Caldari Basic Ship and Skill Overview: Difference between revisions

== General Traits ==

The following characteristics are generally shared across most or all Caldari ships:

* '''[[Tanking#Shield tanking|Shield tanking]]'''. Caldari ships are designed to be shield tanked. They generally have more medium slots (so as to fit shield modules) and fewer low slots. Some Caldari ships, such as the Merlin, Drake, and Rokh, have bonuses to shield resistances. Many Caldari ships can mount a range of types of shield tank—buffer, active, or passive—depending on the situation. In some limited circumstances, some Caldari ships mount armor tanks (an EWAR ship can armor tank using its low slots to free up mid slots for more EWAR), but shield tanking is usually the order of the day.

* '''[[Missiles]]'''. Of the four factions, Caldari are most closely identified with using missiles. A line of Caldari ships have missile bonuses: examples include the Kestrel, Corax, Caracal, Drake, and Raven. Sometimes these bonuses boost missiles' range, as well as their damage.

** Missiles don't use capacitor to fire, have good ranges, and always hit if they catch up with their target. Unlike lasers and hybrid turrets, missile launchers have selectable damage types, and unlike projectile turrets, the damage selection is easy and simple.

** On the other hand, missile damage takes a while to arrive (as the missile must travel to its target), which can be a weakness in PvP; very fast ships can outrun missiles. Medium and large missiles often have particular trouble applying their damage to smaller targets. And to balance out the highly selectable damage, reloading a missile launcher takes a long time.

* '''[[Turrets#Hybrid turrets|Hybrid Turrets]]'''. Other Caldari ships have bonuses for hybrid turrets. Hybrid turrets use some capacitor energy to fire, like lasers, but they are less cap-hungry than lasers; they use physical ammunition, like projectile guns, but they have a shorter reload time (5 seconds). Different ammunition types offer trade-offs between range, damage, and capacitor load, but all hybrid turret ammunition deals a mixture of kinetic and thermal damage.

** Close-ranged blasters track very well and have very high potential DPS, but have short ranges even compared to the other short-ranged turrets (autocannon and pulse lasers).

** Long-ranged railguns lack the alpha damage of artillery but can achieve extraordinarily long ranges. Some Caldari ships are particularly well-suited to sniping at long range with railguns.

* '''[[Electronic Countermeasures|ECM jamming]]'''. The Caldari racial EWAR specialty is ECM ("electronic countermeasures"). ECM is an especially powerful form of EWAR: it does not suffer from [[Stacking penalties|stacking penalties]], unlike the other three main types of EWAR, and it can completely remove a target's ability to attack anything other than the ECM-jamming ship itself. In the larger ECM ships, it can also have a very long range. The Caldari are the only faction to have a T1 battleship with dedicated EWAR bonuses, the Scorpion. The main drawbacks of ECM are that it is chance-based, and can fail repeatedly if you're unlucky and that any ship using it is usually a primary target because it is widely feared.

* '''Fragility'''. The flipside of the extremely strong shields on Caldari ships is somewhat more fragile armour and hull hitpoints.

* '''Smaller dronebays'''. Caldari ships tend to have smaller dronebays and more limited drone bandwidth for their size and class: Caldari pilots begin to have access to enough drone space to launch a full flight of light drones when they get into battlecruisers, while Gallente ships, by contrast, offer this capacity as early as the {{sh|Tristan}}—a T1 frigate.  

If there is a broader hallmark of Caldari ships, it is perhaps '''range'''. Both Caldari missile ships and Caldari hybrid turret ships often have bonuses that help them fight at long range. Caldari ships can still fight effectively at close range, and a torpedo Raven or blaster Rokh is a dangerous opponent, but they can outshine other factions at long or very long ranges.

The fact that missiles allow players complete control over which damage type they deal, permitting precise targeting of NPCs' weak points, combined with the very long range missiles can achieve on some Caldari hulls, make Caldari missile ships popular for PvE combat. A typical progression for mission running might be the Kestrel and Corax for Level 1 missions, the Caracal for L2s, the Drake for L3s, and the Raven for L4s. The Drake can mount a famously effective low-management passive shield tank. The missile, shield, and ship command skills trained for PvE combat in Caldari missile ships are one half of the skills necessary to do well in [[Guristas]] ships, the {{sh|Worm}}, {{sh|Gila}}, and {{sh|Rattlesnake}}, and Guristas ships are popular for high-end PvE such as lucrative nullsec ratting and mid-tier [[Abyssal Deadspace]] runs.

The Cormorant, with its many high slots, makes a good basic salvaging ship.

T1 Caldari ships find various popular niches in PvP combat. The Merlin and Kestrel can do well in faction warfare frigate fights, and the Merlin's toughness and potential DPS at short ranges can make gangs of them a danger to much larger, more expensive targets. The Caracal can contribute usefully to a fast-moving gang with mid-range damage and good damage against small ships if fitted with Rapid Light Missile Launchers; the skills used in a Caracal prepare a character for a kiting-fitted {{sh|Osprey Navy Issue}}, a popular ship for solo and small gang PvP, and for the advanced Tech 2 {{sh|Cerberus}}, which is used in some popular fleet compositions. Caldari hybrid turret ships are often prized for their range. The Ferox, for instance, can be made the backbone of a sniping fleet. The Osprey is a good T1 remote-shield-boost ship if several Ospreys can group up (the ship is designed for team use), and this role prepares pilots for the extremely powerful {{sh|Basilisk}}.

Both the small Griffin frigate and the medium-sized Blackbird cruiser are highly valued gang and fleet ships, as their ECM abilities offer a potentially huge battlefield impact in cheap, expendable hulls: ECM jams on opposing [[Logistics|logistics]] ships, tackle, or EWAR can swing a battle, and jams on opposing damage dealers can tip the DPS race in the right direction. The Scorpion sees some use, but its larger size, more limited agility and speed, and greater cost send ECM pilots to the smaller ECM ships more often.

== Skills ==

Caldari ships share many core skills with the ships of the other three main factions. Very new pilots should consider EVE University's [[Short Skill Plan]]; relatively new pilots should consider [[The Magic 14|the 14 skills which affect every ship]], the [[fitting skills]] which make it easier to fit modules onto ships, and the [[Support skills|support skills]] which underpin much of your ship's performance. For longer-term training, EVE University's [[Pyramid Skill Plan]] offers one useful way of conceiving your goals.

That said, there are some considerations that are specific to Caldari ships. Pilots using Caldari ships will want to polish their skills in [[Skills:Missiles|using missiles]], [[Skills:Gunnery|gunnery]], and [[Skills:Shields|the use of shields]]. Given Caldari strengths at range, {{sk|Missile Bombardment}}, {{sk|Missile Projection}}, {{sk|Sharpshooter}},{{sk|Trajectory Analysis}} and {{sk|Long Range Targeting}} might be higher priorities for pilots flying these ships. Though hybrid turrets are not as capacitor hungry as lasers, pilots using Caldari turret ships will want good capacitor skills and {{sk|Controlled Bursts}}.

Caldari ships tend to have small dronebays for their size and class, and pilots flying Caldari ships will be able to leave drone skills until a little later than Gallente pilots would. However, once you train in battlecruisers and battleships, you will want a full flight of drones and adequate drone support skills.

Here are the Caldari T1 ships. Please follow the links to the specific pages of the ship database for more details and particular fits.

=== Frigate ===

=== Destroyer ===

Destroyers are ships slightly larger than frigates. They use the same sized modules as frigates but have more high slots. They are often used in PvE for level 1 missions. They are rarely used in PvP, as their DPS is not impressive without high skills, although they can sometimes fill the role of anti-interceptor.  

=== Cruiser ===

Cruisers are EVE's medium-sized ships.  

=== Battlecruiser ===

=== Battleship ===

Battleships are the biggest combat ships in the game before Capital-class ships. Battleships usually mount large sized weaponry and are mostly used as a damage dealing combat ships in EVE, although there are several Battleships that have a different role, such as the Scorpion.  

For PvP, it can be fitted with Torpedo Launchers to get good close range DPS or with Cruise missile Launchers for sniping distances.  

The Tayra (formerly called the Badger Mark II) has a cargo hold considerably larger than the Badger's. However, it is marginally slower at subwarp speeds, is less tanky, has less fitting room and takes longer to turn. In general, though, the larger cargo hold offsets the disadvantages and so training Caldari Hauler to III to fly this ship is definitely worth it, particularly if you constantly find yourself filling the Badger's hold.

==Missile Tips==

 

 

 

 

 

 

{{main|Turrets#Hybrid ammo|Hybrid Ammo}}

Different kinds of hybrid turret ammunition carry different trade-offs in range, capacitor use, and damage. Antimatter requires the most capacitor, has the shortest range, and does the most damage. Lead requires the least capacitor, has no range modifier, and does middling damage. Iron has the longest range and the least damage.

For PvP, faction Antimatter ammunition and T2 Null are used for brawling with blasters, while sniping railguns often use T2 Spike ammo.

== Related Links ==