The carrier is one of the most versatile ships in Eve. It is one of the most powerful combat ships, as well as your own moving truck for deployments. They are expensive and difficult to use properly, so this guide will help avoid you losing your carrier in a ball of fire.

A carrier is a capital ship and works differently than most ships you've flown. You cannot use Jump Bridges like a sub-capital ship. To make up for this, carriers have a jump drive that allows them to jump to any system in range.

In order to jump to a system, you need:

• A lit Cynosural Field or Cynosural Field Generators in the target system.
• The system must be in range.
• Enough fuel in your fuel bay.
• Enough capacitor to jump.
• Not being warp disrupted (point or bubble).

Cynosural Fields consume Liquid Ozone and are active for 10 minutes. You can light one using only Recon and Black OPS ships, as you cannot move, warp or dock for 10 minutes and show up on everybody's overview. You must be in fleet in order to jump to somebody's cyno.

Cynosural Field Generators is a POS module that creates a permanent Cynosural Field usable by the alliance. All available cyno generators will show up in your “jump to” list, even if they are not in range. Jumping to an unscouted cyno generator is one of the easiest ways to lose your carrier.

Your maximum jump range is based on the Jump Drive Calibration skill. Carriers have the same base jump range as the other “regular” capitals (Dreadnoughts and Force Auxiliaries), and a noticeable range advantage over supercapitals (Supercarriers and Titans).

• JDC0 is 3.5 light years
• JDC4 is 6.3 light years
• JDC5 is 7.0 light years

Capitals use isotopes to jump, the amount based on the Jump Fuel Conservation skill. Each race has their own type of fuel: Helium Isotopes for Amarr, Hydrogen Isotopes for Minmatar, Oxygen Isotopes for Gallente, Nitrogen Isotopes for Caldari.

• JFC 0 is 3,000 isotopes per light year
• JFC 1 is 2,700 isotopes per light year
• JFC 2 is 2,400 isotopes per light year
• JFC 3 is 2,100 isotopes per light year
• JFC 4 is 1,800 isotopes per light year
• JFC 5 is 1,500 isotopes per light year

The alliance provides the fuel for capital ops.

Jumping uses roughly 75% of your maximum capacitor. You cannot jump if you don't have enough capacitor.

You should have your own cyno alt(s) on a separate account from your capital ship pilot. This should be a character you don't mind being podded because you're going to need to do that a lot to move around. While your 50M SP tengu alt may be able to light cynos, it is not a cyno alt because it probably has implants too. The best cyno alts are have cyno 4 so they can light noobship cynos, and they are not Amarr because CCP hates the Imparior and refuses to expand its cargo bay by 5m3. Bonus points for cyno alts who can fly interceptors/stealth bombers to get survive any camps that may be along your route.

As of September 2019 you can light cynos only from Force Recons Ships and Black Ops Battleships. Because of that, CCP also decided to add a third cyno type - Industrial Cynos - which can only be fitted on Tech 1 Industrial Ships, Blockade Runners and Deepspace Transport Ships and are used for Jumpfreighters and Rorquals.

Carriers have some special abilities, making them highly versatile.

Carriers allows any ships in fleet to refit if they are in range (5km). This avoids having to dock up to change your fit, allowing ships to refit based on the situation. This might be the most powerful function a carrier has in a fleet.

Carriers can carry a number of assembled ships in its Ship Maintenance Bay. This means you don't have to repackage a ship (and lose the rigs) when moving. The bay can also be configured to be accessible by alliance or fleet members. It should be noted that the ships carried within the bay can only contain ammunition or charges in their own cargo bays.

In addition to a normal cargo bay, carriers have a large Fleet Hanger for holding modules and items. Same as the ship maintenance bay, the fleet hanger can be opened to alliance or fleet members and opened in space.

Each race has their own carrier with different strengths and weaknesses. However, virtually all of the content covered in this guide applies to all of the carriers.

The Archon is the Amarr offering and the most heavily armored carrier. Home Defence Capital and supercapital fleets are usually armor tanked so the armor resists will increase survivability and staying power during a prolonged engagement compared to the Thanatos over which it has an additional base 13,500 Armor HP and 4-20% additional resist depending on Amarr Carrier skill level. It shares the Armored Command boost bonuses with the Thanatos for increased fleet survivability and also has bonuses for Information Command for EWar/Anti-Ewar needs.

The downside to the Archon is the Cenobite Support Fighters (Energy Neutralizing) are currently not used as part of doctrine fits at this time so the bonus is wasted. Compared to the Thanatos the raw fighter damage is also lower making Anomaly running slower than it's counterpart.

Amarr Carrier Skill Bonuses:

• 4% bonus to all Armor resistances per skill level
• 5% bonus to Cenobite Support Fighter neutralization optimal range per skill level
• 1% bonus to Armored Command and Information Command burst strength and duration per skill level

The Chimera is the Caldari carrier, sporting shield resist bonuses it is the most heavily defender shield carrier and also sporting bonuses to the Scarab fighters providing ECM. Fleet boosts for the Chimera are Shield Command (shared with the Nidhoggur) and Information Command for EWar and anti-Ewar use As with all Shield Carriers the Chimera is expected to be deployed at the front line and not in Esoteria. Its lack of Drone Damage bonuses and incompatibility in tank type to home Defence FAX make it the worst carrier to use for ratting

Caldari Carrier Skill Bonuses:

• 4% bonus to all Shield resistances per skill level
• 5% bonus to Scarab Support Fighter ECM optimal range per skill level
• 1% bonus to Shield Command and Information Command burst strength per skill level

The Thanatos is the Gallente carrier, specializing in fighter damage and having a unique bonus for fighter hitpoints. The extra damage and compatibility with armor capital doctrine in home defence make it the ideal ratting carrier. Its main disadvantage is poorer armor defences compared to the Archon as it lacks both a low-slot and the armor resist bonuses. It does however carry bonuses to the Siren Support Fighter which does warp disruption and its bonuses to Skirmish Command boosts can provide great support to friendly subcap fleets on grid. The tankier fighters will also survive better against hostile subcap assault. It also has a larger structure buffer (83,500 vs. 76,300) which combined with a Capital Emergency Hull Energiser can provide a last gasp lifesaver

Gallente Carrier Skill Bonuses:

• 5% Bonus to Fighter damage per skill level
• 2.5% bonus to Fighter hitpoints per skill level
• 5% bonus to Siren Support Fighter warp disruption range per skill level
• 1% bonus to Armored Command and Skirmish Command burst strength and duration per skill level

The Nidhoggur is the Minmatar carrier, using Shield tank and bonuses to fighter damage and velocity. Like the Thanatos it doesn't have a resist bonus giving it a weak tank, and its drone damage bonus makes it seem more suited for ratting rather than its designated role in forward deployment. The Nidhoggur is probably the most versatile carrier in its roles as it can be Armor or Shield Fit depending on if it's being used for Home Defense/Ratting or on the front lines. It of course is weaker than the Thanatos or Archon in armour roles but is still capable. The Dromi Support Fighter (Stasis Webifier), for which the Nidhoggur has bonuses is also the most commonly used Support Fighter in doctrine fits For boosts; the Nidhoggur provides Shield bonuses and Skirmish Command for support of subcap fleet maneuverability

Minmatar Carrier Skill Bonuses:

• 5% bonus to fighter damage per level
• 2.5% bonus to fighter velocity per level
• 5% bonus to dromi support fighter stasis webification range
• 1% bonus to Shield Command and Skirmish Command burst strength and duration

Because of the refitting ability of carriers, you should have every possible useful fit in your cargohold. You're expected to know the fits by memory and be able to switch on the fly, sometimes without the FC saying.

Armor:

• Archon
• Thanatos

Shield:

• Nidhoggur
• Chimera

Since the removal of Drone bays from Carriers and Dreadnoughts, the Fighters used by Carrier and Supercarrier class vessels were split into 3 primary groups and further specialised roles:

• Heavy Fighters (further subdivided into Long Range and Heavy attack roles)
• Light Fighters (further subdivided into Attack and Space Superiority roles)
• Support Fighters

Heavy Fighters are not available to standard Carriers so will not be covered here. Fighter damage types are determined by their race. There is no bonus for matching racial fighters with their parent carrier, instead choose the right fighter to apply the damage most suited to your opponent. In PvE this is simple while for PvP it makes sense to keep a selection of fighters.

Attack Light Fighters are designed for anti-subcapital combat, basically anything from Frigates to Battleships. They have decent health speed and a special heavy bombing run ability for applying heavy damage on a cooldown.

1. Einherji - Minmatar - Explosive Damage
2. Firbolg - Gallente - Thermal Damage
3. Templar - Amarr - EM Damage
4. Dragonfly - Caldari - Kinetic Damage

Space Superiority fighters are specifically designed for anti-drone and anti-fighter combat due to their unique ability to shut down the microwarpdrives used by those targets. For player subcaps this ability does nothing and while these fighters could technically be used for anti-frigate warfare they are hampered by lower hitpoints and damage application

1. Equite - Amarr - EM Damage
2. Gram - Minmatar - Explosive Damage
3. Locust - Caldari - Kinetic Damage
4. Satyr - Gallente - Thermal Damage

Support Fighters are the Electronic Warfare focused fighters with each racial drone sporting the EWar used by that race. Each Carrier has a bonus to the range of the Support Fighter of their race. It is still recommended to keep a mix to use as situations dictate especially Sirens and Dromis for anti-subcapital combat

• Cenobite - Amarr - Energy Neutralizing
• Dromi - Minmatar - Stasis Webifying
• Scarab - Caldari - ECM Jamming
• Siren - Gallente - Warp Disruption

Okay, so you've got your rusty new Nidhoggur and just gotten into the capitals group, WAT DO?

First thing is to check the stickied capitals forum post and make sure you are fit right for the current tactics. Make sure you have all the relevant modules and get yourself fueled up, that includes stront for a few cycles of triage. You should try to keep at least 40k isotopes on hand so that we don't have to wait around fueling people up when a happens.

When a broadcast does go out, join the fleet, stay docked, and read the MOTD. The MOTD contains important information like how many isotopes you will need, what kind of fits we are leaving with, etc., For scheduled ops, this information will often be in the op posting and broadcast, but the MOTD is always the most accurate and up to date version.

The most important thing to make sure of during an op is that you stay within refit range (5km) of another carrier. The ability to swap modules is truly the most powerful aspect of a carrier. Get used to the fact that EVE sometimes has a mind of its own with regards to navigation instructions and its your job to keep the game in check. So if the FC has everyone aligned you need to periodically verify that you are still aligned. If the FC has everyone in a tight cluster around something, periodically verify that you are not drifting away from the group.

You don't need the fits memorized, but you should have some idea of what “tank fit”, “cap fit”, and “slowcat fit” are for your carrier. They are all described above. Don't be afraid to have EFT/pyfa open with the fits for reference during an op. Don't worry about things too much for your first op, but one thing you will want to get used to over time is the idea of tweaking your fit without the FC telling you to.

Let's go through an imaginary op (that might really just be a vague AAR of last week's 1-S IHUB fight) as an example.

• Watchlist the FC and the drone assign, these are probably the same person and it will be in the MOTD
• Get ready for cap chain/buddy as appropriate for your carrier
  • Nids and Thannies find a cap buddy via fleet chat and watchlist him or her.
  • Archons and Chimeras join the cap chain channel. (Someone who flies an Archon or Chimera should write tips here, I fly a Nid)
• We are about to jump slowcats into 1-S yet again to defend our IHUB. Before jumping in, refit to your tank fit and a 100MN MWD in the mids. The tank will help you survive and the MWD will help you get back to the carrier blob faster.
• Okay, now you are in system. First thing is to break invuln by approaching either the FC or your cap buddy so that your cap buddy can lock you up and start giving you cap.
• Next depends on the situation
  • Are you being primaried by a hostile fleet? If so, stay tank fit.
  • Is there a hostile fleet at all? If so, switch to whatever fit the FC called for (in this fictional case it would be slowcat fit)
  • Is nothing happening? Switch to whatever fit the FC called for, but maybe swap in some capacitor mods to get capped back up faster. Once you are capped up or if hostiles appear, switch to the fit the FC called for.
• For when fighting starts:
  • If at any point you get primaried by hostiles, switch back to your tank fit and broadcast for reps (shields for chimera, armor for everyone else)
  • For bomb damage or random hits by POS guns, you and your cap buddy should just help each other out and give a few cycles of reps as needed. In other fleets when bombed, it is common to broadcast for the item they are not tanked for (example shield tanked Rokhs broadcast for armor) DO NOT DO THIS IN CAP FLEET.
  • Unless your drones/fighters are literally right next to your carrier, do not try to recall them when bombed. Recalling them turns their MWDs on and just like a subcap with an MWD on, they will die.
• Eventually the fighting dies down and we get ready to jump out. As we are preparing to leave it is very important that people stay aligned and above jump cap. If you are not at jump cap, start refitting for cap immediately.
  • If for some reason you have to broadcast for cap, when you are full you should also broadcast “in position” or say “cap full” in fleet, because we can't see your cap level.
• Once back home, try to replace the fuel you used on the op so you are ready for the next op.

You're flying a very expensive ship, and everybody will want to kill you. Here are some simple steps to avoid losing your big boat.

• Being unaligned while ratting. If you're ratting in a carrier, make sure you're paying attention to intel, aligned & ready to warp out, and have a cyno fit to be saved by the umbrella.
• Having an NSA equipped while ratting. Since the newest change, YOU CANNOT WARP WHILE ITS ACTIVE, and will die if you're caught alone! Instead replace it with sensor boosters!
• Post-Scylla you can no longer assign fighters to a pilot not on your grid, so there is now even less reason to rat with a carrier.
• Make sure you scout a cyno beacon before jumping to it. If there are significant hostiles in system, use a station cyno or another route instead. That one neutral hostile can easily be a cloaked dictor/hictor with a cyno.
• Quickly do everything the FC says. Enemies are always looking to pick off stragglers, so you don't want to be that guy who wasn't aligned or jumped too slow.
• Double check your fuel bay before you undock or jump. If you don't have enough fuel, immediately tell the FC and avoid getting left behind.
• Bring all of the fits in your cargo bay. If the FC asks for a fit and you don't have it, you will hurt the fleet and it could result in your death.
• If you can, tell the fleet when you get disconnected. Otherwise, you could get left behind or probed down after an emergency warp.
• Spam dock after jumping to a station to avoid getting bumped out of the dock radius.
• Never warp to a gate or random cyno unless the FC tells you to. You don't want to be there when enemies come streaming through.
• Don't aggress on station if there is an enemy fleet in system unless you have support. You'll be laughed at if you die to sub-caps, and there could be an enemy titan in system ready to drive-by.

• Applying to capitals
• The Big Post of Useful Capital Information
• Eve Uni Carrier Page