T1 Showcase - the Condor

Condor in the Guristas livery, so that you can pretend it's a Whiptail

Welcome to the part two of our showcase - this time we'll be looking at Caldari T1 attack frigate, the Condor, personally my favorite T1 frigate that's always high on my recommendation list of starter PvP ships.

Ship Overview

The Condor is pretty popular PvP frigate, with viable long range and brawling fits. It comes with 4 high slots (3 for missiles, one utility), 4 mid and 2 low slots, giving you plenty of room for nasty tricks to turn the fight in your favor. Surprisingly, the hull comes with one bonus per level, that being 10% increase per level to kinetic rocket and missile damage. That means you don't have to worry about damage types as loading anything else than Scourge ammo would remove a huge chunk of damage from an already low number. In addition to that you have 80% reduction for capacitor needed to run propulsion jamming modules (warp scramblers and disruptors), letting you run the long point without putting much strain on your battery.

While it can be fitted as rocket-based brawler, I decided to put the natural speed of the Condor to good use and fit it as full-time kiter, staying out of harm's way and whittling down the enemies with constant barrage of missiles.

Fitting Breakdown

Showcase Condor Fitting (click to show)

[Condor, Showcase Condor]

Micro Auxiliary Power Core I

Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Medium Ancillary Shield Booster

5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive

Warp Disruptor II

Balmer Series Compact Tracking Disruptor I

Light Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Light Missile

Light Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Light Missile

Light Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Scourge Light Missile

Small Gremlin Compact Energy Neutralizer

Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I

Small Auxiliary Thrusters I

Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I

Scourge Fury Light Missile x1500

Navy Cap Booster 50 x36

Missile Precision Disruption Script x1

Missile Range Disruption Script x1

Caldari Navy Scourge Light Missile x1500

Optimal Range Disruption Script x1

Tracking Speed Disruption Script x1

C-IR Compact Guidance Disruptor x1

• Not much variety when it comes to weapons, we slap in T2 Light Missile Launchers as the only option providing us with enough range for our build. We fill the utility slot with compact Energy Neutralizer to work as our panic button if we get ourselves into a close range brawl

• In the mid slots, we have a restrained Microwarpdrive (increases our signature a little less than other variants), T2 Warp Disruptor for all the range we can get, and Medium Ancillary Shield Booster as our single piece of tank to shrug off some damage. We top it off with a flex slot, occupied by a compact weapon disruption module - by default it's Tracking Disruptor but we can switch that out to Guidance Disruptor if we expect to fight a missile ship

• In the low slots we have Micro Auxilary Power Core to push our power grid to required levels. Without CPU for anything else, we add Nanofiber Internal Structure for increased agility and speed

• The rigs follow similar theme, with two of them to further enhance our mobility. Last rig slot is dedicated to increase our damage

The Gameplan

We are in a flimsy but fast ship, so our priority is to stay away from our enemies. Load faction missiles against frigates, and Rage for bigger targets. One quirk of missile weapons to keep in mind is that their effective range is affected by enemy movement. If we are forced to chase the target in a straight line, our missiles won't reach their target - it is quite possible to simply outrun the missiles. As such, pay attention to whether the damage is actually landing, and close in if necessary.

When it comes to weapon disruption, default to range scripts and if you see they are still hitting, switch to tracking/precision disruption. The Energy Neutralizer should be treated as a last resort option, as to use it you have to put yourself at a vulnerable position well within scram/web range of your opponents.

The whole package is especially well suited for practicing slides into occupied plexes, with speed to get you off the button, and weapon disruption + neut to have a fighting chance when someone eventually lands a scram on you. Just make sure you go in with MWD pre-heated, as that extra burst of speed can be a difference between life and fiery death.

Entry Level Fitting

The entry level options comes with little sacrifices, removing the Energy Neutralizer that's already rarely used and uses the regained fitting space to fit in a damage module, offsetting the missing T2 launchers.

Entry Level Condor (click to expand)

[Condor, TDP Solo K Condor Yearbook]

Type-D Restrained Nanofiber Structure

Ballistic Control System I

5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive

Faint Scoped Warp Disruptor

Medium Ancillary Shield Booster, Navy Cap Booster 50

Balmer Series Compact Tracking Disruptor I

Arbalest Compact Light Missile Launcher, Caldari Navy Scourge Light Missile

Arbalest Compact Light Missile Launcher, Caldari Navy Scourge Light Missile

Arbalest Compact Light Missile Launcher, Caldari Navy Scourge Light Missile

[Empty High slot]

Small Ancillary Current Router I

Small Auxiliary Thrusters I

Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I

Navy Cap Booster 50 x18

Missile Precision Disruption Script x1

Missile Range Disruption Script x1

Caldari Navy Scourge Light Missile x800

Optimal Range Disruption Script x1

Tracking Speed Disruption Script x1

C-IR Compact Guidance Disruptor x1

Summary

As mentioned in the introduction, Condor is my favorite T1 frigate, having adaptable fit and options to third party and disengage whenever I feel like it. It also gets you into the right piloting skills for one of the most powerful frigates in existence in the Hookbill and the Garmur. If you revel in watching your enemies be slowly ground to dust, the Condor is definitely the ship for you!