EVE New Citizens Q&A

So I guess I need some advice.

I'm quite new to this game, so I already know that I'm a noob and that I did something stupid. But I'd like to know if anyone could give me some tips on how to prevent an event like what happened to me yesterday.

I don't have that much time to play EVE, so I spent some money on Plex, traded it for ISK and bought a couple of ships, some equipment and skill training books to be able to advance a bit faster. The day before yesterday, I reached the point where I could pilot a Raven and I couldn't resist, I bought one. A brand new Raven (Navy issue) was mine and I dubbed her INSS Valiant. I had already realised I was not in any position to pilot it well or fight with it well, so I was considering just leaving it at the station where I had bought it until I had advanced further. With hindsight, I should have done that. But no..

I put minimal weapons, ammo and other fittings on it, while also buying better stuff that I was unable to install yet and ended up collecting it. Everything went fine until the very last item. It was 20 jumps from my position, so I spent a lot of time just moving from one system to another. Then, just as I was finishing a bathroom break (nothing had happened for hours of moving around) I heard a noise. A bad noise. I was being shot at. Some bad guys had (almost literally) caught me with my pants down. I rushed over and noticed a heck of a lot of damage incoming, more than I could handle. I didn't fully understand what was going on. I was admittedly in low-sec (0.3) but was under the impression that it'd not be allowed for me to be attacked except during a duel and I had, being AKF, not accepted such a challenge. I also didn't understand why my ship wasn't just moving on, it was just one or two more jumps to my destination and, hopefully, safety. I disengaged the auto pilot and tried to jump through the stargate, but got some kind of warning about factional warning and/or the area being in dispute. In hindsight, I don't even think my ship was moving anymore and that I was a sitting duck.. Meanwhile my shields were being destroyed fast. I had to do something. I tried to buy myself some time by firing back. I think that chased one of them away, but there were still two others and my weapons were pretty poor, doing about 100 dps if I recall correctly.. Before I was able to do anything more, not only my ship was destroyed, but I was pod-killed to boot. Great. Thanks for going easy on a newbie and congrats on defeating someone three-on-one when I would have had trouble dealing with only one. If they were able to take all the equipment I was carrying, they made about 37 million for a two minute fight.. But hey, as long as I learn something from this, I only wasted a few hours and a little money. I'm not ashamed of being defeated, they won fair and square and there were three of them, all three with battleships, if I recall correctly, at least two of them had Panthers. So even if I had been better and had had better weapons and equipment, I probably still would have lost..

So, what did I do wrong, other than taking my ship out while not having the skills to pilot it well and then taking it into low-sec space?

From what I gather from the wiki, it seems there are areas which are in dispute and in which certain nationalities can attack me just for being a Caldarian (although there is a notice information on this topic is outdated). Of course, if that is how it is, that would have been useful to know before I ended up there without warning.. Why didn't I get a warning planning the route?

How do I know which areas to avoid?

Can they also attack me in high-sec when I have a certain standing towards them?

I noticed that after having done certain missions, my standing with certain nationalities may drop. Should I avoid those missions as it makes me fair game everywhere?

I just checked the map and looked up the system where I lost my ship and got killed, but I can't even find any information about it being in dispute, all it tells me is that there have been a number of kills and a number of pod kills. A screenshot on the wiki shows the information that a certain system is disputed will be shown when you enter the system, but naturally I'd much rather not end up there in the first place. Does the game give you a warning before you jump into a disputed area, but did I miss that due to being AFK? Or is this unavoidable?

Is there even such a thing as disputed areas?

Finally, now that I am asking (belated) questions, does anyone have any further advice on how to proceed? Should I give up on piloting battleships at all until I am a lot further in the game? Should I get a different battleship? Should I join a faction?

- In lowsec anyone can shoot you without Concord punishing attacker.
- When buying stuff, always check where it is and if there are any lowsec or nullsec systems on route. You can do this by setting destination to station through right click menu.
- Don't fly anything bigger than battlecruiser before you're ready.
- Don't fly battleships before you can use all T2 modules.
- Don't fit frigate/cruiser sized modules to your battleship.

And yes, game should give you a warning when you try to jump into lowsec system. You've probably disable that message at some point. You can reset this setting through settings ("Reset settings" tab if remember correctly).

According to killmail you didn't really have a chance in that situation. Black ops, T3, Prophecy.
http://kb.snuffboxcorp.com/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=70300

Thanks for the replies, this game is a bit overwhelming to me, so many options, so many things to keep track of.. So any helpful advice is appreciated!

I'll certainly concentrate even more on skill training and leave the big ships alone for a while.. It was a waste of a fine ship.. But it is sad that this is most of what I am doing now, just logging in to set new skill training goals and logging back out..

At which point can you have the minimum skills in order to function in this game? I read in another thread that even 5 million or more skill points is considered low? I am currently at 1.5 million or so..

Also, can anyone tell me, why was I unable to move through the gate? Was this a factional thing, the system being in dispute and me being of the wrong nationality, or what? All I wanted was to get out, but I couldn't and I didn't even have the time to set a new destination, back the way I came, it all happened so fast..

That was probably because of Weapons flag. When you have that you can't jump to other system.
http://www.eveonline.com/retribution/crimewatch/

Also don't go the "log in, set new skill, log off" route either. That way you never learn anything about EVE's mechanics and how to actually fly your ship.

Ofcourse tey kill you in low sec , wy not?

Even in high sec your arnt safe , and ravens tend to be bad at pvp anyway

Stay safer in high sec for now , and make some isk , join a good player corp that can help you out

Also: Welcome to eve , the only mmo where actully hurts to die , thats wy we love it.

sorry for the bad english grammer

I'd suggest staying out of lowsec until you find a good blob to hide in.

Went ratting in Low Sec a couple of days after I got my 1st Dessie, got killed soon afterwards, went back to low sec to rat again and a player actually chatted to me and gave me some good advice/direction.

The key is to get into a Player corp that will help you out as a new player, its the other players of EVE who have the knowledge of the game.

You misunderstand me. That's by choice, not because of the skill curve.
I'm trying to reiterate the point that there's no good reason to race for a battleship. It's not a 'ok, now I can play' point. It's not something that you have to do to be able to be useful.

This isn't an MMO where you need the biggest ship as soon as possible (as in say Guild Wars where you want the best armour/weapons as fast as possible). The biggest ships are not equivalent to the best gear, they're just another option.

Ships are tools, you fly them for a particular purpose. I know people who have been playing 5 or more years that only fly frigates because that's what they have the most fun in.

Try cruisers and L2 missions. Should be a little less painful than L1s (which are rather boring)

But they're so pretty..

But thanks for the clarification.



I'll stick to my destroyer for now, no need to risk another ship I can't even fit properly, but how do I get to L2 missions? I seem to be a bit stuck and am choosing to do other things than re-running the same missions.. Do I just need to get my standing higher or do I need to finish all L1 missions or something?