PvP for n00bs

[dwindlehop]

I'm going against received wisdom here and saying that the best contribution you can make as a new character in a fight is additional damage. In light of the Revelations changes, every new Soldier is ready to do some serious damage, especially if you have someone bankrolling you to get you into T2 turrets. ECM is useful, especially in the Grffin, and remote sensor dampeners are good to have on any frigate. Propulsion jamming is helpful, but with the WCS nerfs it is no longer as necessary to get a ton of points on your target. A couple of webs and a couple of points lock down a target pretty good.

Target painters, tracking disrupters, and tracking links are important in specific situations. Your gangmates can heal themselves better than you can, so you should concentrate on healing yourself. You don't have much cap, so don't count on doing energy transfers. Remote sensor boosters or projected ECCM are probably not the most useful thing for you to do in a fight.

Learning to fly:
1. Running away is your most important skill. You should be able to run away even when scrambled or webbed if you have the right fitting. When trying to leave scramble range, manually pilot. Do not Keep at Range > 20km, as you'll constantly realign as your opponent's bearing changes. Re-aligning slows you down. I find that I can manually pilot the best zoomed all the way in. Rotate your view so you're looking in the direction you want to fly to, then double click in space. Keeping your view facing the direction your ship is going will help you find a warp out target with the minimum amount of alignment, enabling you to enter warp faster. This is especially important when MWDing. Warp out as soon as your ship pops so you don't lose your pod. If no bubbles are involved, I find it helpful to have an autopilot destination set so I can click that button just before I pop and save on round-trip lag. It's not a cure-all, though. Left clicking on something in space and then spamming the warp to button on the overview is good, too.
2. Learn the limits of your weapons. How fast does your target have to go to start speed tanking your missiles? How far away can your target get before you stop hitting for decent damage? A T2 small armor repairer heals about 15 hp/s, depending on skills. An untanked T1 frigate probably has about 30% average resistance, which means if you're not doing signficantly more than 21 dps your target will last a very long time.
3. Learn the limits of your opponent's weapons. This is harder and takes experience. Better start now.

[Pococurante]

Hey don't stop now... :)  I especially need help from the Amarr perspective.  Just now into prophecies and abbys.

[Morat20]

*raises hand* "What if I just want to sit at the edges and shoot with drones? Or some sort of drone based support thing? But I can't afford a carrier yet?"

[dwindlehop]

Raging Turtle has the inside line on PvPing with Amarr. Perhaps he has some suggestions. For my part, I recommend something along these lines:

Punisher
3x Medium Pulse (the small kind, or next guns down if you can't fit them)
Small Nos

Scram
Web

3x Cap Power Relay
T2 Small Armor Repairer

Tinker with the lows depending upon your skills. You want to be able to run all your guns and rep constantly, whatever it takes. With good skills and mods, you might be able to get away with 2x CPR and a resistance amplifier or damage control. Versus cruisers, orbit at 500m. Versus frigates, keep them inside your optimal.

With more skills, some Amarr ships do best with a large pile of heatsinks to max out the damage. The Armageddon is the best example of this type of Amarr ship.

For drones, a common Vexor set up is to load up three or four nos/neuts and a big tank. Carry web and scram and let your drones do the damage. The cap you take off your target will prevent them from tanking properly, but you want to be right on top of them to make sure they don't run away. If you sit far away, your target will either run away or shoot your drones, leaving you with no offense.

[Morat20]

For drones, a common Vexor set up is to load up three or four nos/neuts and a big tank. Carry web and scram and let your drones do the damage. The cap you take off your target will prevent them from tanking properly, but you want to be right on top of them to make sure they don't run away. If you sit far away, your target will either run away or shoot your drones, leaving you with no offense.

Define "big tank". I don't see a problem running 4 nos' (for mission running I use one nos, 2 salvagers, a tractor, and a remote armor rep). For tanking I've got 1600mm plate, damage controls, and a T1 medium armor rep.  I haven't really needed more.

I have a decent afterburner, and even a medium shield booster (used to regen shield rapidly in missions, not to shield tank). I could dump some of that for webs and scrams, but I'm not sure what sort of armor stuff I should be fitting.

[dwindlehop]

Learn to scan:
The directional scanner (CTRL+F11, then Directional tab) is your friend. Every ship has one regardless of fitting, no skill or module required. Using the scanner effectively means you get to pick your fights, which means you get to win more.

If you have the bankroll to do it, Harbinger is a nasty PvP ship due to the 4 med slots. Propulsion mod, scram, web, and cap booster means you can devote all those low slots to gank or tank. I wouldn't recommend it for your first ship out, though. I'd head out in frigates for a while, with the intention of losing them, to get a feel for the pace of PvP and to practice running away. Running away in a big ship is even harder. The more enemies you engage, the more sense you get of your opponent's weapons, which is invaluable when you start flying >30M worth of ship into combat.

Using range to dictate the outcome of a fight normally means fighting in the 15-18km range. More than 18km, and your target has a high chance to run off. Less than 15km, and you're likely to get hit by your opponent's offense.

Engaging beyond 20km is possible, but requires yet more skill and isk. Tactics like a Raven at 90km and a very tough tackler are used to great effect by some gangs.

[Raging Turtle]

Before doing most anything pvp related, you'll want Electronics and Engineering at IV, and they should be at the top of your list to get to V.

Amarr:
     The punisher is your frigate of choice.  The setup posted by Dwindle is the 'bleeder' setup, which designed to chip away at an opponent over time, except that I'd replace one of the medium pulse with a Dual light to save on fitting room and cap.  
     For cruisers, you can go with either the Arbitrator (drones) or the Maller (great tank and ok damage).  The omen should be avoided until you have very high skills - Cruiser V and lots of others.  Both the Arbi and the Maller are great at what they do, ignore the O-forums people who say otherwise.  
    BC - Harbinger is a fantastic ship for small group pvp.  But I'd say you need to get BC to IV before using either it or the prophecy in pvp.  Of course, the same is true for frigate and cruiser.
    Battleships and T2 - If you have to ask basic questions about them you shouldn't be flying them in pvp.  Unless you're rich and can afford to lose several.

Skills needed for Amarr:  CAP SKILLS - you want both of the cap skills (+5% recharge and +5% total cap) at IV asap.  I've got them at V myself and am glad I took the extra 20 days to do it.  All the non-specific gunnery skills at IV, especially the 5% tracking one and Controlled Bursts.  Armor skills - Hull Upgrades, Repair Systems, and whatever that third one is should be IV.  And probably more basic ones that I'm forgetting.
    That's the very basics of Amarr - there's a lot more to say if you have specific questions.   A good number of Amarr pilots train projectile skills, since they take less pgu/grid to fit and they don't use any cap to fire - leaving more cap for your massive tank.

Drone Ownage - you better be flying Gallente.  
    Vexor is an awesome cruiser/droneship, very comparable to the Arbitrator.  With drones, you can't really sit on the sidelines, but instead usually need to be fairly close to your target.  That's ok, though, because you can load up on NOS and a good tank and let the drones do all the damage while you just survive.  Train Drones V, then drone interfacing V, and then V in whatever that skill is that extends drone range 5000km.  Then get everything else to III or IV.  
    Brutix is the cheaper BC, but the Myrmidon is the droneship BC, and I've heard nothing but good things about it.  The dominix (drone BS) is probably the best Tier1 (cheaper) battleship in the game, and there are very few ships in game, BS or smaller, that can beat/surive a Nos Domi.
    Nos + drones is currently considered the I-win button of pvp... but there is talk by the Devs of nerfing Nos sligthly.    
 
What ship you fly in pvp depends a great deal on what kind of pvp you're doing.  A ship that owns while solo or small gang is often useless in larger fleet battles.  

If you've never pvped before, PRACTICE before trying out your fancy new ship 

[dwindlehop]

You can only activate one damage control, so you must have something else in that fourth slot.

Decent armor tank: T2 med rep, 2x Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane IIs (requires Hull Upgrades V and compensation skills), damage control
A really good Vexor tank might have 1600mm plate, T2 med rep, EANM, DC. I find EANM I to be less than sexy for those without Hull Upgrades V and compensation sklils, so you might go with an explosive and a thermal hardener instead. A damage control is always nice, though.

Good active shield tank: EM hardener, 2x Invulns, Large or XL Booster II, shield boost amp. The biggest booster you can fit is the most important part, and the invulns are the second most important.

If you are actively choosing targets, you can fit a lopsided tank and only engage the guys you are best tanked against.

Learn damage:
Missiles can choose their damage, though many missile boats have a bonus to kinetic damage.
Hybrids do kinetic plus thermal.
The most popular drones are the thermal Gallente drones because they have the best dps. The least popular are the EM ones. I'm not prepared to claim kinetic is more popular than explosive drones or vice versa. Explosive drones generally do best in drone on drone combat.
Amarr do EM and thermal.
Minmater always do a little kinetic, and they usually do a lot of explosive damage. However, they can change ammo and pick their damage type.

[dwindlehop]

If I'm on, I'm willing to practice duels. Plain and simple.

[Morat20]

I fly Gallente. I have DI to 5, and have my range out to 50k on drones. I'm even working on Drone rigs at the moment. I think my fourth slot is filled with some passive resistance stuff -- gives a lot of small bonuses versus every damage type.

[dwindlehop]

That would be Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane, dollars to doughnuts.

[Morat20]

That would be Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane, dollars to doughnuts.

I think so. Seemed a better bet than active harderners, given I never bother to look up what I'm flying against in missions. I understand that'll change, but the only L2 mission I've had to warp out on was The Blockade. I wasn't even halfway through the armor, but figured I'd bail and recharge, then come back.

[Krakrok]

You can load up a domi with drone range and tracking (or MWD) speed modules which move your drone control range out to 110km. The sentry drones shoot at that range too. They only do 55DPS though and I believe heavies do 60DPS (depending on your skills obviously).

[Reg]

I still like sentry drones better for long range work. If I"m far enough away they can kill almost anything long before it gets close enough to hurt me.

[Raging Turtle]

You can load up a domi with drone range and tracking (or MWD) speed modules which move your drone control range out to 110km. The sentry drones shoot at that range too. They only do 55DPS though and I believe heavies do 60DPS (depending on your skills obviously).

Heavy drones fly sloooow, though, which is why sentries are great for long range. 

[Morat20]

You can load up a domi with drone range and tracking (or MWD) speed modules which move your drone control range out to 110km. The sentry drones shoot at that range too. They only do 55DPS though and I believe heavies do 60DPS (depending on your skills obviously).

Heavy drones fly sloooow, though, which is why sentries are great for long range. 

Mediums are slow. :) I'm so used to scouts, that whenever I drag out my mediums I feel like they've forgotten how to use their MWDs again. (That's actually my prime problem in L2 missions -- when to use scouts and when to use mediums). I'm dumping points into the drone speed skills.

I'll be getting into the advanced drones later -- when I have a ship I can put them in.

[dwindlehop]

Learn ship roles:
Here they are in order of what I think is good for newb PvP. Feel free to experiment, though. Eve's skill-based advancement makes experimenting safe and easy.
PvP T1 frigates (not exhaustive): Rifter, Punisher, anything with 3 mids
interceptors - Often the first T2 ship for a player. Distinctly PvP oriented. Comes in two flavors for each race, one that hits harder and one that has more midslots. Combat fittings usually have high velocity, but not always. Good choice for a first PvP ship because players, even skilled ones, in larger ships will have difficulty hitting you. The most "twitch" option. Crusader, Malediction;  Crow, Raptor; Taranis, Ares; Claw, Stilletto.
PvP T1 cruisers (not exhaustive): Thorax, Caracal, Rupture, Blackbird, Vexor. These are insurable
assault frigates - Good alternative to interceptors, but a little more expensive. Also used in complexes, missions, and ratting.
PvP T1 battlecruisers (not exhaustive): Myrmidon, Drake. With the Revelations change these are a nice step up from cruisers in terms of damage and hitpoints.
PvP battleships (not exhaustive): Raven, Tempest, Megathron, Dominix. I like the Dominix and Typhoon for T1-only fittings because of the effectiveness of drones+large nosferatus. Otherwise, leave these until you can fit them out in T2 and afford to lose them.
industrials: Iteron, Badger. You know, they do have high slots and turret mounts.
PvP T1 destroyers (not exhaustive): Thrasher (for ganking haulers & frigates with artillery). Destroyers have a bad rap. Maybe they're better nowadays since Revelations, but I wouldn't hold my breath trying to make one work.
recon cruisers - The solo pwnmobiles if any ship can be said to bear that title. Also some of the best ships to have in a small gang. The covops class force recons are mean for operating deep behind enemy lines in 0.0. Curse, Pilgrim; Falcon, Rook; Arazu, Lachesis; Huginn, Rapier.
heavy assault cruisers - serious PvP ships for small gang warfare. Sacrilege, Zealot; Cerebus, Eagle; Ishkur, Deimos; Muninn, Vagabond.
interdictors - Only seen in 0.0. Spits out warp bubbles to pull you out of warp or keep you from entering warp. There's also a deployable structure which has a similar effect which doesn't require an interdictor to use.
covert ops - Not much fun solo, but an important part of a larger fleet.
stealth bombers - no good role at the moment. Avoid until they fix.
command ships - requires Cruiser V and Battlecruiser V.
carriers - requires Battleship V.
dreadnoughts - requires Battleship V. Watch out for the Moros, it has a bonus to drone damage and thus can hit smaller targets well. The others can't.
motherships - No.
titans - get a screenshot if you ever see one of these.
logistics - used in capital ship and fleet warfare, not fun if you ask me. Never seen on the front lines.
rookie ships - No. It sounds like a good idea (they're free!), but the lowliest little Executioner or Atron could take you out solo.
shuttles - Heh.
freighters - No.
transport ships - No.
faction ships - far more expensive than they are useful.
barges - No.
exhumers - No.

[Slayerik]

Hey, I love my Viator Transport ship!

2 Built in warp stabs! And its a agile little bugger. Great for my 0.0 to empire runs!

[dwindlehop]

Heh, in a thread about PvP for new players, though, you got to admit that it's not exactly what they should be looking into.

[Slayerik]

Heh, in a thread about PvP for new players, though, you got to admit that it's not exactly what they should be looking into.

True...but you can put an MWD on it! :)

Basically, like any game, you get better by PVPing. You can also learn a lot just reading ship specs on Eve-O forums or griefer. Eventually, when someone says there is a Tanaris there you will know its an interceptor. If you hear a Hurricane you'll know its a battlecruiser. Nos Domi means big mean battleship that drains your cap and kills you with drones. Huginn is a recon, Sabre an interdictor (bubble ship), etc

Knowing this info helps tons to decide whether or not you should try to scan a player out in asteroids ... or run.