EPT
![[image loading]](http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c372/motbob/eve.png)
I love EVE Online. There's a lot of writing on TL about why I love it, so if you haven't already, go read this epic OP about politics in EVE and this post about the everyday stuff that makes EVE a great game. No, seriously, go on. I can wait.
If you'd already read both those links before opening up this thread, you're probably in the TL corporation already. This guide is mostly written for you. I'm going to try to write a resource that we automatically send every new recruit to go read. We can make this a collaborative effort (after the beta key contest is over
) and keep adding material written by others in the corp.Some of the sections in the game may not apply to you. For example, if you're already in the game, you obviously don't care about my section on character creation.
I'm going to divide this guide into three parts, one for each of the major components of EVE. Here they are:
I. Character Management
II. PvP
III. Missioning, Trading, Research, and Manufacturing
Our corporation PvPs a lot, but we don't make our living off of it. That's why discussion of the "carebear" (derogatory term for someone who doesn't PvP) aspects of EVE is important. If you don't have isk (in-game currency), you can't afford a ship and you can't PvP.
I. Character Management
Character Creation
When you first make an account in EVE, you're asked to choose a race/bloodline/various other characteristics. This used to be a crucially important step that could fuck up your career in EVE before you even got started. Not anymore, though. Before, characters would start with a full set of skills that might or might not be what the player wanted to know. Now every character starts with a small group of basic, mostly non-race-specific skills.
Before, the stats (which determine training time) of different bloodlines and such varied wildly, and there was no way to optimize a character's unless you chose a specific bloodline of Caldari. Now, anyone can remap their character to whatever stats they wish (with a max and min cap on stats, of course) It doesn't matter anymore that the character you chose has 20 charisma... you can now pump most of it into a useful stat, like Perception.
So don't worry about the character building process. It's not really relevant to how you do in the game.
Starting the Game
Do the tutorial missions. All of them. Intro, Combat, Science, Industry. If you don't follow this advice, you'll be missing out on lots of money, free skillbooks, and knowledge. Follow the tutorial instructions slowly and carefully.
As soon as you get in the game, start training your race's frigate skill. Queue it to 3. As you do the tutorial missions, you'll get an idea as to what other skills would be useful; and, again, you get free skillbooks that you can inject. Eventually, you should get a free basic frigate.
Skills train even when you're offline. You can make them train faster by improving your stats, by remapping, using implants, or training learning skills. Use the skill queue to line up multiple skills over a 24 hour period.
After the tutorial agents are over, you need to find an agent to start missioning with. Head down to the missioning section of this guide to figure out how.
Getting around
Say you need to get to a specific station in a specific solar system. First, you need to set your autopilot to that system. Type the name of the destination system in any chatbox, highlight it, select "link" ---> "system." Once you confirm the system you want to link to, the text will turn golden. Now you can right click on the text and select "set destination."
Your autopilot is now set to the destination. Don't actually use the autopilot, since it's slow as hell. For now, undock from your station and look at the top left of your screen. You should see a group of colored dots. If any of those dots is orange-red, you're slated to pass through lowsec (low security space, 0.1-0.4). This is BAD. Other players can legally kill you in lowsec. If your destination system is in lowsec, reevaluate why you're going there. If the place you're going is in highsec, go to your map tab, find the autopilot settings, and set yourself to "prefer safer."
Now that you've got a safe route to your target system, it's time to go there. If you're in space, look at the top right of your screen. The window with a bunch of objects like ships and stations in it is called the "overview." Select the yellow gate (it only appears when you have an autopilot course set), and click on the button above the overview labeled "warp to." When you get to the gate click the button over the overview labeled "jump." Repeat when you get into the next system.
While you have the time, open your map tab, figure out how to add systems to your "avoided" list, and add Rancer. Trust me.
When you get to your destination system, right click in space. If you need to get to a specific station, scroll to station and pick the one you need. If you're on a mission, scroll down to the bottom and select the "Encounter (Deadspace)" menu, and click warp to 0. + Show Spoiler [Story time] +
True story: when I was a noob on my very first mission, my agent told me to destroy pirates in an "asteroid belt." I went to the destination system and visited all 20 asteroid belts before giving up and asking for help. It was worse because I didn't know about the "right click in space" trick, and I had no idea how to use my overview, so I had to find each belt manually in space, click on it, and warp to it.
EVEMon
![[image loading]](http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c372/motbob/evemon.png)
EVEMon is a third-party program that lets you explore the EVE skills system like nothing else. With EVEMon (which you can get here) you can easily figure out what skills you need for a particular item, what individual skills do, and what skills you need to fly an interceptor, for example. EVEMon can let you make a skillplan -- say you want to be able to put all T2 (tech 2: expensive, powerful modules that require high skills to fit) onto a Caracal (a Caldari cruiser.) In that case, you could make a skillplan. You would have to put Heavy Missiles V on, in order to get T2 missiles. You'd put on more and more skills until you have something like this (click the picture):
![[image loading]](http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c372/motbob/test.png)
When a skill is about to finish training, I can easily see what to train next and put it in the in-game queue. This concept of making a skillplan will be very important for being competent at PvP or missioning.
After a few weeks in EVE, you might have a really good idea of what you want to shoot for in the upcoming year in terms of skills. Try making a one year skillplan. If you're really comfortable with it, you can use the "Optimize attributes" feature to find out what the optimal remap would be to make your plan finish the fastest. You can only remap once per year, which is why you need a year-long skillplan.
Learning skills
You must train learning skills. There are two types: basic and advanced. The basics include the skill "learning," which decreases skill training by 2% per level. The others simply increase the relevant attribute level by one point per level. You should get the basic learning skills to level 5.
The advanced learning skills do the same things, but they take longer to train and they're very expensive. Advanced learning skills should be trained to level 4.
You need to train learning skills as soon as you can bear it. If you want to take breaks to train up a cruiser fit for missioning or something, fine. But they should all be done before the double training speed boost is finished at 1.6 million skillpoints.+ Show Spoiler +
Waiting 3 days for each basic skill to get to level 5 is not fun
The Market
Even if you're not a trader, it's still useful to have some knowledge about the market. Take a look at this picture of someone's wallet:
![[image loading]](http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c372/motbob/relisting.png)
Count Magnus paid 800 million isk for an item worth 4 million isk because he wasn't paying attention. Count Magnus got owned. Don't be like Count Magnus! Know how to navigate the market.
Buying an item: when you want to buy something, you've got to find it first. Open up the market tab and use the search function. Or, if you're looking for a type of item, use the browse function. When you select whatever you were looking for, all the orders selling the item will show up on the screen. Usually, you should sort the orders by price in order to get the best deal... but use good judgment. If the lowest priced order is 10 jumps away, and the second-lowest is in your station for only a few isk more, it's obvious who to buy from. Remember: always search by price so that you don't end up like Count Magnus.
Selling an item: when you sell an item, EVE will give you a price that you can immediately get for it. This is the highest buy order out for what you're trying to sell. If the price EVE gives you is substantially less than the regional average (and EVE will tell you if it is or not), then you may want to put up a sell order. Take a look at the prices for the item in your area, and place your sell order for slightly less than the lowest price. Your item will disappear and the order will be put on the market. maybe someone will buy it!
I'll expand on buying and selling in the "Trade" section.
II. PvP
TO BE CONTINUED
Good luck to you!
