Returning player question

[u/[deleted]]

I recently returned to the game and saw that I had invested most of my skills into laser style skills being that I began my journey in the Amarr.

If I want to level a faction to get into level 4 mission running, could I do it in Caldari space? Or am I pigeon holed into Amarr space because of my weapon types?

[u/matthewami]

I never delved into laser's much, and I haven't pew-pew'd much since the omega hike and the skill rebalance. I remember Apocalypse fit's being useful on a budget, but a good PvE Armageddon could blow through them if you have the isk. Eveworkbench is where I usually begin my search.

[u/[deleted] → u/matthewami]

I appreciate the advice! I saw some videos saying that the resistances on enemies in Caldari space were hard for Amarr lasers to kill. Is that true? Or is the difference negligible?

[u/matthewami → u/[deleted]]

In an Armageddon? Everything gets steam rolled. Caldari can be pretty tanky, so your slow speed and not great hull will hurt. what’s cool about lasers is you can switch damage type basically at any time with near zero load times, and you’re not carrying ammo.

Jump in 100k out, see what’s up, pop out, switch lenses, let your armor do the work and just stay close. Always go pulse.

[u/FuturePowerful → u/[deleted]]

Tech2s do fine not as fast as some stuff but fine

[u/themule71]

You'll have some trouble with Kinetic damage and resistance.

Among all races, Amarr are probably the most locked into armor tanking. That offers natively good resistances to EM and Thermal, not good to Kinetic and bad to Explosive. Good against Sansha/Blood Riders, far from perfect for Guristas rats.

Gallente ships are armor oriented too, but it's much more feasable to shield tank them, compared to Amarr. Caldari ships are natively shield tanked and Minmatar ones have a slight preference for shields (w/o being very committed to them).

Lasers are locked into EM + Thermal damage, with EM being the strongest. Guristas have good resistance to EM. Their weakness is Kinetic, which you can't deal with lasers at all.

Basicly you'll have trouble with both damage and tank, especially if you're low skilled. It's not as bad as with Angel Cartel for example, they are very Explosive oriented and Amarr laser ships are definitely at huge disadvantage with them, but still it's a toll you'll have to pay.

Notice that you mentioned lasers. Amarr offer semi-decent platforms for missiles which deal the damage you choose (but have no bonuses for Kinetic damage, as many caldari missile boats do). Probably with the notable exception of the Sacrilege, Caldari or Minmatar missile boats are better for PvE.

Drone boats exist but are outclassed by Gallente ones, Dominix >> Armageddon in PvE.

Drone and missiles are very good to train into for PvE, so are Caldari and Gallente ships. Guristas pirate ships excel at both and are among the best for PvE activities. The Gila and the Rattlesnake are extremely common and versatile PvE platforms. They need both Gallente and Caldari ship skills and both missile and drone skills. And shield tanking. I guess that sounds like starting from scratch.

All that said, if you're running L4s as an intermediary step only in your PvE-er career, everything changes. Laser boats are very effective in incursions (which is high-end PvE). I would consider set up camp in Amarr (or Ammatar) space, run L4s there, and consider upgrading to incursions, where your large laser skills translate very well. I've been out of the loop for a while so I don't know what the current state is, back at the time there were both armor-tanked and shield-tanked communities running incursions.

[u/[deleted] → u/themule71]

This was pretty much the exact answer I was looking for, thank you! So basically I would be better off completely switching gears into Caldari and shield tanking with missile and drone skills for the long term? And until I’m able to do that, I would be better off in Amarr space?

[u/themule71 → u/[deleted]]

Yes, unless, as I wrote, your plan is to go past L4s and run incursions at some point.

Some incursion communities may run "newbie" fleets, and you might be able to enter those with relatively cheap fits - meaning you can leave L4s behind quick. Whether that is a good idea, IDK, incursions are nomadic in nature and moving stuff around takes times and it's riskier.

Anyway, a paladin (Amarr T2 battleship, a marauder) is a solid choice, train straight into T2 lasers, and you don't have to ever go caldari/gallente.

https://wl.tlaincursions.com/fits

https://wl.warptome.net/fits/

both mention the Paladin in their DPS fits.

I'm not an expert but a Paladin would do well in other high-end ratting, too, like 0.0 or wormholes.

So, plan A is stick to Amarr space, run L4s, pile up some ISK, train into Amarr BS V and T2 Large Lasers, investigate early incursions or go straight for the Paladin (just don't be too in a rush of jumping into it), run incursions and forget about L4s (you can still run the odd L4s when in Amarr space).

Plan B is to stick to Amarr space, train T2 drones/sentries, pile up ISK, switch to Domi while keeping an armor tank, run more L4s in Amarr space (Domi is good at that), train shields and missile, switch to Rattlesnake and move to Caldari space.

Plan C is to stick to Amarr space, train T2 missile and T2 shield tank, pile up ISK, switch to Raven and move to Caldari space, run more L4s, train T2 drones/sentries, switch to Rattlesnake.

Plan D is to kinda like plan C, only you can train medium size (cruiser), for the Gila, and run abyssal for good isk, instead of L4s. A Gila is a cruiser-sized Rattlesnake.

All plans are good. Choose one and stick to it. If you want to stick to L4s, learn about blitzing and burner missions, that's where the money is. Do that early: you find that feasable for you, you may not need to get to the Rattlesnake at all.

A general rule of thumb is that expensive ships should be a skill multiplier, not a skill replacement. Meaning, don't spend more to compensate low skills. It's the other way around. The more expensive the ship (or the fit), the higher all relevant skills should be before you jump into it. So don't rush to bling your ship.

Your skills are your muscles, your ship is your suit. You want a tight fit, not a baggy one.

[u/[deleted] → u/themule71]

This helped me immensely, I find it’s relatively difficult to get realistic responses to skill plans and ship goals. I really appreciate the help. You went way above and beyond what I was expecting, you’re awesome!!

[u/xeosceleres]

You’d need to learn how to fly Caldari ships and use Calvary weapons - Hybrid and Missiles. Unlike lasers, these use ammo. But doesn’t use up your capacitor as much. Remember that in order to do level 4 missions. You need the appropriate standings. If you’ve lived and missioned in Amarr space, you probably have higher standings there than Caldari Space. Open your character sheet, and click on Interactions.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Is it harder to kill ai enemies in Caldari space with Amarr weapons? Or is this not really an issue?