Ships

A ship or spaceship in EVE Online is an entity used to traverse space, battle enemy forces, ferry materials and products, provide logistical services along with many other uses. A ship may be piloted by a capsuleer (player) or non-player characters such as CONCORD, faction militaries, civilian industrialists, outlawed paramilitary and pirate forces.

Mechanics

Ships accelerate by using their engines, almost always located at the stern of the ship. They cannot travel at near-lightspeeds without the use of warp drives. Initiating warp requires an object with mass or feigned mass. The ship will acquire this object as a target and use a warp drive in conjunction with sub-lightspeed thrusters to accelerate through a warp tunnel.

"Military experts are calling this a cynosural field." -Journalist during the start of the Gallente-Caldari War in YC110

Ships can be built and stored in stations except for super-capital classes. Gates and wormholes are methods of travel that propel ships over great distances inaccessible through conventional means of travel. Capital class ships can use their built in jump drives to travel these great distances. A cynosural field is used to provide a target for the jump capable ships to lock onto.

The hitpoints of a ship come from its shield, armor and structure. Shields are absent from certain NPC vessels, however all capsuleer ships including capsules have all three defensive systems. These hitpoints are used for Tanking against incoming damage. Nearly all ships have module slots, allowing them to fit module types such as (but not limited to) guns, repairers, plates, electronic warfare, cloaks, rigs and afterburners.

All ships have capacitor banks, similar to a gigantic battery. The engines charge these batteries and the accumulated energy is used to run modules and power the warp drive.

Certain ships have drone bays, specialized cargoholds, ship maintenance bays and fuel bays.

Spaceship Command

The Sin, Black Ops Battleship which requires months of training to fly.

In order to fly ships in EVE, your character must train the Spaceship Command skills required by that ship. This is not the actual Spaceship Command skill itself, but rather the many individual skills under the Spaceship Command category.

The skills for larger hull types and higher tech levels usually require some skill training in smaller hull types or lower tech levels first. In order to fly a T1 cruiser, for instance, you are first required to have some training in a T1 destroyer command skill. Likewise, the command skills for T2 frigates require perfecting the T1 frigate command skills.

In most cases, the prerequisites required to fly bigger ships (by hull type) are faster to train for than the prerequisites required for higher tech levels. As a result, newer pilots may find themselves in large T1 ships (battlecruisers or battleships) long before they can fly a T2 ship of any size. This is not a hard-and-fast rule, though. It's perfectly reasonable to train straight from T1 frigates into T2 frigates, for instance, without ever training the skills required to fly larger T1 ships, if that is your goal as a pilot.

Support Skills

Being able to fly a ship, and being able to fly a ship well, are two very different things. While the command skill may let you get into a ship and undock it from a station, this is only the first step in using a ship properly. In addition to the skills you will need to fit all of the guns and mods you want to use, there is an entire suite of Support Skills you should read about as well.

Fitting

Ships are merely empty hulls just waiting to be equipped with all of the guns and modules that enable them to do a job. The process of equipping a ship is known as "fitting" the ship, and it's an expansive topic. The Fitting Guidelines is an excellent place to start learning about fitting a ship.

However, one basic concept is worth mentioning here as it ties into the ship sizes listed earlier. The ship sizes are grouped into small, medium, large, or xlarge. When browsing the market, you'll notice that modules and weapons are also grouped into these same sizes. When fitting a ship you normally want to use modules and weapons that are in the same size grouping as the ship size. This can sometimes be confusing, especially with weapon systems, as many items may will say "medium" in the name, but actually belong to the "small" size group in the market categories. What matters for ship fitting is that the market category size group matches the ship size, not any terms found in the item name itself.

Categorization

Ships can be categorized in many ways, this section will cover the most basic methods. The examples given are not a complete representation of ships in EVE. It should be noted however, that more expensive or bigger doesn't always mean better in EVE.

Size Class

An Avatar, one of the largest ships in EVE. Almost 14 kilometers in length, it is over 200 times longer than the Punisher, an Amarrian frigate.

As ships increase in size they gain more hitpoints, theoretical damage and module slots. They sacrifice mobility and damage application against smaller targets. The sizes (with a few example ships) are as follows:

• Frigates: Incursus, Heron, Crucifier, Burst
• Destroyers: Algos, Corax, Coercer, Thrasher
• Cruisers: Thorax, Caracal, Maller, Scythe
• Battlecruisers: Myrmidon, Ferox, Harbinger, Hurricane
• Battleships: Megathron, Rokh, Abaddon, Tempest
• Capital Ships: Rorqual, Anshar, Charon
  • Carriers: Thanatos, Chimera, Archon, Nidhoggur
  • Dreadnoughts: Moros, Phoenix, Revelation, Naglfar
  • Force Auxiliaries: Apostle, Minokawa, Ninazu, Lif
• Supercapitals
  • Supercarriers: Nyx, Wyvern, Aeon, Hel
  • Titans: Erebus, Leviathan, Avatar, Ragnarok

Some ships that don't fit or are hard to pin down in this classification are certain Industrials and ORE Ships. A common simplification of this classification is calling a Carrier, Dreadnought, Supercarrier, Titan and Rorqual capitals, while calling all other ships sub-capitals.

T1 Ship Class Comparison Table

This table is meant to provide a basic comparison of ship classes - for example, that "bigger is slower, but has more fitting slots." Characteristics that vary widely have been omitted. For example, bonuses can make drone capacity or scan resolution much higher or lower on one kind of Cruiser than another. (These often turn out to be the characteristics that define unique uses for ships within a class ... e.g., "drone cruiser", "ewar cruiser", "exploration cruiser.")

Note that the following numbers are averages; drawn from a sample of four ships in each class.

Quick T1 Class Comparison

Ship Class	Speed (m/sec)	Warp Speed (AU)	Time to Warp (sec)	Slots	Capacitor (gj)	Signature Radius (m)
Shuttle	500	5	2	0	250	25
Frigate	300-400	5	5	10	250-350	35-40
Destroyer	235-365	4.5	6-7	13	500-700	62-70
Cruiser	190-240	3	8-9	14	1250-1950	120-150
Battlecruiser	145-180	2.7	12	17	2300-3500	250-300
Battleship	89-130	2	15-20	19	5500-6500	330-470

Tech & Faction Level

An Imperial Navy Slicer. A common sight an areas with small gang and solo PvP activity.

Tech levels refer to the complexity and rarity of the materials required to build a ship. Faction level indicates the origin of the design. Navy faction means the factions with legal navies by CONCORD standards(Gallente, Caldari, Amarr, Minmatar) built the ship. Pirate faction means outlawed entities(Sansha, Serpentis, Guristas etc) have built the ship. The only exception to this are the Sisters of EVE who build pirate faction grade ships but are not outlawed. Here are some examples:

• Tech 1: Incursus, Corax, Omen, Hurricane
• Navy Faction: Brutix Navy Issue, Raven Navy Issue, Imperial Navy Slicer, Republic Fleet Firetail
• Pirate Faction: Vigilant, Gila, Bhaalgorn, Dramiel
• Tech 2: Ishtar, Hawk, Paladin, Sleipnir
• Tech 3: Hecate, Tengu, Confessor, Loki

Tech 1 ships are the baseline for all other ships. They are cheap and are built with knowledge available to the galaxy, and they remain useful even for advanced pilots.

"Navy" faction ships are generally amped up versions of their Tech 1 counterparts, although sometimes their strong features are traded for other advantages. An example is the Drake Navy Issue which trades damage resistance for better damage application.

Pirate Faction ships are a mix of Tech 1 ships that were modified by pirate factions, and entirely unique hulls designed by the pirate factions. (The Sisters of EVE are technically not pirates, but their ships are counted as "pirate".) Over time, capsuleers have adopted these ships for their superiority over Tech 1 ships. They generally have better tanks and better damage application. They may also sport specialized bonuses to certain modules, and draw benefits from spaceship command skills from multiple races. The Vindicator, for instance, offers a unique combination of a stasis webifier bonus and massive damage output, which come from combining Gallente and Minmatar skills. Their downside is their price tag because blueprints are scarce and manufacturing is complex.

Tech 2 ships are built by retrofitting tech 1 ships, and while they take some features from their tech 1 forms, the ways they fly and take advantage of fitting may be very different. They have higher resistance to incoming damage and are typically more specialized in their roles. A lot of special modules can only be fit on Tech 2 ships. The Heavy Interdictor is a prime example of a Tech 2 ship filling a specialized role: it can use a special module to stop ships within a wide area from warping away, but has more limited abilities in other areas. Tech 2 ships require extensive skill training to fly, but are often much less expensive than Pirate Faction ships due to their simpler production.

Tech 3 ships were developed by the four empire factions after reverse engineering Sleeper technology. They are known for their often superior tank and versatility, which come from a very wide variety of innate hull bonuses, generous fitting layouts, and unique ways to completely transform themselves on-the-fly. All materials required for Tech 3 ships come from Wormhole Space. As an example, a Legion can be fitted to be a heavily armored neuting ship, heavy assault missile boat, the more traditional laser boat; and may be active tanked, buffer tanked, or even able to cloak itself. There are many other fits for it, depending on what the pilot wants to do.

The Other Factions

CONCORD, EDENCOM, the Society of Conscious Thought, and the Triglavian Collective, all also offer ships. These ships follow completely different mechanics and skill sets than any other ships, and do not fit into the traditional tech and faction levels.

• CONCORD offers a trio of extremely flexible, extremely skill-intensive, highly militarized covert ops ships
• EDENCOM offers a curious, but very difficult to utilize, set of "chain lightning" ships
• The SoCT offers a set of three ships with nearly limitless versatility and no skill requirements, offering new and veteran players alike a set of inexpensive hulls to do anything, anywhere
• The Triglavian Collective offers a wide selection of ships which utilize unique ramping-over-time weapons to burn down targets well above their weight class

Non-Combat Ships

A Charon. Prided for having the largest cargo bay across the spectrum.

Not all ships are designed for aggressive action. A subset of ships with increased efficiency in resource gathering and cargo hauling are in wide use across the EVE universe. Here is a loose listing of these ships.

Industrials

These ships have large cargo capacities and are used to haul goods from place to place. Some are even more specialized, having extra capacity for such as ore, minerals or weapons. The smallest class of cargo ships, T1 industrials, are lightly defended and fly mostly among high security systems.

• Tech 1: Iteron Mark V, Badger, Mammoth

Tech 2 industrials are divided between Blockade Runners, which are fast and can cloak for use in low security space, and Deep Space Transports which have stronger defenses for hauling expensive cargos in high security or scouted low security space. Each EVE race has one of each kind of T2 industrial.

• Tech 2 Blockade Runner: Crane, Viator
• Tech 2 Deep Space Transport: Mastodon, Impel

Freighters

Freighters are the largest cargo ships in EVE. These slow moving hulks have no high or medium equipment slots and depend entirely on their massive hulls for defense. In general, if you can package an item, you can fit it into the cargo hold of a T1 freighter.

• Tech 1: Charon, Fenrir, Obelisk, Providence

Tech 2 freighters are called Jump Freighters. They have smaller cargo bays than T1 freighters, but can use both jump gates and cynosural fields. The latter makes them especially useful in null sec.

• Tech 2 (Jump Freighters): Anshar, Ark, Rhea, Nomad

Miners

While not intended for combat, ships bonused for mining can mount light weapons or carry drones suitable for defense against belt pirates.

• Tech 1: Venture

The Mining Barges are usually the next step in the mining profession. Each of the three is bonused for a specific use in asteroid mining.

• Tech 1: Retriever, Covetor, Procurer

The Exhumers are the top of the line in specialized ore extractors. As with the Mining Barges, each is bonused for a specific use.

• Tech 2: Hulk, Skiff, Mackinaw

The Expedition Frigates specialize in ice and gas harvesting.

• Tech 2: Prospect, Endurance

Specialty Ships

• Porpoise: The Porpoise is a mining command ship, bringing a larger cargo bay than other mining ships and the ability to improve the mining speeds of nearby allies.
• Orca: The big brother of the Porpoise, a much larger, more capable, and more resilient mining command platform, which also features an enormous cargo bay that lets it also act as a hauling ship.
• Noctis: The final word in Salvaging, able to fit up to 8 high-power salvagers or long-range tractor beams.
• Rorqual: The Capital Industrial Ship, the Dreadnought and Carrier of mining, and the final word in mining command. Extremely capable at mining, mining fleet support, defensive combat, and cargo hauling. Cannot be used in high security space, very powerful in low and null security space.
• Sisters of Eve: the three SOE ships (Astero, Stratios, Nestor) are optimized for exploration. Each is bonused for scanning and analyzing, and each has sufficient combat strength to either run PVE combat sites or hunt other exploration ships. They require both Amarr and Gallente spaceship skills, and to be used effectively they require solid scanning, drone skills, and armor skills.

show advanced ships	Amarr	Caldari	Gallente	Minmatar
Corvettes Impairor Ibis Velator Reaper Frigates Executioner ▪ Inquisitor ▪ Tormentor ▪ Crucifier ▪ Punisher ▪ Magnate Condor ▪ Bantam ▪ Kestrel ▪ Griffin ▪ Merlin ▪ Heron Atron ▪ Navitas ▪ Tristan ▪ Maulus ▪ Incursus ▪ Imicus Slasher ▪ Burst ▪ Breacher ▪ Vigil ▪ Rifter ▪ Probe Navy Faction Frigates Imperial Navy Slicer ▪ Crucifier Navy Issue ▪ Magnate Navy Issue Caldari Navy Hookbill ▪ Griffin Navy Issue ▪ Heron Navy Issue Federation Navy Comet ▪ Maulus Navy Issue ▪ Imicus Navy Issue Republic Fleet Firetail ▪ Vigil Fleet Issue ▪ Probe Fleet Issue Assault Frigates Vengeance ▪ Retribution Hawk ▪ Harpy Ishkur ▪ Enyo Wolf ▪ Jaguar Covert Ops Anathema ▪ Purifier Manticore ▪ Buzzard Nemesis ▪ Helios Cheetah ▪ Hound Electronic Attack Ships Sentinel Kitsune Keres Hyena Interceptors Crusader ▪ Malediction Crow ▪ Raptor Taranis ▪ Ares Claw ▪ Stiletto Logistics Frigates Deacon Kirin Thalia Scalpel Destroyers Coercer ▪ Dragoon Cormorant ▪ Corax Catalyst ▪ Algos Thrasher ▪ Talwar Navy Faction Destroyers Coercer Navy Issue Cormorant Navy Issue Catalyst Navy Issue Thrasher Fleet Issue Command Destroyers Pontifex Stork Magus Bifrost Interdictors Heretic Flycatcher Eris Sabre Tactical Destroyers Confessor Jackdaw Hecate Svipul Cruisers Arbitrator ▪ Augoror ▪ Omen ▪ Maller Blackbird ▪ Osprey ▪ Caracal ▪ Moa Celestis ▪ Exequror ▪ Thorax ▪ Vexor Bellicose ▪ Scythe ▪ Stabber ▪ Rupture Navy Faction Cruisers Augoror Navy Issue ▪ Omen Navy Issue Caracal Navy Issue ▪ Osprey Navy Issue Exequror Navy Issue ▪ Vexor Navy Issue Scythe Fleet Issue ▪ Stabber Fleet Issue Heavy Assault Cruisers Zealot ▪ Sacrilege Eagle ▪ Cerberus Ishtar ▪ Deimos Vagabond ▪ Muninn Heavy Interdiction Cruisers Devoter Onyx Phobos Broadsword Logistics Cruisers Guardian Basilisk Oneiros Scimitar Recon Ships Curse ▪ Pilgrim Falcon ▪ Rook Arazu ▪ Lachesis Huginn ▪ Rapier Strategic Cruisers Legion Tengu Proteus Loki Battlecruisers Prophecy ▪ Harbinger ▪ Oracle Ferox ▪ Drake ▪ Naga Brutix ▪ Myrmidon ▪ Talos Cyclone ▪ Hurricane ▪ Tornado Navy Faction Battlecruisers Harbinger Navy Issue ▪ Prophecy Navy Issue Drake Navy Issue ▪ Ferox Navy Issue Brutix Navy Issue ▪ Myrmidon Navy Issue Hurricane Fleet Issue ▪ Cyclone Fleet Issue Command Ships Damnation ▪ Absolution Vulture ▪ Nighthawk Astarte ▪ Eos Claymore ▪ Sleipnir Battleships Armageddon ▪ Apocalypse ▪ Abaddon Scorpion ▪ Raven ▪ Rokh Dominix ▪ Megathron ▪ Hyperion Typhoon ▪ Tempest ▪ Maelstrom Navy Faction Battleships Apocalypse Navy Issue ▪ Armageddon Navy Issue Scorpion Navy Issue ▪ Raven Navy Issue Megathron Navy Issue ▪ Dominix Navy Issue Tempest Fleet Issue ▪ Typhoon Fleet Issue Black Ops Redeemer Widow Sin Panther Marauders Paladin Golem Kronos Vargur Carriers Archon Chimera Thanatos Nidhoggur Supercarriers Aeon Wyvern Nyx Hel Dreadnoughts Revelation Phoenix Moros Naglfar Navy Faction Dreadnoughts Revelation Navy Issue Phoenix Navy Issue Moros Navy Issue Naglfar Fleet Issue Lancer Dreadnoughts Bane Karura Hubris Valravn Force Auxiliaries Apostle Minokawa Ninazu Lif Titans Avatar Leviathan Erebus Ragnarok Freighters Providence Charon Obelisk Fenrir Jump Freighters Ark Rhea Anshar Nomad Haulers Bestower ▪ Sigil Badger ▪ Tayra Nereus ▪ Kryos ▪ Epithal ▪ Miasmos ▪ Iteron Mark V Hoarder ▪ Mammoth ▪ Wreathe Transport Ships Prorator ▪ Impel Crane ▪ Bustard Viator ▪ Occator Mastodon ▪ Prowler Shuttles Amarr Shuttle Caldari Shuttle Gallente Shuttle Minmatar Shuttle Outer Ring Excavation Ships Frigates Venture Expedition Frigates Prospect ▪ Endurance Mining Barges Covetor ▪ Retriever ▪ Procurer Exhumers Hulk ▪ Mackinaw ▪ Skiff Haulers Noctis Industrial Command Ships Porpoise ▪ Orca Freighters Bowhead Capital Industrial Ships Rorqual Pirate Faction Ships Angel Cartel Blood Raiders Deathless Circle Guristas Mordu's Legion Sansha's Nation Serpentis Sisters of EVE Frigates Dramiel Cruor Worm Garmur Succubus Daredevil Astero Destroyers Mekubal Tholos Mamba Cruisers Cynabal Ashimmu Gila Orthrus Phantasm Vigilant Stratios Battlecruisers Khizriel Cenotaph Alligator Battleships Machariel Bhaalgorn Rattlesnake Barghest Nightmare Vindicator Nestor Dreadnoughts Chemosh Caiman Vehement Carriers Supercarriers Revenant Vendetta Force Auxiliaries Dagon Loggerhead Titans Azariel Molok Komodo Vanquisher Other Faction Ships CONCORD EDENCOM Society of Conscious Thought Triglavian Collective Upwell Consortium Frigates Echelon Skybreaker Metamorphosis Damavik Assault Frigates Nergal Covert Ops Pacifier Destroyers Sunesis Kikimora Command Destroyers Draugur Cruisers Stormbringer Rodiva ▪ Vedmak Flag Cruisers Monitor Heavy Assault Cruisers Ikitursa Logistics Cruisers Zarmazd Recon Ships Enforcer Battlecruisers Gnosis Drekavac Battleships Thunderchild Praxis Leshak Black Ops Marshal Dreadnoughts Zirnitra Freighters Avalanche Haulers Squall Transport Ships Deluge ▪ Torrent Shuttles Council Diplomatic Shuttle Apotheosis Special Edition Ships Corvettes  Echo ▪  Hematos ▪  Immolator ▪  Taipan ▪  Violator Frigates  Gold Magnate ▪  Inner Zone Shipping Imicus ▪  Sarum Magnate ▪  Silver Magnate ▪  Sukuuvestaa Heron ▪  Tash-Murkon Magnate ▪  Vherokior Probe ▪  Zephyr Assault Frigates  Cambion ▪  Freki ▪  Geri ▪  Malice ▪  Shapash ▪  Utu Covert Ops  Caedes ▪  Chremoas ▪  Hydra ▪  Sidewinder ▪  Virtuoso Electronic Attack Ships  Raiju Interceptors  Imp ▪  Whiptail Destroyers  Aliastra Catalyst ▪  Inner Zone Shipping Catalyst ▪  Intaki Syndicate Catalyst ▪  InterBus Catalyst ▪  Nefantar Thrasher ▪  Quafe Catalyst Cruisers  Guardian-Vexor ▪  Opux Luxury Yacht ▪  Stratios Emergency Responder ▪  Victorieux Luxury Yacht Heavy Assault Cruisers  Adrestia ▪  Bestla ▪  Cybele ▪  Mimir ▪  Vangel Heavy Interdiction Cruisers  Fiend ▪  Laelaps Logistics Cruisers  Etana ▪  Rabisu Recon Ships  Chameleon ▪  Cobra ▪  Moracha ▪  Victor ▪  Tiamat Battleships  Apocalypse Imperial Issue ▪  Armageddon Imperial Issue ▪  Megathron Federate Issue ▪  Rattlesnake Victory Edition ▪  Raven State Issue ▪  Scorpion Ishukone Watch ▪  Tempest Tribal Issue Black Ops  Python Industrial  Miasmos Amastris Edition ▪  Miasmos Quafe Ultra Edition ▪  Miasmos Quafe Ultramarine Edition ▪  Primae Shuttles  Boobook ▪  Civilian Amarr Shuttle ▪  Civilian Caldari Shuttle ▪  Civilian Gallente Shuttle ▪  Civilian Minmatar Shuttle ▪  Goru's Shuttle ▪  Guristas Shuttle ▪  InterBus Shuttle ▪  Leopard