3 Week Fast-Track Guide

(DRAFT - this guide is incomplete & being tweaked still)

Goal: to streamline your character's initial growth while you learn the game. After 2-3 weeks, you will have strong Gallente standing and some good options. Having access to higher level missions will be optimal generic income.

This plan is not "the right" or ONLY path. Eve is a sandbox, full of choices and many paths to take. This path is not perfect. You can freely go your own road at any time, pick different skills, different ships, etc.

Caveat: Times will vary. You may find that your skill training outpaces your time available to run missions (and thus your standing and income).

1. Get Ready

A. Do the 3 career mission training

Before starting, take a few hours to do the 3 career agents and tutorials. If you skipped them, hit F12 in-game and look at the bottom. Click "show career agents."

Your likely starting point as a CAS noob:

• Cistuvaert - do the crash course tuts & missions with Jarck Feritte
• Clellinon - do the 3 career agents (all 3, yes)
  

If you have not done these 3 mission arcs yet, you may want to immediately start your skill training with Gallente Frigate 3 & 4 in the skill queue, while you figure out other options and needs. You could also start training Drones up to rank 3.

You should have:

• about 3 million ISK,
• civ damage control, an atron (ship), webber, 75mm guns, small armor repper
  
• relevant skills: repair systems, hull upgrades, social, connections
  
• a basic grasp of how to move around in Eve and to manage missions.
  

B. Get Evemon http://evemon.battleclinic.com/

Evemon is a program that will help you plan training and to look up Eve information. It will track your character training, "live." You can quickly look up items or ships to see what training is required for them (and how long it will take). It will also let you figure out what attributes to increase and optimal "Learning Skills." If you have a 2nd monitor or play Eve in windowed mode, it's a very valuable thing to have open in the background.

Evemon connects via CCP's API system, allowing Evemon to keep up-to-date with the basic training and skills of your character(s). Using the basic API is safe. Get your info here - http://www.eveonline.com/api/default.asp

EFT is another excellent program that let's you play around with setting up ships.

C. Understand the goals of this guide

You will be using these ships:

• Imicus (L1) --> Vexor (L2) --> Myrmidon (L3)

You will rely heavily on drones for damage.

You will increasingly use an "armor tank" rather than shields.

You will run missions for the NPC corp called Federation Navy.

You will end up with good income and core skills for mission running.

Locations:

1. Mirilene (L1) standing -0.75 (2 agents)
   
2. Oursulaert (L2) standing 1.1 (3 agents + 1 in Mies)
   
3. Eglennaert (L3) standing 3.15 (3 agents)
   
4. Masalle (L3) standing 4.5 (3 agents) *** optional
5. Aunia / Dodixie (L4)
   

D. Remap your attributes

Eve allows new players an extra remap. After that, it's only once a year. My advice is to remap along the following lines, and then use the 2nd one a month or two later once you've learned the game a bit more and have a clear idea for the next year.

• First Remap: 6 int, 10 perception, 5 charisma, 5 willpower, 15 memory

This was precisely what Evemon calculated as the ideal attribute spread for 2 months training along the lines mapped out below. Yes, check the math. Don't do this if you already blew your first remap. If you already used one, then wait a while (a month+) until you have longer-term plans and then check in Evemon for optimization.

TIPS:

• Always have your 24 hour skill training queue filled.
• Keep your Damage Control module ON (if equipped)
  
• General Settings: under "station," select the option to merge items and ships into station panel.
• Read through Overview 101 and setup a 2nd tab for "all" things to show. This may help in some missions where you could have trouble spotting the objective.
• Use hybrid Lead ammo until you have a good understanding of the different types.
  
• Don't waste time mining unless it is for a mission.
  
• Learn to use the in-game maps (F10) and to look at a nice "flattened" map on the web, like this: http://evemaps.dotlan.net/map/Verge_Vendor/
  

2. Federation Navy - Level 1 (2-3 days)

Required Fed Navy standing: n/a
Required ISK: about 200k
Goal: achieve 1.1 standing

A. Ship & Training

First of all, buy & setup an Imicus (~100,000 ISK).

Imicus #1 - first setup (expect to warp out of a lot of fights)
Imicus #2 - shield tank (not cap stable, requires strategy)
Imicus #3 - noob armor tank (requires turning repair on/off)

3 drones. Use hobgoblins. You need to immediately train Drones to rank 3 & Scout Drone Operation to rank 1 (go to rank 3 when you can). Scout Drone Op rank 1 + Drones rank 3 = 5 hours or so. To add drones, right-click on the ship in the station.

• TIP: Drones can be set to passive or aggressive. You can also setup key shortcuts for controlling them. It's wise to keep them on passive unless you're facing sensor dampening (i.e. you can't target stuff).

Your drones will be your main damage. They will kill everything in Level 1 missions. All you must do is stay alive and not lose them.

You will start off doing a bit of shield tanking rather than armor tanking. If you haven't yet, train both Shield Operation 1 & Shield Management 1. Proper armor tanking will take time and better ships. Armor tanking will require Energy Management 2 (at least) and Energy Systems Operation 3 (at least). That's 10-11 hours of training that will you will want in before L3 anyways.

• TIP: you will be warping out a lot, initially. Learn to keep moving, "zig zagging" when you can, but always ready to warp out to a station.

Connections 3. You want to get Social skill up to rank 3 & then train Connections to rank 3. That's about 20 hours. This will dramatically improve standing.

While these things train, you can use civilian gear or anything else you can find. Once you get those skills, start training Gallente Frigate up to rank 4.

• Gallente Frigage 4
• Drones, rank 3
• Scout Drone Operation 1 (or 3)
  
• Hull Upgrades 1 (done during tutorials)
• Energy Grid Updates 2 (go to 3 for Tech 2 cap rechargers)
  
• Repair Systems 2 (go to 3 for Tech2 armor repper)
  
• Afterburner 1
  
• Social 3
  
• Connections (go up to rank 3 when you get the time)
• Mechanic (go to 3 for Tech2 armor repper) **OPTIONAL**
• Energy Systems Operation 3 (armor tank) **OPTIONAL**
• Energy Management 2 (armor tank) **OPTIONAL**
• Targeting (increases targets) **OPTIONAL**
• Salvaging **OPTIONAL**
• Learning **OPTIONAL**
• Analytical Mind **OPTIONAL**
• Instant Recall **OPTIONAL**
• Iron Will **OPTIONAL**
• Spatial Awareness **OPTIONAL**

B. Level 1 Missions

The next step is to find Level 1 agents for Federation Navy. Use that link to see a listing of the agents. In-game, you can also type "federation navy" in chat, then right-click the highlighted name and pick "corporation." Open the corporation's Info window and notice the Agents tab. You can always find available agents that way.

Notice the "required standing" each agent has, which means you need that standing with Fed Navy to gain access to the agent. "Quality" of the agent means the amount of rewards they give. The level implies the nature of the missions available and their difficulty. You tend to gain access to low quality agents first. However, what matters most to us is having good locations with several agents available.

Go to Mirilene (see map & agents). Pack lightly.

You'll have only 1 Public Relations agent available, initially. This is good, because those boring courier missions you'll get 1/3 of the time will help you raise standing quickly.

All you'll need is your Imicus and basic gear. You can leave all your other items behind for now or sell/reprocess them, unless you want to toss your Imicus and gear into your Iteron.

• Mission "cheat sheets" - http://eve-survival.org/wikka.php?wakka=MissionReports

The most important thing to know is what type of damage the enemy does and what type of damage they are weak against.

You'll get different types of missions. Some are combat. Some are courier. Always try to do the courier missions. Do NOT go to lowsec. Don't accept those missions. You get to decline a mission once every 4 hours per agent. Having 4 agents in one system comes in handy for this reason.

• TIP: Consider buying a station container for your gear. It helps organize items within your station cargo area. Use the main cargo items area for incoming loot and minerals after reprocessing. You may even want a 2nd container for stockpiling incoming loot. Be sure to check and change the settings to not lock items by default.
  

Going through L1 missions as quickly as possible will pay off, because the time spent later on L2 and L3 missions will be much more income. Likewise, every 12th mission or so, you'll get offered a "storyline" mission for Gallente. These give nice rewards and big jumps in standing. That's why running fast courier missions is particularly great.

Your objective is to raise your standing quickly, while you train. You want to be getting Gallente Frigate 4 as soon as possible, so that you can start pounding on L2s in 2 days or so. You also want to build up good income.

Every 16 missions you will be offered a "storyline" mission via mail. These are vital missions that give good Gallente standing boosts and valuable rewards. The faster you get these, the better (which is a reason many people love courier missions so much).

If you find that you've raised your standing up for L2s but don't have the cash for a Vexor (4mil isk), feel free to run the "Epic Arc" (Sister Alitura in the Arnon system). That apparently has very good cash and let's you see many places in Empire space. Also, just carefully sell everything you have (iteron 3 included).

Salvaging: Getting a salvager requires about 8 hours of training. It takes a high slot. You may want to setup a 2nd ship to salvage after you kill everything or just use a highslot and let your drones do the killing while you salvage. Salvage mats will add up to be significant additional income. Optimally, you will use a Catalyst (destroyer class ship) with 4 salvagers and 4 small tractor beams (1 day training). That may be a huge distraction for L1s, but it depends on your early income. You should try to at least start salvaging L2s if you skip L1s.

TIPS:

• Maximize income from loot. Most of the loot will be garbage that you can reprocess for minerals. When you do find something worth a pretty penny on the market, use the "advanced" options when selling the items. Don't just sell it at the first offer price.
• Avoid all lowsec systems (0.4 security or lower) until you know what you are doing.
  
• While in combat, learn to align to stations and to immediately warp out when in trouble. Let your armor repair and head back in...
• Setup an Overview tab that shows "all." See Overview 101
  
• Ask questions in CAS chat. Try to be as efficient as you can be, while running missions.
  

3. Level 2 & Your First Vexor (3-5 days, minimally)

Required Fed Navy standing: 1.1
Required ISK: about 4 million
Goal: achieve 3.15 standing

A. Ship & Training

Train for the Vexor (cruiser). Frig 4 is 2 days and hopefully you've done most of that already. I assume you have around 250-300k Skill Points.

Getting a Vexor with 4 drones active is a huge, huge step in Eve progression. The Vex is an ugly cruiser to some people, but an outstanding ship. L2 will offer a big jump in both fun and profit. In the coming week or two, you'll have to run away less and you'll have many more options.

But first, hull upgrades 3. This gets you EANM and dmg control II. You also need an Afterburner, if you didn't train it yet.

You want 4 drones, asap (1 day training).

Vexor #1 - initial setup (for L1 or L2)
Vexor #2 - stable L2 boat
Vexor #3 - strong L2 boat
Vexor #4 - a perfect L2 mission fit (skip)
Catalyst - salvaging boat

First, you'll need to do some basic Vexor "tank" training. Focus on ship survival while you rely on drones to do the dirty work.

While you train for the hardeners, use the damage control and 2 armor reppers. Just be careful, keep moving and rely on your drones. Align to stations and warp out when you need to.

Once you have the hardeners trained, you're capable of setting up a proper "tank." The most basic armor tanking setup includes lots of cap recharge (mid slots), the armor repairer and these armor hardeners that increase resistances for specific damage types (the "n-type" hardeners are great investments).

This is a time to improve your combat skills and to learn as much about the game as you can, while you do several days of training. Do not start tossing in a ton of extra skills.

Focus on your income and standing, because L3 is where you'll start to make a lot more ISK. There's plenty of time to train all the other cool stuff.

• Mechanic 3 (Tech2 armor repper)
  
• drones 4
  
• hull upgrades 3 (armor hardeners - 2days - very important!!)
• Energy Systems Operation 3 (armor tank)
• Energy Management 2 (armor tank)
• Energy Grid Updates 3 (Tech 2 cap rechargers)
• Repair Systems 4 (Tech2 med armor repper)
• scout drone operation 3-4 (drone link)
• medium hybrid turret
• targeting 4-5
  

B. Level 2 Missions

Start in Oursulaert. There are 3x L2 agents there with lots of combat missions.

• VII - Moon 1 - Fed Navy Testing - (required 1.1 standing) Q -18
• III - Fed Navy Testing - (required 1.25 standing) Q -15
• IV - Fed Navy Testing - (required 2.9 standing) Q +18
  

Pack lightly. I'd advise moving with only your Vexor inside your Iteron 3 and core fittings. You can leave the Imicus there, just strip anything you need from it.

In Mies, the system next door, there is also a personnel agent available at 1.25 standing (33% chance of courier missions). That's 4 agents within 1 jump, so making good progress should be easy.

TIPS:

• Setup key shortcuts for your Drones. Make sure you can quickly "engage" and "return to drone bay" for your drones. Get in the habit of bringing your drones in the first moment that you're able to.
  
• Check the market values of all loot. This takes time but it's a vital step in really learning Eve, because you'll be gaining knowledge of all the different types of items out there as well as their respective values. As you become more knowledgeable, you'll be able to know immediately what loot is worth selling on the market and what's junk.
• Don't sell at the first buy price. Use the advanced interface to set reasonable prices. There are lots of people who place low buy orders, hoping new (or lazy) players will just mindlessly sell assets.
  
• Reprocess junk loot for minerals. Even the junk from drone wrecks will be valuable.
  
• Use station containers to organize everything. They are cheap. When you are mission running and salvaging, you may want to put all your incoming loot inside a special station container. Once in a while, you go through through that container searching for the valuable stuff and then reprocess all the rest.

4. L3s & your Myrmidon!!

Required Fed Navy standing: 3.15
Required ISK:

barebones skills: drones, tanking, energy/cap.
drone interfacing & tech2 drones
learning skills
salvaging (if not yet)

simple myrm setups.

Eglennaert 3.15
back to masalle 4.5



rank 3 learning
remapping
battleclinic setups
what's next?