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''Welcome to EVE Online!'' You are now a citizen of New Eden. This guide will lead you step by step on your way of surviving and even prosper in this cold and harsh place. You can read it whole or just on-the-fly while you are making your first steps in EVE. You can also go to Youtube and watch the [http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB9A647F3121DFC21 How to Survive EVE Online] video series by Seamus Donohue.
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Welcome to EVE Online! You are now a citizen of New Eden, an exciting and dangerous virtual world. This guide will lead you through your first few days in EVE. For a more general list of topics new players should know about, see the [[New Player Index]].
  
= Character Creation =
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== Introduction to EVE ==
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EVE is a game unlike many other MMOs. It doesn't just have unique mechanics, it also doesn't follow many of the conventions of other games. It may therefore be a good idea to familiarize yourself with some of the core aspects of the game, in order to have a better idea of what to expect:
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* [https://forum.eveuniversity.org/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=94260 New Players' Survival for EVE Online]
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* [[Notes for Experienced RPG Players New to EVE]]
  
The first decision you have to make is to choose a race for your character. There are 4 major factions in the game: [[Caldari]], [[Gallente]], [[Minmatar]] and [[Amarr]]. Each faction has three bloodlines. But fear not, you cannot make any mistake in this step. In EVE Online every character can learn every skill. That means that even as Amarr you can fly Minmatar ships when you get the appropriate skills. Your choice of race therefore mainly determines the look of your character and your role-playing opportunities if you choose to do so. So pick whatever race you want. See the [[Character Creator]] guide on the UniWiki for details on creating a character and portrait.  
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== Accounts ==
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{{main|Accounts}}
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To play EVE you must first [https://secure.eveonline.com/signup/ create an account]. Your account name doesn't show up anywhere in game, and you can have up to three characters per account. You can have as many accounts as you like.
  
== Name and Portrait ==
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If you were invited to EVE by a friend (i.e. you have a [https://secure.eveonline.com/recruit/ referral link]), use it when creating your account, as you will get some free [[Skills and learning|skill points]] (equivalent to about 2 to 6 weeks of training time). Additionally, your friend will receive a reward. It's possible to invite yourself to create additional accounts.
  
Try to pick a decent name for yourself. Your name is part of your identity, and it will influence how your corpmates think of you. In EVE Online, most corporations make use of voice communication during fleet operations, and will make their voice server available for casual chatter also. You will sometimes need to identify yourself with your name while issuing orders or making reports on voice comms. Your name will be used by fleetmates to give you intel or orders. Having a name that is simple and easily pronounceable will make things easier for everyone. Pick your name carefully, especially your first name, as that will often be used as your callsign during fleet ops. You cannot change your name after character creation.  
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Even if you were not invited, you can use a public invitation link. Those are often shared by streamers and YouTubers. Use a search engine to find them.
  
If you pick a stupid name for yourself, you should prepare for some people to not take you seriously.  
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Sadly, sometimes accounts are hacked. Observe [https://www.eveonline.com/de/article/account-security basic security considerations] to prevent this. On top of that, you should use [https://support.eveonline.com/hc/en-us/articles/203465601-Authenticator Two-Factor Authentication].
  
Many races have portraits that are hideous and others are quite pleasing to the eye. Whether you go for a scary or an alluring portrait, do spend some time crafting it.
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== Character Creation ==
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{{main|Character Creator}}
  
The [http://www.wtfpwnbbq.com/Incursion/ Tips For Character Creation] site may be of help for aesthetic portrait design.
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=== Empire ===
  
= Starting your Career =
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The first decision you have to make is to choose an empire for your character. There are 4 major factions in the game: [[Amarr Empire|Amarr]], [[Caldari State|Caldari]], [[Gallente Federation|Gallente]], and [[Minmatar Republic|Minmatar]]. Generally speaking, your choice of empire is purely an aesthetic choice, as every character can potentially learn every skill. That means that even as Amarr you can fly Minmatar ships when you get the appropriate skills. Your choice of empire therefore mainly determines the look of your character and (if you choose) your role-playing opportunities. You will receive a few [[Starting skills|initial skills]] in your chosen empire -- regardless of whether you are a paying subscriber ([[Clone states|"Omega"]]) or playing for free ([[Clone states|"Alpha"]]) -- but you can quickly "cross-train" to try out other empires' ship and weapon types.
  
==The Tutorial==
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=== Bloodline ===
  
As soon as you complete your character and are thrown into the Captains Quarters you are greeted by Aura. Aura acts as a short tutorial, explaining all the basic controls and the interface. Read everything she says and follow her instructions. You will be given several missions. The first one gets you into your very first space ship. Afterwards you will learn how to shoot at thing and how to use Stargates in order to travel the galaxy. Everything should be pretty self-explanatory. But if you ever become stuck, look at the chat window in the lower left corner of your screen. You will see the names of three channels: Local, Corp and Rookie Help. Below that are several symbols. Click on the speech bubble. You will see a couple of folders. Click on help and look for the channel named '''EVE University (E-Uni)'''. Click join. You are now in the public E-Uni channel where every possible question you might have will be answered!
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A bloodline in EVE is a character's familial ancestry. There are three different bloodlines for every empire to choose from during character creation. From the character creation window: "Note: Bloodline selection will influence your character's appearance only. It does not affect access to skills or abilities."
  
== The Career Agents ==
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{{Expansion past|The bloodline you choose used to determine which [[NPC corporations#Default NPC Corporations|NPC corporation]] your character will automatically join when no longer being part of a [[Corporations|Player Corporation]] or Starter Corporation. This was changed: players now go back to their starter corp. But you might see some characters in NPC corps which aren't starter corps as they joined those before the change.}}
  
After you completed the basic tutorial Aura will send you to the so called [[Tutorial and Career Agents in EVE|career agents]]. These are 5 agents that will introduce you to the archetypes of things you can do for a living. They will teach you everything you need to know to start your career in EVE. They will also provide a generous amount of ships, modules, skill books and ISK. In addition the last mission of every career agent is a story-line mission. That means you will get a lot of standing with the faction of that agent. It is therefore highly recommended to do all missions they offer. Completing at least one set of 5 career agents is compulsory if you want to join E-Uni. Since their rewards are better than what you will find on your typical Level 1 mission while taking less time, you should consider doing all 3 sets of career agents for your faction. This will give you a lot of standing and ISK right from the start.
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=== School ===
  
== The Sisters of EVE Epic Arc: Blood-Stained Stars ==
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The School you choose will only determine which [[Career Agents#Tutorial Systems in EVE|starter solar system]] you begin in, and which [[NPC corporations#NPC Starter Corporations|Starter Corporation]] you will be part of. There are absolutely no differences between any of them. They will give your character a permanent list of stations spread across all of New Eden belonging to that school where you can set your [[Home Station]] independently from any corporation you might have joined and independently of the location you are setting your clone from.
  
After you have completed Career missions, you will have an opportunity to continue your missioning career in a fun way. The so called [[Sisters of Eve]] Epic arc [[The Blood-Stained Stars]] awaits you. To start it you should go to the [[Arnon]] system and talk to Sister Alitura at the Sisters of EVE Bureau. You will now be send on a chain of increasingly difficult missions. You will find out about rogue drones and the secret society of concsious thought. You will also be send around all over the galaxy and have a chance to learn about the culture of the different factions.
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=== Portrait and Appearance ===
  
While doing the epic arc you should focus on training your combat skills. While the first missions are very easy, some missions like [[Burning down the hive]] and the two final bosses have a reputation of simply smashing new players. So go on and train the weapon and ship skills of your chosen faction. At the end of the epic arc you should be able to fly a cruiser. If you still need help, ask around in Local or in the E-Uni chat.
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Next, you have to design your character's appearance and take a portrait. Your looks depend in part on which empire and bloodline you chose, but the tool also gives you a lot of flexibility. Do spend some time crafting your character and taking your portrait, but keep in mind that 99% of the time other players will only ever see your portrait and not your entire character model, and so will you.
  
Further information and tips on how to run some of the missions can be found in our wiki: [[The Blood-Stained Stars]], and also on EVE Survival: [http://eve-survival.org/wikka.php?wakka=BloodStainedStars1multi Blood-Stained Stars]
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You can change your character's clothing and re-take your portraits at any point later, but changing your character's physical appearance can only be done by paying for "Character Remodeling" with [[Accounts#PLEX|PLEX]] (through the [[New Eden Store]]).
  
==Learning Skills==
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=== Name ===
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Pick your character's name carefully, as you can never change it later. Your name is part of your identity, and it will influence how your corpmates think of you.
  
While you are doing your career agent missions or the epic arc you should always have a skill in your skill queue. EVE is different from every other MMORPG out there, in that you do not gain experience points but your skillpoints will accumulate over time. Even if you are not playing. Read the [[Skills and Learning]] guide to learn more. You can speed up your learning time by modifying the attributes of your character. One way to do so is by neural remap. But take this advice: Do not remap in your first three months. You might remap your attributes to learn PvP skills just to find out that you like manufacturing more. Then you are stuck since you can only remap once every 12 months. So use your remaps sparingly.  
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In EVE Online, most corporations make use of voice communication (e.g. [[Mumble]]) during fleet operations, and also use their voice server available for casual chatter. You will sometimes need to identify yourself with your name while using voice comms, and other fleetmates will use your name to give you intel or instructions. Having a name that is simple and easily pronounceable will make things easier for everyone.
  
Another way to boost your training time is [[Implants]]. Implants come in different flavors but the most common ones are the +1 to +5 attribute enhancing implants. While the better ones are very expensive, the +1 implants are quite affordable even for a new character. EVE University also offers [[The Implants Program|subsidized +3 implants]].
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Pick your name carefully, especially your first name, as that will often be used as your callsign during fleet operations. If you pick a stupid name for yourself, you should prepare for some people to not take you seriously.
  
If you do all your career agents as recommended you will end up with a large collection of skill books. That is a good thing since the price of skill books can be quite overwhelming for new players. But never save on the wrong end and make sure to always buy a new skill when you can afford and need it. EVE University provides certain [[The Skillbook Program|skillbooks for free]] to its members.
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You can pick a first and last name (although the last name is optional). Character names are unique, and the game will check whether your chosen name is available before letting you proceed.
  
== Fitting your Ship ==
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== Starting the game ==
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=== Tutorial ===
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{{Main|AIR New Player Experience}}
  
Fitting a ship is the most essential player skill in EVE. It is also difficult to master. But if you fit Shield Extenders on your Abaddon or Gyrostabilizers on your Raven you will not only have low performance, you will also get laughed at all the time. Is is therefore important to get used to the general principles of ship fittings. You can start with our [[Fitting Guidelines]]. For a list of rigs and module types, with short descriptions, visit our [[Fitting Modules and Rigs Guide]]. There are also guides on how to generally fit ships of a specific race:
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When you first start the game as a new character, you can go through the tutorial (called the "New Player Experience"), a story-driven experience that gives you step-by-step instructions on the basic mechanics of playing EVE. Unless you've already played the game, it's highly recommended that you follow the tutorial, as there are many particular mechanics which you may not be used to.
  
<div style="margin:1em 0 1em 0;background-color:#080808;border:1px solid #582806;text-align:left;padding:1em 1em 1em 1em; overflow:hidden;color:#fff">
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=== Career Agents ===
Ship Fitting Guides -- [[Amarr_Basic_Ship_and_Skill_Guide|Amarr]] | [[Caldari_Basic_Ship_and_Skill_Guide|Caldari]] | [[Gallente_Basic_Ship_and_Skill_Guide|Gallente]] | [[Minmatar_Basic_Ship_and_Skill_Guide|Minmatar]] | [[ORE_Basic_Ship_and_Skill_Guide|ORE]]
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{{main|Career Agents}}
</div>
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After the tutorial, you can learn more about EVE by visiting the career agents and doing the missions they offer. Their missions introduce you to some of the main [[PvE]] activities in EVE Online. Keep in mind that Career agents offer little training in [[PvP]], which makes up a substantial part of the game. Additionally, EVE is a sandbox game, and much of its attraction is forging your own path as opposed to following a pre-set path.
  
To find recommended fittings for a specific ship just type the name into this Wiki and you will see a number of tested and working fittings. Since not everyone has perfect fitting skills you should plan your fittings with the 3rd party software [http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/3rd_Party_Tools#EVE_Fitting_Tool_.28EFT.29 EFT], [http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/3rd_Party_Tools#EveHQ EveHQ], or [http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/3rd_Party_Tools#Pyfa_.28Python_fitting_assistant.29 Pyfa].
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If you followed the tutorial, you will have flown to the station housing the nearest career agents. If you skipped the tutorial, you can [[Career_Agents#Finding_the_Career_Agents|locate the closest set of career agents]] (there are three sets of agents per faction, but they all offer the same missions).
  
=== EVE University Forum  ===
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You can do the agents in any order you like (although you should do the Explorer agent before you do the Soldier of Fortune one).
  
As a new player, don't be afraid to ask for fitting advice in the [http://forum.eveuniversity.org/viewforum.php?f=124 EVE University PvP and PvE ship setup forums]. This should be the first place for new players to look for fits and ask for advice. These forums are restricted to EVE University members and alumni.
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Completing the career agents missions will reward some ships and skillbooks.
  
=== Other Web Sites  ===
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=== AIR Career Program ===
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{{Main|AIR Career Program}}
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This is a reward program for reaching certain goals. These goals are reached more or less automatically while doing stuff in EVE. Rewards come in the form of ISK, skillbooks, skill points, [[Expert Systems]] and ships. Some example goals are completing career agent missions, buying stuff on the market and gaining standings with a corporation things you are doing anyway.
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{{Example|
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For example: There are 4 [[AIR Career Program#Standings|gaining standings]] goals Which will get you the {{Sk|Social}} (for the first) and {{Sk|Connections}} (for the third) skillbooks and a total of 200,000 ISK just by doing what you are doing anyway.
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}}
  
*[http://www.failheap-challenge.com/ Failheap Challenge]: This site has both PvP and PvE forums. Some threads are quite old and the discussions can be outdated in the earlier posts. Failheap is often a very good place for experienced pilots to find fittings, and many threads will also have tactic discussions on how to use them. Most of the fits are meant for older pilots with excellent fitting skills, and it can be harder to find fits that work for low skill points.
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=== AIR Daily Goals ===
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{{Main|AIR Daily Goals}}
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This is a continuous rewards program for reaching goals on a daily base. Reaching a goal rewards ISK and [[EverMark]]s. Reaching 2 goals a day rewards skillpoints. The program gives additional ISK and skillpoints for a monthly 12 step progress track.  
  
==Join a Corporation==
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== The Sisters of EVE Epic Arc: Blood-Stained Stars ==
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{{main|The Blood-Stained Stars}}
  
Now is a good time to think about joining a corporation. Being a member of a well established corporation brings many benefits such as free ships and modules, missioning support, advice and of course fun fleet operations. As a newbie you should consider joining the EVE University. Besides the awesome wiki you are currently reading, we also provide ship replacement, subsidized implants, lessons and valuable hand on experience in our fleet operations and the low-, null- and wormhole campuses.  
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{{LessonLearned|lesson=Be wary that many miscreant players and corporations hang around SoE systems to prey upon New Players.}}
  
Other corporations that are a good starting point are:
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After you have completed the missions for the career agents, the EVE galaxy is yours to explore! Should you like to run a few more story-related missions, you can do the [[Servant Sisters of EVE|Sisters of EVE]] epic mission arc "The Blood-Stained Stars". The epic arc is a series of 50 connected missions which take you all over [[System security#High security|highsec]] and expose you to quite a bit of the background and lore of the game, particularly concerning the Rogue Drones and the secret Society of Conscious Thought. To start it you should go to the [https://evemaps.dotlan.net/map/Essence/Arnon#sec Arnon] system and talk to Sister Alitura at the Sisters of EVE Bureau.
  
[https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=24444 Red vs. Blue] - Two corporations that are locked into an eternal war. They provide free ships and constant thrill.
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While doing the epic arc, you should focus on continuing to train your combat skills. You can do most of the initial missions in a [[Frigates|Frigate]], but you should consider upgrading to a [[Destroyers|Destroyer]] or even a [[Cruisers|Cruiser]] towards the end.
  
[https://bravenewbies.net/wp/ Brave Newbies Inc] - A newbie organization that mainly focuses on PvP in low and nullsec.
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Most of the missions will be fairly easy, but some (particularly towards the end, like the infamous "[[Burning Down the Hive]]" or "[[Our Man Dagan]]") have a reputation for being very challenging for new players. If you find yourself struggling, don't be shy to ask for help in the [[EVE University Chat Channels#Public Channels|E-UNI chat channel]] as many EVE University players would be happy to help you.
  
=Advancing your Career=
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By contrast, be careful about accepting or asking for help in the Local chat channel, as some unscrupulous players who might hijack your mission objective, or bait you and destroy your ship (see also: [[scams in EVE Online]]).
  
Now that you have completed the career agents and the SOE Epic Arc and joined a corporation you can decide what you want to do in EVE for the foreseeable future. Below are some suggestions for the most common ways of making ISK. They include a short introduction and links to further your knowledge.
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== Learning Skills ==
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{{main|Skills and learning}}
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Unlike in many other MMOs, in EVE your character advances (gains new abilities, can use additional modules and ships, etc) through training skills, which are trained in real time, even when you are logged off. Therefore, you should always have a skill actively training.
  
== [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBfEVd3bbf4 Security Missions] ==
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You can queue up skills to be trained one after the other, nearly infinitely (or until the 5 million skill point cap for [[Alpha Clones|Alpha characters]]). Skills have five levels (I through V), and while the benefits of each additional level scale linearly, the training time increases exponentially: it's usually not worth training skills beyond level IV in your first few days. Instead, focus on the skills which either improve whatever you're doing at the moment, or which unlock new ships or modules you want to try.
  
Doing Security Missions is one of the two most common career choices next to Mining. In its essence you keep doing combat missions while increasing your combat skills and your standing. This then allows you to do more difficult missions with higher risk/reward. The upside of this career is, that every skill you learn for PvE is also useful for PvP. And in the end you can naturally progress to [[Incursions]] which are the best source of PvE ISK out there.
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As you get a feel for what you enjoy doing in EVE you can focus your training in that particular area. Skills are cumulative, and a character (provided they have an [[Clone states|Omega clone]]) can potentially learn every skill in the game given enough time. It is even possible to "extract " spent skill points and apply them elsewhere, for a price. So don't worry too much about training "the wrong skill" at the start of the game.
  
The UniWiki has a basic [[Missions]] article. The Evelopedia has a [http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Missions_guide Missions Guide] which can help you decide which corp and department you want to run missions for. Pilots who wish to mission close to the EVE University HQ in Aldrat often run missions for the Minmatar Mining Corporation in nearby systems. Other corps to mission for in nearby systems are listed in the [[Mission Guide to Aldrat]].
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You start the game with a [[Starting skills|number of skills]] already trained. To train additional skills, you must first acquire the appropriate skillbook. While you will receive a number of skillbooks as rewards from the [[#Career Agents|career agents]] and the [[#AIR Career Program|AIR Career Program]], the others must be bought on the [[trading|market]]; most of the basic skillbooks are reasonably cheap. EVE University provides certain [[Skillbook Program|skillbooks for free]] to its members.
  
We recommend declining kill missions against the four main empire factions (Amarr, Caldari, Gallente, and Minmatar) to avoid losing access to empire space. Having -5 or below standings with an empire faction can cause problems during war fleets, lowsec patrols, wormhole ops, and many other circumstances. This can also cause problems if you later join a corp that has their HQ in a faction's empire space that is denied to you, or if you join a nullsec alliance whose nearest empire space is denied to you. When you have -2 or below standing with a faction, only the Level 1 agents will be available to grind standings, which could be a lengthy process. You will know if a mission is a faction kill mission because it will have the faction's logo next to the objective.
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You can speed up your training time by installing [[implants]] in your character, specifically the basic attribute-enhancing implants, which add between +1 and +5 points to your character's attributes. While the better implants are extremely expensive, +1 implants are affordable<ref group=Note>+1 implants also come as reward for the [[Storyline mission]], [[Materials For War Preparation]]</ref> even for new players. Members of EVE University can also buy [[The +3 Implants Program|+3 implants at a discount]].
  
You can check mission information before accepting or declining on [http://eve-survival.org/wikka.php?wakka=MissionReports EVE Survival].
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== Fitting your Ship ==
 
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{{main|Fitting ships}}
If you want to find agents close to a particular system, you can use the [http://util.eveuniversity.org/Missions/AgentRangefinder/ Agent Rangefinder] web application.
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Ships in EVE can be fitted with a wide variety of modules that grant the ship additional abilities (e.g. weapons, which allow you to fire at enemy ships) or enhance its statistics (e.g. armor plates, which increase the amount of damage your ship can take before exploding). Learning which modules work well on which ship (and in combination with which other modules) is a potentially very deep topic, so you should approach it step by step. Basic guidelines to each of the four factions' core ships can be found on the following pages:
 
 
There is a database of agents available on the [http://eve-agents.com/ EVE Agents] website.
 
 
 
'''Notice''':Some of the entries are outdated and you should always check in-game to confirm the existence and location of the agent.
 
 
 
You can also use the map to see systems where you have agents available to you. Open the map (F10), go to the Star Map tab, go to the Stars sub-tab, go to the My Information section and select My Available Agents. Flattening the map can make it easier to navigate. Hovering your cursor over these star systems will list the available agents along with their respective corporation, level, quality, and division.
 
 
 
You should also listen to these [http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/EVE_University_Class_Library#Missions.2C_Factions classes]
 
 
 
== Mining ==
 
 
 
If shooting red crosses is not your type of work you may want to consider the second popular profession in EVE: Mining. Mining is as straightforward as is doing security missions. You start out with a [[Venture]] and then progress to [[Mining Barge|Mining Barges]] and [[Exhumer|Exhumers]]. Mining is infamous for being able to be done afk. Just start your mining lasers and do something else while your ship fills its orehold automatically.  
 
 
 
There is a basic guide on [[mining]] in the wiki. When you become more proficient you may also try [[Ice Mining]] or even [[Gas Cloud Mining]]. If you are a member of EVE University you will have access to our [[Mining Loaner Fleet]] where you can lend free mining ships. You should also join the [[Amarr Mining Campus]] where you will get advice and can join mining fleets. This fleets will usually provide an [[Orca]] which will increase your mining yield. If you have no access to the [[AMC]] you should consider getting a second account in order to train a hauler and Orca alt.
 
 
 
After you have mined your ore you might consider refining it. This is not the default choice but needs some serious calculation. Since refining is determined by your skills and your standing with the corporation owning the station where you refine a considerable amount of minerals might be lost to the Nether if you are a new player. Unista [[Makie Tachibana]] created a helpful [https://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByIiSolpXj4BM0d5cC1RZ2RraFk/edit?usp=sharing&pli=1 spreadsheet] for you to determine if you should refine or just sell your ore. If you are a member of EVE University you can also use the [[Perfect Refine List|Perfect Refine Service]] where other Unistas will do the refining for you.
 
 
 
You should also listen to these [http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/EVE_University_Class_Library#Mining classes]
 
 
 
== [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kmUf3fflrA Exploration] ==
 
  
If doing missions or shooting space rocks is too dull for you, you might be in for the recently updated profession of exploration. Exploration means that you look for hidden sites and go to loot them for profit. A [http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Odyssey_Exploration guide] to exploration is provided in the wiki.
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* [[Amarr Basic Ship and Skill Overview]]
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* [[Caldari Basic Ship and Skill Overview]]
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* [[Gallente Basic Ship and Skill Overview]]
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* [[Minmatar Basic Ship and Skill Overview]]
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* [[ORE Basic Ship and Skill Overview]]
  
Exploration is a very fun activity but the gain is somewhat random. While data and relic sites provide blueprints and material for production, combat sites may escalate and drop valuable faction or deadspace loot. Or not so valuable one if you are unlucky. As you get more experience you can progress from high-sec exploration to low- and null-sec explorations where the rewards but also the risks are higher. A cloaking device is most essential. If you are member of EVE University you should join exploration.e-uni for help and advice.
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Additionally, there is a [[Fitting Modules and Rigs Guide|complete list]] of all modules and rigs, and what they do. EVE University members can also ask for fitting advice in the [https://forum.eveuniversity.org/viewforum.php?f=124 EVE University PvP and PvE ship setup forums] or the <code>#fitting-chat</code> [[Discord]] channel.
  
You should also listen to these [http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/EVE_University_Class_Library#Exploration classes]
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It's also a good idea to set up [[PYFA]], a popular tool that lets you build and simulate fittings out of game. PYFA will let you easily simulate fittings and see what skills you'll need to train to fly them.
  
== Science & Industry ==
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== Joining a Corporation ==
  
So you neither want to shoot ships nor asteroids? And you do not want to endanger your ship while strolling around in null-sec? You are pretty decent in math and you want to create instead of destroy? Welcome to Manufacturing! Manufacturing is the art of using a [[blueprint]] to produce items that are then sold to the market. You can read this [http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Manufacturing guide] to get an overview of how it works.  
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Corporations are EVE's version of player organisations, vaguely similar to guilds or clans in other games, but with more scope for influencing the game. EVE is, at its heart, a social game, and while it's perfectly possible to play the game by yourself, most long-time EVE players cite the sense of community in their corporation as one of the main attractions of the game. Additionally, a well-run corporation can offer many services to its members, such as free ships and modules, help moving assets around New Eden, missioning support, advice, a sense of banding together with other to achieve common goals, and of course, fun [[fleet]] operations.
  
Basically you will first search the market for something you want to produce. Ships, Drones and Ammunition are a good starting point since the modules you can produce have better (and cheaper) counterparts in their Meta 1-4 variations. You will then acquire a blueprint. This can either be a blueprint original (BPO) or a blueprint copy (BPC). The first one allows unlimited runs, the latter only a specific number until it vanishes.  
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[[Welcome to EVE University|EVE University]] is a corporation dedicated to teaching new players how to play and enjoy EVE. We provide a wide variety of services (beyond teaching and a very helpful community), such as [[Skillbook Program|free skillbooks]], [[The +3 Implants Program|subsidised implants]], [[Mentor Program|mentors]], and [[communities]] to provide hands-on experience in a wide variety of locations and environments in EVE, not to mention the awesome wiki you're currently reading. We welcome [[Applying to EVE University|applications]] from all new players.
  
You can also buy either unresearched blueprints from the market or researched blueprints from contracts. Research provides lower material costs and lesser production time. If you go for a researched blueprint do your math first and compare the amount of ISK you save for lower production cost with the cost of the blueprint. If you save less money then you spend its obviously not worth it.  
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However, there are other corporations (large or small, casual or formal, located in [[System security|all corners of space]]) in EVE who are very welcoming to new players, and every player should look around to see what best suits their interests and temperament. Corporations advertise in:
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* The in-game corporation finder
 +
* The official [https://forums.eveonline.com/c/corporations-alliances/recruitment-center/63 corporation recruitment] forum
 +
* EVE University's [https://forum.eveuniversity.org/viewforum.php?f=66 work fair] forum
 +
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/evejobs/ /r/evejobs] on Reddit
  
You can also always research the blueprint yourself. The problem with that is, that you might have to wait for a really long time until a high-sec research slot becomes available.  
+
== Next steps ==
 +
{{main|Careers}}
 +
EVE is a sandbox game, which means it's up to each player to find what they enjoy doing most in the game; while CCP do foster some fiction about the game universe, there isn't a central story to follow.
  
If you are a member of EVE University you can use the E-Uni POS to do your research. You can also join [[Project Solitude]] which operates in a high-sec pocket surrounded by low- and null-sec. This has the advantage that it is far easier to get a empty research facility. You can also sell ships and modules for a premium price here.
+
Due to EVE's [[#Learning Skills|skill system]], it's usually easy to start doing a given activity, and to get to a decent skill level, but it takes a while to master it to its fullest. Therefore, as a new player, it's often a good idea to dabble in a few different activities to find out what suits you best. If you've found something that looks appealing, research it (e.g. by searching this wiki, attending a [[Classes|class]], or chatting to your corp-mates), start learning the appropriate skills, and get started. If you find it enjoyable, keep training your character's skills while honing your ''player'' skills and experience; should you grow bored, you can always switch up your character's training queue and try something else.
  
Like Security Missions and Mining, Science & Industry comes with a steady progression. You will start manufacturing T1 items. But after a while your skills are high enough to start producing T2 items. And after that you can venture into T3 production, manufacturing the components that [[Strategic Cruisers]] are made of. You could even become a capital ship manufacturer as the pinnacle of your career.
+
While playing the game, you may want to keep in mind:
 +
* [[Tips for New Players]], a list of some common mistakes new players make and how best to avoid them
 +
* [[Golden Rules|Golden Rules of EVE Online]]
  
You should also listen to this [http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Manufacturing_101 class].
+
== Getting help ==
  
== [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKviRpvGXBs Business] ==
+
EVE is a very complex (and sometimes counterintuitive) game. Should you feel unsure or lost, then don't hesitate to ask for help. The EVE player community is very friendly and helpful towards new players. The easiest way to get direct help is through in-game chat channels.
  
What do the mission runner, the miner, the explorer and the manufacturer have in common? They sell their goods to the market. So why not be the market maker? Let the peons grind, while you sit in the station buying low and selling high? Pretty good idea! But not so fast, the entry barrier to doing business is pretty high. Experience-wise as ISK-wise. You can read this basic guide on [[Trading]] to get a good idea.
+
=== Chat channels ===
 +
[[File:Chat-channels-new-players.png|thumb|300px|Joining chat channels.]]
 +
There are (at least) three chat channels dedicated to helping new players - you can ask questions here, and there are usually other experienced players and game masters around to help you. You can find these (and other) chat channels in tabs at (by default) the bottom-left of your screen.
 +
* {{co|wheat|Rookie Help}} (dedicated to helping the newest players.)
 +
* {{co|wheat|English Help}} (general English help chat. There are also help chat channels in French, German, Japanese and Russian.)
 +
* {{co|wheat|EVE University}} (EVE University's general help channel.)
  
Basically there are three different types of trading with increasing difficulty.
+
You automatically join the "Rookie Help" channel when you first start the game. Additional, you can join the "English help" or "EVE University" chat channels (as Rookie Help is often very busy, and characters older than 30 days no longer have access to "Rookie Help"):
  
The first one is hauling. Hauling means that you buy items at station A, put them into your cargohold and ship them to a local tradehub where you can sell them higher. You can either do this as inter-region hauling, where you exploit price differences of items in different regions. Another apporach is to set-up buy orders in mission hubs to buy the loot from mission runners. You then haul the stuff to a local trade hub and return with ammunition, ships and exotic dancers that are useful for mission runners. A third way to do hauling is to buy up stuff for cheap in the career agent systems. Especially the ships that are given out by the career agents to new players can be bought cheaply and resold in the next hub.  
+
# Click on the speech bubble below the chat channel. You will see a number of folders.
 +
# Click on "{{co|wheat|Help}}" and look for channels named {{co|wheat|EVE University (E-UNI)}} and/or {{co|wheat|English Help (Help)}}.
 +
# Click "Join".
  
A more sophisticated form of trading is station-trading. This involves no time in space. Your character is just sitting in a station and buys and sells items. For this you want to look for items that have high-volume and high-price differences. You will then set-up buy orders and wait for people to sell you their stuff. You will then resell it on the market for a higher price, therefore making profits. Your biggest competition in this field are market bots that over-/undercut your prices by 0.01 ISK.  
+
=== Videos ===
 +
Some things are just more easily explained in a video than through text.
  
The ultimate form of trading is inter-hub trading. This combines both approaches above. You set up buy and sell orders for items in several trading hubs. You will compare the prices and volume of items in different hubs and then buy where it is cheap and sell where it is expensive. This might require additional characters in each of the trading hubs you are dealing in.
+
<!-- Channel not available and not in the help menu anymore
 +
* [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCczUeYqoS7d40bkeWmJHXGw EVE Online Flight Academy] video series by CCP, which explains basic gameplay. These videos are also available in-game from the Help menu ({{button|F12}}, or the "?" Icon on your NeoCom), on the "Tutorial Videos" tab.-->
 +
* [https://t.co/4gP3uEDyAI?amp=1 EVE tutorial] - Full career agents/SOE Epic arc tutorial videos mission by mission
 +
* [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEauSTU1fPwlePk0Y018g22MOPrsFEEHS How to Survive EVE Online] video series by Seamus Donohue, which goes from character creation to the end of the [[career agents]], with helpful commentary along the way.
  
You should also listen to these [http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/EVE_University_Class_Library#Trading classes].
+
=== Deeper knowledge ===
 +
Beyond simple questions which can be answered in a chat channel, there is an enormous amount of knowledge about the game that the player base has documented. The [[Main Page|EVE University wiki]] that you're reading right now is one of the most comprehensive resources for newer players, but there are many others, often dedicated to a particular activity in the game.
  
 +
Using your favourite internet search engine is usually a good starting point, but keep in mind that EVE is constantly evolving, so check whether the information you find is current. Additionally, the official [https://support.eveonline.com/hc/en-us EVE help centre] is a good place to find information relating to your subscription, account services, and basic gameplay.
  
= Related Links =
+
== Notes ==
 +
<references group=Note />
  
*[http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB9A647F3121DFC21 How to Survive EVE Online] A series of instructional Youtube videos by Seamus Donohue.
+
== Related Links ==
*[[:Category:Getting Started]] collection of guides on this Wiki.
+
* [[:Category:Getting Started|All pages on this wiki aimed at new players]].
*[[EVE University Class Library]] contains recorded classes that cover a wide variety of subjects.
+
* The [[EVE University Class Library]], contains recorded classes that cover a wide variety of subjects.
*[http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Crash_Course Crash Course] for rookie pilots on the Evelopedia.
+
* [http://www.isktheguide.com/ ISK The Guide], an industrial-sized knowledgebase that covers almost all aspects of EVE.
*[http://www.isktheguide.com/ Industrial-Sized Knowledgebase] A guide that covers almost all aspects of EVE .
+
* The [https://english.eve-guides.fr/images/wtd.jpg EVE careers chart], showing (almost) all the things you can do in EVE.
*[http://myeveguide.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/eve-wtd.jpg Career Chart] A chart that serves as a short summary of what you can do in EVE.
+
* The [https://www.thealphasguide.com/start/ Alpha's Guide to the Galaxy], an excellent starting point for Alpha clone characters.
*[http://forum.eveuniversity.org/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=40766 EVE-QuickSheet.] A very good quick-reference sheet by Korgan Nailo.
+
* The [https://www.wckg.net/Newbie Wiki Circa Kismeteer's Guide], a collection of 100+ guides about EVE Online
  
 +
{{GettingStartedNav}}
  
 
[[Category:Guides]]
 
[[Category:Guides]]
[[Category:Getting_Started]]
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[[Category:Getting Started]]

Latest revision as of 14:08, 6 August 2024

Welcome to EVE Online! You are now a citizen of New Eden, an exciting and dangerous virtual world. This guide will lead you through your first few days in EVE. For a more general list of topics new players should know about, see the New Player Index.

Introduction to EVE

EVE is a game unlike many other MMOs. It doesn't just have unique mechanics, it also doesn't follow many of the conventions of other games. It may therefore be a good idea to familiarize yourself with some of the core aspects of the game, in order to have a better idea of what to expect:

Accounts

Main article: Accounts

To play EVE you must first create an account. Your account name doesn't show up anywhere in game, and you can have up to three characters per account. You can have as many accounts as you like.

If you were invited to EVE by a friend (i.e. you have a referral link), use it when creating your account, as you will get some free skill points (equivalent to about 2 to 6 weeks of training time). Additionally, your friend will receive a reward. It's possible to invite yourself to create additional accounts.

Even if you were not invited, you can use a public invitation link. Those are often shared by streamers and YouTubers. Use a search engine to find them.

Sadly, sometimes accounts are hacked. Observe basic security considerations to prevent this. On top of that, you should use Two-Factor Authentication.

Character Creation

Main article: Character Creator

Empire

The first decision you have to make is to choose an empire for your character. There are 4 major factions in the game: Amarr, Caldari, Gallente, and Minmatar. Generally speaking, your choice of empire is purely an aesthetic choice, as every character can potentially learn every skill. That means that even as Amarr you can fly Minmatar ships when you get the appropriate skills. Your choice of empire therefore mainly determines the look of your character and (if you choose) your role-playing opportunities. You will receive a few initial skills in your chosen empire -- regardless of whether you are a paying subscriber ("Omega") or playing for free ("Alpha") -- but you can quickly "cross-train" to try out other empires' ship and weapon types.

Bloodline

A bloodline in EVE is a character's familial ancestry. There are three different bloodlines for every empire to choose from during character creation. From the character creation window: "Note: Bloodline selection will influence your character's appearance only. It does not affect access to skills or abilities."

School

The School you choose will only determine which starter solar system you begin in, and which Starter Corporation you will be part of. There are absolutely no differences between any of them. They will give your character a permanent list of stations spread across all of New Eden belonging to that school where you can set your Home Station independently from any corporation you might have joined and independently of the location you are setting your clone from.

Portrait and Appearance

Next, you have to design your character's appearance and take a portrait. Your looks depend in part on which empire and bloodline you chose, but the tool also gives you a lot of flexibility. Do spend some time crafting your character and taking your portrait, but keep in mind that 99% of the time other players will only ever see your portrait and not your entire character model, and so will you.

You can change your character's clothing and re-take your portraits at any point later, but changing your character's physical appearance can only be done by paying for "Character Remodeling" with PLEX (through the New Eden Store).

Name

Pick your character's name carefully, as you can never change it later. Your name is part of your identity, and it will influence how your corpmates think of you.

In EVE Online, most corporations make use of voice communication (e.g. Mumble) during fleet operations, and also use their voice server available for casual chatter. You will sometimes need to identify yourself with your name while using voice comms, and other fleetmates will use your name to give you intel or instructions. Having a name that is simple and easily pronounceable will make things easier for everyone.

Pick your name carefully, especially your first name, as that will often be used as your callsign during fleet operations. If you pick a stupid name for yourself, you should prepare for some people to not take you seriously.

You can pick a first and last name (although the last name is optional). Character names are unique, and the game will check whether your chosen name is available before letting you proceed.

Starting the game

Tutorial

Main article: AIR New Player Experience

When you first start the game as a new character, you can go through the tutorial (called the "New Player Experience"), a story-driven experience that gives you step-by-step instructions on the basic mechanics of playing EVE. Unless you've already played the game, it's highly recommended that you follow the tutorial, as there are many particular mechanics which you may not be used to.

Career Agents

Main article: Career Agents

After the tutorial, you can learn more about EVE by visiting the career agents and doing the missions they offer. Their missions introduce you to some of the main PvE activities in EVE Online. Keep in mind that Career agents offer little training in PvP, which makes up a substantial part of the game. Additionally, EVE is a sandbox game, and much of its attraction is forging your own path as opposed to following a pre-set path.

If you followed the tutorial, you will have flown to the station housing the nearest career agents. If you skipped the tutorial, you can locate the closest set of career agents (there are three sets of agents per faction, but they all offer the same missions).

You can do the agents in any order you like (although you should do the Explorer agent before you do the Soldier of Fortune one).

Completing the career agents missions will reward some ships and skillbooks.

AIR Career Program

Main article: AIR Career Program

This is a reward program for reaching certain goals. These goals are reached more or less automatically while doing stuff in EVE. Rewards come in the form of ISK, skillbooks, skill points, Expert Systems and ships. Some example goals are completing career agent missions, buying stuff on the market and gaining standings with a corporation things you are doing anyway.

For example: There are 4 gaining standings goals Which will get you the Social (for the first) and Connections (for the third) skillbooks and a total of 200,000 ISK just by doing what you are doing anyway.

AIR Daily Goals

Main article: AIR Daily Goals

This is a continuous rewards program for reaching goals on a daily base. Reaching a goal rewards ISK and EverMarks. Reaching 2 goals a day rewards skillpoints. The program gives additional ISK and skillpoints for a monthly 12 step progress track.

The Sisters of EVE Epic Arc: Blood-Stained Stars

Main article: The Blood-Stained Stars
Lesson Learned
Frozen corpse.png

Be wary that many miscreant players and corporations hang around SoE systems to prey upon New Players.


After you have completed the missions for the career agents, the EVE galaxy is yours to explore! Should you like to run a few more story-related missions, you can do the Sisters of EVE epic mission arc "The Blood-Stained Stars". The epic arc is a series of 50 connected missions which take you all over highsec and expose you to quite a bit of the background and lore of the game, particularly concerning the Rogue Drones and the secret Society of Conscious Thought. To start it you should go to the Arnon system and talk to Sister Alitura at the Sisters of EVE Bureau.

While doing the epic arc, you should focus on continuing to train your combat skills. You can do most of the initial missions in a Frigate, but you should consider upgrading to a Destroyer or even a Cruiser towards the end.

Most of the missions will be fairly easy, but some (particularly towards the end, like the infamous "Burning Down the Hive" or "Our Man Dagan") have a reputation for being very challenging for new players. If you find yourself struggling, don't be shy to ask for help in the E-UNI chat channel as many EVE University players would be happy to help you.

By contrast, be careful about accepting or asking for help in the Local chat channel, as some unscrupulous players who might hijack your mission objective, or bait you and destroy your ship (see also: scams in EVE Online).

Learning Skills

Main article: Skills and learning

Unlike in many other MMOs, in EVE your character advances (gains new abilities, can use additional modules and ships, etc) through training skills, which are trained in real time, even when you are logged off. Therefore, you should always have a skill actively training.

You can queue up skills to be trained one after the other, nearly infinitely (or until the 5 million skill point cap for Alpha characters). Skills have five levels (I through V), and while the benefits of each additional level scale linearly, the training time increases exponentially: it's usually not worth training skills beyond level IV in your first few days. Instead, focus on the skills which either improve whatever you're doing at the moment, or which unlock new ships or modules you want to try.

As you get a feel for what you enjoy doing in EVE you can focus your training in that particular area. Skills are cumulative, and a character (provided they have an Omega clone) can potentially learn every skill in the game given enough time. It is even possible to "extract " spent skill points and apply them elsewhere, for a price. So don't worry too much about training "the wrong skill" at the start of the game.

You start the game with a number of skills already trained. To train additional skills, you must first acquire the appropriate skillbook. While you will receive a number of skillbooks as rewards from the career agents and the AIR Career Program, the others must be bought on the market; most of the basic skillbooks are reasonably cheap. EVE University provides certain skillbooks for free to its members.

You can speed up your training time by installing implants in your character, specifically the basic attribute-enhancing implants, which add between +1 and +5 points to your character's attributes. While the better implants are extremely expensive, +1 implants are affordable[Note 1] even for new players. Members of EVE University can also buy +3 implants at a discount.

Fitting your Ship

Main article: Fitting ships

Ships in EVE can be fitted with a wide variety of modules that grant the ship additional abilities (e.g. weapons, which allow you to fire at enemy ships) or enhance its statistics (e.g. armor plates, which increase the amount of damage your ship can take before exploding). Learning which modules work well on which ship (and in combination with which other modules) is a potentially very deep topic, so you should approach it step by step. Basic guidelines to each of the four factions' core ships can be found on the following pages:

Additionally, there is a complete list of all modules and rigs, and what they do. EVE University members can also ask for fitting advice in the EVE University PvP and PvE ship setup forums or the #fitting-chat Discord channel.

It's also a good idea to set up PYFA, a popular tool that lets you build and simulate fittings out of game. PYFA will let you easily simulate fittings and see what skills you'll need to train to fly them.

Joining a Corporation

Corporations are EVE's version of player organisations, vaguely similar to guilds or clans in other games, but with more scope for influencing the game. EVE is, at its heart, a social game, and while it's perfectly possible to play the game by yourself, most long-time EVE players cite the sense of community in their corporation as one of the main attractions of the game. Additionally, a well-run corporation can offer many services to its members, such as free ships and modules, help moving assets around New Eden, missioning support, advice, a sense of banding together with other to achieve common goals, and of course, fun fleet operations.

EVE University is a corporation dedicated to teaching new players how to play and enjoy EVE. We provide a wide variety of services (beyond teaching and a very helpful community), such as free skillbooks, subsidised implants, mentors, and communities to provide hands-on experience in a wide variety of locations and environments in EVE, not to mention the awesome wiki you're currently reading. We welcome applications from all new players.

However, there are other corporations (large or small, casual or formal, located in all corners of space) in EVE who are very welcoming to new players, and every player should look around to see what best suits their interests and temperament. Corporations advertise in:

Next steps

Main article: Careers

EVE is a sandbox game, which means it's up to each player to find what they enjoy doing most in the game; while CCP do foster some fiction about the game universe, there isn't a central story to follow.

Due to EVE's skill system, it's usually easy to start doing a given activity, and to get to a decent skill level, but it takes a while to master it to its fullest. Therefore, as a new player, it's often a good idea to dabble in a few different activities to find out what suits you best. If you've found something that looks appealing, research it (e.g. by searching this wiki, attending a class, or chatting to your corp-mates), start learning the appropriate skills, and get started. If you find it enjoyable, keep training your character's skills while honing your player skills and experience; should you grow bored, you can always switch up your character's training queue and try something else.

While playing the game, you may want to keep in mind:

Getting help

EVE is a very complex (and sometimes counterintuitive) game. Should you feel unsure or lost, then don't hesitate to ask for help. The EVE player community is very friendly and helpful towards new players. The easiest way to get direct help is through in-game chat channels.

Chat channels

Joining chat channels.

There are (at least) three chat channels dedicated to helping new players - you can ask questions here, and there are usually other experienced players and game masters around to help you. You can find these (and other) chat channels in tabs at (by default) the bottom-left of your screen.

  • Rookie Help (dedicated to helping the newest players.)
  • English Help (general English help chat. There are also help chat channels in French, German, Japanese and Russian.)
  • EVE University (EVE University's general help channel.)

You automatically join the "Rookie Help" channel when you first start the game. Additional, you can join the "English help" or "EVE University" chat channels (as Rookie Help is often very busy, and characters older than 30 days no longer have access to "Rookie Help"):

  1. Click on the speech bubble below the chat channel. You will see a number of folders.
  2. Click on "Help" and look for channels named EVE University (E-UNI) and/or English Help (Help).
  3. Click "Join".

Videos

Some things are just more easily explained in a video than through text.

Deeper knowledge

Beyond simple questions which can be answered in a chat channel, there is an enormous amount of knowledge about the game that the player base has documented. The EVE University wiki that you're reading right now is one of the most comprehensive resources for newer players, but there are many others, often dedicated to a particular activity in the game.

Using your favourite internet search engine is usually a good starting point, but keep in mind that EVE is constantly evolving, so check whether the information you find is current. Additionally, the official EVE help centre is a good place to find information relating to your subscription, account services, and basic gameplay.

Notes

  1. ^ +1 implants also come as reward for the Storyline mission, Materials For War Preparation

Related Links