Ship Fitting

Welcome to the arts studio! Yes, indeed - fitting in EVE can be an art, and your choices while in station can make or break the outcome of a trip around the EVE-verse. However, before you can venture out and become the Michelangelo of ship fitting, it can't hurt to learn some basics. At first, the choices seem overwhelming and it is easy to become confused, but once you understand some basic mechanics, the mist starts to lift.
One thing to bear in mind is that there are only a few absolute limitations to what you can fit on your ship. Beyond that we enter into the realms of "good" and "bad" fittings as well as "usual" and "genius" approaches to it. So let's get started with some hard facts.

The Basics

Slots, Bays, and Hardpoints

Every ship that can be fitted (which means all but shuttles and freighters) has slots. These are high, mid, and low slots, as well as rig slots. Some also have a drone bay. If you look at the info window of a ship, you'll find the size of the drone bay in the Attributes tab. If it says 0m³ there, you don't have a drone bay on that ship. The size of the drone bay limits the amount and/or the size of the drones you can carry. A 10m³ drone bay will allow you one medium drone or two light ones, for example. With the correct skills, you can use up to 5 drones at a time on non-carrier class ships, but can take more than that in your drone bay if the size permits.

Slots can be seen in the Fitting tab in the ship info. To find out whether you can fit a module on a ship, you need to check the Fitting tab in both the info of the ship you want to fit and the modules you want to use. You can also see the slots available on your ship if you open the fitting screen when docked in station. As you will notice, ships also have Hardpoints. Those can be Turret or Missile Launcher Hardpoints. The limitation here is that you can fit only as many missile launchers as Missile Launcher Hardpoints are available, and the same is true for Turrets. Mining lasers count as turrets, so you can't fit those on a ship that has only missile launcher Hardpoints. There are also modules that fit in high-slots, that don't require a Hardpoint, for example a Nosferatu. Such modules can take up high-slots that don't have a Hardpoint as well as those that have Missile Launcher/Turret Hardpoints.

If a ship has 5 high-slots, of which 2 are Turret Hardpoints and 2 Missile Launcher Hardpoints, you can fit 2 Turrets, 2 Missiles and 1 Nosferatu, or substitute as many of the Turrets or Launchers with a Nosferatu as you want - so you could end up with 5 of them. However, it is not possible to fit 4 Missile Launchers or 4 Turrets on this ship.

There are no Hardpoints on mid, low or rig slots - here the only restriction is in the slots the module uses.

Although you can't increase or alter the slots on your ship, short of getting a different one, and although a mid-slot module will always go on a mid-slot and nowhere else, there are other ways of achieving a somewhat similar effect. Many modules have counterparts that go in other slots. Those modules never have the exact same effect, but are still worth considering. So, if you want to expand your Cargohold, but are out of low-slots, consider a rig. If you want to do more damage, but already put on all the Turrets or Missile Launchers you can fit, try going for modules like a Heat Sink (energy weapons), Gyrostabilizer (projectile weapons), Ballistic Control System (missiles), or Magnetic Field Stabilizer (hybrid weapons), depending on what weapons you use. If you need more shield, but don't have a spare mid-slot, take a look at the low-slot alternatives available - and so forth.

CPU / Powergrid / Calibration

Another thing you will see in the Fitting tab of both your ship and the modules is details on the CPU, Powergrid and Calibration (these do not appear on the station Fitting tab, only when you select Fitting when right-clicking your ship). For CPU and Powergrid you need to compare the numbers to find out if you can bring the modules you want to use online or not; the same goes for Calibration and rigs.

In your fitting interface you can see whether a module is online or not - red means offline, green stands for online. Always check to make sure everything is online before you undock. It is possible to bring modules online when in space - assuming you have enough Powergrid/CPU, but it will take 95% of your capacitor if you do that.

There are three ways to help you with CPU and Powergrid.

1. Train your Electronics and Engineering skills for direct increase of your CPU/Powergrid.
2. Train skills like Weapon Upgrades and Advanced Weapon Upgrades to decrease the requirements of your modules. Those skills don't have an overall effect other than freeing CPU/Powergrid up for other modules to use.
   
   There are other skills affecting modules CPU/Powergrid, such as:
   1. Electronic Upgrades
   2. Energy Grid Upgrades
   3. Special spaceship command skills; if you train Covert Ops or Recon Ships, you will consume less CPU fitting a Covert Ops Cloak.
   
   
3. Fit CPU Upgrades, Auxiliary Power Controls, Reactor Control Units or Power Diagnostic Systems. They increase CPU and Powergrid, but use up slots.
4. Fit the rigs Ancillary Current Router to increase Powergrid and Powergrid Subroutine Maximizer to reduce a ship's CPU need for power upgrade modules.

In addition to the above mentioned measures, it is always a good idea to take a close look at what you are trying to fit. Here are some things to look for:

1. Downsize. It is possible that you are trying to use a module that is simply way too big for your ship. Some modules come in different sizes, which are normally small/medium/large/xlarge/capital. Note that as even if X-Large shield boosters aren't capital modules, XL turrets ARE capital modules. Modules can also be characterized as light/medium/heavy. Some propulsion modules (Afterburner and Microwarpdrive) come in 1mn/10mn/100mn sizes, and other modules come in different mm sizes. Those sizes tend to correspond with the ship classes Frigate-Destroyers/Cruiser-Battlecruisers/Battleships/Capital Ships. So, on a frigate you use small, light and 1mn modules. Each module of each size has several enhanced named counterparts, so there is always room for variations.
   Another issue is the Turrets and/or Missile Launchers you fit. Freeing up resources by going for a rocket launcher instead of a standard missile launcher, or using smaller sized turrets, is usually the better choice over leaving slots empty.
2. Shop around. Check to see if you can find alternatives to the modules you are trying to fit, particularly named modules. A lot of times, a named module has lower fitting requirements than its un-named equivalent. What exactly "named" and "unnamed" means will be covered in the next section.

T1, T2, Named...Huh?

This is the question that separates the rich from the not so rich and the daring from the less daring in EVE: the variations on the same module or rig available. They range from basic, unnamed T1 to officer modules and T2. In general, the higher up the line, the "better" the effect, but also the higher the price. So the order is: unnamed T1 < named < T2 < faction < officer < COSMOS items (this is not the same with ships), with the prices in correspondence being: affordable < well, I guess I could treat myself today < Ouch, this hurts < ...you get the gist. However, there are other downsides besides the price: some items are very rare and, also in addition, the fitting requirements can be higher. This is especially true for T2 as compared to named modules.

If you compare a 1mn Afterburner I, the named version "Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thruster" and the 1mn Afterburner II, you will see that fitting requirements and activation cost are the same for the unnamed and the named version. The T2 version uses more Powergrid and the activation cost is higher, but at the same time the benefit is also significantly greater with 135% Maximum velocity bonus as opposed to 105% for the T1 version and 120% for the named one.

A "Named" module is an enhanced version of a T1 module and has a slightly modified name. "II" behind the name of the module stands for T2. There are no named T2 modules. Ships often also have a T2 or faction equivalent, but in the case of T2 ships, they are in a different category from the T2 ships. For example, an Assault Frigate is the T2 version of a T1 frigate. A faction item carries, as do the modules, the name of the NPC Corporation that issued it, like "Caldari Navy Raven," and officer items carry the name of the NPC officer they belonged to.

You will also hear the words "Tier" and "Mark". "Mark" refers to the fact that a module or ship is better than the basic version, but still it isn't T2. The difference between Mark II and Tech II (or T2) is that improved versions that get labelled "Mark" are still built using basic minerals as opposed to advanced materials; in addition, their blueprints are available on the market and sold by NPC. Another difference is that they still have the same name as the Mark I version, like "Badger Mark I" and "Badger Mark II," and the skill requirements aren't as stringent as for T2. "Tier" refers to the skill level needed to fly a ship. So a Ferox is a "Tier 1" Battlecruiser, since it only requires the skill "Battlecruisers" to Level 1, whereas a Drake is "Tier 2", since you need that skill to Level 2.

Stacking and Stacking Penalties

"Stacking" means that you can use more than one module or rig of the same type on a ship at the same time. This is possible with some modules, like armor repairers, and not with others, like afterburners. Of the modules that stack, some also have a stacking penalty for using more than one module or rig of the same type.
A Stacking Penalty doesn't mean that something terrible will happen if you use more than one module or rig of the same type; it just means that the second module you use will work less efficiently than the first, the third even less, and so on. You will usually find a note in the Description tab if a module or rig has a stacking penalty.

The exact numbers for the effect of stacking penalties are the subject of heated discussions and fairly complicated calculations. However, I will spare you the details here. As a rule of thumb, you can assume that using two modules and/or rigs of the same type is still worth it; three can be, depending on the situation; and beyond that the advantage you gain after the effect of the Stacking Penalty having been deducted is only minimal.

For more information on modules please refer to the following post: http://myeve.eve-online.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=138462

Active and Passive Modules

There are some modules that need to be turned on and off while you are in space; others will always work as long as they are online. The difference is that active modules generally use capacitor, while passive ones don't (there are exceptions to this, like projectile weapons, which don't use capacitor even though they are active modules). You see the activation cost in the Attributes tab. If there is an active and a passive variation of the same module, the passive one is generally less effective than its active counterpart.

Rigs

Rigs are like implants for your ship, which means that once they are fitted, they can't be taken away again without being destroyed. Repackaging the ship also destroys them. Most Rigs also have drawbacks, which can be seen in the Descriptions and Attributes tabs.

"Good" and "Bad" Fitting

Where the section on the basics covered things you mostly cannot ignore, the following section gives you some ideas about fitting ships in Eve, which you can either follow or choose not to. None of the suggestions made below are a must, but they are still good to keep in mind.

Race

As you probably noticed, each of the four races generally builds its own ships. The key here is that every race has its preferences on how the ships should be used to achieve the best results. This is due to factors like the ship bonuses (which you find in the Description tab), the ship's slots, and further data like shield/armor hitpoints. First, you need a quick overview on the affinities of the different races, before going into detail on the various aspects.

1. Amarr
   Amarr ships are heavy tankers and Amarrians prefer an armor-tank. They also mainly use turrets, namely energy weapons, which come in the variations "Pulse Laser" and "Beam Laser". These weapons use a lot of capacitor, which is reflected in the build of Amarr ships.
2. Caldari
   Caldari ships are known for shield tanking and use a mix of missiles and hybrid weapons for offensive purposes. These come in the variations "Blaster" and "Railgun", and they use some capacitor, although not as much as energy weapons. Finally, some Caldari ships are pretty effective with Electronical Warfare, which allows you to prevent another ship from firing back by jamming its weapons.
3. Gallente
   Gallente ships are mainly armor-tank, specializing in close range combat by using hybrid weapons and drones. They have reputed to create the most impressive damage when dealing with blaster weapons.
4. Minmatar
   Minmatar ships are versatile (although Gallente can also be versatile by shield tanking in Eos or Myrmidon, dealing different damage with drones; the same is true for Caldari ships and their missiles), but at the same time difficult ships to fly well. They do a bit of everything: shield tank, armor-tank, missiles, drones and turrets. For turrets, they use projectile weapons with the variations "Auto-Cannon" and "Artillery". Minmatar ships are generally fast and agile, which makes them the perfect candidates for speed-tanking.

Dealing Damage

This section will briefly give an overview on five ways of dealing damage. These have to do with three turret types (Energy, Hybrid and Projectile), Missile Launchers and Drones.

There are four types of damage: EM, Thermal, Kinetic and Explosive. EM is best against shield, while Explosive is best against armor. Thermal and Kinetic do moderate damage to both shield and armor, with Thermal leaning towards shields and Kinetic towards armor. This is due to the resistances of ships, on which you find details in the Attributes tab of the ship.

1. Energy Turrets

   Favoured by:

   Amarr

   Variations:

   - Beam Laser (good range, very good damage, medium tracking)

   - Pulse Laser (short-medium range, very good damage, good tracking)

   Charged with:

   Frequency Crystals

   Modules for Support:

   Heat Sinks (increase rate of fire and damage), Tracking Enhancers (increase tracking speed, which means it's easier to hit a ship), Tracking Links (increase tracking speed and maximum range but the target needs to be in range), Tracking Computers (increase tracking speed and maximum range).

   Rigs for Support:

   Algid Energy Administrations Units (decrease CPU requirements), Energy Ambit Extensions (increase accuracy falloff range), Energy Burst Aerators (increase rate of fire), Energy Collision Accelerators (increase damage output), Energy Discharge Elutriations (decrease capacitor needs), Energy Locus Coordinators (increase optimal range), Energy Metastasis Adjusters (increase tracking speed). All the Rigs mentioned here have increased Powergrid requirements as a drawback.

   Good Against:

   Shields (deals EM + Thermal)

   Not so Good Against:

   Armor

   Pro:

   Doesn't use ammunition, high damage against shields, can quickly change optimal firing range due to fast swapping of crystals.

   Con:

   Heavy use of capacitor, only EM + Thermal damage.

2. Hybrid Turrets

   Favoured by:

   Caldari, Gallente

   Variations:

   - Railguns (long range, moderate damage, bad tracking)

   - Blasters (shortest range of all turrets, impressive damage, good tracking)

   Charged with:

   Hybrid Charges

   Modules for Support:

   Magnetic Field Stabilizers (increase damage and rate of fire), Tracking Enhancers (increase tracking speed, which means it's easier to hit a ship), Tracking Links (increase tracking speed and maximum range but the target needs to be in range), Tracking Computers (increase tracking speed and maximum range).

   Rigs for Support:

   Algid Hybrid Administrations Units (decrease CPU requirements), Hybrid Ambit Extensions (increase accuracy falloff range), Hybrid Burst Aerators (increase rate of fire), Hybrid Collision Accelerators (increase damage output), Hybrid Discharge Elutriations (decrease capacitor needs), Hybrid Locus Coordinators (increase optimal range), Hybrid Metastasis Adjusters (increase tracking speed). All the Rigs mentioned here have increased Powergrid requirements as a drawback.

   Good Against:

   Shield and armor (deals Kinetic + Thermal)

   Not so Good Against:

   Since Kinetic and Thermal only do moderate damage to armor and shield, Hybrid misses out on the high-damaging EM and Explosive, and so can be considered the middle-ground. This means that Hybrids are good against anything, but not perfect against any one thing.

   Pro:

   Uses less capacitor than energy weapons, good damage for requirement balance.

   Con:

   Take up cargo space, slower with ammo swapping than energy weapons, take up capacitor.

3. Projectile Turrets

   Favoured by:

   Minmatar

   Variations:

   - Artillery (long-range, high damage, low firing rate, bad tracking)

   - Auto-Cannon (short-range, low damage, high firing rate, good tracking)

   Charged with:

   Projectile Charges

   Modules for Support:

   Gyrostabilizers (increase damage output and rate of fire), Tracking Enhancers (increase tracking speed, which means it's easier to hit a ship), Tracking Links (increase tracking speed and maximum range but the target needs to be in range), Tracking Computers (increase tracking speed and maximum range).

   Rigs for Support:

   Projectile Ambit Extensions (increase accuracy falloff range), Projectile Burst Aerators (increase rate of fire), Projectile Collision Accelerators (increase damage output), Projectile Locus Coordinators (increase optimal range), Projectile Metastasis Adjusters (increase tracking speed). All the Rigs mentioned here have increased Powergrid requirements as a drawback.

   Good Against:

   Armor (deal mainly Kinetic + Explosive damage)

   Not so Good Against:

   Shields

   Pro:

   No capacitor use, high rate of fire for Auto-Cannons, impressive Alpha-Strike (meaning they can damage or destroy another ship within the first volley).

   Con:

   Need to be reloaded often, take up cargo space, least damage per shot of all turrets.

4. Launchers

   There are three types of missiles: ones that require a target lock and hit a specific target; defender missiles, that destroy incoming missiles; and FoF (friend or foe), which don't require a target lock but simply hit the closest threatening target (FoFs don't hit peaceful targets). Missiles come in all four damage types.

   Favoured by:

   Caldari, Minmatar

   Variations:

   - Frigate sized: Rocket Launcher (very low damage, high speed, very short range); Standard Launcher (low damage, high speed, medium range)

   - Cruiser sized: Assault Launchers (low damage, higher speed than Standard Launchers); Heavy Assault Launchers (good damage, short range); Heavy Launchers (moderate damage, moderate range)

   - Battleship sized: Cruise Launcher (high damage, very slow, very long range); Siege Launcher (faster speed than Cruise Launcher; with torpedoes slow but very high damage)

   - Capital sized: Citadel Launcher (extreme damage, horribly slow, long range)

   Charged with:

   Rockets, Missiles, Citadel Torpedoes, Cruise Missiles, Torpedoes, defender Missiles, FoF missiles

   Modules for Support:

   Ballistic Control Systems (increase rate of fire and damage output).

   Rigs for Support:

   Bay Loading Accelerator (increase rate of fire), Hydraulic Bay Thrusters (increase missile velocity), Rocket Fuel Cache Partitions (increase maximum flight time), Warhead Calefaction Catalysts (increase missile damage), Warhead Flare Catalysts (decrease effect of target's velocity), Warhead Rigor Catalysts (decreases signature radius factor). All the Rigs mentioned here have increased CPU requirements as a drawback.

   Good Against:

   Shield and Armor

   Pro:

   Don't use capacitor, do all types of damage, can be extremely long range, always hit if target in range and not fast enough to outrun missiles, can hit without target lock (FoF) even though one needs to be careful when using them and, most important, constant damage.

   Con:

   Long flight time (which is why many people say that missiles aren't so good for PvP, since time is crucial there), generally lower firing rate than turrets, take time to swap from one type to the other

5. Drones

   Drones are little robots that need to be launched into space from the drone bay and commanded via the drone interface below the overview. There is quite a variety of them, such as electronic warfare, mining and repair drones. However, this section will only deal with those dealing damage.

   Favoured by:

   Gallente, Minmatar (but also used by other races)

   Variations:

   - Light Scout Drones (very fast, low damage, small tank but due to high velocity hard to hit)

   - Medium Scout Drones (medium speed, medium damage, more tank than light, but also lower velocity and therefore easier to hit)

   - Heavy Attack Drones (very slow, high damage, bigger tank but low velocity and hence easier to hit)

   - Sentry Drones (stationary - don't move unless being picked up, high damage)

   - Fighters (only used with carriers and motherships)

   Charged with:

   No charges needed

   Modules for Support:

   Drone Control Unit (gives one extra drone per module, only for carriers and motherships), Drone Link Augmenter (increases the range at which drones can be controlled), Drone Navigation Computer (increases speed of drones), Omnidirectional Tracking Unit (increases range at which drones can fire and their tracking)

   Rigs for Support:

   Drone Control Range Augmenter (increases range at which drones can be controlled), Drone Durability Enhancer (increase tank of drones), Drone Scope Chip (increases optimal firing range of drones), Drone Speed Augmenter (increases velocity of drones), EW Drone Range Augmenter (increases range at which drones can be controlled, but less effectively and at less calibration cost than the Drone Control Range Augmenter), Sentry Damage Augmenter (increases damage output of sentry drones). All the Rigs mentioned here decrease the CPU capacity of the ship as a drawback.

   Good Against / Not so Good Against:

   This depends on the drones you take. The smaller ships are best against small ships; the bigger ones are good for bigger ships.

   Not so Good Against:

   Shields

   Pro:

   Come in all damage types, don't use resources like CPU/Powergrid/Capacitor, charges or slots.

   Con:

   Can be shot and killed, need to be called back before a different set of drones can be deployed - this makes changing for a different damage type very slow. Ships dedicated to drone warfare have fewer slots than their normal counterparts.

Tanking

There are three obvious categories of Tanking, namely Shield/Armor/Hull, with Shield being split into active and passive, and one less obvious one which is referred to as Speed-Tanking. Of those listed, Hull Tanking doesn't really get used due to being extremely ineffective, modules taking damage while the hull is being damaged and other reasons. Speed-Tanking isn't really tanking in the sense of sustaining damage, but since it has the same effect, it will be included in this category.

While Speed-Tanking in combination with Armor/Shield tanking is frequently done and can work well, it is normally not advisable to combine Armor and Shield Tanking.

To learn more about tanking click here.

Capacitor

Capacitor is used by a wide range of modules. While it recharges over time, there are several ways that make more Capacitor available. The modules can be categorized into three groups: those that increase the total amount of Capacitor, those that increase the recharge rate, and those that inject energy into it by either taking it away from another ship or by using charges carried in the cargohold.

1. Increasing the Amount of Capacitor

   Modules Used:

   Capacitor Batteries.

   Pro:

   Increases the Capacitor total and thereby also the Capacitor recharge per second.

   Con:

   Takes a lot of CPU / Powergrid

   Rigs Used:

   Semiconductor Memory Cell

2. Increasing the Recharge Rate

   Modules Used:

   Capacitor Rechargers, Capacitor Flux Coils, Capacitor Power Relays

   Pro:

   Capacitor recharges faster

   Con:

   Capacitor Flux Coils reduce the overall Capacitor in exchange for a faster recharge rate. Capacitor Power Relays reduce the shield boost rate.

   Rigs Used:

   Capacitor Control Circuits

3. Injecting Capacitor

   Modules Used:

   Nosferatus/Energy Vampires, Capacitor Boosters, Energy Transfer Arrays (transfer Capacitor to another ship but don't benefit the player's ship)

   Pro:

   Energy Vampires take Capacitor from the other ship and thereby weaken it, as well as adding to the player's Capacitor. Capacitor Boosters give instant energy on demand.

   Con:

   Energy Vampires only work when you are in range of another ship and the charges for Capacitor Boosters take up a lot of space in the cargohold. Also, once you run out of charges, the module is pretty much useless.

Power Diagnostic Systems also increase the Capacitor recharge rate, even though their main use is increasing the Powergrid of a ship.

Electronic Warfare

Electronic Warfare refers to modules that tamper with the electronics of your own or your target's ship. There are four main categories, namely ECM with its countermeasure ECCM, Tracking Disruption with its countermeasure Tracking Computer, Sensor Dampening with Sensor Boosting being the counterpart, and target painting, which doesn't have a countermeasure. Generally, all races can use any kind of Electronic Warfare, though there are ships that give bonuses to certain types. Another category includes the modules that pin down a ship, either slowing it down or preventing it from warping.

To learn more about electronic warfare click here.

Conclusion

Believe it or not, this is just the beginning. There are a large number of items that have not been mentioned in this guide, and the explanations given are just the basics. See it as the basic colours and brushes that have been explained to you, and your task will be to use the canvas (the ships) and get to work. This leaves you with nearly endless variations and room for experimentation until you find "your" perfect fitting. The forums, talking to people in game, and the help channels can aid you with that. Have fun!