The Hecate is the Gallente Tactical Destroyer, released in Aegis. It is the 4th Tactical Destroyer released, after the Jackdaw, the Confessor, and the Svipul.
It is a bit more agile than the Jackdaw, but slower than Svipul or Confessor. With its five turret hardpoints, bonused to deal as much damage as ten, it can put out high damage, but having the lowest powergrid output of all T3 destroyers, actually fitting those can be difficult.
Following the Tech 3 paradigm, Tactical Destroyers are flexible ships, and clever switching between their three modes allows the user to get the most out of these ships.
Sharpshooter mode allows a blaster-fit Hecate not to have the usual range struggle associated to blasters.
While the slot layout of the Hecate would allow for a shield variant, the Defense mode bonuses actually make this ship a strong Armor/Hull hybrid tanker, using armor repairers and a surprisingly large hull as buffer.
Propulsion mode bonuses mean the Hecate is generally flown in a 5MN variant, even though it is also noteworthy that the bonus to inertia can make the Hecate align in less than one second in specialized fits.
Weapon Upgrades and even more Advanced Weapon Upgrades are very important skills for this ship, so you can fit anything else besides guns. This ship should not be flown without a full T2 tank. T2 guns are also essential to achieve maximum DPS.
Can be used as a Mobile Tractor Unit hunter. Can accommodate an expanded probe launcher to combat probe the MTUs and still have the damage necessary to kill them very quickly with blasters and damage modules/rigs. University members are not allowed do this as per the engagement rules in high security space.
The Hecate was released in July 2015 in the Aegis patch. The Tech 3 destroyers were given staggered releases from December 2014 to July 2015, with the order determined by players donating items to Empire NPCs. The Gallente received the least donations, and had their Tech 3 destroyer released fourth.
In Ancient Greek mythology, Hecate was a goddess associated with witchcraft and magic. Later in antiquity she was sometimes depicted as having three bodies or aspects, which is also appropriate to a tactical destroyer with its three modes.