Planning My Play Time with no Time to Play

The first six months I played Eve I struggled sometimes to know what to do bigger and better things always seemed out of reach of my limited skill base at the time. A year later that isn't the case I seem to have so much to do in-game that I just never seem to have enough time to get it all done. I know we all have limits on our time to play the game and that is one motivating factor I have had for staring this blog of watered down guides that are quick to read and quick to the point.

So on that note I am, and to some extent always have been, planning my play time around more passive less time intensive activities in Eve. For example planetary interaction, manufacturing, and trading. All of which can be time intensive in their own right but also scale with the amount of time invested rather nicely.

As my isk starts to pile up I find a need for larger investments of non time consuming activities my thoughts point me to blueprint research and also setting up a POS. Maybe not the most passive game play but it will get the job done. I have been busy grinding standings in anticipation of setting up said POS. The other reason for going this route is I like to try things first hand in game before I write guides on them and I have always wanted to write a series on POSes.

Basic 14 Day Starting Skill Plan

Geared towards those trial accounts that want to be serious but just haven't taken the risk yet you need a simple training plan to get you started. Because in Eve Online your consequences matter and when it comes to skill planning it matters more than most. Ok, so first the skills and then the why:

Navigation 4 - 5% bonus to sub-warp ship velocity per skill level.
CPU Management 4 - 5% bonus to ship CPU output per skill level.(Used for fitting ships.)
Power Grid Management 4 - 5% bonus to ship's powergrid output per skill level. (Used for fitting ships.)
Capacitor Management 4 - 5% bonus to capacitor capacity per skill level. (Used to activate your ships modules.)
Mechanics 4 - 5% bonus to structure hit points per skill level.
Shield Management 4 - 5% bonus to shield capacity per skill level.
Hull Upgrades 4 - 5% bonus to armor hit points per skill level.
Spaceship command 4 - 2% improved ship agility for all ships per skill level.

Total time: 12 days, 20 hours, 16 minutes, 40 seconds; (Time based on no remap) Cost: 400,000 isk.

Now in some older guides your going to see some different names for these skills as of 2014 these skill names are current. Great for a a new player during your first 14 days or perfect for a trial account. These skills are great for getting started you will eventually train them all to level five they are the base foundation for any path in Eve. Why? These are skills that affect every ship from how fast it flies to your ability to put modules on the ship, shields, armor etc.

To fill out the last couple days of your training look towards some more roll oriented skills or career specific skills:

Gunnery 4 - 2% bonus to weapon turrets' rate of fire per skill level. (If you are planning on shooting something your Gunnery skills are a good place to start.)
Mining 4 - 5% bonus to mining turret yield per skill level.
Trade - 3 Active buy/sell order limit increased by 4 per level of skill. (Someday, sometime your going to need to sell something.)

Hope that gets you started. Eve Online has years and years worth of skill training to train so get started and don't forget to feed your skill que. This list is based on skills that will help you in the long run, before you have a chance to see what kind of game play you like or enjoy. Good luck out there you have a lot of decisions ahead of you in your future skill training.

Other helpful Resources:
EveMon - Is a third party program that helps you create skills plans and test different attribute remaps. One of the single best resources out there for a new player or trying to make skills plans.

Investment Guide: Level 1 Mission Algos Drone Boat

In Eve Online you need a little isk to get started in which ever direction you choose to head be it PvP or PvE or a hundred different other paths. To get started working over that first 10 million isk hump, players general turn to mining or missions. Today I want to go over the skills and fit for an Algos drone boat level 1 mission set up. Why drones? The answer will be different for everyone but for me I like the play style of drones they boast pretty good range for a new player. They are very forgiving when learning the game and great when you can switch them to aggressive if your feeling over whelmed in a mission. The typical skilled mining player will have already put some skill training into drones so its a natural cross over.

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Skills
Gallente Frigate 3
Gallente Destroyer 3
Weapon Upgrades 1
Drones 4(at least to 4 if not 5)
Capacitor Management 2
Afterburner 1
Shield Upgrades 1
Tactical Shield Manipulation 1
Gunnery 1
Small Hybrid Turret 1
Mechanics 3
Repair Systems 2
Remote Armor Repair Systems 1
Scout Drone Operation 1

Optional for Salvage Drone
Survey3
Salvaging 2
Salvage Drone Operation 1

Total time: 3 days, 11 hours, 6 minutes, 2 seconds; (Time based on no remap)Cost: 2,137,500

Keys to drone boats are drones you can only launch as many drones as your drone skill allows so training Drones to level 4 and 5 is advised especially if you plan on using drone boats into higher level missions. Also because more drones in space means more damage on target. These are the bare minimum skills to fit the Algos you will naturally want to train your skills higher looking forward to higher level missions.

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Fit

[Algos, PvE Shield]
75mm Compressed Coil Gun I
75mm Compressed Coil Gun I
75mm Compressed Coil Gun I
75mm Compressed Coil Gun I
75mm Compressed Coil Gun I
Small 'Arup' Remote Bulwark Reconstruction

Experimental 1MN Afterburner I
Medium Azeotropic Ward Salubrity I
Limited Adaptive Invulnerability Field I

Drone Damage Amplifier I
Drone Damage Amplifier I
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I


Hobgoblin I x5
Hammerhead I x2
Salvage Drone I x3

Ship fit source: Algos - UniWiki

This Algos is passive shield fit I used it to run level 1's and then level 2 missions. Keep in mind this fit is for the most part low skilled for pilots without a lot of training. I was fine flying it until I started doing level 2's I got blown up a few times. I would suggest upgrading when you start doing level 2's. The next ship in the series is a Vexor its a great drone boat and works a lot better for level 2's than the Algos.

While this guide isn't meant to be all encompassing as far as mission running goes hopefully this provides you with templates for a skill plan and a ship fit. See below for more mission running resources.

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Other Resources:
Eve-survival.org
Evelopedia Missions Guide
UniWiki Missions

Explaining Fleet Battle

After the Battle in B-R5 I thought it might be a good idea to feature some good youtube videos explaining fleet combat. The Rooks and Kings channel has some of the greatest videos on null sec combat and fleet combat. If you're new to the game these are some definite must see videos. They give you a feel and a taste of what its like to be playing the game not just watching trailers. I will post a couple below but you can find their youtube channel here.

 And just for kicks I will post their B-R5 battle footage too.

Operation: Mission Grinding

Before I could start doing level 1 missions I had to think ahead, as is the case for most things in Eve. A little planning can go along way to avoiding a headache. I first thought about the two reasons I wanted to do missions in the first place. The first and biggest reason was I wanted to work towards setting up a POS(Player Owned Station) in order to do that I needed NPC faction standing(reputation) in the system I would be setting it up in.

Standing Required for POS
System Sec    Standing
0.4                  4
0.5                  5
0.6                  6
0.7                  7

The second reason to do missions was to try out level 4 missions as an income source and for the fun of it. Level 4 missions require at least a base level of trained skills in order to survive. Also you need a certain level of standing with an NPC corporation in order to do the level 4 missions.

Agent Level Standing
Mission    Standing
1                -10
2                1
3                3
4                5
5                7

Now that I know what level of standings I needed for my two previously mentioned goals it was time to choose a location. I needed to work on the NPC empire faction where my operating base is so I could set up a POS close to where I play. As far as choosing a NPC corporation to grind standing I wanted to choose one that had a good mission hub nearby(a mission hub would be a station or system with multiple level 4 mission agents in it).

After some careful consideration I choose an area to do missions in and started working on level 1s. Now I should note that there is a lot more to consider when grinding missions for standings I will post a few resources below for further reading. Also I hope to post a few of the ship fits as investment guides that I have been using to grind in.

Eve-survival.org
The Plan(Standings Grinding)
Standings Mechanics