Tuesday, April 10, 2012

[Eve Online] The Path From Here to There

By now, I think I have a reasonable handle on the Eve interface. It's not perfect, there's lots of small details that I just know there is a way to smooth out, but haven't yet figured out how to do it. For example, on the overhead display, I want to create a tab that just shows enemies. I managed to create a tab that shows stuff I can loot, and it's been an enormous help. But I just can't get one to show only enemies.

Ship-wise, I'm flying an Incursus, which seems to be the best Gallente faction frigate-class combat ship. So far, it's been pretty solid, and has allowed me to complete all the Level 1 missions I've been given.

Skill-wise, I've discovered certificates, which are groupings of related skills. Earning certificates is like a guide to what skills you should pick up. I'm going for what appears to be a standard fighter line, with things like Gunnery and Armor Tanking. Not really sure if this is the best route, but at least it's a direction.

The hardest thing in Eve, I find, is figuring out what goal to set for yourself. Or, if your goal is sufficiently advanced, figuring out the path from you to your goal, what sub-goals you need. The truth is that I don't really know what I want to do in Eve, and as a result I log on, do a couple missions, and then log off.

This is the big advantage of the theme park games. My goal is to get to max level. My sub-goal is to get to the next level. My sub-goal below that is to finish the current quest I am on.

There is a path there that really is not present in Eve. In Eve, even questions like, "should I be moving on to a new solar system" are really hard to answer. How is this solar system really different from the one next to it?

I guess my next goal in Eve is to get and fly a cruiser-class ship. And I can see the skills I need to take to get to that point. What I don't really see is how to afford that cruiser. A level 1 mission pays like 100k ISK. The cruiser costs something like 100M ISK. Am I really to run 1000 missions? Or are there higher paying missions at some point? Or am I expected to take up mining or trading?

I find Eve is extraordinarily opaque when it comes to questions like this. But in some ways that's part of its appeal. Any answer could be the right answer.

I really feel the appeal of a corporation at this point in the game. At least in a corp, someone could give me orders and I could carry out those orders and feel that something is moving forward.

In a lot of respects, I feel the same as when I was a junior programmer. I understood the core concepts, how to program, and how to solve simple problems. What I didn't understand was the jump to large programs, and the larger architecture. That's something I really only learned while working on larger programs, getting a feel for larger systems, and seeing what older and more experienced programmers did.

Basically, it's a lot easier to be a worker bee for a little bit before striking out on your own. You learn so much more that way.

Maybe the answer is that I should join a corp. But here Eve's reputation works against it. It is a notoriously unfriendly community. That makes the whole corporation thing seem even more daunting, especially if you're just playing casually and know you will be unreliable.

It's very true. Even with all the improvements in the tutorial and the newbie epic mission arc, Eve isn't an easy game to get into. I hope they keep working on that. They already provide those different career tutorials, perhaps expanding that to offer you advice on how you could plan out your future if you wanted to do this or that would help.

You might be looking in the wrong place if a cruiser costs 100m. I think it's more common at the moment for them to be 6-12 for the hull(prices are on an upswing) and some comparable amount for the parts.

Either apply to EVE university if you have no clue about what you want to do. Or if you've got an idea of where you want to go, then finding direction in that specific manner is much less intensive than an E-Uni app.

Do you want to get into small gang PvP? You can join Red vs Blue, no questions asked, and within a week, you'll be on dozens of killmails.

Do you want to become a station trading baron? Gevlon has turned to EVE, and runs his own channel to fuel economic discussions.

Do you want be part of the seamy underbelly of EVE? Then you might want to look into Gooning.

Do you want to have a more evolved sense of the PvP mechanics, ranging from T1 Frigate wolfpacks to Armor HAC gangs in 0.0? Agony Unleashed holds a PvP university.

Looking for Wormholes, missions, exploring, or other PvE stylings? There's hundreds of corps out there.

The one place that can't really help you is the one place that EVE dumps all the new players, some State Academy NPC corp.

A good place to get a quick eyeball of what something should cost is EVE-Central.

I don't know much about Gallente ships, but I've heard of Vexors, so I'll assume they're a popular Gallente Cruiser. Searching for "Vexor" on EVE-Central takes you to http://eve-central.com/home/quicklook.html?typeid=626 where you can see the cheapest sales are under 4 million ISK. But that's in nullsec. Cheapest high-sec seller is currently 5 million, and there are many for sale in Jita for 6.5 million.

Well I'm just gonna first welcome you to EVE and for at least taking the bold step in at least giving the game a shot. As well from a former Paladin to another we are no stranger to each other and if I can make it in EVE you certainly can too....... if you choose to.

Your probably looking at things wrong also. EVE isnt like WoW or any the other MMO's you've played. It isn't going to take you by the hand and guide you to do anything or make you choose to. It's your choice to do, to be, to play however you choose to and most of all to craft your own existence however you see your self existing in New Eden. Whatever you choose to do is always your choice. You have to be self driven or propelled to make or determine how you wish to be apart of life in EVE in all it's different aspects. And they are many to choose from.

EVE is like a journey in the life of any capsuleer and setting goals help you accomplish things you wish to do on that journey in EVE to whatever that ever moving destination is. Funny thing in EVE is the destination is always fluid and always moving be you shape your own ultimate destiny.

Questions as a new player will always be many as well what to do. I would say don't be in a hurry to do anything but give it some time to try out various aspects or careers in EVE trying out various things and see where you feel the cosmic winds lead you.

As far as Cruisers costing 100M your probably looking at something else as Cruises are usually in the 2-6M ISK price range depending on price of minerals to produce plus profit margin.

One the most important thing that will ultimately help you in EVE is finding a good and decent Corporation that will make quite allot of difference to your experience in the game. They are friendly helpful people in EVE dispite what you may have heard.

If you need help for anything in EVE that I can help you with or need help on any way don't hesitate to ask or send me a ingame mai. You can find all that info on my blog and shouldn't be hard for you to figure any of that out anyway.

As others have already pointed out, a Cruiser hull will cost you significantly less than 100Mil. A Vexor should run you around 5-6Mil and you'll want to allow another 2-3Mil on top to properly fit it so that all in you're spending under 10Mil.

Keep in mind that in addition to training the "Gallente Cruiser" skill you'll also want to train "Medium Hybrid Turrets" so that you can fit Cruiser-class weapons. From recent personal experience; I would suggest using Railguns over Blasters. Being able to snipe hostile ships from 20km out can make a significant difference once you start taking on small fleets of NPCs.

A Vexor is a great Drone platform so make sure that you've got "Drones" planned to level 5 and "Scout Drone Operation" planned to at least level 1. This will enable you to have up to 5 Hobgoblin I drones deployed at once which will make short work of enemy Frigates while you focus on the larger targets.

Take a look at EVEMon (evemon.battleclinic.com). It has really helped me to plan out the skills I want to train and to set myself some goals in terms of what I want to be able to pilot.

As to where you get your ISK... It's worth considering training a couple of levels of "Gallente Industrial" and picking up an "Iteron Mk III". Once you have this, take a look at EVE-Central and see what's selling low in Jita and high somewhere like Rens. If you're savvy, you can make a very good rate of return by hauling modules and ammo from one to the other. Just make sure you don't carry too much in a single trip or you'll risk attracting the attention of pirates!