New player-- questions

[idiot grin]

   Hello, I don't post here (or anywhere) much but my usual strategy of "read everything I can find/ figure the rest out myself" doesn't look like it's going to work for EVE.  My reaction to the game is pretty much the same one I see from other people--  my 2 week free trial has left me overwhelmed trying to learn, a little sad about the lack of twitch, but mostly fucking amazed at the possibilities.  I mean, this is reminding me of old-skool UO.  So I'm trying to figure out how to get started, and any advice would be very much appreciated.

   First of all, character creation.  How important is it that I min/max in terms of race/bloodline?  My 2 favorite choices in terms of portrait and lore are Gallente-Gallente-Immigrant and Ammar-Ammar-Religious Reclaimer.  Obviously that's some bad min/maxing.  Their starting stats (before the 5 discretionary points) go like this:

Gallente---per 10---wil 6---int 6---mem 4---cha 8

Ammar---per 4---wil 14---int 7---mem 6---cha 3

   So, clear problems with both...  the Gallente wastes a lot of points in charisma, and the Ammar doesn't but has bad perception of all things.  Do I really gotta be an Achura or a Khanid?  I guess what I'm asking is, how badly would I be gimping myself time-wise by using either of these?  (also, does Evemon or another program answer questions like this?) 

   The second question is sort of related to the first--  should I pay any attention to what (I read) the current state of game balance is?  It seems like nobody knows what/when the speed nerf will be exactly, and how it will change things like missiles and blasters.  But I read over and over that lasers >>> all right now, that projectile weapons are currently terribad, and that neither is likely to change for at least a year based on CCP's history.  Or that ECM >>> other EWAR.  Is the imbalance really serious enough to make lots of boats near-useless for PvP or are the forums full of bored people exaggerating?

  Third question, as a beginner do I need to run missions for ISK?  I already hate them and I've only been playing for two weeks...  but the 0.5 ratting seems crowded and low-reward, and I can't see surviving long in low-sec when I'm a noob looking to rat.  I'm in this for PvP, but usually with a new game I like to carebear for a little while first, to learn the interface and gain situational awareness etc...  it's really tempting to skill basic tackling, join any small-gang pvp corp that'll have me and go from there...  but I don't want to be useless and I don't want to get stuck--  I picture having no ISK, no decent boat and no easy way to get either. 

  I'll stop there, I have probably hundreds of questions but I'm thinking about these 3 while deciding what my character's gonna be.  Thanks for reading this and for any help. 


edit-  if the web changes stay, do target painters become more useful?  

 

   

[Endie]

You cannot imagine how badly gimped you would be going for the Amarr character in particular.

Go for Achura.  When ambulation comes in (perhaps first half of next year?) everyone will be able to redesign characters anyway, so who knows what the new models will look like.  You will hate yourself if you decide to train something like Amarr Battleship V and it tells you that with implants and maxed learning you're still going to take 60 days or something to do what would have taken not much more than half that.

[Reg]

Join the F13 channel and feel free to ask questions. There's almost always someone there who is awake.

[Predator Irl]

I would go with Gallente Jin-Mei if you want to PVP. Have a read of this page, it will guide you for each race http://wiki.goonfleet.com/index.php?title=Recommended_Base_Stat_Builds

[Pax]

EVEMon can only work with already created characters.

If you wish to find out which bloodline has the best potential in reaching your goals, have a look into EveHQ.
You will find that unless you want to heavily specialised in Charisma-anything, Achura comes out on top of any goal you are likely to set.

[Nevermore]

You could do worse than Minmatar/Brutor/Slave Child if you're wanting a mostly combat character.  I don't know about the state of Minmatar in general but they have some nice frigates and it's easy enough to switch over to another race's ship type early on (which is what I did since I found projectile weapons annoying).  Special Forces starts with a ton of Propulsion skills so you can be in a pretty effective tackler for gang pvp with just a few days training, iirc.

According to all the charts Achura is still the best min/max race, though.

[Phildo]

I created a Gallente/Intaki/Spec Forces character.  All my stats are within 1-2 points of each other, including charisma because I train those lovely leadership skills, and it started me off with a ton of drone related skills that I probably would've waited a long time to get out of the way otherwise.

[Miasma]

What do the different line colours mean in the star map?  There are blue, red, purple and I think green lines between systems which I assume has something to do with the type of jump but there is no legend and I can't figure out what they could denote.

[idiot grin]

   thanks for all the replies.  So, Achura it is...  curses to CCP for making it the best alternative by such a wide margin.  The starting skills work really well with what I think I want to do long-term, though:  Minmatar frigates for tackling, Caldari frigates + cruisers for ewar, and eventually Caldari and/or Gallente gunships.  Also starts with basic missile skills for PvE, maybe I'll like missions better if I'm not kiting them with an Imicus and three drones. 

   
   

[dwindlehop]

You really want perception in the double digits after distributing your five points but before skills. Take a look at the pie chart thread.

Medium projectiles are still the shit. Large proj could use some lovin', particularly ACs, but it's not a 'makes the ship unusable' kinda thing. It's gonna be a tough fight in a Tempest against an equally skilled Tier2 BS, though; they are underpowered. But in a gang, no big difference.

Ninja ratting is fun and profitable! Lowsec ratting is OK; you need to find an empty system or else ping scanner constantly. I prefer 0.0 ratting precisely because you know as soon as someone enters system you pack up and safespot.

[Pezzle]

Should have gone Khanid!

[sanctuary]

What do the different line colours mean in the star map?  There are blue, red, purple and I think green lines between systems which I assume has something to do with the type of jump but there is no legend and I can't figure out what they could denote.

Blue lines are jumps within a constellation. Red lines are jumps from one constellation to another constellation within the same region, for example the jump from Ashab to Amarr is a red one as both systems are in the Domain region but within different constellations. Purple lines represent jumps from one region to another, example going from Tash-Murkon to Domain.

[Miasma]

Ahh that makes sense, thanks, that's been bugging me.

[Amarr HM]

Start off as an Amarr Cyber knight and train for gallente