EVE New Citizens Q&A

I have decided to invest in my first Cruiser and was planning on an Arbitrator.

I wanted to finish up Core Competency training first though.

There are two I have left, Shield Operation III, 8 hour train for 5 percent Shield Capacity, and Targeting IV, 16 hour train for one extra target. My question is, how important are these two, or should I just blow them off till later. It seems like that 24 hour training time could be better spent on Amarr Cruiser III or several other things.

My other question, is the Arbitrator still a good first cruiser. I read so many negative things about drone boats now, I am second guessing myself.

I am exploring and was going to make it my all in one explorer then have another fit for running Level 2 missions. (Running L2 missions in a destroyer has been a real chore, given my lack of SP and game experience.)

As always, thanks much for the guidance!

At the place you are in the game - learning new stuff, getting your first ship, and trying out new things I would go with the cruiser skill first and then the others. Why? Because it gives you another ship to try out and while you are trying it out you'll be getting the skills to make it better.

Otherwise you might get caught in the trap of thinking you need to wait for skills to finish before doing the next thing. You really don't - keep on doing stuff while skills are training. Don't ever start thinking that you need to wait X days before you can do something.

As to a ship, I checked the cruisers available and I would suggest a maller or an omen. Why? Because chances are you don't have the drone skills yet. So if you don't have the drone skills then you probably don't want to use an arbitrator. Of course, if drones do interest you and you want to use them as your primary weapons platform then definitely take a peek at the arbitrator. Naturally, you can switch it up in short order (if you try the arbitrator and don't like drone style fighting you can sell it back on the market for, basically, what you bought it for) and try something else.

There are a couple of reasons I would pick an omen or a maller over the arbitrator. The first reason is my basic bias. I am not a drone user. I never have been. The only "real" drone skill I have on my main is repair drone operation. So, as such, I have a negative bias towards drones so I don't feel comfortable recommending a drone boat. That being written, I have friends who -love- drone boats and swear by them. So, give it a shot and see if you like it or not. If you like pets in other games you'll love drone boats. I never play the 'pet class' in other games either.

The second reason is because of the bonuses on the ship. While the arbitrator has great drone bonuses (it really does) the second skill bonus from Amarr Cruiser is a bonus to tracking disruptor effectiveness. Now this is a -great- skill when it comes to pvp but for doing missions it isn't so hot. I'd rather get the bonuses from the maller (bonus to medium energy turret and one for armor resistances) or the omen (medium energy turret capacitor use and medium energy turret rate of fire).

But, really, give them all a whirl and see what you enjoy the most. This choice will really depend on your play style and what appeals to you. As such, if you want to use drones please go for it. Anyone complaining about drones not being effective are very wrong in their assessment. Those complaints (whines) were just a result of having to start paying attention to their drones when previously they didn't have to. Starting out with having to pay attention to your drones will make you a better drone user anyway. So it's all good.

Only a couple of things I want to add the thread, most stuff has been answered already.


1.) Try out anything you want. You will never be able to tell what you really like if you haven't tried it out.
2.) If you don't like something, then don't do it. If you do like something, continue doing it.
3.) There aren't much ships that can do anything in 1 fit. Specially in Exploration. My best suggestion, have a probing ship (the T1 or T2 bonused frigate) and a ship that you run the sites with...Probe stuff with your prober, then bookmark the site, reship and run it.
4.) Most important: Don't fly what you can't afford to loose. So if an arbitrator means you will spent all your money in it, don't use it yet. Get some ISK first, so that if you loose it, you won't be back at square one.

The certificates were put in place as a guideline to help newbies figure out which skills they need to train, but IMO they don't quite match the most optimal skill setups, and they seem to have been designed by a dev with an OCD about symmetry ("each category should require 3 skills at level 5 for 'Expert' certs, regardless of whether you actually need them or not").

For the future, there are certain skills that you want at 5. Usually, you want them at 5 for one of three reasons:

- it's a prerequisite for another skill or a ship

- it's just about the only skill that improves a bottleneck / constraint such as how much power grid or CPU a ship has, number of drones, etc.

- it's the skill for a ship, and the ship bonuses are just too good to not have maxed, or the ship is just too expensive to risk without maxed skill

In any case, in most cases and for all other skills, you just want to train them based on whether you use them or not. Each point gives you 5%, and 15% or 20% tops is sufficient. So what if the certs only think you're an "average" or "basic"? If you're topping killboard scores or you're making more ISK than you can spend, who cares?

Just a little something about Core Competency, the standard version of that certificate is one of the most helpful things you could ever have. Definitely train for that when you feel competent with your cruiser and have ample time, as it is quite time consuming. Something I do is train for the recommended certs before I get a ship. Not needed at all, I just like feeling that I have the base skills needed for something.

I'm biased in that I'm a drone-boat user.

In terms of priority, I'd say:
One ewar skill (helps to manage NPC aggression against drones and you only need one rank)
Drones V (20% increase in drone damage)
Scout Drone Operation V (increase in drone range)
Gallente Drone Specialization I and II (unlocks Tech II light and medium drones which will be ~ another 20% drone damage)

Then, I'd build Drone Interfacing, Sharpshooting, Navigation, and Durability as you go.

For exploration Arbitrator and Vexor, you'll probably go armor before shields to free up mid slots for a propulsion mod, ewar, and codebreaker/analyzer if you're profession sites. Targeting is worthwhile. Shields IV can be slipped in when you have spare time between 7-day training jobs.

Drones are in a tricky spot right now due to NPC AI changes. You need to watch them carefully and be willing to recall when they start taking hits. In my experience, use of ewar does make aggro switching considerably less likely, but it still happens. It's also my experience that turrets are substantially more difficult to use in Sansha complexes due to changes in NPC Tracking Disruption mechanics. The Arbitrator might be better than the Vexor in this area with missile/rocket launcher slots.

I have quite a bit of experience with the Arbi as an all-in-one Exploration baot and can attest to its quality. IMO, it is one of the best all-around ships in the game, excelling at PVP as well as certain PVE applications (particularly exploration). In regards to the question on drones, they will be your secondary weapons platform on nearly every ship above destroyer class that you will fly while playing EVE. Every PVP ship above destroyer needs them (or very nearly so) and nearly every PVE ship will need them (particualry if you do Lv 4 missions in anything NOT named Tengu).

Bite the bullet and train those drone skills now. Get your T2 drones ASAP and enjoy your Arbi or Vexor. You'll find both to be extremely solid ships and very rewarding/profitable.