Warfare & Tactics

Hi Guys !

I'd like to ask for some advice and professional opinion from more seasoned pilots. I've been in EVE for about 6-7 months now, building up my wallet and experience to start doing something more fun than money making. I'd like to engage in more PVP action, can afford to lose a lot of ships, mostly up to cruiser class, but now that I'm not waiting for random action and started to search for targets, I see the following problem:

(note: I'd like to avoid big corporations and big fleet battles for know and prefer to engage in smaller encounters)

I'm playing either alone or with a friend of mine, so 2-man fleet top, I'd like to fight 1-2-3 targets, but every time I find someone it's one of these situations:

- 1on1 he/she warps away instantly
- 1on1 he/she warps away instantly and comes back with at least 6 friends
- 1onMany because I was already warpin in from more than 14.3AU and didn't see how many of them are camping there on D-scan.

I'm familiar with PVP basics, who beats who and how to fly different types of ships, obviously I need a ton of practice but that is what I'm looking for hopefully with your help.

There was only 1 time my whole EVE career that I could engage in real 1 on 1 action and it would have been my BS against a supercarrier, luckily I was able to warp out in time. Every other time I either get ganked or the potential target comes back with his friends.

I have to admit I've been looking for targets in these border zone systems, because it's always full of them, so maybe I should go deeper in low sec-null sec.
I've got no clue how these people on youtube doing 1v1 solo videos, I can't find myself in an engagement like that. The other advice I cannot follow: switch your damage type based on oppoenents weekens... All my fights are 8 seconds long :)

Would appreciate any advise, the main question in shorter version:

how can I either flying solo or in a 2-man fleet fight fair engagements, I don't mind loosing ships but there is nothing you can learn from being ganked by 8 other pilots in 5 seconds...

Thanks for the feedback in advance !

Solasyl

Eve is not really a solo pvp game, flying in twos is very common however. You will mostly find out the hard way, but there are ways to minimize risks, such as below.

One way to minimize risk is to find out some more info about your opponents. Use killboards and be fast with typing. If you see one guy in local and you know his location,and you don't know the dude, don't be lazy. You will quickly see in the killboards whether he flies alone or not, that is pretty much all I use killboards for. personally, I think killboards are one of the dumbest things, but I use it mainly for intel to minimize risk.

Another way to minimize risk is to choose your fight. Large systems with a plex that is far away from gates. That gives you time to once again check killboards or if you are lazy and local spikes, it buys you time to either:

1. Kill him and be gone. Many are bait fits, then you just have to be gone.
2. Do what is needed to break off the fight and get out before his friends arrive.

While you are at it, add him to orange or red, perhaps his whole corp too, that reminds you if the people are solo fighters or not, at least it does to me, that is what I use the orange and red set standings for. You see them again, avoid fights.

The good thing about killboards is also it quickly tells you how the other guy fights. Is he really solo, does he have off-grid booster? if you suspect and off-grid booster and identified one, send a fleet inv. to who you think the booster is to double check, then red mark it to, avoid fight if you are alone.

There are some corps around in low sec that I avoid fighting in certain areas with certain ships, yes, even if they mostly fight solo, once they are in trouble they still like to ask for help and will get that help.

solo pvp is an expensive business, you need to minimize risks by not being lazy, doing your work but sometimes you just want to chill and find out the hard way, important is that you make note in whatever way possible of whom ganked you and avoid fighting them in the future. Remember, Eve is not really a solo pvp game, solo pvp can be part of it and can be extremely fun or extremely frustrating when you fly an inferior ship that wants to try and fight a superior ship with a new strategy, and suddenly, that superior ship shows up with even more superior ships, ecm, reps and all that crap... so the best is really, to use the killboards.

Remember, a guy with a killboard that has 300 kills and 50 losses, and mostly solo or very small gang fights is much more dangerous than a guy with 20 000+ kills and always in a fleet that has never had a solo kill unless killing a cyno alt or something.

Don't expect to get a lot of 1 frig fighting your RLML fit Caracal.

What is this "Picking Targets" you speak of? I fly a kitey Tristan and take every fight I possibly can.

In all seriousness though, yes I try to avoid blobs or fights that are impossibly stacked against me, but adopting a kind of fearless attitude toward taking fights and losing ships is what I try to do, and is the best thing you can do to learn. After many fights eventually patterns will start to emerge, you'll begin to understand what ships are good targets for the ship you're flying and, more importantly, why.

For example, The first time I saw a Hawk on Dscan sitting in a plex I was wary of taking the fight. I took it thinking I'd lose but I won, and now I get excited every time I see a hawk on scan. Similarly, the lessons of subsequent deaths have taught me that Coercers are bad news, as are Light Missile Caracals and MWD fit Condors, but Algos is an easy kill if you can take out his drones first.

You cannot simply start a forum thread and hope to be told how to pick targets. It has absolutely everything to do with your ship, fitting, skills and your own piloting ability. There is no answer here that will help you learn to fight better, It's just one of those things you have to get out and experience for yourself.

Looking at your KB, I will make a few suggestions:

1. Keep flying frigates.
2. Go fit up a couple dozen of whatever frig you enjoy flying the most and go and try to get it blown up. Your mission is to get exploded, don't come back for a new ship until you do.
3. Don't use so many ships. You need to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the ship you're flying inside and out before you can learn how to use it effectively against other people, and you're not giving yourself a chance to do that by flying a different ship every day.

this is how i select my ships and targets.

my alt spots possible target, i check guys killboard history to check possible fit for his ship, then i select some ship that can take down his ship ,ship can not be too scary, this is the most important thing.

usually some people know me and do not stay and fight no matter what ship i will take, so i can also use some 'noobie' alt to go and tackle that guy and then maybe if 'noobie' alt actually needs help i go and kill target. Usually alt uses ship that should die to target ship so it looks like a easy prey and target stays and fights .

I know, those are lame tactics but i am too lazy to seek anything else, at least with this char

If I understood it correctly, eve is not game for solo pvp. But I believe you can find much more solo fights in FW, especially if you join underdog side. Novice and small plexes often do the match maker's job to a certain degree and you can always see on D-Scan, what is incomming. I doubt there is more in-game mechanic, that supports your needs.

Yes thats Lame indeed ... i prefere to fight with my noob alt and die with honor before bring a pro char to kill the alrdy half armor enemy.
Thats why 1v1 engagements isnt funny as it should be.

My 2 Cent :)

What BM means by this is that he invariably takes a ship at least 1 class above the target. And most often 2 of them.

Dragoon seems to suit very well my current drone-missile skills, thanks for the tip, I'll definitely try it out in combat !

install "pirates little helper", shows who is fleeted up in local and various other little tricks/stats like player age and recent kills/deaths, mostly trial and error really, i watched a guy in black rise take on a fleet of 4 guys in his solo tristan (they all warped out), i decided to avoid him but he caught me 3 times in my harpy, first 2 times he managed to warp after i killed his drones, 3rd time he managed to kill me.

Basically it doesnt matter what they fly its how they fly it.