Minmatar Ships 102

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Class Information

This chapter contains the standard information of this class pertaining to scheduling and class contents. The General Information should be sufficient to create a proper class topic for scheduling on the Eve University forum. Additional information relevant to the teacher is listed under Notes for the Teacher.

General Information

This class provides an overview of all Tech 2 Minmatar spacecraft. This should be helpful for all aspiring Minmatar pilots but also for anyone who simply wants to know about the strengths and weaknesses of Minmatar ships.

Duration: 90 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the number of questions received

Class contents: Topics covered:

T2 ammunition discussion
introduction to T2 ships
Minmatar T2 ships overview
Q&A

Student requirements:

Mumble registration and access - make sure you have Mumble sorted out and operational well before the class begins. Use this guide for set-up.
Access to the Class.E-UNI in-game chat channel
Attending Minmatar 101 is not a prerequisite for this class

Additional information: This class is primarily lecture delivered in the Chat.E-UNI channel in Mumble, followed by Q&A.

Notes for the Teacher

Required materials:

Class.E-UNI chat channel, to receive questions and post relevant links

Keep the lecture moving forward briskly - there is a lot of content to cover here, and it's easy to go over two hours if your pace is slow.

It may save you time if you can find a volunteer to link ships as you mention them.

Class Contents

Introduction

Welcome to this class on T2 Minmatar ships!

Over the couple of hours, we will cover:

T2 ammunition discussion
introduction to T2 ships
Minmatar T2 ships overview
Q&A

(Instructor should then introduce himself or herself - covering relevant experience level and background.)

We have a few ground rules for this class:

Please put your Mumble settings on "Push to Talk" if you have not already done so.
Feel free to type any questions in the Class.E-UNI chat channel as we proceed - I will try to answer your questions as they come during the class. [At the end of my lecture, we'll open Mumble for any further questions or general discussion.]

Everyone ready? OK, then - let's begin....

T2 Projectile Ammunition

T2 ammo was briefly mentioned in Minmatar 101 but it's a good subject to have down before tackling T2 ships
Only T2 guns can load T2 ammo -- though they can also load normal ammo too, and often are loaded with normal T1 or faction ammunition
T2 ammo is usually more expensive than T1 ammo but not as expensive as faction ammo
There are four kinds of T2 ammo for projectile weapons -- two for autocannon and two for artillery

Autocannon ammo: Hail and Barrage

Hail does lots of on-paper DPS but has penalties to optimal, falloff and tracking, and your capacitor recharge rate
In practice this means Hail misses most things most of the time
Remember that 'Hail is Fail' -- only useful for shooting big, stationary targets
Barrage has a 25% tracking speed penalty, but a whopping 50% falloff bonus
Great for kiting/skirmish tactics -- often lets you do more DPS in the 14km-28km range
Also good for scram range, AB-speed 1v1 frigate fights: sit in the second half of scram range and chew the enemy to pieces from (hopefully) beyond their range
Barrage does a mixture of kinetic and explosive damage, with the emphasis on explosive

Artillery ammo: Quake and Tremor

Quake takes away 75% of your optimal range, slows down your capacitor recharge time and slows down your ship, for a smidgen more DPS
Tremor gives you 80% more optimal but takes away 75% of your tracking speed -- true sniper ammo, and probably more useful, even though it doesn't do tonnes of damage

Introduction to T2 Ships

Usually more powerful in some (but not all) ways than the T1 hulls they're based on
Completely new abilities, like being able to warp while cloaked
- Unlike T2 modules, which are usually just a better version of the same thing
Often more specialized towards a particular role than T1 hulls
Can certainly be defeated by T1 ships -- even though T2 ships are much more expensive, they're not plain better in every situation
Rule of thumb that T2 ships deserve T2 equipment
Most T2 ships have four per-level bonuses rather than the two that T1 hulls have
- [You may want to link an example T2 Minmatar ship in class chat]
- Two bonuses tied to the skill for the T1 hull, which must be trained to V before flying the ship
- Two bonuses tied to the specific ship class (i.e. 'interceptors', 'heavy assault ships' &c)

Minmatar T2 Resistance Profile

Many T2 ships also often have an unusual set of armor and shield resistances -- colloquially called 'T2 resists'
Armor and shield resistances high against the damage type associated with the racial enemy -- for Minmatar that's the Amarr, who do EM and thermal damage
[Again, linking an example ship in class chat to look at may be useful]
Where a T1 ship's natural shield resistances would be weak to EM and thermal damage, those are T2 Minmatar ships' toughest resists
T2 Minmatar ships' weakest shield resistance is kinetic, and weakest armor is explosive
Not all T2 Minmatar ships have this resistance profile -- this syllabus notes the ones that don't

T2 Minmatar Frigates

Assault Ships: Wolf and Jaguar

Assault ships: 'pocket cruisers' -- unusual amounts of DPS and/or tank in a frigate-sized package
Commonly called 'assault frigates' (AFs) because of confusion with Heavy Assault Ships
Based on the Rifter hull
Assault ships only have three per-level bonuses rather than four
Solo ships or DPS for frigate gangs in PvP
Agile ships for L1-3 missions or exploration sites, esp. in hostile territory where a bigger mission ship would get caught

Wolf

Five highs and four turret hardpoints -- one more gun than the Rifter
Two midslots means it can't mount full tackle and a propulsion module
Four lowslots for armor tank and/or gyros/tracking enhancers
Two identical per-level bonuses to damage -- essentially an unsubtle DPS machine
Per-level falloff bonus -- some solo PvP fits use an MWD and warp disruptor, and kite with Barrage

Jaguar

Four high, four medium, three lowslot layout -- can fit full tackle and a propulsion module with a slot to spare
Fastest base speed of any AF in the game
Optimal range bonus seems to indicate artillery fits, but the powergrid and CPU aren't great for that
Speed and ability to fit full tackle make it a popular solo PvP ship
Solo PvP fits traditionally fit autocannon and a MSE and fly like a nastier Rifter
Slot layout -- and better shield base HP than the Wolf -- predispose the Jag to shield tanking
Either buffer or active

Interceptors: Claw and Stiletto

Every race has two interceptors, one good purely at tackling for a gang, the other good at high-speed combat
The Stiletto is the Minmatar pure tackler, and the Claw is the combat inty
Based on the Slasher hull
Both have a bonus which reduces the signature bloom from running a MWD, letting them go very fast without becoming big targets
All inties have high scan resolution to lock targets fast; combined with the natural Minmatar superiority in scan resolution, this makes these ships lock onto targets very very fast
Inties do not have T2 racial resistance profiles

Stiletto

Per-level bonus to warp scram/disruptor range lets it point the enemy from 30km+
The only tackling interceptor with four midslots -- two spare after a point and MWD have been fitted
Add a MSE and explosive resistance rigs to tank Warrior IIs for a long time
Add a sensor booster for near-instant locking!
Popular ship for catching targets in a gatecamp and for killing pods
Slot layout and natural Minmatar strengths (speed, agility, scan resolution) make this arguably the best tackle inty

Claw

Bigger damage bonus than the Stiletto, and no bonus to warp scram/disruptor range
Four lowslots but only two midslots -- limits tactical options a bit
Sometimes, bizarrely for an inty, plated
Highest base scan resolution in the game, 10 more than a Dramiel
Overshadowed as a combat inty by the DPS of the Gallente Taranis and the kiting ability of the Amarr Crusader

Electronic Attack Frigate: Hyena

Not a very good ship; EAFs in general underwhelming
Based on the Vigil hull but doesn't have the Vigil's speed bonus
Bonus to target painting (not often used), to signature size (nice), to stasis webifier range and to 'capacitor penalty' of MWDs -- which means fitting an MWD doesn't cut your total cap as much
Actually fitting a T2 MWD to the Hyena when you have the Electronic Attack Frigates skill to V increases the Hyena's capacitor
Rarely used; when it is used, it's used as a tackler and long-range webber

Covert Ops: Cheetah and Hound

Two ships which can both warp around cloaked, but have radically different roles

Cheetah

Spying/scouting ship
Based on the Probe hull
Two bonuses to projectile turrets which are almost always useless
A per-level reduction in the CPU requirement of the covert ops cloak -- lets the Cheetah fit the cloak in the first place, also at Covert Ops level V the cloak uses 0 CPU
Bonuses to probe strength and travel time make it the ideal exploration probing or combat probing ship
Best base speed and agility of all covops, but perhaps harder to fit than some

Hound

Stealth bomber: surprise attack ship
Based on the Breacher hull, can fit covert ops cloak like the Cheetah can
Allowed to target and attack immediately after uncloaking
Can fit torpedo launchers for high DPS (bonus for explosive torpedoes)
In nullsec can fit and use bomb launchers for surprise attacks (bonus for explosive bombs)
Popular because explosive damage hits armor tanks hard (good for bombing groups of BSs) and because it's fast and nimble

Interdictor: Sabre

Interdictors' main role is to launch little probes that generate bubbles that stop everyone inside them from warping
Only works in nullsec, makes interdictors a high priority target
Any race's interdictor can do this, and they perform pretty much the same at it
However the Sabre puts out more damage than the others and moves faster, so it's actually quite good in combat (bonuses to tracking, damage and falloff)
Therefore it's popular for small gangs where that can be an extra edge
In big fleet fights where your interdictor will probably be primaried and die, the other ones are cheaper

T2 Minmatar Cruisers

Heavy Assault Ships: Muninn and Vagabond

HA Ships commonly called Heavy Assault Cruisers -- HACs -- to distinguish them from AFs
Beefed up combat cruisers, but have quite specialised roles
- Don't buy and fit them expecting them to simply be better versions of their T1 base hulls

Muninn

Minmatar sniper HAC, based on the Rupture hull
Four (count 'em!) bonuses for projectiles: damage, rate of fire, optimal range and tracking
Optimal range bonus means artillery
- Can get ranges in the 70-100km range with Tremor, with respectable DPS and high alpha
- Not the best DPS of the sniper HACs, but does have more short-range defence, versatility with a 25m3 dronebay and two utility highs
Theoretically can be fitted with ACs for short-range work, but the Hurricane does this better for less ISK

Vagabond

The classic kiting/skirmishing ship, can kill most things faster than it and is faster than most things that can kill it
Based on the Stabber hull and has its RoF and velocity bonuses, plus bonuses to damage and falloff
Falloff bonus means you can kite at long, long range with Barrage -- or even not bother loading barrage and fight at kiting range with normal short-range AC ammo
Good solo, once you have practiced kiting tactics
Also useful combination of fast, hard to scrape off tackle and reasonable DPS in a gang

Recon Ships: Huginn and Rapier

Based on the Bellicose hull
Both have little-used target painting bonuses, and more useful web range bonuses
Long-ranged webs -- normal T2 web at 40km, 50+ overheated, more with faction webs
Death to interceptors and frigates in general
Great range control utility in small gangs
Both have 40m3 dronebay and bandwidth to match
Recon ships divided into one Combat Recon and one Force Recon; Force Recon is sneakier and more fragile

Huginn

The tougher, less sneaky Combat Recon
Bizarre split weapon bonuses -- one bonus to missiles, one to projectiles
Bizarre split weapon hardpionts -- six hardpoints, three turret hardpoints and three missile
Split weapon arrangement and inability to cloak make it unpopular compared to the Rapier

Rapier

The sneaker Force Recon; can fit covert ops cloak and warp around while cloaked
Cloak means enemy don't know you have it in your gang
Can be used as an initial tackler: with a faction point and its range bonused webs holding the target in place while staying out of their range
Can fit probes (though has no bonuses for them) for a hybrid scout/initial tackler
Can more or less solo though it's no Pilgrim
Can fit covert cyno generators and has a bonus for fuel consumption when lighting cynos

Heavy Interdictor: Broadsword

Heavy Interdictors -- HICs -- do bubbles, like interdictors, but instead of launching bubble-generating probes, they generate a bubble centred on them
Can also script their bubble generator to produced a focused single-target warp disruption beam with infinite strength -- unlike the bubble, can be used in low and highsec
HICs are obvious primaries and are consequently designed to take a lot of punishment
Hence per-level bonus to shield resistance, plus normal T2 resistance profile, plus six midslots: massive buffer shield tank
Despite falloff and RoF bonuses, DPS won't set the world alight -- bring friends to do the actual shooting
Expensive and slow to train for, but useful in nullsec fleets and organised lowsec gatecamps

Logistics: Scimitar

Logistics ships repair other ships -- probably students who watched recent alliance tournaments will be familiar with them
Each race has one logistics ship: Minmatar and Caldari repair shields, Amarr and Gallente repair armor
- Of each pair, one ship can rep more hp, but really needs cap transfer support to remain stable -- best in pairs to transfer cap between them, and/or in big fleets
- The other ship reps less hp but is able to operate on its own
Of the shield logistics ships, the Caldari Basilisk is the cap-hungry ship that works best in fleets, and the Minmatar Scimitar is the less powerful, but more able to operate on its own, ship
Able to fit shield transferrers with its reduction to their CPU needs
Bonuses to shield transferrer capacitor use and range
Bonuses for tracking links but no one cares about them
Tiny, tiny signature radius (less than a destroyer) and high speed -- a hard target to hit
Great for small gangs of shield-tanked ships (like nanoDrakes, say, or shield-fit sniper HACs)

Command Ships: Claymore and Sleipnir

Command ships are both based on the Cyclone hull
Both have the Cyclone's bonus to shield boost amount: active tanks can work (drugs, Crystal sets), or go for buffer
Designed to fit warfare links -- T1 BCs have a bonus that lets them fit a warfare links, command ships do it better
Each race has two: a Fleet Command ship (focused on providing leadership bonuses) and a Field Command ship (focused on wreaking destruction)
High training requirements: among the prerequisites are Min Cruiser V, Battlecruisers V, Leadership V, Spaceship Command V, HAC IV and Logistics IV!

Claymore

The leadership-focused Fleet Command ship
Per-level bonus to the effectiveness of skirmish warfare links
- Each race has a particular set of warfare links associated with them
- Minmatar warfare links are Skirmish warfare links, which can:
  - Decrease the signature radius of all ships in the fleet (good)
  - Increase the range of tackling modules (points, scrams &c) of all ships in the fleet (awesome)
  - Increase the speed boost of ABs and MWDs fitted on all ships in the fleet (also awesome)
- Generally bonuses which are great for small gangs
The Claymore can run all three, and its bonus, added to properly trained leadership skills, can really pump up leadership bonuses, to 17% / 25%
Naturally a high priority target

Sleipnir

The combat-focused command ship
A damage-dealing beast: bonuses to RoF, damage and falloff, plus seven -- seven! -- turret hardpoints
Expensive, but good option if you want a ship which is very destructive and hard to kill, but smaller and faster than a BS

T2 Minmatar Battleships

Black Ops: Panther

Black-ops battleships ('BOBs') are capable of creating a jump portal (like a temporary gate) leading to a covert cynosural field
- Normal cynos show up in the overviews of everyone in system as a warp-to-able object
- Covert cynos don't show up on everyone's overview, so unless they're watching local and/or you light a covert cyno within d-scan range of the enemy, no one notices you enter the system
- Covert cynos can also be lit in systems which are cyno-jammed (in nullsec)
- Only a few types of ship -- generally the sneaky ones, stealth bombers, force recons, covops frigates &c -- can use covert cynos
BOBs therefore have a niche role that no other ship can fill
They can move at high speed when cloaked (indeed, they have bonuses which make them faster when cloaked) but cannot warp while cloaked
Panther is (naturally) the fastest BOB
Like all BOBs, it's possibly weaker in actual combat than its T1 base hull:
- Less base HP
- Not proper T2 resists -- only a little better than T1
Expensive one-trick pony -- only train it if you/your corp need its one trick

Marauder: Vargur

Marauders are designed to be the ultimate mission-runners
Vargur's key feature is that it only has four turret hardpoints, but has a 100% bonus to projectile damage
Like having eight turrets and three utility highslots for tractor beams and salvagers
Falloff bonus and tracking bonus let it fit large autocannon and use them effectively
Shield boost bonus like the Maelstrom for an active tank
Bonus that doubles tractor beam range and speed for quick salvaging as you run the mission
Massive cargohold for a battleship, over 1,000m3
Extremely expensive
Pathetic sensor strength of 11, barely more than a frigate, makes it hilariously easy to jam
Like all Marauders, its low sensor strength more or less rules it out of PvP except as an active-tanking bait ship

Transport Ships: Mastodon and Prowler

Transport Ships are T2 advanced ships based on industrial hulls
They're designed to carry cargo around in dangerous space
Each race has two: a deep space transport and a blockade runner
- Deep space transports can mount respectable tanks, and have bonuses to warp core strength which mean you need more than just one point of warp disruption to tackle them (like inherent warp core stabs)
- Blockade runners are nimble and fast, and can fit covert ops cloaks to warp around cloaked like covops ships, bombers &c

Mastodon

The Minmatar DST, based on the Mammoth hull
Bonuses to shield tanking: to active tanks (boost amount bonus) and to buffer tanks (hp amount bonus)
Slightly less base cargo capacity than the Mammoth

Prowler

The Minmatar BR, based on the Wreathe hull
Bonus to shield boost amount and the reduction in cloak CPU requirements which lets it fit the covops cloak
Slightly less base cargo capacity than the Wreathe
Doesn't carry as much as the Gallente Viator BR, but it is the only blockade runner which can fit both a covops cloak and a probe launcher, which can be very useful in w-space

Class Wrap-up

Thanks for attending this class!
- I would appreciate any feedback from people on how to improve the class -- post in the class thread, evemail me, &c
Questions?