There are a few of us on both sides that do. I will sit in a Cane or Naga when I am forced, but otherwise I just fly Gallente. There are lots of others the same way. I know Gallente arent the best or most optimal in all situations, but that is kinda part of the fun of it is making non-FOTM ships work. At least for me. It may resuslt in some lol lossmails, but I have found some different fits that work too - or at least kinda work. :)

I guess I am kinda an RPer-light in that regard. Who'da thunk it?

X G is a hardcore RP'er and he does everything possible to find good gallente ships, fits and tactics (even though I think he's generally starting from a significant disadvantage). He's an expert when it comes to gallente ships.

I fear the day the Caldari put 2 and 2 together and start flying ONI's like Caracals in medium plexes.

Yes but they all take a pretty decent amount of skill points to become competitive with Minmatar ships.

So, to sum this up - if I would ever want to join the Caldari Militia then it is crucial to have a well-skilled pilot, right? I can understand the point of getting your experience from "beginner" fights, but still I don't want to join up and fly something which is not properly fitted to do the job.

So, to sum this up - if I would ever want to join the Caldari Militia then it is crucial to have a well-skilled pilot, right? I can understand the point of getting your experience from "beginner" fights, but still I don't want to join up and fly something which is not properly fitted to do the job.

No.. our corp for example recruits a lot of brand new guys.. It's just we tend to push them into Thrashers and now starting to push them into Ruptures after that. They are easy ships to get guys into and allows lower skill point guys to still be effective.

Hmmm, I have to make an observation - how is this Caldari against anyone else when everyone is just using everyone else's ships? This has been my consternation from day one - I started off Caldari, trained Caldari, learnt Caldari battle tactics (they are quite specific and not really like common PvP) and basicly built Nalianna to be the best tactical Caldari skilled pilot she could be for her SP. Perhaps it's somewhat misplaced, but I've believed for quite some time that maximising these skills and tactics is bound to lead to best exploitation of the ships, modules and weapons available to the "normal" or "traditional" Caldari pilot. Going into Thrashers and Ruptures would mean diverting my training from the highly focussed Caldari training I have followed, basically going back to square one for a lot of things, in order to fly foreign ships with foreign weapons and foreign ewar and tactics.

Somehow it just doesn't seem reasonable. Supposing everyone just flew everyone else's ships, as they mostly do now, anyway. How is that Caldari v Gallente or Minnie v Amarr? The only identification with race is the name of the Militia. I'm reminded of some sort of mercenary arrangement where everyone just fights for whoever without any form of allegiance. Obviously it's only from the perspective of a deeply committed racial/factional pilot that someone would see it this way. What I don't understand is why almost noone else sees things this way - has the dedication to training a single race been so lost in the mists of time that it is now considered quirky or misguided?

Vexor.. it's the only Gal cruiser.. the rest are just place holders in the tier system.

My Caldari character, on the other hand, is the oldest with the most SP, and almost useless at PvP because of the racial/factional alignment. I am forever trying to figure out how would a true-blue Caldari pilot actually survive in PvP without cutting at least a few corners or making the odd compromise.

has the dedication to training a single race been so lost in the mists of time that it is now considered quirky or misguided?

lol yeah that seems about normal for most of the EVE community. I guess we all start off as one race, decide we want to be another race, and then discover yet another race's ships are better for what we want to do. I have a number of accounts with a variety of different races all so I can experience the whole different racial/factional thing, trying as much as possible to stick with the ships, weapons and tactics of each race but I find it quite hard due to the fact that often the best mix at least for PvP, is a hotchpotch of skills, modules and ships from all four races, which of course not one of my pilots can fly, or at least well. Which is why I was looking for anyplace I could do the real factional warfare thing, complete with correct ships per race, etc. I thought the statement made earlier that most Caldari fleets are shield repped meant it was at least a good bet that I was on the right track, but I'm not sure now.... Still I wouldn't mind giving Caldari Militia a go, if indeed the Caldari side is lacking pilots. Not sure how much of an asset I'd be though... :)

Thanks heaps for the feedback. I'll hang around here for a few more days, see if this is where I need to be.

And the navy hookbill is IMO the best faction (non-pirate) frig there is.

[quote=Mutnin]
Hmmm, I have to make an observation - how is this Caldari against anyone else when everyone is just using everyone else's ships? This has been my consternation from day one - I started off Caldari, trained Caldari, learnt Caldari battle tactics (they are quite specific and not really like common PvP) and basicly built Nalianna to be the best tactical Caldari skilled pilot she could be for her SP. Perhaps it's somewhat misplaced, but I've believed for quite some time that maximising these skills and tactics is bound to lead to best exploitation of the ships, modules and weapons available to the "normal" or "traditional" Caldari pilot. Going into Thrashers and Ruptures would mean diverting my training from the highly focussed Caldari training I have followed, basically going back to square one for a lot of things, in order to fly foreign ships with foreign weapons and foreign ewar and tactics.

Somehow it just doesn't seem reasonable. Supposing everyone just flew everyone else's ships, as they mostly do now, anyway. How is that Caldari v Gallente or Minnie v Amarr? The only identification with race is the name of the Militia. I'm reminded of some sort of mercenary arrangement where everyone just fights for whoever without any form of allegiance. Obviously it's only from the perspective of a deeply committed racial/factional pilot that someone would see it this way. What I don't understand is why almost noone else sees things this way - has the dedication to training a single race been so lost in the mists of time that it is now considered quirky or misguided?

Eve is not a solo game. You can do it but its meant to be with fleets.

Key thing to remember with Caldari.

They are not solo ships they are fleet ships.

Caldari have the best single line up of fleet ships if stayed all racial.

Uhmm, amarr ?

Disagree, caldari ships make excellent solo ships.

- Best agility in class, great for running gatecamps
- Good damage projection, giving you the ability to hit from range and disengage when you inevitably get blobbed (escape is a large component of solo pvp)
- Lots and lots of midslots (ewar becomes less important as the fleet size increases IMO)
- Shields - allows you to hit and run and recharge without having to dock/repair.

I will counter your offer with a dose of Wimnatar

Better agility
Better speed
Better flexibility (armor or shield) (missiles or projectiles)
Better damage
Lots of slot variations

Caldari ships are the best because HOLYFK MISSILE ANIMATIONS OMG.

You are completely wrong here. Caldari can fill every fleet role excellently except joining in with an RR armor BS gang. And then you can still be useful in a sneaky falcon at range, or come in with a cerb at range and drive off enemy falcons (150km missiles ftw).

Look at my killboard, I fly almost exclusively caldari ships except for the thrasher, and I'm probably going to switch to the cormorant like Princess Nexxala (another member of my corporation you can look on the killboards for his success rate in the cormorant) .

Caldari have top tier ships in every single fleet comp except for RR armor BS gangs and alpha gangs (and even in an alpha gang, you can fit for the same tank + range setup, you just won't be as effective for the alpha but you can participate).

So, how to make a pure caldari pilot?

Cormorants -> caracals (or moa if you want to do a blaster gang). Caracal Navy Issue is a beast. -> drake (OP ship in its class IMO) -> naga (great sniping t3, and I've seen it used as an effective blaster boat too) -> armor BS gangs bring a falcon instead for support.

harpy/hawks are decent AF's too. I haven't look into it yet, but I assume the hawk would be nasty with the new fuelled shield boosters.

And the navy hookbill is IMO the best faction (non-pirate) frig there is.

Caldari have great ships. Caracal, Blaster moa, Drake, Merlin, Hookbill, Caracal Navy Issue, Corm. They are all excellent.

EDIT: I'm not actually that sure. Rail rokhs + basilisks vs baddons + guardians.... and keep in mind the caldari fleet gets falcons while the amarr fleets only gets a curse/pilgrim. I'd have to EFT some numbers, but actually I think pure caldari might win against pure amarr in the BS dept too.

Absolutely no way, unless it's in nullsec and bubbles are being used for tackle then the fight would have to take place at under 24km at which point the shield fleet would get annihalated due to lower DPS and tank. Even at longer range (up to 50-60km depending on abaddons fits) the Abaddons would win with scorch. Only beyond probably 70km would the rohk's have an advantage, and at that range the DPS would be minimal and I doubt the guardians would have any trouble repping, assuming numbers weren't high enough that things were being alpha'd.