EVE New Citizens Q&A

Destroyers are not "the best" salvaging ships, look at the Noctis for a dedicated salvaging platform. However, destroyers are a cheap alternative to the Noctis as their many high slots allow you to fit some tractor beams and salvagers. A ship like that doesn't cost much should it be lost. Ideal for lowsec.

EDIT: I use a Thrasher with 4x tractor beams, 4x salvagers, 1 MWD and some cap-regen mods. I mainly use it to salvage lowsec anomalies should I get the chance. After running the site, I bookmark a wreck and let the anomaly expire from the scanner.

As the poster above me said Noctis is the best ship for salvaging at the moment. By the sounds of it you most likely read an older guide before Noctis's existed which is when it was quite common for people to use destroyers for salvaging

The Noctis is a dedicated salvaging ship, not a combat ship. It's bonused for tractor beam range, velocity and cycle time and salvager cycle time, that's all.

This.

The Noctis is a PURE salvage ship. Not a mission running ship.

Usually you will first run the mission in your mission ship and then reship to your salvagin ship.

There are no real "It can do all in one" ships in EVE (besides a T3 maybe and a Marauder).

Your best approach is to pick different ships that are specifically build for their duty.

Thank you all for your help. I really appreciate the fact that I just posted this and already I know a great deal more about what I should do. I'll be needing two ships it seems, one salvaging ship and one combat ship.

I can use a frigate or industrial ship to salvage but I need more info on what my combat ship should be.

I'm thinking about cross training into caldari ships and eventually get a Golem with some cruise missiles. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that and if cross training is a good idea or not.

That's definitely better question.

I am used to try to answer on what I think people want to know, instead of what they are in fact asking, so I hope you'll find this informative, not repetitive.

First, to salvage, you need to be at some wrecks ( surprise surprise ). You can create them on your own for example by doing lvl 3 - lvl 4 missions or by shooting combat sites or sleeper sites. That way you may also get bounties from NPCs and rewards for missions. But that also means you have to be able to fly battlecruisers (for lvl 3 missons) and to fly them EFFECTIVELY, with high skills in gunnery, high fitting skills and high navigation skills (I'm not going into details here, but let's say while you can train battlecruisers in few days, you can't fly them effectively until few WEEKS). In this case you are not a dedicated salvager, you are a mission runner or simply PVE combat pilot, who happens to have trained salvaging. You may either
1) slap a salvager or two to your PVE battlecruiser, which will cripple your ability to turn those nasty NPCs into wrecks FAST, or
2) shoot stuff fast and then grab your dedicated salvaging destroyer (later Noctis) with 4 salvagers and 4 tractor beams and clear the site VERY fast, comparing to option #1.

You may salvage stuff in lvl 1 missions as well, with the very same destroyer you are going to use against NPCs. That means fitting destroyer with guns (AND PLEASE SOME AFTERBURNER/MWD AND EITHER SHIELD OR ARMOUR TANK MODULES AND DON'T YOU DARE TO LEAVE SOME SLOTS EMPTY AND DON'T YOU DARE TO DUALTANK, SORRY IT HAD TO GO OUT), except of one or two high slots where you put salvager. Note that salvaging lvl 1 or even lvl 2 missions is considering ineffective in a sense of ISK/hour.

But you don't have to wait until lvl3 missions or whatever. Try to find someone who just shoots higher level missions fast (for standings), fit your salvaging destroyer (again, 4 salvagers 4 tractor beams), wait until the site is safe, and then come, salvage everything and split the loot with the guy. You can also join a corp that does lvl 3-4 misisons , combat sites or visits wormholes, and be their dedicated salvager. And there are also corps specialised into salvaging.

Go to market, type "golem" into search box, click on Info icon, it will display you the info window about Golem. Go to Prerequisites, look at the number of days you need to train for flying this hull, and that's without any modules and any support skills which probably adds another month or so.

Now for some advice about fitting your ship:
1) unless you know what you're doing, fit ALL slots. Every slot that is not used is missed opportunity to increase your tank , maneuverability or firepower.
2) Never ever mix armour tanking modules and shield tanking, here is why: http://extra-vehicular.org/2012/03/dual-tank-and-dual-spank-and-why-they-are-bad.html
3) Never ever mix close range weapons and long range weapons, read above why.
4) My personal advice is : forget that Shield Booster exists. Never use it while shield tanking (Caldari, Minmatar ships) and god forbids you using it while armour tanking (everything except Caldari). Again, unless you know what you are doing.

And some links:
http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Support_Skills
http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Armour_Tanking
http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Turrets

Haha I can't keep up with all of these comments. I'd like to respond to each and everyone but I'm lazy.

Instead I'll just let you know that I read each and every comment and sucked out all the juicy information I needed.
Some of the info I already knew but it's great to have it in black and white, filters out the uncertainty.

Looks like I have a order of ships to skill for, that should keep me busy for a few months. Thank you Elena for the help.

The plan (keeps changing) is to start with Frigates and Destroyers, work myself up to Cruisers, then BC and eventually Golem (Before 2015 hopefully). I chose Golem because cruiser missiles are supposed to be great in pve post-odyssey (Also it looks so EPIC!).

Special thanks to Nox Solitudo for spoon-feeding me info on how to fit a ship properly and I PROMISE NOT TO DUALTANK, I SWEAR BRO!

Thanks to NightCrawler, I'll be sure to use both a combat oriented golem marauder for my lvl 4 missions AND getting a Noctis for quick salvaging. I'll have to train for a few years but that's okey because then I'll have plenty of time to rob a bank in order to pay for all of this.

To show my thanks I've liked all the comments

As a new player looking to get into a Golem in the long term, your progression should be something like:

1. Minimal training in Caldari frigates, to get the prereqs for destroyers

2. Train Caldari Destroyers to 4 and your small missile skills (rockets, missiles) to 4 or so, put some points into training all the secondary missile skills like missile bombardment, launcher operations, etc. Do missions in a missile destroyer (L1/L2). Salvage in a different destroyer, or rather one fit with tractor beams instead of weapons.

3. Train a couple points into Caldari cruisers. Put a couple points into medium missiles.

4. Finish or at least push up all your support and shield tanking skills.

5. Train a few points into Caldari Battlecruisers. Start flying the Drake in missions (L3)

6. Get shields and medium missiles skills up to the point where you can use T2 medium gear. Consider maximizing both. Then consider putting BC skill to 4 or 5.

At this point, you'll have been playing for a month plus, probably more if you train for some other stuff as well, and can do L3 missions easily and L4s with some difficulty. At this point, you should know whether you really want to upgrade to a Raven and grind L4s (and get a noctis for extra-fast salvaging/looting) because you'll know what the experience is like. Meanwhile, all the skills you've trained are actually useful in PvP as well, so even if you decide it's boring, no loss to you.

7. Train caldari battleships and large missiles, once everything's to 3+ get a Raven built. A Golem... is probably not necessary, but if you really enjoy L4s with a Raven or a Navy Raven... eh, it won't hurt to get one eventually.

It's sort of a "has more money than sense" thing like putting gold rims on your pickup truck, but it won't hurt you any and lets you be a bit lazy, which is nice for workhorse stuff like missions. Most people aren't going to go beyond a Navy Raven, though, and few will even train the BS skill to V until a year or two into their career... there's just too much in the game that's more interesting to do than missions and more fun to fly than big boats.

My plan is susceptible to change and maybe I won't even make it to L3 missions before I get bored. Maybe a year from now I'll be gunning down miners in low sec. I just prefer planning ahead rather than putting skill points in what seems like a good idea and end up with a jack of all trades. I think I read in a comment on this forum that stated: "It is better to use a scalpel in surgery than a Swiss army knife."

Edit: Thanks for the skill guide Greybeard, you saved me a lot of time.