If you lied that you're working artist on their company, I would believe.
Yeah haha their latest art direction is especially something up my alley.
EVE's not hard or anything, it just has a lot of mechanics. It's not meant to be learned all at once, and you can get by pretty well without knowing how like 90% of the game works. All you need to know is who your bros are, fuck the rest.
The launcher is fine for patching the game and shit but its much less of a hassle launching the client directly. Do yourself a favor and make a shortcut to this:
You'll be asked to create a character. Faction doesn't really matter in the long run, but if you want to get the most bang for your buck in the short term, I'd recommend Gallente or Minmatar. In terms of lore, Amarr are pretty much slaver Zionists, Gallente are Franco-American, Caldari are German-Japanese space fascists, and Minmatar are like Zoroastrian Chinatown space punks.
The character creator is pretty detailed, the head has 17 editing areas and you can freely move them in all axes so it's possible to make a terribly ugly duder. There's a randomize button on the upper left to whiz you through, too.
Most of the choices here are just for immersion and flavor, although "Education" decides where you start out in space. It used to be faction/bloodline decided what starting stats you got saddled with but they got rid of it some time ago. Names are permanent. Deleting characters requires a 10hr waitout.
The EVE UI is pretty powerful and works more like an OS than a game [except you don't get a console] but the default settings are shit. Learning your way around the UI and getting it set up goes a long way to make the game enjoyable.
Here are some tips:
Pretty much anything can be highlighted, rightclicked and/or dragged. Items, places, people can all be dragged into chat. Review the controls a bit, I ended up changing them a bunch to suit my tastes. There's no WASD, ships are flown by double clicking into space, kind of like old RPGs. You can allstop your ship with ctrl-space.
Press F10 to open and close the starmap:
Beyond this, you will eventually want to redo your overview panel so it tells you more important information. Go
here for a pretty good tutorial on how to redo it.
If you want to just go through the motions of the tutorials, go ahead. Eventually you'll exhaust all the tutorial missions and they won't give you some "story" questline to follow -- you'll just be stuck in the middle of space on your own. That's because you're supposed to go make your own story.
Anyways, you can always make more than one account and start anew once you have an idea of how to work the game.
Here are some training plans for when you want to do specific stuff:
Miner:This optimizes you to mine with the Venture mining frigate. High security mining is pretty much an AFK activity where you set your lasers on a rock and tab out, if you have shit to do, this lets you multitask rather easily. It's also the most accessible and probably the safest, most profitable and reliable entry level moneymaking method short of trading [profitable scamming requires both experience and access to stuff like corps and items].
1. Mining III //throw this into your skillqueue as soon as you get in game
2. Mining Frigate I //train this as soon as you get it, you can finish Mining III later
3. Mining Upgrades I
4. Shield upgrades I
5. Afterburner I
6. Drones I
7. Scout Drone Operation I
8. Drones II
9. Mining IV
10. Mining Frigate II
11. Mining Frigate III
12. Science IV
13. Astrogeology I
14. Astrogeology II
15. Astrogeology III
16. Mining Frigate IV
17. Astrogeology IV
18. Mining V
Your ship is gonna look something like this:
High slots
2x XeCl Drilling Beam I
Medium slots
Residual Survey Scanner I
Afterburner I
Medium Azeotropic Ward Salubrity I
Low slots
Mining Laser upgrade I
Drones
2x Hobgoblin I
Asteroid belt NPCs will spawn in 0.7 security or lower systems, so you'll need a bit of fat and the drones to kill them before they kill you. If you plan on mining in the safest systems, you don't need to train drones at all.
Go for any variety of Scordite and look to sell it for at least 23isk per unit. You can usually get between 700k to 1mil isk per load this way.
17-Day Destroyer Hero:You can make people cry in just a few days, but it'll take a little more than 16 days for the character to be fully developed.
Ideally you'll want to make a Minmatar character graduating from Republic Military School, as it's closest to the local trade hub of Rens. The Minmatar Thrasher destroyer is one of the best PvP destroyers as it is cheap, has flexible ammunition choices, decent damage projection, and has a balanced and flexible slot layout that gives you room to fit pretty much everything you would want to.
First thing of note is attribute remapping. Skills in EVE have attribute properties and their training times will be affected by your character's attributes. To change attributes, go here:
A summary of the skills and their goal levels:
x Electronics 4
x Propulsion Jamming 2
Signature Analysis 4
Targeting 3
x Engineering 5
Energy Emission Systems 2
Energy Management 3
Energy Systems Operation 3
Shield Management 3
Shield Upgrades 1
Tactical Shield Manipulation 3
Acceleration Control 1
Afterburner 3
Evasive Maneuvering 3
High Speed Maneuvering 2
x Mechanics 3
Jury Rigging 3
Shield Rigging 1
x Science 4
Thermodynamics 3
x Gunnery 4
x Motion Prediction 3
Rapid Firing 3
Sharpshooter 3
Weapon Upgrades 2
x Small Projectile Turret 4
Surgical Strike 3
Trajectory Analysis 2
x Minmatar Frigate 3
Minmatar Destroyer 4[/size]
x means the skillbook will not need to bought; they either are part of your new character or can be acquired through tutorials.
A detailed skilling order is as follows:
***Remapping (active) : i27 p17 c17 w17 m21*** //this means to remap as soon as you get into the game to max out Intelligence and dump the rest into Memory.
1. Electronics IV //you can actually train skills belonging to the same remap in any order barring prerequisites.
2. Engineering IV
3. Engineering V //ex. you can put off Engineering 5 near the end of the Int/Mem remap if you don't want to wait 4 days in the beginning.
4. Science IV
5. Afterburner I
6. Signature Analysis I
7. Targeting I
8. Shield Upgrades I
9. Tactical Shield Manipulation I
10. Projectile Management I
11. Projectile Systems Operation I
12. Propulsion Jamming I
13. Evasive Maneuvering I
14. Projectile Emission Systems I
15. Acceleration Control I
16. Projectile Management II
17. Projectile Management III
18. Thermodynamics I //lets you overheat your guns and stuff and make them superpowered while burning them out. Really good for PvP.
19. Projectile Emission Systems II
20. Signature Analysis II
21. Signature Analysis III
22. Targeting II
23. Shield Upgrades II
24. Tactical Shield Manipulation II
25. Tactical Shield Manipulation III
26. Projectile Systems Operation II
27. Projectile Systems Operation III
28. Propulsion Jamming II
29. Afterburner II
30. Afterburner III
31. High Speed Maneuvering I
32. Mechanics III
33. Jury Rigging I
34. Jury Rigging II
35. Jury Rigging III
36. Shield Rigging I
37. High Speed Maneuvering II
38. Evasive Maneuvering II
39. Thermodynamics II
40. Evasive Maneuvering III
41. Thermodynamics III
42. Signature Analysis IV
***Remapping (active) : i17 p27 c17 w21 m17*** //remap to maxed Perception and dump the rest into Willpower
43. Minmatar Frigate III
44. Minmatar Destroyer I
45. Rapid Firing I
46. Motion Prediction I
47. Sharpshooter I
48. Weapon Upgrades I
49. Weapon Upgrades II
50. Minmatar Destroyer II
51. Motion Prediction II
52. Rapid Firing II
53. Minmatar Destroyer III
54. Rapid Firing III //you should be able to kill stuff like with this already. The rest of the skillplan is just icing on the cake.
55. Minmatar Destroyer IV
56. Rapid Firing IV
57. Small Projectile Turret IV
58. Sharpshooter II
59. Motion Prediction III
60. Sharpshooter III
61. Gunnery III
62. Gunnery IV
63. Surgical Strike I
64. Surgical Strike II
65. Surgical Strike III
66. Trajectory Analysis I
67. Trajectory Analysis II
68. Trajectory Analysis III //freely choose any skill to keep training after this.
29 unique skills, 68 skill levels; Total time: 16 days, 18 hours, 55 minutes, 10 seconds
Cost: 7,451,500 ISK
7.5 mil isk is about 10 or so loads of scordite when using a Venture to mine, which isn't terribly bad. You'll want a few mil extra for your ship fittings:
High slots
1x Small Nosferatu I //steals energy from the enemy ship to power your own electronics so you don't run out of juice before they do. Hopefully.
7x 200mm AutoCannon I
Medium slots
1x J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I //try to buy this specific variety
1x Medium Subordinate Screen Stabilizer I //try to buy this specific variety
1x 'Langour' Drive Disruptor I //try to buy this specific variety
Low slots
2x Gyrostabilizer I //increases your damage
Rig Slot
1x Small Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I
2x Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Charges
1,680x Republic Fleet EMP S //this is probably the most expensive part of your ship. You're going to kill players and you should use relatively good ammo. Make sure you buy small ammo, only small ammo fits in small guns!
Other than the ammo and mid slot modules, any variety of the modules [since there are usually around 5 or so variations] is usually fine and you can pick up the cheapest if you want to be frugal.
While your skills are training you can do tutorial missions for the other skillbooks and possibly your destroyer. If you want to do it all on one character, head straight for the Industry tutorial and get that Venture mining frigate ASAP and start mining to fund the rest of your skillbooks. Training up one level of mining frigate takes less than 20 minutes so it's worth it.
What you do with this is join a mining corp and chat someone up [preferably someone alone in a system]. Ask to mine together with him and to be invited to his fleet. Warp to him, immediately scramble him and blap away. Pick up loot, and either taunt them a bit or dock up and leave corp and move on. Once this character is about to expire, you can transfer your ship to the next character. Any extra profit should be first turned into skillbooks for the next character, and the rest can be invested into something with relatively stable costs according to your judgement and transferred off the account.
20-day Cruiser HeroIf you're feeling like you can risk a bigger and more expensive ship awoxing, here's a cruiser version of the above hero. You'll be able to do about twice the DPS while being a bit tankier.
Please note this uses Gallente cruisers and hybrids, so you should make your character accordingly. The closest school to the Gallente trade hub Dodixie is University of Caille.
***Remapping (active) : i27 p17 c17 w17 m21***
1. Electronics IV
2. Engineering IV
3. Engineering V
4. Science IV
5. Afterburner I
6. Signature Analysis I
7. Targeting I
8. Shield Upgrades I
9. Tactical Shield Manipulation I
10. Energy Management I
11. Energy Systems Operation I
12. Propulsion Jamming I
13. Evasive Maneuvering I
14. Energy Emission Systems I
15. Acceleration Control I
16. Drones I
17. Scout Drone Operation I
18. Drones II
19. Energy Management II
20. Energy Management III
21. Thermodynamics I
22. Energy Emission Systems II
23. Signature Analysis II
24. Signature Analysis III
25. Targeting II
26. Shield Upgrades II
27. Tactical Shield Manipulation II
28. Tactical Shield Manipulation III
29. Energy Systems Operation II
30. Energy Systems Operation III
31. Propulsion Jamming II
32. Afterburner II
33. Afterburner III
34. High Speed Maneuvering I
35. Drones III
36. Mechanics III
37. Jury Rigging I
38. Jury Rigging II
39. Jury Rigging III
40. Shield Rigging I
41. High Speed Maneuvering II
42. Evasive Maneuvering II
43. Thermodynamics II
44. Evasive Maneuvering III
45. Thermodynamics III
46. Signature Analysis IV
***Remapping (active) : i17 p27 c17 w21 m17***
47. Gallente Frigate III
48. Gallente Destroyer I
49. Rapid Firing I
50. Motion Prediction I
51. Sharpshooter I
52. Weapon Upgrades I
53. Weapon Upgrades II
54. Gallente Destroyer II
55. Motion Prediction II
56. Rapid Firing II
57. Gallente Destroyer III
58. Rapid Firing III
59. Rapid Firing IV
60. Small Hybrid Turret IV
61. Sharpshooter II
62. Motion Prediction III
63. Sharpshooter III
64. Gunnery III
65. Gunnery IV
66. Surgical Strike I
67. Surgical Strike II
68. Surgical Strike III
69. Trajectory Analysis I
70. Trajectory Analysis II
71. Trajectory Analysis III
72. Medium Hybrid Turret I
73. Medium Hybrid Turret II
74. Medium Hybrid Turret III
75. Medium Hybrid Turret IV
76. Gallente Cruiser I
77. Gallente Cruiser II
78. Gallente Cruiser III
79. Combat Drone Operation I
80. Combat Drone Operation II
81. Combat Drone Operation III
82. Drones IV
83. Drone Navigation I
84. Drone Navigation II
85. Drone Navigation III
35 unique skills, 85 skill levels; Total time: 20 days, 6 hours, 3 minutes, 20 seconds
Cost: 8,261,500 ISK
Your ship would be something like this:
High slots
5x Limited Neutron Blaster I
Medium slots
2x J5 Prototype Warp Disruptor I
Large F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
Low slots
3x Magnetic Field Stabilizer I
Fourier Transform Tracking Program
Beta Reactor Control: Diagnostic System I
Rigs
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I
Drones
4x Hammerhead I
Charges
800x Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M //or Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M, whichever one is cheaper. They're the same thing.
Usage is pretty much the same as the Thrasher. The two warp disruptors are for holding down multiple targets.
There are a lot of other stuff you can do, ask me and I can explain on a case by case basis.
Ask away if you have any other questions!