Don't forget the Hawk, Hookbill, Raptor and Crow. All work well soloing if you enjoy flying frigs.

Solo bombers are very situational, much more so than other ships. So while it can be GOOD it can also be horribly bad, thus it doesn't make my list :P

-Naga and Cormorant are best at the questionably useful role of extreme range sniping.

But how useful is that role in practice, in small gang PvP?

The Naga?

Very useful. My first hand accounts of using all the new BCs.

What exactly do you mean by this?

Because as far as I can tell the other T3s are markedly better when fitted to DPS up to 70km, and only after that does the Naga have any advantages. The problem with this being that any range beyond this is mostly unhelpful for small gang purposes.

But how useful is that role in practice, in small gang PvP?

I'll add something just for the sake of adding something. The obvious HML drake and blaster...erhmm autocannon ferox are decent fleet ships. Other ships include merlin and it's variants, EEE SHEE EMMM and co.

both the recons are great fun

You are going to have to give examples of these fits you are talking about.

Talos and Naga have the same damage bonus. But a naga lets me land at 100 or more away and still have the same DPS as that talos at that range. While my mates have it pinned down.

I live and die in low sec. Not EFT.

Considering that 70 km is the edge of Drake HM spam range, quite useful, I believe.

And ECM boats like to hang out in tthe 70-100 km region too.

What about the Vulture now with hybrid buff?

I'm thinking mainly of the Shield Scorch Oracle and the Barrage Nano Tornado, which have much better speed, applied DPS, and somewhat better tank (how much better depending on the exact fit you use) than the 425 Naga up to the roughly 70km point. I don't deny that the Naga is much better for landing at 100 and doing DPS from there, but I don't understand why that's any better than having an Oracle at 50 or 70, doing much higher damage and travelling much faster.

Problem here is that the sniper Naga won't be in the middle of the fleet that the ECM are landing 70-100 off, because it doesn't have the tracking or the tank to fight effectively at close range. Who knows how far away from the Naga the ECM will actually be, while the Oracle/Nado, which was hanging out 30km away from "0" will be able to burn into range in seconds, most likely.

Some general points.It's a long time since I've been in lowsec, but when I was there, my personal style emphasised range. Other styles are viable too, and I have nothing against Oracle or Tornado when they're used appropriately. But I do object to your assertion that the 70-100 km range window is unimportant, in the same way that you would object if I was to state that the close-range window was unimportant, presumably.

I struggle to get much past 30k EHP on a Tornado. Missile flight time to 70 km is 12 seconds, hardly an eternity. I would not describe these things as resilient, and in a straight slugging match with a basic HML Drake they will normally die - or be driven from the field, which is why I regard the ~70 km effective HM range as important. Interestingly, if you do regard EHP as important, then the Naga is worth a look on that basis. If you have logistics support, then sure, you may prefer to stay inside the HM envelope and take the hits, but if not, then the option to outrange them exists. Re. damage types: yes, Scorch is good vs Drakes, hybrids are okay, Barrage is lolterrible.

The other t3s don't have the tank to operate effective at close range either.

So here's a guess. Naga warps in at 50 km;

Falcon uncloaks/Scimitar arrives on the other side at 50-70 km. Result: 100-120 km range, Naga applies damage after 5 s reload. Tornado and Oracle, which arrived at 20-30 km because they can't survive close up either, find themselves hopelessly out of range and possibly with t2 BCs to fly around if they do want to approach the Falcon/Scimitar. I mean, your statement admits that the other t3s will not be in range, it's not much of an argument, honestly.

wow... i just saw this post. It fits my same question perfectly...

i *thought* that Caldari ships are poor for PVP because they are fat and do little DPS.

Or is it a case of "train for the damn tengu, and shut the hell up!"

It's gonna take me 40 days to train the tengu! not to mention any additional training needed for the parts of the ship!