EVE New Citizens Q&A

Hi,

I am almost finishing my trial experience in EVE and I like it.
I would like to extend the play and pay for this game but I noted that
old players with big and better armed ships always kill me.
I can't try to enter in 0.4 that i am immediately terminated, without a reason or a word. 1 big shot!

I know that I can stay in 1.0 space to be safe, but my question is:
if I play this game for 3 monthes...I spend money to get a bigger ship...I will always be killed in <0.4 sectors ?
If it's so, newbie people are not encouraged to buy this game. Why old players kill small players ? Just for fun ?

I currenty think that I will not extend the game in these conditions
Thank you.
Astor

I'm sure you'll get help building yourself up defensively but in general ganking is just a factor in all MMORPG's. The answer is don't fly what you can't afford to lose and as you build yourself up in the game you'll be able to afford to lose better and better classes of ship.

If you float around in lowsec with your shiny new battlecruiser, or battleship, as a new player without having a clue about what you're doing, then yes. Chances that you will be slaughtered are quite high, assuming you actually meet someone who is out there to kill others. But however, if you go into lowsec with a frigate, your chance of survival skyrockets. Assuming of course you manage to avoid the common smartbomb camps of Amamake, Rancer and Tama, there shouldn't really be many things that can catch you if you just pay attention to your surroundings. Note that Faction Warfare lowsec is quite busy and the other areas can even be considered dead majority of the time.

TL;DR
Use a frigate and avoid smartbomb camps.

Thank you all, guys

I appreciate your help.
I will give this game a second chance

CCP has implemented "weapons tracking" and "missile explosion velocity/radius" as specific mechanics to enable the more newbie ships (typically the fragile, but fast and maneuverable frigates) to survive attacks by the bigger ships. Basically if you don't sit idle in space, and know how to fit your ship to enhance its speed / agility, you can fly in circles around the big ships and their weapons can't hit you.

Your weapons won't make a big dent, but again, there's the whole slew of electronic warfare, jamming, warp disruption, etc. to keep them there and disabled until your team gets there to finish them off.

The game is pretty complex, and functions much like chess but with a lot more pieces in play. And CCP is usually quite focused on making sure even the smaller ships have a role, can survive, and are desirable for something.

Keep in mind, though, that 0.4 gates are actually camped, and that doesn't mean that they simply sit there waiting for targets. There's planning involved, specific ships set up to quickly lock and disable targets of various sizes, specific ships fitted to quickly kill (and they're position at perfect range for maximum DPS), and scouts in nearby systems checking out potential victims and giving them heads up of what's coming. It's organized, and efficient, which is why you're dying so fast. You need your own friends and scouts, and need to learn the specific tactics to counter their camping tactics.

But first, what you need as a newbie is to find a source of income so you can get some skills trained. And then train the skills that let you use tech 2 modules (1mn Afterburner II, tech 2 armor, shield, defense modules). These don't take long at all, a couple weeks maybe. Then any ship you fly will have MUCH improved survival rates.

Then decide on a ship line to progress through, and train the skills for them, the skills for T2 weapons for them (this may take 1-2 months), and support skills to make your flying even better.

And meanwhile, learn about the game, read fitting guides, read PVP guides, etc. Search for the various wikis out there, there are plenty of them.

dont take people killing you in lowsec so personal as they have no way of knowing if your a real newbie or an alt account thats there to spy on them or even cyno a capital fleet into their area.

once you get a few months into the game and have your core skills trained up you can start to become competative with veteran players. however keep in mind how much your personal experiance matters, i might be able to kill a 1 year old char with an alt thats only 2 months old but you would likly not fare as well againt the same char with my 5 year to use as irs simply a mater of experiance

And I would have a lot less losses then kills

As you can see by other people's responses, It's all about technique. You can't simply fly the way you do in highsec. You need to have a certain spacial awareness and meta awareness and you need to fly fast ships. Use your d-scan, local and universe map to develop an awareness of what's actually going on. If you simply enter Old Man Star and warp to the first belt and start ratting, that won't go very well for you.

Use the universe map and its filters (how many ships destroyed in last hour, pilots in space in last hour and security status) to develop an awareness of the constellation you're in and what sort of activity is going on there. If you do this you can actually identify gate camps without stumbling into them. Use local to develop an awareness of who's-who in your current system (show info on each player to determine age, sec status, corp, etc.). And finally use the D-scan as a last line of defense. It will tell you if any baddies are within 14.5 au of you, and with practice you can even figure out what direction they're in.

Veteran players will often kill noobs to teach them a lesson. A good veteran will kill you, PM you, explain to you what you did wrong and reimburse your ship. A bad pirate will just kill you and think that they're a badass because of it. The main thing to take away from this, if you decide to continue playing, is that you need to make information into a weapon and use it to your advantage.

edit: This is worth a read http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Rookie_Lowsec_Survival_Guide

I like to hear new players squeal

I found some cheap materials so did a quick run to a 0.4 system today for the first time. I got my fastest cheapest ship to run in pick up the goods and get out fast. Given the talk about ganking in these systems I thought I'd be jumped upon. Made it in and out no problem.
Made my day.