 0.2, and:

Your tracking was 0.2, you would do 39% of your DPS (assuming range isn't an issue).Your tracking was 0.19, you would do 36%Your tracking was 0.18, 32%

To show this via the formula again:

Tracking Adjustment = 0.5 ̂(Angular Velocity / Tracking)^2

= 0.5 ̂(0.1 / 0.1) ^2

= 0.5 ̂1 (0.5)

Chance to Hit = 50% (Due to hit quality and wrecking hits, you'll be doing 39% of your EFT DPS)

As you can see, tracking isn't binary - it simply impacts the chances to hit, and therefore over time theaverage DPS you perform.

Now that we understand that tracking is a measure, there is another important component to calculate, i.e.Modified Tracking (the target footprint), and that's to consider the signature radius of the target and thesignature resolution of your guns (in other words, to factor in part 2 of the equation). To put it simply, ifthe Signature Radius of the target is larger than the Signature Resolution of your guns, it's starts trackingfaster as a straight factor. If the target sig is double the resolution of your guns, your tracking speeddoubles. Conversely, if the target sig is half the resolution of your guns, your tracking speed halves.

Back the above example, since that Vagabond is using MWD to achieve those figures, this makes him amuch bigger target (910 sig radius). Back to the calculation:

Transversal = 4,000 m/s (unchanged)Range = 20,000 m (unchanged)Angular Velocity = 0.2Heavy Pulse Tracking = 0.08 * 1.25 (skills) = 0.1 (unchanged)Part 2 (gun resolution) = 910/125 (the signature radius of the well lit Vaga / the signature resolutionof your guns)

Adjusted Tracking = 0.1 (part 1 tracking) * 910/125 = 0.73

Now our guns can easily track that vaga, they have gone from being half the speed, to being nearly 4xquicker. If you now punch the data into the hit formula, your damage is closer to 50% DPS, however thereduction in DPS is largely due to the Vaga orbitting outside optimal range of your lazors. If that vaga wascloser to optimal (15,000), that DPS percentage climbs to 91%

Formula:

Tracking Adjustment = (0.5 ̂(Angular Velocity / Modified Tracking)^2)

= 0.5 ̂(0.2 / 0.73) ^2

= 0.5 ̂0.075

Chance to hit = 95% (Due to hit quality and wrecking hits, you'll be doing 94% of your EFT DPS)

DPS Calculation and Hit Quality

The resulting Hit Chance gets plugged into a second equation where the 'quality' of the hit is determined,including if the shot results in a wrecking shot.

To put it simply, EVE picks a random number between 0 and 1 (constant)

If it picks 0.01, you get a wrecking shot and 3x damage.If it picks a number less than your Hit Chance, you hit for damage (which is equal to the (constant +0.5) * turret damage)If it picks a constant greater than your Hit Chance, you miss

A quick example. I am firing upon a frigate, which is standing still, and it's slightly in falloff giving me ahit chance of 50%. EVE rolls it's random number and:

If it picks:

0.01: Wrecking shot, I get the damage per my turret multiplied by 30.10: 10% is less than 50%, so I hit. The damage done is (10% + 50%), or 60% per turret0.50: 50% is equal to 50%, so I hit. The damage done is (50% + 50%), or 100% per turretAnything greater than 0.5 is a miss.

As you can see from the above, when I have a 50% hit chance, that does not mean I will be doing 50% ofmy DPS, as there will be a spread of random numbers where I do less damage (e.g. the 10% example). Inreality, a 50% hit chance will result in doing 39% of your EFT DPS.

--Secluse 00:25, 5 January 2009 (PST)

Clones and PoddingIntroduction

If you play Eve any significant amount of time, you will eventually end up losing your ship either from aPvP or a PvE encounter. Once you lose your ship, you will end up in your pod. You will need to knowhow to fly it properly in order to avoid getting "podded", in which event your capsule gets blown up aswell. When you lose your pod, you will end up in a clone bay inside a station sometimes many systemsaway from the encounter and will have to pay to purchase a new clone. You will lose all your implantsand potentially some skill points too. As such is very important that you learn how to avoid getting yourpod killed.

Before You Undock

Before you undock to take part in any sort of PvP, you need to ensure that you do not risk losing your skillpoints. To do this check to see that your clone is up to date. Open up your character sheet and compareyour clone skill point capacity to the amount of skill points that your character has. Being engaged in PvPis the wrong time to find out that you forgot to upgrade your clone. You should check for this regularly tomake sure that your clone is always up to date. You can do this, for example, every time you update theskill queue.

If you got podded and didn't have a clone to cover your skill points, you will lose a certain percentage ofskill points from your character's highest level skill. Very often this means losing that Battleship V orCruiser V skill you have just recently completed. In terms of time lost in training, this can be veryexpensive. In general, you always want to have an up to date clone because "things" happen and petitionqueues are long for bug related death reimbursement.

To upgrade your clone you have to go to a station with a medical facility. In order to find such a station,you can open the map in game and select "Cloning" under "Station Services" on World Map ControlPanel. Systems with cloning facilities will then appear to be colored in red. Then all you have to do ishover your mouse over a system with a lit up dot and it will show you the cloning stations present in thatsystem. Fly to the nearest system with cloning, dock at the station that has medical services, and open themedical bay. In this screen you will see two buttons: one to upgrade your clone and another to change itslocation. Purchase the clone that covers your current points or the next highest version if you anticipateexceeding that clone's capacity soon.

Using Implants

Implants are attribute enhancers that will increase your character's attributes and thus allow it to trainskills at a rate faster than it would train otherwise. To use implants all you have to do is train upCybernetics skill, stop skill training on your character, then right click on each implant to plug it in. Onceyou have done this, you can restart the skills training. You will notice that the training times will beshortened as the training is accelerated. This is because training rate of each skill is determined by itsprimary and secondary attributes that can be seen from information of that skills. Skills train at the rate of:

(points in primary attribute + 1/2 points in secondary attribute) skill points per minute

When you increase these attributes through the use of implants, the time to finish training the skill goesdown.

Warning: If you get podded, any implants in your head will be destroyed and the training time will berecalculated in response.

Since implants are destroyed when you get podded, it is important to know how to use them in a way thatwon't see you in the ISK poorhouse. While a set of +1 and +2 implants is relatively cheap, a set of +3s or+4s can cost anywhere from 30 to 80 million ISK. Players who do not want to pay this price will ofteneither use cheap sets or use a separate clone for pvp (see Jump Clones section).

Another way to avoid paying the full price for losing a full set of implants is plugging in an incompleteset. Most skills in EVE have primary and secondary attributes of either Perception/Willpower orIntelligence/Memory. So simply inject two implants, either perception + willpower or intelligence +memory. While you are in your PvP clone train only the skills that rely on the attributes you have boosted.If you get podded you will then lose only 2 implants instead of 4 or 5.

Keep in mind that once implants are plugged in, you can not remove them without destroying them.

Characteristics of a Pod

Pods have the following properties:

Pods make though any distance in Eve within one warp, even the 300 AU warp of OJOS-T system inGreat Wildlands.Pods enter warp almost instantly.Pods have approximately 500 effective hit points and get destroyed easily.Pods have very low subwarp speed, about 170-180 m/s.Pods are weakest to explosive/kinetic damage types.

One implication of these properties is that it is very easy to enter warp in a pod and thus save it fromgetting blown up. However if you find yourself inside a bubble and have to crawl to its edge to escapemost likely you will get killed. If you get blown up, do not try to fly 15km to try and get back to the gate.Instead warp to a celestial and then back to the gate if required.

Getting Out With Your Pod Intact

If you end up in a pod after a PvP encounter, the odds are that the enemy will stick around to try anddestroy your pod. For this reason you want to be prepared to get it out as soon as possible. When you startgetting low on armor and enter structure, it is time to start looking for something to warp your pod to.

Look on your overview and pick any celestial body other than a gate. Warping your pod to a moon isprobably the safest option in 0.0, but a planet or belt will also do. If you were in a ship, you would neverwant to warp to a moon, of course, without scanning it first because of probability of warping into a POS.POS guns however do not target and destroy pods so it is perfectly fine to warp your pod out to a moon.To find a moon easily, hold down the alt key and pan around looking for a circle broken by a solid dot onthe right side. You can also just hit alt + x to show all brackets.

Once you have found a suitable celestial object click on it such that you see a box around it. Just beforeyou blow up, start repeatedly hitting the "warp to" button on selected item window. The reason for this isthat there is typically lag associated with your ship getting blow up, your pod ejecting, and your characterentering a new session. By spamming "warp to" button you are ensuring that you get you pod into warp asfast as possible, since the opponent wont experience that associated lag.

While you are in warp, open people and places and make a mid-warp bookmark. As you exit warp,immediately warp to your bookmark. This will give you a semi-safe point to hang out at, at least until youropponents get out scan probes and start scanning you out. Many players, however, will not botherscanning down pods.

Tip: make sure to configure your EVE client such that it gives you as little lag as possible. The more lagyou have playing EVE, the more likely it is that you will get podded.

Sticking Around

In a large, multi-ship engagement you can choose to stick around with your pod and watch the fight withall the associated explosions. You might also serve to distract your enemy. Some of them will attempt totarget and kill your pod, which means that they will losing time and firepower firing at the other ships inyour gang.

Whether you pick to hang around and watch a fight or not is a personal decision. If you have 100 millionISK worth of implants in your head, that will affect the decision quite a bit of course.

Jump Clones

A jump clone allows you to do two things, first of all it allows you to jump large distances in a fewseconds and secondly it allows you to save your implants when going into a potentially hostile situation.

Please refer to the following article for more information on where to get jump clones: Jump Clones

Shuttle Substitute

Sometimes you want to be able to move several ships without having to buy and trash shuttles. Thesolution is simple: undock in your pod. Dock at a station and wait about 30 seconds. Right click on youractive ship and select "Leave Ship". You will end up in your pod. Undock and set destination to thesystem where you have more ships that you need to haul.

Note: if you clone jump or get podded, you will not be able to undock in your pod until you first enter aship. In this case, simply enter your rookie ship and then leave it.

Pod Express

If you ever want to traverse a distance of many systems in Eve in a blink of an eye, you can choose to takethe "pod express". Pod express refers to the acts of relocating your medical clone to the station whereyou'd want to end up and then self destructing your pod. To do this, first you will need to find a stationwith cloning facilities. Dock at this station, open medical facilities window, and locate the move clonebutton. Select a desired station from the list (note that you can only set your clone to stations where yourcorp has an office, or where the NPC corp you started with has an office). Undock, the right click on yourpod and select "self-destruct" from the menu.

After two minutes of self-destruct countdown, you will end up in your medical clone at the station towhich you moved it to. Keep in mind that this is same as getting podded by another player, so you willlose all your implants in the process. Before undocking again, you will have to upgrade your clone. If youchange your mind while you are self-destructing you can cancel the countdown by activating it again.

Unlike jump clones that you can utilize only once every 24 hours, you can pod jump as frequently as youwant to, assuming that you have the cash to support the purchases of new clones.

Conclusion

Many pilots are afraid of being in open space in their pods. However, pods have many advantages thatyou might not have considered previously. They can warp to POSes without getting killed in the processto do some recon work. Pirates can travel through high sec empire systems in their pods without havingNPCs targeting and shooting them. Pods can make it through very long warps faster than most other ships.

Getting podded is something you have to think of as just another isk cost, one that will gradually getbigger as your character gains more and more skill points. Killing a pod of a 3 year player is likely tocost him quite a bit of cash but killing one of a newbie wont cost him much. If you know the strengths andlimitations of your pod and learn how to pilot it properly, will have a much better time PvPing in EVE.

Recommended Ship SetupsIntroduction

The below setups are good examples of frigate fits that can be used in PVP-BASIC Class. If you havebeen pvping solo or in small gangs, they may not be ideal but they work well in big numbers. Keep inmind, however, that EWAR and agility are the Hydra Fleet's main tank.

Fitting a damage control on your ship is highly recommended. In case class fleet gets bombed, and thishappens practically every roam, a DC will ensure that your frigate can survive at least 2 bombingattempts (this does not apply to Griffins).

Match your ammo so that your optimal range is between 6-10 km. This way you will be able to dodamage outside of smartbomb range as well as do any damage at all, as classes are big and targets oftenmelt before you can get within 2-3 km range of them. For these reasons, setups with autocannons andblasters are not recommended.

Rememer, these fits are NOT mandatory and Agony encourages students to experiment with their ownfits. However, these may serve as a useful guide when doing so.

Suggested Hydra Setups for PVP-BASIC

Combat Frigates

T1 Hydra Punisher Special Ability: 10% bonus to Small Energy Turret capacitor use and 5% bonusto armor resistances per level.T1 Hydra Kestrel w/ rocket launchers Special Ability: 10% bonus to Kinetic missile damage and5% bonus to EM, Explosive, and Thermal missile damage per level.T1 Hydra Kestrel w/ standard launchers Special Ability: 10% bonus to Kinetic missile damage and5% bonus to EM, Explosive, and Thermal missile damage per level.T1 Hydra Merlin Special Ability: 5% bonus to shield resistances and 10% bonus to Small HybridTurret optimal range per skill level.T1 Hydra Incursus Special Ability: 10% bonus to Small Hybrid Turret falloff and 5% bonus toSmall Hybrid Turret damage per skill level.T1 Hydra Tristan Special Ability: 5% bonus to Small Hybrid Turret damage and 7.5% bonus toSmall Hybrid Turret tracking speed per skill level.T1 Hydra Rifter, autocannons Special Ability: 5% bonus to Small Projectile Turret damage and7.5% bonus to tracking per level.T1 Hydra Rifter, artillery Special Ability: 5% bonus to Small Projectile Turret damage and 7.5%bonus to tracking per level.

E-WAR Frigates

T1 Hydra Crucifier Special Ability: 10% bonus to Small Energy Turret capacitor use and 5% bonusto Tracking Disruptor effectiveness per skill level.Standard Griffin Special Ability: 15% bonus to ECM Target Jammer strength and 10% bonus toECM Target Jammers' capacitor need per level.T1 Hydra Maulus Special Ability: 5% bonus to Small Hybrid Turret damage and Remote SensorDampener effectiveness per skill level.

Constructing Setups Independently

Fitting Priorities

If you want to bring a frigate that is not listed above or make a different fit to PVP-BASIC class, pleasenote the following:

Lowslot Priorities

1. Damage Control2. CPU Upgrade / RCU / MAPC as needed3. Damage Mods for DPS Frigates; or EWAR Support for EWAR Frigates4. Speed Mods5. Agility Mods

Midslot Priorities

1. Afterburner required (MWD allowed for Alumni)2. EWAR in all remaining Midslots

Hislot Priorities

1. DPS (see WARNING below)2. Remote Repair (Offline as needed)3. Salvage

Drones: An armor maintenance bot is highly recommended if your ship has a drone bay. It willtypically be used between pvp runs to repair your gang members. If the situation changes suddenly beprepared to lose your drone so carry a couple extra drones in cargo for refit if the FC gives the fleeta break at a station.

WARNING: Setups utilizing blasters, autocannons, and rocket launchers with low missile range skillsare vulnerable to smartbombing battleships. We will cover how to see & avoid this in class. If youchoose to fly one of these high DPS short range setups, then pay extra attention to Ventrilo to hear "NoBombs" recon before approaching a Battleship closer than 6km. Capital ships such as carriers can fitfaction smartbombs that will reach out to 7.5km in range.

Hints and Tips for Constructing Ship Setups

Module Variations

Each module in game exists in several variations. Open up market and find Warp Disruptor I using thesearch field. Click on information icon for this item and then go to "Variations" tab. There you will seeseveral varieties of this module listed. These varieties of a module are arbitrarily ranked in game by anumber called module's meta value. This value starts at 0 for lowest ranked modules and ranges over 10points for some high ranking officer varieties. The meta 0 modules are called tech I non-named (aka"vanilla") modules. Modules of meta value ranging from 1 to 4 are called low-meta or named modules.For a warp disruptor "Warp Disruptor I" is the meta 0 non-named variety of this module while "InitiatedWarp Disruptor I", "J5 Prototype Warp Disruptor I", "Fleeting Warp Disruptor I" are all low-meta namedvarieties of this module. Module with a little yellow icon is meta 5 or tech II variety of this module.Modules of meta value exceeding 5 are called faction, DED space, cosmos, storyline, and officermodules.

Tech I non-named (meta 0) modules and tech II (meta 5) modules can be produced by players in gamefrom blueprint originals and copies. Named, faction, officer, DED space, storyline, and cosmos items (orsometimes blueprint copies of some of these) get dropped as loot by NPCs or in various missions andcomplexes. Thus the only source of these modules on the market are NPC and complex loot drops. CCPfine-tunes their drop frequency, making some of these modules extremely rare such that some players willpay billions of ISK to purchase them. Meta 1-5 modules get bought and sold over regular market, whereasmeta 6 and higher modules get traded over contracts.

The key differences between all the varieties are in performance, fitting requirements, price, and skillprerequisites. Key things to remember when fitting your ship:

For majority of modules, meta 1-4 "named" varieties have lower fitting requirements (require lessCPU and PG) than meta 0 "non-named" or meta 5 "tech II" modules. If you are out of CPU or grid onyour ship, they can make an excellent substitute to make your fit working. There are a few modules ingame for which meta 1-4 varieties give no advantages in fitting requirements; these are weaponupgrade modules such as heat sinks, gyrostabilizers, magnetic field stabilizers, and ballistic controls.For these modules meta 0 and meta 5 varieties are actually easier to fit than meta 1-4 modules.

Meta 1-3 modules usually give better performance for a very modest price increase. Sometimes youcan even purchase meta 1-3 modules for cheaper than you can purchase meta 0 modules, just becausemany pilots do not bother looking these up on market hence demand for them is suppressed whilesupply is plentiful.

Tech II modules usually have higher skill prerequisites, thus these modules are often not readilyavailable for new EVE citizens to use. For example Damage Control II requires pilot to have HullUpgrades IV trained, tech II Shield Boost Amplifier requires Shield Management V which is almosta 2-week long skill.

Do not always rush to buy yourself a tech II module for your fit. Some meta 4 "best named" modulesgive same performance as meta 5 "tech II" modules but require less powergrid and CPU to fit, havelower skill prerequisites and come at lower price. The prices on these modules are lower because

often pilots do not bother to look them up on the market or have the mentality that T2 is alwaysbetter. End result is that they end up paying much more for a module that they could have purchasedfor 2-3x cheaper. A few meta 4 modules are priced significantly higher than their meta 5 "tech II"versions. This is because the saving in cpu and pg they give is so great that they become verypopular in fits and demand on them quickly brings up prices (compare for example MediumElectrochemical Capacitor Booster and Capacitor Booster II). In this case purchasing tech II modulecan actually be a much cheaper substitute to fit than using meta 4 best-named module.

Great majority of skills grant a bonus that is expressed as a percentage. This means that seeminglyminute differences in performance of different modules become further amplified when yourcharacter's skills get applied to them.

It is best to keep your pvp fits cost-effective. This means that while that 70 million True SanshaWarp Scrambler does look good on your new Stiletto, if you plan on losing 5 of these ships incombat the following week you will also be entire 350 million poorer. If you don't see that aparticular best named or tech II module will give your ship a significant edge in combat, it may bebest to downgrade it to a cheaper variety and save yourself some time having to grind ISK. Forexample, if you are using a fit that does not rely much on capacitor, then you don't really need a T2microwarpdrive on it and can substitute it for a much cheaper T1 microwarpdrive.

Comparison Window

If you click to show information on a module and go to "Variations" tab, there you will see a button called"Compare" button at the bottom of the information window. Clicking this button will bring up a newwindow that will let you compare all variations of a module in their performance and fitting requirements.You can enable and disable any parameters by which you'd like to compare these variations. Simpest wayto start is by enabling the meta column and sorting all modules by their meta value.

Another good place to compare modules and ships is this website: EVE Object Database

Shopping for Parts

Cheapest fittings and ammunition can usually be purchased in large trade hubs such as Jita, Amarr,Dodixie, and Rens. These systems have achieved trading hub status because there you can find a greatvariety of items all selling in one station. Most pilots appreciate the convenience of being able topurchase everything they need in a single station, and thus when they need to put some ships together theytravel to a major trade hub to do their shopping. Because sell volumes are high in such places,competitors trading on market can typically afford to lower prices of their stocks. For trade hub shoppersthis means paying less for items they buy.

Closest trading hubs to current class location are Dodixie, Jita, and Amarr. To get your frigates to classstart location, purchase a hauler with at least 8,000 m3 in cargo space, load it with 3 frigates and modulesand pilot it to class location.

T1 Hydra PunisherGeneral Info

Special Ability: 10% bonus to Small Energy Turret capacitor use and 5% bonus to armor resistancesper level.

This is basic T1 setup for use in PvP-BASIC Hydra gang.

The main disadvantages of the punisher are its' 2 mid-slots amd low cpu, which limit your electronicwarfare options and make it less suited to the hydra gang. However, the punisher is otherwise a veryeffective ship, with excellent HP, speed and damage output. It is often considered one of the better T1frigates. For a smaller gang or solo, the punisher can be fit to have a very effective armour tank, howeverthis kind of fit is not recommended for PvP-BASIC.

Example Hydra Punisher Setup

Low Slots

Damage ControlHeat SinkTracking EnhancerCo-Processor

Mid Slots

1MN Afteburner1x EWAR module of your choice.

Remember that you should bring a range of EWAR modules, since you will probably be asked to changethem when we set up the fleet. For the full list of modules to bring, see Recommended Modules for PVP-Basic.

High Slots

3x Dual Light Beam Laser

Cargo

Your choice of laser crystals - choose one that gives you a range over 6km (to avoid smartbombrange). Since lasers can change ammo type instantly, you may also wish to carry mid and long rangedcrystals, although this is not required.Both scripts for any electronic warfare module that use them.

Example EFT Cut & Paste

Here's an example using cheap named mods. This will fit using starting skills.

[Punisher, HYDRA t1]Damage Control IC4S Coiled Circuit Thermal RadiatorF-aQ Phase Code Tracking SubroutinesQuantum Co-Processor I

Cold-Gas I Arcjet ThrustersJ5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

Dual Afocal Light Maser I, Multifrequency SDual Afocal Light Maser I, Multifrequency SDual Afocal Light Maser I, Multifrequency S[empty high slot]

[empty rig slot][empty rig slot][empty rig slot]

And here's a t2 variant which will require more advanced skills:

[Punisher, HYDRA t2]Damage Control IIHeat Sink IITracking Enhancer IICo-Processor II

1MN Afterburner IIF-392 Baker Nunn Tracking Disruptor I

Dual Light Beam Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency SDual Light Beam Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency SDual Light Beam Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S[empty high slot]

Small Energy Burst Aerator ISmall Energy Collision Accelerator I[empty rig slot]

Stats

With cheap named variant, and starting skills:

Effective HP: 2301Speed: 733 m/sTurret Optimal + Falloff: 5.1 + 3.7 km (multifrequency)DPS: 34 (multifrequency)

With t2 variant and all Lv V skills:

Effective HP: 3355Speed: 946 m/sTurret Optimal + Falloff: 7.5 + 4.9 km (multifrequency)DPS: 100 (faction multifrequency)

T1 Hydra KestrelGeneral Info

Special Ability: 10% bonus to Kinetic (Thorn) missile damage and 5% bonus to EM, Explosive, andThermal missile damage per level.

This is a basic T1 setup for use in a PvP-BASIC Hydra gang.

The kestrel has quite limited powergrid, making fitting standard missiles difficult. However, a rocketkestrel can deal an insane amount of damage. Due to the size of PvP-BASIC fleets, the standard missilesetup is usually preferred over this one. While the this setup deals more damage and is easier to fit, theshort range of rockets means that some targets will be dead before you get into range. In small gangs onthe other hand, this setup may be preferred.

This kind of fit is NOT advised if you have poor missile skills, since you will have insufficient range.I don't recommend using this fit unless your rockets can reach out to at least 6km.

Be advised that the Kestrel does not have capacitor to get across some larger systems, so you'll need to bepaying attention before this happens so as not to get lost.

Short Range Hydra Kestrel Setup

Low Slots

Damage ControlBallistic Control System

Mid Slots

1MN Afterburner2x EWAR modules of your choice

Remember that you should bring a range of EWAR modules, since you will probably be asked to changethem when we set up the fleet. For the full list of modules to bring, see Recommended Modules for PVP-Basic.

High Slots

4x Rocket Launcher

Cargo

2000 units of Thorn (kinetic) rockets.Both scripts for any electronic warfare modules that use them.

Example EFT Cut & Paste

Here's an example using cheap named modules, which will fit using starting skills:

[Kestrel, HYDRA t1]Ballistic Control System IDamage Control I

Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters'Langour' Drive Disruptor IJ5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

'Malkuth' Rocket Launcher I, Thorn Rocket'Malkuth' Rocket Launcher I, Thorn Rocket'Malkuth' Rocket Launcher I, Thorn Rocket'Malkuth' Rocket Launcher I, Thorn Rocket

[empty rig slot][empty rig slot][empty rig slot]

And here's a t2 variant, which will require more advanced skills:

[Kestrel, HYDRA RL t2]Ballistic Control System IIDamage Control II

1MN Afterburner II'Langour' Drive Disruptor IJ5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn RocketRocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn RocketRocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn RocketRocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket

Small Bay Loading Accelerator ISmall Auxiliary Thrusters ISmall Auxiliary Thrusters I

Note the speed rigs rather than the damage rigs I have used on other setups are due to running out of CPU!

Stats (All level V)

With cheap named variant and starting skills:

Effective HP: 1683Speed: 890 m/sRockets Max Light Range: 4.5 kmDPS: 37

With t2 variant and all Lv V skills:

Effective HP: 2217Speed: 1064 m/sRockets Max Light Range: 10.1 kmDPS: 141

T1 Hydra Long Range KestrelGeneral Info

Special Ability: 10% bonus to Kinetic (Bloodclaw) missile damage and 5% bonus to EM,Explosive, and Thermal missile damage per level.

This is a basic T1 setup for use in a PvP-BASIC Hydra gang.

The kestrel has quite limited powergrid, making fitting standard missiles difficult. Fitting a MicroAuxiliary Power Core solves this problem (although you need Energy Management IV to fit it). Astandard missile kestrel may not have the raw damage output of the rocket variant, however it makes upfor this by having exceptional range, while still dealing damage on par with other combat frigates.

Due to the size of PvP-BASIC fleets, this setup is usually preferred over the rocket variant. This setup ismore difficult to fit (requires a Micro Auxiliary Power Core) and deals less damage, however it has muchlonger range, allowing you to start dealing damage sooner.

Be advised that the Kestrel does not have capacitor to get across some larger systems, so you'll need to bepaying attention before this happens so as not to get lost.

Long Range Hydra Kestrel Setup

Low Slots

Damage ControlMicro Auxiliary Power Core I (aka MAPC, gives more powergrid)

Mid Slots

1MN Afteburner2x EWAR modules of your choice.

Remember that you should bring a range of EWAR modules, since you will probably be asked to changethem when we set up the fleet. For the full list of modules to bring, see Recommended Modules for PVP-Basic.

That said, note that due to the huge CPU requirements of the standard launchers, you are likely to beunable to fit most EWAR types. Stasis Webifiers and Ship Scanners are the easiest to fit.

High Slots

4x Standard Missile Launcher

Cargo

1000 units of Bloodclaw (kinetic) light missiles.Both scripts for any electronic warfare modules that use them.

Example EFT Cut & Paste

Here's an example using cheap named modules which will fit using starting skills. Note the choice ofEWAR modules due to lack of CPU:

[Kestrel, HYDRA SML t1]Micro Auxiliary Power Core IDamage Control I

Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters'Langour' Drive Disruptor IShip Scanner I

'Malkuth' Standard Missile Launcher I, Caldari Navy Flameburst Light Missile'Malkuth' Standard Missile Launcher I, Caldari Navy Flameburst Light Missile'Malkuth' Standard Missile Launcher I, Caldari Navy Flameburst Light Missile'Malkuth' Standard Missile Launcher I, Caldari Navy Flameburst Light Missile

[empty rig slot][empty rig slot][empty rig slot]

And here's a t2 variant which will require more advanced skills. Again, CPU restricts the EWAR typesyou're able to fit.

[Kestrel, HYDRA SML t2]Micro Auxiliary Power Core IDamage Control II

1MN Afterburner II'Langour' Drive Disruptor IShip Scanner I

Standard Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Bloodclaw Light MissileStandard Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Bloodclaw Light MissileStandard Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Bloodclaw Light MissileStandard Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Bloodclaw Light Missile

Small Bay Loading Accelerator ISmall Auxiliary Thrusters ISmall Auxiliary Thrusters I

Stats

With cheap named variant and starting skills:

Effective HP: 1683Speed: 727 m/sLight Missile Max Flight Range: 18.8 kmDPS: 27

With t2 variant and all Lv V skills:

Effective HP: 2217Speed: 1064 m/sLight Missile Max Flight Range: 42.2 kmDPS: 95

T1 Hydra MerlinGeneral Info

Special Ability: 5% bonus to shield resistances and 10% bonus to Small Hybrid Turret optimalrange per skill level.

This is a basic T1 setup for use in a PvP-BASIC Hydra gang. The merlin offers a good alternative to theKestrel - it has plenty of CPU and 4 mid-slots, meaning it can fit plenty of electronic warfare. It also hasmore effective hitpoints than other frigates due to its shield resistance bonuses. It is, however, one of theslower lower-dps frigates. Merlins are very versatile ships, and are very popular among Agony pilots.

Example Long-Range Hydra Merlin Setup

Low Slots

Damage ControlMicro Auxiliary Power Core I (aka MAPC, grants more powergrid)

Mid Slots

1MN Afterburner3x EWAR module of your choice

Remember that you should bring a range of EWAR modules, since you will probably be asked to changethem when we set up the fleet. For the full list of modules to bring, see Recommended Modules for PVP-Basic.

High Slots

2x 125mm railgun2x standard missile launcher

Cargo

1000 units of antimatter charge s (close range hybrid ammo). Optionally you may wish to bring somemid range ammo such as Lead, but I find you will rarely use it.1000 units of light missiles, your choice of damage typeboth kinds of scripts for any electronic warfare modules that need them

Example EFT Copy & PasteHere's an example using cheap named fittings. This will (just!) fit with starting skills:[Merlin, HYDRA t1]Damage Control IMicro Auxiliary Power Core I

Cold-Gas I Arcjet ThrustersInitiated Harmonic Warp Scrambler I'Langour' Drive Disruptor IF-392 Baker Nunn Tracking Disruptor I

125mm Carbide Railgun I, Antimatter Charge S125mm Carbide Railgun I, Antimatter Charge S'Malkuth' Standard Missile Launcher I, Flameburst Light Missile'Malkuth' Standard Missile Launcher I, Flameburst Light Missile

[empty rig slot][empty rig slot][empty rig slot]

And here's a t2 variant, which will require more advanced skills:

[Merlin, HYDRA t2]Damage Control IIMicro Auxiliary Power Core I

1MN Afterburner IIInitiated Harmonic Warp Scrambler I'Langour' Drive Disruptor IF-392 Baker Nunn Tracking Disruptor I

125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge SStandard Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Flameburst Light MissileStandard Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Flameburst Light Missile

Small Hybrid Burst Aerator ISmall Hybrid Collision Accelerator I[empty rig slot]

Stats

With cheap named fit and starting skills:

Effective HP: 2043Speed: 697 m/sDPS: 29Turret Optimal + Falloff: 5.7 + 5 km (with antimatter)Light Missile Max Flight Range: 18.8 km

With t2 fit and all Lv V skills:

Effective HP: 2975Speed: 901 m/sDPS: 83Turret Optimal + Falloff: 10 + 6.3 km (with antimatter)Light Missile Max Flight Range: 42.2 km

T1 Hydra IncursusGeneral Info

Special Ability: 10% bonus to Small Hybrid Turret falloff and 5% bonus to Small Hybrid Turretdamage per skill level.

This is a basic T1 setup for use in PvP-BASIC Hydra gang.

The incursus is an excellent tackling frigate - it is faster than the tristan, although it has one fewer low andhigh slots. Despite having fewer high slots, the incursus is capable of greater damage due to its threeturret hardpoints vs the tristan's split weapon systems. The incursus is a natural blaster ship, however forPvP-BASIC blasters are generally not very effective, and we reccomend fitting railguns. In a smallergang, blasters are an excellent choice.

Example Hydra Incursus Setup

Low Slots

Damage ControlOverdrive Injector

Mid Slots

1MN Afterburner2x EWAR module of your choice.

Remember that you should bring a range of EWAR modules, since you will probably be asked to changethem when we set up the fleet. For the full list of modules to bring, see Recommended Modules for PVP-Basic.

Note though that this fit is very low on CPU, so only certain EWAR mods will fit. You may wish toreplace the Overdrive with a Co-Processor in order to fit alternative EWAR.

High Slots

3x 125mm Railgun

Drones

Light Armor Maintenance Bot x 1

Cargo

1000 units of close range hybrid ammo - try to pick something that gives you an optimal range ofabout 6km. Optionally you may also wish to bring some mid range ammo such as lead, but in myexperience you will rarely use it.Both scripts for any electronic warfare modules that use them.Spare Light Armor Maintenance Bots.

Example EFT Cut & Paste

Here's an example using cheap named modules. This fit requires Weapon Upgrades to Lv II ORElectronics to Lv IV in order to fit, but otherwise will work with starting skills.

[Incursus, HYDRA t1]Damage Control IMark I Modified SS Overdrive Injector

Cold-Gas I Arcjet ThrustersJ5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I'Langour' Drive Disruptor I

125mm Carbide Railgun I, Antimatter Charge S125mm Carbide Railgun I, Antimatter Charge S125mm Carbide Railgun I, Antimatter Charge S

[empty rig slot][empty rig slot][empty rig slot]

Light Armor Maintenance Bot I x1

And here's a t2 variant, which will require more advanced skills.

[Incursus, HYDRA t2]Damage Control IIOverdrive Injector System II

1MN Afterburner IIJ5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I'Langour' Drive Disruptor I

125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S

Small Hybrid Burst Aerator ISmall Hybrid Collision Accelerator I[empty rig slot]

Light Armor Maintenance Bot I x1

Stats

With cheap named variant and starting skills:

Effective HP: 1882Speed: 952 m/sDPS: 31 (antimatter)Turret Optimal + Falloff: 4.7 + 6 km (antimatter)

With t2 fit and all Lv V skills:

Effective HP: 2568Speed: 1248 m/sDPS: 103 (faction antimatter)Turret Optimal + Falloff: 6.8 + 9.4 km (antimatter)

T1 Hydra TristanGeneral Info

Special Ability: 5% bonus to Small Hybrid Turret damage and 7.5% bonus to Small Hybrid Turrettracking speed per skill level.

This is a basic T1 setup for use in PvP-BASIC Hydra gang. The tristan is a solid all-round ship. It has onemore low slot than the incursus, and one more high slot. However, it is slower, and it's weapons are splitbetween missiles (unbonused) and turrets, leading to lower overall dps but with greater versatility. Thetristan suffers slightly on CPU when you try to fit standard missile launchers on it, so you may berestricted in your electronic warfare choices.

Remember that you should bring a range of EWAR modules, since you will probably be asked to changethem when we set up the fleet. For the full list of modules to bring, see Recommended Modules for PVP-Basic.

Example Hydra Tristan Setup

Low Slots

Damage ControlOverdrive InjectorCo-Processor

Mid Slots

1MN Afteburner2x EWAR modules of your choice.

Remember that you should bring a range of EWAR modules, since you will probably be asked to changethem when we set up the fleet. For the full list of modules to bring, see Recommended Modules for PVP-Basic.

Note though that due to the tristan's low CPU, you may be restricted in which EWAR modules you can fit.

High Slots

2x 125mm Railgun2x Standard Missile Launcher

Drones

Light Armor Maintenance Bot I x 1

Cargo

1000 units of close range hybrid ammo - try to pick something that gives you an optimal range ofabout 6km. Optionally you may also wish to bring some mid range ammo such as lead, but in myexperience you will rarely use it.Both scripts for any electronic warfare modules that use them.Spare Light Armor Maintenance Bots.

Example EFT Cut & Paste

Here's an example using cheap named modules. This required Engineering Lv IV to fit, but otherwiseworks with starting skills.

[Tristan, hydra T1]Emergency Damage Control IMark I Modified SS Overdrive InjectorQuantum Co-Processor I

Cold-Gas I Arcjet ThrustersIndirect Scanning Dampening Unit IJ5 Prototype Warp Disruptor I

125mm Carbide Railgun I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S125mm Carbide Railgun I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S'Malkuth' Standard Missile Launcher I, Caldari Navy Flameburst Light Missile'Malkuth' Standard Missile Launcher I, Caldari Navy Flameburst Light Missile

[empty rig slot][empty rig slot][empty rig slot]

Light Armor Maintenance Bot I x1

And here's a t2 variant, which will require more advanced skills:

[Tristan, HYDRA t2]Damage Control IIOverdrive Injector System IICo-Processor II

1MN Afterburner IIF-392 Baker Nunn Tracking Disruptor I'Langour' Drive Disruptor I

125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge SStandard Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Flameburst Light MissileStandard Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Flameburst Light Missile

Small Hybrid Burst Aerator ISmall Auxiliary Thrusters ISmall Auxiliary Thrusters I

Light Armor Maintenance Bot I x1

Note the speed rigs rather than the damage rigs I have used on other setups are due to running out ofpowergrid!

Stats

With cheap named variant and starting skills:

Effective HP: 2133Speed: 850 meters/secondDPS: 31 (antimatter)Turret Optimal + Falloff: 4.7 + 5 km (antimatter)Light Missile Max Flight Range: 18.8 km

With t2 variant and all Lv V skills:

Effective HP: 2813Speed: 1235 meters/secondDPS: 91 (faction antimatter)Turret Optimal + Falloff: 6.8 + 6.3 km (antimatter)Light Missile Max Flight Range: 42.2 km

T1 Hydra RifterGeneral Info

Special Ability: 5% bonus to Small Projectile Turret damage and 7.5% bonus to tracking per level.

This is a basic T1 setup for use in a PvP-BASIC Hydra Gang.

The rifter is an excellent frigate, with a balanced slot layout, good damage, and excellent speed. They arevery popular among Agony pilots. Due to the size of PvP-BASIC fleets, the artillery setup is usuallypreferred over the autocannon setup. While the autocannon setup deals more damage, the short range ofautocannons means that some targets will be dead before you will be able to get into your damage range.In a smaller gangs, however, the autocannon setup is far more popular.

Example Hydra Autocannon Rifter Setup

Low Slots

Damage ControlTracking EnhancerGyrostabilizer

Mid Slots

1MN Afterburner2x EWAR mod of your choice

Remember that you should bring a range of EWAR modules, since you will probably be asked to changethem when we set up the fleet. For the full list of modules to bring, see Recommended Modules for PVP-Basic.

High Slots

3x 150mm Light Autocannon

(Yes, this fit has an empty high slot).

Cargo

2000 units of close range projectile ammo (EMP, Fusion or Phased Plasma) - due to the tiny optimalrange of autocannons, there is often little reason to use other ammunition. If you are using t2 guns, itmay be useful to carry some Barrage S.scripts for any electronic warfare modules that need them

Example EFT Cut & Paste

Here's an example using cheap named modules. This will fit with starting skills:

[Rifter, HYDRA Auto t1b]Damage Control IF-aQ Phase Code Tracking SubroutinesF-M3 Munition Inertial Suspensor

Cold-Gas I Arcjet ThrustersJ5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I'Langour' Drive Disruptor I

150mm Light Carbine Repeating Cannon I, Phased Plasma S150mm Light Carbine Repeating Cannon I, Phased Plasma S150mm Light Carbine Repeating Cannon I, Phased Plasma S[empty high slot]

[empty rig slot][empty rig slot][empty rig slot]

And here's a t2 version, which requires more advanced skills:

[Rifter, HYDRA Auto t2]Damage Control IITracking Enhancer IIGyrostabilizer II

1MN Afterburner IIJ5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I'Langour' Drive Disruptor I

150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S[empty high slot]

Small Projectile Burst Aerator ISmall Projectile Collision Accelerator I[empty rig slot]

Stats

Using the named version with starting skills:

Effective HP: 1900Speed: 896 m/sDPS: 44Turret Optimal + Falloff: 0.5 + 5.4 km

Or with the t2 variant and all Lv V skills:

Effective HP: 2585Speed: 1154 m/sDPS: 146 (close range) 117 (barrage)Turret Optimal + Falloff: 0.8 + 7.1 km (close range) 1.6 + 11 km (barrage)

T1 Hydra Arty RifterGeneral Info

Special Ability: 5% bonus to Small Projectile Turret damage and 7.5% bonus to tracking per level.

This is a basic T1 setup for use in a PvP-BASIC Hydra Gang.

The rifter is an excellent frigate, with a balanced slot layout, good damage, and excellent speed. They arevery popular among Agony pilots. Due to the size of PvP-BASIC fleets, this artillery setup is preferredover the autocannon setup. While the autocannon setup deals more damage, many pilots find the range ofthe artillery setup allows them to start dealing damage earlier.

Example Hydra Artillery Rifter Setup

Low Slots

Damage ControlTracking EnhancerNanofiber Internal Structure

Mid Slots

1MN Afterburner2x EWAR module of your choice

Since this is a longer ranged setup, I recommend tracks/damps/warp disruptors rather than webs andscramblers.

Remember that you should bring a range of EWAR modules though, since you will probably be asked tochange them when we set up the fleet. For the full list of modules to bring, see Recommended Modules forPVP-Basic.

High Slots

3x 250mm Light Artillery

Cargo

1000 units of close range projectile ammo (EMP S, Phased Plasma S or Fusion S). You may alsowish to bring some mid range ammo such as Titanium Sabot, but I find you generally won't use it.both kinds of scripts for any electronic warfare modules that need them

Example EFT Cut & Paste

Here's an example using cheap named fittings - this will fit with starting skills.

[Rifter, HYDRA Arty t1b]Damage Control IF-aQ Phase Code Tracking SubroutinesType-D Altered SS Nanofiber Structure

Cold-Gas I Arcjet ThrustersF-392 Baker Nunn Tracking Disruptor IIndirect Scanning Dampening Unit I

250mm Light Carbine Howitzer I, Phased Plasma S250mm Light Carbine Howitzer I, Phased Plasma S250mm Light Carbine Howitzer I, Phased Plasma S[empty high slot]

[empty rig slot][empty rig slot][empty rig slot]

And here's a t2 variant, which will require more advanced skills:

[Rifter, HYDRA Arty t2b]Damage Control IITracking Enhancer IINanofiber Internal Structure II

1MN Afterburner IIDDO Photometry Tracking Disruptor ILow Frequency Sensor Suppressor I

250mm Light Artillery Cannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S250mm Light Artillery Cannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S250mm Light Artillery Cannon II, Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S[empty high slot]

Small Projectile Burst Aerator ISmall Projectile Collision Accelerator I[empty rig slot]

Stats

Using cheap named fit and starting skills:

Effective HP: 1789Speed: 970 m/sDPS: 27Turret Optimal + Falloff: 4.7 + 11 km

Using t2 fit and all Lv V skills:

Effective HP: 2375Speed: 1263 m/sDPS: 91Turret Optimal + Falloff: 6.9 + 14 km

T1 Hydra CrucifierGeneral Info

Special Ability: 10% bonus to Small Energy Turret capacitor use and 5% bonus to TrackingDisruptor effectiveness per skill level.

This is a basic T1 setup for use in a PvP-BASIC Hydra gang.

The crucifier is an excellent electronic warfare platform. With its tracking disruptor bonus, it can single-handedly shut down an opposing turret ship, and is a great addition to any gang. When fitting a crucifier,remember that you are not there as a dps ship - your focus should be on maximising the effectiveness ofyour tracking disruptors.

Keep an eye on your capacitor duruing combat, especially if you have relatively low skills - You mayneed to disengage your turrets in order to conserve cap during a long engagement.

Remember to bring both types of scripts as you may be directed to change them by the FC or EWO.

Example Hydra Crucifier Setup

Low Slots

Damage ControlOverdrive InjectorSignal Amplifier

Mid Slots

1MN Afterburner2x Tracking Disruptor

High Slots

2x Dual Light Beam Laser

Drones

Light Armor Maintenance Bot x 1

Cargo

Your choice of laser crystals - choose one that gives you a range over 6km (to avoid smartbombrange). Since lasers can change ammo type instantly, you may also wish to carry mid and long rangedcrystals, although this is not required.Tracking speed and optimal range scripts for tracking disruptors.Spare Light Armor Maintenance Bots.

Rigs

These are optional, but some of these are extremely cheap to purchase in trade hubs. Next to each rig inparentheses is the number of calibration points it requires. Crucifier has 400 calibration points in total:

Small Tracking Diagnostic Subroutines I (200) - increases tracking disruptor effectiveness,decreases shield amountSmall Particle Dispersion Projector I (100) - increases EWAR optimal range, decreases shieldamountSmall Low Friction Nozzle Joints I (50) - improves ship's agility so you can warp out faster,decreases armor amountSmall Auxiliary Thrusters I (100) - increases ship's max velocity, decreases armor amount

Due to the high calibration requirement of the tracking disruptor strength rig, fitting 2 of it will leave youunable to fit a 3rd rig, although this will give you the highest possible tracking disruptor effectiveness.

Example EFT Cut & Paste

Here's an example using cheap named modules which will fit using starting skills:

[Crucifier, HYDRA t1]Damage Control IType-D Altered SS Overdrive InjectorType-D Attenuation Signal Augmentation

Cold-Gas I Arcjet ThrustersF-392 Baker Nunn Tracking Disruptor IF-392 Baker Nunn Tracking Disruptor I

Dual Modal Light Laser I, Multifrequency SDual Modal Light Laser I, Multifrequency S

[empty rig slot][empty rig slot][empty rig slot]

Light Armor Maintenance Bot I x1

And here's a t2 variant which will require more advanced skills:

[Crucifier, HYDRA t2]Damage Control IIOverdrive Injector System IISignal Amplifier II

1MN Afterburner IIDDO Photometry Tracking Disruptor IDDO Photometry Tracking Disruptor I

Dual Light Beam Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency SDual Light Beam Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency S

Small Tracking Diagnostic Subroutines ISmall Tracking Diagnostic Subroutines I[empty rig slot]

Light Armor Maintenance Bot I x1

Stats

With cheap named variant and starting skills:

Effective HP: 1750Speed: 796 ms/DPS: 20 (multifrequency)Turret Optimal + Falloff: 4.8 + 3 km (multifrequency)Tracking Disruptor Optimal + Falloff: 44 + 22

Tracking Disruptor Strangth: 41.8%Targeting Range: 61.75km

With te variant and all Lv V skills:

Effective HP: 2332Speed: 1038 ms/DPS: 45 (multifrequency)Turret Optimal + Falloff: 6.6 + 3.8 km (multifrequency)Tracking Disruptor Optimal + Falloff: 69 + 35Tracking Disruptor Strangth: 67.18%Targeting Range: 77.19km

Standard GriffinGeneral Info

Special Ability: 15% bonus to ECM Target Jammer strength and 10% bonus to ECM TargetJammers' capacitor need per level.

This is a standard T1 Griffin setup, and is the recommended setup for PvP-BASIC. Griffins are excellentforce multipliers, and are perhaps the single most useful T1 frigate that there is. Flying a Griffin on PvP-BASIC (or almost any fleet) is a great idea, and will make you both popular and attractive!

Flying a Griffin

When flying a Griffin, you are very likely to find yourself named primary, so be aligned and ready towarp out to the nearest planet or tactical if you are attacked. Depending on the situation, you may want towarp back in at range (30-50km in order to be in optimum ECM range), or just warp back to the bulk ofthe fleet.

Remember that you are not filling a DPS role, so damage is not a priority. Your primary role is to reduceDPS of enemy ships and stay alive by keeping at range, and the griffin is very effective at this. If the fleethas no EWO or has been directed to spread jams, lock multiple targets then activate one jammer on eachtarget and let them run cycles on auto-repeat. Try to match colors of your jammers to background color oflocked target. Once a gray countdown bar appears below the target window, that target has been jammedso it would be wasteful to activate a second jammer on it. If some particular targets have been called asprimary for ECM group, turn auto-repeat off on your jammers and cycle them manually on targetsspecified.

Most pilots choose to fit racial ECM instead of multispectral ECM. Racial ECM has better range andlower capacitor use, which would allow you to keep further away and keep your cap stable if your capskills aren't very high. However, racial ECM requires more micromanagement, and requires you to beengaging multiple ships of different races in order to be most effective - multispecs are more effective ifyou are engaging a single or very small group of targets, or the fleet has very few jammers. For BASIC,we ask that you fit racial jammers only. If you are unfamiliar with ship types, the easy way to match racialECM to target is to lock multiple ships and match the colors on ECM modules to the background of thetarget window (i.e. red ladar jammers jam Minmatar ships with red background, yellow radar jammersjam Amarr ships with yellow background, and so on).

Beware of bombs! Griffin is one of the frigates in game that have larger signature radius. Meanwhile ithas very few hit points. It will get wiped out with 2 bombs thrown by stealth bombers. If you see morethan 2 bombs coming at your Griffin, warp out to a celestial object immediately then come back to rejointhe fleet.

Example Griffin Setup

Low Slots

Signal Distortion Amplifier

Mid Slots

1MN Afterburner3x Racial ECM Jammer

High Slots

2x Standard Missile Launcher

Drones

Light Armor Maintenance Bot I x1

Cargo

1000 units of Caldari Navy light missilesSpare Light Armor Maintainance Bots

Rigs

These are optional, but some of these are extremely cheap to purchase in trade hubs. Next to each rig inparentheses is the number of calibration points it requires. Griffin has 400 calibration points in total:

Small Particle Dispersion Projector I (200) - increases tracking ECM effectiveness, decreasesshield amountSmall Particle Dispersion Projector I (100) - increases EWAR optimal range, decreases shieldamountSmall Low Friction Nozzle Joints I (50) - improves ship's agility so you can warp out faster,decreases armor amountSmall Auxiliary Thrusters I (100) - increases ship's max velocity)

Due to the high calibration requirement of the ECM strength rigs, fitting 2 of it will leave you unable to fita 3rd rig, although this will give you the highest possible ECM effectiveness.

Example EFT Cut & Paste

Here's a version using cheap named modules, which will fit with starting skills:

[Griffin, HYDRA t1]Induced Signal Distortion Amplifier I

Cold-Gas I Arcjet ThrustersFZ-3a Disruptive Spatial Destabilizer ECMLanguid Phase Inversion ECM I'Gloom' I White Noise ECM

'Malkuth' Standard Missile Launcher I, Flameburst Light Missile'Malkuth' Standard Missile Launcher I, Flameburst Light Missile[empty high slot]

[empty rig slot][empty rig slot][empty rig slot]

Light Armor Maintenance Bot I x1

And here's a t2 variant which will require more advanced skills:

[Griffin, HYDRA t2]'Hypnos' Signal Distortion Amplifier I

1MN Afterburner IIBZ-5 Neutralizing Spatial Destabilizer ECMEnfeebling Phase Inversion ECM I'Umbra' I White Noise ECM

Standard Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Flameburst Light MissileStandard Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Flameburst Light Missile[empty high slot]

Small Particle Dispersion Augmentor ISmall Particle Dispersion Projector ISmall Particle Dispersion Projector I

Light Armor Maintenance Bot I x1

Note that Meta 4 ECM jammers give the same jam strength as t2, but with lower cap useage and for lessCPU.

Stats

With cheap named variant and starting skills:

Effective hitpoints: 1185 (each bomb is capable of dealing up to 800 damage to a Griffin)

Speed: 731 meters/secondLight Missiles Max Flight Range: 18.8 kmDPS: 11ECM Optimal + Falloff: 32 + 33 kmECM Strength: 4.6 points against correct racial ship type, 1.5 point otherwiseTargeting Range: 60km

With t2 variant and all Lv V skills:

Effective hitpoints: 1353 (each bomb is capable of dealing up to 800 damage to a Griffin)Speed: 942 meters/secondLight Missiles Max Flight Range: 42.2 kmDPS: 29ECM Optimal + Falloff: 72 + 53 kmECM Strength: 9.4 points against correct racial ship type, 3.1 point otherwiseTargeting Range: 75km

T1 Hydra MaulusGeneral Info

Special Ability: 5% bonus to Small Hybrid Turret damage and Remote Sensor Dampenereffectiveness per skill level.

This is a basic T1 setup for use in a PvP-BASIC Hydra gang.

The maulus is an excellent electronic warfare platform. With its bonus to sensor dampeners, many shipswill be dead before they can establish lock. Teaming up with an ECM ship such as a griffin can create atruly deadly combination for 2 tech 1 frigates.

Unlike most electronic warfare frigates, the maulus is actually capable of dealing significant damage withblasters and light drones, however in PvP-BASIC this is generally not effective (blaster range is tooshort, and you will lose your drones the first time the fleet emergency warps out of a fight). When fitting amaulus for PvP-BASIC, your focus should be on maximising the effectiveness of your sensor dampeners.

Keep an eye on your capacitor duruing combat, especially if you have relatively low skills - You mayneed to disengage your turrets in order to conserve cap during a long engagement.

Remember to bring both types of scripts as you may be directed to change them by the FC or EWO.

Example Hydra Maulus Setup

Low Slots

Damage ControlCapacitor Power Relay, or Signal Amplifier (for pilots with good cap skills)

Mid Slots

1MN Afterburner2x Remote Sensor Dampener

High Slots

2x 125mm Railgun

Drones

Light Armor Maintenance Bot x 2

Cargo

1000 units of close range hybrid charges - try to choose an ammo type that gives you an optimalrange over 6km (to stay outside smartbomb range). You may also wish to bring some mid or longranged ammo, although in my experience you will rarely use it.Targeting Range Dampening and Scan Resolution Dampening scripts for sensor dampeners.Spare Light Armor Maintenance Bots.

Rigs

These are optional, but some of these are extremely cheap to purchase in trade hubs. Next to each rig inparentheses is the number of calibration points it requires. Maulus has 400 calibration points in total:

Small Inverted Signal Field Projector I (200) - increases sensor dampener effectiveness, decreasesshield amountSmall Particle Dispersion Projector I (100) - increases EWAR optimal range, decreases shieldamountSmall Low Friction Nozzle Joints I (50) - improves ship's agility so you can warp out faster,decreases armor amountSmall Auxiliary Thrusters I (100) - increases ship's max velocity, decreases armor amount

Due to the high calibration requirement of the sensor dampener strength rig, fitting 2 of it will leave youunable to fit a 3rd rig, although this will give you the highest possible dampener effectiveness.

Example EFT Cut & Paste

Here's an example using cheap named modules which will fit using starting skills:

[Maulus, HYDRA t1]Damage Control IMark I Generator Refitting: Capacitor Power Relay

Cold-Gas I Arcjet ThrustersIndirect Scanning Dampening Unit IIndirect Scanning Dampening Unit I

125mm Carbide Railgun I, Antimatter Charge S125mm Carbide Railgun I, Antimatter Charge S[empty high slot]

[empty rig slot][empty rig slot][empty rig slot]

Light Armor Maintenance Bot I x2

And here's a t2 variant which will require more advanced skills:

[Maulus, HYDRA t2]Damage Control IISignal Amplifier II

Cold-Gas I Arcjet ThrustersLow Frequency Sensor Suppressor ILow Frequency Sensor Suppressor I

125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S[empty high slot]

Small Inverted Signal Field Projector ISmall Ionic Field Projector ISmall Ionic Field Projector I

Light Armor Maintenance Bot I x2

Note the targeting range rigs, which combined with the Signal Amplifier allow you to make the most ofyour dampener's long falloff to damp down ships which try to engage the fleet at range.

Stats

Using cheap named variant and starting skills:

Effective HP: 1768Speed: 752 m/s

DPS: 20 (antimatter)Turret Optimal + Falloff: 4.7 + 5 km (antimatter)Dampener Optimal + Falloff: 28 + 55 kmDampener Stength: 35.42%Targeting Range: 50 km

Using t2 variant and all Lv V skills:

Effective HP: 2349Speed: 929 m/sDPS: 56 (faction antimatter)Turret Optimal + Falloff: 6.8 + 6.3 km (antimatter)Dampener Optimal + Falloff: 43 + 86 kmDampener Stength: 54.14%Targeting Range: 123.63 km