SOLO PVP GUIDE

by Talana Mershie

FOREWORD
This guide is meant to be a basic introduction to the methodology I use when roaming solo and even tandem. This is not the end all be all of pvp knowledge, but it should give you a good idea of what goes into soloing successfully and getting the most out of your ship.

Table of Contents
Knowledge Is Power ...................................................................................4
Modules.................................................................................................................4 Ships......................................................................................................................4 Patrol Area............................................................................................................5

Selecting Your Ship ....................................................................................6

Considerations ......................................................................................................6 Fittings ..................................................................................................................6

Undock! Undock! Undock! ........................................................................7

Safe spots & Pounce Points ..................................................................................7 Onboard Scanner ..................................................................................................7 Intel Gathering......................................................................................................7

Engage!.........................................................................................................9
Watch Your Modules.............................................................................................9 Incoming Ewar......................................................................................................9 Range to Target.....................................................................................................9 Overheat................................................................................................................9

Fight Over..................................................................................................11
Damage Control..................................................................................................11 Round 2 ...............................................................................................................11

Tips & Tricks.............................................................................................12

ECM Drones .......................................................................................................12 Split Large Groups..............................................................................................12 DPS Hiding ......................................................................................................12 Dont Do Drugs ..................................................................................................12 Slingshot Tackling...............................................................................................12

PvP Module Quick Reference..................................................................13

I. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
Modules & Items: The best tool to have is broad range knowledge of game equipment and how they work and affect other things. Knowing the effect a module has against your ship will help you understand the weaknesses and strengths of your own setup. If you're flying Amarr you should know that since neutralizers remove your capacitor, you need to stay away from them since your guns and possibly tank are reliant upon it. If you're using guns, tracking disruptors can severely cut into your potential DPS. Having broad range knowledge is crucial to seeing the 'Big Picture' during a fight. Ship Specs & Bonuses: Many ships in the game have bonuses and roles which allow them to excel at certain activities or tasks. Battlecruisers such as the drake get a resistance bonus which gives then an increase to the tank they are able to field. Other ships like the lachesis and huginn get a bonus to their respective Ewar modules which allow them to tackle and web targets at extreme ranges. Knowing the bonuses each ship is crucial to understanding what you're going to be able to accomplish and how viable certain tactics will be. If a rapier shows up on grid, you won't be going very quickly if it has 2 or 3 stasis webifiers on you.

Vagabond and Stabber have the same hull, but much different attributes

Patrol Area: It's important to know the area that you're going to be roaming in. You don't need to know the lengths of warp distances, but knowing which systems have stations, mission agents, are patrolled by large corporations/pirate groups, and knowing the main pipes and alternative routes gives you a strategic advantage over those who haven't bothered to gather this basic knowledge. I highly recommend acquainting yourself with Dotlan or Ombey's '2D EveMaps'.

Notice that there are quite a few routes between these systems.

II. SELECTING YOUR SHIP

Considerations: It's important to pick your ship based on a few key considerations. Those include, but may not be limited to: your preferred target size, engagement style, & possible target ship types. 1. TARGET SIZE: If you're planning on going after cruisers it's generally best to take something that will be able to counter them fairly easily. If you're going after BS or larger you're going need more DPS that a frigate will likely put out. (Although that may not always be the case.) Basically, bring the right tool to do the job. 2. ENGAGEMENT STYLE: Consider how you want to engage your targets. If you prefer and want to keep them at range, it's probably best to bring something quick and agile. A plated and trimarked Harbinger is not going to kite many ships, whereas a double nano drake can be fairly effective at it even though it is also a battlecruiser hull. 3. TARGET SHIP TYPES: Most times you won't have a clue about the ship types you'll face ahead of time. However, on the off chance that you do or that you can swap into different ships, try to bring a ship that focuses on your target's weaknesses and doesn't play to his strengths. Fittings: Most ships can be fitted in a variety of ways. Some fittings, however, are better than others at accomplishing their goal of destroying the enemy. The fittings you choose should be tailored to your ship's module layout, bonuses, and your engagement style. Fitting a ship to be quick and agile with a smaller tank doesn't help you if you're going to engage targets at point blank range. Likewise, if you're not taking advantage of the bonuses for a ship you're hurting yourself. If a ship gets a bonus to projectile range and dps, it's most likely best to fit those guns on the ship in question. Fitting blasters would likely lower the potential of your ship.

III. UNDOCK! UNDOCK! UNDOCK!

Safe Spots/Off & On-Grid Pounce Points: It's a good idea as you move through an area to setup safe spots in systems as well as pounce points from gates. While not essential in systems where there are a lot of stations available, it is sometimes not desirable to find yourself camped into a station. This gives you a place to warp when having to run and evade hostiles quickly. Safe spots work well for this if they're positioned well, requiring the enemy to scan you down, (if they have probes available), while you bounce from place to place. Pounce points are priceless when you need to get eyes or even a scan of a gate before actually committing to landing on the gate. This tactic can help you get fleet compositions and avoid drag bubbles. On-Board Scanner: Learn this tool! Utilize this to determine potential threats, hunt down prey, and get an advance warning of possible incoming targets before they're on grid. A simple scan at max range of 360 degrees with show you all non-cloaked ships within that range. This can give you possible targets that are undocked for you to find. Narrowing the angle will allow you to pinpoint the direction of the ships. This is great for determining what ships are sitting on a gate you might wish to jump through. And as a counter point, will tell you which ships aren't on the gate in case you're trying to make a getaway. It's also useful to scan while you're stationary to see if any new ships appear on the scanner. This can give you an advance warning of possible hostiles.

The onboard scanner shows me the potential ship targets

Intel Gathering: Try to gather as much information as you can before you actually engage. Many times a fight will just happen. At that point you can't do much more than react. However, if you can time before engaging try to get information such as their ship type, age, and possible fittings. The first two are pretty easy to do by utilizing the ship scanner to get the ship type and looking up the character info of a character. If they're fairly young to be flying the ship they're in, it's possible that they don't have the

skills to maximize its potential. That will make them a softer target than you might expect. Getting their ship type will help you to determine the weakness and strengths of your target. The third bit of information is a bit harder to gather. If you have ship scanner available on your ship... FAIL! What they hell are you flying a solo PVP ship with a ship scanner for? You'd better be suicide ganking. But, since this isn't a suicide ganking guide, GET THE FUCK OUT! It's possible to get likely ship fits by looking up your target on their personal/corp/alliance killboard or a public killboard such as Battleclinic. Knowing 'armor vs shield', 'gank vs tank', and what possible electronic warfare they may field will help you prepare for the fight.

IV. ENGAGE!
Ok, you've sized up your target and decided to engage. Or possibly the hostile made that decision for you. Now what do you do? Watch your modules: Keep an eye on your modules. Make sure that you're running all necessary and useful modules and not running useless ones. If you're guns or launchers have to reload, make sure you're ready to reactivate them. If you're running short range modules such as small neutralizers and warp scramblers, be sure that you're watching for when you're in range to activate them. If you try to activate a warp scrambler when the target is 15km away, you're going to be awfully sad when your target escapes because you forgot to check and make sure you had him scrambled. Incoming E-War: Targets will undoubtedly be using various forms of warfare on you. They'll be shooting you and tackling you, but they're also likely to have tracking disruptors, dampeners, and neutralizers. Knowing this can help you prioritize targets on the fly. If only one ship is tackling you to keep you on the field, eliminating him now gives you the option of warping away should the fight not be going in your favor. Also, knowing which ships are fitted with neutralizers can help you take down any capacitor warfare ships before they cripple your tank or DPS output.

The overview shows me that Im tackled by two ships and being neuted.

Range to Target: Keep a steady watch on your range to the hostiles. This allows you to know when you're in range of your modules to activate them. This also lets you know what modules you're in range of as well. Generally if you're in a 'brawler' fit ship you're going to dive right in and get in close to the target. Keeping range isn't much of an issue here, but if the target is staying at range, knowing how close you are can let you know when they're in warp scrambler range to get that elusive tackle on them. On the other side of the coin, nano ships are almost entirely based on their necessity to stay

outside tackle and possibly neutralizer range from their targets. If you get to close to a target in a nano ship it can be the end of you rather quickly. It Burns! (Overheat): Overheating at key points in the fight can buy you crucial seconds of tank and dps. This could be the difference between your tank breaking and you going home in your pod or the other ship exploding and you reaping in the benefits of his loot. Be sure to keep an eye on the module damage being done by overheat so you don't destroy your modules outright. The can be deadly for you. Many ships have died because their guns and launchers burned out in their attempt to kill their target quickly. All that will do is leave you to watch your ship burn slowly to the hull.

Heat damage to guns and armor repairers is close to breaking them.

V. FIGHT OVER!
Damage Control: Time to repair your modules and ship. If you have access to a station with repair services it is likely your best option. You can also repair your modules by using nanite repair paste, however, this method can be extremely pricey after long fought battles. Round 2: Get ready for the next fight. Try and loot the field, but be aware that the next fight could start right away if someone else decides to drop in on you or they target has more friends inbound. If you're not prepared for another fight, it's best to get out and regroup.

VI. TIPS & TRICKS

ECM Drones: Put out ECM drones. Tell them to engage a target and when they've attempted their jamming, pull them back. Then reengage the drones to attack. This will cycle the drone targeting and allow them to avoid the jam cycle counter. Split Large Groups: Outnumbered? No problem. Just Divide & Conquer the targets. You can do this by a couple ways. Two of my favorites are to use a quicker ship and burn away from the main group if they're slower. If you're lucky, the tacklers will chase you down and you can take them out while the larger ships are still struggling to get into range. The other method involves getting part of the hostile gang to engage you and then jumping through the gate to engage the remaining ships. This will give you an opportunity to take down some of the ships before the full firepower of the gang can be brought to bear on you. DPS 'Hiding': Maybe you know you can take a larger ship on, but the pilot is shy to engage. Try baiting him by ungrouping your weapons and engaging with only 1 weapon. He may think that you don't have enough DPS to kill him and engage. If he makes this mistake, regroup weapons and pour on the DPS. Don't Do Drugs! (Just Kidding): Some booster drugs can be extremely helpful during a fight. Exile can increase your armor tank. Blue Pills can increase your shield tank. Other boosters can increase weapons effectiveness and even capacitor levels of your ship. Use these sparingly though. Not only do they cost a bit of ISK, but they do have potential drawbacks (excluding Synth boosters) that can actually reduce the operation of your ship. Sling Shot Tackling: If a quicker ship is keeping you tackled, but is outside of your scrambler and webifier range try to draw them in closer. You can accomplish this by microwarpdriving (MWDing) in a straight line and when the hostile is reaching the apex of his orbit directly behind you, turn toward him and close the gap. If you time it right and can overcome the target's speed and agility advantage you can get close enough to tackle him and apply your damage. I find that in these situations it's best not to engage any modules on the target until you have him tackled. This will leave you the option of jumping through the gate if you're unable to tackle him. If you fire on him before he's tackled you could easily wind up watching him slowly chew your tank down without doing a damn thing about it.

Solo PvP Module Quick Reference

Electronic Warfare
Name: ECCM Slot Used: Mid Target: N/A Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Once activated, this module increases the sensor strength of the ship it is fitted onto. There are different types. One for each race and a multispectral version. Name: Electronic Counter Measures Slot Used: Mid Target: Hostile Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: When activated on the target ship, there is a percentage based chance that the target ship will lose all target locks and be unable to lock anything until the cycle time is complete. As with ECCM, there are 5 different forms of ECM. Name: Sensor Backup Arrays Slot Used: Low Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: The use is the same as ECCM, however, it boosts the sensor strength less and requires no capacitor. Name: ECM Burst Slot Used: Mid Target: AoE Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: When activated, the ECM burst breaks locks on surrounding ships. Name: Remote Sensor Dampeners Slot Used: Mid Target: Hostile Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Damps have two possible roles. Either to reduce the targeting range or the scan resolution of the hostile ship. They can be scripted to perform one of these tasks or left unscripted to do them each horribly.

Name: Stasis Webifiers Slot Used: Mid Target: Hostile Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Reduces the subwarp speed of the targeted ship. Name: Target Painter Slot Used: Mid Target: Hostile Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Increases the signature radius of the targeted ship. Name: Tracking Disruptor Slot Used: Mid Target: Hostile Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Reduces the tracking speed or optimal range of the turrets on the hostile ship. These modules can be scripted to perform one of these tasks or left unscripted to do both horribly. Name: Warp Disruption Field Generator Slot Used: High Target: Hostile or AoE Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: Provides infinite warp disruption strength when scripted. When no script is used, it provides an area of effect warp bubble. Name: Warp Disruptor Slot Used: Mid Target: Hostile Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: Applies 1 point of warp disruption to the targeted ship to prevent them from warping. Name: Warp Scrambler Slot Used: Mid Target: Hostile Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: Applies 2 points of warp disruption to the targeted ship and also disables the ships microwarpdrive module.

Electronics and Sensor Upgrades

Name: Sensor Booster Slot Used: Mid Target: N/A Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: This item increases your ships targeting range or scan resolution when scripted. If left unscripted it will increase both to a lesser degree. Name: Signal Amplifier Slot Used: Low Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Increases the targeting range and scan resolution of the ship it is fitted to.

Engineering Equipment
Name: Capacitor Battery Slot Used: Mid Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: Increases the max capacitor amount. Name: Capacitor Booster Slot Used: Mid Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: Requires a Cap Booster Charge to be loaded into the booster. When activated, the cap is injected into your ships capacitor reserves. Name: Energy Destabilizer Slot Used: High Target: Hostile Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: Removes a specified amount of capacitor from the targeted hostile ship.

Name: Energy Vampire Slot Used: High Target: Hostile Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: Removes a specified amount of capacitor from the hostile ship, only if your ships capacitor is lower than the target, and adding it to your capacitor reserves. Name: Capacitor Flux Coil Slot Used: Low Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Increases the capacitor regeneration amount, but reduces the total ships capacitor. Name: Capacitor Power Relay Slot Used: Low Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Increases capacitor regeneration while reducing the effectiveness of shield boosters. Name: Capacitor Recharger Slot Used: Mid Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Increases capacitor regeneration rate. Name: Power Diagnostic Systems Slot Used: Mid Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Increases the maximum capacitor amount, maximum powergrid, and maximum shield hit point amounts.

Hull & Armor

Name: Armor Repair Systems Slot Used: Low Target: N/A Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: Repairs a certain amount of the armor of the ship it is installed on. Name: Hull Repair Systems Slot Used: Mid Target: N/A Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: Repairs a certain amount of the hull of the ship it is installed on. Name: Nanofiber Internal Structures Slot Used: Low Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Increases the top speed of your ship and reduces the inertia as well. Name: Reinforced Bulkheads Slot Used: Low Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: Increases the hull hit points of the ship and reduces maximum speed. Name: Armor Hardeners Slot Used: Low Target: N/A Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: When active, increases the resistance of a specific damage type on the ship. Name: Armor Plate Slot Used: Low Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: Increases the maximum armor amount of the ship theyre fitted to.

Name: Damage Control Slot Used: Low Target: N/A Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: No (Can only fit 1) Description/Use: Boosts the resistances of the ships hull. Name: Energized Plating Slot Used: Low Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Increases the resistance of a specific damage type or all damages types while consuming CPU. Name: Resistance Plating Slot Used: Low Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Increases the resistance of a specific damage type or all damage types. Only 1 CPU required to fit, but boost is less than Energized Platings. Name: Inertia Stabilizers Slot Used: Low Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Decreases the inertia of the ship at the cost of increasing the signature radius. Name: Overdrive Slot Used: Low Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Increases the maximum speed of the ship at the cost of reducing the cargo capacity. Name: Afterburner Slot Used: Mid Target: N/A Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: No (Can only fit 1) Description/Use: Increases the maximum speed of the ship slightly with a slight increase to the ships signature radius.

Name: Microwarpdrive Slot Used: Mid Target: N/A Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: No (Can only fit 1) Description/Use: Increases the maximum speed of the ship significantly, but also increases the ships signature radius by roughly 500%

Shield
Name: Shield Booster Slot Used: Mid Target: N/A Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: Repairs a specific amount of shield HP during each cycle of operation. Name: Shield Extender Slot Used: Mid Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: Increases the maximum hit points of the ship. Name: Shield Flux Coil Slot Used: Low Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Increases shield recharge rate while reducing maximum shield hit points. Name: Shield Hardener Slot Used: Mid Target: N/A Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Increases the resistance of a specific damage type or a smaller amount to all damage types. Name: Shield Power Relay Slot Used: Low Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Increases shield recharge rate at the expense of capacitor recharge.

Name: Shield Recharger Slot Used: Mid Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Increases shield recharge rate. Name: Shield Resistance Amplifier Slot Used: Mid Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Increases the shield resistance of a specific damage type.

Smartbombs
Name: Smartbomb Slot Used: High Target: AoE Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: When activated it deals damage to all objects in a specific range.

Turrets & Bays

Name: Hybrid Turret - Blaster Slot Used: High Target: Hostile Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: Close range, high dps weapon. Name: Hybrid Turret - Railgun Slot Used: High Target: Hostile Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: Long range weapon.

Name: Laser Turret - Pulse Slot Used: High Target: Hostile Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: Close range weapon. Name: Laser Turret - Beam Slot Used: High Target: Hostile Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: Long range weapon. Name: Projectile Turret - Autocannon Slot Used: High Target: Hostile Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: Close range weapon. Name: Projectile Turret - Artillery Slot Used: High Target: Hostile Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: Long range with extremely high alpha capability. Name: Missle Launcher Slot Used: High Target: Hostile Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: No Description/Use: Rocket Launcher Short Range. Frigate-class weapon. Standard Launcher Medium Range. Frigate-class weapon. Assault Launcher Standard launcher w/ quicker rate of fire. Heavy Launcher Medium to Long Range. Cruiser/Battlecruiser class weapon. Heavy Assault Launcher Short Range. Cruiser/Battlecruiser class weapon. Cruise Launcher Long Range. Battlecruiser and Battleship class weapon. Torpedo Launcher Short Range. Battleship class weapon.

Weapon Upgrades
Name: Ballistic Control System Slot Used: Low Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Increases the rate of fire for missile launchers and missile damage. Name: Gyrostabilizer Slot Used: Low Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Increases projectile turret rate of fire and damage. Name: Heat Sink Slot Used: Low Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Increases laser turret rate of fire and damage. Name: Magnetic Field Stabilizer Slot Used: Low Target: Hostile Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Increases hybrid turret rate of fire and damage. Name: Tracking Computer Slot Used: Mid Target: N/A Capacitor Required: Yes Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Can increase the tracking speed or optimal range of turrets when scripted. When unscripted it will increase both to a lesser degree. Name: Tracking Enhancer Slot Used: Low Target: N/A Capacitor Required: No Stacking Penalty: Yes Description/Use: Increases the tracking speed and optimal range of turrets.

Good Luck and Good Hunting!