Know Your Enemy - Combat Cruisers

When strength and firepower are your requirements, look no further than the combat cruisers. These four ships represent the heavyweights of the T1 cruiser lineup, with stronger tanks and (for the most part) higher damage outputs than their attack cruiser counterparts.

Combat cruisers make excellent brawlers, with strong tanks and plenty of firepower.

While the class offers plenty of variation, combat cruisers generally excel when fighting at close to medium range. Thanks to their strong tanks and offensive abilities, these are difficult ships to take on toe to toe, and are typically capable of out-brawling most of the competition. With lower speed however, they have a harder time chasing down or evading targets than their attack brethren.

Know Your Enemy - Combat Frigates

Tech 1 Frigates are one of the first ships that a new player learns to fly, and their value combined with their low skill requirements make them an excellent choice for someone embarking on a career in PVP. In fact the pure enjoyment and versatility provided by these ships leads many PVPers to fly them as their solo PVP vessel of choice long after they're capable of flying larger or more expensive ships.

The Combat Frigates range from heavily tanked brawlers like the Merlin and Punisher
to flexible kiters such as the Breacher and Tristan.

The Combat Frigates are the most numerous of the frigate sub-classes, with each race receiving two ships targeted towards slightly different aspects of that race's combat style. These are the front-line warships of the frigate class, with strong offensive and defensive capabilities giving them plenty of staying power compared to the other T1 frigates. Their brawling ability makes these ships an excellent choice for solo PVP, as well as for small frigate gangs. Their relative resilience makes them strong close range tacklers, however they lack the speed of their nimbler relatives the Attack Frigates which tend to overshadow them in any fast tackle role.