Drakes Are Bad For You

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #17

This post will be more of an opinion and personal observation than anything up until now. This is now officially about Drakes. And why do I think flying Drakes is a dumb carebears' advice to newbies. So, when asking someone, why fly a Drake, the following will bound to come up as pros:

• Strong passive tank, with no cap management required
• Good range
• Missiles don't have tracking problems, only ship size is of concern

Now, these things are newbie friendly, aren't they? From a certain perspective, yes - as in, they are easy to manage. The problem with this is exactly that. The Drake is a unique ship that has very few worthwhile counterparts in the EVE universe. I'll admit that they are effective. But my main concern here is about newer players. Generally speaking, they have a lot to learn. Not just in terms of skill points but in terms of the game mechanics themselves. So the is easy mode represented by Drakes healthy for a newbie?

EVE question - EVE answer: "It depends." If there's only one combat ship you bother flying and you're much more interested in mining, production, trade, etc., sure, go ahead and train for it. You literally get a lot of bang for your buck. But if you're the new and aspiring ace pilot of the killboards, for the love of God and all that is dear to you, stay away from passive tanked missile ships. They make you forget more than you could learn from them.

The simplest thing is the range. Heavy missiles hit out to 70 km with good skills, which is plenty for medium ships. Actually, they need help in form of fitting modules if you want to target that far. So watching out that you didn't lose target lock will be like, the only thing you have to worry about. 'Real ships' aren't like that. You have to be able to manage range, else you won't kill any players.

The second part of Drakes being too easy to fly is the way missiles work. They always hit, assuming it's not some crazy fit speed monkey that can outrun them. There are a few things about missiles that make them easy to learn. I'm not saying they are for dumb people, certainly not. There are many variables one should be aware before one can call oneself a professional missile user, but on the surface, all you need to know is that what size of missiles can hit your target. So yeah, missiles will teach you little in the way of how to pilot your ship properly.

The third reason I'd not recommend using a Drake to learn how EVE works is it's too tanky. In the real EVE, the one that is filled with players trying to kill you, and if you're in 'real' ships, you usually don't have the option to deflect 400 DPS just by existing and probably running an invulnerability field or two. That means that you actually have to worry about how your tank holds, not just try to bail when shields are under 33%.

Passive tank in itself is a scourge on the aspiring pilot. Before I explain further, I want clear up the concepts. Passive tanking means that you shrug off your opponents' damage only by the recharge rate and resistances of your shield. You are utilizing the passive regeneration of your shield. Any other type of tank that involves providing high quantity of effective hit points that take a long time to grind through are buffer tanks. Active tanks are those that depend on activated modules and expend capacitor to regenerate the ship's HP.
So, passive tanks are bad for you because you don't have to manage them, just know when they break. In a real PVP situation, you are usually fielding tanks that are either buffer or active. Not that these are not mutually exclusive, and that the Drake too can be fit with a buffer or active tank. There is no black and white in EVE. Regardless, generally speaking, you will have to learn how absorbing damage and repairing within the boundaries of the engagement works, and a passive tanked Drake will do little to help you on that.

Once you ditch the Drake as the single best ship for everything, a lot of possibilities open up. You'll have to learn a lot to be successful with the other ships, but it's well worth it. Tracking and optimal range on turret systems, active tanking, capacitor management, fitting for maximum gank... Trust me when I say, even the dull grind of PVE can turn into real fun once you realize you're speed-, active- or damage tanking the rats.

Sessym out.