EVE New Citizens Q&A

Like any other racial ship line, there ARE Caldari ships that can be used well and effectively... even against Tech 3 Destroyers (which, while overpowered, CAN be killed with the right tactics).
I have personally seen some incredible things done with a Harpy and Hawk (<3 my Hawk).

Also... the Confessor and Svipul are going to get whacked with the nerf bat (lower PG and CPU and some other tweaks to mass and agility... look for it the Features and Ideas forum)

DO IT ANYWAYS!

Jeezus... the experience of learning how to survive is probably the most important lesson Faction Warfare (or low-sec in general) can teach you.

To not even try something because you cannot fly "the best equipment" is dumb because...

- if you don't know what you are doing in the first place (which you learn by trying and dying in cheaper equipment) you will easily die to those that DO.

- what is "the best" is fluid and dynamic... and is always subject to nerfs, buffs and player-run meta. Don't wait or chase FoTM. You'll have more FUN and less teeth gnashing if you don't.

- you will miss out on the opportunities that you might have had if you were in a ship that seemed more easily gankable... conversely, you may have more issues from others running around in a "shiny ship"

This.

As Cara mentioned, it's extremely easy to avoid fights in FW space unless/until you make a silly mistake. As long as you're using your directional scanner, checking if there's anything inside a site before warping to it, or watching the 360 degree 'shortscan' (1 au or minimum range) you should know what you're going to fight most of the time. The way FW plexes work means that if you're defending one, you should never get caught by someone if you're careful and paying attention.

Another thing to keep in mind is that, sure you or your enemy can fly an 'OP' ship all the time. But if you can't actually get any fights in it, what's the point? Especially true in FW as I said since it's so easy to pick your battles. If I'm sitting in a Slasher in a small plex waiting for a fight I think I can take, and see a Svipul on shortscan, I'm out of there. Seeing that, the Svipul pilot may 'ship down' into something I would perceive as a more 'engage-able' ship, say another T1 frigate or something else.

FW space is a great place to get your feet wet in PVP, buy 10 t1 frigates including fittings and go for it. If you already have spacefriends, drag them down there with you and have fun. If not, go make some in FW.

Here is a fit Cara sent me a while ago that should serve you well. It uses a tactic called 'scram kiting'. You're going to want to shoot at other close range brawlers, like blaster ships, and then orbit them just at the edge of your warp scrambler's range 7 - 9 km. Make sure you have both Webs activated, this ship is slow, so it relies on making the enemy even slower. Another added bonus is that the webs mean you'll apply your rocket damage much better (missile mechanics; look at the bottom).

[Kestrel, Armor 2x Web copy]

400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Damage Control II

1MN Afterburner II
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Inferno Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Inferno Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Inferno Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Inferno Rocket

Small Ancillary Current Router I
Small Anti-Explosive Pump I
Small Anti-Kinetic Pump I

If you're having trouble fitting this, grab items with a lower meta level. An experimental AB uses 1 less PG which should help depending on skill level. You could switch out 1 of the resistance rigs for another Small Ancillary Current Router I if necessary.

Keep in mind this fit is a bit unorthodox, you don't usually see many Armor tanked Caldari ships, but the surprise factor can give you an edge.

Make 2 or 3 of each ship and go sit in plexes with them hoping for lp and fights. If you worry too much about losing ships you'll get into a bad habit of never taking pvp unless you KNOW you can win, which won't be that often and burn yourself out in solo boredom.

You'll get good enough with dscan that you'll quickly be able to choose if you want to sit for a brawl, get into kite range, align out to a safe, play warp games to spread out or discourage attackers, etc. You'll also learn more about pvp than a lot of others who are too worried about losing a 9mil fitting that could be bought 5 times over with a couple hours missions, scanning, ratting, or marketing

Don't let the 1up mentality of eft theory crafting get to you, it's a disease in Eve and the reason why only a small percentage solo while the rest sit waiting for a fc to tell them to undock.

Take the plunge, risk it all, forget lame kill boards, learn as much as possible, have fun with it!

FW gangs are OK too, I enjoyed the few I spent time with, though mostly they only were in FW for the war targets.



Please, never stabb up and turn into a LP farmer. They are one of the lowest forms of life in New Eden

The "I must be max level" or "I must have best in slot" or "what is the FotM" ideas that come from other MMOs belong in those other MMOs. Eve is not a game about one specific linear playstyle. The sooner you can purge those ideas from your head the better off you will be in Eve.

I came to eve from wow and It took me a long time to get over that "what's the best ship ( or best race etc... ) for X, Y, and Z?" mindset. After I did I realized how much it was holding me back. A lot of people come from other MMOs where they have been taught they are their gear and you get focused on ships and skill points. As you learn the game you realize that it's knowlege not gear or skill points that matter in this game. Then you go reroll a new toon and realize how the game seemed hard early due to your ignorance and not lack of SP or "gear".

I predict you will lose it within thirty minutes to 1-3 t1 frigates.

If you've made up your mind already, why ask for advice? If you're looking for a vet to come along and tell you "yeah definitely use a Jackdaw to learn to PvP" you're not going to get it unless:

a. said vet wants to see you blow up in a shiny ship you have no business pvping in.
b. said 'vet' is a moron.

EVE PvP is not just about numbers, it's about leveraging your 'numbers' into a position to **** up the other guy's 'numbers'.

To be honest and assuming you have no PVP experience yet: anything you fly solo will have an extremely slim chance of surviving, period.

If you fly something relatively expensive such as a t3 dessy, your chances drop from slim to zero.

My 2 cents is the usual: start with t1 frigates, be prepared to lose plenty (as in: dozens) as you learn. At least you won't have the whole constellation hunting you (believe me, a newbro in a t3 will attract dirty pirates like moths to a flame).

So your argument is don't do what's smart because the kids on the playground will make fun of you?

A new player will not win solo PvP against and experienced player. Skill points and T2 mods won't matter. However loosing 100 real cheap fit low meta ships will gain you a lot more experience and therefore make you a much better PvPer than not PvPing and waiting for skills to train. Further it will make you a better PvPer than loosing 10 more expensive fit ships. Flying a loosing more and cheaper fit ships early on is just better advice for a newer player. Maybe if they player has no issue buying as many PLEX as was needed to loose T3 ships all day you might have a point.

The youtube PvP guys that your are talking about first off are experienced Eve players secondly they almost always have off grid booster and are typically flying very expensive fit ship with expensive clones and boost and all the works. They are looking to make an enjoyable to watch video not effectively learn how to PvP. Also those guys won't post their failures in most cases you only see the good ones. So I'd not assume the videos that they post are at all indicative of their average day in Eve. That would be like watching a movie and assuming from that, that you now had some understanding of what the average day in the life of one of the actors was.

Further to try and pretend like the solo pwnage vids on youtube are at all indicative of the average PvP experience or that most new players even do lots of solo PvP is just flat out misleading. Most new players start off PvPing in fleets. As a matter of fact PvP in eve is not regulated, there is no 3 v 3 arena matches that put players of the same level and similar gear against each other. You are almost always mixing players of varying skill points and varying ship types and varying numbers against each other. Surprise butt sex and blob warfare are what's on the menu in eve.

In general I think it's a joke for you to use an example of a youtube vid from a profession solo PvPer as something that a new player should do. I doubt those professional youtubers started out solo roaming in Billion isk set ups.


I'm not saying that skill points do nothing for you. What I am saying is that skill points < game knowledge and he is better served loosing more ships and learning than not loosing ships because he's waiting for skills to train or waiting for a better ship to come out.


I'm not even sure what you are trying to say here.

Plenty of vets have rolled new toons and done very well in PvP with low skill point toons.

As far as getting pods out you seem to be forgetting about interdiction spheres a.k.a. warp bubbles. And clone cost is a factor as a matter of fact cost is one of the main factors in Eve. That is why I am telling a new player to fly cheap and why when they removed the clone upgrade costs that PvP went up in null sec. Cost is a HUGE factor in Eve. The main PvP stat in Eve is isk lost versus isk destroyed. I'm not sure where you get that cost is not a factor but it's not true and I never even implied it.

With regards to cost and your precious tech 2 mods I would say a new player is much better fighting in low meta (read that cheap ) weapons that fighting with T2 weapons that he can't afford to loose. Screw EFT look at the cost difference of loosing a fully insured low meta ship versus a fully insured fully T2 fit ship and then tell me how you expect a new player to get any experience loosing ships that he can not afford to loose?

As far as me doing FW, I don't PvP. On that note I have well over 100 million skill points. Give a brand new player a month and 100 cheap ships to loose and then put me up against him in his 101st cheap ship and me in a fully T2 fit ship and I can pretty much guarantee that I won't win as I have zero experience. One that same note give a brand new player an all level 5 toon and an experienced PvP pilot a month old toon and the experienced pilot will win almost every time. You don't have to take my word for this, the blogs of the vets that have rerolled and the forum tears of the new players that bought high SP toons are all over if you care to look.

I switched on to my alt just so I could like this twice.