Character Status

[Reg]

With 100 million isk is in his wallet why on earth would he subject himself to the boredom of frigate mining? I still think that boring yourself to death for the first couple of months while you maximize learning skills is a formula for early cancellation but mining a few units of scordite and then running back to the station to unload every couple of minutes would pretty much guarantee it. :)

[Reborne]

Skill Points: 1.3Mil currently

Ships I fly: Atron for mission and Iteron 3 for hauling

Skill Focus: Currently finishing off my tier 1 leanring skills before moving onto sciences.

Short term plans: train skills, earn money for tier 2 learning.

Mid term plans: R&D, not sure what field yet

Long term plans: I want to make space stations :D

[Strazos]

1.373m skillpoints.

Flying a Merlin, Cormorant, Badger, and of course, my Caracal.

I pretty much only do combat. Heck, even my agents suck because I get more money ratting than agent running. Oh well.

[Viin]

Skillpoints:
  28.4 million
Ships I fly:
  any shuttle I can find (I like diversity) and sometimes a Kestrel with rockets
Skill Focus:
  Working on Frigates 4, but it's a looong road!
Short term:
  See above.
Mid term:
  To get Cruisers 1
Long term:
  To get Crusiers 2
Bank account:
  In the red 


- F13 Corpoartion (NSDQ: F13) Status -
Step 1: Start a corporation.
Step 2: Follow the plan:
  Corp Short Term: Spank those BI guys.
  Corp Mid Term: Bring members up into cruisers, and increase mineral/ISK base.
  Corp Long Term: Join alliance or take over some 0.0 space
  Corp Long Long Term: Make a space station in the red light district (need something for all those strippers to do)
Step 3: Profit! (who wouldn't pay for boobies?)

[Mr_PeaCH]

200 - 250k skill points.

Mostly focused right now in flying support with a Rifter.  Can use a good range of armament as well as webbers and nos.  (Still working on scraming and MWD)  Am also planning on learning to fly an ore hauler but since I'm so tightly focused in Minmatar ships it'll have to be one of theirs.  After that hopefully moving up to bigger ships.  Not adverse to doing some mining as well; but been focusing my skills elsewhere first in light of the Corp needs.

My immediate goal is to get some payback on those BI bastages who've downed 4 of my frigs and podded me once.  I'm available almost nightly to support mining efforts or harrass our enemies.

[TheWall]

After about 3 days of play I have a whole pile of level 1 skills trained. I'm at about 170,000 skill points. Frigates is at 4. I'm finishing up my Learning 4 skill over the next day so I can bring frigates 5 into the picture. I'm kind of interested in making a really fast pvp ship to harass the bigger guys up close.

What do you think of this idea?

[WayAbvPar]

Train up the Navigation and Electronics skill trees for that- Acceleration Control, Afterburners, Evasive Manuevering, etc for Nav, and all the ECM stuff for Electronics. You are also going to want to get the base Electronics and Engineering skillls to at 4 ASAP, and then fill in the others when there are mods you want to fit.

[TheWall]

Does a small fast ship have a chance against a large ship? Or is it more harrassment than anything.

[WayAbvPar]

With a PvP set up, you are likely going to die, and die fast. A small fast ship works wonders against most NPC rats (missile users are the exception) that are larger, since their guns can't track. A PC is set up to web, scram, track, and otherwise slow you down enough to blow you to bits.

A frig set up as a tackler (Web, scram, maybe a nos) or for ECM (tracking disruptors and the like) can be a key to a multiple ship engagement, however. I have helped on several PvP kills with just a little Slasher (one of the cheapest Min frigates around) outfitted to confound the enemy while my corp mates and allies shot them to pieces.

Plus, small, fast frigates are fun to fly (say that 5 times fast). I miss speeding around things in my Rifter- when I can acquire the capital and skills, I will probably move on to interceptors.

[TheWall]

So for support they are great. But solo PvP will not work. What do you recommend for solo PvP that is within reasonable reach of my skill level.

[Viin]

I wouldn't try solo PvP until you can get into the better ships (battlecruisers, or at least cruisers).

Unless you just want to gank newbies in their newbie frigates?

[Reg]

After about 3 days of play I have a whole pile of level 1 skills trained. I'm at about 170,000 skill points. Frigates is at 4. I'm finishing up my Learning 4 skill over the next day so I can bring frigates 5 into the picture. I'm kind of interested in making a really fast pvp ship to harass the bigger guys up close.

What do you think of this idea?

I'd hold off on level 5 frigates for now if I were you. You don't have any of the support skills for those fancy tech 2 frigates yet much less the money to buy them. Put that training time into Engineering, Electronics and Mechanical instead.  You'll need those skills for every single ship you fly.

[dwindlehop]

Skillpoints: 280k

I am Dwindlehop in game. I can scramble & web and use AB. I'm working on nos. I can fly Punishers or Rifters. Fear my nubness.

Short term goal: Killing BI cruisers.
Mid term goal: Fly an int or cruiser, after getitng killed often enough to figure out which I really want.
Long term: Concentrating on group PvP battles and wars.

[Hoax]

Yeah as others have said flying a more expensive more badass ship isn't worth it if you can't use it properly.  I could be flying a Geddon/Apoc but in order to do that I would need to spend almost all of my liquid cash and if I lost it (which I would) I would be screwed.

Instead I have committed to a road map of skills before I purchase a BS (the drone skills to take advantage of the bigger bay, lots more gunnery skills, lvl5 on all fitting skills, lvl5 on all cap reduction skills), although I'm not sure how I'm ever going to get the money (I like to have 3 times the ship's base cost in liquid isk before I buy it) unless more Dark Blood's suddenly start appearing in Arzi.

[Reg]

Actually, battleships are surprisingly forgiving. I got into mine when I had about a million skill points. I did have heavy drones by that time but my other skills were nothing to write home about. I didn't even have the skill to use large turrets at the time but it didn't matter because mediums were better at hitting the cruisers and frigates in level 3 missions anyway.

As long as you can equip the hardeners for your shield/armor tank you don't need super duper level 5 support skills for a battleship - not for level 3 missions anyway.

If you mine at all they're great for that too. Almost as good as a barge and much less fragile.

Coming up with the money for your first bs can be a problem. I suggest that you get a bpc and build your own. For the Gallente among you, I have a researched Dominix blueprint and I'll either sell them to you at cost (about 50 million isk at current mineral prices) or I'll make them for you if you can provide me with the minerals.

[Silus Fromme]

If you're Caldari, I'd caution against fitting cruise or torps on a Raven then charging in to level 3 missions.  You probably won't die, but you'll blow a LOT of money doing exceedingly crappy damage against the clouds of small targets you'll encounter.

Also, I've got a single run ME 30 raven BPC laying around I'm not using.  Think I paid 6 million for it but I'd be happy to pass it along to the f13 crowd for 5m if anyone wants it.

[Polysorbate80]

If you're Caldari, I'd caution against fitting cruise or torps on a Raven then charging in to level 3 missions.  You probably won't die, but you'll blow a LOT of money doing exceedingly crappy damage against the clouds of small targets you'll encounter.

Even in level 4's, I've heard some folks advocate going in with lighter launchers mounted first (standard or heavy) to clean up the swarming pests, and then warping out to fit the torpedoes for the battleships.  Probably easier to carry around the extra launchers and small missiles than the piles of torpedoes you'd waste anyway.

[Yegolev]

For the Gallente among you, I have a researched Dominix blueprint and I'll either sell them to you at cost (about 50 million isk at current mineral prices) or I'll make them for you if you can provide me with the minerals.

King among men, you are.

[Morfiend]

I have no idea how many skill points I have (or what that even means) but I am working on learning the game.

I know that the only skill of any relevence I have is Caldari Frigate 4. I plan to be a combat pilot. I dont know if this means shit to anyone or not.

[5150]

If you're Caldari, I'd caution against fitting cruise or torps on a Raven then charging in to level 3 missions.  You probably won't die, but you'll blow a LOT of money doing exceedingly crappy damage against the clouds of small targets you'll encounter.

Also, I've got a single run ME 30 raven BPC laying around I'm not using.  Think I paid 6 million for it but I'd be happy to pass it along to the f13 crowd for 5m if anyone wants it.

I have a corp mate who has a Raven fitted with several smart bombs for anything smaller than a cruiser (and structures) and torps for cruisers and up.

It should be noted that he only solos level 2 (he's only just started mission running and doesnt have a level 3 agent yet) and helps out on the level 4s we do - in other words dont view this as a viable solo level 3 build because we havent tested that [yet]

[Polysorbate80]

Some of the frigate/interceptor swarms will get close enough to smartbomb, others will not.

Overall, cruise missiles aren't much worse than heavies performance-wise, they just cost about 10x as much per missile.  Shooting down a crappy little 5k bounty frigate will take 900-1800isk worth of missiles.  Still, I'm lazy, so if it's not a deadspace mission, I generally just kill whatever my drones/cruise missiles can take before I have to warp out, then warp in again at range (I fit WCS to keep from getting scrambled in level 4s).

If it's deadspace and I have to kill a lot of interceptors right away, I load up the assault launchers first, then leave and re-fit.

It's worked well for me, although I am picky about what level 4s I try to solo with my current skills/gear.

[hal]

Hello, my name is mud. I'll have 2 million skillpoints when frigate 5 finishes (4 days). Ships in neesher are Moa, Caracell, Badger, Merlin and Kestrel. I'm a combat character heading to interceptors.
I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce Mushioh who joined Bat Country last night. Shes going for the R&D lottery and I hope mining, and manufacturing. She has 340 K skillpoints.

[Morfiend]

Ok, I found out how skill points work.

I have a noob 100k skill points. Pretty much all invested in combat related skills.

[Soln]

I'm out.  2M skillpts, 3.2M ISK, last PvE destroyed cruiser.  Can't justify the time to grind ISK and the travel time to get more components.  Game's too thin for me.  Good luck with BoB.  /out

[5150]

I'm out.  2M skillpts, 3.2M ISK, last PvE destroyed cruiser.  Can't justify the time to grind ISK and the travel time to get more components.  Game's too thin for me.  Good luck with BoB.  /out

Usually its about now that isk on ebay starts looking attractive

[Hoax]

Agreed a quick 100mil injection for $18-24 USD is never a bad idea to help you plow through a rough newbie stretch.  If you dont get a kick out of the player intereaction based game content though its just not the right one for you.

I'm always sorry to see somebody go if that is the case.   

I would be happy to give you 15mil if you wanted to stay but just can't handle the grind.  If it is just the act of flying around shopping that is turning you off (that always makes me super pissed) I suggest you just fly to Amarr/Kor Azor Prime/Jita wherever and put 1 jump buy orders for all the modules you need.  Set a long training time skill and take a break.  When you get back if your prices aren't rediculous often everything will be sold.  I found it was no problem to pickup a bunch of cruiser/frig weapons/crystals/modules in Amarr like that and all I did was set buy orders that were slightly more then those that existed.  Of course frig/cruiser modules are really cheap to me at this point.

[Soln]

Thanks Hoax, appreciate the offer. I'm going to break indefinitely though. Game is just not working for me and I gave it nearly 5.5 months.

I refuse to buy eBay/IGE money, but the real stopper is personal time.  EVE IMO is the most innovative and interesting MMO out there right now hand's down, but it's sadly lacking in customer info, inasmuch as leading you to the content or PvP if you solo.  Some time you need direction, and the fact you need to read their forums or go elsewhere just sticks irrationally in my craw.  I really would like my limited play time for learning a game to be done in the game.  Not defending that, just another subjective gripe.  I'm not going to crap on anyone's good time, I just can't reconcile myself spending more personal time grinding component-gathering-runs and what-not.  I mean honestly, the travel time sucks.

EVE's one real failing I think with the real-time model is that it's very punitive on failure as you advance (it also deters a lot of new subs).  So you earn skills to enable larger and more complex ships, but you really need to have spent more real-time earning ISK to cover not only that ship's full replacement cost (with components) but enough to cover it twice -- you have to be able to replace your current ship, and be able to replace your future ship.  All you are doing is paying twice for one failure.  You pay to replace the destroyed ship, and then you grind again to be able replace that new ship and so on.  The tipping point is earning enough to buy the next skill level ship, but again is the preventive grind for replacing it.  Insurance gives you up to 70% and that helps a lot, but I just can't justify spending any more personal time earning that first ship and putting it back together again.  Maybe like all MMO's there's some magical moment when "thing's get easier", and probably it's also easier in large guilds.

[Venkman]

Large Corps could make it easier, or just add more dramatics :)

I hear ya though man. It's why I call Eve sort of an "advanced" MMO. It's based on traditional mechanics (open PvP, losing one's shit, knowledge-based gaming requiring use of extra-game systems, etc.) But this is why I think it has more appeal to veterans of the genre and/or people who haven't been trained by it yet.

Comparatively, most modern MMOGs are fairly easy. They all require time, sometimes buckets of them, but the path before you is fairly well lit. You don't have many real choices in these games beyond traveling that path with Character A or a different one with Character B, but if you can get into the narrative elements, the themes, or just enjoy collecting shit from the game system (as so many apparently do), then there's a world of options out there for everyone.

Eve could be like that, but only after a whole slew of changes that gut the core experience for their audience. Would CCP love to triple or quadruple their playerbase? Sure! But unlike SOE having to NGE SWG to "save" it, CCP doesn't seem to have that much of a financial requirement. Plus, to NGE it, they'd need a ground game so people could relate to their character or some such nonsense that inspired Auto Assault ground avatars.

[edlavallee]

Zipper Zee

Just learning the game, somewhere around 100K or so in skill points. Mostly combat oriented, seems senseless to be in space if you can't blow a few things up.

Look me up if you are on when I am...

275,651 skill points as of today (4.19). Working on Calderi Cruisers 2 at the moment... Anyone selling a Caracal?

[Toast]

Playing as Hurtt. I have something like 350k skill points with an emphasis on combat. I'm still playing through the newbie missions trying to get that mythical implant that everyone keeps mentioning.

I'm trying to learn as quickly as I can.

[Nija]

Maybe like all MMO's there's some magical moment when "thing's get easier", and probably it's also easier in large guilds.

If you can fly an osprey or scythe and have mining at 4 so you can fit miner 2s you can make 12M/hr mining in 0.0.

If you can fit a battleship with miners and you have someone hauling, you can make around 55M/hr.

Do you want to stoop low enough to mine? Well, look at it from a "I could buy a cerberus in 5 hours worth of mining" angle. You're quitting Eve for the same reasons most people quit UO way back when.

Try a little harder.

edit: or if you don't want to try any harder, don't bitch on boards about it so Eve winds up with a Trammel. (not that it'll ever happen but I don't need any more crap to wade through forumwise)

[gimpyone]

I sense hostility captain.

[Hoax]

I would be hostile if my mining was at 4  :-D

[Soln]

Try a little harder.

edit: or if you don't want to try any harder, don't bitch on boards about it so Eve winds up with a Trammel. (not that it'll ever happen but I don't need any more crap to wade through forumwise)

 say again?  anyways, /ignore and all that.  Have a nice flight.

[Nija]

Hey, I'd be okay with having no level restrictions in EQ2 PVP. I'd just like to know beforehand, so I'd know what to expect.

Hell, I might even play WoW again if they had servers where orcs could kill other orcs. Actually I probably wouldn't. All that instanced content sucks.

AND FINALLY, I could be trying my very hardest and I'd never be able to kill a level 51 at 36.

You can do that in Eve! You could do that in UO!