EVE Online: meet your worst nightmare...

I just love this shot of my Daredevil! I guess you could call it a self portrait, well kind of...

That's the fun thing with EVE Online as opposed to other MMORPGs, change ship, and you've got yourself a whole different experience. Fantasy MMORPGs don't have that luxury - once they've chosen their profession, well then that's it, their a paladin, or a fighter, or rogue, and they have to stick to that. With EVE, switch ships and you're a hauler, change a again and you're miner, or a mercenary - all in the same game session, with the same character.

A Daredevil set-up for agent missions

I've always loved a good tanked cruiser. Since I can remember, I've always set-up my ships to be well protected either by using insane amounts of armor, or by using various kinds of shields. My ships were never the fastest, but they could take one hell of a beating before I had to warp out for repairs, if I needed to at all.

Over the weekend, while running some missions for a Khanid Navy agent, I was given the "World Collide" mission where you have to use a frigate to be able to active the first gate and complete the mission. Now, I've been used to flying cruisers for sometime now, the Celestis being my favorite, and usually engage in combat with a 15km to 20km range from my targets, leaving my drones (2,285,349 skillpoints) to deal with the close combat. And the only frigate I had in my hangar in Baratar, was my Daredevil, my pride and joy, a ship I had won in a contest way back in the days of Coreli.



Having equipped the ship to the best of my knowledge, I had used it very few times in combat. And the set-up proved quite inadequate for the mission at hand. The moment I warped in pirates targeted me and started pounding me with missiles. Within a few seconds, I had lost all shields and armor, and structure was slowly decreasing. Warping out was my only choice. A different approach would be necessary for me to complete this mission.
And so I set out on a search to find the ideal set-up for my Daredevil. I came across this post on the EVE Forums, which mentioned 2 posts (1, 2). So with this information I headed back to our head office in Badivefi where I could search the corporate hangars for the appropriate modules. After about half an hour, I had a completely different ship, which warranted a completely different approach to combat. As of now this is my current module set-up:

• High slots
• 1x Small Nosferatu I
• 1x OE-5200 rocket Launcher I (equipped with Phalanx rockets)
• 2x Light Electron Blaster I (equipped with Uranium and Plutonium S charges)
• Medium Slots
• 1x Cold-Gas Arcjet Thrusters
• 1x 'Langour' Drive Disruptor I
• 2x F-B10 Nominal Capacitor Regenerator
• Low Slots
• 2x Nanofiber Internal Structure I
• 1x Small Automated Carapace Restoration

Once I had put together the new set-up, I could not wait to put it to use. So armed with patience, I activated the autopilot to go through 17 jumps, and headed back to Baratar to complete the mission. The previous and next screenshots attest to the intensity of the combat I threw myself in. The 'improved' set-up worked like a charm. I'm quick, agile, and can still take some poundage. I fly in quickly, too quickly for enemies to do any real permanent damage. With a top speed of 905m/s, I orbit pirates at less than a klick away, and suck their capacitors dry as I bombard them with my Phalanx rockets and Blasters!


The red glow around the ships you see in the previous two shots is a Nosferatu, or NOS as it's commonly known, in action. With a ship like the Daredevil, which has low cap, I'll take anything I can.

This past week I've been enjoying a whole new aspect of EVE - close combat with small fast ships. I never thought I'd have so much fun with such a ship.

But then again, EVE is always full of surprises.