EVE New Citizens Q&A

I recently lost a ~4bil pod because i had an MWD instead of AB :( Sad days.

thats one of the defining features of eve and one of the corner stones of the game economy so do not expect that to change.

The PVP is pretty optional, though you're right it's not as optional as other MMO's where you can keep the flag off and nobody will bother you.

But you do have options for avoidance (mentioned in this thread):
- don't fly afk, don't fly on autopilot
- don't go into popular PVP areas like Kama
- use the best tanked ship
- consider the value of your cargo vs. how easily your ship can be one-shotted
- get familiar with the high sec / low sec combat flags and engagement rules
- unclutter your overview to show you critical information
- use a scout to check the route ahead of your valuable transport
- read up on the various scams and dangers

Otherwise, yeah, EVE is an unrestricted PVP game, and more importantly it absolutely relies on ships being destroyed to function. Otherwise you just accumulate ISK and ships and they never get destroyed, so you get rich and bored. And once you get bored you realize that the "rich" part is just pixels that you don't own and CCP could shut down the server at any time, so why bother.

Anyway, rather than avoiding PVP, try it. Everyone says that's where the fun is because that's where the fun is. Playing EVE for its PVE is like playing WoW for its farmville emulation, or as a flight simulator.

<- Pretty good at running.

OP, learn to prescout gates first, I have one account, but still swap between a scout alt and my main when hauling through null.
As far as traffic goes, if you just want pve, then look into lowsec regions that are not faction warfare zones, they can be quite empty of people. But there may still be the occasional pirate gang. But if you want to PvP, fw zones are one of the best IMO!

4 Days on a Cruiser is not enough unless you are using skill injectors to bring your levels up. If you aren't at least at Mastery II for a cruiser, and better yet in a T2 cruiser, you don't have a long life span in LoSec ahead of you.

I wouldn't hit LoSec without being in company of more than myself and without being in fleet and very capable ships UNLESS you have done your intel homework and know that it is pretty safe on the other side.

Otherwise, explore LoSec in a rookie ship and learn to get your pod out all at the same time. You'll die lots, but at least the ships are free. You may even find someone willing to chat with you and let you in their corp if you are looking for that.

Now, if you can find a Wormhole into NullSec, or head down into Providence, you might have better luck.

This is my current cruiser and I wouldn't trust it in LoSec as it's fitted for PVE and there are waaay too many "I's" in the module selections:

Exequror Navy Issue
*** Armor Thermal Hardener I
Damage Control II
*** Armor Kinetic Hardener I
Reactive Armor Hardener
Mark I Compact Reactor Control Unit
Medium 'Accommodation' Vestment Reconstructer I

Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Cap Booster 400
'Censer' Medium Cap Battery
Linked Enduring Sensor Booster, Targeting Range Script
10MN Monopropellant Enduring Afterburner

250mm Railgun II, Javelin M
250mm Railgun II, Javelin M
250mm Railgun II, Javelin M
250mm Railgun II, Javelin M
Dual 150mm Railgun II, Javelin M

Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I

Hornet I x2
Hornet EC-300 x1
Salvage Drone I x2

I had a T1 Thorax that just melted in seconds to another player because I was only 3 weeks old, fit it with stuff I had laying around, and didn't understand how stupid I was flying in LoSec with an improperly fit ship and no idea how to make a properly fit one. The above fit is sub-optimal for PVP. I also have ISK and skill ability constraints. I'm just short of Mastery III on this ship but I still need to work on getting the modules all up to II's.

Basically, if you aren't entirely sure where/what you are doing (which is perfectly fine!) then try to be resigned to the fact that there is a good chance of something bad happening

The game is very much about knowledge and experience; knowing where to go and what to fly is pretty important! However, with so many options, fittings, combinations, locations, etc, it can be hard. So someone above said 'fit an cheap and cheerful fitting, and run around in that for a bit'. If you're into the exploring side of the game that is!

I'm pretty sure that you would be able to do courier stuff still, you might just have to take some longer route than you might have wanted to if you're going to need to avoid certain places.

Everything is do-able in Eve

As someone that posts a lot of courier contracts, I strongly advise you to do just that.

I refer to the people that accept courier contracts as useful idiots. Idiots, because they take the biggest risk in trading (hauling stuff) in exchange for the smallest reward; but useful because I make a lot of ISK out of their services.

PVP is not optional in any field of this game. Every interaction between players is PVP even if no starship combat occurs. Two miners in a belt? Each of them is consuming the best ores - ones the other player wants.

Two mission runners doing Sisters of EVE missions? Each of them lowers the value of those precious Loyalty Points.

Two traders moving Crystalline Carbonite Armor Plates from Jita to Dodixie for resale? Each of them reduces the margin for the other one.

And that's assuming neither of them is a scout for an actual attacker.

If you are looking to avoid starship combat with other players, you should treat every other player as a threat, and treat your ships as consumables. If you can't afford to lose it - don't undock in it.

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As for lowsec - There's a nifty tool on the starmap that lets you see how many player ships have been blown up in the last hour before jumping into a system. I generally advise against entering a system with 4 or more ship kills unless you are in an extremely hard to catch ship (like the Taranis). If you want to get your feet wet in lowsec, the following lowsec systems have next to no strategic value and as such are seldom occupied:

Fasse
Archee
Sharuveil (most dangerous of the three, sometimes unsafe in peak times)

Avoid Crilerie, Tama, Rancer, Miroitem, Old Man Star, Egghelende and Amamake at all costs unless you know exactly what you are doing. These systems are dangerous because they either have strategic value (Old Man Star and Amamake) or are shortcuts that are lucrative to fight over. I've lost an interceptor (the fastest, hardest to catch ships in the game) and pod to an exceptionally competent camper in Tama.

It's not super super dangerous if you know what you're doing. I'll give you a few hints.

1. Don't fly anything you can't replace easily.
2. Entrances from high to low are frequently camped. Check the map for ships killed in the last hour to spot camps. Once you're in there are a lot less camps.
3. Don't warp directly from gate to gate. Warp to something near the gate and D-scan the gate first if there are people in local.
4. There are no bubbles in low and a battleship locks way, way too slow to ever catch a pod. Why did you just sit there? When you hit structure start spamming warp and your pod will get away 99% of the time.

Learn to use the tool eve map offers like ships killed in the last hour or docked people for example. Also learn to use zkillboard to check system activity. Just type in the system name in the search bar and see when the last ship was destroyed and by who.