Gallente Basic Ship and Skill Overview
Contents
This guide provides general information and recommendations for T1 ships of a single player faction.
For more advanced and in-depth information on specific ships refer to the ship index. This guide simply gathers the characteristics and overview of racial lineups in an easy to browse format for the very new player.
This guide aims to provide an overview of the different ships and their roles rather than specific fits. For these, take a look at the individual ship's page (eg Atron).
Gallente General Information
The Gallente Federation is one of the four playable factions and has a unique and distinct line of ships.
Gallente Federation Characteristics
| Tank Type: |  Armor
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| Main Weapon Systems: |  Hybrid Turrets and  Drones
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| Electronic Warfare: |  Remote Sensor Dampening and  Warp Prevention
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Skills
For general skills that benefit all pilots, see Basic Skills and Support Skills.
Every pilot should think about which skills they want to train in order to reach their goals. The following only touches on basic and essential skills and should only serve as a guideline.
One may also want to check out the certificates system within Eve. It serves as a handy reference for if you want to train for a specific task or role. Note that completing a certificate does not give any boosts or bonuses, they are (for now) merely suggestions. They may be accessed in-game on your character sheet, in the "Certificates" tab of the "Skills" section.
Ship Command Skills
In order to fly a ship, pilots must train the appropriate skill for that ship. For Gallente these include:
- Gallente Frigate
- Gallente Destroyer
- Gallente Cruiser
- Gallente Battlecruiser
- Gallente Battleship
- Gallente Industrial
Fitting Skills
In order to fit almost any ship effectively and efficiently, certain skills should be trained:
Capacitor Skills
For Gallente ships capacitor is important for active armor tanking, propulsion modules, and hybrid weapons. Certain skills can be trained in order to achieve an optimal size, recharge rate and efficiency for a ships capacitor.
Mobility Skills
- Main article: Mobility skills
Mobility skills increase the agility and speed of a ship, which can be a lifesaver, even for the most cumbersome of ships.
Armor Tanking Skills
- Main article: Armor Tanking skills
Gallente ships are generally designed to armor tank. This means that it is necessary to achieve a certain level of proficiency in armor support skills, including eventually being able to fit T2 armor tanking modules. To do this, following skills can be trained:
Weapons Skills
Hybrid Turrets
- Main article: Hybrid Turret skills
To maximize the effectiveness of hybrid turrets, pilots can train:
- Gunnery
- Hybrid Turrets
- Small Hybrid Turret for Frigates/Destroyers
- Medium Hybrid Turret for Cruisers/Battlecruisers
- Large Hybrid Turret for Battleships
- Motion Prediction
- Rapid Firing
- Sharpshooter
- Surgical Strike
- Trajectory Analysis
- Controlled Bursts
Drone Skills
- Main article: Drone skills
Many Gallente ships can fit drones, some even specializing in them. Pilots planning to use drones, or fly a drone boat can train:
- Drones
- Drone Interfacing
- Drone Sharpshooting
- Drone Durability
- Drone Navigation
- Drone Avionics
- Advanced Drone Avionics
Additionally, depending on the type of drones planned for use, type specific drone skills are required:
Ships
Here are the Gallente T1 ships. Please follow the links to the specific pages of the ship database for more details and particular fits.
Corvette
The corvette is the first ship you start with. If you are Gallente, it will be a Velator. A new corvette is given whenever you dock at a station where you do not have any ships.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Role Bonus: The Velator class corvette is one of the older vessel types in the Gallente fleet. It was first deployed on the market as a fast passenger craft but the extra passenger quarters were later modified into weapon hardpoints as the newer models came to be used for small-scale security and military duties. The Velator is still a very solid mining and trading vessel. |
A Velator can be used for the initial tutorial missions, or as a free shuttle.
Frigate
Frigates are small, fast ships, used often for PvE in level 1 missions. They are also used for tackling and electronic warfare roles in PvP.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Frigate bonuses (per skill level): The Atron is a hard nugget with an advanced power conduit system, but little space for cargo. Although it is a good harvester when it comes to mining, its main ability is as a combat vessel. |
The Atron is the Gallente Attack Frigate. It is designed to be fast and has a capacitor bonus to tackle modules and bonuses to hybrid turrets, favouring blasters. The Atron doesn't have great firepower and it still isn't the most durable of ships, but with its speed and agility, good piloting can keep it alive while tackling a target while other ships deliver the punch. Furthermore, it can serve as a level 1 mission runner until Gallente Frigate III is trained for the Incursus and Gallente Destroyer I for the Catalyst.
The Atron is a great hull for new pilots interested in learning how to +1. The agile but fragile ship will assist new pilots in understanding some of the limitations of Interceptors. It can serve as an amazing long-point tackle ship.
"Scram Chasing" might be difficult and lethal in the Atron and should be left for tankier hulls like the Incursus.
The Atron is the "fastest" T1 attack Frigate. While the Minmatar Slasher is (originally) 10m/s faster than the Atron, the three low slots allow adding an Overdrive or Nanofiber Hull resulting in a faster ship while still retaining the same tank. A large capacitor allows a stable fit relatively easy, allowing to keep point on a target for prolonged times, until your fleet or gang arrive on grid. In addition, an ample Power Grid and CPU make the Atron easy to fit with little training.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Frigate bonuses (per skill level): The Imicus is a slow but hard-shelled frigate, ideal for any type of scouting activity. Used by merchant, miner and combat groups, the Imicus is usually relied upon as the operation's eyes and ears when traversing low security sectors. |
The Imicus is the Gallente Tech 1 exploration and scanning frigate. It is a good ship for rookies or veterans who are getting into probing and don't have the skills for the T2 version, the Helios. Its bonus to virus strength allows it to complete Data and Relic sites faster and more reliably.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Frigate bonuses (per skill level): The Incursus may be found both spearheading and bulwarking Gallente military operations. Its speed makes it excellent for skirmishing duties, while its resilience helps it outlast its opponents on the battlefield. Incursus-class ships move together in groups and can quickly and effectively gang up on ships many times their size and overwhelm them. In recent years the Incursus has increasingly found its way into the hands of pirates, who love its aggressive appearance. |
The Incursus is the typical PvE and PvP frigate for Gallente players. It is faster and has a better scan resolution than the Tristan, which makes it better for tackling in PvP. It is also the only Gallente frigate with 3 turret slots. The Incursus will likely deal more damage than a Tristan for pilots without Drones V.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Frigate bonuses (per skill level): The Maulus is a high-tech vessel, specialized for electronic warfare. It is particularly valued in fleet warfare due to its optimization for sensor dampening technology. |
The Maulus is an electronic warfare frigate, specialized in dampening. Its low locking range makes it ineffective at range damping snipers. However, it can resolution damp effectively with the help of ECM in the fleet.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Frigate bonuses (per skill level): In YC114 each major empire faction, having been embroiled in a harrowing, extensive, long-term war, recognized the growing need for support and logistics functionality in their vessels during the kind of protracted interstellar warfare that might otherwise prove exhausting for its participants. In the Gallente Federation, this led to the redesign and redeployment of the Navitas. |
The Navitas is the Gallente logistics frigate and is designed for remote armor repair. It makes an ideal entry point for beginner Gallente capsuleers who want to train into the Exequror, the Gallente Tier 1 logistics Cruiser, before eventually moving on to the Tier 2 Oneiros.
Note: The Navitas is designed to be self-sufficient on capacitor (i.e. to fly without the need of a cap chain) like its larger variants: the Exequror and Oneiros. However, logistics capsuleers can cross-train into the Amarr Augoror relatively easily, and from there to the T2 Guardian although both of these ships require a cap chain.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Frigate bonuses (per skill level): Often nicknamed The Fat Man, this nimble little frigate is mainly used by the Federation in escort duties or on short-range patrols. The Tristan has been very popular throughout Gallente space for years because of its versatility. It is rather expensive, but buyers will definitely get their money's worth, as the Tristan is one of the more powerful frigates available on the market. |
The Tristan is an excellent frigate for PvP and PvE. It is a dedicated drone boat - the only T1 frigate that can operate 5 drones - and thus requires high drone skills to be flown effectively. It offers a bonus to both Hybrid Turret tracking speed and Drone hitpoints and tracking speed. However, it is slower and has less scan resolution than the Incursus, making it slightly worse for a dedicated tackling role in fleets.
Destroyer
Destroyers are ships slightly larger than frigates. They use the same sized modules as frigates, and they have more high slots. They are often used in PvE for level 1 missions, and as salvaging ships for pilots that have not yet acquired a Noctis.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Destroyer bonuses (per skill level): The Algos, as is custom with the Gallente, relies on swiftness of action - preferably at a respectable distance - to accomplish its goals. In this it reflects well-honed Gallente values, which include taking independent action without taking forever to wait for a committee decision, and also doing so, if at all possible, in a fashion that allows for a nice, safe buffer for immediate retreat; because theory is one thing, and practice is sometimes quite another. |
The Algos is the Gallente destroyer added in the Retribution expansion. It is the second step on the Gallente drone boat path, between the Tristan and Vexor. It is slightly bulkier than the Catalyst, and since it is capable of fitting a full flight of salvage drones in addition to a rack of railguns, the Algos is an excellent choice for L1 mission running. Unlike larger ships (i.e. the Vexor), the Algos is designed to be flown with very low skill points; with that in mind, it is the only drone ship where Drones V is not an absolute necessity - although it should still be a top priority for new Gallente pilots. The Algos is a versatile destroyer, capable of running either rails or blasters while pushing through a respectable amount of DPS.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Destroyer bonuses (per skill level): Ideally suited for both skirmish warfare and fleet support, the Catalyst is touted as one of the best anti-frigate platforms out there. Faced with its top-of-the-line tracking equipment, not many can argue. |
The Catalyst is a Gallente destroyer. Its bonuses favor blasters, though it can also be rail fit. It has 2 mids, allowing it to fit a tackle module, and 3 low slots for an armor tank. Unfortunately the Catalyst is still a destroyer, so it has a large signature for its tank, making it vulnerable to cruiser weapons, and it's slow speed and lack of mid slots means it will have difficulty dictating range against frigates, which is important for a blaster ship. A railgun fit Catalyst is a very fast L1 mission runner, but has trouble tanking level 2s. The catalyst's very high damage at short range makes it the ship of choice for high sec suicide ganks, as it is able to easily reach 900 Dps with T2 guns.
Like all destroyers, the Catalyst is also a great entry-level salvager ship on a player's path to a Noctis.
Cruiser
Cruisers are Eve's medium-sized ships, larger than frigates and destroyers but still much smaller, faster and nimbler than battlecruisers and battleships. Cruisers mount medium-sized weapons and modules. Tech 1 cruiser hulls cost a few million ISK and tend to be the first major financial step up from frigates for new pilots.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Cruiser bonuses (per skill level): The Celestis cruiser is a versatile ship which can be employed in a myriad of roles, making it handy for small corporations with a limited number of ships. True to Gallente style the Celestis is especially deadly in close quarters combat due to its advanced targeting systems. |
The Celestis is the Gallente EW cruiser. It can be made surprisingly tough for an EWAR cruiser with its 5 lows. Its extra lock range and bonus to sensor dampener range makes it considerably better at range damping snipers than the smaller Maulus.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Cruiser bonuses (per skill level): In YC114 each major empire faction, having been embroiled in a harrowing, extensive, long-term war, recognized the growing need for support and logistics functionality in their vessels during the kind of protracted interstellar warfare that might otherwise prove exhausting for its participants. Both Frigate and Cruiser-class ships were put under the microscope, and in the Gallente Federation the outcome of the re-evaluation process led, among other developments, to a redesign and redeployment of the Exequoror. |
The Exequror is the Gallente logistics cruiser. It's bonuses to remote armor repair range and power allow it to serve as a T1 armor logistic cruiser. It is an effective ship for new logistics pilots.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Cruiser bonuses (per skill level): The Thorax-class cruiser is the latest combat ship commissioned by the Federation. While the Thorax is a very effective ship at any range, typical of modern Gallente design philosophy it is most effective when working at extreme close range where its blasters and hordes of combat drones tear through even the toughest of enemies. |
The Thorax is a gun boat, designed to use hybrid turrets. In PvP the Thorax is used as a hard hitting blaster boat. This can be highly effective but is very "do or die", and will make most Thoraxes' lives glorious but short. In PvE, the Thorax is less popular; the slow and steady style of the Vexor is more suited to mission running. Despite this the Thorax can be popular as a first mission running cruiser, because most pilots will have trained gunnery skills while piloting frigates and destroyers, while they will probably have neglected the drone skills required to use a Vexor effectively. Having said that, the Thorax has a 50m3 drone bay, so will also benefit greatly from drone skills.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Cruiser bonuses (per skill level): The Vexor is a strong combat ship that is also geared to operate in a variety of other roles. The Vexor is especially useful for surveying in potentially hostile sectors as it can stay on duty for a very long time before having to return to base. Furthermore, it is well capable of defending itself against even concentrated attacks. |
The Vexor, like the Myrmidon and Dominix, is a drone boat. The Vexor is an excellent mission ship, and can also be a good PvP ship. It has 75mb of drone bandwidth, allowing it to field a mixed flight of medium and heavy drones at a time, and has the drone bay to carry a few replacements or an additional flight of light drones. This gives the Vexor great flexibility for long roams, where it can carry a full flight of medium and light damage drones, as well as a flight of light repair or EWAR drones to deploy as the situation dictates. While the Vexor has a bonus to hybrid guns, this can be ignored if desired due to a large amount of the Vexor's DPS coming from drones anyway, and Vexors with autocannons, nosferatu and/or neutralisers are common. With 4 mids and 5 lows Vexors are most often armor tanked.
The Vexor is also a great ship to use for salvaging missions as they are completed. By using 2 Salvagers, a Small Tractor Beam, a Drone Link Augmentor and a single Hybrid Turret (to draw aggro) in the high slots a moderately drone-skilled capsuleer can securely complete level 2 missions while salvaging. Salvaging level 2 missions is debatably profitable however the salvage/mission fit Vexor can complete level 2s in respectable time when compared to a straight mission fit Vexor.
Among T1 cruisers the Vexor is a little more skill demanding than the Thorax. In particular you should not get a Vexor unless you have at least Drones IV and should make getting Drones V a high priority.
Battlecruiser
Battlecruisers are larger, slower and have more slots than cruisers, but they're smaller than battleships and fit the same medium-sized weapons that cruisers use. They occupy a position between cruisers and battleships analogous to destroyers' position between frigates and cruisers, although battlecruisers are much more versatile and widely-used than destroyers.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Battlecruiser bonuses (per skill level): One of the most ferocious war vessels to ever spring from Gallente starship design, the Brutix is a behemoth in every sense of the word. When this hard-hitting monster appears, the battlefield takes notice. |
The Brutix is renowned for its high DPS potential in PvP. It is also a popular suicide gank ship.
Although Gallente ships are usually better armor tanked, the Brutix benefits from a shield tank in several areas. Low slots can be dedicated to gank modules to increase DPS. The shield tank Brutix also has the advantage of being faster than an armor tank, which means it can get into the short blaster range sooner.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Battlecruiser bonuses (per skill level): Worried that their hot-shot pilots would burn brightly in their eagerness to engage the enemy, the Federation Navy created a ship that encourages caution over foolhardiness. A hardier version of its counterpart, the Myrmidon is a ship designed to persist in battle. Its numerous medium and high slots allow it to slowly bulldoze its way through the opposition, while its massive drone space ensures that no enemy is left unscathed. |
The Myrmidon is the typical level 3 missioning ship. It can fit a passive shield tank like the Drake, but most Gallente players will focus on armor tanking skills, and its armor repair bonus make it an excellent armor tanker.
The Myrmidon can also be an excellent PvP ship, though the damage potential is less than the Brutix with most fittings. It is sometimes used in PvP with dual or triple reps. The Myrmidon has a 100 mb drone bandwidth. Ogres may have difficulty tracking targets smaller than battleships, and travel time can also be an issue depending on the initial engagement range. Pilots without T2 ogres may wish to use hammerheads, valkyries, warriors, and ec-300 drones in their drone bay instead.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Battlecruiser bonuses (per skill level): The Talos began in YC 110 as an R&D concept by ORE. Conceived as a patrol craft for mining operations in lawless space, the Talos would have been abandoned completely were it not adopted by the Black Eagles, a black-ops branch of the Gallente government. The Black Eagles stripped the Talos of non-essential systems and bolted on battleship-class weapons, creating a quick-strike craft ideal for guerilla action. |
The Talos is the Gallente Attack Battlecruiser. With a damage and a tracking bonus, it focuses on blasters, providing very high DPS, but limited range. In short, it has the DPS of a Megathron and the tank of a Thorax. However with the range of heavy blasters and the second highest speed of the Tier 3 battlecruisers a shield-tanking Talos can be an effective kiter. A very good write-up can be found here.
Battleship
Battleships ("BSs", sometimes "BBs" from US Navy terminology) are the biggest, heaviest sub-capital combat ships in the game. They are correspondingly expensive, with even the cheapest battleship hulls selling for many tens of millions of ISK. Tech 1 battleships are standard tools in PvP and PvE combat. There are two classes of Tech 2 battleships: Marauders, which are specialised for mission-running, and Black Ops battleships, which can transport fleets of stealthy ships across long distances using covert cynosural fields.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Battleship bonuses (per skill level): The Dominix is one of the old warhorses dating back to the Gallente-Caldari War. While no longer regarded as the king of the hill, it is by no means obsolete. Its formidable hulk and powerful drone arsenal means that anyone not in the largest and latest battleships will regret ever locking horns with it. |
The Dominix (aka Domi) is the one of two T1 battleship drone carriers, with a bonus to drone damage and hit points. It has the 125mb bandwidth required to field a full flight of heavy or sentry drones (which is not unique among t1 battleships) and a 375m3 drone bay large enough to carry several flights of heavies, sentries, mediums and/or lights. The Dominix's ability to choose damage types by switching drones makes it an attractive level 4 mission runner. With its 5 mid slots and 7 low slots, the Dominix is normally armor tanked. Compared to the Amarrian Armageddon, the Dominix has bonuses towards drone tracking and optimal - this helps a little with normal drones, but is most useful when using sentry drones.
Since Dominixes get a lot of their damage from drones, some high slots are often used for utility modules instead of weapons. One or two drone link augmentors will be required to make the most of the Dominix's maximum range with sentries. Remote repair Dominixes are also common. The Dominix lacks a bonus towards any particular type of weapon, so which guns (if any) are fitted are up to the pilot's taste. This flexibility, along with the ability to carry utility drones such as EWAR or repair, and the low price, also make the Dominix a popular pick for PvP. For capacitor warfare, however, the Armageddon has better bonuses towards it.
The Dominix is sometimes humorously called the "Space Potato" because of its squat and round appearance.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Battleship bonuses (per skill level): Recognizing the necessity for a blaster platform to round out their high-end arsenal, the Federation Navy brought in top-level talent to work on the Hyperion. The result: one of the most lethal and versatile gunboats ever to take to the dark skies. |
For PvP fleets the Hyperion doesn't get much love. In battleship fleets, remote repping is far superior, making the local rep bonus pointless. For Uni operations, it might act as a decent bait ship during lowsec patrols for pilots with too much ISK on their hands.
However, for Incursions, the Hyperion is an excellent starter blaster boat. The Hyperions bonus of 10% per level of Gallente Battleship gives it good damage output for a T1 Battleship, while it's 5 medium slots allow fitting a comfortable amount of shield resistances, a web, and a sensor booster for vanguard sites, or a microwarp drive for assaults or headquarter sites. Most pilots aiming to fly a Vindicator for incursions will start out flying a Hyperion.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Battleship bonuses (per skill level): The Megathron has established itself as one of the most feared and respected battleships around. Since its first appearance almost two decades ago it has seen considerable service in the troublesome regions on the outskirts of the Federation, helping to expand and defend Gallentean influence there. |
The Megathron is one of the best player vs. player ships available to the Gallente. With his high amount of high slots and low slots, it can fit a sporty tank while dealing out a relatively high amount of DPS. Common setups for the Megathron include "Blaster"-throns and "Sniper"-throns, the former being a close range blaster fitted ship while the latter being a railgun fitted long range ship.
Industrial
The Gallente industrial hauler ships provide tremendous flexibility in hauling. The Nereus and the Iteron Mark V are the "standard" haulers, with the Nereus focusing on speed and tank over cargo capacity, and the Iteron Mark V focusing on the opposite. The Kryos, Epithal and Miasmos are specialised haulers with massive cargo bays for specific cargo (minerals, planetary commodities, and ore, respectively).
T1 industrials are useful to transport large amounts of cargo, but they are vulnerable to suicide ganks in highsec, and piracy in lowsec. For war time hauling, a hauling alt is recommended. See the Creating an Alt Hauler article for more information.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Industrial bonuses (per skill level): Originally set to sail under the guise of "Iteron", this new iteration of an old stalwart is fast and reliable. It is equally popular among civilians and militaries due to its low price and ability to be fitted in myriad different ways. Despite its speed and resilience, however, it may need to be guarded while in particularly unfriendly territories, which is why it has also been outfitted with a drone bay for extra protection. |
The Nereus is the agile, tanked Gallente hauler. Its cargo hold can expand to 11372m3 (no rigs), its align time can be reduced to 3.6s, with a warp speed of 4.5 AU/sec.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Industrial bonuses (per skill level): Aside from being endowed with the usual hauling capabilities of Industrials, the Kryos possesses an extra cargo bay. That bay is equipped with precise temperature and pressure controls, and is dedicated solely to ferrying minerals. The Kryos was originally designed as a variant of the Iteron, but eventually evolved to perform an entirely separate role. |
The Kryos was changed from Iteron Mark II with the deployment of the Odyssey 1.1 patch. It's cargo hold was reduced in size and a dedicated mineral bay was added.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Industrial bonuses (per skill level): Aside from being endowed with the usual hauling capabilities of Industrials, the Epithal possesses an extra cargo bay. That bay is equipped with sealed sub-chambers capable of maintaining hospitable environments for practically any kind of organism or entity, from biocells to viral agents, and is meant solely for ferrying planetary commodities. The Epithal was originally designed as a variant of the Iteron, but eventually evolved to perform an entirely separate role. |
The Epithal was known as the Iteron Mark III prior to the deployment of Odyssey 1.1. Its cargohold was reduced in size and a bay was added for hauling planetary industry (PI) materials or planetary commodities.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Industrial bonuses (per skill level): Aside from being endowed with the usual hauling capabilities of Industrials, the Miasmos possesses an extra cargo bay. That bay is equipped with sealed, temperature-controlled vats, and is meant solely for ferrying all types of interstellar ore: ice, gasses and asteroids. The Miasmos was originally designed as a variant of the Iteron, but eventually evolved to perform an entirely separate role. |
The Miasmos is designed to haul raw ore in large amounts.
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S H I P B O N U S E S Gallente Industrial bonuses (per skill level): This lumbering giant is the latest and last iteration in a chain of haulers. It is the only one to retain the original "Iteron"-class callsign, but while all the others eventually evolved into specialized versions, the Iteron Mk. V still does what haulers do best: Transporting enormous amounts of goods and commodities between the stars. |
With the Odyssey 1.0 expansion, the Iteron V was the largest T1 industrial available. However, the Ody-1.1 industrial rebalance gave the Bestower the highest potential cargo, the Mammoth, the fastest travel time, the Tayra a launcher and highest base cargohold and made the Iteron Mark V average all-around due to the conversion of the Iteron Mark 2/3/4 into specialized ships for minerals, planetary commodities and ore.[1]
Ammunition, Range, and Kiting
You should carry 3 types of ammo during missions, and switch when required. By default, close range (antimatter or plutonium) ammo should be used. If you are taking too much damage at close range, switch to medium range (lead or thorium) or long (iron or tungsten) range ammo and fire from further away. Guns can suffer from tracking issues, so it is recommend to use the 'keep at range' option instead of the 'orbit' option. With the amount of enemies in missions, orbiting is less likely to mitigate the total incoming damage from rats. Even close to optimal, when orbiting and using close range ammo, guns will often have difficulty tracking enemies. Enemies should be kept close to optimal with the 'keep at range' option, this should keep angular velocity low to avoid suffering from tracking issues, and as long as enemies are within optimal there will be no reduction in damage from range.
Antimatter requires the most cap, has the shortest range, and does the most damage. Lead requires the least cap, has no range modifier, and does middling damage. Iron has the longest range, and the least damage.
To find out your optimal with ammo, load ammo in your guns, then right click and show info. The optimal displayed in the attributes will be adjusted for ammo and skills. Or better yet, use EFT and import your character skills to see all of your ship's stats.
For PvP, faction antimatter and null (blasters) or spike (rails) are usually used. Javelin (rails) has half the optimal of antimatter, better tracking, and similar DPS. Void (blasters) has slightly better DPS than faction antimatter, and better optimal, worse falloff, worse tracking, and worse cap consumption. Void can be useful in some circumstances, especially if the target has multiple webs applied to it. It is often better to keep at range close to your optimal in PvP to avoid tracking problems. Orbiting can cause tracking problems, except with small ships orbiting large ships due to the higher signature radius making shots hit the target easily.
When using a battleship that requires cap boosters, it is recommended to keep a medium standard container in the cargo hold. This will provide extra space, which is handy for switching out ammo types and picking up loot after a fight. Always make sure you have the required space for one full load of ammo in the cargo hold, otherwise switching ammo will be difficult.
Tech and Meta Levels
- See also: Techs, Tiers and Meta levels
These fittings were made mostly using Tech 1 Meta 0 modules for frigates and cruisers, and meta 4 and Tech 2 for larger ships. Higher Meta items up to meta 4 will often be easier to fit. Tech 2 is Meta 5, and usually harder to fit. Meta 3 and 4 are usually expensive, often more expensive than Tech 2. Meta 1 and 2 modules will often be less expensive than Meta 0, due to low demand and high supply on the market. Sometimes meta 4 is cheaper and better than Tech 2, like for ECCM modules. Some meta 4 modules are nearly always used instead of the T2 version, because the T2 having worse attributes and being harder to fit, like for armor plates.
In PvP, frigates and cruisers are often not worth fitting expensive modules on for low skill point or inexperienced pilots. Tech 1 Meta 0 modules are provided freely by the university. Once pilots have the skill points, a certain amount of combat experience, and enough ISK to replace bigger ships, they should consider moving to a battlecruiser with T2 fittings.
Pilots without T2 guns fitting a BC for PvP should probably avoid the overpriced meta 3 and 4 guns. Some of the meta 3 and 4 medium waepons are reasonably priced, but many are not, and will only make your ship into a loot piñata for the enemy when it is destroyed, for very little increase in effective dps. It is recommended to get T2 guns before getting into BC, BS, or any T2 damage dealing ships for PvP.
Meta 4 guns are recommended on some of these PvE ships, as many gallente pilots in their early careers will focus sooner on T2 drones than T2 guns. Some Meta 4 guns are reasonably priced, others are hideously expensive. If you can't afford to lose expensive Meta 4 guns, downgrade them to meta 3 or 2 instead.
Meta level can be checked in the 'show info' window under the attributes tab. Items without a meta level displayed in the attributes tab are meta 0. Meta level can also be displayed in a ship or station hangar when the items are displayed in list mode. To add the Meta column, right-click the header and select 'show meta lvl'.
Drones
Small drones should be used against frigate sized enemies, medium drones should be used against cruiser sized enemies, and heavy drones should be used against battleship sized enemies. Sentries are mostly meant for battleship sized enemies, but if smaller enemies are far enough that tracking and signature radius isn't an issue, they can deal relatively well those.
Amarr drones are not recommended; due to their low damage multiplier, they are rarely useful. Even against rats who's lowest resistance is EM damage, they can be outperformed by Gallente drones. However, the Amarr curator sentry drones can be good to use against rats with a low EM resist (depending on range and tracking). Gallente drones have the highest damage multiplier, and thermal damage is the best or second best damage to deal against many rat types. It is strongly recommended to fit the best drone types to match rat weaknesses.
- Caldari scout drones: Guristas, Mordu's Legion, Mercenaries, Serpentis
- Gallente scout drones: Blood Raiders, Sansha's Nation, Rogue Drones
- Minmatar scout drones: Angel Cartel
Some of these factions have ships with variable resists in different ship sizes. It is advised to check the two lowest resist options and compare drone damage reports. NPC Damage Types
Drone aggro should be watched. When arriving in a mission room, aggro should be acquired by approaching enemies and shooting them with guns. If a new wave of enemies arrives and the drones catch aggro, they should be recalled to the drone bay, and released only when the enemies have targeted your ship. Under normal circumstances, you should never lose drones when using proper aggro management with rats. Some missions have particular aggro rules that can lead to drones getting shot, check Eve Survival mission reports for details.
Keyboard shortcuts are recommended for drone management. Drones need to be initially launched manually from the drone window, but shortcuts can be set for attack and return to drone bay commands.
In PvP, Gallente and Minmatar scout drones are used almost exclusively. Gallente drones for their damage potential, Minmatar drones for their speed and explosive damage which armor tankers will not always patch. Explosive damage is also better than thermal against a wider range of T2 ships that have augmented resists. Amarr drones are sometimes used in PvP to gank mission runners and ratters that have a weak EM hole. For sentries, bouncers are popular for their damage type and range.
In general, it is better to keep drones in passive mode. In missions and wormholes, drones on active can trigger a new wave earlier than desired. In PvP, drones on active mode can lead to having an aggression timer when it is not wanted and being unable to dock or jump through a gate.
See Drones and Using Drones for more advice on drone selection and deployment.
Related Links
- Ship Fitting wiki editing parser
- Basic Skills and Support Skills - Training support skills is the first step in flying a ship well. Read up on support skills here.
- Fitting Guidelines - Some general guidelines for fitting ships.
- Fitting Modules and Rigs Guide - A list of rigs and module types with short descriptions.
- Full T2 Tank - Having a full T2 tank is a requirement for many ships during wartime in the Uni. If you fly anything other than a T1 frigate, destroyer, or cruiser, make sure you have the required skills and recommended support skills for the type of tank you use.
- NPC Damage Types and NPC Ship Attributes - To see which resists to use and damage type to deal against NPC rats.
- Creating an Alt Hauler - Having an alt hauler can be essential to be able to make shopping trips during wartime.
- Failheap Challenge - The new incarnation of Scrapheap Challenge. A good place for experienced pilots to find fittings, and many threads also had tactic discussions on how to use them.
