Travel fits

There are three fundamentally different ways of fitting your ship for travel; Speed, tank or safety. Each has pros and cons associated with them, it may be beneficial to carry fittings for all three and swap depending on what you expect to find along your route of travel if your ship has enough cargo space.

Fitting for increased travel speed

If your only concern is to get to your destination as fast as possible, not having any war targets or pirates to worry about nor carrying too many expensive modules, you can focus exclusively on cutting down the align time and increasing warp speed.

Usually increasing warp speed tends to cut down on travel time the most, since you spend more time in warp than you do aligning. So if you're forced to choose between the two, it tends to be more beneficial to focus slightly more on increasing warp speed than reducing align time. Within reason of course, most of the time you can accomplish both. Depending on the ship you're moving, re-rigging your ship might not be a practical option and then the modules suggested will be your focus, as you can easily refit your lows, mids and highs before and after moving.

One of the major drawbacks of this style of fitting is it will reduce low slots that may be used for armor or structure tanking. Of particular interest are the astronautic rigs and nanofiber internal structures which will reduce the total armor and structure hit points respectively on a ship.

Reducing align time

Reducing the align time of a ship to less than 2 seconds enables it to "insta-align" and avoid being tackled in most circumstances (with the notable exception of bubbles). The align time of a ship is based on the ship's mass and agility as well as agility and inertia bonuses from skills, modules, rigs and implants. Bonuses relevant to align time are either referred to as agility (a positive value) or inertia (usually a negative value, unless referred to as "inertia modifier" then it's positive), which for all intents and purposes in EVE are the same.

Skills

Several skills affect your align time, starting with the most relevant skills:

Skill	Bonus
Evasive Maneuvering (2x)	5% improved ship agility for all ships per skill level
Spaceship Command (1x)	2% improved ship agility for all ships per skill level

There are also special case skills, for certain ships fits with specific modules.

Skill	Bonus
Advanced Spaceship Command (5x)	5% Bonus per skill level to the agility of ships requiring Advanced Spaceship Command
Armor Layering (3x)	5% reduction to armor plate mass penalty per level
[[Skills:Amarr Industrial]] (Amarr Industrial)	5% bonus to ship inertia modifier per level
[[Skills:Caldari Industrial]] (Caldari Industrial)	5% bonus to ship inertia modifier per level
[[Skills:Gallente Industrial]] (Gallente Industrial)	5% bonus to ship inertia modifier per level
[[Skills:Minmatar Industrial]] (Minmatar Industrial)	5% bonus to ship inertia modifier per level
ORE Freighter (9x)	5% bonus to ship inertia modifier per level

Modules & rigs

While there are several modules that reduce inertia, some are stronger than others, leaving you with these modules as well as the one rig that helps reduce align time.

		Inertia Stabilizers II (-20% inertia modifier, +11% signature)
		Nanofiber Internal Structure II (-15.75% inertia modifier, -20% structure HP)
		Low Friction Nozzle Joints II (-14% inertia modifier, -10% armour hp )

Implants

There are also implants that help reduce your align time, such as the Eifyr and Co. 'Rogue' Evasive Maneuvering EM-7 and the low- and mid-grade Nomad set.

Propulsion modules

If your align time is high enough, there's also the option to use propulsion modules such as Afterburners (cycles as fast as 7,5 seconds) and Microwarpdrives (cycles in 10 seconds) to reduce your align time. By pulsing the module once (activating it and then immediately deactivating it), you can align in 7,5 - 10 seconds flat as long as you start your align from a standstill (like after you've jumped through a gate). This option is more suitable for larger, bulkier ships, that simply cannot drop their align time far enough to matter or for other reasons need their fitting room for other things. It will allow them to combine a decent align time with a proper tank, for example.

Using an afterburner in this fashion requires you to use a size-appropriate afterburner, 1MN for frigates, 10MN for cruisers, 100MN for battleships. Note that Capital ships such as the  Orca and  Bowhead can't align fast enough with undersized 100MN afterburners, but can still use undersized 500MN microwarpdrives for a 10 second align.

Friendly webs

Another option is to have a friend or an alt to web your ship as it starts aligning, dropping its maximum speed making it align almost instantaneously. This can be extremely useful for very slow aligning ships like freighters. It does require some effort and planning however, as some gates are pretty large so the webbing ship needs to either be really fast to close the distance, or have a web range bonus like the  Hyena or  Cruor. You also need to either be in a corp with friendly fire enabled, or set up a friendly duel between you and your alt in order to safely be able to web yourself.

Increasing warp speed

There are implants, modules and one type of rig that can help boost your ship's warp speed.

Modules & rigs

When it comes to modules and rigs, there are three low slot modules and one rig that increases warp speed. The modules increase warp speed by raising the base AU/s warp speed by a fixed number, while the rig has a normal percentage-based bonus.

		Limited Hyperspatial Accelerator  (+0,2 AU/s, cheap)
		Experimental Hyperspatial Accelerator  (+0,25 AU/s, affordable)
		Prototype Hyperspatial Accelerator (+0,3 AU/s, costly)
		Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II (+25% warp speed, +10% signature)

Implants

There are also implants that help increase your warp speed, such as the Eifyr and Co. 'Rogue' Warp Drive Speed WS-6 and the Mid- and High-grade Ascendancy set.

Ships with a high native warp speed

The fastest warping ship in the EVE Universe is the  Leopard (20 AU/s) followed by the Interceptors and Covert Ops frigates (8 AU/s base speed). There's also the  Dramiel (7,5 AU/s base speed) that thanks to having 3 rigs instead of just the 2 that the tech two frigates have, it can actually sport the highest possible warp speed amongst the frigates, clocking in at 13 AU/s with 3 x Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II rigs compared to the tech two frigates' 12.2 AU/s. This is thanks to the Angel Cartel racial bonus to warp speed, which all Angel ships have.

Those speeds can then be further augmented by the above mentioned Ascendancies-implants, making it possible for the Leopard to reach a staggering 32.4 AU/s, the Dramiel to hit 21,1 AU/s and Interceptors to hit 19,7 AU/s. You could even take it further and sacrifice tank or align time to push even further with hyperspatial accelerators.

Fitting enough tank not to be worth ganking

If you're in high security space and not at war, the only real threat to your ship is suicide gankers. To remedy this, you can up your tank to the point where it's not worth ganking you for profit. This will drastically reduce the chance of someone bothering to destroy your ship.

Below are some examples of suitable modules to further your fitting goals.

Improving your hull tank

Perhaps one of the easiest and least skill intensive ways to buff your tank is to simply add a Damage Control II and try to increase your structure points as much as you can with Reinforced Bulkhead II modules and Transverse Bulkhead II rigs.

Skills

Only one skill improves your structure hit points, but another indirectly helps by allowing you to fit modules that improve structure hit points:

Skill	Bonus
Mechanics (1x)	5% bonus to structure hit points per skill level.
Hull Upgrades (2x)	Hull Upgrades IV enabled the use of the Damage Control II and Transverse Bulkhead II modules.

Modules & rigs

The following modules and rigs help improve your structure hit points or resists:

		Damage Control II (60% overall structure resists)
		Reinforced Bulkhead II (+25% structure hp, -11% cargo capacity, +5% agility)
		Transverse Bulkhead II (+25% structure hp, -10% cargo capacity)

If you're fitting for a structure tank while simultaneously going for align time, it's usually worth avoiding the Nanofiber Internal Structure II (since it reduces structure hit points) and favour the Inertia Stabilizers II module instead.

Implants

There is also an implant called Inherent Implants 'Noble' Mechanic MC-8 which further increases your hull hitpoints by up to 6% for the most expensive variant.

Improving your armor tank

Fitting an armor tank can be a little bit more skill intensive, especially a passive resist setup since the efficiency of passive resist modules rely heavily on the armor compensation skills. A setup with active hardeners would potentially give you higher resists, but would take up too many modules leaving scarcely few slots for actual armor plates.

As such it might not be something you'll be doing as a young capsuleer, but for people with high armor support skills flying certain ships (with more armor than structure hit points) it might be slightly stronger than the structure approach mentioned above.

Skills

There is one skill improving armor hit points directly:

Skill	Bonus
Hull Upgrades (2x)	5% bonus to armor hit points per skill level

There are also special case skills for certain modules, such as the Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II module or any of the other passive resist platings and membranes.

Skill	Bonus
EM Armor Compensation (2x)	+5% bonus to EM resistance per level for Armor Coatings and Energized Platings
Thermal Armor Compensation (2x)	+5% bonus to thermal resistance per level for Armor Coatings and Energized Platings
Kinetic Armor Compensation (2x)	+5% bonus to kinetic resistance per level for Armor Coatings and Energized Platings
Explosive Armor Compensation (2x)	+5% bonus to explosive resistance per level for Armor Coatings and Energized Platings

Modules & rigs

There are several modules either increasing the raw armor hit points or various armor resists:

		Damage Control II (15% overall armor resists)
		Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II (+25% overall armor resists)
		1600mm Steel Plates II (+4,800 base armour hp)
		Trimark Armor Pump II (+20% armour hp, -10% speed)

Implants

There are also implants that help increase your armour hit points, such as the Inherent Implants 'Noble' Hull Upgrades HG-10 and the Genolution Core Augmentation CA-4 implant as well as the Low-, Mid- and High-grade Slave set.

Improving your shield tank

The skills to use a proper tech two shield tank isn't quite as skill intensive as armour and since there aren't any passive omni tanked shield modules, you're often better off using active invulnerability fields. You can fit for anti-gank by using an invulnerability field as well as thermal and kinetic hardener or amplifier, since the strongest gankers are gallente in the current meta. Use the rest of the midslots for as many shield extenders as possible and an afterburner/microwarpdrive to cut then align time down.

One of the great pros of shield tanking is that low slots remain free which allows you to fit for speed, cargo or another layer of tank depending on your preference and needs.

Skills

Skill	Bonus
Shield Management (3x)	5% bonus to shield hit points per skill level
Shield Upgrades (2x)	Shield Upgrades I is required for tech one and meta Shield Extender and Amplifier modules, while Shield Upgrades IV is required for tech two variants.

There are also special case skills for certain modules, such as the EM Ward Amplifier II module or any of the other passive resist amplifiers. None of these skills are required to fit the modules, but they will improve their efficiency.

Skill	Bonus
Shield Operation (1x)	Shield Operation IV is required to train the compensation skills that boost amplifier modules.
EM Shield Compensation (2x)	+5% bonus to EM resistance per level for EM Ward Amplifiers
Thermal Shield Compensation (2x)	+5% bonus to thermal resistance per level for Thermal Dissipation Amplifiers
Kinetic Shield Compensation (2x)	+5% bonus to kinetic resistance per level for Kinetic Deflection Amplifiers
Explosive Shield Compensation (2x)	+5% bonus to explosive resistance per level for Explosive Deflection Amplifiers

Modules & rigs

There are several modules either increasing the raw shield hit points or various shield resists:

		Multispectrum Shield Hardener II (30% overall shield resists)
		Thermal Shield Hardener II (+55% thermal shield resists)
		Kinetic Shield Hardener II (+55% kinetic shield resists)
		Thermal Dissipation Amplifier II (+37.5% thermal shield resists, +46.9% at max skills)
		Kinetic Deflection Amplifier II (+37.5% kinetic shield resists, +46.9% at max skills)
		Large Shield Extender II (+2,600 base shield hp)
		Power Diagnostic System II (+5% shield hp)
		Damage Control II (12,5% overall shield resists)
		Core Defense Field Extender II (+20% shield hp, +10% signature)

Implants

There are also implants that help increase your shield hit points, such as the Zainou 'Gnome' Shield Management SM-7 and the Genolution Core Augmentation CA-3 implant as well as the Low-, Mid- and High-grade Crystal set.

Reducing inflated align times

Most of the armor and structure tanking modules increase your align time, making you turn and handle like a brick with align times pushing 15+ seconds. See propulsion modules and friendly webs above for more information on how to mitigate this without sacrificing too much of your tank.

Fitting for safe travel in hostile space

This method relies on fitting an Improved Cloaking Device II and a microwarpdrive to allow you to be cloaked while aligning, minimizing the time you're actually visible on grid. This is commonly referred to as the MWD + cloak trick, see cloak trick or Seamus Donohue's video for more information.

In order to use the microwarpdrive and cloak you'll need to train  High Speed Maneuvering III (5x) and  Cloaking III (6x) and use the appropriately sized microwarpdrive for your ship class. Frigates use the 5MN-variant, cruisers the 50MN-variant and battleships the 500MN-variant. While there are 50,000MN-variants for capital ships, certain ships like Orcas and Bowheads can only fit "undersized" 500MN Microwarpdrives due to powergrid restrictions. As such they are limited to using them only as a means to align in 10 seconds flat (see above). They cannot combine their microwarpdrive with a cloak to do this trick, as they will simply not be able to accelerate fast enough.

The main risk of this method is messing up the cloak and getting locked before you manage to get your cloak up, which would make it impossible for you to cloak up. It's also possible for people to burn towards your location and decloak you before you've managed to align. Having a Warp Core Stabilizer I or two might save you from a lone enemy with just a long point, but for that to be useful you'll need to be able to warp away before anyone else shows up with a second or third point, or a scram.

Using dedicated ships for moving around

If you're not bound to a specific ship but can setup dedicated ships for flying back and forth in the universe, you have plenty of options that can be either faster, safer, more convenient or just cheaper. This is very convenient if you have ships staged in two or more different regions or areas in space, as hopping into a shuttle or an interceptor will quickly and effortlessly allow you to move between them.

Below are a few examples of ships that can be used.

Shuttles

This ship is available to all pilots, regardless of clone state.

Shuttles are dirt cheap and are often ignored by most in high security space. This can be a cheap option for new players to move around even if they are at war. Even if they are caught, as long as they don't have too many expensive implants, they potentially risk but a shuttle and a pod. This option is slightly less useful in low and null security space, due to its paper tank and the ease of simply smartbombing you as you approach the gate ... picking off both you and your pod in one fell swoop. Shuttles aren't always available at decent prices as well, but can easily be stockpiled or even built if you regularly need to use them.

Getting the shuttle to less than two second align time only requires  Navigation II (1x) and  Evasive Maneuvering III (2x), something new players start with already.

5 AU/s warp speed. < 2 sec align time Up to 786 effective hit points. Up to 625 m/s speed 10 m3 cargo capacity.

For the rich, using the Leopard you'll improve warp speed to20 AU/s warp speed, significantly improving your mileage.

Frigates

This ship is available to all pilots, regardless of clone state.

While the travelceptor-variant below is vastly superior to moving about safely and quickly, there are low skilled options such as a travel-fit Atron. It doesn't have the bubble immunity of an interceptor, but it's a nice option for low skilled pilots in high security space to move around in something with a bit more effective hit points, speed and cargo space (compared to a simple shuttle).

This fit only requires you to train a  Evasive Maneuvering III (2x) and if you don't already have it,  Gallente Frigate I (2x) which in total is less than 9 hours worth of training. This makes it a very accessible method of moving around, until you can fly the more effective interceptors.

Atron: Runner (low skilled)

EFT

[Atron, Runner (low skilled)]

Medium Shield Extender I
Small Shield Extender I
Upgraded EM Ward Amplifier I

Type-D Restrained Inertial Stabilizers
Type-D Restrained Inertial Stabilizers
Type-D Restrained Inertial Stabilizers

Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I
Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I
Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I

FITTING DIFFICULTY

EVE VERSION

YC118 1.0

ALPHA CAN USE

UNSET

EFT

SKILLS

NOTES

RECOMMENDED SKILLS

NOTES

• Relevant information:
7,85 AU/s warp speed.
< 2 sec align time
Up to 3,670 effective hit points.
145 m3 cargo capacity
1 - 2 million ISK cost
• This fit is designed for minimum skill requirements and cost. You could improve this slightly by upgrading modules for more tank or get Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II rigs to bump up the warp speed to 8,69 AU/s.

Sunesis

This ship is available to all pilots, regardless of clone state.

With the release of the Sunesis, pilots have a slightly more expensive but significant improvement over a travel-fit Frigate. While it still does not have bubble immunity, it gains additional durability (able to potentially survive 3 full volleys from a smartbombing battleship), a full 600 m3 cargo bay, and doesn't even require frigate skill training.

This fit does still require  Evasive Maneuvering III (2x).

Sunesis: Runner (high cargo)

EFT

[Sunesis, Runner (high cargo)]

Medium Shield Extender I
Medium Shield Extender I
Small Shield Extender I
Small Shield Extender I

Inertial Stabilizers II
Inertial Stabilizers II
Inertial Stabilizers II
Damage Control I

Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I
Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I
Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I

FITTING DIFFICULTY

EVE VERSION

Invasion

ALPHA CAN USE

UNSET

EFT

SKILLS

NOTES

RECOMMENDED SKILLS

NOTES

• Relevant information:
7,06 AU/s warp speed.
< 2 sec align time
Up to 9,742 effective hit points.
600 m3 cargo capacity
10 million ISK cost
• This fit is designed for minimum skill requirements and cost. You could improve this slightly by upgrading modules for more tank or get Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II rigs to bump up the warp speed to 7.63 AU/s.
• If you have Evasive Maneuvering V, an Inertial Stabilizer can be replaced with an Expanded Cargohold II, increasing capacity to 765 m3.

Fleet Interceptors

This ship is restricted to pilots in the Omega clone state.

A very common method of travelling is to use a fleet interceptor, fit to align in less than two seconds with hyperspatial rigs to improve its already impressive warp speed. With a proper fit you can even tank it enough to survive a few smartbombs, making it a favourite for capsuleers moving vast distances, especially in low- and null security space where the innate fleet interceptor immunity to non-target interdiction means that it can fly right through and ignore any type of warp bubbles.

Due to fitting limitations the  Crow is just not recommended (due to having too few low slots), so the recommended fits will only feature the  Ares,  Malediction and  Stiletto. The Stiletto requires  Spaceship Command IV to keep align time under 2 seconds and the Ares and Malediction both need  Power Grid Management V and  Shield Upgrades V to fit the second shield extender.

Malediction: Runner

EFT

[Malediction, Runner]

Medium Azeotropic Restrained Shield Extender
Medium Azeotropic Restrained Shield Extender
EM Ward Amplifier II

Damage Control II
Inertial Stabilizers II
Inertial Stabilizers II
Inertial Stabilizers II

Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II
Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II

FITTING DIFFICULTY

EVE VERSION

LATEST

ALPHA CAN USE

NO

EFT

SKILLS

NOTES

RECOMMENDED SKILLS

NOTES

• Relevant information:
12,17 AU/s warp speed.
< 2 sec align time
Up to 8,085 effective hit points.
98 m3 cargo capacity
70 million ISK cost


• Required skills:

 Power Grid Management V

 Shield Upgrades V

Ares: Runner

EFT

[Ares, Runner]

Medium F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender
Medium F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender
EM Ward Amplifier II

Damage Control II
Inertial Stabilizers II
Inertial Stabilizers II
Inertial Stabilizers II

Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II
Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II

FITTING DIFFICULTY

EVE VERSION

LATEST

ALPHA CAN USE

NO

EFT

SKILLS

NOTES

RECOMMENDED SKILLS

NOTES

• Relevant information:
12,17 AU/s warp speed.
< 2 sec align time
Up to 7,931 effective hit points.
96 m3 cargo capacity
50 million ISK cost


• Required skills:

 Power Grid Management V

 Shield Upgrades V

Stiletto: Runner

EFT

[Stiletto, Runner]

Medium Shield Extender II
Small Shield Extender II
Small Shield Extender II
Multispectrum Shield Hardener II

Inertial Stabilizers II
Inertial Stabilizers II
Inertial Stabilizers II

Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II
Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II

FITTING DIFFICULTY

EVE VERSION

LATEST

ALPHA CAN USE

NO

EFT

SKILLS

NOTES

RECOMMENDED SKILLS

NOTES

• Relevant information:
12,17 AU/s warp speed.
< 2 sec align time
Up to 7,199 effective hit points.
92 m3 cargo capacity
49 million ISK cost


• Required skills:

 Spaceship Command IV

Hecate

This ship is restricted to pilots in the Omega clone state.

For really paranoid capsuleers moving about in the high or low security space of New Eden, there's the Hecate which can sport a "true insta-warper" fit with a < 1 second align time. This is in part due to the low innate agility of the Hecate as well as the agility-bonused tactical propulsion mode and adequate low slots. It obviously lacks the bubble-immunity and speed of the travelceptor, but has other benefits like literally being uncatchable as well as higher cargo hold capacity.

In order to achieve the low align time you'll need  Spaceship Command V (1x),  Evasive Maneuvering V (2x) as well as  Cybernetics III (3x) for the implant.

Hecate: Runner

EFT

[Hecate, Runner]

Multispectrum Shield Hardener II
EM Ward Amplifier II
Republic Fleet Medium Shield Extender
Republic Fleet Medium Shield Extender

Shadow Serpentis Inertial Stabilizers
Shadow Serpentis Inertial Stabilizers
Shadow Serpentis Inertial Stabilizers
Shadow Serpentis Inertial Stabilizers

Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II
Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II
Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II

FITTING DIFFICULTY

EVE VERSION

LATEST

ALPHA CAN USE

NO

EFT

SKILLS

NOTES

RECOMMENDED SKILLS

NOTES

• Relevant information:
7,82 AU/s warp speed.
< 1 sec align time
Up to 14,556 effective hit points.
450 m3 cargo capacity
600+ million ISK cost
• The Multispectrum Shield Hardener II module is there to add to your buffer landing on a gate with smartbombers on it, for travel through low security space.
• This fit requires that you use the following (or better) implant:
  Eifyr and Co. 'Rogue' Evasive Maneuvering EM-704

Covert Ops

This ship is restricted to pilots in the Omega clone state.

Ships capable of fitting the Covert Ops Cloaking Device II module   can be very effective in moving about in hostile space, such as low-, null- and wormhole space. Their ability to remain cloaked at all times, assuming you don't let anything get too close, will allow them to safely scout out gates for gate camp as well as letting them use covert cynosural fields.

Regular covert ops ships are often favoured for travel via wormholes, given the fickle nature of wormholes, the value of remaining unseen and the ability to scan down a new "door" should the old one close on you.

3 - 12 AU/s warp speed. Cruisers warp at 3 - 3,3 AU/s Strategic Cruisers warp at 3 - 4,9 AU/s Astero warps at 5 AU/s Covert Ops warp at 8 AU/s