EVE New Citizens Q&A

Hi! Me again, having gone on a long spree of trying out even more different things!

I have a lot of questions, and was wondering if you guys might be able to provide some answers.

So far, I've mostly stuck to my tried and tested Coercer, the odd frigate (Executioner), and also dabbled into missioning quite a bit. Now, I can do most L2 missions in my coercer (only the ones like Mission of Mercy L2 & Recon L2 pose problems). More recently, with a bit of money in the bank, I went and upgraded to a Omen, fitted it according to the basic missioner on university wiki (http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Omen) and tried a few Level 3 missions. In one of them, I lost my ship (my fault, I got lulled into a false sense of security and thought I could handle the damage I was taking and didn't warp out at the right time).

This experience taught me quite a few things:

a) Flying a ship isn't just about having the ship, but also a lot of support skills to be able to get the most out of the ship).
b) Compared to destroyers and frigate, which are all action, cruiser warfare can be... well... a bit boring! (the missions took longer, and when I played them well... well, I could actually go and take a leak without worrying about what's happening on the screen! Never had that luxury in a dessie!)
c) Bigger guns don't always mean bigger damage (Working with scorch & T2 small lasers on a dessie and T1 medium beam weapons with faction crystals... my dessie puts out way more damage).

As such, I went ahead and bought a lot of skill books for support skills, which are now in my training queue as I get ready to become a better pilot. To enhance the training times, I've also gone for several +3 implants. But all this has caused a few issues for me:

1. Since the implants are expensive, I'm a tad worried about getting pod-killed in FW so I've decided to take a step back from perhaps the most enjoyable activity I've found on eve so far. It isn't that I can't handle the loss, but well, at my earning potential, it is still a week's worth of money for all 5 slots with +3 implants.
2. L2s once you've tasted L3s are well... they seem like a waste of time. My dessie can't handle L3s (yes, I tried). My fitting skills, et al, are picking up slowly but it is still a 15-20 day queue before I can be as good in a cruiser as I'm in a dessie and use those T2/scorch fits.
3. I do like combat. While nothing compares to PvP, PvE is still a good time pass at my level.

Which brings me to my questions:

1. Is it worth buying another cruiser for L3s? Or is it worth waiting to be able to get into a Harbinger (and train the required fitting/gunnery/support skills)?
2. Would anyone have any suggestion on decent Omen fits without using T2 lasers that deal a bit more damage?
3. The Omen Navy Issue & Harbinger have almost the same price. I can afford to fly and lose both, though it is still a big chunk of money for me. But perhaps it is just the time spent flying frigates, when I see a battecruiser, well, it puts me off, while when I see a cruiser, I'm excited. Right now, I'd be more interested in training for T2 assault cruisers than going for the bigger ships. But would these ships be able to handle L3/L4 missions, or do you really need bigger guns?
4. I've heard about jump clones. Are they worth it for, well, dabbling in PvP while at the same time keeping my implants?

PS: My drone skills are lacking a bit for the moment, but also in training queue. I'm using the advanced skill plan suggested on university wiki (minus the missiles for the moment) as I train my character up to become a decent pilot).

Thanks gfldex!

1. Worth for me is defined more by the amount of fun I have while doing it. ISK helps, certainly. But I've discovered more profitable activities for ISK making than missions. I do missions mostly because they put me against many, many opponents (even if they are bots) and, or so it seems to me, teach me more about the capability of the ship I'm flying. It is the reason I had so much fun in my dessie on L2s, though I've struggled to replicate that in L3s with a cruiser. But well.. ISK does come into equation, as why not make a few Isk more while having fun too. But yes, what you say makes a lot more sense.

2. Ah. Well, that makes sense. It was the same for dessie/frigs

3. Darn

4. What are the other applications (other than the obvious of working different, far away systems)?



I have a magnate for exploration. Executioner(s) for FW. Several different coercers for mission, salvaging, etc. But yeah, I do tend to get attached to my ships!!!

1. Get a maller and run lvl4 missions then. It is quite a sight to see a CRU Tank All The Things. If you want to gain experience that can be applied to pvp you will do better with making money in a shorter time and actually lose a few ships in lowsec. Missions and pvp have very little in common.

4. You can use different sets of implants to complement a wider range of ships. Moving around with a JC can be of value to provide false information in highsec wars (you can use gates without using gates or make them chase you around the galaxy). You can use jump clones to rapidly deploy to the battlefield with the help of super carriers and Rorquals -- sadly that mechanic is not well implemented and therefor rarely done.

You can check out this service for quicker access to jump clones than the grinding route.

As erg said, in general you shouldn't lose pods in lowsec. When it becomes clear your ship is going down, click something warpable (planet, customs office, etc.) from the overview and start spamming the "warp-to" button in the selected items box. Because the server works on 1 second ticks, most of the time you can issue the warp command before your capsule even appears on the overview, so always start hitting warp BEFORE you ship blows up.

Some other rules, after warping out, bounce around until your aggression timer expires before trying to go through gates or docking. Be careful warping to zero on stations - sometimes you won't quite land within the docking radius and you'll have to slowboat toward the station. This can be deadly in a pod. If this happens and there are other ships on grid it is safer to warp out again. Finally, if you ship is destroyed next to a station or gate never attempt to dock/jump with your pod - always warp out first. You go through a "session change" when your ship is destroyed (about 5ish seconds) during which time you won't be able to make another session change (jumping systems, docking). You always want to warp out and let this expire.

All that said, some of that won't really sink in until you experience it, so it doesn't hurt to have a clean clone. Faction warfare also tends to attract a fair amount of smartbombers, and they are harder to avoid unless you happen to know about them already (smartbombs do area of effect damage so they don't have to lock your pod to pop it).

Personally, I would just get some cheap implants (whatever is cheap for you...+1s or +2s maybe) and don't worry too much about losing them (but obviously practice getting your pod out). You can naturally increase the value of your implants as you get more experience and isk. Don't stress about your training times. You'll get the skills eventually, and the difference between +2s and +3s is minimal. Think of it this way - if combat is really what you enjoy and what you want to do, which is better, avoiding it and running missions to protect your implants so you can train slightly faster, or actually spending time playing the way you want to?

Edit: Azda you ninja :(

I think this is the ideal attitude. It seems to me that this is what missions were probably originally intended for and imho what they are best for in this game. Use them to try out different ships and different fits and different piloting techniques / strategies. If you approach them with that attitude you will be able to learn a lot about this game very quickly. You'll begin to understand the details of damage application and the various tanking techniques. If you can build up a stable of various ships and modules and every time you get a specific mission try it out either in a different ship or with a different fit or with a different strategy you will find what works best for you.

Harbinger will be easier to use with a bigger cap and HP pool but if you do missions to get more experience with combat then what you DON'T want is sluggish gameplay that relies on the ship's base stats, instead you'll want a ship that forces you to take control in order to do well.

Does that mean you should buy yourself an expensive faction cruiser? No, partly because of replacement cost and also because (again) you don't want to have to rely on the ship's stats. You learn more from NOT being able to do something which then forces you to adapt. Get an omen and go for it.

And now I'm confused :D but in a good way!! Yes, for me it is more important to actually learn to pilot, discover new things about the ship, about their fittings, about... well, trying to beat the system. The most fun PvE engagement I had was the coercer in Mission of Mercy (I tried it seven times before finally being forced to accept defeat and click quit mission). Gone beserk was great fun too (I managed to finish it in the dessie)

I heard somewhere once that someone said something like " Everyone enjoys a good meal but do you want to be served every good meal that you will ever have in your life right now at this moment?". The point is that if learning is fun then savor each experience so that you can appreciate it.

1. L3s are generally best done in a battlecruiser. Frankly, the Harbinger shouldn't be too hard to skill into if you already have trained cruiser-sized weapons and stuff. It uses the same stuff Omens do -- cruiser-sized lasers, armor tanking modules, etc. Just train Amarr Battlecruiser 3, then 4, and work on the T2 tanking modules (Hull Upgrades 5 is one of the level 5 skills that's really worth training now).

2. Not me.

3. I actually know a guy who uses a Confessor (T3 amarr destroyer) to do level 4 missions. So that's possible. If you like the Zealot, though, more than the Harbinger, go for it. It would be a better choice for L4 missions than the Harbinger would, because it can tank better. The other Amarr HAC, the Sacrilege, is actually a missile ship and requires a totally different set of skills. One limitation on doing L4s in medium-sized ships is weapon range. You'll have to move around a lot while trying to avoid damage, unless you can bring a battleship.

4. Yes. They only cost 100k and a few hours of training time. If you keep doing missions you'll soon have 8.0 standings with an NPC corp that will sell them to you, even if your corp doesn't.

Hey guys! Thanks a ton for the replies.



Hey Davey Talvanen. Well, I am and I ain't. My alts in a salvaging corps (which helps finance my other activities). And certainly, a null/wormhole corps is in my short-medium term plans. Right now, however, I'm enjoying just discovering new things. I won't call it learning. But you know... just jumping through places. Like, some time back, I did a 'I'll go to null and see what happens' spree and managed to escape unscathed ! When I do join a corps with my main alt, I'd love to be able to fullfill some duties too, which, of course, is in itself a bit restrictive. But the way I see it, if I make a commitment to a corps, why not do it right.

But both null and wormholes sound fairly attractive, even without missioning, to me. But I do need to get better at exploration (darn, there are just so many things to learn!!!)

@ergherhdfgh I loved that quote!

@Phig Neutron: thanks mate! Yes, I'm reading about the T2/T3 dessies/frigs and cruisers. Mostly on eve-uni wiki and the alturist. The more I play, the more I think T2/T3 dessies/cruisers will be a better fit for me at least for the moment. I also read how people use even Punishers as tacklers in PvP fleet fights, and that appeals to me too.

@Vol Arm'OOO Thanks! Yes, I don't mind investing in ships, etc. My question about 'worth' had more to do with wait a few days and go for harbinger while working my frigs/dessies around or go for another omen now. In the end, after reading all the replies, I've decided to do both: buy an Omen, keep doing a few missions on L3 while FWing at the same time. Gives me best of both worlds even if progress is slower as I keep trying to do too many things at the same time (and learning skills required to do it without worrying about sticking to the plan)