EVE New Citizens Q&A

I can't figure out what tabs I actually need. I understand, mostly, how they work and how to set them up... but I'm not satisfied with what my tabs display and I'm not certain what I'll need as my career in Eve advances.

My plan right now (I'm still leveling up and running basic missions) is to join a FW corp. So I plan on running dungeons/complexes and plan to engage in a decent amount of PvP.

But all the tab options I see everywhere (everyone suggests different tabs with different content) has started to spin my head around.

• I just want basic reliable tabs for a regular mix of PvP & PvE. If possible, I'd like that on my primary first tab.

• Then I feel like I need something to loot wrecks and to find cargo containers (common in missions).

• A drones tab seems like it might be useful and necessary.

• And a tab to work with my directional scanner seems like a good idea (but I don't know what content to include in that).

• As for the fifth tab... I'm at a total loss for what I might actually need.

I realize this probably looks like 100 posts in the noobs section, but I find that the all of the tab recommendations in all the various guides are all over the place. So... I was hoping I could get some more personalized tips/pointers/ideas/suggestions if anyone has a couple minutes of their life to spare. I'm looking for something that works for me and which I might be able to keep using indefinitely.

I have a standard flying tab... setup to alert me to things that are going to shoot me... and who I am allowed to shoot... it has minimal other clutter...
I have a tab for asteroids... which just has asteroids
I have a tab for salvage... just has wreaks
And I have a GTFO tab to allow me quickly find a celestial to warp to when things go pear shaped.

Take a look at this page: http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Overview_Guide,
you should find most, if not all, of what you are looking for there.

More importantly, it also tries to explain the mechanics of the overview which is important to understand, as you probably want to customize it for your own preferences (for example, I disable any blinking; annoying and purportedly lag-inducing).

This is it - ultimately, the overview is the lens you view the game through, so although people can give good basic advise, it isn't going to be 100% suitable, and you are going to have to do a lot of tweaking as time goes by. I have dozens of overview options, many just subtle variations on each other for special circumstances (primarily my combat tabs so I can cut out the noise when seeking specific targets in a large battle), and I am adding to, and altering them all the time. As long as you have a GTFO tab (sun, planets, beacons, gates, stations), a hostile targets tab (just things that can shoot you - but to avoid clutter it is often best to put drones in a seperate tab), and an all tab (for when you just cant find what you know is there on your current tab), the rest will come in time.

EDIT - And remember, you don't have to start from scratch with each tab. Make a fairly basic one (or download one of the standard packs people have out there), save that, then use that as the base for future specialised ones. Decide what you need that others might not (my "loot" tab includes corpses... for... err... reasons, I have a seperate tab that shows friendly combat ships, which are not present on my usual combat tabs, and POS towers, jump bridges and titans also reappear on my travel tab, as well as their specific POS and capitals tabs, etc, etc).

You do know that unless you are in a BS+ ship, you can pand on a POS and warp out before it locked you....

Also, if you know that there is no pos at the moon you're heading to, it can be difficult to track you visually because the brackets for moons and planets clump together in space.

Well, I've been playing for less than a month so far, so... no. Many thanks for the tip though, it is appreciated.

I'm building a pvp/low/null sec alt up on another account. This character (my main) will probably be the hi-sec bunny.

I prefer belts, and Custom Offices on my GTFO tab for NS and wspace, but moons are great for HS and LS as there are no bubbles in there and it's much harder for pursuers to track you.