EVE New Citizens Q&A

When you set a destination you set a destination. The autopilot must be turned on manually with the (A) button, and it will just follow the destination that you've set, like a GPS.

I mean, first you set where you want to go, like on a GPS map / navigation tool, then you turn on the autopilot and it will just go there.

You've had a lot of great advice on fits here already. I'd like to go a little deeper into the tactic side of things and explain some theory of how to make use of the various mod and fits mentioned.

First I want to post a link:
http://www.hostile.dk/files/eve/eve-tracking101.swf

That is a flash based tracking tutorial. It is a comprehensive walk through all of the basics of how gunnery and tracking work in Eve. It is a good starting point to work from.

So a very general guideline that is far from always being true but more of just a starting point is that most turrets work ok somewhere around their optimal range. The further you are away from your target the better you will track but the further you go into your falloff the more potential damage that you loose from range. Sometimes you need to compromise and autocannons for example will typically be best used about 1/3 of the way into falloff.

Due to the various factors involved in tracking there are several things that you can do to hit better:
-Improve your tracking speed through:
------Skills
------Modules
------Implants
-------rigs
------drugs
-Increase your opponent's signature radius by using a target painter
-decrease the transversal or radial velocity differential between you and your opponent. This can be done with piloting tactics and / or modules like webifiers to slow your opponent down or propulsion modules to speed yourself up. One of the ways that you can slow down the angular velocity of your opponent is simply by increasing range.

So NPCs are really stupid. I think most of them are programmed to orbit at their optimal. So if the NPCs have short ranged weapons all you need to do is use long range weapons and fly directly away from them. They will chase after you in a strait line and be easy to hit. This is called kitting.

If the NPCs have long range weapons and are trying to orbit at longer ranges you can fly strait at them and they will fly strait away from you trying to achieve an optimal orbit. You typically want shorter range weapons to make this work.

We could go deeper into this but I think this is enough for now. The key factors to be aware of for now is what your optimal range is and what range you are currently at and how much rotational movement exists between your and your current target. You can change ammo to change range to fit the various situations.

yes I am really enjoying my EVE experience so far and I am still an Alpha at the moment and expect to multiply my enjoyment when I upgrade to Omega!!!! Problems just need solutions and the help from people is brilliant and I am very grateful.

You probably accidentally hid the route. There is an "A" on the upper left side of your screen under the system and region information. That has your autopilot settings. To the left of if is a triangle that is hidden until you hover over it. Make sure that the triangle is pointing down and if that is not the case then make sure "show route" is checked in settings.

I can set a destination but then have to use the autopilot active tick box under the large "a" in the top corner route area. The autopilot button which normally appears by the hud when I undock is just not there. It has been there for a month and I have not been fidling with the buttons. Normally I set the route and then undock and press the a button by the hud at the bottom of the screen. This is very frustrating.

BINGO!!!! That was the problem I couldnt see it for looking!! Thank you so much it was driving me crazy!

Right so I now have a properly equipped ship and can continue my story arc and see how I get on. I will digest the contents of this thread and see how I get on. Thanks to everyone who helped me it is most kind of you all and I am grateful. Now I am ready to carry on.

Here is my fit as per all your suggestions:


[Incursus, Black-Hawk Ellecon's Incursus]
Damage Control I
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane I
Small Armor Repairer I
Magnetic Field Stabilizer I

1MN Afterburner I
Stasis Webifier I
Cap Recharger I

Light Ion Blaster I
Light Ion Blaster I
Light Ion Blaster I



Hobgoblin I x1

Iridium Charge S x3000
Antimatter Charge S x3298

Rails have poor tracking (they are a sniping weapon). Switch to blasters if you want to get in their face.

You want to be at around optimal + 1/4 falloff to optimal + 1/2 falloff.

If you want to orbit further for better tracking, switch to Uranium or Thorium. Note that the higher damage of antimatter is useless when you are not hitting!

A webifier also helps.

Right on!

You are more than likely to discover many more such frustrations during your time here, but there is almost always a solution.

Learning lessons the hard (and often expensive!) way seems to be a common bond among EVE players, glad to hear that you got this issue solved.