Trying to find out how to fit a Doctrine ship?

Before you do anything else, make sure you have the Python Fitting Assistant, or pyfa. Pyfa has at least one fairly annoying bug in Linux.

Fitting basically boils down to adding modules to your ship to make it capable of fulfilling a certain role. This can become a very complex thing given the many ships, the large amount of roles those ships can take and the variety of modules that can go on ships.

The three basic categories for roles are PVP, PVE, and Industry.

Common PVP roles:

• Tacklers
• Direct Damage
• Logistics
• Electronic Warfare
• Reconnaissance
• Fleet Booster
• Anti-Support
• AFK Cloaker

Common PVE roles:

• Mission Running
• Cosmic Anomalies
• Ratting
• Exploration
• Incursions

Common Industry roles:

• Mining
• Salvaging
• Hauling

Each ship has a distinct number of slots, which is broken up into three categories: High, Medium and Low slots. If you click on the Fitting button on the left hand side of screen, in game, you can see how many of each slot you have on your active ship. You can also find this information by reading the little box with information in it in game (press the blue exclamation button).

Check out this Ship Modules page for more information on these slots and what type of modules go into them.

Usually the role a ship can fulfill will be determined by the bonuses it gets. Look in the info of the ship you want to fit and see where the bonuses point you too. Or the other way around, if you have a certain role in mind, then pick a ship that has the bonuses that compliment that role.

Fitting skills they help you fit modules to your ship. These are essential skills for any pilot in order to maximize the effectiveness of their ship.

CPU Power or CPU for short is one of the basic attributes for all ships. Your ship's CPU Power output can be increased by training the CPU Management skill to a maximum of 125% of base output. If more CPU Power is required one can fit a Co-Processor or CPU Enhancement to boost CPU output. Additionally certain skills lower the CPU Power requirements for modules such as missile launchers, shield upgrades and electronic warfare modules.

Power Grid (commonly referred to as PG) is a basic attribute for all ships. Training the Engineering skill will boost PG up to a maximum of 125% of base output. Modules such as Power Diagnostics Systems and Reactor Control Units increase a ship's available Powergrid by a percentage. A Micro Auxiliary Power Core also increases available PG by a fixed amount and is more suited to small ships such as frigates. Certain skills such as Shield Upgrades and Advanced Weapon Upgrades reduce the PG requirements for modules such as shield extenders and turrets, respectively.

Rigs don't have Power Grid or CPU fitting requirements, but instead require calibration, a rig-specific fitting resource. All ships have 400 calibration points, except for pirate faction ships which have 350. A Tech 1 rig requires between 50 and 250 calibration points, with Tech 2 variants requiring 50% more calibration than their Tech 1 equivalents.They also are destroyed when you repackage the ship (often required for our haulers).

Damage comes in 4 types, and your shield, armor and structure have inbuilt resistances to each of those. In many fits you will want to fit your ship so that it can reduce incoming damage. Specifically when Ratting.

Make sure you know the basics on how resistance works before trying to fit that Isk making Ratter.

Note: In Pyfa you can see your ships' resists in the right side panel in the “Hitpoints” section.

For more information on different weapon systems, see Weapons

Turrets

Sizes:

• Small: Used on Frigates and Destroyers
• Medium: Used on Cruisers and Battlecruisers
• Large: Used on Battleships

Missiles

Sizes:

• Small: Rockets, Standard Missiles
• Medium: Assault Launchers*, Heavy Assault Missiles, Heavy Missiles
• Large: Torpedoes, Cruise Missiles

Assault Missile Launchers are a specialized cruiser weapon designed to take out frigates.

• Electromagnetic
  • Electromagnetic (EM) Damage is based on electromagnetic radiation. This weapon damage can be inflicted by lasers, certain types of missiles, and certain types of projectile rounds. Amarr drones do this type of damage. Shields are typically the most vulnerable to this type of damage. Armor is typically the least vulnerable to this type of damage.
• Explosive
  • Explosive (Exp) damage refers to explosions caused to hostile targets. This damage type is inflicted by some types of Missiles and some types of Projectile turrets. Lasers and Hybrid turrets cannot do explosive damage. Minmatar drones do this type of damage. Shield has the highest resistance against explosive damage, while armor has the lowest.
• Kinetic
  • Kinetic (Kin) damage pertains to impacts. This damage type is dealt by all hybrid turrets, some projectile ammunition varieties, and some missile types. Caldari drones do this type of damage. Shield has the second highest resistance against kinetic. Armor has the second lowest resistance against kinetic damage.
• Thermal
  • Thermal (Therm) Damage pertains to applied heat on an enemy target. Lasers can provide this sort of damage with different crystals loaded. Certain types of Missiles, Projectile Ammunition, and all Hybrid turrets will provide this damage type. Gallente drones do this type of damage. Shields and armor have moderate resistance to this damage type.

“I tried to put this DOOMSDAY on my frigate and it won't Fit!”

All modules have a specific powergrid and CPU requirement to fit. A doomsday for a titan will not fit on a frigate because it requires so much powergrid and CPU to run. There are mods to increase both but beware as you might be able to make it fit by bettering your skills or you might be decreasing the effectiveness of the ship as that slot could be better used elsewhere.

Also of note: mods usually (especially for high slots) come in different sizes for different class ships. Frigates and destroyers are small, cruisers and battlecruisers are medium, battleships are large, and capitals are extra large. Note however, some module names can be misleading: a Medium Pulse Lasers, for example, are small – frigate-sized – guns. Another misleading one is the XL Shield Booster; it is not, in fact a capital sized module (the Capital Shield Booster is, however).

NOTE: You can sometimes fit oversized modules. Example: A 100MN Afterburner on a T3 cruiser, or a Heavy Energy Neutralizer on a T2 cruiser to get 75km neut range. It can be done, but there are many reasons why you wouldn't want to in most cases.

Ex. How NOT to fit a Rifter:

• High slots:
  • 100mm autocannon
  • 200mm autocannon
  • 250mm artillery
  • Standard Launcher

Spreading your damage output over different ranges will mean that when you are shooting at the furthest gun optimal (the 250mm arti), the other guns are ineffectual. In this example the 250mm artillery reaches far further, However, long range guns cannot do a lot of damage, even if used close range.

Turning this around, where you are shooting something close, then you are not doing your maximum damage potential. Instead of the 250mm artillery you could have fitted a gun for short range which does more damage, but can only do that in closer ranges.

Mixing ranges makes you a jack of all trades, but in none of those will the fit excel. Instead your fit should maximize your effectiveness in a narrow role. It's up to you to play that role effectively.

A better example of turrets on a rifter:

• High slots:
  • 150 autocannon x3
  • Standard Launcher

There is no shame in losing a ship, only in losing a poorly fit one.

The goal of this guide is to help understand how and why ships are fit they way they are. It will cover the terminology used, out of game tools that many players find indispensable, damage types, and tank types, resistances and how they are calculated, along with the modules that are necessary for a competent fit.

Fitting a ship correctly is not nearly as complicated as it seems. There may be thousands of modules and combinations but they can be narrowed down to a few general groups. In this section we will outline these groups and some general rules, tips and tricks to avoid shit-fits and general embarrassment.

The physical act of fitting a ship is simple, open the items hangar and the fitting window, drag the item from your hangar to the correct slot. High slot is three lines like a Benz,(/|\) Mid slots are two lines,(–) and low slots are one line(-) These icons tell you what slot a module goes into and can be found on the market screen or the fitting tab of the module’s show info window.

Modules can be divided into general groups, tank, fitting, capacitor, weapons/damage mods and utility.

• Tank Modules, are shield, armor or propulsion mods. Shield, Armor, Overdrive, MWD
• Fitting Modules are modules like Reactor Control Units or Co-Processors, modules that help out CPU or powergrid requirements.
• Capacitor Modules are for adding to or decreasing recharge time of your ships capacitor. Capacitor Battery, Capacitor Power Relay.
• Weapons and Damage Modules are either weapons, or modules that increase weapon damage. 150mm autocannon, Gyrostabilizer
• Utility Modules are every thing else. Maybe a Probe Launcher, or a Remote Repair. Nosferatu and Energy Neutralizers are also in this category.

Every Ship has three “stats” CPU, Power Grid and Capacitor. CPU and Power Grid are for fitting, most modules use some cpu and grid, there are a few with no fitting requirements. Capacitor is what runs all the active modules on a ship. The top right of the fitting window has a capacitor meter showing how long all the modules on a ship can run for. (pic) If the cap is stable it means all the mods can run forever, don’t worry if the ship is not stable, very rarely are all the mods going to be running all the time.

Let's assume now that you have a certain role you would like to fit a ship for. Open Pyfa, and start fitting the modules that define the role. Always fit those first. This is because there are limited resources and you will or might need to compromise on the quality of the modules against limited resources when finishing the fit. You do not want to compromise the modules that actually define the fit. Certainly not at this stage anyway.

For example:

• Tackling: Warp Scramber / Warp Disruptor, a Stasis Webifier and a MWD
• Salvaging: Tractor Beams
• Hauling: Cargo Expanders
• Heavy Damage: Largest weapons that will fit

Next you will want to fit modules that help the modules already fitted, so they get boosted with even more potential. Often you will find that modules are greatly improved by adding those support mods. There are also mods that increase the efficiency of the intended role instead of supporting to already fitted mods. That is what goes on next.

For example:

• Tackling: Speed mods like align mods and speed overdrives
• Salvaging: Cargo Expanders, a propulsion mod
• Hauling: A propulsion mod
• Heavy damage: A propulsion mod and a tank so you can keep dishing out damage longer and Damage modifiers, to increase the damage you can dish out

You now have the basic role fitted on your ship, but will still have slots and resources left. Never leave slots empty if at all possible. Also try and maximize the resources that your ship has (CPU, Powergrid and Capacitor). If you have alot of those left, then you most likely have not fitted your ship to maximum potential.

You will want to fit modules that expand the possibilities of the ship beyond its most basic role. Here you will also find tweaks and opportunities to make a ship fitted to more specific roles beyond your basic role.

For example:

• Tackling: Guns/missiles for a little added damage dishing. A cloak, so now you can also double as a disposable scout. A salvage mod, earn some extra isk during the op.
• Salvaging: Cap Rechargers, so you can keep your capacitor topped off. A cloak, so you can get 'safe' faster.
• Hauling: Cap Rechargers, A Cloak, align/speed mods. Warpcore stabilizers to be less vulnerable to scramming
• Heavy damage: Tracking mods, Range mods, Drone support mods, Tackle gear, Salvager.

You will often find that you cannot fit all the modules that you would like. You will need to compromise. You will also notice that you just prefer the fit differently in practice then you theory crafted in Pyfa. Fits might look very good on paper but work out differently when actually piloting them. This is a common thing and often referred to as Pyfa-warrioring.

For example:

• Tackling: The guns will not fit, however you could drop a bit more isk on modules that require less resources, but that will make your throwaway tackler more expensive. Maybe too expensive even.
• Salvaging: Changing the ratio of tractors vs salvagers, Align/speed mods vs cargo expanders.
• Hauling: Align/speed mods vs Cargo expanders vs Warpcore stabilizers.
• Heavy Damage: Drop down a turret/missile size to get that little bit more tank, which you need.