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Continuing on from the last post. We're going to be taking a little trip in the life of a brand new Caldari pilot. So leave your aesthetics at the door and follow along as we turn a brand new player into a Pirate in three easy steps.
If you haven't done so already, go grab EVEMon to assist you in your skill planning. Here's another link to a two week training plan that is the basis for the rest of this guide. Again, by the end of two weeks you'll be flying something with a real chance in any 1v1 against another frigate, although you'll have a long way to go before your name is striking fear in local.
Intro
The Caldari, by far, are turning out to be the trickiest ships to design around a solo character. The common joke here being "Caldari, solo, PvP. Pick two." It isn't far off, but things turned out better than I was expecting, and hopefully you'll agree. The first choice I had to make was Merlin vs. Kestrel. The Kestrel has the advantage of not mixing guns in the highslots, which turns into shorter training time, but lacks enough midslots to field a tank and sufficient tackle at the same time. The Merlin is also the basis for the Caldari Assault Ships, and ultimately is what I went with for this guide.
Phase I
First up, we're going to be remapping our skills. New characters start with 2 remaps, so this one won't necessarily have to be what your character stays with in the long run, but for now we want Intelligence at 21, Perception at 27, and all others at 17. Yes, this is exactly what we did for our Amarr character, noticing a pattern? In less than 24 hours you'll be in this ship:
[Merlin, Caldari ]
Damage Control I
100mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Stasis Webifier I
Stasis Webifier I
Fleeting Progressive Warp Scrambler I
Regulated Light Electron Phase Cannon I, Antimatter Charge S
Regulated Light Electron Phase Cannon I, Antimatter Charge S
'Limos' Rocket Launcher I, Gremlin Rocket
'Limos' Rocket Launcher I, Gremlin Rocket
[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]
OK, things are getting off to a bit of an odd start for the Caldari, but with only one day of training this is the best I can do. Before you judge too harshly, let's see what she can do.
Effective Hit Points: 2,604
Top Speed: 690m/s
Damage you can tank per second: 4
Damage you can deal per second: 43
Damage you can deal per volley: 51
Your capacitor will last: 2m 54s
Damage you can tank after that: 4
Total Cost: 144,589isk
Skillbook Cost: 323,250isk
It's slow, without much of a tank. Thankfully the dual webs mean it's able to lock onto most frigates and dictate range. You'll need that ability to get in close enough to unload the full DPS of your blasters, or to disengage from fights you don't want to be in. Of note, the rigs slots can be filled with an Anti-EM and Anti-Explosive Pumps, an Ancillary Current Router, and the blasters upgraded to Ion. You'll see about 45 DPS with better Optimals and Falloff. The reason I don't include those is the cost goes from a practically throwaway 144kisk to about 3.5misk...decide for yourself if the performance increase is worth it. My decision is that it's not to a new player, but if you ever revisit this fit with T2 modules it makes an excellent Rifter killing fit and the rigs will make a lot more sense.
Your fights are going to be over very quickly, regardless of who win, but there's still plenty to be learned out there regardless of the ship you're using. You should be able to get plenty of practice with the directional scanner and at making bookmarks while you train for another week for our next ship.
Phase II
[Merlin, Caldari copy 1]
Damage Control I
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Medium Azeotropic Ward Salubrity I
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Fleeting Progressive Warp Scrambler I
Modal Light Ion Particle Accelerator I, Antimatter Charge S
Modal Light Ion Particle Accelerator I, Antimatter Charge S
'Limos' Rocket Launcher I, Gremlin Rocket
'Limos' Rocket Launcher I, Gremlin Rocket
Small Core Defence Field Extender I
Small Core Defence Field Extender I
Small Ancillary Current Router I
We see our fit shift gears quite dramatically now that we've had enough time to train for a proper tank. Let's take a look at just what improvements we've made in our first week.
Effective Hit Points: 4,417 (70% Increase)
Top Speed: 697m/s (1% Increase)
Damage you can tank per second: 14 (250% Increase)
Damage you can deal per second: 59 (37% Increase)
Damage you can deal per volley: 103 (102% Increase)
Your capacitor will last: 11m 54s (310% Increase)
Damage you can tank after that: 14 (250% Increase)
Total Cost: 5,316,789isk (3,577% Increase)
Total Skillbook Cost: 1,677,350isk (419% Increase)
We see a significant increase in what was a paper thin tank and decent gains in DPS as well. The cost increase is significant, but worth noting that the original fit was dirt cheap, so don't be too scared by that three thousand percent increase. This fit also goes from the extremely light armor tanking originally seen into a more traditional Caldari shield tank. The use of a Medium (note the size) Shield Extender allows us to slap on a sizable buffer tank with only one Midslot used up. Rigs are eating up 3.33 million isk of the cost, but the fit really suffers without them and I wouldn't recommend dropping them. This fit will benefit from Tech II blasters, and can fit them, but we don't have the time to get them in our first week. Tech II guns will be our next goal.
Phase III
[Merlin, Caldari copy 2]
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Small Shield Extender II
J5 Prototype Warp Disruptor I
Small Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 100
125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Uranium Charge S
125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Uranium Charge S
'Arbalest' Standard Missile Launcher, Sabretooth Light Missile
'Arbalest' Standard Missile Launcher, Sabretooth Light Missile
Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I
Small Hybrid Locus Coordinator I
Small Hybrid Locus Coordinator I
By this point, you're all just wishing I would make up my mind already and stick with a fit. But let's see what this one can do.
Effective Hit Points: 2,094 (20% Decrease)
Top Speed: 1852m/s (168% Increase)
Damage you can tank per second: 5 (25% Increase)
Damage you can deal per second: 50 (16% Increase)
Damage you can deal per volley: 78 (53% Increase)
Your capacitor will last: Stable at 56%
Damage you can tank after that: 5 (25% Increase)
Total Cost: 9,546,000isk (6,502% Increase)
Total Skillbook Cost: 2,721,350isk (742% Increase)
"Wait a minute", I hear you saying, "your EHP is less than the one day old character." That is correct. This ship flies and fights in a completely different way than the previous Merlins. With a MWD and a top speed of over 1800m/s your goal has become to kite your opponent outside of their range to fight back. Luckily for you, your Railguns have an optimal of 16km, and your missiles can hit out to 18km. These ranges put to shame the so-called "Kiting Rifter" with his Barrage, and should keep you well outside of your opponents Web/Scram range. Keep in mind that if any fight starts at 0 in this ship, you'll have lost, but you should be able to make any AB fit Frigate wish he'd never undocked. This ship is also good training for the Rail Harpy, which flies in almost the exact same way, but does it a lot better.
Closing Thoughts
The Caldari fair a lot better in gang work than any other race of ships. Even with that said, the fittings offered here will provide a stable platform for training your skills while out there Pirating the lowsec lanes. The Caldari provide a clear training path for new pilots, any missile skills or shield tanking skills will continue to benefit you when you step into a Caracal or Drake. This ease of transition will mean less time spent training more skills before you're able to step up to a more impressive ship, and provides the Caldari with one of its greatest advantages. I would be remiss to not mention the Caldari E-War Specialty of ECM as one of those advantages. While it is powerful, and your gang mates will surely thank you for taking the time to train it, it's very difficult to solo with ECM since one missed cycle and you may not last long enough to get off another one. Consider ECM a long term goal, and keep things like the aforementioned Rail Harpy or HAM Drake in your sights for the short term and your Piracy career will be off to a fine start. Tune in next time for, you guessed it, a look at the Gallente.
Regarrrds,
FNG
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