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EVE New Citizens Q&A

 
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New to Eve. Looking for some advice.

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Turusk
Hedion University
Amarr Empire
#1 - 2012-10-21 14:38:48 UTC  |  Edited by: Turusk
Hi there, I just started playing Eve. So far I love the concept of this game, I wish there were more like it. I have been flying around doing low missions for a while, tried to mine and got blown up a few times looking around in the lawless areas (and wanting to try pvp). I've been reading a lot on Eve, its mechanics and what to do in it, on the forums and on a few wiki's I found around the internet. So many options and things to consider its a bit overwhelming. I would like to explore many of the possibilities.

I like the idea of pvp combat so I researched what a decent low level ship is for this and I ended up getting a rifter. Fitted it with a webifier and a scrambler and a few guns, basically took a fit described on the forum and made it into cheap tech 1 modules instead. I kept losing though, but it was fun and fighting other players gives me a rush. I want more, but I want a chance to actually blow up their ships.

Been thinking about what to train for. I can currently only fly frigates. Battleships seem to be large and slow, i do not really like that playing style. I would much rather play a fast, agile and decent hitter and play around with hit and run tactics. I could train for a HAC but I am a long time away from being able to afford and possibly lose that. While searching on google I have read some old complaints that they are barely insurable, thus I'd lose a lot of money when using them. How true is that today?

I'd like to play around with T1 frigates and cruisers for a while because if I lose them it's easy to get more. But I wonder how much of a chance I stand with some decent character and piloting skills. What I really want to do is take down those more expensive ships with my T1 stuff, through better piloting. It should be possible in theory right? The bigger the guns, the less they can harm my smaller T1 ships. And then just bleed them dry. T2 ships that rely on speed can be webbed and turned into ships made of paper. Awesome active tanks can be destroyed with neutralizers. I think i'd also love the challenge of destroying a higher tier ship with a lower tier ship. How doable is this kind of strategy?

I was thinking about basing out in one of the 0.0 NPC regions for a while and try this strategy on random lone people I come across, making occasional suicide trips into deep 0.0. On that topic, are there any player owned stations that I can use, or does everyone block people that are not members?

Overall I feel strangely more comfortable in the uncertainty and lawlessness of 0.0 space than high security space.

I was thinking about joining a corporation and I talked to some recruiters but the vibe I'm getting from many of them does not feel good to me. They seem to take Eve very seriously, almost like it's a job, with a long list of strict rules to follow and lots of mandatory stuff. Also they seem to focus a lot on flying around with gangs and trying to find weak targets and gang up on them. I don't like that kind of gameplay, it seems more to make themselves feel better about destroying a ship than having fun. Don't even get me started about having to sit on a gate for hours doing almost nothing except try to shoot someone who comes through every 20 minutes.

I also have to make some isk to finance my adventures. I hear that the thing right now is factional warfare. Or at least it was a few months ago. How doable is it to earn a decent amount of isk for a new player that can only fly frigates these days?

I have been thinking about doing exploration, but I am not really interested in doing them in the safety of high sec. I was thinking I could do that in 0.0 from my NPC station staging base. There seem to be huge areas of player owned 0.0 space that barely see any activity, especially around some specific times of the day. Perhaps I could do exploration there? I have not trained probing skills yet. Is it possible/practical to do exploration mining there too? It doesn't sound that interesting, but I need to get my money from somewhere, and I can mine when I feel lazy and it sounds like i could make a decent amount of isk with that in 0.0. I only have one account, so I can't have both a combat pilot and miner/retriever (hear its best for solo cause of large cargo space, also cheap) pilot at the same place, but I can train one of the pilots on my account as a hauler that I log in to scoop up and take away the ore when I've mined a good amount.

Wormholes sound intriguing, but I don't like the idea of being limited to one system for a long time and it sounds like the NPC's there are too difficult for someone who doesn't have a lot of skill points. I like the idea of making occasional trips into WH's though and pvp a bit, or take some of those expensive resources.

Any advice or comments are welcome. Via the forum or messages in-game. I am hoping that people can tell me how doable my plans are, and perhaps give me some pointers or point me in a different direction. Members of corporations that think their corporation fits with me can contact me ingame or post in this thread.

Thanks for your time.
Tao Dolcino
Garoun Investment Bank
Gallente Federation
#2 - 2012-10-21 14:52:24 UTC
You are perfectly right to wish to stay on T1 frigs and cruisers for a while, especially to pvp, so you can learn without having stress when you lose them (and you'll even start to win in them Blink ).
The good thing is that basically you train the same skills to pvp or to pve, so you can also mission to finance your next wrecks Cool
Good luck, have fun and make friends !
Destination SkillQueue
Doomheim
#3 - 2012-10-21 15:52:50 UTC
Turusk wrote:
I have read some old complaints that HACs are barely insurable, thus I'd lose a lot of money when using them. How true is that today?


It's true and working as intended. Only tech 1 ships are insurable in any real way, since the payout is based on the cost of the materials needed to build ships. Insurance on T2, faction and T3 ships isn't going to cover the loss. It still makes sense to insure them, if you know you're going to lose them, but the payout is pitiful compared to the cost of the loss

Turusk wrote:
I'd like to play around with T1 frigates and cruisers for a while because if I lose them it's easy to get more. But I wonder how much of a chance I stand with some decent character and piloting skills. What I really want to do is take down those more expensive ships with my T1 stuff, through better piloting. It should be possible in theory right? The bigger the guns, the less they can harm my smaller T1 ships. And then just bleed them dry. T2 ships that rely on speed can be webbed and turned into ships made of paper. How doable is this kind of strategy?


It is possible to take down those expensive ships, but you'll have to have some clear edge over them. And I do mean you have to force that edge down their throats, so they can do nothing about it once it hits them. Other pilots aren't idiots(well some are, but you can't count on that). They have given thought how to deal with most situations or know when they're against a bad matchup, so they won't engage in such cases. For example a ship relying on speed won't engage targets, that are clear counters to it. You'll have to catch him by surprise and force the engagement on him or make him think he can take you. This isn't easy, since he is propably faster then you, so he will either kite you to death or disengage when things go badly. Being solo with T1 frigates and cruisers your target selection isn't going to be very wide. I'd strongly recommend joining up with some PvP group just to widen the selection of targets available to you. An enthusiastic active PvPer should be welcome in most corporations.

Turusk wrote:
I was thinking about basing out in one of the 0.0 NPC regions for a while and try this strategy on random lone people I come across, making occasional suicide trips into deep 0.0. On that topic, are there any player owned stations that I can use, or does everyone block people that are not members?.


It isn't going to be easy. Lone wolves are rare in 0.0 and they can usually take care of themselves. Point being they're either very good at avoiding fights and a lonely new guy isn't going to get them, or they're experienced PvPers flying good ships. End result being no action or quick death. Your best bet would be to target people doing PvE, but that creates another problem. There are very few freeports in EVE and those who own them won't accept pirates. Your best bet might be to go to NPC 0.0. There the stations are NPC owned, so players can't prevent you from docking. The problem is, that those are owned too, so when you undock you'll have a welcome party waiting to send you back to your medical clone station. Again it might be better to join up with some local entity. That way you'll have a relatively safe home station, that you can use as a base of operations and hunt in the surrounding area.

Turusk wrote:
I was thinking about joining a corporation and I talked to some recruiters but the vibe I'm getting from many of them does not feel good to me. They seem to take Eve very seriously, almost like it's a job, with a long list of strict rules to follow and lots of mandatory stuff. Also they seem to focus a lot on flying around with gangs and trying to find weak targets and gang up on them. I don't like that kind of gameplay, it seems more to make themselves feel better about destroying a ship than having fun. Don't even get me started about having to sit on a gate for hours doing almost nothing except try to shoot someone who comes through every 20 minutes. But overall I feel strangely more comfortable in the uncertainty and lawlessness of 0.0 space than high security space.


Why don't you make a post in the corp recruitment forum and put that in your post. Say straight what you're looking for, so the recruiter looking knows you're looking to fight good fights in a corp who doesn't take the game too seriously. That said ability and willingness to work with others is mandatory in a corp. If everyone does their own thing all the time, the corp might as well not exist.
Destination SkillQueue
Doomheim
#4 - 2012-10-21 15:53:12 UTC  |  Edited by: Destination SkillQueue
Turusk wrote:
I also have to make some isk to finance my adventures. I hear that the thing right now is factional warfare. Or at least it was a few months ago. How doable is it to earn a decent amount of isk for a new player that can only fly frigates these days?


Factional warfare is broken and is being exploited to get that level of income. It'll get nerfed in the next expansion, so don't plan your long term future just on it. It might not be a bad place to joing though. You'll meet other PvP people, many of them using cheap T1 ships, so you should fit right in.

Turusk wrote:
I have been thinking about doing exploration, but I am not really interested in doing them in the safety of high sec. I was thinking I could do that in 0.0 from my NPC station staging base. There seem to be huge areas of player owned 0.0 space that barely see any activity, especially around some specific times of the day. Perhaps I could do exploration there? I have not trained probing skills yet. Is it possible/practical to do exploration mining there too? It doesn't sound that interesting, but I need to get my money from somewhere, and I can mine when I feel lazy and it sounds like i could make a decent amount of isk with that in 0.0. I only have one account, so I can't have both a combat pilot and miner/retriever (hear its best for solo cause of large cargo space, also cheap) pilot at the same place, but I can train one of the pilots on my account as a hauler that I log in to scoop up and take away the ore when I've mined a good amount.


You can't do most 0.0 exploration in your T1 ship. At best you can do the profession sites(hacking/archeology/salvaging), but combat sites are out. You still need to do combat, but the opposition in profession sites is much weaker. I wouldn't recommend doing mining there. I just can't see it ending well(you'll be hunted) or being worth the trouble unless it's in an area of space you control with the market for the goods on location or good logistics being made available to you. In any other case it's propably more profitable overall to do AFK mining in highsec.

Turusk wrote:
Wormholes sound intriguing, but I don't like the idea of being limited to one system for a long time and it sounds like the NPC's there are too difficult for someone who doesn't have a lot of skill points. I like the idea of making occasional trips into WH's though and pvp a bit, or take some of those expensive resources.


The low level WHs shouldn't be too difficult, but you're still looking at a battlecruiser to do them comfortably. It might be better to look at them from a hunters point of view. They spawn in all areas of space, so no matter where you are you can scan down some wormholes and pop in to see who else is there. At least it's something to keep in mind.

Turusk wrote:
Any advice or comments are welcome. Via the forum or messages in-game. I am hoping that people can tell me how doable my plans are, and perhaps give me some pointers or point me in a different direction. Members of corporations that think their corporation fits with me can contact me or post in this thread.

Thanks for your time.


I's still recommend joining with a PvP corp and training scanning skills. Joining a corp isn't a contract for life, so if you don't like them you can always join another. It's also likely, that if you join a small to medium corp, the corp roams are so infrequent, that you'll be doing your own thing most of the time anyway. The scanning skills on the other hand open up a lot of options in the money making area, allow you to get to wormholes and are great for PvP too. Targets aren't always in the publicly shown locations, so you'll have to scan them down to strike at them in their "safe" areas or to get to them at all.

Anyway, I hope you have luck in whatever you decide on doing. Just don't be afraid to change things when you have bad encounters. Some people are crap, some corps are crap and some activites in the game are crap. Just move on to things you like and do them with people you enjoy talking and playing with.
Vincent R'lyeh
Screaming Hayabusa
#5 - 2012-10-21 16:14:34 UTC
May I recommend joining the in-game channel 'The Autocannon' and hanging with the respectable members of the Molden Heath Country Club who frequent it.

Specifically you may find the Black Dragon Fighting Society to be of interest Pirate

I have deliberately developed an air of cynicism that I originally intended to make me appear somewhat louche and caddish but actually comes across as irritable hostility combined with the unspoken threat of sudden violence.....
J'Poll
School of Applied Knowledge
Caldari State
#6 - 2012-10-21 17:14:34 UTC
Okay, big wall of text but a VERY interesting read though.

So here are my responses:

1.) Yes, you can outgun bigger ships with a small ship. Yes you can kill T2 with a T1 version. Both require a lot of dedication and a lot of losses when you start. Keep doing it, build your skillpoints and actual skills up and eventuall you will be able to take on stuff that is bigger then you are - but not just everything.

2.) Bigger guns have trouble tracking small stuff in close orbit, however that's why a Battleship for instance has a drone bay. With a frig vs battleship, the guns of the BS aren't the real concern when done properly, it's the drones it can launch at you.

3.) HAC are good ships for the fast play style you like, dont worry about the cash, when you are trained up enough to fly them you likely also have the income to support that. Just take it easy and don't rush stuff.

4.) There might be an occasional player owned station that let you dock, but in general if you are not friends with the owner you won't be able to dock.

5.) Look for other corporations, you might have encountered some of the real hardcore corporations that want you on almost 23/7. But there are plenty of corporations that just let you join when you want, or do stuff what you want. Also, if you like smaller engagements, I wouldn't recommends joining a SOV corporation/alliance, that is usually blob vs blob vs some structure that has to die/be saved.

6.) ISK making:

- Currently very hot is FW. But likely CCP will strike the nerf-bat on that with the winter expansion.
- Missions (with main or alt).
- Industry (wiht main or alt - ranging from mining up to production and research).
- Trading (with main or alt).
- Buy PLEX/GTC and sell for ISK (I wouldn't recommend to do it as you will burn RL money into a game, but can be very helpfull when you really need some ISK fast.)

7.) With player SOV. As long as nobody is there, feel free to use their system. But be aware they might notice you ninja use their system and come to kick you out. So, yes you can rat, mine, explore where ever you want in null-sec if you keep the no 1 null-sec rule in mind: Everbody that isn't with you is there to kill you.

Also, don't be affraid to contact me in game. I'm 99% of the time available for jsut a chat or to answer some questions. If I'm not online, just shoot me an EVE-mail and I will get back to you ASAP.

Personal channel: Crazy Dutch Guy

Help channel: Help chat - Reloaded

Public roams channels: RvB Ganked / Redemption Road / Spectre Fleet / Bombers bar / The Content Club
Praxis Ginimic
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#7 - 2012-10-21 18:16:51 UTC
Low sec faction war corp sounds like a good fit for you. Lots of cheap t1 pvp and make isk at the same time. Don't just join the npc militia though, look for a good fw corp to run with. Most guys in the militias are just there to farm lp and don't want to fleet up
ISD Suvetar
ISD Community Communications Liaisons
ISD Alliance
#8 - 2012-10-21 20:06:52 UTC
Unhelpful remarks removed, please post constructively!

Welcome to EVE Turusk, thanks for making a thoughtful post - looking forward to reading more from you.

Please don't worry about the Trolls, use the report button and we'll take action as soon as is possible!

Thanks and fly safe!

[b]ISD Suvetar Captain/Commando Community Communication Liaisons (CCLs) Interstellar Services Department[/b]
Turusk
Hedion University
Amarr Empire
#9 - 2012-10-21 22:37:34 UTC
Thanks for all the helpful posts.
Turusk
Hedion University
Amarr Empire
#10 - 2012-10-22 02:26:19 UTC  |  Edited by: Turusk
Is it somehow possible to change my ship fittings in the middle of space at a safespot or something?
Lors Dornick
Kallisti Industries
#11 - 2012-10-22 02:34:11 UTC
Turusk wrote:
Is it somehow possible to change my ship fittings in the middle of space?

nope

Only when docked.

(Or close to a friendly ship maintenance bay/array (ie special ship or POS).)

CCP Greyscale: As to starbases, we agree it's pretty terrible, but we don't want to delay the entire release just for this one factor.
Marc Callan
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#12 - 2012-10-22 09:38:58 UTC
ISK won't buy you understanding. You can buy the shiniest ship around, but if you don't understand its strengths and weaknesses, it's worthless.

Take the Dramiel, a premier pirate-faction frigate. It's expensive, incredibly fast and quite powerful, but you have to be aware of the effect of factors like transversal, that you can only learn from experience (preferably with cheaper ships that don't hurt nearly as much to lose). Zig when you mean to zag, hit zero transversal, and you'll get slagged in an eyeblink, and the only difference between flying a Rifter and a Dramiel will be the red numbers on the bottom of your loss-mail.

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." - Kurt Vonnegurt
J'Poll
School of Applied Knowledge
Caldari State
#13 - 2012-10-22 10:07:09 UTC
Marc Callan wrote:
ISK won't buy you understanding. You can buy the shiniest ship around, but if you don't understand its strengths and weaknesses, it's worthless.

Take the Dramiel, a premier pirate-faction frigate. It's expensive, incredibly fast and quite powerful, but you have to be aware of the effect of factors like transversal, that you can only learn from experience (preferably with cheaper ships that don't hurt nearly as much to lose). Zig when you mean to zag, hit zero transversal, and you'll get slagged in an eyeblink, and the only difference between flying a Rifter and a Dramiel will be the red numbers on the bottom of your loss-mail.


^ This.

I've seen people that are just 3 days into EVE with fat wallets buy a carrier / tengu toon on the forums and then complain cause they lost their carrier / tengu while ratting in null-sec cause a neutral probed them out.

They thought that they would be safe as they didn't consent to PvP etc. etc.

So, the majority of the fights in EVE are won by actual skill you learned by playing EVE and less with actual SP or ISK.

SP and ISK just open up more options to use. And biggers isn't always better in EVE, frigates are very usefull in fights too.

Personal channel: Crazy Dutch Guy

Help channel: Help chat - Reloaded

Public roams channels: RvB Ganked / Redemption Road / Spectre Fleet / Bombers bar / The Content Club
CCP Dolan
C C P
C C P Alliance
#14 - 2012-10-22 10:27:22 UTC
Removed some obvious baiting and trolling from this thread.

CCP Dolan | Community Representative

Twitter: @CCPDolan

Gooby pls
Garviel Tarrant
Beyond Divinity Inc
Shadow Cartel
#15 - 2012-10-22 10:31:28 UTC
You've fallen for the classic myth of Rifters being good (Even before the other frigs being buffed it really wasn't that good)

Get an Incursus, ab/web/scram dcu/repper/magstab/plate.

Get into a fight, turn everthing on, OH everything, hope you win.

BYDI recruitment closed-ish

Zee Spitfire
Ex Luce Domini
#16 - 2012-10-22 14:05:06 UTC
Congratulations on your choice of Amarr, God's chosen.

As a fellow EVE newb I understand your plight.

My small bit of advice would be for you to consider joining EVE University, or at least stop by the public chat channel 'E-UNI'. I've only been in the UNI for a few days but have already been able to attend a few classes and be in a fleet.

The UNI has a lot of info available, the UniWiki, recorded classes, live classes and fleets. It has been a good way for me to try out a few things, narrow my focus a bit.

Plus with the handful of corps that continually war dec the UNI you can try out some first hand PVP before jumping into null sec space.


~Zee
Lyric Lahnder
Deep Core Mining Inc.
Caldari State
#17 - 2012-10-22 14:34:46 UTC  |  Edited by: Lyric Lahnder
Well people do tend to take themselves seriously when it comes to pvp, but then you actually get on coms with them and there having a good time.

The most fun to do is to collect singing ransoms. You catch someone hold there pod invite them on coms and then record them singing a song.

"internet spaceships are serious business. "

People care about there killboards they want to have a high Kill Death Raio and a High isk efficiency rating because it means both there friends and there enemies take them seriously. Eve is all about risk assessment and kill boards are one way to judge that.

Some times that means you have to use **** tactics to win like being cloaky jerks.Blink

If you want to start learning the basics of pvp try red vs blue.

If you want to get into more serious pvp in null sec etc, join Agony unleashed or our school noir. Academy,

You should know that noir is one of those groups with lots of rules and scolding if people loose **** fit ships in dumb ways, but really all those rules are there to protect you individually as a pilot.

When you fly with a disorganized group with no focus who tend to loose expensive ships in dumb ways you attract a lot of negative attention from griefer corps who like to play undock games. Hence why other pvp groups try to be so straight laced about things. Flying with people who take things seriously is a convenience to each individual pilot as well as the group.

Noir. and Noir Academy are recruiting apply at www.noirmercs.com I Noir Academy: 60 days old must be able to fly at least one tech II frigate. I Noir. Recruits: 4:1 k/d ratio and can fly tech II cruisers.
Jonah Gravenstein
Machiavellian Space Bastards
#18 - 2012-10-22 20:29:59 UTC  |  Edited by: Jonah Gravenstein
Relevant thread with some good info in it

Some of the PvP corps run regular open house roams into losec and nullsec with the sole aim of destroying as much as possible before gloriously exploding, they have good fights, the Fleet Commanders are generally competent (yes even Mangala Solaris no matter what he says Lol) and generally it's all done in cheap T1 ships unless it's a themed roam.

They're a good way to casually hop into PvP without committing to a corp if that's what you want, the main advantage though is the contacts you make with players who share your interests, the roams tend to attract people from all aspects and areas of Eve. You'll meet losec pirates, nullsec players, hisec PvP pilots and even carebears like me who fancy a little action. Eve is a social game and contacts are as important as the ships you fly, even if they are the guys that just turned your ship into atoms.

In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded.

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