The EVE Online Goodies I Promised

I apologize for the wait.  Here are some resources and tips to help you get going in EVE Online (EO).

New Player Guides
I found some great guides for new players.  I focused on understanding the basics of the overall game, combat, ship selection, professions and a bit of back-story.  With the exception of the last two guides which are only needed when you’re ready to think about a profession, I consider these guides a must read.  All of these guides hail from All About EVE Online:

• Getting Started
• Basic Combat
• Basic Fighting
• Mission and Agent Types
• Science and Industry
• Manufacturing

Offline Tools
Character Progression - You need tools to help ease the burden of the gaming logistics.  Developing an efficient skill training plan is essential.  Without one, you will negatively impact your gaming experience and effectiveness.  Training can take a long time in EO.  You don’t want to lengthen that time because of poor planning.  The most popular skill planning tool is EVEMon.

EVEMon (EM) can be tricky the first time you use it.  Here are some tips for using EM:

• Have the EVE website open in the background first time you launch it.  You’ll need to retrieve a limited access key to your account to allow EM access to your characters profile.
• You must be logged into EO for EM to access the character’s profile so that it knows what skills you already have trained.
• You need to know your training objectives for EM to tell you what skills you’ll need.  For example, are you trying to fly a certain ship?  If so, you need the ship’s name.  Do you want to be able to utilize certain equipment?  Same thing, you need the equipment’s name.  You’ll select those items and EM will tell you what training skills are necessary.  EM will also suggest basic training skills that will increase the rate at which you learn which equates to skilling faster.
• I preferred to copy my plan from EM and paste it into the Notepad tool (located in accessories) in game.  I found it much easier to modify my overall plan any time I found new skills I needed while playing. I frequently moved things around in priority based on what I was doing in game.  For example, if I was going to log off for several hours, it made more sense to start a skill that would take several hours to complete, versus starting the 20-minute one just because it was next in my training plan.  Try your best to maximize your skill training time, aka avoid down time.

Fitting Your Ships – After skill planning, ship fitting (configuring & equipping) has to be the hardest thing to learn.  First off because it’s all new to you.  Secondly, because the lingo is right out of…err…science-fiction.  Haha, go figure!  There are sooooooo many options and though mileage varies based on your purposes, there are definitely counter productive ways of fitting a ship.

• Some insane…err…dedicated EO players put together some basic configurations for almost all of the ship classes.  When in doubt, start your fitting plan here.
• Like EM, there is an offline tool that you can use to configure, fit and save a ship fitting profile.  I personally found it a bit too confusing but it is a popular tool.  For me, using the link above and then customizing for my own particular needs was easier.  I keep a record of exactly how each of my ships is configured in EO Notepad.  BTW, Notepad is your friend.  ALL games should have in-game notepads and internet browsers.  CCP feature design team for the win!

Helpful Websites
Good websites are your second best friend in EO. You’re first being people you can count on in a pinch.  ::Wink::  It is a vast universe and as a sandbox game, there very few limitations other than your own imagination.  With so much freedom of choice at hand, it can be daunting for the new player.

• All About EVE Online
• BattleClinic
• CCP EO New Player Guide
• CCP EO Forums

::Drum Roll:: My Top 3 Tips for New Players

1. DO THE TUTORIAL & DO THE TUTORIAL MISSIONS
   Not only will you be more prepared and less annoying in chat with completely nubber questions, you will receive your first two ship upgrades along the way.
    
2. It’s actually very easy to keep the missions coming!
   If you started with the tutorial (DO THE TUTORIAL) then you’ve been lead to some Agents and have some standing with them as a result of completing their missions.  They will lead you to a few others during the course of your interactions.  Be sure to check in-game email, as at least two of them, refer you to two new agents that contact you via email.  From there, note the agencies that these agents were associated with (stations names/types) like Navy Administration, Navy Testing etc.  You have standing with those agencies and can fly into neighboring sectors looking for missions at similarly named stations.
   
   Following this method I NEVER ran out of available missions!  Use the Agent Mission Type guide noted in the guides section above, to give you an idea of the kind of mission you’re likely to get and focus on the types you enjoy performing – courier, combat, etc.  Lastly, stick to just a couple of agencies so that you can build high standing.  The standing equates to the quality of the missions and rewards.  Once you hit 8.0 standing you can purchase a jump clone – a quick way of interstellar travel via your clone instead of flying is about all I know on the subject.
    
3. Mining ore isn’t the only way to make ISK!!
   If you don’t enjoy mining then don’t do it.  I was rather surprised by the number of people in my previous corporation that appeared to be doing nothing but mining.  My theory on that behavior is that mining (industry) is an opportunity for very passive existence in EO.  You can enjoy the fringes of the game without many of the other complications and intricacies.  For example, you don’t have to master combat in order to complete missions.  And you can mostly avoid PVP.  Consequently, you don’t have to deal with the very intimidating aspect of fitting combat ships.  That’s not to say that everyone pursues mining for that reason, but for many noobs, I believe this is to be the case.
   
   However, if mining isn’t your thing AND you don’t have the time or the inclination for industry, then you need to become a junk collector.  Think Sanford & Son of deep space.  If you’re not mining then you must be doing missions – rat hunting. 
    
   You can make a HUGE AMOUNT OF ISK by salvaging the rat wreckages. To do this you’ll need to search the market for a Salvager and note the skills needed to equip and utilize this item.  The largest hurdle is the 900K cost of the actual skill training book.  You can rat or mine your way to that amount.  When it comes time to purchase the book, instead of just paying the 900K found for most existing auctions create a purchase bid.  By creating a bid you can name how much ISK you’d be willing to pay for the item, how far you’d travel to get it and how long you’d like the bid to stay active.  I saved 300K by placing an “I wanna” versus buying what was already being auctioned.  I only stumbled on this option because I desperately needed the book but didn’t have the ISK to purchase the ones listed for sale.  I while I was sitting there staring at the Market screen trying to figure out what to do, I noticed the bids panel at the bottom.  Definitely check it out.

So that’s it for my initial new player tips.  Be sure to find other bloggers that write about their EO adventures.  If you’re interested in the industry side of things, be sure to visit Ancient Gaming Noob.

Above all - fly safe, reach for the seemingly unattainable and HAVE FUN!

Comments

[SteeleResolve]

Nice guide. I've been playing eve for over 2 years and still enjoy it. People really need to understand that this game IS a pvp game at the end of the day, and a lot of people see the pve aspect as purely a way of funding pvp.
Hope you keep playing.

[Asestorian]

One other, and some argue the best, way to make ISK in EVE is trading. Playing the markets, buying low and selling high, can make a great deal of money, and it doesn't really even require people to train many skills. It's a tough business to get into, and personally I find myself unable to really compete properly in it as my brain goes wobbly looking at too many numbers, but a lot of the richest (we're talking 100+ billion ISK) players in the game made a great deal of their wealth with the market.

[RA]

I've paid for most of my ship & equipment with money I've made salvaging.

[Saylah]

Definitely salvaging for the win.

I dont doubt that playing the market can net some big money but I dont think that's a new player option. You need funds that you can risk not making a profit from if you aren't able to sell higher than the purchase price. I think that's more mid game experience option.

[Draekas]

I tend to view trading in EVE as an investment, rather than a source of income. Even when you have little isk to work with, you can make really nice profits with the isk that is otherwise sitting in your wallet.

If you are saving up for something, and don't need to spend the isk right away, I would seriously consider trying out some very limited trading. Even just starting with some simple T1 modules that everyone uses, such as armor or shield hardeners. Just look them up on the market, and you'll notice that the highest buy orders are way way below the lowest sell orders in general.

So all you'd have to do if you had a bit of extra isk, is set a buy order for a few of these, and then a sell order for them by doing:

right click item
sell item
hit the advanced button on the sale popup UI
set the price you're asking for (0.01 isk lower than the lowest one already for sale), the number you want to sell, and the length of time (I almost always do the 3 month option)

Armor or shield modules can be good for this. So can drones, ammo, or anything else that people generally get as loot off rats and insta sell on the market (which is your buy order!). Select items that have a very high price between the buy and sell. Its also best to do this at a popular trading station in your region (Oursulvert and Dodixie in Gallente space as examples) as they fill faster.

As an alternative, when you loot your missions, keep a couple of items and stockpile them instead of insta selling. When you have a half dozen or whatever, put a sell order up for them. This way, it takes a bit longer to get your isk, but you can get a ton more than you would by insta selling them.

Just be advised, that without training your trade skill, you're only allowed a combined total of sell and buy orders of 5 or so. You can browse the trade skills to improve this number and other trade related skills (including the beautiful thing that is margin trading).

As far as making isk, missions are great, and so is salvaging as you say. In fact, I think they should add it to the tutorial, and give you the skill book and a salvager by the end of the tutorial missions if you ask me.

In my corp, what we usually will do is group up to do level 4 missions. Older players will fight, and we'll ask younger players if they want to loot/salvage. At the end of it, all the loot and salvage is sold, and everyone gets an equal share. Its not an exciting job, but if someone is doing it while the mission is ongoing (mindful of the risks and when to warp in, ect), it saves a ton of time having for the older players to have to go back and salvage/loot after thier done the mission. The cash is way better than a 2m skillpoint character could make on thier own though. =D

[Saylah]

@Draekas... Great tips on how to try out trading. I have some ISK to burn/invest at the present since I can't get into the ship I want next for lack of skills.

That's a great idea your corporation has going. As my ship reaches its end of life for the level of missions I'm trying to solo, the whole complete the mission and salvage takes A LOT of time. Between warping in and out to survive the encounter, then going back and salvaging everything, the time really adds up.

[Marchosias]

You're making me really want to re-subscribe my EVE accounts. Ya, I used to dual-box there mainly for the time savings - I could run the mission with a military ship and have my salvage ship "in tow," or be out mining my mind away while running back and forth with my hauler and guard ship. Salvaging missions is a good way to make a fast buck, and mining is easy, steady money - something you can do while watching TV, or playing another MMO, LOL.

Very good, spot-on tips as well. Definitely do the intro missions - this cannot be stressed enough, you get two, TWO! ships out it! And get trained up to use salvager and tractor beams - they easily pay for themselves in a very few mission salvage runs. Then if you want to, train up mining so you can make money semi-AFK while you're supposed to be watching some movie or doing "real work," or whatever.

[Saylah]

LOL Marchosias... It is definitely a very alluring game. I don't think it would be one I'd dual box but I can totally see how much faster things can be accomplished. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.