Dorotent
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Posted - 2010.03.08 16:42:00 -
[1]
 Originally by: Gala Chi
I have a Caldari Character and currently flying a drake. While training to reach the ship was very fast, the proper training for fitting and sideskills will take a bit longer. I'm quite happy with the path laid out and it will keep me busy for a while.
Absolutely. My main is on, well, a long skill plan and still hasn't all the Drake skills at L5 despite being able to fly a Golem, HACs, Inties, Cov ops, Blockade runners, other races' ships etc!
Originally by: Gala Chi
What I was wondering though, what is the long term value of my training. At the moment I'm going heavy into upgrading shield and missile skills and I would be a bit sad that this turns out to be wasted time when I come further in game.
There are three sets of skills here; lets break it down:
- Tanking skills - shield tanking, passive
- Weapon skills - general missile skills & heavy missile specific skills
- General skills - fitting skills & navigation etc
The shield tanking will only apply in part, a Drake passive tanks, while a Raven active tanks. You'll want to switch to capacitor skills, and will get no benefit from those damage type specific shield compensation skills. You will benefit from general shield upgrade support skills. An active tank feels very different from a passive tank, esp. that on a Drake which gets a lot of benefit from BC5. Train the two main cap. skills to V before you get into a Raven is my advice!
The weapon support skills will fully apply to both ships, but obviously you'll need to train a new weapon class, Cruise missiles, for the Raven. Try and get all your missile support skills to V as soon as practical - they really do help and you might as well be great in a Drake rather then train them while being mediocre in the more expensive Raven.
The last set of skills will apply fully - all ships need good fitting skills, good navigation, good rigging etc. Concentrate on these skills once you're adequate in a Drake - you want to be able to fit all T2 as soon as practical.
Originally by: Gala Chi
As a path I see, that until I reach some solid skills (and earn a bit more isk) I will keep flying my drake and eventually swap to a raven missile boat, which also relies on shield tanking.
Sounds like a good plan, in fact it's the default plan for a lot of people! Drake -> Raven -> Navy Raven is common. Some people then go onto a Golem, or a Nighthawk instead. Some people now prefer a Tengu as their L4 mission ship. You can fly a Drake in L3s for a long time and make decent money, I wouldn't try to do L4s for long in a Drake, it's slow. You can do it, but it's slow.
Originally by: Gala Chi
Is shield tanking good for long term?
For PvE, yes. But you'll only use it for Caldari and some Minmatar ships; most others (some exceptions) are armour tanked. Cross-training won't take long.
For PvP, it depends. You can PvP well in shield tanked ships, but remote-repair gangs of armour tanked ships are very popular so sometimes fleets aren't keen on having shield tanked ships join. However, this is flavour of the month and might change.
Originally by: Gala Chi
What is a natural to fly as upgrade to raven?
See above, Drake -> Raven is fine plan.
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