Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 1:25 pm Post subject: Destroyers (Caldari): Are they that bad?
Hey,
My first post here, and a newer player. A friend got me hooked after getting me into the trial version of the game. I just wanted to ask a knowledgeable crowd about Destroyers.
Some people ingame have told me they aren't a very favoured ship. In fact they don't offer enough advantages for their class. But I've been comparing stats on the ships and find the Destroyer seems to offer substantial upgrades, so I'm a bit confused.
What's your take? Is it a good ship to keep you going until you can afford/train into a higher level? Or is it advised to keep a decent Frigate (in my case a Kestrel) and just skip the Destroyer class all together? Thoughts?
(Mainly I am pure PvE of course, and just working on NPC missions involving pure combat)
A very good question is "not favored, for what?" I think most people who don't like destroyers are trying to use them for PvP. They are awesome in PvE level 1 missions, since they are designed to be an anti-frigate platform and most level 1 missions are full of frigates.
As Caldari, though, you want to consider whether you're going to be training turret skills. A Caldari PvE-er can usually skip them for a *long* time, but probably not if you're going to pilot a Cormorant.
personally i love dessies. They're alot of fun to fly and as was said they are great for lvl 1 missions. THe problem is that they have pretty weak armor and such so if you like to tank thats proly not the way to go
I see. Well I ended up buying one and am still happy with the staying power it has and as you mentioned, it's good against Frigates.
I am just about to buy my first Cruiser, and I'm thinking missiles all the way now. I realize this probably isn't wise for PvP but for now I'll try it. If I load it up with Heavy Missiles, I'll probably have some issues with Frigates won't I? Or should I mix and match standard and heavy launchers on it?
You might have some issues with frigates at first, but as your missile skills go up, not so much. I almost always keep at least one standard size launcher.
Plan ahead for "Missile Launcher 5" which gates cruise missiles and the guided missile precision skill
Destroyers are good, just remember its a destroyer. Cruisers are about the minimum for PVP unless you go T2 stuff for the smaller ships.
As for later on down the road, training up destroyer can put you in a dictor which makes you a very valuable asset to any gang. And from a PVE perspective once you move up from destroyers dont even bother wasting the ammo for frigs. Thats what you have drones for. 5 drones will cut the frigs down and 5 T2 drones will wipe the floor of your frig problem.
Having said that, we have a few guys in our corp that PVP in destroyers (I'm one of them actually). They work well enough but they dont last long under fire.
In the opinion of someone with 18 months time in game: yes, they are that bad. A Merlin with decent skills can dismantle one in short order. So can a Kestrel. The real problem with them is their size to protection ratio. They're large enough that they take the vast majority of the damage from any missile hit, but don't have the shields to take it. End result is that a Raven or Caracal can actualy one-shot or two-shot a destroyer.
Whereas a cruiser can use active Shield Hardeners, which dramatically reduce the damage they take, a destroyer takes about the same base damage but can only use the inferior Resistance Amplifiers. End result is that they eat a huge amount of damage compared to their ability to take it. They're deathtraps. They don't have the protection, they don't have the resistances, and they have a large signature radius. They also don't have the speed to simply evade hits.
You're better off with a faster, more agile ship like the Merlin. It gets good resistances that improve with each level, is harder to hit, and can orbit a target to prevent the target from hitting them. Merlins can take out cruisers with a good pilot and the right conditions. The Kestrel is also a good choice. It does an incredible amount of damage. I personally preferred the Merlin for level 1 missions. It was just a better ship, able to just plow through enemy formations and obliterate everything in a few passes.
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