Coming back, need some help

[NiX]

I resubbed on friday while I was bored at work and messing around on my Boss' laptop. I haven't played since January and I was just wondering the best route to go to make money. If there's a way to get a quick listing of what skills your char has, let me know and I'll post it so you guys can see what I have so far. I have about 1.5Mil ISK banked and I don't know how many ships I have.

[Yoru]

For easy money in empire space, the traditional way would be to grind combat missions. Get a cruiser and whack at level 2s until you can afford a BC and have the rep to do level 3s, then do level 3s until you have the money and rep to do level 4s. Then you just print money at your leisure.

Alternatively, get an industrial, some trade skills and start looking for market inefficiencies. Look for places in the boonies where someone's selling minerals cheap and haul them back to core worlds, selling them at a profit, then haul modules out to remote missioning systems and sell modules at a profit. Look for places where tech2 producers are based and haul tech2 modules off to distant markets. This is hard and risky, but profitable.

Finally, you can mine. Mining in empire blows nuts, since you're generally competing with the macrominers and will mostly only be able to mine either crappy ore or within 24 hours of one of the ore-spawning downtimes (Tuesday AM and Friday AM, I think). The only place I've found to be tolerable is my current Fortress of Solitude, where isogen is sold for 80-90 isk a pop, but it's never mined out, unless I've been stripping belts.

[dwindlehop]

Evemon has a character skill export. Do a Save As and change the file type  to Text.

[Reg]

Level 4s aren't easy money (unless I'm just a complete screwup which is possible). Sure the bounties are very nice but they take me forever to do and I've lost several expensive ships to them so far. They do make a nice change from the level 3s though. For a steady cash flow I'd just stick to level 3s myself. Also there are several level 2 and level 3 missions that take you to a deadspace area containing one or more big fat omber asteroids. You can make some decent money mining those once you've killed off the local NPCs. Just remember not to complete the mission until you've finished mining or they disappear.

[Polysorbate80]

I've never lost a ship in a level 4, but there is a fair amount of warping out/in on some of them.

Are you getting scrambled and blown up?  I recommend always fitting a couple of warp stabs for your initial entry, then swap them out for damage mods after you blow up the scramblers if you want.

Then there are a few missions I just don't accept due to them being more trouble or time than they're worth--Enemies Abound parts 4 & 5, Worlds Collide, and Vengeance come to mind.  Angel Extravaganze I may or may not do based on time available to me.

[Reg]

It's just a matter of figuring out which I can accept and which I can't. I'm using a Dominix and am completely dependent on drones so that limits me even more. So far, they just seem like more trouble than they're worth. The vast majority of my income comes from ship building anyway so I tend to just do missions for fun and getting locked into a mission that takes 4 hours to complete or gets me blown up so I have to go and fit a new ship just isn't fun for me. I'm lazy. :)

[Yegolev]

Alternatively, get an industrial, some trade skills and start looking for market inefficiencies. Look for places in the boonies where someone's selling minerals cheap and haul them back to core worlds, selling them at a profit, then haul modules out to remote missioning systems and sell modules at a profit. Look for places where tech2 producers are based and haul tech2 modules off to distant markets. This is hard and risky, but profitable.

Hard and risky, yes.  Try this: http://eve-central.com/home/tradefind.html
Even with that tool, I'm not really sure I want to run cargo.  I only have Gallente Industrial III anyway.

Empire mining is nothing but monkeynuts without the right place/ship, and even then it's not totally awesome.  But if you've never been to 0.0, you won't know any better.

[NiX]

BASIC INFO
=======================================================================
     Name: Kyra Veronis
   Gender: Female
     Race: Caldari
Bloodline: Deteis
  Balance: 1,441,509.10 ISK

Intelligence:  8.64
    Charisma:  6.48
  Perception:  9.72
      Memory: 11.88
   Willpower: 14.04

SKILLS
=======================================================================
Drones, 2 Skills, 3,079 Points
: Drones I (1)                             250/256,000 Points
: Mining Drone Operation II (2)            2,829/512,000 Points
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Electronics, 1 Skill, 2 Points
: Electronics (none) (1)                   2/256,000 Points
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Engineering, 5 Skills, 23,572 Points
: Energy Grid Upgrades II (2)              2,829/512,000 Points
: Engineering III (1)                      8,000/256,000 Points
: Shield Management II (3)                 4,243/768,000 Points
: Shield Operation III (1)                 8,000/256,000 Points
: Shield Upgrades I (2)                    500/512,000 Points
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Gunnery, 2 Skills, 500 Points
: Gunnery I (1)                            250/256,000 Points
: Small Hybrid Turret I (1)                250/256,000 Points
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Industry, 2 Skills, 53,255 Points
: Industry III (1)                         8,000/256,000 Points
: Mining IV (1)                            45,255/256,000 Points
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Leadership, 1 Skill, 1,415 Points
: Leadership II (1)                        1,415/256,000 Points
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Learning, 4 Skills, 93,340 Points
: Instant Recall IV (1)                    45,255/256,000 Points
: Iron Will II (1)                         1,415/256,000 Points
: Learning IV (1)                          45,255/256,000 Points
: Spatial Awareness II (1)                 1,415/256,000 Points
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mechanic, 2 Skills, 750 Points
: Hull Upgrades I (2)                      500/512,000 Points
: Mechanic I (1)                           250/256,000 Points
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Missile Launcher Operation, 7 Skills, 43,620 Points
: Heavy Missiles (none) (3)                1/768,000 Points
: Missile Bombardment III (2)              16,000/512,000 Points
: Missile Launcher Operation III (1)       8,040/256,000 Points
: Rapid Launch II (2)                      2,829/512,000 Points
: Rockets I (1)                            250/256,000 Points
: Standard Missiles III (2)                16,000/512,000 Points
: Target Navigation Prediction I (2)       500/512,000 Points
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Navigation, 3 Skills, 16,250 Points
: Afterburner I (1)                        250/256,000 Points
: Navigation III (1)                       8,000/256,000 Points
: Warp Drive Operation III (1)             8,000/256,000 Points
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Science, 1 Skill, 8,000 Points
: Science III (1)                          8,000/256,000 Points
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Spaceship Command, 4 Skills, 111,239 Points
: Caldari Cruiser II (5)                   7,072/1,280,000 Points
: Caldari Frigate IV (2)                   90,510/512,000 Points
: Caldari Industrial II (4)                5,657/1,024,000 Points
: Spaceship Command III (1)                8,000/256,000 Points
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

There she blows! Any suggestions? Yes, I play a female. Cause it was a damn sausage fest in the original F13 corp.

[Roac]

Any suggestions?

What do you want to do?

[NiX]

Mainly just be able to do missions. Rat/PVP.

[Roac]

Then you'll want lots of combat and social (for missions) skills of course, but also fittings skills which will let you put better gear on your ship.  Electronics along with a lot of the Engineering skills are terribly useful.  Additionally, look at Weapon Upgrades under Gunnery which reduces weapon CPU requirements. 

At this point you should be doing lv2s in a Caracal.  There is already a thread going dealing with Caracal fittings, so head toward that.  Start training skills where (1) you think you are lacking, (2) that will give you T2 gear to increase the overall effectiveness of your ship, and (3) which will lay the groundwork for where you want to be a month or three out from now, when you're flying a battlecruiser or battleship.  That means don't invest a ton into Standard Missiles (what you have now should be good), but do invest in things like Missile Launcher Operation, Missile Bombardment, Electronics, Engineering, Weapon Upgrades, Caldari Cruiser (to get a BS), and other support skills. 

On the social side, there are three skills you will want to pay attention to:  Social, Connections, and Negotiation which together will help improve standing toward mission agents, which get you better payout and higher level missions sooner.  Take the effort to get these to at least 3:  it won't take long, and is worth the couple days you'll spend even if you only do missions occationally. 

At some point you will want to train your learning skills.  The best payout is right now, but that's not always the most fun.  I spaced my training out, doing the easy stuff up front and the higher level stuff as skill training dictated.  The main suggestion is to train memory up first, whatever you do, because it'll reduce the time for everything else.

You'll want drone skills eventually, but with a Caracal you can only use two light drones but get a devastating missile payload, so your skill training should be biased accordingly.  When you move into a BC and certainly once you're in a BS you'll have a larger drone bay to actually use one or two of them, but at this point you shouldn't care too much.

[Vedi]

Any suggestions?

Get a Caracal  - you seem to have the perfect skill setup for it.

I'd get the rest of the basic learning skills up to at least rank 3 at once - that will pay off within a week.

Other than that, get electronics and engineering to rank 4 - that will give you more CPU (electroincs) and power (engineering) to play with when fitting. Also, I'd get the drone skill up to rank 3 or 4 so you can use more drones. You've got OK missile skills, but there are a few more you can get in there to increase your range and damage versus small targets (specifically missile bombardment, missile projection and target navigation prediction). Taking those to rank 2 takes only a few hours and will give you a very nice range boost. Increasing Caldari Cruiser to rank 3 or even 4 will also help you with both range and damage, and is a prerequisite for almost anything you'd want to upgrade to later, but that takes a while.

If you want to PvP, getting into a Blackbird is fun. You have to learn basic Electronic Warfare (EW) skills, but you can really mess up ships much bigger/more expensive than yourself with it, although you'll need a damage dealing partner to kill anything big.

[Roac]

Also, I'd get the drone skill up to rank 3 or 4 so you can use more drones.

Caracal only has 10m3 drone bay which is 2 lights or 1 heavy, so ranking Drones to 3 or 4 won't do much for him at this point.  He's best to rank it to 2 to play with a pair of lights just to get a feel for them, but otherwise ignore that entire section of skills until he's in a BC or even a BS. 

[dwindlehop]

You need better tanking skills: Energy Systems Operation, Energy Management, Tactical Shield Manipulation, plus more levels of the Shield skills you already know. Specifically, you want to get Shield Operation IV so you can get that tasty Medium Shield Booster II. Better tanking skills leads directly to being able to kill bigger rats which means more money.

Electronic Warfare won't hurt. And like someone else said, Electronics and Engineering open up a lot more options for ship fittings.

[NiX]

I left before someone was supposed to make me a Caracal. Just wondering where the cheapest place is to get one?

Also, where's the best place to look for skills? I need to buy a few AND get the ship. Social skills, EW. Pretty much what I don't have that you guys listed.

[Roac]

I left before someone was supposed to make me a Caracal. Just wondering where the cheapest place is to get one?

Caldari space:  Forge, Citadel, Lonetrek.  Check the market for what's cheap, but Jita is a safe bet for cheap (and plentiful) gear.  If you don't mind waiting you can do a little more research on market activity and setup a buy order for a Caracal to get it even cheaper.

Also, where's the best place to look for skills? I need to buy a few AND get the ship. Social skills, EW. Pretty much what I don't have that you guys listed.

Just search, sort by distance, and go there to buy.  Nearly all skills (and probably all you can use right now) are sold from NPC shops so the market is fixed.  Sometimes players will put up a sell order for one skill or another at 1000% above market price in the off chance that someone isn't paying attention, but otherwise the market is almost flat.  Anywhere with empire should give you access to all the skill books in a couple hops at most.

[NiX]

Bringing this baby back to life. Resubbing right now and think I just might make a new char under the new creation system. Is exploration viable as a career? I really don't want to involve myself in combat right now and I don't mind being bored with mining/hauling/trading. I just need to know how to go about becoming GOOD at those things.