Minmatar Basic Ship and Skill Overview
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 EVE ships. This guide simply gathers the characteristics and overview of racial lineups in an easy to browse format for the very new player.
Minmatar General Information
The Minmatar Empire is one of the four playable factions and, like the others, has a distinct line of ships with specific quirks and abilities.
Minmatar Republic Characteristics
| Tank Type: |  Armor or  Shield
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| Main Weapon Systems: |  Projectile Turrets or  Missile Launchers
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| Electronic Warfare: |  Target Painting and  Stasis Webifying
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Strengths
Speed
- Minmatar ships usually have the best base speeds for their size and class.
- When fitted for speed & agility this lets Minmatar pilots control range easily:
- This allows them to sit at a range where they can hurt the enemy more than the enemy can hurt them
- This also gives them the option to quickly disengage if the fight is going badly
Versatility
- Most Minmatar ships can be fitted in a greater variety of ways than other races' ships
- In PvP, especially, this makes Minmatar ships less predictable, and the enemy will have a harder time guessing how your ship will perform
- However, if Minmatar pilots want to have all the different fitting options available they will have to train more in-game skills and learn more about the game than pilots flying other races
- That's not necessarily a bad thing: an experienced Minmatar pilot is proficient with:
- Turrets, Missiles, Drones, and Capacitor warfare
- Speed tanking, Kiting, Shield tanking (active, passive and buffer), or Armor tanking (active and buffer)
- This means Minmatar pilots are well-placed to cross-train into any other race, and probably understand the other races' ships better than pilots of other races understand Minmatar ships
Other Strengths
- Ships usually have spare highslots after you've added all the primary weapons -- can use for:
- secondary weapons, usually missiles
- energy emission weapons -- nosferatus or energy neutralizers
- remote repair modules, esp. on battleships
- drone link augmentors for more drone travel range
- Ships have high scan resolution for size and class -- fast to lock onto targets
- Smallest signature radii for size and class -- slightly harder targets to lock, hit and hurt
Weaknesses
- Low sensor strength for size and class -- easiest race to jam with ECM
- Smallest capacitors for size and class -- though, as we'll see shortly, also less need for capacitor
- Skill-intensive, both for in-game training and piloting skills. As above, it is a much longer training curve in the short run, but provides great versatility and the ability to cross-train in the future
- Minmatar racial electronic warfare is target painting: increases the target's signature so that everyone can hurt the target more
- Not widely used, too situational, not as dramatically effective as ECM, tracking disruption or sensor dampening
- Can be useful for big missile ships trying to hit small targets
- A tendency to have weaker buffer in EHP terms than other races' ships
Projectile Weapons
Most Minmatar ships use projectile guns as their primary weapon. They're unlike other turrets:
- Unlike other turrets they don't use up capacitor when they fire
- Also you can control the damage type they deal by loading different kinds of ammo (hybrids only do kin/therm; lasers only do em/therm)
Projectile turrets come in two types: autocannon and artillery.
Autocannon
- Short range, high damage-per-second
- Good tracking speed compared to blasters and pulse lasers
- Really short optimal ranges, really long falloff ranges
- Expect to fight somewhere between optimal and first falloff most of the time
Artillery
- Long range, lower damage-per-second because of a very slow cycle time
- Bad tracking speed compared to railguns and beam lasers
- High 'alpha' -- lots of damage in each shot
- In some situations if you assemble enough alpha damage you don't need damage-per-second
- Meaningful optimal range (unlike autocannon) but still also substantial falloff
- Fight in optimal if you can, but be prepared to move out into falloff if you must
Ships
Here are the Minmatar T1 ships. Please follow the links to the specific pages of the ship database for more details and particular fits.
Corvette
Little more than slower, armed shuttles, corvette (or "noobships") are the basic frigates that new pilots start with. You can acquire a new corvette (together with a civilian weapon, a civilian mining laser and one unit of Tritanium) for free by docking your pod in a station where you don't already have any ships. On their own these are not much use for anything other than basic errand-running.
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Role Bonus: The Reaper-class corvette is one of the smallest of the Minmatar vessels, just barely reaching rookie ship status instead of a manned fighter. The Reaper is very cheap and is used en masse in daring hit-and-run operations by Minmatars either side of the law. |
Placeholder (Frigate heading not appearing).
Frigates
Frigates are the smallest of the ship classes in EVE. In fleet PvP, Tech 1 frigates are generally used for tackling or electronic warfare, two roles in which they can have a significant impact. Tech 1 frigates are also flown for solo PvP: their speed and small size helps solo pilots to pick their targets, and their low cost makes them comfortably expendable.
In PvE, the more combat-focused frigates are used to complete Level 1 missions, though once new pilots are a little wealthier and better-trained they often begin to use destroyers instead.
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Minmatar Frigate bonuses (per skill level): The Breacher's structure is little more than a fragile scrapheap, but the ship's missile launcher hardpoints and superior sensors have placed it among the most valued Minmatar frigates when it comes to long range combat. |
This is a long-range missile boat. It is rarely used, because its effectiveness is overshadowed by the other factions' missile platforms, most notably the Kestrel.
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Minmatar 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 Minmatar Republic, this led to the redesign and redeployment of the Burst. |
The Burst is the Minmatar logistics frigate and is designed for remote shield repair. It makes an ideal entry point for beginner Minmatar capsuleers who want to train into the Scythe, the Minmatar Tier 1 Cruiser logi ship, before eventually training into the Scimitar, the Minmatar Tier 2 Logistics ship.
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Minmatar Frigate bonuses (per skill level): The Probe is large compared to most Minmatar frigates and is considered a good scout and cargo-runner. Uncharacteristically for a Minmatar ship, its hard outer coating makes it difficult to destroy, while the limited weapon hardpoints force it to rely on drone assistance if engaged in combat. |
The Probe is the Minmatar 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 Cheetah. It's bonus to cycle time for hacking, archaeology, and salvaging modules means it can be very effective for looting exploration sites as well. If you have the skills to deal with its small capacitor, it can be a speedy and cheap delivery ship due to its comparatively large cargo bay.
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Minmatar Frigate bonuses (per skill level): The Rifter is a very powerful combat frigate and can easily tackle the best frigates out there. It has gone through many radical design phases since its inauguration during the Minmatar Rebellion. The Rifter has a wide variety of offensive capabilities, making it an unpredictable and deadly adversary. |
The Rifter is the primary damage frigate for Minmatar. For tackling, a Slasher or Merlin is by far better. While the Rifter used to be considered the best T1 frigate in the game (leading to many memes surrounding it), it has been nerfed to be similar in abilities to the others. A balanced 4/3/3 layout gives the Rifter the ability to either shield or armor tank and provides flexibility in fitting.
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Traits: The Slasher is cheap, but versatile. It's been manufactured en masse, making it one of the most common vessels in Minmatar space. The Slasher is extremely fast, with decent armaments, and is popular amongst budding pirates and smugglers. |
The Slasher is the Tech 1 Minmatar fast tackle frigate. It receives a bonus to the cap usage of tackle mods, and it has the fastest base speed of the tier one frigates. Four mid slots also allow a great deal of flexibility in fitting.
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Minmatar Frigate bonuses (per skill level): The Vigil is an unusual Minmatar ship, serving both as a long range scout as well as an electronic warfare platform. It is fast and agile, allowing it to keep the distance needed to avoid enemy fire while making use of jammers or other electronic gadgets. |
The Vigil is the Tech 1 EWAR ship of the Minmatar Republic. This ship is the fastest standard T1 frigate, and makes a decent first-strike tackler. The bonus to target painters isn't that useful, as target painters are stacking penalized in effectiveness, and work reasonably well on hulls without bonuses to them.
Destroyers
Destroyers are slightly larger and have more highslots than frigates but fit the same small-sized weapons. In PVP, they're designed to slaughter frigates but be vulnerable to most other ships, which limits them to very niche roles. Their high damage output (for small, cheap ships) makes them popular tools for suicide-ganking weak targets in highsec. They are also sometimes used to hunt frigate pilots or to kill a carrier's fighters. Due to their limitations, flying destroyers is not recommended for PvP Uni fleets. However, there are some exceptions, such as specialized hit and run fleets or doctrines designed to maximize the strengths, such as the Talwar Doctrine.
In PvE, they are most often used for Level 1 missions, and they make superb introductory salvage ships.
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Minmatar Destroyer bonuses (per skill level): The Talwar is redolent of the renowned Minmatar practicality in terms of battle. Irrespective of numbers, firepower and circumstances, their strategy when engaged in combat often revolves around the same central tenet: Stay untouchable as much as you can, either by sneaking around or rushing in, do as much damage as fast as you can, and get out before you get killed. |
The Talwar uses rockets or light missiles to fight smaller craft like Frigates or other Destroyers. Due to its unique bonus amongst Destroyers reducing the signature radius bloom of MicroWarp Drives, it is the fastest Destroyer available and able to reach such speeds without increasing its own signature radius significantly. With its speed, range, and alpha abilities, a fleet of Talwars can be devastating.
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Minmatar Destroyer bonuses (per skill level): Engineered as a supplement to its big brother the Cyclone, the Thrasher's tremendous turret capabilities and advanced tracking computers allow it to protect its larger counterpart from smaller, faster menaces. |
The Thrasher can be an effective anti-frigate platform in PvE (L1 missions) or PvP. It is rarely seen in fleet combat, but its cheap cost makes it popular with suicide gankers. Its balanced mid and low slot layout makes it generally the most flexible destroyer, able to fit some tackle and an armor tank or damage and a shield tank.
Cruisers
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. In PvP, some tech 1 cruisers, such as the Gallente Thorax and the Minmatar Rupture, can bring surprising amounts of DPS to a fight. The electronic warfare cruisers can also be important in PvP, as they are slightly tougher and often more effective EWAR platforms than their frigate equivalents. Cruisers can also fit tackle to provide some secondary, heavier tackling that's harder to scrape off than Tech 1 tackling frigates.
In PVE, Tech 1 cruisers are the ships most commonly used to run Level 2 missions.
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Minmatar Cruiser bonuses (per skill level): Being a highly versatile class of Minmatar ships, the Bellicose has been used as a combat juggernaut as well as a support ship for wings of frigates. While not quite in the league of newer navy cruisers, the Bellicose is still a very solid ship for most purposes, especially in terms of long range combat. |
The Bellicose is the Minmatar EWar cruiser, with bonuses for the effectiveness of target painters. Although the Vigil's target painters have a longer range than those of the Bellicose, the cruiser provides a far more durable platform from which to project EWar. On top of that, like the Arbitrator, the Bellicose has a secondary bonus for combat, in this case for the rate of fire of Rapid Light, Heavy Assault and Heavy Missile Launchers, meaning that the ship can also double up as DD, and is often used in a fleet support role.
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Minmatar Cruiser bonuses (per skill level): The Rupture is slow for a Minmatar ship, but it more than makes up for it in power. The Rupture has superior firepower and is used by the Minmatar Republic both to defend space stations and other stationary objects and as part of massive attack formations. |
The heavy duty combat cruiser of the Minmatar Republic, this ship looks like a chunk of brick. The Rupture is the favored mission cruiser for the Minmatar. It can mount a good active armor tank or regenerating passive shield tank and use artillery and drones to destroy mission rats from range.
The Rupture is also a strong PvP ship. A number of fittings work well; in E-UNI fleets the most common approach is to fit an armor buffer tank and provide extra DPS and some sticky secondary tackle. Strong fitting skills and access to T2 autocannons (for kiting with Barrage ammo) open up some fast-moving shield-tanked PvP fits.
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Minmatar 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 Minmatar Republic the outcome of the re-evaluation process led, among other developments, to a redesign and redeployment of the Scythe. |
The Scythe is a T1 logistics cruiser, with bonuses to shield repair. It is designed to support 3 medium shield transporters and a shield tank and be cap stable, but getting the Scythe both cap stable and have a good tank can be tricky for low skilled pilots.
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Minmatar Cruiser bonuses (per skill level): The Stabber is the mainstay of the Minmatar fleet. It is light and extremely fast, yet surprisingly powerful, with a wide variety of weapons. It is one of few Minmatar vessels that have reached popularity outside Minmatar space. |
The Stabber's key feature is its hull bonus to speed: It's the fastest T1 cruiser. Unfortunately it also has limited grid and CPU, limited slots and a tiny drone bay. It's best to think of it as a 'heavy frigate' or a 'light cruiser' rather than a cruiser proper. If you plan on moving into ships that utilize speed tanking or avoidance tactics this is a good ship to practice with. It can be fit as a tackle ship or an anti-frigate platform. Unfortunately it lacks the grid and CPU to fit the artillery or the combination of autocannon and tracking enhancers that would make it a viable kiting ship.
Battlecruisers
When you begin to fly Minmatar Battlecruisers, it is a good idea to be training towards a Shield or Armor T2 Tank. (You will need a full T2 tank to fly battlecruisers in wartime PvP, if you're a uni pilot. Whether or not you're in the uni, a T2 tank is extremely helpful in PVP or PVE.) It is also wise to have basic Gunnery Support skills sorted out, and to be training towards T2 light and medium drones.
In PvP, Tech 1 battlecruisers represent a good balance between DPS, tanking, agility, speed and cost (they cost much less to lose than a battleship). Battlecruisers can be fitted for long or short range PVP combat. In large-scale alliance battles in nullsec they are often part of each side's 'support fleet', defending the main battleship fleet from attack.
In PvE, Tech 1 battlecruisers are the standard tool for completing Level 3 combat missions. Several battlecruisers can mount passive shield tanks ideal for PvE combat, and some battlecruisers are also suitable salvage ships for the large amount of loot produced by Level 4 missions.
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Minmatar Battlecruiser bonuses (per skill level): The Cyclone was created in order to meet the increasing demand for a vessel capable of providing muscle for frigate detachments while remaining more mobile than a battleship. To this end, the Cyclone's seven high-power slots and powerful thrusters have proved ideal. |
The Cyclone is inferior to the Hurricane in most situations, but it has a few niche uses. The Cyclone is bonused towards missiles rather than projectile turrets. Unlike the Drake, which is designed to mount a large buffer tank and deal most of its damage with kinetic missiles, the Cyclone is bonused to take advantage of shield boosters to mount a massive active tank, albeit for a only limited period of time, while its rate of fire bonus allows the Cyclone greater flexibility in terms of the damage types it can use. The Cyclone also has a decent drone bay and bandwidth, allowing it to field a full flight of medium drones for extra DPS, or two flights of small drones instead.
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Minmatar Battlecruiser bonuses (per skill level): The force with which this ship hits is more than sufficient to leave a trail of shattered enemies, floating around like so much lifeless debris. An adaptable vessel, it has enough turret hardpoints for a full-scale assault while remaining versatile enough to allow for plenty of missile fire, and has both sufficient speed to outrun its enemies and sufficient capacitor charge to outlast them. |
The Hurricane has a long history of positive PvP and PvE performance and is one of the most versatile ships in EVE. It can deal impressive DPS, and can be shield or armor tanked. Most Minmatar pilots choose a Hurricane as their Level 3 mission ship, fitting either a passive shield tank or an active armor tank.
In PvP, the Hurricane can be fitted as a simple, armor-buffered short-range bruiser, or as a fast, kiting, shield-tanked 'Nanocane', or as a shield-tanked, medium-range high-alpha artillery platform. Roaming gangs of shield Hurricanes with Scimitar logistic support are a fearsome sight and a highly effective combat fleet.
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Minmatar Battlecruiser bonuses (per skill level): In YC 113 Republic Security Services learned the Amarr Empire was building a new battlecruiser capable of supporting battleship-class weapons. Determined to not lose their technological edge to their adversaries, Republic Fleet commissioned Boundless Creation to construct a gunboat to match. |
The Tornado was made to do one thing and one thing only: blow the every loving crap out of anything that is unfortunately preoccupied with other threats. Like the other Tier 3 Battlecruisers, this ship is all gank and no tank. This naturally leads many to fit it for 200km+ sniper combat, since even a couple of cruisers or small frigate wolfpack can tear it apart rather quickly. The Tornado is thus often fitted with 1400mm Artillery and used to deal massive alpha damage, in similar style to the Maelstrom.
Battleships
In PvP, Tech 1 Battleships can mount great buffer tanks and can deal very high DPS when fitted for short ranges. When mounting long-range 'sniper' fits, battleships can fight at the very longest ranges possible in Eve's engine, while still dealing effective DPS. Battleships' weaknesses are low speed and agility, combined with slow locking speeds and poor gun tracking speeds. Battleships therefore struggle to force smaller ships to engage, and to kill smaller ships even when they can be pinned down.
In PvE, battleships are also the standard class of ship used to run Level 4 missions solo, since they can fit active tanks good enough to survive lots of DPS over a sustained period of time, while still dealing out enough damage to complete missions reasonably quickly. Battleships are also used very effectively in Incursion fleets.
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Minmatar Battleship bonuses (per skill level): With the Maelstrom, versatility is the name of the game. Its defensive capabilities make it ideally suited for small raid groups or solo work, while its 8 turret hardpoints present opportunities for untold carnage on the fleet battlefield. |
On the same skill path as the Cyclone, the Maelstrom has a powerful active shield tank. Unlike the Cyclone it can also deal lots of damage. The Maelstrom is the usual choice for running Level 4 missions, which it does quite well (Ships like the Vargur and Machariel outperform it, but cost much more, both in ISK and in skill training time). PvE Maelstroms usually fit an X-large shield booster for a powerful pulsed shield tank, and artillery for long-range DPS -- though against the Angel Cartel, whose battleships like to engage at close range, some pilots like to fit large autocannon instead. It is also a great introductory ship to get into Incursions.
In PvP, the Maelstrom is the backbone of the "alpha fleet" - fleets designed to one-shot ships to negate the power of logistics.
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Minmatar Battleship bonuses (per skill level): The Tempest is one of the Republic Fleet's key vessels; a versatile gunship proficient at long-range bombardment and capable of dishing out specialized types of damage with great effectiveness. A well-rounded squadron of Tempests has been proven time and time again to be an invaluable wild card in a fleet battle, one which opponents should ignore at their own peril. |
The Tempest is one of two Minmatar Attack Battleships. It's bonuses favor Large Projectile Turrets, unlike the Typhoon which focuses on Battleship-size missles/torpedos. With 5 mid slots and 6 low slots, the Tempest can be shield or armor tanked, both are equally common. With the recent rise in the use of the Tornado as a cheaper sniper, the primary role of the Tempest has been somewhat overshadowed. None the less, the Tempest is still widely used in skirmish warfare. The Tempest is relatively quick and agile, for a battleship.
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Minmatar Battleship bonuses (per skill level): Much praised by its proponents and much maligned by its detractors, the Typhoon-class battleship has always been one of the most hotly debated spacefaring vessels around. Its distinguishing aspect - and the source of most of the controversy - is its sheer versatility, variously seen as either a lack of design focus or a deliberate freedom for pilot modification. |
The Typhoon's position as the cheapest of the Minmatar battleships is a little misleading, as it's not a very good ship for new pilots. With seven low slots, a useful rate of fire bonus and the bandwidth to field a full flight of heavy or sentry drones, it has a lot of potential. But it takes a considerable skillpoint investment to bring that potential out, and the rate of fire bonus is split between two different weapon systems.
The Typhoon is consequently not a common sight, but when it is used it's usually fitted with missiles, often with torpedoes and either neuts or armor RR for close combat. There are also viable L4 mission-running fits which use cruise missile launchers and sentry drones. However, new Minmatar battleship pilots will probably be more effective in one of the other two options.
Industrial
Industrial ships are a class of ships with a very large cargo bay, generally weak shields and armor, with few turret hardpoints. Industrial Ships are designed to carry large volumes of cargo within their large holds. However, they are slow and fragile ships, leaving them vulnerable to attack. Some Industrials have better capacity to deal with threats than others, leaving some ships better at running the gauntlet than others with a chance of success.
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Minmatar Hauler bonuses (per skill level): Aside from being endowed with the usual carrying capabilities of haulers, the Hoarder possesses an extra cargo bay. That bay is a static-free, blast-proof chamber, and as such is meant to be dedicated solely to ferrying consumable charges of all kinds, including ammunition, missiles, capacitor charges, nanite paste and bombs. |
The Hoarder is a highly specialized Industrial for hauling large volumes of ammunition. This is especially useful for transporting high-volume low-ISK items such as cap booster charges or large ammunition.
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Minmatar Hauler bonuses (per skill level): The Mammoth is the largest hauler of the Minmatar Republic. It was designed with aid from the Gallente Federation, making the Mammoth both large and powerful yet also nimble and technologically advanced. A very good buy. |
The Mammoth offers a good compromise between one of the largest cargo holds of the Industrials and a relatively fast align time. The low-slots can be filled with either cargo expanders or agility modules to balance these depending on the task at hand.
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Minmatar Haulers bonuses (per skill level): The Wreathe is an old hauler of the Minmatar Republic and one of the oldest ship designs still in use. The design of the Wreathe is very plain, which is the main reason for its longevity, but it also makes the ship incapable of handling anything but the most mundane tasks. |
The Wreathe is the entry level Industrial provided to Minmatar capsuleers during the tutorial missions. Its cargo hold leaves much to be desired but is sufficient for small hauling jobs. It offers the shortest align time of all T1 haulers and its low-slots can be used to improve that further. Level 1 distribution Missions and light station trading are situations that this ship accommodates. As young pilots have less starting capital the cargo size of the Wreathe will be suited fine.
Related Links
- Ship Fitting wiki editing parser
- PVP
- Missions
- Drones and Using Drones
- Basic skills and Support skills - Training support skills is a key step towards 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.
- NPC damage types and NPC Ship Attributes - To see which resists to use and damage types to deal against NPC rats.
- Creating an Alt Hauler - Having an alt hauler can be useful for shopping trips during wartime, if you are living in highsec.
