EVE New Citizens Q&A

Relatively new player here, only been at it for about a week or a little more.

Completed all the tutorials, including the profession ones, and am now running the lvl 1 epic arc and other missions to continue familiarizing myself with the game.

I have yet to enter low-sec, and dont plan on trying for quite a bit longer.

Only around 500k SP.

I've never lost a ship I wasnt supposed to. When im taking heavy damage against NPCs i just leave the system, and I've yet to engage in any PvP, mostly because i have no idea what im doing, ha.

I was wondering if I should continue using my destroyer (a catalyst) or upgrade to a cruiser when I can? I see lots of people learn to play the game using a frigate for a long time?

And, if i do upgrade to the cruiser, should I go with the Vexor or the Thorax.

My plan is to learn the game on a cruiser, maybe use it for a year, and then upgrade to battlecruisers and battleships once I know whats going on. Is that a good starting point?

I've got well over 20 million ISK atm, but Its likely I will be buying and then selling a PLEX to upgrade my miner and buy a cruiser or two.

Is that a good tactic for someone who cant devote more than 1 or 2 hours a day to the game?

Thanks folks!

It really depends on your interests. Do you want to get in to PvP or are you content with running missions? If you just want to run missions, you can upgrade to a cruiser around the time you start running level 2s. As long as you are careful and do a bit of research on fitting it correctly, a low skilled pilot can use a cruiser fairly effectively in PVE. However, you should never fly what you can't afford to lose! Wait until you have enough isk to replace it should something go wrong. Then you won't be stuck backtracking.

If you want to PvP, I would stick to frigates for a while. They are much cheaper to replace and that'll let you take some risks, which is a good way to learn combat.

As far as Vexor versus Thorax, it's just a matter of taste. Some people enjoy using drones and some much prefer guns. Try training a few levels in Drones and buy an Algos to compare with your catalyst. That should help give you an idea what you enjoy most.

If you are comfortable buying PLEX, go for it. It will give you a lot of breathing room to experiment, especially in PvP. However, remember that it is a ONE TIME isk infusion and don't blow through it all immediately. Don't jump up to battleships immediately just because you have the isk (it sounds like you already realize this is a bad idea). A lot of players will buy an expensive ship with their PLEX and lose it within a week, which ultimately leads to frustration and people quitting. It's much better to buy 30 frigates or 15 cruisers to have fun with over a longer period of time.

Already some good advice here. Let me add my 2 cent:

I hope it's not to late to say "Welcome !"

Tutorial missions have very good rewards for a new player and also increase your standings which will help you to get better missions later. It is possible to run the tutorial missions in all the starter zones for all the races. So if you want more ships and or better standings with the other factions, go ahead and try it. Within the first days of your character this is probabaly also a good way to make some isk fast.

Try to find some people to play with. When you're ready check out Brave Newbies, EvE University, Red vs. Blue.

Only fly what you can afford to lose. Because you will lose ships. Especially in PvP.

PvP: Stay with a frigate at first and improve your skills. Losing a frigate usually doesn't hurt that much... and you will lose many.
PvE: If you intend to run missions to make isk you want to get into L4 missions. While it is possible to run L4s with a T2 or T3 cruiser (if your skills are good enough) I believe it's easier overall if you run them in a battleship. Before you climb into a battleship you should have skills high enough to use T2 tank mods and drones. And be careful around missions with rats that can scram you... maybe avoid them until you get familiar with your ship (mission info is here - very useful: http://eve-survival.org/wikka.php?wakka=HomePage)

Have fun and fly safe.

EDIT: One thing I forgot: In a few weeks you should consider optimizing your attribute layout to improve training time (you should know what you want and have some experience to make educated decisions). Checkout EvEMon to make a training plan. (I wish I had done that when I was new ... could have saved me almost 2 months worth of training).

Thanks for the advice/reassurance folks.

Im about to have a baby, and am an attorney, so time is at a minimum :).

My year of playing will likely equal other folks' months or even weeks.

Sounds to me like the cruiser is unnecessary, and so is buying then selling the PLEX.

So, next steps i guess are learning how to fit a frigate/destroyer properly, and learning how to use drones, then finding a corp and trying some PvP.

Am I correct that I dont have to stick to Gallante (my race) ships?

I'll add that selling the plex is not a bad idea at all as it will remove any need for you to worry about having the cash to experiment around and have fun. In other words, it will keep EVE from being a job and enable you to burn ships in all sorts of improbable yet fun ways while you learn.

Also, I would like to say that cruiser is not unnessecary, a cruiser should be your goal in my opinion. However, try playing around with the different frigates and detroyers to get a feel for them and see what best suites your interest. Each races ships have advantages and drawbacks. Once you decide which play style you like best start traing for the appropriate mid sizes weapon system and racial cruiser skill. Also, don't overlook the core skills!

Welcome to EVE.

Like others have said, the smaller ships will make it cheaper to recover from your mistakes as you learn to pvp. That little frigate plays a very important role. It is used to "tackle" (warp scramble) targets allowing the more powerful ships get a lock to apply damage. I tell newer players all of the time that if the fleet can't tackle a target then there is no target.

Concentrate on your core skills which are located in Armor/Shield, Engineering, Electronics, Propulsion, Gunnery, Targeting. You will see that these skills will allow you to survive longer, point farther, fit your ship better, make the cap last longer, go faster, do more damage, engage more targets and target out farther to name a few. Also, they are prereq's for other skills that you want to learn later.

You will be ready to fly that Cruiser proper in no time.

I don't think that anyone mentioned it here yet but, CCP is also doing training classes. You can open your calandar and check CCP if it isn't already checked. You will see different classes that you may be interested in by clicking on the links.

While some people swear by the large groups to learn from, as a new player, I would recommend trying to find someone that can invest a little time into you (considering your time allowance) if you are serious about learning this game. The comms with the larger fleets can be extremely chaotic.

Always Always Always keep the skill que busy.

Feel free to contact me in game if you have more questions.

Var

One time bump to fix forum.