Item Database:Ships

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The ship classes can be broken down into a couple groups. Here are brief explanations of all the ship classes, in order of difficulty of flying in the group.

Frigates

• Frigate (aka frig)- These are the ships everyone can fly starting out. They are cheap and good for tackling in PvP. All pilots start in one, usually flying level 1 missions.
• Interceptor (aka inty)- Purpose built tackling frigates, but paper thin, great for small gang support and most PvP operations. Not very useful for PvE purposes.
• Assault Ship (aka AF)- High-resistance frigates, Assault frigates are more durable than Interceptors and put out more damage. More commonly used for harder level 1 missions or even level 2's.
• Covert Op (aka covop or bomber)- A stealth frigate specializing in finding the enemy and providing intel. While providing valuable intelligence as a forward scout, Covert Ops also get bonuses to probes, making them ideal for finding foreign ships and exploration sites. Also, they contain the subset of stealth bombers, capable of putting large amounts of cruise missiles on a target.
• Electronic Attack Frigate (aka EAF)- A relatively new Electronic Warfare specialist frigate, designed to provide quick support for small gangs at a low cost. Their small size makes them ideal for tackling and light EWAR support against larger targets.

Destroyers

• Destroyer- Destroyers are just a step up from frigates, ideal for killing other frigates. The eight high slots make it ideal for a lightweight salvaging ship.
• Interdictor (aka dictor)- This tech 2 destroyer is almost a requirement for 0.0 PvP operations. It's ability to produce a interdiction bubble is unique to this ship. Plus, it is ideal for killing frigates and small ships.

Cruisers

• Cruiser- Usually the first multi-million isk ship that pilots buy, the cruiser is the first step up most pilots take on their road to perfection. Used for cheap medium sized support and level 2 missions, these cruisers are usually just a stepping stone towards a more capable and expensive ship.
• Heavy Assault Ship (aka HAC)- All HACs fill a unique role in the universe, having heavier armor and unique characteristics. These are ubiquitous in PvP, found alone, and in small and large gangs alike. They are often used for harder level 2 or 3 missions as well.
• Recon Ship (aka recon)- Recons are tech 2 cruisers specialized for electronic warfare. Recons are divided into Combat Recons and Force Recons. Combat Recons possess greater damage potential and sturdier tanks, though they do not possess either type of cloaking bonus. Force Recons are capable of warping cloaked, these ships spend much of their time attacking other solo ships or calling in the cavalry with their bonus to cyno gen fuel usage. They are ideal for solo PvP.
• Logistic- Logistic ships are tech 2 cruisers focused on one task, assisting other ships. While they have decent resistances, they are purpose built on giving other ships armor, shields, energy, or electronic subsystems support. Having one flying in a PvP or PvE gang is a force multiplier for defense purposes.
• Heavy Interdictor (aka Hictor)- Essential for 0.0 defense, the Hictor can fit a Warp Disruption Field Generator, causing ships warp drives to fail. They can be fitted with heavy tanks as well. When fitted with a script, they can also generate a long-range infinite warp disruption beam, very useful in low sec operations.
• Strategic Cruisers are cruisers built off Sleeper technology, as made available in the Apocrypha expansion. They were the first T3 cruisers, and support a fully modular structure, where players can mix and match in 5 different subcategories, changing available slots, shield/armor/structure strength and other vital characteristics. At this point they cannot fit any 'special' modules, like CovOps Cloak or interdiction bubble, and therefor are mostly comparable to Heavy Assault Ships.

Battlecruisers

• Battlecruiser (aka BC)- Battlecruisers are the next step up in a pilot's development life. They are able to take more punishment and put out more damage than a cruiser. They are heavily used in PvP, as they are half the price of a battleship. But they are also used quite heavily in PvE, as they breeze through Level 3 missions, along with doing some Level 4's.
• Command Ship (aka CS)- Command ships are the tech 2 version of the battlecruiser, the primary purpose being providing gang warfare links to other in their fleet. However, they can also have some of the heaviest tanks and put out heavy damage. They are primarily a support craft, but their special abilities are also useful to a fleet. They are also commonly seen in PvE Level 4 and Level 5 missions, sometimes assisting other ships in completing the mission.

Battleships

• Battleship (aka BS)- The Battleship is the goal of all newbie pilots out there, and the core of any successful fleet operation. Battleships are larger than all previous ships, are more capable, can produce more damage, and survive more damage. They are essential to PvP and the most common ship for PvE for Level 4 and 5 missions. While they are actually easy to get into, they take a long time to fly well. If you buy one and fly it in combat, you will lose it eventually. They are the test between a new pilot and an experienced pilot.
• Marauder- The first Tech 2 battleship, the Marauder is the ultimate in focused damage dealing. Having special bonuses for it's weapons, it frees up high slots for other helpful modules like NOS and Tractor Beams. These are rarely seen in PvP due to their low sensor strength, allowing them to be jammed more easily than other battleships. However, they are very common in PvE Level 4 missions, many times as a salvage vehicle due to their extended tractor range.
• Black Op- The second Tech 2 battleship, the Black Ops is designed to fulfill a covert role. While having slightly lower damage output and tanking ability of a battleship, they are the only non-capital ship which possesses their own short-range jump drive. In addition to their internal jump drive, they may fit a Covert Jump Bridge module which opens a bridge that select ships may travel through. The type of ships which may utilize the covert jump bridge are those with a cloak bonus, either to movement or warping while cloaked (Jump Harmonics 2). Black Ops may lock on to normal Cynosural Fields which are used by Capital Ships, although they have the unique ability to lock on to special Covert Cynosural Fields opened from either Covert Ops vessels and Force Recon ships. These are not very common ships in the eve universe yet, but their purpose seem to be for stealth PvP operations in hostile territory, with the ability to bypass defensive camps.

Capital Ships

• Dreadnought (aka Dread)- Dreadnoughts are large gun ships, capable of surviving the most brutal of assaults and putting out more single target damage than any other ship. Capable of running a siege module, these ships enter a 10 minute cycle time which makes them capable of putting out 6.25x as much damage and repair 2x as much, but are unable to warp or receive help from other ships during this time. These are the backbone of POS warfare and are critical for most capital ship takedowns. Capital ships cannot enter empire and must move about through cyno fields in low and null sec.

the first capital ships many pilots can fly.

• Carrier (some are Mom)- There are two types of carriers, carriers and motherships. The smaller carriers are common throughout the eve universe. They are essential for logistics for 0.0 corporations, for support in remote and hostile locations, and commonly used for large scale mining operations as well. They are capable of fitting gang warfare modules, fighter drones, and triage modules. Motherships are less common in the Eve universe, but are capable of fitting a Clone Vat Bay, allowing pilots to come support the mothership in battle.
• Titan- Titans are currently the top end of ships that a pod pilot can fly. They are big and slow, but capable of withstanding amazing damage. They can fit a doomsday device that is capable of removing entire fleets in one shot. Only capitals and heavily tanked ships can survive one of these blasts. These are the most expensive ships in eve, and usually fitted with the most expensive faction modules as well.

Ships of industry

• Industrial Ship (aka indy or hauler)- Industrial ships are needed by everyone, PvP and PvE pod pilots alike. If you are hauling loot or hauling ore, an indy will make your life easier by allowing you carry more, making for fewer trips. Almost every pilot out there is capable of flying one from time to time. They are core of industry, allowing pod pilots to move vast amounts of goods from point to point.
• Mining Barge (aka barge)- Mining is the start of the life cycle of most ships, giving pod pilots the base minerals to make modules and ships. Mining barges are capable of pulling large amounts of ore from asteroids, with a longer cycle time than frigate, cruiser or battleship mining. If you are mining in high sec, in a mission deadspace, or 0.0, a mining barge is the start of your mining career.
• Transport Ship- Transport ships are more capable tech 2 industrial ships. Having higher resistances, some are capable of fitting a covert ops cloak while others have a +2 warp strength. While they cannot all hold more than tech 1 industrials, they all give you a better chance against pirates looking to steal your hard earned cargo.
• Exhumer- Exhumers are tech 2 mining barges, allowing for greater mining potential. They have higher resistances, which give them the ability to survive pirate attack. Some specialize in ice mining while others have increased warp strength.
• Freighter- Freighters are huge cargoholds with a warp drive engine. While not able to fit a module, they are how the bulk of materials move in empire space. Capable of holding 30x as much as regular industrial ships, these are slow moving targets for any interested in piracy. Getting a freighter through 0.0 space is a true test of teamwork for a corporation or alliance.
• Jump Freighter- Jump freighters are tech 2 freighters, having around 1/3rd the cargo capacity but having the ability to use cyno generators or jump bridges to move around low sec and 0.0. The ability to use star gates and cyno gens allows a jump freighter to easily transition between the safety of empire and beyond to the edges of the empires, dragging mass quantities of material with it.
• Industrial Command Ship- This category consists of one ship currently, the Orca. A mining support platform, the Orca is new to the eve universe, and it's capabilities are still being learned.
• Capital Industrial Ship- There is only one Cap Industrial right now, the Rorqual. It is a capital ship, and while not quite as capable as a carrier, it can fit capital modules and provide capital support for other ships. It is designed to be a mining support platform on a large scale. It also allows for compressed ore, allowing vast amounts of ore to be moved to remote bases. It requires the use of cyno fields to move about as well.

Other

• Rookie Ship- The starting ship for every pod pilot out there, this is the absolute worst ship to be flying at all times. Slow, with a small hold, minimal armaments, and no defenses, this is the ship of the zero SP alt. The only plus to these ships is that they are free in the case of a ship loss.
• Shuttle- The smallest flyable ship, the shuttle is not to be overlooked for it's quick alignment, it's inate speed, and tiny cargo capacity. Great for ferrying around blueprints in low sec.
• Miscellaneous - All of the faction ships that don't easily fit into the four races are located in here.