FoH guide to EVE Online

[Vard]

And regardless of how many posts you see Wodin making here on the forum, he never says a damn word in the FOH channel.

[Chinaman889]

Just curious, if they're upping the starting SP that new chars get, will existing characters get some kind of retro SP addition? =P

[Wodin]

Originally Posted by Vard

And regardless of how many posts you see Wodin making here on the forum, he never says a damn word in the FOH channel.

That's because I'm not actually on all that much unless it's late at night and I get to zip around for an hour or so. I do still raid in WoW which consumes most of my time, I'm just a mechanics/balance nerd.

[mek]

Originally Posted by Tuivian

Is there any way to efficiently multi-box in this game? Any type of auto follow on another ship?

Multi-boxing in Eve is not only effective, it is insanely popular. Sooo many people in my corp run multiple characters it's not funny. But not for combat related reasons; all the combat you do PvE-wise is easily done solo (with appropriate ships/setups/skills). It's becasue there's so much other monotonous crap that can be done nearly AFK.

For example, a LARGE amount of time in Eve is dedicated to travel and transport of goods, and there are actually specific skillsets which allow you to pilot industrial ships, that mine or haul goods. Generally a combat character will not be capable of flying these, and more importantly, the time spent transporting is time not spent making money. So, an alt that hauls goods and sells them can spend all their time training industrial piloting and trade skills, while your combat character does all the actual killing and missioning in another window.

This becomes even more important when the goods dropped by a level 4 mission completely overwhelm the cargo capacity your fighting ship has. And also applies to ratting in 0.0, and mining. If you plan on playing eve full time you'll be completely bored to tears in notime by the PvE game without at least a second character.

[Kazgrim]

I'll contribute to the "Complete Idiot's Guide to Eve"

While Eve is unlike any other MMO out there, i'll try to relate it to standard MMO structure so it's easier to understand its mechanics. Understand that the comparison's i'll make is for educational purposes only, i'm not saying Eve is exactly like ____.

Eve is a sandbox, with tons of features and functionality to give you tools to play in the sandbox. What you decide to do is up to you, there are no wrong answers. It's skill system is based on this. Generally speaking there are 2 main progression goals, 1. earn ISK(currency), 2. build skills. You need money to buy skillbooks and items, ships, modules, etc. You need skills to use the items you just bought. It is a FFA PVP game, you can attack pretty much anything you see, but don't let that scare you. There are consequences to it either npc enforced (empire space) or player enforced (0.0 space). Technically you can attack anyone you want anywhere you want, but that's not going to happen in most cases.


THE WORLD

The first thing that confused the hell out of me was the world itself. Even when my newbie missions were having me jump from system to system it was hard to tell exactly where I was, there's so many names for different places, so many systems, it was a bit overwhelming.

Solar Systems (systems) are the "zones" from other games. They are huge 3 dimensional zones, but zones never the less. Imagine a large empty box. somewhere in the center there will be a star, and around it orbit planets, and around planets orbit moons. Sharing similiar orbits are asteroid belts. Luckily for you, there is no "sol" solar system, with different names for every planet and moon. In Eve, objects in the solar system share the same name. ie Jita (sun), Jita 1, Jita 2, Jita 1 moon 3. etc. The zonelines are stargates, which for illustrative purposes you can imagine are points on the sides of the box (there actual location in the zone isn't always on the edges of it). Its a 3d box, so there can be zones at the top and bottom as well.

Systems string together to form constellations. IE, "i'm in the Karanas, North Karana specifically". The constellation concept is just for helping you understand your general location, you don't warp to a constellation, you warp to systems.

Constellations string together to form Regions of space. IE, "I'm in antonica, in the karanas, North Karana specifically".

F10 brings up the universe map. If you've never looked at it it's probably at its default setting which is 3D. There's a "flatten map" button to make it easier to visualize. Every dot is a System, ie Zone. The game has eleventy billion zones. It is the largest online game in sheer "land mass", period. vanguard has nothing on this (not a dig at vanguard, its alot easier to make a space zone than to make land and trees and shit).

While you are in the f10 map screen, there' should be a search window box, select the autopilot preferences tab, and change your preference to "prefer safer, stay out of low sec space". Also on another one of the tabs you can highlight the map to show things, think its settings or something. One of the options is "show pilots in space (last 30 minutes)." This will make the zones glow orange if they have pilots in them, the bigger the glow the more pilots.

You can mouseover any system and see the number of pilots there. Notice Jita, the caldari newbie starting area, which is typically the most populated zone in the game, unless there's a war going on somewhere in 0.0. Zoom out on the map so you can kinda see the whole universe. The center of the map makes up the 4 empires (see this map for a better visual) collectively known as empire space. On the fringes of empire is low sec (0.1-0.4), and outside of that is 0.0 space, or player owned space. That map shows which corps/alliances own what in 0.0.

SECURITY
0.6-1.0 "empire space". its progressively secure space, CONCORD (NPC guards) will come to your rescue if you are attacked here, and there's a great deal of guards/guns at stations, stargates, etc, who will pop people who attack other people as well. out in the middle of space at like asteroid belts and stuff, the guards will come to you, their response time is based on the security rating (1.0 faster than 0.6)
0.4-0.5. Same story as above, except there are less guards at station/gates and they no longer come to your rescue.
0.1-0.3. "Low Sec" This is probably the most dangerous area of space for new pilots, as you won't be in 0.0 until you have the means (or are suicidal), and pirates operate between here and the initial 0.0 zones. Low security space only has a handful of guns at stargates and stations. Guns are like low level guards, they can kill newbs who attack you but bigger ships can tank them no problem.
Note: Other than Concord/Guns enforcing civility in empire space, there's also the matter of your own personal security rating. If you attack other people in empire you get hits to your security rating, sorta like your faction in other games, which can only be removed by grinding NPC pirates, or "rats" (mostly Battleships rats out in 0.0). If your security rating goes low enough it will prevent you from entering high sec empire space, and also will enable people to attack you anywhere without concord getting involved.
0.0 "Player owned space". No more npc guards, no more security status hits for attacking people. 0.0 is player controlled and player enforced space.

THE MARKET
note: The rules of the market change with skill points in "trade" skills. By rules I mean functionality changes: Imagine a skill you could learn in WoW to open the AH anywhere in WoW, and buy from/sell from the middle of a MC run. That's kinda what i'm talking about. This newb guide assumes no trade skills.

you can open the market window from anywhere, to browse, but you need to be docked to use it. This is like an AH for your Region. Every Region has it's own "AH". The game keeps track of fluctuations in pricing, and NPCs themselves keep sell/buy orders open for certain things, but otherwise prices are player driven. Keep in mind, whatever station you are docked in is where you will be selling things, and wherever the item is sold is where you will be buying things. Do your search for the item you want to buy, then click the "view details" tab at the top of the market. this will allow you to see where all the buy and sell orders are in the region. You can see what the item sells for/what other stations are paying for the item you are selling. It's up to you to decide if you'd rather sell something for 10k isk here, or fly out 6 jumps to sell it for 15k somewhere else (same goes for buying things). You can also place "buy orders" and "Sell orders" in the market, which is basically saying "I'll pay __ for this item" or "i want ___ for this item", which functions more like the WoW AH. Actually, all buying and selling in the market (non-escrow) functions off of buy and sell orders, its just that there are so many buy/sell orders from players and NPCs going on that you can typically instantly sell anything you'll find as a newb at the station you are in.

Escrow/bounties/Courier
escrow, bounties, courier stuff is changing in the next expansion to be a more streamlined system, so i'll just go over the general idea. Generally these are player created "tasks" (found in the mission button). If you see a player with a bounty on his head, it means he pissed someone off and they issued a bounty for him, which is paid to whoever pods him. Escrow is a more advanced form of the market, and it's used more to sell high end rare shit, or to sell something to a specific player, or to sell a package of goods, like "kits". Courier tasks are basically deliveries, where a player wants you to fetch something or transport something from 1 location to another.

ITEMS
Pretty much everything in the game (modules, ships, loot drops, asteroids, etc), except for a few quest type items, can be reprocessed down to their basic mineral compositions (tritanium, zydrine, megacyte, etc) Theres 5-6 basic minerals, and pretty much everything is constructed from these minerals. the items you loot from npc cargo cans when you are first starting out, typically its better to reprocess those and sell the raw minerals than it is to sell the item itself (industrialists keep buy orders for these newb modules for far less ISK than their minerals are worth, so they can reprocess the items themselves for minerals and profit)


CLONES, INSURANCE, POD
Always keep an updated clone, always have the highest lvl insurance. Clones are purchased through the medical bay button in a station (you also use this button to move your clone, ie your respawn spot, to different stations).

Insurance is paid out by the game when you lose your ship, based on the level of insurance you paid for. If you do something stupid and get your ship destroyed by say, Concord, noinsuranceforyou. So don't do it.

Your Pod is you. Its that cacoon thing from the matrix. your pod is inserted into a ship, which you pilot via virtual reality whatever from the wires in your brain. When your ship is destroyed your pod is ejected. Your pod has some basic ability to fly (really slow) and warp (really fast). Never ever ever ever ever lose your ship fighting NPCs. Its embarrassing, but sometimes unavoidable. NPCs will not destroy your pod after they've destroyed your ship (to my knowledge) Players will be itching to do so typically. If you lose yur ship warp the hell out in your pod.

SKILLS

Always have a skill in training. When you log off switch to a skill that takes a long time to train. If you log off for a few days, switch to something that takes a few days. Always have something you are learning. Always. You don't lose anything by switching, you can go back to the skill and start where you left off when you get back on.

You can buy a bunch of these skill books, start training them for a 10 seconds or so (long enough to have atleast 1-2 skillpoints in the skill) then switch to another skillbook. That way you don't have to fly around with a cargohold full of books, they'll be on your character sheet at 1% complete instead, and you can restart them whenever.

Getting all the "notable skills" i mention below to level 1 or 2 early on will allow you to use most types of modules available to you, and depending on your stats, take nothing, like 15-30minutes to level up. this basically opens options for you. The super basic modules you can use at rank 1 are a metric fuckton better than the civilian modules that you can buy without any skills. For example, civilian afterburner grants like +30% to speed, while the weakest afterburner available with Afterburner 1 is +105%.

This is a general overview of the skill trees in the game. The primary/secondary stat is what is most common for the skills in this tree, it may vary.

Skill Tree Name (Primary Stat, Secondary Stat)
Note: most skills follow a basic 15min/1hr15min/6hours/1.5days/7days for training time, if they have a training multiplier of 1. Actual training time depends on your primary and secondary stats. The multiplier applies to certain skills that take longer to train up, ie X2, X3, etc


CORPORATION MANAGEMENT (MEMORY, CHARISMA)
Skill at running a corp, mostly involving how many members your corporation can have, etc.

DRONES (MEMORY, PERCEPTION)
Skill at using various types of drones, combat, mining, logistics, etc. There are sorta like pets from other games. How many drones and what type you can deploy is also determined by the size of your drone bay of your ship.

ELECTRONICS (INTELLIGENCE, MEMORY)
covers the use of electronic modules on your ships. Everything from increasing your CPU output to electronic warfare, jamming, targetting systems, cloaking, etc
Notable skills for new pilots to invest in soon: Electronics, Electronic Upgrades. Electronics III + Propulsion Jamming I is a must for PVP oriented pilots to become a "tackler"

ENGINEERING (INTELLIGENCE, MEMORY)
Covers things having to do with your capacitor (energy needs) and your power grid. Covers shields as well.
Notable skills: Engineering, Shield Operation/Shield Upgrades/Shield managment (if going to shield tank route), Energy grid upgrades,etc

GUNNERY (PERCEPTION, WILLPOWER)
Skill at shooting things, pew pew. Each race has a preference for either laser, hybrid, or projectile guns. Small = frigate/destroyer sized stuff. Medium = cruiser sized ships, large = Battleship sized ships. Focus on the small stuff for now, for your race unless you just wanna use different types.
Notable Skills: Gunnery, Small ___ turret, Weapons upgrades

INDUSTRY (MEMORY, INTELLIGENCE)
I have no idea honestly, this involves mining shit and making shit with the things you mine.

LEADERSHIP (CHARISMA, WILLPOWER)
These skills give bonuses to your party when you form a gang, and covers gang related modules. gang = party from other games. This can be seen sorta like the leadership AA from GOD.

LEARNING (MEMORY, INTELLIGENCE)
These are +stat skills. Learning the skill itself is +2% to all your stats (it's bonus also applies to implants you have installed) per level, but the game doesn't show partial stat points, ie 13.2 intelligence, but it does help to have that .2. Stats determine how long things take to train up. you want +stats and you want this relatively soon. For your free trial just train whatever you want and have fun doing it. If you want to play after that, you'll want to pick these up.
Notable Skills: All basic ones.

MECHANIC (INTELLIGENCE, MEMORY)
Skill at armor, plating, repairing, and physical ship upgrades. Also includes skills necessary for those in the industry craft to build the bigger ships, thats later on though.
Notable Skills: Mechanic, Hull Upgrades, Repair Systems

MISSILE LAUNCHER OPERATION (PERCEPTION, WILLPOWER)
Sort of the sister to Gunnery. If you use missiles (for example, caladari start with alot of missile stuff) you should already know whats good, cus I don't.

NAVIGATION (INTELLIGENCE, PERCEPTION)
Skill at maneuvering and piloting your ship. Skill at using warp drives, afterburners, microwarpdrives, jump drives, etc.
Notable Skills: Navigation, Afterburner

SCIENCE (INTELLIGENCE, MEMORY)
Research and lab stuff. I'm not too keen on this, theres alot of science skills. Science III and Cybernetics I lets you plug in implants. Thats Money.

SOCIAL (CHARISMA, INTELLIGENCE)
Affects your dealings with npcs and stuff. faction, loyalty points, missions available, level of agents available, rewards given, etc. If you plan on agent running primarily, Social III Connections III will get you to level 3 agents fast.

SPACESHIP COMMAND (PERCEPTION, WILLPOWER)
Skill at flying various ships. Everything from frigates to titans are covered here.
Notable Skills: Spaceship Command, Racial Frigate

TRADE (CHARISMA, MEMORY, + WILLPOWER, CHARISMA)
Skill at the market. pay less in market fees, use remote buy and sell orders , allows higher # of sell or buy orders, etc.


I'll post more about "Roles" and fittings later.

[Dom Devore]

Originally Posted by Chinaman889

Just curious, if they're upping the starting SP that new chars get, will existing characters get some kind of retro SP addition? =P

Very doubtful. CCP is doing the new creation process for a few reasons that I can see:

* The creation process ATM is confusing as hell to new players, they have no idea what their stats are for and end up doing bad setups because of it.

* The extra SP's seem to be for two reasons. 1 to help newer players catch up a bit to the vets, and also to let them actually have the skills to do things early on instead of flying around in an Ibis for a week.

* It encourages current players to open extra accounts because they can now have useful alts right away instead of waiting a few months before being able to properly utilize them.

[Xequecal]

Alright, I've picked this up and am trying it out. I've gone through the tutorial, and now want to try some of the Agent missions. How can I tell which missions I can realisitically complete and which are suicidal?

[xilsharn]

I don't think you'll be given missions that are suicidal... but not sure. WHat's your name in-game Xeq?

[Tuivian]

When is the release date for the updated Skill Points?

[Xequecal]

Originally Posted by xilsharn

I don't think you'll be given missions that are suicidal... but not sure. WHat's your name in-game Xeq?

Same as here, Xequecal. I haven't completely figured out chat yet, can you send tells to anyone or do they have to be close to you?

[Rune]

My major beef with Eve was that while the game was incredibly centered on communication with other players and forming relationships, the chat system is the fucking worst piece of frustrating shit I have ever encountered in my entire life outside of asian mmo's. They literally lost me as a customer due to how goddamn annoying it is to deal with.

[Dom Devore]

Originally Posted by Tuivian

When is the release date for the updated Skill Points?

The patch is scheduled for the 28th, but OFC it could be pushed back further.

[Dom Devore]

Originally Posted by Xequecal

Same as here, Xequecal. I haven't completely figured out chat yet, can you send tells to anyone or do they have to be close to you?

You can start a conversation with anyone in the game as long as they accept the invite. Just search for the player in your people and places, right click on them when it comes up and choose start conversation.

[xilsharn]

My name is Draolin in game, sludging around in my Amarr Punisher, if anyone wants to say howdy

[Xequecal]

I hear a lot of stuff about "advanced learning," how it takes weeks to train, but how basically everyone has to do it. Is this a seperate skill, or just a generalization for training all the individual stat skills up to a high level?