i just began playing eve a few days ago and i guess no u dont really start with any race specific training so i wanted to know what ships in each race have the best ability for sniping in pvp ... i started as a minmatar and im not really sure if i want stay with their ships  i think im leaning more towards drones bc im lazy which im guessing would be gallente however i do want to do some long range pvp damage as well so what ships are made for the best long range damage atm and how do they compare to other races .. thanks for the help in advance

 also i heard u can afk missions as gallente is this true sounds about my style for pve lol

All races can field decent snipers.
 
Caldari - Both their rail and missile ships are focused on long range. Missile sniping don't work that well in fleets because the target will mostly been destroyed by the turret ships before the missile arrive. For turret sniping they have the Eagle as a cruiser sized sniper and Rokh as battleship sized. The Rokh has the highest sniper range of any ship in the game but lacks a bit in damage.
 
Minmatar -  Once the sniper kings are not so popular these days. They are lacking a bit in the range department and their strong point Alpha strike damage has been reduced over time due to hp increases. Both the Tempest and Maelstrom can be used as decent snipers. Note that minmatar are being boosted in the next patch, exact details are still not decided but 75% alpha strike increase are one of the likely changes.
 
Gallante - As you said they are the drone users, now while there are sentry drones they don't have the range enough for pvp sniping. For sniping ships they have the Megathron which is an ok sniping ship. Better dps than a Rokh and better range then tempest/maelstrom.

Amarr - The current king of sniping. The Apocalyps has enough range, alpha strike and dps to compete with all the others at the same time. 400 dps at a 220km optimal range is really good. The Rokh has better range but the 250km hard cap means it can't use it.

But remember you can always cross train. You don't have to focus on one race.

megathron is actually the king of the hills. any1 who says otherwise is a fool. the only thing it lacks compared  abaddon is the armor resist bonus which only increase survivability, not damage. compared to the apoc, it does more dmg, and a pure snipe thron setup get 192km outta spike. put falloff on top of that, you're at the 230km mark. rate of fire play a major part in dps of sniping ships. pure snipe megathron trumps any ship on the block fit for the same purpose.

these days, fights happen between 100-120km with remote rep snipe setups. so range bonus on the apoc/rokh is obsolete, which leaves the resistance bonuses is the trump card.

raven is the god of sniping if you use them correctly in a large fleet. gun boats on primary, ravens on secondary. 2 targets at a time instead of just one. raven delivers a stead stream of damage that reach up to 200km with just surpar skills.

each race has their own pros and cons. whatever you do, every race have a ship that can fill that role.

First we need to be clear on terminology as there are at least two situations in which snipers are employed:

1. Fleet battles(>~20 BS). 150km range and instantaneous damage minimum. You bring less you are a fool. I'm not kidding you, people will call you out if your the only raven or dominix in a 400 BS strong fleet. They have people checking scanners just to make fun of people like that over TS.

2. Skirmish/Camping/Whatever(<~10 BS). No hard rules. It entirely depends on the strategy as a whole, Ravens can be used to devastating effect here. However they are not automatically awesome, they need to fit into the strategy.

The major difference is the TTD. In a big fleet the TTD(time to die) for any locked BS is measured in single digit seconds, and usually low digits at that. With more than 50 BS involved i don't care how many remote reps or what kind of spider tanking setup you have, a BS would die instantaneously and with the usual lag most likely before its pilot is even aware he is getting locked.

That being said there are two ways to look at Snipers and what they should bring:

1. Max dps with no ammo consideration: Amarr. The Armageddon is a very cheap and very cabable workhorse, not only has it low construction costs, it also employs only 6-7 turrets depending on setup with shaves another couple millions of the price. Remember your insurance does not cover those. Apocalypse can do everything a mega can and then some. Abaddon can output really stupid DPS numbers while also having an Alpha volley second only to Minmatar ships(though with horrible cap efficency).

2. No cap need with gimmicks(heavy neuts/large remote reps etc): Minmatar. You will run out of cap in prolonged engagements with 90% of non minmatar fleetsetups just firering your guns(usually no room for many cap mods on fleetsetups). Now add long distance jumps into that and maybe a couple of MWD pulses to burn out of bubbles or the like and imagine starting a battle with low cap in your unsustainable setup. Gallente/Caldari gunships have the worst problems with this, they have weaker basecap than amarr and no cap boni for their guns to help them. Minmatar have no problem at all with this. They always work at 100% efficiency even if you just killed all your cap breaking a blockade after a long warp.

Gallente should be somewhere between that with the Mega, but they are not. Apoc has better range due to its bonus, better tracking with megapulse despite the mega's bonus and even running an extra turret far better cap stability due to its huge capacitor(and one more free lowslot due to needing less tracking enhancers). Not needing ammo is just an icing on the cake after that. The problem really isn't the Megathron or the Rokh, the problem are Hybrid guns in general. Rails have low damage with mediocre tracking and steep cap/s cost with no real upside. 

Before i took my vacation some months ago i decided to go for the Tempest as sniper ship. Simply because its DPS is not that much lower than a mega, but its high alpha and capless guns make up for that small difference many times over. Figures that i arrived at that conclusion after training up every other races BS and guns... Doesn't hurt that its faster than most other BS either, cause let me tell you its usually the stragglers(and expensive tier 3) that get to die if your FC decides to leg it.

I have a similar question. Who is the best against snipers?

Well it really depends against you are fighting, any decent fleet has at least one prober, if on 0.0 expect a interdictor or a heavy interdictor, and of course, a hac gang with lots of logistic.

The range mentioned above (150km) are really asking for a defeat, most engagements repends on good range, but not so much range, the days of being at 150 - 200km freely in your safespot taking potshots are well past over, a smart FC would check his enemy's killboard ASAP, and see the fit in your recent losses, he would ask his fleet to consist of short range ammo, at those distances he would quickly ask his prober for a warp in, tackle on land (or bubble up if in nullsec) and make short work of your long range fleet, also there are many other factors deciding if u can hit, like the signature radious and the fleet transversal, the enemy FC would see what's your alignment (please tell me you are no standing still = sure death) and counter it with the proper alignment so his fleet would had what we call a "good transversal" that's it an a relative angle that makes your long range guns hard to hit.

Also most t2 HAC and drake gangs move fast, so with a heavy BS you would had the dissadvantage of being forced to fight at your enemy fcs forced range.

For small fleet warfare, you better have some tackle on it, at those ranges, one would just warp out and your tactical advantage would be over.

This is just one of the endless counters to the sniper-fits we used to have around a cpl years, they are still used, specially for siege warfare (against structures, etc) yet stuff is constantly evolving,  specially in 0.0

A good advice is to get into an empire corp and learn a lot from the wardecs you got in the way, tbh 0.0 is not all that hard once you get used to it (I haven't been to empire for over a year, other than the ocassional trip to jita), but it requires skill, there is a lot of good bucks to make and lots of fun, but first get into the game basics and medium stuff until u have a very good experience.

Last week, there was a lot of emo-rage from a fleet where we had been constantly arrased and bombed by pandemic legion's bomber fleet, for a lot of players even losing 2 battleships in a row was business as usual, for the newer, just outta empire guys, it was a critical blow, what i mean is that if you ever venture to 0.0, make sure you know how to make good money (running lvl 4 is a good measure) and have the mindset that you are going to keep constantly losing stuff.

German Giggles

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