EVE New Citizens Q&A

How long should I wait before using an ALT account? I'm currently skilling into PVP with caldari ships, but I would like to do some industry, build ships etc. I was told I should keep that stuff on a separate ALT. So yeah, is it worth?

Wait for what exactly?
If you want to do industry you can just train a second character on your main account.

yes it's really a personal call. Eventually you will be able to do everything on one toon but if you skill and alt for something specific like industry it can free up your main to do something like focus only on combat or PvP specifically. If this sounds like something that you want to do and can afford the sub then what are you waiting for?

If you just want to try industry out you can do some entry level industry with not many skills at all. You could build T1 ammo for example with very little training time. That way you would at least try industry out before committing to the second account if you are on the fence about it.

There is no need for you to have a second account so no one can tell you when you should or should not or even if you should do it.

Off of the top of my head some things that you can use a second account for that you can not do with 2 characters training on one account:
-Mine and haul
-Scout for war targets on an unknown "neut"
-stay cloaked near a target and give a fleet warp to PvP toon
-provide boosts from a safe spot
-cloaky camp while your main is off having fun
-have a set of cloaked "eyes" watching a wormhole entrance or gate etc.. for intel gathering.
-lite cynos for yourself.
-run locator agents on one toon while chasing war targets on the other.


Keep in mind all of these things can be done without having a second account you just need to have friends and in an MMO making and having friends is a plus so I see the need for friends as an asset to the game.

Some very much appreciated advice! Thank you! I just want to shoot ships, but also build the big ships!

I was actually looking at your guys' recruitment thread earlier. Do you recruit new players? PM me!

Alts are mostly a play style issue. For instance, Eve pvp happens to frequently have a lot of waiting around, e.g. sitting in your hanger while somebody hunts targets, or sitting on a gate/wh/station. In other words eve pvp is frequently, a lot of boredom followed by a few minutes of excitement. Fortunately imo the excitement is worth it. Now alts allow you to do other things while you are sitting around waiting for something to happen on your pvp toon. In my case, I originally got an alt b/c i thought i would use it to mine semi-afk while I pvp'd on my main. Of course it didnt last long and after a while I got my alt into an orca which would follow my main all around hs as I can flipped everything in sight. Then my alt became a logi toon, then it became a booster toon, then a cyno monkey. Now my primary alt is my hunter for our blops gang with my main still my station spinner as I sit around waiting for something to happen.

So in my opinion if you want to do other things and have the money to burn, alts are a great way to fill the gap. My only suggestion is wait for a ccp promotion - I think they call it the "power of two" or something like it.

I guess if you've played long enough to ask yourself if it's time to have an alt; I think you've answered your own question

Alts are typically specialists - perfect probers, haulers, industry toons.

You forgot spies, who are generally using one of the above as a cover

Without getting into details, you were told wrong. Basic manufacturing and industry is something that there is no downside to doing on your main.

In fact, with the elimination of buying medical clones, there are only three situations where a second account really benefits you in any way:

1. PvP, potentially (e.g. an alt to guard your mining boat while you shoot rocks or tackle things while you warp your main ship in)

2. Material transport in mining, to cart minerals back and forth so your miner doesn't lose cycles to shifting stuff back to your base.

3. A frigate alt to drop a beacon for your jump point/portal with a capital ship or Black Ops.

None of these things, realistically, are something that any character younger than a year or so and not wholly dedicated to mining should really be bothering with.

Alts used to be valuable just to keep the SP total low on your PvP toon, so when you got podded it was less expensive, and to keep your sec status and standings from getting out of hand. Neither of those is really an issue in the current state of the game. Don't waste your money (or your time farming isk for PLEXes) unless you have something EXCEEDINGLY specific you want to do with your alt that necessarily requires logging in on both accounts at the same time.

(Off-grid boosters have an incoming nerf in theory, it's scheduled for "soon", so sometime between now and the heat death of the universe. In fairness, spies are also a thing, but there's no reason for an alt account there, just use a same-account slot.)