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How to make a small forture as a new player.

Author
Major Trant
Brutor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#1 - 2012-08-13 14:22:35 UTC  |  Edited by: Major Trant
Faction Warfare!

This is really easy to get into as a new player and in a Frigate or Destroyer you can make a real difference, get some great fights and earn an absolute fortune - with a bit of patience and forward planning.

It is all in the new FW plexing mechanism. In order to dock in a low sec FW system, your faction needs to own the system. To take control of the system requires you to run Offensive plexes, a lot of them, get the system to 100% contested, then get a big fleet up and kill the Infastructure Hub.

Don't worry about the last bit as a new player, your alliance leaders will sort that bit out. All you have to do is run the plexes. There are four types, Minor, Medium/standard, Major (restricted) and Major (unrestricted).

Let us concentrate on the Minor. The acceleration gate only allows T1 Frigates and T1 Destroyers through it. So you won't see any AF, Recons or HACs in them. Some faction frigates admitedly but it is a dangerous game for them. This is because they always land at the same place and if a couple of you are sat at the warp in point with webs, their 7000 m/s Loki boosted speed setup isn't going to help them.

To run the plex though, you have to go and sit on 'the button'. This is an object about 60 kms from the warp in. You have to burn up and get to within 15 kms of it. Once there orbit it for 10 minutes and the plex is captured. You get a faction standing increase and 10 THOUSAND loyalty points (shared between the people on the button at capture time).

It is very easy to solo plexes in quiet systems or at quiet times without any enemy player interference. They are guarded though by NPCs, a minor will spawn about 20 NPC Frigates and Destroyers, they are weak and can easily be soloed in a Dessie without moving off the button. Although if you are low skilled you may have to warp out once or twice or use a long range setup and do a bit of kiting away from the button.

They are also a source of great fights with small gangs or even solo players running each side out of the plex repeatidly and here is the great bit. Every time an enemy FW player dies on grid with you, you get another load of Loyalty points, ranging from 0 to thousands of LP depending on how expensive the kill was, but probably averaging out at around 200-300 LP per kill.

Each plex won gives you between 0.7 and 1.0 % towards the system contested value. If one of your systems is going down, you have to run the same plexes (in an owned system). But in this case they are termed defensive plexes and you don't get LP for them. But you do get standing and the NPC are friendly to you. It is perfectly feasible to (ninja) run even unrestricted majors in a Condor or slasher (even before they were buffed).

Every FW system has a minor, medium and major plex spawning on a 20 minute timer and then there are a load of random ones too. There is no shortage of plexes to run or need to jump half a dozen systems to find one. You just open your onboard scanner, run the system scan (without probes) and bang, 3 or 4 plexes are there. You select one and warp to it, as soon as you initiate warp a beacon appears in space and enemy players may be attracted to it. Alternatively, someone may have already opened the beacon, but not actually be running them. So you warp to 100Km to check out whether people are camping the gate, then do a 250,000 Km 360 degree directional scan to see if anyone is inside. All clear or something you can take, then in you go.

So what do (LP) points make? Well I've always worked on the principle that 1 LP is worth a minimum 1000 isk. But in FW they are actually worth a lot more than that. But here is where you have to be patient. Wait until the Farmers are doing a 'push' which means upgrade the systems. You are waiting for a minimum of Tier 4 (average) across the battle area. This can take weeks or even months before the situation is right to go for a push and when your side gets it, it might only last a few minutes. But in those minutes you make hay. Your 10 Thousand LP can easily net 5 - 10 times that amount. For example a Stabber Fleet Issue costs 180,000 LP at tier 1 but at Tier 5 it costs 11250 LP, they sell for around 60M Isk, which is approximately 5333 Isk per LP. Or roughly one SFI per minor Offensive plex. If you settle for tier 4, it costs 22500 LP or around 2666 Isk per LP (two and a bit minor offensive plexs - 22 minutes sitting on the button).

Do your research, be prepared for the push. Buy the good stuff and then sit on it for a month while your collegues crash the market. Then slip the goods out a little at a time onto the market once prices recover.

Medium plexs allow upto T1 Cruisers and T2 Frigates. Take 15 minutes to cap and pay 17500 LP. But have Cruiser/BC NPCs + little stuff.

Major (Restricted) plexs allow upto T1 BC and T2 Cruisers. Take 20 minutes to cap and pay 25000 LP But have BC/BS NPCs + little stuff.

Major (Unrestricted) plexs allow anything and don't even have an acceleration gate. Take 20 minutes to cap and pay 30000 LP.

I've been in FW for two weeks and I'm sitting on 200K of LP that has come from offensive plexes and killing enemy players and I'm no farmer. More importantly, it has been a real blast.

The disadvantages:

. You will die a lot and sometimes get podded to boot.
. Getting Tier 5 isn't easy, you have to wait to maximise profits and then wait for the right time to sell.
. It would be nice if you run your share of defensive plexes too.
. It is a real click fest trying to cash out when you hit tier 4/5, why of why, can't you select "Stabber Fleet Issue" -> Qty 50 -> Yes I'm sure -> OK. Instead it is "Stabber Fleet Issue" -> Yes I'm sure -> OK "Stabber Fleet Issue" -> Yes I'm sure -> OK "Stabber Fleet Issue" -> Yes I'm sure -> OK...
. Your security status will take a hit. You just can't help yourself!
. You won't be able to enter enemy Hi sec space without considerable difficulty.
Krystalena
Caldari Provisions
Caldari State
#2 - 2012-08-13 14:34:39 UTC
Great info, thanks for this! I'm a long time Eve player but never really got into FW.
Radius Prime
Tax Evading Ass.
#3 - 2012-08-13 15:03:08 UTC
Buying plexes works great as well and wont get you banned throughout half of hi-sec.

Reopen the EVE gate so we can invade Serenity. Goons can go first.

Gaius Fabricius
3M Sinq Laison
#4 - 2012-08-13 15:17:56 UTC
Nice post, will check out FW. Sounds like a blast.
Issidia Karkun
Royal Amarr Institute
Amarr Empire
#5 - 2012-08-13 15:27:21 UTC
of how much ISK we're talking?, i see only LP.
Gaius Fabricius
3M Sinq Laison
#6 - 2012-08-13 15:35:37 UTC
Issidia Karkun wrote:
of how much ISK we're talking?, i see only LP.


Here!

Major Trant wrote:
So what do (LP) points make? Well I've always worked on the principle that 1 LP is worth a minimum 1000 isk. But in FW they are actually worth a lot more than that. But here is where you have to be patient. Wait until the Farmers are doing a 'push' which means upgrade the systems. You are waiting for a minimum of Tier 4 (average) across the battle area. This can take weeks or even months before the situation is right to go for a push and when your side gets it, it might only last a few minutes. But in those minutes you make hay. Your 10 Thousand LP can easily net 5 - 10 times that amount. For example a Stabber Fleet Issue costs 180,000 LP at tier 1 but at Tier 5 it costs 11250 LP, they sell for around 60M Isk, which is approximately 5333 Isk per LP. Or roughly one SFI per minor Offensive plex. If you settle for tier 4, it costs 22500 LP or around 2666 Isk per LP (two and a bit minor offensive plexs - 22 minutes sitting on the button).


JonnyRandom
#7 - 2012-08-13 18:54:01 UTC
Since you're using SFI as a reference I'm assuming you're doing FW for Minmatar? Do you recommend this faction to sign up for FW?
Major Trant
Brutor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#8 - 2012-08-13 19:04:37 UTC  |  Edited by: Major Trant
No.

My only experience is with Minmatar, it works for me, but I'm sure they have all got their share of highs and lows, good and bad FCs. Gods and dicks among the rank and file.

Go with what you fancy, but there is no requirement to join your particular race FW, except in a few RP corps. If one doesn't work try another.

We need people to shoot as well as fly with, so spread out.
J'Poll
School of Applied Knowledge
Caldari State
#9 - 2012-08-13 22:17:55 UTC
Rather stay with nullsec stuff.

Plenty of ISK to make and you can shoot people yet not be banned from half of the highsec in EvE.

But OP: great post, this should get more people into FW which means more farmers and prices will drop.

Personal channel: Crazy Dutch Guy

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Petrus Blackshell
Rifterlings
#10 - 2012-08-13 22:41:21 UTC
OP has good info and all, but...

Ugh, if there's anything FW needs more of, it's definitely not plex farmers in throw-away gunless frigates.

Also, a word of warning to newbies wanting to get quick cash this way: this is not how to get quick cash. You have to be really fast about catching Tier 4/5 status, because it doesn't last long at all. Otherwise, you're left sititng on a giant pile of rather worthless LP.

Accidentally The Whole Frigate - For-newbies blog (currently on pause)

Issidia Karkun
Royal Amarr Institute
Amarr Empire
#11 - 2012-08-14 11:41:31 UTC
J'Poll wrote:
Rather stay with nullsec stuff.

Plenty of ISK to make and you can shoot people yet not be banned from half of the highsec in EvE.

But OP: great post, this should get more people into FW which means more farmers and prices will drop.


pure and simple Risk vs Reward, incursions, FW, Wormholes, all of them give good cash but you have to be a pro e.e

that's for "newbies" which have been playing for at least 3+ months......
Lilith5
Sebiestor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#12 - 2012-08-14 12:04:01 UTC
And this is the reason FW is no longer fun and working in the way it should be. Take into consideration:



  • Almost everyone in FW has an alt in an enemy faction, it could be that noob in your fleet flying a cheap ship, is also making his way to your plex in his faction battle cruiser.
  • It could be your FC leading you towards his corp buddies flying for the enemy faction for a great LP and loot cash in.

  • A great deal of FW people hate to PVP and always fly solo in the hopes of making 100s of thousands of LP points from major plexes. An example is the solo Incursus pilot, set up with no guns and low slots set up for pure tanking.

  • The loosing side only has a few hardcore pilots left because the rest have quit and signed upto the next big FW faction. Minmatar was the big favourite until a certain alliance set their sights on getting a huge amount of LP on the Amarr side. Now that is all over Amarr has lots about 500+ members.



Faction warfare was set up so everyone had a good set of ships, ammo, implants so they could go ahead and role play as their chosen faction the Amarr, Gallente, Minmatar, Caldari navies without having to pour huge amounts of ISK into the fray.

As it stands now FW is driven by pure greed for LP and ISK, only a select few are actually playing the way FW was meant to be.

All the new players who follow this advice will both screw them selves over and screw over all the serious people who are in FW too.


Major Trant
Brutor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#13 - 2012-08-14 13:23:22 UTC  |  Edited by: Major Trant
I have posted on my main and you only need to look at my BattleClinic record to realise that I am no farmer.

http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/combat_record.php?type=player&name=Major+Trant

The reason I posted this thread is because I see repeatidly two topics on this forum.

1. How do I fund PvP / How much bank should I build up before PvPing
2. Everytime I step into low or null sec I just get ganked or meet a player with a bazillio SP in an uber ship that tears me a new one.

This is my second time in FW and both times have been an absolute blast. But this second time has I think been my favourite as the new mechanics has resulted in much smaller gangs and cheaper ship engagements. I like small gang/solo, small ship PvP and FW suits my tastes perfectly.

Last night I logged on for a couple of hours and had a blast, got 5 kills without loss and as an aside came away with another 15K LP under my belt. Over the weekend, I lost a Thrasher and clumsily got podded, but achieved 46 kills and around another 70K LP and all this during the period when Minmatar are on the back foot.

To those saying that you can do Incursion for isk, not as a noob you can't. For those saying go to null and rat / plex. Sure I've done that, but that still needs a higher level of SP than a Destroyer requires and it is as boring as watching paint dry and where is the PvP in those activities?

I don't want to have to fund my PvP my doing some chore like ratting or high sec missions. I want to PvP and have it fund itself. Running in cheap ships in FW is both fun, viable and self funding. I T2 pimped out the Thrasher that I lost, it cost OVER 16M isk, the implants cost me another 36M. Shock, horror, now I have to go and grind missions for another 0 seconds to fund my next ship.

One of the kills I made last weekend dropped 168M in loot. As I say, I've made around 90K LP since Friday for just that one Thrasher/Pod loss.

My message to new players should be clear. You can make a difference in PvP in FW, you can fly cheap and have FW fund your losses and most of all you can have a real blast while being paid to do it.

As for those players that just want to farm, go for it, you're not ruining anything for me, just providing targets and cheaper stuff on the market.
Keno Skir
#14 - 2012-08-15 11:39:07 UTC  |  Edited by: Keno Skir
Radius Prime wrote:
Buying plexes works great as well and wont get you banned throughout half of hi-sec.


This makes me feel sorry for you.

As for OP really good informative guide +1
Lilith5
Sebiestor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#15 - 2012-08-15 19:57:56 UTC  |  Edited by: Lilith5
Sounds to me like EVE equivalent of a gold rush Big smile. Too good to be true?

Theres gold in them there complexes!
Papa Sotken
Nothing Comes To Mind
Snuffed Out
#16 - 2012-08-17 10:54:02 UTC
Hey first up cheers for guide, i've took to trying to gain LP before systems flip so hopefully i can cash in on some money.

But i came across afew problems.

First when T5 is hit does the ISK cost of certain items drop also?

For example some implants cost like 70m isk and 70k LP at T1.

At T5 does isk/lp both drop to 5k/5m for example?

Also although the whole "Stabber Fleetr 5.3k isk per LP" sounds really easy, its not like that at all.

Considering you need a stabber + the other navy item for each stabber fleet.

It costs 20m essentially to make 1 stabber fleet.

I could be wrong, ive not cashed in before.

But right now i have tons of LP and im getting kinda worried about what imma cash in for to make ISKies.

Zebra Corp

Major Trant
Brutor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#17 - 2012-08-17 12:00:06 UTC  |  Edited by: Major Trant
Papa Sotken wrote:
Some well thought out stuff

Both the Isk price and the LP price drops to 1/16th the tier 1 price at tier 5 or 1/8th the tier 1 price at tier 4.

You're right my calculation was a little off, I was doing the mathes yesterday in anticipation of a possible push this weekend (although I think it more likely to be the following weekend).

The SFI costs one Stabber and one Minmatar UUB Nexus Chip in additional to the LP. Stabbers are currently 6.2M and the Chip is between 3-4M (Sell order prices in Jita), so say 10M Isk total which means the profitability of the LP is 58M - 10M = 48M / 11250 LP at Tier 5 = 4366 Isk per LP. But if you manufacture Stabbers and buy the chips in advance with buy orders, you can improve on that.

Note there is no Isk amount for the built SFI, there is for one of the SFI BPCs, but the other option with the tag instead is cheaper, but neither is better value than the built SFI, just the convenience of not having to get the ordinary Stabbers to the purchase location. Obviously they cost a bomb if you buy them in the purchase station. Ship them in first.

Other items are potentially more profitable, I'm not going to say which, but they do have the drawback in costing less LP per transaction and the click fest to buy them in quantity will be a bit of a chore.
Major Trant
Brutor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#18 - 2012-08-17 12:24:00 UTC  |  Edited by: Major Trant
Just a quick plug for the combat side of FW too.

Superb Capital fleet battle took place on the Kourn/Kamala gate yesterday. 11 Dreadnoughts and 3 Carriers went down and a ton of smaller stuff with honours fairly even.

I got on one of the Archon kills, plus 3 of the dreads and another 15 other kills, but none of the caps would post on BattleClinic due to unrecognised mods (Large Trimark Armor Pumps) what is up with that site?

Respect to all sides for bringing the fight including the pirate fleet that waded in to make it a three way. o7

LoL - another 50K LP banked.
JonnyRandom
#19 - 2012-08-17 13:14:03 UTC
Super cap fight? I thought FW was about small gangs in frigate and cruiser sized hulls. Maybe some BCs?
Major Trant
Brutor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#20 - 2012-08-17 13:26:12 UTC  |  Edited by: Major Trant
JonnyRandom wrote:
Super cap fight? I thought FW was about small gangs in frigate and cruiser sized hulls. Maybe some BCs?

It took me by surprise too. I knew both sides had them tucked away, but I never thought we could mobilise and counter drop them so fast. First real cap fight I've been in, not counting a couple of carrier ganks. The main fight lasted over an hour with cynos popping continuously and then there were secondary fights before and after, the whole thing lasted about 4 hours in total, counting the build up and the skirmishes with the smaller stuff and haulers to recover the abandoned Fighters later.

I started in what I thought was a 'manly' Drake, but it was a tiddler in the pool. Lost it, reshipped into an Arbitrator, got driven off in structure twice, reshipped into another Drake for the final battle off field to save a friendly Dreadnought that had DC'd in mid battle and then got probed out by the pirates. Then reshipped into a Thrasher for the looting, and then a Sigil to get one of the Fighter drones. One of my best nights ever.

But yeah, usually much smaller stuff is the norm.