This guide is intended to show you nublets just how easy it is to get started nowadays in EvE Online. I decided to give it its own thread here in the EvE forum for easy access, so I can update it.
Check all the other threads for more detailed info on training, how to train, what to train and when to train. Don't be afraid to ask questions, but ask them on the forum before you ask them in game, that way we only have to type this stuff to you nublets once.
This guide assumes you are going to play the 14 day trial first, if you already have a character that’s got less than 2 weeks played but is more than 1 year old, you may be gimped and would be better off starting a new char. If you have a 1 year plus character and have a month or more played, skip ahead a bit.
A note on character creation, stats and skills.
Before you even click a single button, get a pen and paper and write down all the decisions you make, because I guarantee you that by the time you pick your ancestry, schools and stats AND make your face, you will hit create and get a message that you disconnected. Write everything down so the second time you can fly through the process with ease.
My advice is to go through this thread from Haniblecter
http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=412726 ,
it’s an awesome guide on char creation and the in-depth meanings of all the terms.
First thing is first, pick your race:
Minmatar
These guys are the crazy, Klingon/Road Warrior barbarians of EvE. Their ships are lightweight and have lower defense, and they use antiquated projectile based weapons which are bolstered by some use of missiles. They make up for this with the ability to use shields and armor with almost equal effectiveness which varies from ship to ship. Their ships are usually considered “speed tanks” in that they don’t have the resists of Caldari nor the raw HP of Galente or Ammar, but the sheer speed of their ships means they are much harder to hit.
Their ships look like duct taped scrap piles and the larger fleet ships are very intimidating.
BarryCuda has an awesome Minmatard newbie tackler here
http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=510022
This is the ship we'd prefer you learn first. If you're a Caldari, Ammar or Galente, you can still use this ship, just train Minmatar Frigates.
Minmitar, Brutor Tribe
Add 1 point to Perception, 2 to Willpower, 1 to Memory and 1 to Intelligence.
Your cha is gimped, but Cha implants are the cheapest ones and you don't really need Cha for combat skills.
Slave Child Ancestry adds 2 Perception 2 Willpower
Military School
Special Forces
Once you start this character, you are ready to train for the Minmitar tackler pretty quick.
1. Electronics II (2 hours, 22 minutes, 46 seconds)
2. Electronics III (13 hours, 26 minutes, 59 seconds)
3. Propulsion Jamming I (1 hour, 31 minutes, 54 seconds)
4. High Speed Maneuvering I (1 hour, 38 minutes, 2 seconds)
5. Mechanic I (30 minutes, 38 seconds)
6. Hull Upgrades I (1 hour, 1 minute, 16 seconds)
Once trained, hop in a Rifter Frigate and get a Microwarp Drive, and a Warp Disruptor.
In roughly 20 Hours you will have a damn fine tackler. This ship is fast and has the ability to immobilize ships many times its size, especially effective against Battleships since their guns cannot turn fast enough to hit you for much damage.
This ship holds a target in place by removing its ability to warp away, so the rest of the fleet can swoop in and kill it, or you will hang back with the main fleet and hold targets the fleet encounters while they are busy with another target. Not as great as a true Interceptor, but this will get you started and you can be in a fully fitted Inty in a few more weeks. This ship is dangerous to fly, but you’re a fucking Minmatar, this is the crazy shit you live for. This ship is dirt cheap and has one purpose, but that purpose will get your adrenaline pumping every time you go in to tackle a ship 100 times your size.
Next we'll look at a Minmitar Cruiser setup. This cruiser is based on the tackling you've been doing in the Rifter Frigate, so you'll have a good idea of what to do when you hop in. This cruiser is cheap and you should be able to get into it quickly. You should wait to get into this until you feel reasonably confident in the Rifter, once you do, train these skills:
7. Minmatar Cruiser I (56 minutes, 59 seconds)
8. Minmatar Cruiser II (4 hours, 25 minutes, 28 seconds)
9. Minmatar Cruiser III (1 day, 1 hour, 1 minute, 30 seconds)
10. Medium Projectile Turret I (34 minutes, 11 seconds)
11. High Speed Maneuvering II (7 hours, 36 minutes, 37 seconds)
12. High Speed Maneuvering III (1 day, 19 hours, 2 minutes, 35 seconds)
13. Repair Systems I (30 minutes, 38 seconds)
14. Mechanic II (2 hours, 22 minutes, 46 seconds)
15. Minmatar Cruiser IV (5 days, 21 hours, 34 minutes, 4 seconds)
In roughly 4 days training time get into a Stabber Cruiser and fit a Microwarp drive, Warp Scrambler and Stasis Web in the mids, put a Damage Control, Medium Armor Repair and Overdrive Injector in the lows, 2 Assault Missile Launcher and 4 Medium 425mm Auto Cannons. Don't forget to train Minmatar Cruisers IV for the extra speed advantage.
This Cruiser is for getting in there nose-to-nose with the enemy and immobilising him. Much like your Rifter, this ship is for swooping in and removing the enemies ability to escape. Unlike the Rifter, the Stabber gets within 10km of the target, immobilizes it completely, AND does considerable damage on its own. It's a pretty suicidal solo fit but it's cheap, and when employed with a sizable gang and the right tactics it's absolutely devastating. This ship is ESPECIALLY effective in Gate Camps.
Ammar
This is the uber empire. Ammar holds more solar systems than any other NPC race. They fly beautiful golden behemoths and breathe fire from powerful plasma laser turrets. Ammar use Lasers almost exclusively; with a few ships having one or two missile bays, but you’ll never use them. Lasers track fast and do big damage. They have next to no shields to speak of, instead they rely on super strong armor plating and excellent hull hp. Do Ammar have a downside? They rely on capacitor energy more than any other race and the combination of armor repair and lasers can drain even the biggest capacitor rather quickly, so get in, kill quick, and then get the fuck out.
The Ammar look is sort of a Rome meets a Chrome Dipping Factory. They are deeply religious and honor their emperor as a god. (did I mention they get to fry shit with frikkin’ LASER BEAMS?!?)
Here's a plan for an Ammar newbie vampire Frig, with an upgrade to a cruiser later.
Ammar, Ammar Bloodline
Add 3 Perception, 1 Memory, 1 Willpower (Ammar stats are pretty ugly and your cha will be slightly gimped, the good news is CHA implants are the cheapest implants and you only need CHA for training social type skills.)
Religious Reclaimers Ancestry adds another 4 Willpower
Military school
Special Forces Specialization
Ok, these look just crazy fun to me. Again these 2 are both gang dependant and solo PvP in these rigs is probably suicide, but both could do missions or highsec ratting solo.
Get a Punisher frigate (this frigate has bonuses to armor resistances making it a pretty tough nut for a little Frigate) and train these skills.
1. Electronics I (23 minutes, 20 seconds)
2. Electronics II (1 hour, 48 minutes, 46 seconds)
3. Electronics III (10 hours, 14 minutes, 50 seconds)
4. Navigation I (21 minutes, 18 seconds)
5. Navigation II (1 hour, 39 minutes, 19 seconds)
6. Electronic Warfare I (46 minutes, 41 seconds)
7. Propulsion Jamming I (1 hour, 10 minutes, 1 second)
16 ½ hours and you can use 1-2 Nosferatu (energy vampire), 2-3 BEAM lasers (use the “Dual Light Beam Laser I” type with range extending crystals), a Webifier (snare) and/or a Warp Scrambler, plus armor enhancements, repairer and propulsion upgrades in your 4 low slots.
This makes for a nasty little support frig. This is NOT a tackler, but you can help warp scram an already captured target, web and immobilize it, then slowly drain away it’s capacitor completely rendering it defenseless. This frig should be used in close combat with a well organized fleet. It’s flimsy but it’s fun and cheap.
Now train these skills.
8. Amarr Cruiser I (1 hour, 6 minutes, 14 seconds)
9. Amarr Cruiser II (5 hours, 8 minutes, 31 seconds)
10. Medium Energy Turret I (39 minutes, 44 seconds)
11. Navigation III (9 hours, 21 minutes, 22 seconds)
12. Navigation IV (2 days, 4 hours, 56 minutes, 2 seconds)
13. Afterburner I (21 minutes, 18 seconds)
Save your isk and in another 2 days 21 hours training time, get yourself a Arbitrator Cruiser. Now you can use 2 Medium Nosferatu, 2 Medium BEAM Lasers(“Focused Medium Beam Laser I” type), Web, Scram, AND afterburner, plus a BURST type ECM, 4 low slots worth of armor, repair and propulsion upgrades, AND THAT’S NOT ALL!!! This ship can house TWO wings of drones! 1 set of 5 Mediums Combat Drones and 1 set of Scout Combat Drones. (keep in mind you can only have 5 drones at a time active)
This ship, just like the frigate, is great for webbing, scramming, and draining an enemy capacitor then burning the ship to a cinder, plus you have a crapload of drones to do even MORE damage. Afterburner means you have much better freedom of movement. This ship should be used in a fleet role or in PvE. You can probably get your feet wet with smaller gangs in this ship but soloing is not recommended.
Finally, add these skills.
14. Afterburner II (1 hour, 39 minutes, 19 seconds)
15. Afterburner III (9 hours, 21 minutes, 22 seconds)
16. Afterburner IV (2 days, 4 hours, 56 minutes, 2 seconds)
17. High Speed Maneuvering I (1 hour, 46 minutes, 33 seconds)
2 days 17 hours gets you the ability to use MicroWarp Drives, which make you MUCH faster and MUCH more deadly AND making it a bit more viable for a starter solo ship.
(Did I mention the frikkin’ LASER BEAMS!?!)
Galente
These guys are the refined, fashionable race (think The Fifth Element). Their ships get insane Drone bonuses so usually your combat will be from afar, directing your drones from one target to the next. This doesn’t mean their ships are weak though as they are the masters of “Hybrid” guns, usually the short range “Blaster” variant, and they can easily go toe to toe with ships of equal or greater strength, as long as their drones are assisting them.
As stated, the look of Galente is very Fifth Element and as far as the drone use, if you liked Homeworld this is the race for you.
Here’s a plan for a Gaylente newbie damper. This is just an example, your mileage may vary.
This is a hot topic of debate, Sensor Dampers vs. Targeting Jammers. They do basically the same thing but they do it in completely different ways.
A Targeting Jammer cuts their targeting off COMPLETELY for a short amount of time, around 20 seconds, then you have to jam them again. The downside to Jamming technology is that it has about a 33% success rate (in my experience), and that’s with great skills.
A Damper reduces the enemies targeting RANGE and TARGETING SPEED. Dampers work 100% of the time, but their effectiveness depends on the strength of the enemy sensors. Both of these ships have bonuses to add effectiveness to the dampers, and when using multiple dampers these ships are VERY effective at what they do.
Galente, Galente Bloodline
Add 1 Perception, 2 Memory, 2 Willpower
Immigrant Ancestry adds another 2 Perception and 2 Willpower
Military school
Special Forces Specialization
Get a Maulus frigate (this frigate has bonuses to target damping technology as well as room to use 2 small combat drones) and train these skills.
1. Hull Upgrades I (54 minutes, 27 seconds)
2. Electronics III (11 hours, 57 minutes, 19 seconds)
3. Sensor Linking I (1 hour, 21 minutes, 41 seconds)
4. Navigation II (1 hour, 31 minutes, 22 seconds)
5. Propulsion Jamming I (1 hour, 21 minutes, 41 seconds)
Once trained you can use 1 Drone Link Augmentor, 2 Hobgoblin Scout Drones (combat drones), 2 small hybrid weapons, 3 Remote Sensor Dampers or 2 Damps and an Afterburner or 2 Damps and a Stasis Webifier, 2 Overdrive Injector Systems, 2 Inertial Stabilizers or 1 of each.
Training time on this ship is so short it’s stupid. 17 hours to use the modues and another 4 days 15 hours of upgrading the existing skills to make it truly effective. And the ship is just plain fun. This is a gang support ship and not well suited to small gangs (less than 10 members) but thanks to the drones it can handle any high security rats and can do most of the lvl 1 agent missions.
What this little bugger WILL do is render most ships unable to target past their own bowline, and if you swap 1 damp for an afterburner your survivability increases, or you can go all commando on people and webify them, which basically roots them in place, as long as someone else has them warp scrambled. The ability to Web is very important to gate camps, you’ll find out why later. Also, fleets LOVE dampers, the more the better, because it completely screws a battlecruiser or battleship, who prefer to attack at long range. Plus you don’t have to worry about doing dmg with your ship, your drones will do it all for you! Exteremly cheap loadout, and pretty darn versatile for a new player.
Now add these skills for extra power;
6. Sensor Linking II (6 hours, 20 minutes, 30 seconds)
7. Sensor Linking III (1 day, 11 hours, 52 minutes, 10 seconds)
8. Propulsion Jamming II (6 hours, 20 minutes, 30 seconds)
9. Propulsion Jamming III (1 day, 11 hours, 52 minutes, 10 seconds)
10. Hull Upgrades II (4 hours, 13 minutes, 42 seconds)
11. Hull Upgrades III (23 hours, 54 minutes, 44 seconds)
To upgrade to the much more powerful Celestis Cruiser, add these skills,
12. Gallente Cruiser I (1 hour, 4 minutes, 29 seconds)
13. Gallente Cruiser II (5 hours, 24 seconds)
14. Gunnery III (5 hours, 39 minutes, 46 seconds)
15. Medium Hybrid Turret I (38 minutes, 41 seconds)
12 more hours of training gets you access to the Celestis, which has bonuses to Damping technology and Medium Hybrid Turret damage. With this you’ll be able to use three 200mm Railguns, 4 dampers, Afterburner, plus an armor repairer, propulsion and armor upgrades. Add 4 medium combat drones and you’re ready to rock.
This is a much more durable ship than the Maulus and you can maintain the Dampers way longer. You’ll also be able to do good dmg in this ship, and can feel confident in a smaller gang. I still don’t recommend this for solo low security or 0.0 space, but this ship can easily take out any high security rat, and with the help of the drones you can do any level 1 mission with ease.
Adding levels in Galente Cruiser will make the damper/medium rail bonuses higher, so obviously if you like the ship you should get Galente Cruiser to at least lvl 4.
Finally, add these skills and you can use a MicroWarp drive, making you 500% faster which means you can maintain your distance from the target you’re damping easier.
16. Navigation III (8 hours, 36 minutes, 28 seconds)
17. Afterburner III (8 hours, 36 minutes, 28 seconds)
18. Navigation IV (2 days, 41 minutes, 57 seconds)
19. Afterburner IV (2 days, 41 minutes, 57 seconds)
20. High Speed Maneuvering I (1 hour, 38 minutes, 2 seconds)
Caldari
These guys are the hard core badasses of EvE. Militaristic and extremely Capitalistic, these guys are all business and no fuckin’ around. Caldari ships are unique as they are the only race that depends entirely on Shields for defense. The up side is that shields have a natural regeneration that armor does not. The down side is if the enemy gets past your shields you’re screwed. Caldari can use Hybrid weapons almost as well as Galente, but they use them differently. Instead of dmg bonuses, Caldari usually get range bonuses, making them excellent long range snipers. The Caldari are most envied for their greatest strength, they are the undisputed masters of missiles. Caldari ships get awesome range/dmg bonuses to anything from simple rockets, to awe inspiring nuclear torpedoes. Also missile use is much easier than turret use, as your damage is more reliable and all you have to do to hit your target is basically be in range. Caldari ships are easy to fly, but have the least capacity to use drones, and their slow speed and lack of armor requires a very tactically minded pilot.
Caldari design is very “Starship Troopers meets the Marines from Aliens”.
Here are some Caldari starter plans. Your mileage may vary but these sound like fun to me. All training times are so short it's stupid, so if you find you don't like one or the other you wont be wasting any time since these skills are ones you'll need eventually anyways.
Caldari, Civire Bloodline
Add 2 Perception, 2 Memory, 1 Intelligence
Mercs Ancestry adds another 4 Willpower
(Caldari, Civire have the best base stats for learning different ship types, high Perception and Willpower, which is why there are so many Caldari Civire in-game. You will find however that later on you are slightly gimped for learning modules and social skills, but you can augment that with implants.)
Military school
Special Forces Specialization
This one is a bit tricky so I’m going to set up 2 different plans, one for an all out slugfest fit, and one for an electronic warfare fit.
Billy Badass slugfest nublet.
Get a Merlin frigate (this frigate has bonuses to shield resistances plus a range increase for hybrid guns) and train these skills.
1. Navigation I (19 minutes, 36 seconds)
2. Afterburner I (19 minutes, 36 seconds)
3. Weapon Upgrades I (30 minutes, 38 seconds)
4. Energy Grid Upgrades I (54 minutes, 27 seconds)
5. Energy Grid Upgrades II (4 hours, 13 minutes, 42 seconds)
In a measly 6 hours you can use 2 small hybrid RAILGUNs, 2 STANDARD missile launchers, 1 Afterburner, 1 shield extender, 1 shield booster, 1 cap recharger, 1 ballistic control system and 1 magnetic field stabilizer.
This ship has the strongest shields of any tech 1 frigate, and has the ability to recharge them quickly provided you have energy in your capacitor. This ship can fire both guns and missiles, making it particularly well suited to raw combat (pew pew in EvEspeak). This frig can be used in roaming gangs and can obliterate level 1 missions and pretty much any high security area rat.
Next you will add these skills.
6. Caldari Cruiser I (1 hour, 1 minute, 16 seconds)
7. Caldari Cruiser II (4 hours, 45 minutes, 23 seconds)
8. Standard Missiles II (1 hour, 54 minutes, 10 seconds)
9. Standard Missiles III (10 hours, 45 minutes, 38 seconds)
10. Heavy Missiles I (36 minutes, 45 seconds)
11. Target Painting I (1 hour, 21 minutes, 41 seconds)
12. Navigation II (1 hour, 31 minutes, 22 seconds)
13. Propulsion Jamming I (1 hour, 21 minutes, 41 seconds)
In another 23 hours and 18 minutes, and after you save some ISK, you can fly a Caracal Cruiser. This ship has bonuses to both the range of heavy missiles AND the damage of KINETIC heavy missiles. Fit 3 Heavy Missile Launchers, 2 Assault Launchers (not heavy assault, just plain assault), a Target Painter, a Warp Scram, afterburner, shield extender and either a second extender or a web, then 2 Ballistic Control System in your low slots.
Why not 5 Heavy Missile Launchers? Because your nublet ass probably can’t fit all that gear to your ship yet with enough powergrid to spare for anything else. If you can fit 4 or 5 with all the other equipment, great, if not just use the assault launchers for a bit until you can fit the rest of the heavies.
This is a beast of a Cruiser. It unloads missiles on enemies at close to medium range. It can web and/or scram and will having you doing tremendous damage for a little nublet, in a ridiculously short amount of time. Plus that Targeting Laser makes you look like a sniper (sweeeeet).
Taking the “Special Forces”, “ruin somebody’s day” route.
This is a hot topic of debate, Sensor Dampers vs. Targeting Jammers. They do basically the same thing but they do it in completely different ways.
A Damper reduces the enemies targeting RANGE and TARGETING SPEED. Dampers work 100% of the time, but their effectiveness depends on the strength of the enemy sensors.
A Targeting Jammer cuts their targeting off COMPLETELY for a short amount of time, around 20 seconds, then you have to jam them again. If successful, 20 seconds in EvE can be an eternity during which the jammed ship cannot return fire OR use its assisting modules on friendly ships. The downside to Jamming technology is that it has about a 33% success rate (in my experience), and that’s with great skills. Your skills will not be great, but these 2 ships make up for that by using multiple jamming modules at once, PLUS they have bonuses to jammer strength.
Start with a Griffin frigate (this frigate has bonuses to ECM Jammer strength and ECM Jammer Capacitor use., THESE ONLY APPLY TO TARGET JAMMERS, NOT ECM BURSTS) and train these skills.
1. Energy Grid Upgrades I (54 minutes, 27 seconds)
2. Energy Grid Upgrades II (4 hours, 13 minutes, 42 seconds)
3. Navigation I (19 minutes, 36 seconds)
4. Sensor Linking I (1 hour, 21 minutes, 41 seconds)
5. Afterburner I (19 minutes, 36 seconds)
6. Energy Emission Systems I (54 minutes, 27 seconds)
7. Mechanic I (27 minutes, 13 seconds)
8. Hull Upgrades I (54 minutes, 27 seconds)
Once trained in 9 hours 25 minutes, you can use 2 Standard Missile Launchers and 1 Nosferatu (energy vampire) , mids put 1 afterburner, 2 ECM MULTISPECTRAL Jammers, 1 Cap recharger. Lows 1 Ballistic Control System and a Capacitor Power Relay.
Alternatively, you can use 3 NOS and no Missile launchers, then trade the BCS and CPR for 2 Overdrive Injector System for extra speed, since you’ll be getting most of your power from draining your target. (NOTE: This setup is intended for CLOSE COMBAT at all times, and though it’s a more powerful option it will likely get you killed OFTEN.)
This Frigate is FLEET ONLY. In a small gang you will get PRIMARIED (targeted first by the whole enemy gang) for your ability to ruin their day, and if you go after missions or rats in this tin can you’ll get pasted. But in a good sized fleet, 30 ships or more, you can blend in at the outset of a fight and then swoop in on the biggest battleship and render him completely combat ineffective until your own fleet can bring him down.
If you get to like this rig and want to continue to a MUCH more powerful version, save your ISK and get a Blackbird Cruiser and train these skills.
9. Caldari Cruiser I (1 hour, 1 minute, 16 seconds)
10. Caldari Cruiser II (4 hours, 45 minutes, 23 seconds)
11. Standard Missiles II (1 hour, 54 minutes, 10 seconds)
12. Standard Missiles III (10 hours, 45 minutes, 38 seconds)
13. Heavy Missiles I (36 minutes, 45 seconds)
Fit 2 heavy missile launchers and 2 medium NOS, 3 ECM MULTISPECTRAL Jammers, 1 Cap Recharger, 1 Afterburner, and then a ballistic control system and a capacitor power relay in the lows.
In 19 hours and 3 minutes you can do everything you did in the Frigate but WAY better, AND you can do good damage at short range, in a much more durable ship that can easily get you through level 1 missions and any rat you come across in highsec space.
My personal favorite is Caldari, but I have trained up in roughly 15 Galente ships because I like to use Drones. You don’t have to only fly the ship race you start with, you can cross train. In fact you can train literally every skill available in the game, you are not limited by race or “class” or any other false barrier like other MMOs. Also the above is just the basic info, each race goes much deeper than I have time to explain.
Basically, just pick the race that sounds the most “you” and go with it, you can’t really gimp yourself nowadays.
Once you enter the game, FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS ON YOUR SCREEN TO THE LETTER. DO NOT CANCEL THE TUTORIAL, if you ask questions that are easily explained in the tutorial, you will be laughed right out of the corp. The tutorial is much more in-depth nowadays and starts you off with all the basic knowledge you will need to know, you’ll even start out with a bit more monies.
Once you are through all that, go to the TW EvE forum and post your characters name in this thread
http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=392529
and we’ll get you started.
Skill training.
Seriously, pick a Tech 2 frigate type (CovOps for sneaking around, Bomber for ganking, Assault for tanking or Interceptor for trapping bigger ships for your group to kill) and then start training the skills necessary. If you want to do mission running, use the Assault Frigs or train up Destroyers. Those will get you through all the level 1 missions easy. These are all basically fleet support ships. They can be trained in a short time and are just as useful in PvP as any of the larger ships.
If you just HAVE to go toe to toe with the big dogs and you have to do it ASAP, skip frigs and destroyers and train straight for Battlecruisers. You likely cannot get the necessary skills to use them effectively for at least a month, but along the way you’ll learn cruisers and that’ll let you get your feet wet as far as piloting more powerful ships. Also if you want to fly a battlecruiser a couple of weeks after creating your character, you’ll HAVE to get a time code and sell it (which is explained later) because you simply won’t be able to make enough ISK that soon and we’re not buying your nublet ass a 30+ million isk ship.
Basically, get EvEmon (the out of game skill planning tool) and figure out what you want to use and how much time you’re willing to invest and then go for it.
Haniblecter has a great thread about extented training here http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=404562
so listen to the man.[/B]
MONIES MONIES MONIES!!!
In EvE your success isn’t measured by the ship you’re flying, the time you’ve played or the number of skill points you have, it’s measured in the girth of your fat greedy wallet. In EvE money is called ISK, and ISK is EvEs great equalizer. Someone giving you shit because you can’t touch their big bad battleship in your teenyweeny frigate? Pay a filthy Merc corp to pop his ship and pod and bring you his frozen corpse (yes, they can literally kill him and deliver his freshly flash-frozen corpse to you for payment). In EvE, your wallet is your life. Without ISK you’re fucked, but with an overflowing bank account you can rule whole solar systems and never be afraid to fly anywhere because all your belongings will be easily replaceable.
NEW INFO for starting players.
At the time of the original post we were pretty much bound to high security space which meant the best way to make money was missions, and for nublets, High Security space means taking a looooooooooong time to make your first 100 mil.
There have been major changes for our corp in the last few weeks however, and that means the potential to make money has changed as well. We now have a broad base of operations in deep space (0.0 security, lawless space) and the NPC's ("rats") have high ISK bounties and are plentiful. The rats out here are no joke however, and I don't recommend hunting them in less than a battlecruiser, though some of our newer players have been able to take them on with long range cruisers.
Originally I stated that buying a timecode would make your early EvE life much easier and I stand by that, but if you're willing to invest the time and risk your ships, you CAN make your first 100mil ISK in a matter of days in deep space, you're just going to have to train the battlecruiser skills and then save every single ISK you can get to buy it. Like I said, long range cruisers (a Caracal or Moa would be an example of a long range cruiser) piloted by crazy suicidal pilots have been taking on the rats in our new home, and that in itself is a means to affording the battlecruiser, but it's not easy NOR recommended to tackle multiple battleships and their support in your flimsy cruiser.
PRO TIPS:
1. Don’t EVER fly more than you can afford to lose, EVER. A good rule of thumb is, the ship you are flying shouldn’t be worth more than 1/3 of what’s in your wallet.
2. USE SELL ORDERS. Don’t sell expensive shit to some jackasses buy order for half it’s real value just because you want a quick buck. Over time you’ll be loosing out on millions, if not billions. If you set a sell order in a well populated system like Jita for instance, and set your asking price between 1 and 5 percent under the lowest price, you WILL sell the item within a day, sometimes within minutes, for many times what the best buy order is offering. Don’t fuck yourself for a fast buck, have a tiny bit of patience and watch the market and you can make a lot of money in a short amount of time.
3. In the beginning, BUY A TIME CODE. This sounds like cheating, and there are people who will bitch and moan, but pretty much everyone has bought at least one time code with the intention of selling it for ISK. It’s stupid easy. You buy the Timecode online (which is totally legit) and then you go to the EvE forums and look for someone buying timecodes. 15 US dollars will net you between 160 to 200 MILLION ISK. You sell the timecode to another player through the secure transaction implemented in the official EvE website (again, totally legit) and you’ve just saved yourself MONTHS of grinding, because your nublet ass CANNOT make that kind of money in the first 2-3 months, it’s numerically impossible unless you don’t have a job and/or social life.
If you like the 14 day trial and think you’ll be playing for a while, it’s a measly $15 to save you months of grinding low level shit just to afford your first well fitted heavy ships with oodles of money to spare. In fact if you only set yourself to train tech 2 frigates and tech 1 cruisers, 160 million ISK will keep you in PvP for months. Plus you’ll be making ISK during those months and if you play it smart, soon you’ll be buying TimeCodes from other nublets and playing the game “dollar free”.
Once you've been playing for a bit and have saved up some ISK and loot to sell, read
http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=510178
for a little more detailed explanation of the EvE economy.
Addressing some concerns.
There's a few people that keep bringing up the same old arguments, here are the realities. EvE has changed a lot over the last 2 years, both the gameplay and the basic game mechanics have been tweaked and refined.
Travel.
Traveling long distances used to take hours on autopilot. You would literally set your destination, hit A and got get a cup of coffee or go rent, watch and return a movie. Interstellar travel in EvE literally sucked and there was a multi-billion ISK industry created around people hauling things that other people couldn't be bothere'd to move themselves. Then more recently they added a new travel option called "Warp to 0". Now, you can do it the old way, set auto and walk away, or you can manually pilot your ship to the destination in minutes, where it used to take an hour or more. The mechanics would take a whole page to explain, you'll see what I mean when you get into the game. Just trust me, travel long distances is not a big deal now.
I have recently made a thread about Travel Safety guidelines and how to survive in deep space here http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=511273 READ IT NUBLETS!
Mining
Mining is a safe and easy way to make money. In fact it’s so safe people join the game and never train a single point in weapons, they just fly around high security space mining all day. And it’s crazy profitable, minerals sell in just about every system and they sell for a lot.
But, DON’T BE A FUCKING CAREBEAR MINER.
It will take you no less than SIX MONTHS to make mining truly profitable. Between now and then you’ll be mining little amounts at a time, scrimping and saving every ISK to afford the uber harvesters that you won’t be using for MONTHS, and you’ll be BORED TO TEARS. The most common reason for people to quit EvE is “It’s too slow!!!”. Those people MINED. If you want a slow, easy going game, then internet mining may be for you. But keep in mind there’s plenty of miners in EvE, there’s no shortage of materials for manufacturing. If you really want to experience EvE, you need COMBAT. Do missions for a NPC corporation and gain standing then make crazy ISK, or come out with the PvP crowd and kill other players and take their shit and make crazy INSANE ISK.
We’d rather see you split your time between combat and manufacturing, than being a fucking carebear miner.
The inevitable Burnout
If you get burned out, set a long skill and let your account run out (a long skill will keep training until it’s done even if your account is inactive) and then come back in a few weeks when you’ve gotten the WoW carebearing bug out of your ass. Personally I play for like 3 months on then 1-2 months off. That’s the great thing about EvE is that it’s not the life consuming chore that other “grind” based MMOs are.
Piloting
As far as piloting, it’s not much different than controlling ships in Homeworld, it’s the same concept, except think of your EvE ship as one of those little Homeworld ships, but with its own upgrade points, 2-8 guns that are independently targetable, and your choice of special abilities ranging from jamming the enemies targeting systems to immobilizing them in a tractor beam, to assisting your friends by boosting their shields and repairing their armor.
Combat
The combat IS NOT POINT AND CLICK. You have to target, lock the target, select the weapons to use, select the modules to use, watch your capacitor, watch your shields and armor and repair them when necessary, maintain your distance from your target,,, the list goes on and on, and that’s all happening at the same time. It’s much more complex and deep than typical MMO “point and click to auto attack” like WoW.
PvP and Death
If you have some twisted hang-up about dying on the internet, go away, we don’t want you in EvE. In EvE you have just as much chance of going out and killing other players and then looting their hard earned shit as they have of doing the same to you. If you fly smart and watch your sales, you will almost always come out on top. Even the biggest baddest fleet is going to run into an even bigger badder fleet and you’re GOING to get killed many times in your EvE adventures, but it’s not the end of the world. Just re-upgrade your clone, buy another ship and get back out for more pew pew. After a while you’ll wonder how you ever could stomach playing a carebear game like WoW where the only consequence to your death is a meaningless run back from the graveyard. Finally, ALWAYS UPGRADE YOUR CLONE WHEN YOU DIE!!! It costs pennies and takes 2 seconds. You CANNOT spawn in a station that doesn't offer clone upgrades. You even send yourself an email reminding you to upgrade your clone, right before you die.
EvE is complex and hardcore, that’s never going to change, and after you’ve played for a while and gotten into it, you’ll be glad about that.
Check all the other threads for more detailed info on training, how to train, what to train and when to train. Don't be afraid to ask questions, but ask them on the forum before you ask them in game, that way we only have to type this stuff to you nublets once.
This guide assumes you are going to play the 14 day trial first, if you already have a character that’s got less than 2 weeks played but is more than 1 year old, you may be gimped and would be better off starting a new char. If you have a 1 year plus character and have a month or more played, skip ahead a bit.
A note on character creation, stats and skills.
Before you even click a single button, get a pen and paper and write down all the decisions you make, because I guarantee you that by the time you pick your ancestry, schools and stats AND make your face, you will hit create and get a message that you disconnected. Write everything down so the second time you can fly through the process with ease.
My advice is to go through this thread from Haniblecter
http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=412726 ,
it’s an awesome guide on char creation and the in-depth meanings of all the terms.
First thing is first, pick your race:
Minmatar
These guys are the crazy, Klingon/Road Warrior barbarians of EvE. Their ships are lightweight and have lower defense, and they use antiquated projectile based weapons which are bolstered by some use of missiles. They make up for this with the ability to use shields and armor with almost equal effectiveness which varies from ship to ship. Their ships are usually considered “speed tanks” in that they don’t have the resists of Caldari nor the raw HP of Galente or Ammar, but the sheer speed of their ships means they are much harder to hit.
Their ships look like duct taped scrap piles and the larger fleet ships are very intimidating.
BarryCuda has an awesome Minmatard newbie tackler here
http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=510022
This is the ship we'd prefer you learn first. If you're a Caldari, Ammar or Galente, you can still use this ship, just train Minmatar Frigates.
Minmitar, Brutor Tribe
Add 1 point to Perception, 2 to Willpower, 1 to Memory and 1 to Intelligence.
Your cha is gimped, but Cha implants are the cheapest ones and you don't really need Cha for combat skills.
Slave Child Ancestry adds 2 Perception 2 Willpower
Military School
Special Forces
Once you start this character, you are ready to train for the Minmitar tackler pretty quick.
1. Electronics II (2 hours, 22 minutes, 46 seconds)
2. Electronics III (13 hours, 26 minutes, 59 seconds)
3. Propulsion Jamming I (1 hour, 31 minutes, 54 seconds)
4. High Speed Maneuvering I (1 hour, 38 minutes, 2 seconds)
5. Mechanic I (30 minutes, 38 seconds)
6. Hull Upgrades I (1 hour, 1 minute, 16 seconds)
Once trained, hop in a Rifter Frigate and get a Microwarp Drive, and a Warp Disruptor.
In roughly 20 Hours you will have a damn fine tackler. This ship is fast and has the ability to immobilize ships many times its size, especially effective against Battleships since their guns cannot turn fast enough to hit you for much damage.
This ship holds a target in place by removing its ability to warp away, so the rest of the fleet can swoop in and kill it, or you will hang back with the main fleet and hold targets the fleet encounters while they are busy with another target. Not as great as a true Interceptor, but this will get you started and you can be in a fully fitted Inty in a few more weeks. This ship is dangerous to fly, but you’re a fucking Minmatar, this is the crazy shit you live for. This ship is dirt cheap and has one purpose, but that purpose will get your adrenaline pumping every time you go in to tackle a ship 100 times your size.
Next we'll look at a Minmitar Cruiser setup. This cruiser is based on the tackling you've been doing in the Rifter Frigate, so you'll have a good idea of what to do when you hop in. This cruiser is cheap and you should be able to get into it quickly. You should wait to get into this until you feel reasonably confident in the Rifter, once you do, train these skills:
7. Minmatar Cruiser I (56 minutes, 59 seconds)
8. Minmatar Cruiser II (4 hours, 25 minutes, 28 seconds)
9. Minmatar Cruiser III (1 day, 1 hour, 1 minute, 30 seconds)
10. Medium Projectile Turret I (34 minutes, 11 seconds)
11. High Speed Maneuvering II (7 hours, 36 minutes, 37 seconds)
12. High Speed Maneuvering III (1 day, 19 hours, 2 minutes, 35 seconds)
13. Repair Systems I (30 minutes, 38 seconds)
14. Mechanic II (2 hours, 22 minutes, 46 seconds)
15. Minmatar Cruiser IV (5 days, 21 hours, 34 minutes, 4 seconds)
In roughly 4 days training time get into a Stabber Cruiser and fit a Microwarp drive, Warp Scrambler and Stasis Web in the mids, put a Damage Control, Medium Armor Repair and Overdrive Injector in the lows, 2 Assault Missile Launcher and 4 Medium 425mm Auto Cannons. Don't forget to train Minmatar Cruisers IV for the extra speed advantage.
This Cruiser is for getting in there nose-to-nose with the enemy and immobilising him. Much like your Rifter, this ship is for swooping in and removing the enemies ability to escape. Unlike the Rifter, the Stabber gets within 10km of the target, immobilizes it completely, AND does considerable damage on its own. It's a pretty suicidal solo fit but it's cheap, and when employed with a sizable gang and the right tactics it's absolutely devastating. This ship is ESPECIALLY effective in Gate Camps.
Ammar
This is the uber empire. Ammar holds more solar systems than any other NPC race. They fly beautiful golden behemoths and breathe fire from powerful plasma laser turrets. Ammar use Lasers almost exclusively; with a few ships having one or two missile bays, but you’ll never use them. Lasers track fast and do big damage. They have next to no shields to speak of, instead they rely on super strong armor plating and excellent hull hp. Do Ammar have a downside? They rely on capacitor energy more than any other race and the combination of armor repair and lasers can drain even the biggest capacitor rather quickly, so get in, kill quick, and then get the fuck out.
The Ammar look is sort of a Rome meets a Chrome Dipping Factory. They are deeply religious and honor their emperor as a god. (did I mention they get to fry shit with frikkin’ LASER BEAMS?!?)
Here's a plan for an Ammar newbie vampire Frig, with an upgrade to a cruiser later.
Ammar, Ammar Bloodline
Add 3 Perception, 1 Memory, 1 Willpower (Ammar stats are pretty ugly and your cha will be slightly gimped, the good news is CHA implants are the cheapest implants and you only need CHA for training social type skills.)
Religious Reclaimers Ancestry adds another 4 Willpower
Military school
Special Forces Specialization
Ok, these look just crazy fun to me. Again these 2 are both gang dependant and solo PvP in these rigs is probably suicide, but both could do missions or highsec ratting solo.
Get a Punisher frigate (this frigate has bonuses to armor resistances making it a pretty tough nut for a little Frigate) and train these skills.
1. Electronics I (23 minutes, 20 seconds)
2. Electronics II (1 hour, 48 minutes, 46 seconds)
3. Electronics III (10 hours, 14 minutes, 50 seconds)
4. Navigation I (21 minutes, 18 seconds)
5. Navigation II (1 hour, 39 minutes, 19 seconds)
6. Electronic Warfare I (46 minutes, 41 seconds)
7. Propulsion Jamming I (1 hour, 10 minutes, 1 second)
16 ½ hours and you can use 1-2 Nosferatu (energy vampire), 2-3 BEAM lasers (use the “Dual Light Beam Laser I” type with range extending crystals), a Webifier (snare) and/or a Warp Scrambler, plus armor enhancements, repairer and propulsion upgrades in your 4 low slots.
This makes for a nasty little support frig. This is NOT a tackler, but you can help warp scram an already captured target, web and immobilize it, then slowly drain away it’s capacitor completely rendering it defenseless. This frig should be used in close combat with a well organized fleet. It’s flimsy but it’s fun and cheap.
Now train these skills.
8. Amarr Cruiser I (1 hour, 6 minutes, 14 seconds)
9. Amarr Cruiser II (5 hours, 8 minutes, 31 seconds)
10. Medium Energy Turret I (39 minutes, 44 seconds)
11. Navigation III (9 hours, 21 minutes, 22 seconds)
12. Navigation IV (2 days, 4 hours, 56 minutes, 2 seconds)
13. Afterburner I (21 minutes, 18 seconds)
Save your isk and in another 2 days 21 hours training time, get yourself a Arbitrator Cruiser. Now you can use 2 Medium Nosferatu, 2 Medium BEAM Lasers(“Focused Medium Beam Laser I” type), Web, Scram, AND afterburner, plus a BURST type ECM, 4 low slots worth of armor, repair and propulsion upgrades, AND THAT’S NOT ALL!!! This ship can house TWO wings of drones! 1 set of 5 Mediums Combat Drones and 1 set of Scout Combat Drones. (keep in mind you can only have 5 drones at a time active)
This ship, just like the frigate, is great for webbing, scramming, and draining an enemy capacitor then burning the ship to a cinder, plus you have a crapload of drones to do even MORE damage. Afterburner means you have much better freedom of movement. This ship should be used in a fleet role or in PvE. You can probably get your feet wet with smaller gangs in this ship but soloing is not recommended.
Finally, add these skills.
14. Afterburner II (1 hour, 39 minutes, 19 seconds)
15. Afterburner III (9 hours, 21 minutes, 22 seconds)
16. Afterburner IV (2 days, 4 hours, 56 minutes, 2 seconds)
17. High Speed Maneuvering I (1 hour, 46 minutes, 33 seconds)
2 days 17 hours gets you the ability to use MicroWarp Drives, which make you MUCH faster and MUCH more deadly AND making it a bit more viable for a starter solo ship.
(Did I mention the frikkin’ LASER BEAMS!?!)
Galente
These guys are the refined, fashionable race (think The Fifth Element). Their ships get insane Drone bonuses so usually your combat will be from afar, directing your drones from one target to the next. This doesn’t mean their ships are weak though as they are the masters of “Hybrid” guns, usually the short range “Blaster” variant, and they can easily go toe to toe with ships of equal or greater strength, as long as their drones are assisting them.
As stated, the look of Galente is very Fifth Element and as far as the drone use, if you liked Homeworld this is the race for you.
Here’s a plan for a Gaylente newbie damper. This is just an example, your mileage may vary.
This is a hot topic of debate, Sensor Dampers vs. Targeting Jammers. They do basically the same thing but they do it in completely different ways.
A Targeting Jammer cuts their targeting off COMPLETELY for a short amount of time, around 20 seconds, then you have to jam them again. The downside to Jamming technology is that it has about a 33% success rate (in my experience), and that’s with great skills.
A Damper reduces the enemies targeting RANGE and TARGETING SPEED. Dampers work 100% of the time, but their effectiveness depends on the strength of the enemy sensors. Both of these ships have bonuses to add effectiveness to the dampers, and when using multiple dampers these ships are VERY effective at what they do.
Galente, Galente Bloodline
Add 1 Perception, 2 Memory, 2 Willpower
Immigrant Ancestry adds another 2 Perception and 2 Willpower
Military school
Special Forces Specialization
Get a Maulus frigate (this frigate has bonuses to target damping technology as well as room to use 2 small combat drones) and train these skills.
1. Hull Upgrades I (54 minutes, 27 seconds)
2. Electronics III (11 hours, 57 minutes, 19 seconds)
3. Sensor Linking I (1 hour, 21 minutes, 41 seconds)
4. Navigation II (1 hour, 31 minutes, 22 seconds)
5. Propulsion Jamming I (1 hour, 21 minutes, 41 seconds)
Once trained you can use 1 Drone Link Augmentor, 2 Hobgoblin Scout Drones (combat drones), 2 small hybrid weapons, 3 Remote Sensor Dampers or 2 Damps and an Afterburner or 2 Damps and a Stasis Webifier, 2 Overdrive Injector Systems, 2 Inertial Stabilizers or 1 of each.
Training time on this ship is so short it’s stupid. 17 hours to use the modues and another 4 days 15 hours of upgrading the existing skills to make it truly effective. And the ship is just plain fun. This is a gang support ship and not well suited to small gangs (less than 10 members) but thanks to the drones it can handle any high security rats and can do most of the lvl 1 agent missions.
What this little bugger WILL do is render most ships unable to target past their own bowline, and if you swap 1 damp for an afterburner your survivability increases, or you can go all commando on people and webify them, which basically roots them in place, as long as someone else has them warp scrambled. The ability to Web is very important to gate camps, you’ll find out why later. Also, fleets LOVE dampers, the more the better, because it completely screws a battlecruiser or battleship, who prefer to attack at long range. Plus you don’t have to worry about doing dmg with your ship, your drones will do it all for you! Exteremly cheap loadout, and pretty darn versatile for a new player.
Now add these skills for extra power;
6. Sensor Linking II (6 hours, 20 minutes, 30 seconds)
7. Sensor Linking III (1 day, 11 hours, 52 minutes, 10 seconds)
8. Propulsion Jamming II (6 hours, 20 minutes, 30 seconds)
9. Propulsion Jamming III (1 day, 11 hours, 52 minutes, 10 seconds)
10. Hull Upgrades II (4 hours, 13 minutes, 42 seconds)
11. Hull Upgrades III (23 hours, 54 minutes, 44 seconds)
To upgrade to the much more powerful Celestis Cruiser, add these skills,
12. Gallente Cruiser I (1 hour, 4 minutes, 29 seconds)
13. Gallente Cruiser II (5 hours, 24 seconds)
14. Gunnery III (5 hours, 39 minutes, 46 seconds)
15. Medium Hybrid Turret I (38 minutes, 41 seconds)
12 more hours of training gets you access to the Celestis, which has bonuses to Damping technology and Medium Hybrid Turret damage. With this you’ll be able to use three 200mm Railguns, 4 dampers, Afterburner, plus an armor repairer, propulsion and armor upgrades. Add 4 medium combat drones and you’re ready to rock.
This is a much more durable ship than the Maulus and you can maintain the Dampers way longer. You’ll also be able to do good dmg in this ship, and can feel confident in a smaller gang. I still don’t recommend this for solo low security or 0.0 space, but this ship can easily take out any high security rat, and with the help of the drones you can do any level 1 mission with ease.
Adding levels in Galente Cruiser will make the damper/medium rail bonuses higher, so obviously if you like the ship you should get Galente Cruiser to at least lvl 4.
Finally, add these skills and you can use a MicroWarp drive, making you 500% faster which means you can maintain your distance from the target you’re damping easier.
16. Navigation III (8 hours, 36 minutes, 28 seconds)
17. Afterburner III (8 hours, 36 minutes, 28 seconds)
18. Navigation IV (2 days, 41 minutes, 57 seconds)
19. Afterburner IV (2 days, 41 minutes, 57 seconds)
20. High Speed Maneuvering I (1 hour, 38 minutes, 2 seconds)
Caldari
These guys are the hard core badasses of EvE. Militaristic and extremely Capitalistic, these guys are all business and no fuckin’ around. Caldari ships are unique as they are the only race that depends entirely on Shields for defense. The up side is that shields have a natural regeneration that armor does not. The down side is if the enemy gets past your shields you’re screwed. Caldari can use Hybrid weapons almost as well as Galente, but they use them differently. Instead of dmg bonuses, Caldari usually get range bonuses, making them excellent long range snipers. The Caldari are most envied for their greatest strength, they are the undisputed masters of missiles. Caldari ships get awesome range/dmg bonuses to anything from simple rockets, to awe inspiring nuclear torpedoes. Also missile use is much easier than turret use, as your damage is more reliable and all you have to do to hit your target is basically be in range. Caldari ships are easy to fly, but have the least capacity to use drones, and their slow speed and lack of armor requires a very tactically minded pilot.
Caldari design is very “Starship Troopers meets the Marines from Aliens”.
Here are some Caldari starter plans. Your mileage may vary but these sound like fun to me. All training times are so short it's stupid, so if you find you don't like one or the other you wont be wasting any time since these skills are ones you'll need eventually anyways.
Caldari, Civire Bloodline
Add 2 Perception, 2 Memory, 1 Intelligence
Mercs Ancestry adds another 4 Willpower
(Caldari, Civire have the best base stats for learning different ship types, high Perception and Willpower, which is why there are so many Caldari Civire in-game. You will find however that later on you are slightly gimped for learning modules and social skills, but you can augment that with implants.)
Military school
Special Forces Specialization
This one is a bit tricky so I’m going to set up 2 different plans, one for an all out slugfest fit, and one for an electronic warfare fit.
Billy Badass slugfest nublet.
Get a Merlin frigate (this frigate has bonuses to shield resistances plus a range increase for hybrid guns) and train these skills.
1. Navigation I (19 minutes, 36 seconds)
2. Afterburner I (19 minutes, 36 seconds)
3. Weapon Upgrades I (30 minutes, 38 seconds)
4. Energy Grid Upgrades I (54 minutes, 27 seconds)
5. Energy Grid Upgrades II (4 hours, 13 minutes, 42 seconds)
In a measly 6 hours you can use 2 small hybrid RAILGUNs, 2 STANDARD missile launchers, 1 Afterburner, 1 shield extender, 1 shield booster, 1 cap recharger, 1 ballistic control system and 1 magnetic field stabilizer.
This ship has the strongest shields of any tech 1 frigate, and has the ability to recharge them quickly provided you have energy in your capacitor. This ship can fire both guns and missiles, making it particularly well suited to raw combat (pew pew in EvEspeak). This frig can be used in roaming gangs and can obliterate level 1 missions and pretty much any high security area rat.
Next you will add these skills.
6. Caldari Cruiser I (1 hour, 1 minute, 16 seconds)
7. Caldari Cruiser II (4 hours, 45 minutes, 23 seconds)
8. Standard Missiles II (1 hour, 54 minutes, 10 seconds)
9. Standard Missiles III (10 hours, 45 minutes, 38 seconds)
10. Heavy Missiles I (36 minutes, 45 seconds)
11. Target Painting I (1 hour, 21 minutes, 41 seconds)
12. Navigation II (1 hour, 31 minutes, 22 seconds)
13. Propulsion Jamming I (1 hour, 21 minutes, 41 seconds)
In another 23 hours and 18 minutes, and after you save some ISK, you can fly a Caracal Cruiser. This ship has bonuses to both the range of heavy missiles AND the damage of KINETIC heavy missiles. Fit 3 Heavy Missile Launchers, 2 Assault Launchers (not heavy assault, just plain assault), a Target Painter, a Warp Scram, afterburner, shield extender and either a second extender or a web, then 2 Ballistic Control System in your low slots.
Why not 5 Heavy Missile Launchers? Because your nublet ass probably can’t fit all that gear to your ship yet with enough powergrid to spare for anything else. If you can fit 4 or 5 with all the other equipment, great, if not just use the assault launchers for a bit until you can fit the rest of the heavies.
This is a beast of a Cruiser. It unloads missiles on enemies at close to medium range. It can web and/or scram and will having you doing tremendous damage for a little nublet, in a ridiculously short amount of time. Plus that Targeting Laser makes you look like a sniper (sweeeeet).
Taking the “Special Forces”, “ruin somebody’s day” route.
This is a hot topic of debate, Sensor Dampers vs. Targeting Jammers. They do basically the same thing but they do it in completely different ways.
A Damper reduces the enemies targeting RANGE and TARGETING SPEED. Dampers work 100% of the time, but their effectiveness depends on the strength of the enemy sensors.
A Targeting Jammer cuts their targeting off COMPLETELY for a short amount of time, around 20 seconds, then you have to jam them again. If successful, 20 seconds in EvE can be an eternity during which the jammed ship cannot return fire OR use its assisting modules on friendly ships. The downside to Jamming technology is that it has about a 33% success rate (in my experience), and that’s with great skills. Your skills will not be great, but these 2 ships make up for that by using multiple jamming modules at once, PLUS they have bonuses to jammer strength.
Start with a Griffin frigate (this frigate has bonuses to ECM Jammer strength and ECM Jammer Capacitor use., THESE ONLY APPLY TO TARGET JAMMERS, NOT ECM BURSTS) and train these skills.
1. Energy Grid Upgrades I (54 minutes, 27 seconds)
2. Energy Grid Upgrades II (4 hours, 13 minutes, 42 seconds)
3. Navigation I (19 minutes, 36 seconds)
4. Sensor Linking I (1 hour, 21 minutes, 41 seconds)
5. Afterburner I (19 minutes, 36 seconds)
6. Energy Emission Systems I (54 minutes, 27 seconds)
7. Mechanic I (27 minutes, 13 seconds)
8. Hull Upgrades I (54 minutes, 27 seconds)
Once trained in 9 hours 25 minutes, you can use 2 Standard Missile Launchers and 1 Nosferatu (energy vampire) , mids put 1 afterburner, 2 ECM MULTISPECTRAL Jammers, 1 Cap recharger. Lows 1 Ballistic Control System and a Capacitor Power Relay.
Alternatively, you can use 3 NOS and no Missile launchers, then trade the BCS and CPR for 2 Overdrive Injector System for extra speed, since you’ll be getting most of your power from draining your target. (NOTE: This setup is intended for CLOSE COMBAT at all times, and though it’s a more powerful option it will likely get you killed OFTEN.)
This Frigate is FLEET ONLY. In a small gang you will get PRIMARIED (targeted first by the whole enemy gang) for your ability to ruin their day, and if you go after missions or rats in this tin can you’ll get pasted. But in a good sized fleet, 30 ships or more, you can blend in at the outset of a fight and then swoop in on the biggest battleship and render him completely combat ineffective until your own fleet can bring him down.
If you get to like this rig and want to continue to a MUCH more powerful version, save your ISK and get a Blackbird Cruiser and train these skills.
9. Caldari Cruiser I (1 hour, 1 minute, 16 seconds)
10. Caldari Cruiser II (4 hours, 45 minutes, 23 seconds)
11. Standard Missiles II (1 hour, 54 minutes, 10 seconds)
12. Standard Missiles III (10 hours, 45 minutes, 38 seconds)
13. Heavy Missiles I (36 minutes, 45 seconds)
Fit 2 heavy missile launchers and 2 medium NOS, 3 ECM MULTISPECTRAL Jammers, 1 Cap Recharger, 1 Afterburner, and then a ballistic control system and a capacitor power relay in the lows.
In 19 hours and 3 minutes you can do everything you did in the Frigate but WAY better, AND you can do good damage at short range, in a much more durable ship that can easily get you through level 1 missions and any rat you come across in highsec space.
My personal favorite is Caldari, but I have trained up in roughly 15 Galente ships because I like to use Drones. You don’t have to only fly the ship race you start with, you can cross train. In fact you can train literally every skill available in the game, you are not limited by race or “class” or any other false barrier like other MMOs. Also the above is just the basic info, each race goes much deeper than I have time to explain.
Basically, just pick the race that sounds the most “you” and go with it, you can’t really gimp yourself nowadays.
Once you enter the game, FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS ON YOUR SCREEN TO THE LETTER. DO NOT CANCEL THE TUTORIAL, if you ask questions that are easily explained in the tutorial, you will be laughed right out of the corp. The tutorial is much more in-depth nowadays and starts you off with all the basic knowledge you will need to know, you’ll even start out with a bit more monies.
Once you are through all that, go to the TW EvE forum and post your characters name in this thread
http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=392529
and we’ll get you started.
Skill training.
Seriously, pick a Tech 2 frigate type (CovOps for sneaking around, Bomber for ganking, Assault for tanking or Interceptor for trapping bigger ships for your group to kill) and then start training the skills necessary. If you want to do mission running, use the Assault Frigs or train up Destroyers. Those will get you through all the level 1 missions easy. These are all basically fleet support ships. They can be trained in a short time and are just as useful in PvP as any of the larger ships.
If you just HAVE to go toe to toe with the big dogs and you have to do it ASAP, skip frigs and destroyers and train straight for Battlecruisers. You likely cannot get the necessary skills to use them effectively for at least a month, but along the way you’ll learn cruisers and that’ll let you get your feet wet as far as piloting more powerful ships. Also if you want to fly a battlecruiser a couple of weeks after creating your character, you’ll HAVE to get a time code and sell it (which is explained later) because you simply won’t be able to make enough ISK that soon and we’re not buying your nublet ass a 30+ million isk ship.
Basically, get EvEmon (the out of game skill planning tool) and figure out what you want to use and how much time you’re willing to invest and then go for it.
Haniblecter has a great thread about extented training here http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=404562
so listen to the man.[/B]
MONIES MONIES MONIES!!!
In EvE your success isn’t measured by the ship you’re flying, the time you’ve played or the number of skill points you have, it’s measured in the girth of your fat greedy wallet. In EvE money is called ISK, and ISK is EvEs great equalizer. Someone giving you shit because you can’t touch their big bad battleship in your teenyweeny frigate? Pay a filthy Merc corp to pop his ship and pod and bring you his frozen corpse (yes, they can literally kill him and deliver his freshly flash-frozen corpse to you for payment). In EvE, your wallet is your life. Without ISK you’re fucked, but with an overflowing bank account you can rule whole solar systems and never be afraid to fly anywhere because all your belongings will be easily replaceable.
NEW INFO for starting players.
At the time of the original post we were pretty much bound to high security space which meant the best way to make money was missions, and for nublets, High Security space means taking a looooooooooong time to make your first 100 mil.
There have been major changes for our corp in the last few weeks however, and that means the potential to make money has changed as well. We now have a broad base of operations in deep space (0.0 security, lawless space) and the NPC's ("rats") have high ISK bounties and are plentiful. The rats out here are no joke however, and I don't recommend hunting them in less than a battlecruiser, though some of our newer players have been able to take them on with long range cruisers.
Originally I stated that buying a timecode would make your early EvE life much easier and I stand by that, but if you're willing to invest the time and risk your ships, you CAN make your first 100mil ISK in a matter of days in deep space, you're just going to have to train the battlecruiser skills and then save every single ISK you can get to buy it. Like I said, long range cruisers (a Caracal or Moa would be an example of a long range cruiser) piloted by crazy suicidal pilots have been taking on the rats in our new home, and that in itself is a means to affording the battlecruiser, but it's not easy NOR recommended to tackle multiple battleships and their support in your flimsy cruiser.
PRO TIPS:
1. Don’t EVER fly more than you can afford to lose, EVER. A good rule of thumb is, the ship you are flying shouldn’t be worth more than 1/3 of what’s in your wallet.
2. USE SELL ORDERS. Don’t sell expensive shit to some jackasses buy order for half it’s real value just because you want a quick buck. Over time you’ll be loosing out on millions, if not billions. If you set a sell order in a well populated system like Jita for instance, and set your asking price between 1 and 5 percent under the lowest price, you WILL sell the item within a day, sometimes within minutes, for many times what the best buy order is offering. Don’t fuck yourself for a fast buck, have a tiny bit of patience and watch the market and you can make a lot of money in a short amount of time.
3. In the beginning, BUY A TIME CODE. This sounds like cheating, and there are people who will bitch and moan, but pretty much everyone has bought at least one time code with the intention of selling it for ISK. It’s stupid easy. You buy the Timecode online (which is totally legit) and then you go to the EvE forums and look for someone buying timecodes. 15 US dollars will net you between 160 to 200 MILLION ISK. You sell the timecode to another player through the secure transaction implemented in the official EvE website (again, totally legit) and you’ve just saved yourself MONTHS of grinding, because your nublet ass CANNOT make that kind of money in the first 2-3 months, it’s numerically impossible unless you don’t have a job and/or social life.
If you like the 14 day trial and think you’ll be playing for a while, it’s a measly $15 to save you months of grinding low level shit just to afford your first well fitted heavy ships with oodles of money to spare. In fact if you only set yourself to train tech 2 frigates and tech 1 cruisers, 160 million ISK will keep you in PvP for months. Plus you’ll be making ISK during those months and if you play it smart, soon you’ll be buying TimeCodes from other nublets and playing the game “dollar free”.
Once you've been playing for a bit and have saved up some ISK and loot to sell, read
http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=510178
for a little more detailed explanation of the EvE economy.
Addressing some concerns.
There's a few people that keep bringing up the same old arguments, here are the realities. EvE has changed a lot over the last 2 years, both the gameplay and the basic game mechanics have been tweaked and refined.
Travel.
Traveling long distances used to take hours on autopilot. You would literally set your destination, hit A and got get a cup of coffee or go rent, watch and return a movie. Interstellar travel in EvE literally sucked and there was a multi-billion ISK industry created around people hauling things that other people couldn't be bothere'd to move themselves. Then more recently they added a new travel option called "Warp to 0". Now, you can do it the old way, set auto and walk away, or you can manually pilot your ship to the destination in minutes, where it used to take an hour or more. The mechanics would take a whole page to explain, you'll see what I mean when you get into the game. Just trust me, travel long distances is not a big deal now.
I have recently made a thread about Travel Safety guidelines and how to survive in deep space here http://www.tribalwar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=511273 READ IT NUBLETS!
Mining
Mining is a safe and easy way to make money. In fact it’s so safe people join the game and never train a single point in weapons, they just fly around high security space mining all day. And it’s crazy profitable, minerals sell in just about every system and they sell for a lot.
But, DON’T BE A FUCKING CAREBEAR MINER.
It will take you no less than SIX MONTHS to make mining truly profitable. Between now and then you’ll be mining little amounts at a time, scrimping and saving every ISK to afford the uber harvesters that you won’t be using for MONTHS, and you’ll be BORED TO TEARS. The most common reason for people to quit EvE is “It’s too slow!!!”. Those people MINED. If you want a slow, easy going game, then internet mining may be for you. But keep in mind there’s plenty of miners in EvE, there’s no shortage of materials for manufacturing. If you really want to experience EvE, you need COMBAT. Do missions for a NPC corporation and gain standing then make crazy ISK, or come out with the PvP crowd and kill other players and take their shit and make crazy INSANE ISK.
We’d rather see you split your time between combat and manufacturing, than being a fucking carebear miner.
The inevitable Burnout
If you get burned out, set a long skill and let your account run out (a long skill will keep training until it’s done even if your account is inactive) and then come back in a few weeks when you’ve gotten the WoW carebearing bug out of your ass. Personally I play for like 3 months on then 1-2 months off. That’s the great thing about EvE is that it’s not the life consuming chore that other “grind” based MMOs are.
Piloting
As far as piloting, it’s not much different than controlling ships in Homeworld, it’s the same concept, except think of your EvE ship as one of those little Homeworld ships, but with its own upgrade points, 2-8 guns that are independently targetable, and your choice of special abilities ranging from jamming the enemies targeting systems to immobilizing them in a tractor beam, to assisting your friends by boosting their shields and repairing their armor.
Combat
The combat IS NOT POINT AND CLICK. You have to target, lock the target, select the weapons to use, select the modules to use, watch your capacitor, watch your shields and armor and repair them when necessary, maintain your distance from your target,,, the list goes on and on, and that’s all happening at the same time. It’s much more complex and deep than typical MMO “point and click to auto attack” like WoW.
PvP and Death
If you have some twisted hang-up about dying on the internet, go away, we don’t want you in EvE. In EvE you have just as much chance of going out and killing other players and then looting their hard earned shit as they have of doing the same to you. If you fly smart and watch your sales, you will almost always come out on top. Even the biggest baddest fleet is going to run into an even bigger badder fleet and you’re GOING to get killed many times in your EvE adventures, but it’s not the end of the world. Just re-upgrade your clone, buy another ship and get back out for more pew pew. After a while you’ll wonder how you ever could stomach playing a carebear game like WoW where the only consequence to your death is a meaningless run back from the graveyard. Finally, ALWAYS UPGRADE YOUR CLONE WHEN YOU DIE!!! It costs pennies and takes 2 seconds. You CANNOT spawn in a station that doesn't offer clone upgrades. You even send yourself an email reminding you to upgrade your clone, right before you die.
EvE is complex and hardcore, that’s never going to change, and after you’ve played for a while and gotten into it, you’ll be glad about that.
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