Difference between revisions of "Capital ships"

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(Removed the box linking to capitals 101 because the class syllabus is depreceated. Added its historic section to this page and added a link to the jump drives page.)
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Capital ships -- Dreadnoughts, Carriers, Supercarriers ("Motherships"), Titans and Rorquals -- can't use gates, and Supercarriers and Titans can't even dock. Instead they use their own [[Jump_Drives_and_Cynosural_Fields#Jump_Drives|jump drives]] to travel around. In order to do this, they require fuel (racial isotopes: Helium for Amarr, Oxygen for Gallente and the Rorqual, Nitrogen for Caldari and Hydrogen for Minmatar) and a cynosural field to jump to. Jump Freighters and [[Battleship#Black Ops|Black Ops battleships]] also require a cyno field to use their jump drives, but they can use gates as well, while Black Ops have the unique ability to lock onto a covert cyno field too.
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{{ShipTypes}}
 +
'''Capital ships''' (Dreadnoughts, Carriers, Force Auxiliaries, Supercarriers ("Motherships"), Titans and Rorquals) are the largest player-piloted ships in EVE. Capitals can only operate outside of [[high-sec]] space. While they can use stargates to travel (except to high-sec), they can also jump between star systems using built-in [[Jump Drives and Cynosural Fields#Jump Drives|jump drives]].  
  
Cynos cannot be lit in highsec, so capitals can't go there. It was, however, once possible to build capitals there, so there are still a few that never jumped out of the system they were built in. If they ever do jump out, they will never be able to return, and while they're in highsec they are not allowed to be used for anything that gives the owner any kind of advantage compared to someone that does not own a high sec capital ship; during wars, they're not even allowed to undock. If the pilot breaks these rules, he or she will receive a temporary ban, and the capital ship will be moved to a station in a nearby low sec system.
+
The largest capital ships (Supercarriers and Titans, collectively known as "supercapitals") are so large that they can only dock in [[Keepstar|Keepstars]]. Additionally, supercapitals can only be built in systems with a Supercapital Construction Facilities in the Infrastructure Hub, thus building them is restricted to [[Sovereignty|sov space]]. This combined with their being no [[Wormhole_attributes|wormhole types]] that are large enough for supercarriers means that supercapital ships cannot be encountered in wormhole space. (While there is one Wormhole class, K329 Nullsec->C4, which is large enough for a supercarrier to travel, wormholes of that class never generate.)
 +
 
 +
{{expansion past|It was once possible to build capital ships in highsec, so there are still a few that never jumped out of the system they were built in. If they ever do jump out, they will never be able to return, and while they're in highsec they are not allowed to be used for anything that gives the owner any kind of advantage compared to someone that does not own a high sec capital ship; during wars, they're not even allowed to undock. If the pilot breaks these rules, he or she will receive a temporary ban, and the capital ship will be moved to a station in a nearby low sec system.
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Additionally, capital ships were considerably rebalanced in the Citadel expansion (Spring 2016), in particular introducing Force Auxiliary capital ships.}}
  
== Dreadnoughts ==
 
Dreadnoughts ("dreads") are DPS machines, only surpassed as damage-dealers by Supercarriers and Titans. Their weapons track very slowly, however, so usually they can only apply their DPS to other capital ships and to POSs and outposts. Only dreads can fit a siege module, which has the following effects when activated:
 
  
* All current targets are lost
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== Docking ==
* -75% scan res (-70% for Tech II)
 
* +700% damage mod (+840% for Tech II)
 
* -100% speed
 
* +100% shield boost/armor rep amount
 
* -50% shield booster/armor rep cycle time
 
* Can't recieve remote support
 
* Immunity to ewar
 
* Max amount of targets lockable set to 2 (3 for Tech II)
 
  
The siege module's cycle time is 5 minutes, and it requires 250 - (level of tactical weapon reconfiguration skill * 25) Strontium Clathrates ("stront"). While it's active the dread can't warp or jump or move in any way. With the siege module a dreadnought can reach almost five thousand DPS even in a long range fit.
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{|class="wikitable apps sortable" style=text-align:center
 +
!colspan="1"; rowspan="2" style="background:#222222"| Type
 +
!colspan="1" style="background:#222222"| Station
 +
!colspan="3" style="background:#222222"| Citadel
 +
!colspan="3" style="background:#222222"| Engineering Complex
 +
!colspan="2" style="background:#222222"| Refinery
 +
|-
 +
!colspan="1" style="background:#222222"| NPC Station
 +
!colspan="1" style="background:#222222"| Astrahus (M)
 +
!colspan="1" style="background:#222222"| Fortizar (L)
 +
!colspan="1" style="background:#222222"| Keepstar (XL)
 +
!colspan="1" style="background:#222222"| Raitaru (M)
 +
!colspan="1" style="background:#222222"| Azbel (L)
 +
!colspan="1" style="background:#222222"| Sotiyo (XL)
 +
!colspan="1" style="background:#222222"| Athanor (M)
 +
!colspan="1" style="background:#222222"| Tatara (L)
 +
|-
 +
|Capitals
 +
|{{icon|tick|16}}
 +
|{{icon|cross|16}}
 +
|{{icon|tick|16}}
 +
|{{icon|tick|16}}
 +
|{{icon|cross|16}}
 +
|{{icon|cross|16}}<sup>1</sup>
 +
|{{icon|tick|16}}
 +
|{{icon|cross|16}}
 +
|{{icon|cross|16}}<sup>2</sup>
 +
|-
 +
|Super-Capitals
 +
|{{icon|cross|16}}
 +
|{{icon|cross|16}}
 +
|{{icon|cross|16}}
 +
|{{icon|tick|16}}
 +
|{{icon|cross|16}}
 +
|{{icon|cross|16}}
 +
|{{icon|cross|16}}<sup>1</sup>
 +
|{{icon|cross|16}}
 +
|{{icon|cross|16}}
 +
|}
  
*Amarr : [[Revelation]]
+
<small>
*Caldari : [[Phoenix]]
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# Can be built here, but not dock again once undocked.
*Gallente : [[Moros]]
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# Rorquals can dock.
*Minmatar : [[Naglfar]]
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</small>
  
== Carriers ==
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== Dreadnoughts ==
These are giant logistics platforms. They have the ability to store 1,000,000 m3 of '''assembled''' ships in their ship maintenance bay so that pilots who lose their ships can quickly pick up a new one. Other ships from the carrier pilot's corporation (or fleet, depending on the carrier's settings) can also use it to refit in space.
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{{main|Dreadnoughts}}
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'''Dreadnoughts''' ("dreads") are DPS machines, only surpassed as damage-dealers by Supercarriers and Titans. This is achieved through the [[siege module]] which can only be fitted to dreadnoughts. A Sieged Dreadnought is immobilized, and cannot receive remote repairs or targeted assistance from allies, but in exchange is nearly immune to electronic warfare and gains significant bonuses to local repair modules. Dreadnoughts cannot deal meaningful damage without entering Siege.
  
A carrier has a 50% per level range bonus to two of the following, depending on which race's carrier it is: capital energy transferers, capital shield transporters and capital remote armor repairers. The Amarr Archon gets cap transfer and armor rep, the Gallente Thanathos and Minmatar Nidhoggur get shield and armor, and the Caldari Chimera gets cap transfer and shield. In addition to that, the Chimera and Archon get a resistances bonus (4% per level to armor for Archon, shield for Chimera), the Nidhoggur gets a capital remote rep amount bonus (7.5% per level to armor and shield repair amounts) and the Thanatos gets a fighter damage bonus (5% per level). All carriers get the ability to control one extra drone per level in addition to the normal five, and the ability to use fighters (but not fighter bombers). They can't fit any guns or launchers at all, so the high slots are usually used for energy neutralizers, smartbombs (for killing drones or small ships) and remote reps or energy transfer arrays.
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* {{sh|Revelation}}
 +
* {{sh|Phoenix}}
 +
* {{sh|Moros}}
 +
* {{sh|Naglfar}}
 +
* {{sh|Vehement}}
 +
* {{sh|Chemosh}}
 +
* {{sh|Caiman}}
  
Just like dreadnoughts, carriers also get a special module that only they can fit: the triage module. Its effects are:
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== Carriers ==
* Immobilises the carrier, including its jump drive.
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{{main|Carriers}}
* Disables its drones
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'''Carriers''' are capital ships with the ability to control Light and Support Fighters (frigate-sized [[drones]]). They also have the ability to store 1,000,000 m3 of '''assembled''' ships in their ship maintenance bay so pilots who lose their ships can quickly pick up a new one. Other ships from the carrier pilot's corporation (or fleet, depending on the carrier's settings) can also use it to refit in space.
* +900% scan res
 
* +4 max targets
 
* +100% shield boost/armor rep amount (both local and remote)
 
* -50% shield booster/armor repper cycle time (both local and remote)
 
* +100% remote hull rep/cap transfer amount
 
* -50% remote hull rep/cap transer cycle time
 
* Immune to enemy ewar
 
* Unable to use ewar modules
 
* Can't recieve remote support
 
  
As you can see, going into triage massively boosts a carrier's ability to repair itself and to repair its allies, but also makes it more vulnerable by holding it in place and stopping its allies from repairing it.
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Carriers (and their supercapital counterparts, [[supercarriers]]) generally serve as anti-subcapital ships. To facilitate this role, they have access to the powerful [[Networked Sensor Array]], which increases their scan resolution but removes their ability to use electronic warfare modules and disables their warp drive while it is active.
  
The triage module has a 5 minute cycle time and, like the siege module, also uses stront. The amount used per cycle is 250 - 25 * (level of Tactical Logistics Reconfiguration).
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Carriers are also able to equip [[Command Bursts]].
  
Carriers and supercarriers can also use warfare links, but they don't get a ship bonus to strength.
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* {{sh|Archon}}
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* {{sh|Chimera}}
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* {{sh|Thanatos}}
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* {{sh|Nidhoggur}}
  
*Amarr : [[Archon]]
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== Force Auxiliaries ==
*Caldari : [[Chimera]]
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{{main|Force Auxiliaries}}
*Gallente : [[Thanatos]]
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'''Force Auxiliaries''' (singular: "'''Force Auxiliary'''", sometimes abbreviated as "FAX") are capital-sized logistics and fleet boosting ships. Force Auxiliaries receive bonuses to logistics drones. Most of the Force Auxiliaries'remote repair power is caused by the [[triage module]] which can only be fitted to them. The triage module works similar to the dreadnought's siege module: when active, the FAX is immobilized, and cannot receive remote repairs, but is resistant to electronic warfare and gains massively improved local and outgoing remote repair power. However, the triage module does not reduce the capacitor cost of these repair modules, making FAXes extremely cap-hungry, a fact which many FAX fits reflect in their multiple capacitor injectors.
*Minmatar : [[Nidhoggur]]
 
  
'''Notes'''
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* {{sh|Apostle}}
* For combat triage the Archon is the best pick by a large margin, though it can only service armor fleets. This is primarily due to its enormous tank, buffed by its 4% armor resistances per level, its generous capacitor, and the fact that when a carrier is in triage it won't have its fighters out anyway, so any damage bonus to fighter damage is wasted.
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* {{sh|Minokawa}}
* For shield combat triage the Chimera is the best, but it lacks both the capacitor and CPU to get as strong a fit as an Archon.
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* {{sh|Ninazu}}
* For structure repping duties the Nidhoggur is best, but its weak tank makes it inferior at the role of combat triage than the Archon and Chimera, despite its rep bonus.
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* {{sh|Lif}}
* The Thanatos' damage bonus only applies to fighters, so it gives no advantage when using sentries or other types of drones, which is common for carriers.
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* {{sh|Dagon}}
 +
* {{sh|Loggerhead}}
  
 
== Supercarriers ==
 
== Supercarriers ==
{{main|Supercarrier}}
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{{main|Supercarriers}}
Larger carriers with the ability to use fighter bombers, dramatically increasing their DPS to roughly twice as much as a sieged dreadnought if the supercarrier pilot has a full flight of bombers and max skills. Supercarriers get three extra drones per carrier skill level instead of one, but can't dock and have a shorter jump range (equivalent to a dreadnought or jump freighter). They are no longer able to go into triage mode, but they're always immune to electronic warfare anyway because they're super capitals. They can only be tackled by [[Interdictor|interdictors]] and [[Cruiser#Heavy Interdiction Cruisers|HICs]] (and anchorable bubbles, but they're not practical due to the anchoring time required before they activate combined with their limited range).
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Supercarriers are a more powerful version of carriers with the additional ability to control Heavy Fighters, allowing them to effectively engage other capital and supercapital ships.
  
*Amarr : [[Aeon]]
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Supercarriers are also able to equip Burst Projectors, fleet-scale area-of-effect electronic warfare systems.
*Caldari : [[Wyvern]]
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*Gallente : [[Nyx]]
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* {{sh|Aeon}}
*Minmatar : [[Hel]]
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* {{sh|Wyvern}}
 +
* {{sh|Nyx}}
 +
* {{sh|Hel}}
 +
* {{sh|Revenant}}
 +
* {{sh|Vendetta}}
  
 
== Titans ==
 
== Titans ==
Titans, like supercarriers, are immune to electronic warfare, cannot dock and can only be tackled by interdictors and HICs.
+
{{main|Titans}}
 +
'''Titans''' are the largest and most powerful ships in EVE, able to fit several unique modules such as Doomsday devices, Jump Portal Generators, and Phenomena Generators.
  
They're able to fit and activate the largest and most lethal gun in the game: a doomsday device ("DD"), which does 2-3 million points of damage depending on the Titan pilot's skills. Doomsday devices can only be fired at capital ships, once every ten minutes, cost 50,000 racial isotopes to activate, prevent the titan from moving at all for 30 seconds and from using its jump drive for 10 minutes. Activating the doomsday device takes 10 seconds, so targets have some time to get out before the damage is applied. The device's range is 250 km (the hard coded maximum locking range).
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* {{sh|Avatar}}
 +
* {{sh|Leviathan}}
 +
* {{sh|Erebus}}
 +
* {{sh|Ragnarok}}
 +
* {{sh|Vanquisher}}
 +
* {{sh|Molok}}
 +
* {{sh|Komodo}}
  
Titans can also fit a jump bridge module, which creates a bridge between the titan and a destination cyno, and allows friendly subcapitals near the titan to jump to that cyno.
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== Capital Industrial Ship: The Rorqual ==
 +
{{main|Rorqual}}
 +
This ship is primarily intended for deep space mining support. It has a maintenance bay, corporate hangar, a huge ore hold, and the ability to fit bonused mining leadership links. The Rorqual can fit capital tractor beams and clone vat bays. In addition, the Rorqual has a jump drive and the ability to compress ore. The Rorqual does have a 50%/level range bonus to capital shield transfers, and a 20%/level drone damage bonus, so while it's not intended as a PVP ship, some people have been known to use it for that. The Rorqual has a non-capital little sister, the Orca, that can be seen supporting many highsec mining fleets.
 +
 
 +
* {{sh|Rorqual}}
 +
 
 +
== Other Ships ==
 +
In general, when capital ships are being discussed, it is the above ships that are referred to. However in certain contexts, other ships can also be considered capital ships.
 +
* The market group "capital ships" also includes [[Freighter|Freighter]]s and [[Jump Freighter|Jump Freighter]]s. Freighters are constructed using capital ship components, however they can operate in high-sec.
 +
* The [[Orca]] sits on the border between capital and subcapital, as while it can only equip battleship-sized modules and does not require capital skills, it is much more durable than any battleship, it is constructed from capital ship components, and like other capital ships it is immune to the [[Micro Jump Field Generator|Micro Jump Field Generator]] of [[Command Destroyer]]s.
  
Titans have bonuses for their racial capital weapons, and nowadays most titans actually fit them and participate in capital fights. The doomsday device is a very effective counter against people playing docking games with capitals, as the damage it does is enough to kill any capital that is not either tanked specifically for that damage type (which is a stupid thing to do, unless you know that a specific titan is ready to attack you and are trying to bait it) or fitted for the maximum possible effective hit points. It is possible to tank a capital against every type of DD at once, but doing so requires a gimped fit -- losing damage and range modules on a dreadnought, or the vital cap recharge on a carrier -- combined with good leadership bonuses and preferably Slave implants.
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==History==
 +
Since their initial introduction in 2005 with the Red Moon Rising expansion, most recently in the April 2016 Citadel expansion, all combat related capital ships have received major overhauls to stats, bonuses, and abilities.
  
Titans also have the ability to give out great leadership bonuses, even if they don't have any warfare links fitted (they are able to fit one for every titan skill level). Titans gives out a 7.5% bonus per titan skill level to armor amount for Gallente, shield amount for Caldari, cap recharge for Amarr and signature radius for Minmatar.
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Initially, capital ships had very little impact on the events in EVE. Small groups scrambled to be the first to field dreadnought fleets in order to bring down player owned starbases (POSes) which previously only had been possible with large fleets. Carrier fleets were also developed in order to bulk up the damage output of corporations and alliances with many low skilled pilots by remotely assigning fighter drones. In lowsec, groups of pirates found a use for "hot dropping" carriers into ongoing engagements to turn the tide with the properly applied remote repair of a skilled pilot. In this phase of the game evolution, titans and supercarriers (also known as motherships) were regarded as nearly unbuildable, with the first one to officially be created costing the building alliance dozens of POSes, an outpost and their entire presence in nullsec. It took a almost a full year for the first titan to be revealed, and for that entire time - and a few months after - they were regarded as completely useless ships.
  
*Amarr : [[Avatar]]
+
However, with continued expansion of the ranks of capital pilots, carriers began to be deployed on the front lines of battleship-class conflicts to great effect, while fleets of ten, twenty, or thirty dreadnoughts could wipe out a hardened tower in less than thirty minutes - a feat previously unheard of without at least 100-150 battleship pilots. The introduction of titans to nullsec combat meant the death of hundreds of enemy ships in the blink of an eye, and alliance warfare was changed forever - capital ships had made their presence felt, and they were here to stay.
*Caldari : [[Leviathan]]
 
*Gallente : [[Erebus]]
 
*Minmatar : [[Ragnarok]]
 
  
== Capital Industrial Ship: The Rorqual ==
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Capital ships as a whole were rebalanced upon the release of the April 2016 Citadel expansion. A large number of capital-size modules were added to the game, including armor plates, shield extenders, and capital electronic warfare modules, in order to facilitate more strategic capital ship fittings. The hitpoints of all capital shields, armor, and hull were reduced, and supercapitals were made vulnerable to electronic warfare, though they remain very resistant. Additionally, both a fleet hangar and ship maintenance bay were added to all dreadnoughts to make them more appealing for beginner capital pilots.
  
This ship is primarily intended for deep space mining support. It has a maintenance bay, corporate hangar, a huge ore hold, and the ability to fit bonused mining leadership links. The Rorqual can fit capital tractor beams and clone vat bays. In addition, the Rorqual has a jump drive and the ability to compress ore. The Rorqual does have a 50%/level range bonus to capital shield transfers, and a 20%/level drone damage bonus, so while it's not intended as a PVP ship, some people have been known to use it for that. The Rorqual has a non-capital little sister, the Orca, that can be seen supporting many highsec mining fleets.
+
The Citadel expansion also introduced a new capital ship class: the force auxiliary. Force auxiliaries are capital logistics platform, and inherited the role from carriers, which were converted to offensive ships. The triage module, previously unique to carriers, was reassigned to be unique to the new force auxiliaries, and any carrier equipped with a triage module upon Citadel's release was converted into a force auxiliary ship of the same race. Force auxiliaries cannot launch fighters, and instead have a very large drone bay and bonuses to logistics drone performance.
  
* [[Rorqual]]
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== See Also ==
 +
*[[Jump drives]]
  
[[category:ships]]
+
[[Category:Ships]]

Revision as of 10:48, 12 October 2019

Capital ships (Dreadnoughts, Carriers, Force Auxiliaries, Supercarriers ("Motherships"), Titans and Rorquals) are the largest player-piloted ships in EVE. Capitals can only operate outside of high-sec space. While they can use stargates to travel (except to high-sec), they can also jump between star systems using built-in jump drives.

The largest capital ships (Supercarriers and Titans, collectively known as "supercapitals") are so large that they can only dock in Keepstars. Additionally, supercapitals can only be built in systems with a Supercapital Construction Facilities in the Infrastructure Hub, thus building them is restricted to sov space. This combined with their being no wormhole types that are large enough for supercarriers means that supercapital ships cannot be encountered in wormhole space. (While there is one Wormhole class, K329 Nullsec->C4, which is large enough for a supercarrier to travel, wormholes of that class never generate.)


Docking

Type Station Citadel Engineering Complex Refinery
NPC Station Astrahus (M) Fortizar (L) Keepstar (XL) Raitaru (M) Azbel (L) Sotiyo (XL) Athanor (M) Tatara (L)
Capitals Tick.png Cross.png Tick.png Tick.png Cross.png Cross.png1 Tick.png Cross.png Cross.png2
Super-Capitals Cross.png Cross.png Cross.png Tick.png Cross.png Cross.png Cross.png1 Cross.png Cross.png

  1. Can be built here, but not dock again once undocked.
  2. Rorquals can dock.

Dreadnoughts

Main article: Dreadnoughts

Dreadnoughts ("dreads") are DPS machines, only surpassed as damage-dealers by Supercarriers and Titans. This is achieved through the siege module which can only be fitted to dreadnoughts. A Sieged Dreadnought is immobilized, and cannot receive remote repairs or targeted assistance from allies, but in exchange is nearly immune to electronic warfare and gains significant bonuses to local repair modules. Dreadnoughts cannot deal meaningful damage without entering Siege.

Carriers

Main article: Carriers

Carriers are capital ships with the ability to control Light and Support Fighters (frigate-sized drones). They also have the ability to store 1,000,000 m3 of assembled ships in their ship maintenance bay so pilots who lose their ships can quickly pick up a new one. Other ships from the carrier pilot's corporation (or fleet, depending on the carrier's settings) can also use it to refit in space.

Carriers (and their supercapital counterparts, supercarriers) generally serve as anti-subcapital ships. To facilitate this role, they have access to the powerful Networked Sensor Array, which increases their scan resolution but removes their ability to use electronic warfare modules and disables their warp drive while it is active.

Carriers are also able to equip Command Bursts.

Force Auxiliaries

Main article: Force Auxiliaries

Force Auxiliaries (singular: "Force Auxiliary", sometimes abbreviated as "FAX") are capital-sized logistics and fleet boosting ships. Force Auxiliaries receive bonuses to logistics drones. Most of the Force Auxiliaries'remote repair power is caused by the triage module which can only be fitted to them. The triage module works similar to the dreadnought's siege module: when active, the FAX is immobilized, and cannot receive remote repairs, but is resistant to electronic warfare and gains massively improved local and outgoing remote repair power. However, the triage module does not reduce the capacitor cost of these repair modules, making FAXes extremely cap-hungry, a fact which many FAX fits reflect in their multiple capacitor injectors.

Supercarriers

Main article: Supercarriers

Supercarriers are a more powerful version of carriers with the additional ability to control Heavy Fighters, allowing them to effectively engage other capital and supercapital ships.

Supercarriers are also able to equip Burst Projectors, fleet-scale area-of-effect electronic warfare systems.

Titans

Main article: Titans

Titans are the largest and most powerful ships in EVE, able to fit several unique modules such as Doomsday devices, Jump Portal Generators, and Phenomena Generators.

Capital Industrial Ship: The Rorqual

Main article: Rorqual

This ship is primarily intended for deep space mining support. It has a maintenance bay, corporate hangar, a huge ore hold, and the ability to fit bonused mining leadership links. The Rorqual can fit capital tractor beams and clone vat bays. In addition, the Rorqual has a jump drive and the ability to compress ore. The Rorqual does have a 50%/level range bonus to capital shield transfers, and a 20%/level drone damage bonus, so while it's not intended as a PVP ship, some people have been known to use it for that. The Rorqual has a non-capital little sister, the Orca, that can be seen supporting many highsec mining fleets.

Other Ships

In general, when capital ships are being discussed, it is the above ships that are referred to. However in certain contexts, other ships can also be considered capital ships.

  • The market group "capital ships" also includes Freighters and Jump Freighters. Freighters are constructed using capital ship components, however they can operate in high-sec.
  • The Orca sits on the border between capital and subcapital, as while it can only equip battleship-sized modules and does not require capital skills, it is much more durable than any battleship, it is constructed from capital ship components, and like other capital ships it is immune to the Micro Jump Field Generator of Command Destroyers.

History

Since their initial introduction in 2005 with the Red Moon Rising expansion, most recently in the April 2016 Citadel expansion, all combat related capital ships have received major overhauls to stats, bonuses, and abilities.

Initially, capital ships had very little impact on the events in EVE. Small groups scrambled to be the first to field dreadnought fleets in order to bring down player owned starbases (POSes) which previously only had been possible with large fleets. Carrier fleets were also developed in order to bulk up the damage output of corporations and alliances with many low skilled pilots by remotely assigning fighter drones. In lowsec, groups of pirates found a use for "hot dropping" carriers into ongoing engagements to turn the tide with the properly applied remote repair of a skilled pilot. In this phase of the game evolution, titans and supercarriers (also known as motherships) were regarded as nearly unbuildable, with the first one to officially be created costing the building alliance dozens of POSes, an outpost and their entire presence in nullsec. It took a almost a full year for the first titan to be revealed, and for that entire time - and a few months after - they were regarded as completely useless ships.

However, with continued expansion of the ranks of capital pilots, carriers began to be deployed on the front lines of battleship-class conflicts to great effect, while fleets of ten, twenty, or thirty dreadnoughts could wipe out a hardened tower in less than thirty minutes - a feat previously unheard of without at least 100-150 battleship pilots. The introduction of titans to nullsec combat meant the death of hundreds of enemy ships in the blink of an eye, and alliance warfare was changed forever - capital ships had made their presence felt, and they were here to stay.

Capital ships as a whole were rebalanced upon the release of the April 2016 Citadel expansion. A large number of capital-size modules were added to the game, including armor plates, shield extenders, and capital electronic warfare modules, in order to facilitate more strategic capital ship fittings. The hitpoints of all capital shields, armor, and hull were reduced, and supercapitals were made vulnerable to electronic warfare, though they remain very resistant. Additionally, both a fleet hangar and ship maintenance bay were added to all dreadnoughts to make them more appealing for beginner capital pilots.

The Citadel expansion also introduced a new capital ship class: the force auxiliary. Force auxiliaries are capital logistics platform, and inherited the role from carriers, which were converted to offensive ships. The triage module, previously unique to carriers, was reassigned to be unique to the new force auxiliaries, and any carrier equipped with a triage module upon Citadel's release was converted into a force auxiliary ship of the same race. Force auxiliaries cannot launch fighters, and instead have a very large drone bay and bonuses to logistics drone performance.

See Also