The Box Pie

So I’m currently playing Eve Online, and I found that one of the most difficult things for new players to do is come to terms with the freedom they are given. Eve Online is a free roam space MMORPG with extra freedom.I wanted to write a guide to help new players get themselves well established in the world of Eve Online.

Creating your Character:

Character creation is mostly about choosing your race. The various races of Eve are now mostly cosmetic. Characters start with very few skills and can be easily crossed trained to fly another races ships. There is no where your character cannot go with enough time. Below is a short description of each race and their strengths. Remember, any race can use any ship they want.

Amarr: Use ships with thick armor and laser turrets. Laser turrets do not consume ammo but instead use a focusing crystal and capacitor to fire. Laser turrets have the unique tachyon turrets which drain your ships capacitor but are extremely powerful and far reaching.  Most Amarr ships have bonuses which improve the capacitor efficiency of laser turrets.

Caldari: Use ships with advanced shields, missiles, and hybrid weapons. Missiles are the weapon of choice for most Caldari pilots because of their usefulness in PvE missions.  Missiles always hit their targets and have a very long reach. Missile damage is based on the target ships size and speed which helps to balance out their perfect accuracy. Missiles tend to be less useful in PvP due to their sometimes long travel times. Missiles consume ammo but do not use any of your ships capacitor. Some Caldari ships also sport range bonuses for hybrid turrets like blasters and railguns. Hybrid turrets use both ammo and capacitor however their capacitor use is much more moderate than laser turrets. Pay attention to the bonuses granted by Caldari ships to figure out whether the ship was meant for missiles, hybrids, or both.

Gallente: Ships are focused on using strong armor, drones, and hybrid turrets. Drones have the advantage of being very accurate and are useful against smaller ships that your large guns cannot hit. Most Gallente ships include strong bonuses to drones, and have a much larger drone cargo than other races’ ships. Gallente ships tend to have damage or tracking bonuses for their hybrid weapons which makes them strong opponents in a close range fight.

Minmatar: Ships are versatile and can use either shields or armor to soak up damage. Their ships use projectile weapons and missiles which can be a powerful combination in the hands of a skilled pilot. Minmatar ships are very skill intensive due to having to train multiple weapon skills. Their ships tend to be faster than most of the other races’ ships. Projectile weapons consume ammo but use no capacitor. As a Minmatar pilot it is very important that you focus on either shield or armor tanking when fitting your ship. The versatility of Minmatar ship is a double edged sword because the lack of focus on any one particular weapon or defensive system can sometime be a hassle.

Choosing your career:

The career paths for your character include combat, mining, trading, and manufacturing. I won’t be covering the last two because I’m really bad at them, and I don’t want to misinform you.

Combat is all about blowing other ships up and keeping your ship from being blown up in the process. The PvE aspect of combat involves running missions for NPC agents scattered across the Eve Online Galaxy. Skills you want to train are race specific ship skills like “Minmatar Frigate” or “Amarr Cruiser”. It would also be a good idea to train up race specific gunning skills.

• Amarr = Lasers
• Minmatar = Projectiles + Missiles
• Caldari = Mostly Missiles
• Gallente = Hybrids + Drones

Finally it would also be a good idea to train up your races preferred defensive systems.

• Caldari = Shield
• Minmatar = Mostly Shield
• Gallente = Armor
• Amarr = Armor

Mining is one of the most boring/relaxing careers in Eve. The basic solo strategy is very simple:

1. Pull up to an asteroid.
2. Laser it with your mining laser.
3. Fill your cargo with ore.
4. Warp back to the Station and refine it.

Every race has a mining frigate which has bonuses to cargo and mining laser output. If you want to mine I suggest you fly one of these to start with. Essential skills for a miner include “Mining” and “Refining”. Miners should also learn some defensive skills in order to keep themselves alive in case of a pirate attack.

Some Final Warnings:

1. Stay out of space that is rated 0.4 or lower until you know what you are doing. This is PvP territory and chances are you WILL get blown to bits.
2. Play through the tutorial, it really helps.
3. You start in a newbie corporation, the people in your Corp chat know that. Most of them are willing to answer your questions if you ask politely.
4. Eve Online is a very clicky game, a lot of important functions are done solely with the mouse.
5. Make sure your having a good time above all else.

Eve online is such an expansive game I can’t even begin to cover everything in just one article.It seems like a lot, but I’ve only given you an idea of what there is to do in Eve Online. I haven’t even talked about PvP, null sec space, manufacturing, exploration, wormholes, or trading. Hopefully, you’ve gotten an idea about where to start and what to do.

If you need even more guidance, feel free to post in the new players section of the Eve Online Forums.