Warfare & Tactics

As far as money goes just run a novice plex every time you go out before taking any fights and you've covered your loss.

But I can't post on an alt in corp chat!

I am looking at increasing spending, but honestly it looks like I'm going to be several weeks out from having the skills to *fit* a 5M frigate anyway. For now, it's going to have to be a mix of PvE ISK grinding, defensive plexes and building muscle memory by exploding fully insured meta 0 hulls.

I've also got to say I've been impressed with the helpfulness and lack of smack talk both here and in game. While I'm sure a few of "gf" in local left "scrub" untyped, so far it's been nothing but polite and friendly.

And now that I've gone and jinxed it...

Higher Meta level items can drive the price & performance up quick, and require the same skills.

Also, if you are PVPing with meta 2-4 guns/launchers, spending for a bit of faction ammunition is the way to go. Use dirt cheap standard amo to kill the rats if you are oplexing, then switch to faction amo of the correct type when you pick something up on dscan.

Okay, so in no way should I be coaching you on anything other than general aspects of PvP. I am in no way very good at it, just simply not..... horrible..... Now that that warning is out of the way, this is my advice to you from someone only a little better than a PvP scrub

- Find a ship that seems pretty good. Then, buy 5 of those ships and fit them exactly the same. Lose them all. If you want to tweak anything, do, but get to know the general ins and outs of a ship.

If I were you, try a fit like this, but adapt it to whatever skills you have. I don't know how good it actually is, I made it myself a while back, but I've killed a few things with it and it has pretty good tank and helps you to learn the game

Breacher

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3x Rocket Launcher II

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1x 1mn Afterburner II
1x Warp Scrambler II
2x Medium Ancillary Shield Booster

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1x Damage Control Unit
1x Co-Processor II
1x Reactor Control Unit II

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1x Small Bay Loading Accelerator I
1x Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I


With this ship, you can practice.....
- Managing overheating modules
- Choosing damage types
- Controlling Range (get to 5000m off brawlers if you can)
- Catching kity ships (can tank them for a pretty long time, assuming they don't have good dps, so you can practice on them)
- Managing tank



If I were you, get like 10 or 15 of this, but adapted to your skill levels, fit all meta 4 or 3 when the meta 4 is over 1 mil each. You ARE going to lose money if you want to get good at PvP. You won't be able to beat stuff often with meta 1 stuff. Remember, this fit may suck, horribly, but I think it might be useful for learning. Fly Dangerously

Find an off pipe system and just warp out to a safe spot, wait for enemies to clear out, warp back. Make sure your dscan has combat probes on it.

It's almost as if LP should be earned.

I'm always amazed at how stubborn people can be about not taking good advice in EVE, even when that advice is what they are actively soliciting.

Clearly you have some experience with this game's history and reputation for a punishing learning curve. Are you really surprised by the circumstances you find yourself in?

Alright, that said... I'll be nicer from here on.

People who have fun in EVE are mostly people who join a good community. If you are dead set against joining a corp, it will be much less likely that you find EVE to be a gratifying experience. I remember having a lot of the same challenges you describe as a newer player. My first character was created in 2006, and I would subscribe for a month or two at a time before getting frustrated enough to quit.

It wasn't until 2010 that I spent any more significant amount of time playing. It wasn't until 2012 till I finally found my niche in EVE enough to keep my subscription without lapsing. Earlier this year I attended my first Fanfest in Iceland, and it was one of the best and nerdiest experiences ever.

What made the difference? Friendships. Friendships I've made with cool people I fly with, who taught me how to quit worrying and love my explosions.

If you don't want to make friends, EVE probably isn't the game for you.

If you do want to make friends, here's a protip: have a positive attitude. I don't want to recruit someone who's going to moan about losing their Atron. I want someone who's going to hop on coms with us, crack a beer, and spend a fleet joking about what scrubs the Caldari are.

(lol squids, I just had to throw that in... no hard feelings : P )

It's like raaaa-iiiii-ain on your wedding day...

The sentiment isn't entirely wrong though. Most things are more fun with friends. Be it drunken weekend outings, EVE, or Sarin gas exposure.

That all being said though, it's possible I'll head out to RvB this weekend when I've got some time to get my PvP on. Won't be in any better position SP wise, but being tackle-fodder can't be any more boring than semi-afk mining. Though I recently found WingspanTT, and it reminds me why I ended up with Covert Ops IV & Torpedoes IV before cancelling last time.

Maybe I should train up some WH space exploration skills before cancelling this time...

Depends on the system and the people. My completely unfit deplexing alts make several hundred thousand lp a week when I'm using them in that fashion, sometimes more. Kill rights cover the cost of the hulls.

I'm sociable but find it overwhelming to be in a really active corp because it's too easy to accidentally burn way too much free time on EvE and marginalize other things in life. Opportunity cost matters, some of us love EvE but prefer to keep it casual instead of getting involved in the life stories of everyone in fleet. Some of us forgo going on vacation somewhere cheap and warm in order to go to Iceland for what sounds an awful lot like a tech conference with just one vendor. Like you say, we can't judge what others value in life. The only thing that matters is being able to look back on the time you've spent and not regretting it. I had some great, epic times being in active corps but the time wasted behind the scenes planning/waiting/PvEing/forming up and even just warping around in a big fleet absolutely sucked. People say that the downtime is what makes the epic fights really worthwhile but for some of us that is too much commitment just to get on a shiny killmail.