The Minmatar

History and Lore

The Minmatar was a once proud and technologically advanced tribal race prior to their being conquered by the Amarr hundreds of years ago.  A modern day equivalent would be Africa.  However, despite being enslaved for years, they took advantage of a major Amarrian defeat at the hands of the Jove and revolted.  This second Amarrian defeat so soon after the first caused the Amarr to pull back and opened the way for the Minmatar to re-establish themselves once again.  This task was met with some difficulty as the nation, determined never to be overtaken again, fought each other to form a single government.

Some effort to develop a democracy similar to the Gallente did occur, but those efforts proved to be too difficult because of the constant infighting between old tribes.  Such infighting even allowed for the Amarr to manipulate aspects of the newly formed Minmatar government and the recently appointed President was violently ousted by forces secretly backed by Amarrian interests.

This might have caused the fall of the Minmatar had a nearly forgotten group of spiritual leaders, long thought dead, not arrived along with an untold number of combat ships.  The Elders, along with various Minmatar tribes, invaded Amarr space with this massive armada with the sole purpose of freeing Minmatar slaves.  This invasion also revealed a long unknown secret.  The Ammatar, a people that had once been considered traitors to the Minmatar, had they joined with the Amarr during their invasion to protect another tribe that had been marked for genocide by the Amarrians, and this move had been directed by The Elders.

Currently, there is only the thinnest of peace between the two nations and the partial success of the invasion has been tempered by the discord that still exists while The Elders re-establish a stronger tribal government.

Their Motivation

In general, Minmatars are considered savage, ignorant, and generally “less” as a nation versus the other three factions.  This belies the fact that they growth was stifled and halted by the Amarrian Invasions.  People easily forget that the Minmatars once were a very advanced nation that lived peaceably.  But for many Minmatars, especially those of the Brutor tribe, this is no time for peace.  The Amarr continue to hold a deep hatred for the Minmatars, as they are the only race to successfully revolt from the rule of Amarr.  The Minmatar tribes, through the tales told from capsuleers and traders, talk of the secret excesses that the Amarr justify at the expense of the Minmatars through the sickening use of Vitoc.  The Minmatar should never forget that their people are still slaves to the Amarrian Holders, who abuse them for every whim.  Every failure of the Minmatar people, every person with no family, every technological setback demands Amarrian blood as payment. (to be continued..)

Important Minmatar Stats

• Preferred Damage Type: Explosive/Kinetic
• Preferred Tanking Type: Active Shield / Passive Armor / Speed
• Preferred Primary Weapon:  Projectiles – High Tracking, High Falloff, Average DPS, Massive Alpha with Artillery, but worst optimal.  Weapon Bonus: Changeable Damage types, No capacitor usage.
• Preferred Secondary Weapon: Missiles/Drones – Slower weapon systems, destructable as well, however, are able to provide consistant damage.
• Preferred Electronic Warfare: Stasis Webifiers, Target Painters
• Basic Ship Combat Principle: Minmatar ships are generally the fastest ships in the game, but they are also comparitively lightly tanked.  The general “jack-of-all-trades” nature of Minmatar ships, as well as the need to use whatever was available means that there are no basic tactics other than to use speed whenever possible to outmanuver gun tracking and to fight in falloff range, which usually extends past most other ships’ total gun range.
• Allies:  Gallente
• Pirates who use Minmatar Tech: Angel Cartel, Serpentis, Blood Raiders

Ships Reviewed in this Blog (All ship configs are Pre-Retribution)

The Republic Fleet Firetail Faction Frigate – A decent PVP Faction Frigate for lower skilled pilots.

The Hyena Electronic Attack Frigate – A ship with few roles and even fewer chances of survival.

The Huginn Combat Recon Cruiser – Once utterly despised, the Huginn has found new life in 0.0 and in Incursions

The Muninn Heavy Assault Cruiser – Another ship long despised.  That is, until they changed artillery…

The Rapier Force Recon Cruiser – One of the more popular Force Recons in Eve Online, and there are good reasons for it.

The Scimitar Logistics Cruiser – Of all the Logistics cruisers in the game, this one stand out.  Find out why its independence makes it popular.

The Fleet Issue Scythe Cruiser – A rare sight on the battlefield, this Navy Faction Cruiser has a few tricks up its sleeve.

The Vagabond Heavy Assault Cruiser – Singularly the most popular Minmatar ship in the game.

The Cyclone Battlecruiser – An early Tier One Battlecruiser, this ship still fights against being obsolete.

The Hurricane Battlecruiser – A once very dangerous and popular Tier Two Battlecruiser, the Hurricane, while certainly downgraded, still produces solid PVP performance since the release of Retribution 1.1.

The Maelstrom Battleship – A Tier Three Battleship that finally gave the Minmatar a true fleet ship.. well, almost.

The Tempest Battleship – This iconic and highly versatile ship has had its ups and downs, ranging from the most feared, to the most derided.  Find out where it is now..

The Tornado Battlecruiser – The hugely popular Tier 3 Battlecruiser that got introduced in Crucible shows its fearsome vistage.

The Typhoon Battleship – A throwback from the early Amarr-Minmatar conflict this ship still packs a punch, if you have the skills for it.

The Vargur Marauder Battleship – Based off of the classic Tempest chassis, the Vargur may not be the best Marauder, but it does hold its own.

The Wolf Assault Frigate – The Boundless Creation that is a fun ship to fly, and an easy frigate to fear.

The Ashimmu Blood Raider Faction Cruiser – The fear-inspiring Blood Raiders made this unique cruiser to be very task specific..  find out what that task was.