Future in Frigates

I love being a frigate pilot for combat. I adore it. One of the personal benefits for me of crimewatch was that I was able to ship down into an assault frigate and still be useful on the field due to gateguns deagressing. It also came at a time when the Hurricane, my PvP staple of choice was being nerfed and I needed something different to try. The only other thing in my book that I enjoyed flying as much as my Hurricane was my Jaguar.

The Negative Side of Frigates

Frigates are a bread and butter staple in Eve.  Most people have stacks of them hanging around their stations and various systems.  They are fast, agile and cheap.  This makes them useful and easily obtainable.  Replacing frigates does not take as much time and energy as replacing larger, more expensive ships.  (Note: I'm excluding Pirate Frigates) from this conversation.

Tackle ships are important.  Tackling, in Eve jargon is stopping a ship from entering warp and escaping the field.  This is normally done through the use of warp disruptor or warp scrambler modules.  A small fast ship with a fast locking time moves in and holds down the target while the rest of the fleet, often much slower and with slower locking speeds disposes of said target.

The thing is that small ships are inherently fragile.  This is not a bad reality but it is reality. It means you die quickly.  It means you cannot stay on the field. It means that battles are often short, short things.  It causes some people to hesitate when they are supposed to go in.  Being knocked out of a fight isn't fun.

It also means frigate fights are often fast things quickly dictated.  That is not inherently bad in and upon itself. However, people tend to like more.  Durability deters them.

And I will say it because it needs to be said, frigates are small and not fancy.  The focus on bigger and better is such that people look at frigates as an entry level ship and something not worthy of their time and energy once they moved past them.  Many frigate pilots will prove them wrong time and time again but it does not dismiss the view point.

Many people use that fragility as a push.  It helps them focus and work towards not giving into that fragility.  It can challenge the skills and leave a lot of satisfaction in its wake.

A Desire for Flying

I know Eve is not a simulator.  I don't need it to be. I still enjoy flying in the three dimensional world.  I sometimes just fly around.  I weave and bob and arc and fly through structures and around the angles of the stations.  I orbit larger ships and dive through the center of gates.  I fly because I enjoy flying.  My engine trails soar after me as I streak across the darkness.

I don't get that feeling with larger ships.  Every time I undock in bigger ships I'm disappointed in them the first time I turn.  The sweeping speed just isn't there for me.  I don't know what I expect sometimes, when I undock. However, I don't seem to receive it.  I've been searching for the pleasure I hear from other's as they undock their ships and I don't have it.  I miss the twirling elegance of my frigates.

A Love of Support

Of late I've been playing a good bit of Diablo III with my best friend.  We are a smooth, effective team.  It makes sense, we have been gaming together for 15 years.  But we often take the same paths.  She goes in for a brawler tank/dps role and I take a ranged/support/fragile role.  We always do this.  Eve is one of the first social games I have ever played without her.  That may be why it has taken me so long to realize that I do the same thing here that I have always done. I play a support character because that is what I enjoy.

When it comes to frigates that means I go in as tackle.  It is a bit different from my normal ranged approach. I've always wanted to do the sniper thing in Eve.  I also like kiting things better then brawling.  It is how I have always played but I have not played Eve in that way for the most part.  Once I realized that and started to work myself into the area that I wanted to be in things have improved.

It can be difficult.  A small gang has its needs.  Most of the time that is a balance between the damage you can receive and the damage that you can put out.  Without that core filled things a lot harder.  My corporation also seems to favor brawling and this is even more important in that set up.  Mix in gate guns and there are needs that must be satisfied that I have had to work towards filling as a member of the group.

I focused on that and ignored what I really wanted to do.

Spaceships in the Future

I need to learn how to fly my ships. I still do not believe that I have a base level of competency at it. I am horribly embarrassed that I wound up completely frazzled and lost track of where someone was trying to duel box my Scimitar and Sleipnir with someone else when a third party crashed the site.  Trying to keep range on everyone and everything and not die at the same time was an experience I will happily never try to repeat   Duel boxing PvP is not for me.

But is also highlights one of my biggest problems.  I have to often allowed my decisions to be dictated by others.  When you start the game and know nothing that is very good.  Yet, I've kind of floated along and done as I am told.  It has been productive and given me a level of success but it has not given me the personal abilities or confidence I need to work past my self confidence issues I have with my playing ability.

I'm working from the bottom up.  This time with more focus on what I am doing and try to develop some abilities I can be confident in.  I still have plenty of other things to fly to fit for fleets and particular needs.  However, my own interest is with frigates.

I'm taking one step sideways to work on this.  I'm remaped for guns but I decided to shove Gallente frigate V into the mix to give myself access to Gallente interceptors.  This will widen my flavor of tackle from 'Jaguar' as it is currently.