Crime & Punishment

Hey guys,

first of all, sorry for any spelling mistakes or whatsoever, but English is not my native language ^^. And also, sorry if this is not the good place for that, but the "new citizen" forum seems to be more about PvE questions...

So now, about this topic. I started this character recently (2 or 3 days ago) after 2 previous 14 days trial on Eve. During these trials, I spent most of my time doing missions and mining... And even if missioning is ok for a small periode of time, I don't think I can do that all the time... It looks like a job more than a game (and so is mining). So I went on the forums and read a bit about PvP and piracy. And I wonder : why not give it a try ? Could be fun. So, after reading a few things about high sec piracy, I still have few questions, and I would be gratefull to anyone helping me.

First, and maybe the most important, I read that there are some limits with new players. It seems to be forbiden to bait them, or try to lead them in a trap. But what is the definition of new player ? Less than a week ? A month ? A year ? Or is it about skill point ? Less than a million ? 10 millions ? Security status of the sector ?

I read about can flipping. What is the way to do it ? Go and take what is into miner's jetcan, and wait for them to shoot at me ? Does it still work with ship such as the venture with high ore cargo ? Or is it more about putting a can myself in space, close to a player, and wait for people to take it ? Any other way to "force" people to engage me to avoid CONCORD reaction against me ? Any explanations are welcome.

About ships to fly now. I guess frigates are the best choice to start... They are cheap, and I can replace them quite easily. I started a minmatar character, but are the minmatar frigs ok for PvP ? Or another race is better ? Should I go quickly to Tech 2 tank and weapons ? Rigs or not ? And which ship can I fight ? Other frigates (and probably not all, depending on my owne frigate), but mining barges ? Destroyers and cruiser are probably too big fishes for a frig... Bigger ship even worse ^^

Is armor tanking better than shield tanking ? The web and warp scramble are mid slot items, so no room left for shield tank. But armor tanks are not cap stable (I played Gallente with my first character, I always emptied my capa in a minute or so...).

I am currently focusing on core defense and gunnery skills, up to lvl 3 at least. Any important skills I should work on before that ?

And finally, I am running the tutorial agents right now, and I think I'll go for the SoE epic arc, to make some ISK. Is it ok, or should I just go to PvP without doing these missions ?


As I told before, I already played a bit, and I read quite a lot about Eve gameplay (in a very PvE oriented way, unfortunately), so I have some (maybe wrong) basic knowledge of the game, but I am sure I am a noob and these questions are full of stupidity. I hope people won't shout at me because of that...

Thanks a lot for any advice which could help me. I'll be in game in a few minutes, so feel free to invite me for a tchat, if you have some time to spare with a newbie ^^.

Fly safe.

Get out of hi-sec.

This.

Learn to use your D-Scan. Search asteroid belts and Faction Warfare complexes.

As for ships, any race is fine. Just pick one and setup your skills to get decent with a single ship and weapon type for the first few months. Once you get good with that, then you can start to think about diversifying. Minmitar is fine. The Rifter isn't the king of frigates, but it's not bad. It's still pretty flexible, and you can learn a lot about PvP with a Rifter or a Slasher. Alternatively, Caldari has some very nice ships and you can try missiles more if that's what you want to focus on.

Think about getting into a corp that supports new pirates. The Black Dragon Fighting Society is pretty active around the Adirain and Aeschee area, which is right by Arnon.

Hate to contradict the worthy gentlemen above me, but there are lots of great opportunities for pirates in highsec right now, perhaps more so than in lowsec. Click the link in my signature to read an article I recently wrote about the subject.

Lowsec piracy is great, and there are several good corps out there doing it who will accept new players. My primary argument in favor of pirating in highsec is that it's just way easier to make a living doing it without having to resort to PVE, station trading, or any other "legitimate" way to make your isk. This is good, because all of those things are mind-numbingly boring.

Dr Zappity recommends a course of highsec ninja looting (for easy and entertaining iskies) combined with lowsec diving (for PvP in Faction Warfare novice plexes).

You will die a lot but it will be great fun anyway. And see my sig - it is true. Well, not the leet part to be honest

By the time you have lost 50 T1 frigates you will have a better idea of what you want to do.

It was me. Recruiting another soldier in the fight against communism.

1. Dive into lowsec.
2. D-scan for ships in FW plexes/belts.
3. ???
4. Profit.

You wont make a living as a pirate by only selling loot and collecting ransoms.
Today's piracy standard is lowest: T1 Battlecruiser then Hacs and at tops High Tank/DPS fast locking T3s and Machariels plus support.

Sure you can roam in your frigate or even Asaault frigate but your target spectrum will be so limited that you will end with just not being able to engage or fighting will be equal to being popped.

On the other hand lowsec is a gold mine. Make a probing skills and here you go. Even the *****est radar site is worth 20-30m ISK and it can be done in just a few minutes, not to mention 4/10 or 5/10 plexes which are worth hundreds of million ISKs.
One Bill ISK per week isnt much trouble for me to make in lowsec atm so dont worry you wont end up as a bankrupt - thats simply impossible in this game.

Pirate the way you want to and ignore what others say. If you love something and pour your heart into it, then you can earn isk doing it, if you are clever. The biggest mistake you can ever make in the sandbox is to let someone else decide how you play the game. No ship is too big to engage if you know yourself and you know your enemy. Fly whatever you like and make it work.

Hi there,

thanks again for your help.

A few more questions.

I'm currently doing a safari (love this name ), but before I strike, I want to be sure I am not doing anything forbidden. The corp I'm in mostly have newbies members (less than 10 days old). As I told before, I know it's forbidden to bait/shoot young players. But is it still forbidden if it's in corp shooting ? And what if they shoot me first, am I allowed to shoot back ? I'm not planning to shoot them unless they shoot at me first, I'm hunting bigger preys ^^.

The second thing is that most of the time, the mining ops are in the beginner system (the system with all the career agents). Does it change something ? Am I still allowed to shoot my corpmates ?

And what about pods (if I can catch them ^^) ?