This guide is on how to build an Eagle MkII that can take on other small ships in PVP.

As you can see by the small combat ships tier list below, the Eagle MkII is at the very edge of what could be considered as a viable PVP ship. But I believe that with its superior manoeuvrability, speed and stealth capabilities, it has the chance to stand up to any one of these small ships.

Tier List:
S: Vulture
A: Imperial Courier
B: Diamondback Scout
C: Viper MkIII, Imperial Eagle, Eagle MkII

To explain what the Eagle MkII has to deal with I will be making brief comparisons to medium-sized ships and their counterparts on this list.

The Vulture is like if an FDL and an Alliance chieftain had a baby and it inherited the FDL's propensity for big guns and tiny powerplants while having both ships' shields and hull. Its truly on a class of its own.

The Imperial courier is like the starter pokemon evolution of an FDL. Its a fast, nimble shield tank that uses SCBs and shield boosters.

The Diamondback Scout is like a stealth version of the Alliance Chieftain. It runs cool, has great handling and is meant for hull-tanking. Let the shields drop and go into silent running with a thermal vent beam laser and never get hit ever again.

C-rank are the Federal assault ships and Pythons of small pvp ships. They've got the basic tools to do combat competently, but only one of them has the capacity to move up in rank based on player skill.....

The Eagle MkII.
The Build: https://s.orbis.zone/jtlu

• Reactive Surface Composite
  - Thermal Resistant G5
  - Layered Plating
  Small ship armor has this weird quirk where its better to patch up holes in your resistances on the armor itself instead of relying on Hull Reinforcement Packages to fix it for you. Unlike with medium PVP ships who can get away with Heavy Duty and Deep plating Reactive Surface Composites, small ships dont have nearly enough optional internals to fix that imbalance.
  
• 2A Power Plant
  - Armoured G5
  - Monstered
  While it will be hard to module snipe a small ship, its better to have the extra PP integrity than need it. On other small ships with larger power plants you might want thermal spread instead of monstered. But this is what works for the Eagle.
  
• 3A Thrusters
  - Dirty G5
  - Drag Drives
  You want to go as fast as possible. Though on other, heavier small ships you might want Drive Distributors as an experimental mod to give you more optimal mass.
  
• 3D Frame Shift Drive
  - Shielded G5
  - Stripped Down
  A strategy in pvp is to take out someones FSD so they cant run away. By shielding the FSD, we increase our chances of surviving. D-rank and stripped down so the ship flies faster.
  
• 1D Life Support
  D-ranked and unmodded. Its light enough, making it any lighter runs the risk of it popping from someone sneezing at it during combat.
  
• 2A Power Distributor
  - Charge Enhanced G5
  - Super Conduits
  You want your pips to recharge as fast as possible.
  
• 2D Sensors
  - Long Range G5
  This is to counter a very niche viable tactic that works rather well for small ships in comparison to medium ships. Silent Running/Stealth ships are a problem. Long Range G5 helps you detect them sooner. 2D sensors with Long Range G5 perform better than standard 2A sensors and end up weighing less.
  
• 1C Fuel Tank
  Small tank for more speed.

• 2C Bi-Weave Shield Generator
  - Thermal Resistance G5
  - LoDraw
  The more absolute shield strength you have, the longer it takes for Bi-Weaves to charge. You want high resistances to increase the effectiveness of your current shield strength, this lets Shields recover and recharge quicker. The shield is down-graded to a 2C instead of a 3C because it recharges faster and makes room for a 3D Hull reinforcement for the Eagle's Hull, increasing its survivability more than a bigger shield would.
  
• 3D Hull Reinforcement Package
  - Heavy Duty G5
  - Deep Plating
  
• 2D Hull Reinforcement Package
  - Heavy Duty G5
  - Deep Plating
  
• 1D Hull Reinforement Package
  - Heavy Duty G5
  - Deep Plating
  
• 2x 1D Module Reinforcement Package
  
• 1D FSD Interdictor
  - Expand Capture Arc G3
  - or another 1D Hull Reinforcement Package with Heavy duty G5/Deep Plating

• S: Gimballed 1E Beam Laser
  - Long Range G5
  - Thermal Vent
  This beam laser is the key to keeping you alive.
  Your Bi-Weave shields are meant to go up and down multiple times in a fight. You can take advantage of this feature by going pure silent running and running cool with the thermal vent mod. And unless your opponent has a particularly strong sensor, you can be blasting away at 6km and they'll never be able to digitally lock on to you. This is what makes the Eagle MkII such a strong ship. Its small profile, speed and manoeuvrability paired with running cool and silent running makes the ship nigh untouchable in the hands of a proficient player capable enough to push all of the Eagle's strengths to their peak. Gimballed weapons aren't strictly unviable in PVP, and its important for this laser to hit its target to keep you cool. If the enemy uses a chaff launcher, just detarget them and shoot them like with your rail guns.
  
• S: Fixed 1D Rail Gun
  - Long Range G5
  - Super Penetrator
  Thanks to your beam laser and the nimbleness of the spacecraft, a pair of railguns works amazing on this ship. This one has Super Penetrator to make sure you can hit the powerplant no matter where you're positioned. Great against ships with fragile engines like the Vulture.
  
• S: Fixed 1D Rail Gun
  - Long Range G5
  - Feedback Cascade
  Heres your second railgun, use it to snipe powerplants with your other railgun. Feedback cascade screws up Shield Cell Banks if you hit them while they're charging. Very useful against the Imperial Courier.

Note, dont fire all the guns at the same time. You might want each rail gun on its own trigger as an alternate firing arrangement. And a configuration where you fire both rail guns with one trigger and the beam laser with another.

0I Chaff Launcher
- Unmodded

You could also potentially swap the utility mount for the Frame shift wake scanner or warrant scanner if you're hunting NPCs but for maximum survivability a basic chaff launcher is best. Try to leave them unmodified to strike a balance between module integrity and weight.

1: 2A Power Plant
1: 3A Thrusters
1: 2A Power Distributor
1: 1D Life Support
1: 2D Sensors
1: 2D Frame Shift Drive
1: OI Chaff Launcher
2: Bi-Weave Shield Generator
3: 1D Rail Gun
3: 1D Rail Gun
3: 1E Beam Laser
4: 1A FSD Interdictor
5: 1H Cargo Hatch

If your ship power plant is ever so damaged that you can't power guns anymore, just run.

The Eagle MkII rocks! Its great in the hands of a seasoned pilot and is great for teaching newbies how to do combat. If you ever see yourself trying out small ship PVP, or want to use an optimised Eagle for bounty hunting and learn how not just to outfit an Eagle but how to outfit small ships in general, then I hope I have helped you in your journey.

o7 Commanders.

- A guide by PK_Ultra on Steam.