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Eve Newb Finding Your Place

Published on 01. Sep, 2008 ... written by Sam Guss, Tags: Articles

by Sam Guss …

For the last month I’ve been playing my new characters Malori Veneer and Gustaf Matariel and in my string of articles so far, I’ve written on how to conceive and start out a character and then find them a good home in a corporation. What can you expect though in your first month of playing? If, you started playing the game and somehow came across my articles and been following along by now I am sure you may be “stuck” on what to do and when. Aside from training some skills, you may not have had the opportunity to do much except run some missions perhaps or mine or set off and explore some.

Depending on the type of corporation you are in and the location of that corporation your options may be limited or you may simply not be at a point where you understand what you can be doing by now. That’s where this episode of the Eve Newb comes in; to flesh out some activities that you can be taking part in and working towards.

The first thing we have to determine is what security of space you are flying in. That alone will dictate which options are available to you to be honest. In high security space these should be the activities that you are engaging in on a regular basis (feel free to mix and match):

1. Skill training, skill training, skill training
2. Mining
3. Mission running (preferably with corporation mates)/Belt ratting
4. Hauling/Trading

Your training should include mostly learning skills, which will help you further along the line of your Eve career and some skills that will help you fly your Frigate and/or Cruiser if you decide to push towards that. For Malori, I did push her into a Cruiser, since her interests are mostly in mining and industry and getting into an Osprey to mine versus a Frigate impacts her bottom line in ISK substantially. Now, however she is focused on Learning. Gustaf on the other hand, is just now starting to get serious on the Learning skills, as being able to fly his Frigate (and yes he is still in a Frigate) was of higher importance. Before flying anything bigger though, he is focusing on his Learning skills.

Mining by some is considered boring but truly is the foundation on which everything else in Eve is built on. Yes, one can always just go buy the minerals and Blueprints of whatever it is you want to build, however this route can in the end cost you a ton of ISK – whether you decide to build yourself or just buy off the market. Mining will get you used to some aspects of the game however. Basic navigation, how to keep your eyes open for potential threats – both NPC and PC, get you used to station services, etc. and make you either a bit of ISK or the thrill of making whatever it is you want, with the only cost to you being the BPO’s – and not even that if you are in a corporation that allows you to borrow theirs or some BPC’s.

Mission running is a very important part of Eve for a lot of people – even the PvP’ers as this impacts standings and LP (Loyalty Points) which are used to purchase a wide variety of items that cost less than if you bought them on open market. Of course there is belt ratting of course in order to make some ISK off of bounties and increase your standings as well.

Personally, I am not a big fan of high security space and prefer low security and have taken my first jaunts into 0.0 space. What you end up doing in low security space includes much of what you do in high security space as a newb but with some added excitement. In low security space as a newbie you should be engaging in the following activities:

1. Skill training, skill training, skill training
2. Mission running/belt ratting
3. Mining
4. Exploring/learning how to use scanner/learning how to make safe spots
5. Joining corporation operations when possible
6. Exploring some more

Skill training is still just as important, though you may find yourself concentrating on other skills than in high space. For example, as a newbie you are only a day or two from being able to outfit an adequate tackler, so some skills towards these skills is necessary for you to learn and may be skills that back in high security wouldn’t of been trained as early as you will in low security space.

Mission running is still part of the main way to build ISK and faction, however you are more likely to need to run with corporation members to help you get your foot in the door than you do in high security – most corporations shouldn’t mind you tagging along and if they do, then perhaps you are either in the wrong type of corporation OR in a small corporation who simply can’t afford someone of lower skill to fly with them. Don’t despair; just do what you can. This is one activity though, that you will find that you may need to be in high security space more often than low security as you build faction and the ability to fly better ships to tackle higher level missions.

Mining is still important as well, though you will find that you will need to pack up more than in high security and keep a careful eye on local for potential threats entering the system you are in.

Various corporation operations become available in low security that you don’t see as much in high security. For example, scouting in nearby systems is a must; as is defending your low security system, hunting down pirates and attacking POS’s in your home system that aren’t your own. These skills will transfer later as you move into null space and is a great way to get to know your corporation mates and get the experience you will need in flying in fleet engagements.

Using a scanner and finding safe spots is a lot more important in low security than it is in high security. You should learn the systems that you are operating in as well as those systems closest to you. Making bookmarks of critical places to jump to is something I would suggest every pilot does and in a future edition of Eve Newb we will talk more about this. Until next time, have fun!