EVE New Citizens Q&A

I'm very new to the game. My main character (this is an alt) has been messing around with a variety of skills, including hauling, PI, and a bunch of foundation skills for pve/pvp later. I've decided that I should focus for now on aiming for a good ship and learning to fly it and fight in it.

Seems like a great plan, but I'm lost.

Quick info: I'm in a small, mostly pve corp. I won't be flying in big fleets or as part of a roving gank gang or anything like that.

I thought at first that I wanted to fly a stealth bomber. In other games, I love stealth and I love hunting solo (both pve and pvp). That also fits my playtimes and RL situation. But, it seems that only very experienced players can pull off solo stealth bombers or stealth torpedo-ers. It's probably not a good beginning role. That's disappointing, but whatever. Given my play times and situation, aiming to join a gang of SBs just isn't practical.

So, then I've been pondering what would help my corp. We're currently war decced by a high sec "pvp" corp and it made me realize that my buddies could really use someone lurking around to defend them while they go about their business. But I'm not sure what ship would be a good (I know there's no best) all-around ship for pvp and defending my friends.

If I may show off my true newbness, allow me to make a WoW reference. In WoW, I loved playing a druid. I liked the versatility. I could do some off the cuff tanking to help someone else, but also sneak up on someone if needed and provide a dps burst or a stun. Nothing is more fun than sitting in stealth and then as someone comes to gank a friend, popping out and unloading.

Is there an equivalent type of ship or something close to it in EVE? Should I just give up on stealth if I also want to be able to defend my friends and often play solo? What would you skill for in this situation?

TLDR: I'd like to fly solo, sometimes defend carebear buddies, be mostly pvp oriented, and have stealth if possible. Does such a thing exist in EVE? If not, what's the closest alternative?

Thanks for all advice! I love EVE and I'm reading as much as I can, but I'm overwhelmed and would like to have a starter plan while I learn!

Ships in EVE aren't really translatable to WoW roles - the best way of achieving versatility is to be able to fly a large variety of ships, and the knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses to be able to pilot them well. A ship in EVE is a tool you grab with a specific job in mind, and if the job you have in mind doesn't match up, you grab a different one. The only truly 'versatile' ships are the T3 strategic cruisers, and those can be quite expensive and can fall short in roles where specialized ships shine. Believe it.

Stealth bombers are excellent ambushers, scouts and, properly flown, deadly bomber wings in nullsec/wh space. But their siege missile bonus really works best on large-sized ships (this is why I put 'ambushing' first) but can get shredded fast by another frigate or a quick cruisers.

You might want to try looking into Recon Cruisers. Recons are a line of e-war support cruisers that come with weaker, stealth-capable variants. They do little damage but as part of a team effort are invaluable, Falcons are the bane of gatecamps and ambushes.

Don't be overly discouraged about cloakie ship training times, there are other ways to blend into the background before you strike.

- off grid pounce points
- busy local with lots of clutter on dscan
- wait a system over for the call to warp in etc.
- log off traps
- wormhole hideout
- deep safes ( more than 14.7 AU from a celestial to be out of dscan range)

By thinking about how to accomplish what you want "I.e. surprise the other guy with your presence " you will probably find another couple methods to fly a non-cloaks ship and still get the drop on the other guy.

By using one of these tactics you can accomplish your goal in a Rifter or Merlin.

Happy hunting and good luck :)

Edit: iPad spell help sucks

Some people may disagree with me here, but in the beginning you need to think about yourself. As much as you want to help your corp you first need to figure out what you want to do. For example if you don't want to fly combat ships why train them if after the war dec is over you only then stat training to fly mining barges(I am not saying you want to be a miner just an example). Also don't train a for a role just because your corp needs it, there is nothing wrong with help your corp but if you don't think you'll enjoy then train for what you want. After all your the one who pays for your game.
If you wanna ask me any questions feel free to convo or eve-mail always enjoy helping people.

Recons are a great class of ships to aim for, but don't underestimate the humble stealth bomber. You need to have a deep knowledge of game-mechanics to find and kill things effectively in a solo Force Recon. While I would agree they really aren't "solo" ships, when you run a small gang of stealth-bombers they can be wickedly fun, and you have a surprisingly large target choice. They also make great scouts. Consider getting some of your buddies to train up for a stealth-bomber and start figuring out how to run in a gang. I couldn't tell you off of the top of my head, but I don't think the training time for a reasonably well fitted stealth-bomber with covert ops IV would be that long, even from a starting character.


Edit:



Reading comprehension is great, isn't it? My apologies.

Depending on your skills I would suggest flying a blackbird and training ECM. This will allow you to jam any hostile(s) so your buddies can get away. However there is a downside to this. If there are too many hostiles you wont be able to jam them all. Second if more than 2 hostiles show up you will be the primary target. That being said the setup is very cheap as the ship and the modules would probably cost 10 mil or so. The ecm skills will take some time to train however but once you train them they are a great way to thwart many gank attempts.

If you do not want to go that route I would suggest going full on combat pilot. Since I dont know what you can fly I would suggest battlecruisers to start with. Drakes or hurricanes are a good place to start. Again this is all dependent on what skills you have. The biggest thing you all can do is just keep an eye on local and if the hostiles show up get safe. There is no reason to risk losing ships cause you wanted to kill that last rat or mine that last little bit of ore. Just get safe and once the wardec expires go back to your normal routines.

Other things you can do to help your buddies is make book marks of safe spots in systems you all hang out in. I would suggest one for instant warp off undocks. Just fly in a straight line after you undock to around 500 km from station. Random spots in systems not near any planets or belts. These are a few things that will help you guys.

Post with your main character if you really want to be taken seriously.

Don't be afraid to train toward SB's, they don't take all that long to get good at. Contact me by EvE-Mail or by chat in-game and i'll help you get started and have a chat about getting you into some gangs.