User:Eadrom Vintarus/alpha vni

Introduction

This is a skill plan and setup guide for creating a free-to-play Alpha Clone alt character for the express purpose of getting it into a sovnull corp/alliance and AFK/semi-AFK ratting Forsaken Hubs (a type of combat site that VNI's make the most ISK in) and Forsaken Rally Points.

The skill plan is split into two sections. The 'Core' skill plan is the bare minimum skills needed to sit inside of either of two alpha-fit VNI's, as well as fit a <2 second align time travel frigate. The 'Supplemental' skill plan is focused on increasing your damage output and reducing your incoming damage. I would be very careful when flying a VNI with only the Core skills trained as you will be missing out on a large measure of DPS and damage mitigation. The Supplemental skill plan focuses on skills with large impacts first and then moves on to skills that have smaller effects. At some point while working on the Supplemental plan, your capsuleer will become capable enough to be effective at AFK ratting.

Feel free to adjust the skill plans as needed. If you are killing rats at a fast enough pace but are having to constantly warp off to repair, prioritize skills that will increase your damage mitigation. If your drones are getting killed a lot, focus on drone navigation and durability skills. The order in which you train these skills is only my suggestion. Adjust, remove, and add to them as your needs require.

Getting Started

1. Create a new account. I personally like to use the social media referral link (found in your main accounts Refer A Friend page) so that my alt gets a free 250k SP and my main and new alt are automatically added as contacts to each other.
2. Create your character. Prior to the December 5th 'Arms Race' patch, you will need to create a Gallente character. After December 5th, 2017, any race of character can train into any race's ships and so racial choice will no longer matter after that patch lands.
3. Work on the new player tutorial until you get the 25,000 SP mini skill injector. You should only need to complete the initial set of tasks to escape from the drifters and dock back up at the NPC station in your starter system. Shortly after docking up and following a few more tasks (in station, don't need to undock), you will receive a free 25k skill injector. At this point, feel free to end the tutorial, inject the skill points, apply the free SP to your skill queue or save them, trash everything else you've gotten so far and buy a shuttle. As for the 250k SP skill injector, you can use it now to speed up your alt's training or you can save it for when it hits 5 million SP and won't be able to passively generate SP any longer.
4. Log off your new alt and log onto your main account. Send your new alt 30-40 million ISK for skill books and implants. If you are going to forego implants, you only need to send over 4 million ISK. Log off your main character and log back onto your new alt.
5. Look at skill books on market window and find the closest NPC station selling skill books. You can tell NPC sell orders from player sell orders by the duration of the sell order being over 90 days. Players can only create sell orders for a maximum of 90 days, so if you ever see an item being sold that has a time to expire of more than 90 days, that item is being sold by an NPC. Once you've identified a station selling the skill books you need, set a course and fly there and dock up.
6. Buy the skill books noted below for both the Core and Supplemental skill plans. Once you have all of them purchased, open your inventory, right click, select all, right click on any one book, and inject all of the skills. You want the 'inject' option, not the 'train to level 1 now' option.
7. Follow the skill plans below. Once you've completed the Core plan, you can sit in either of the two fits described below and use all the modules.
8. Get your character into a sovnull group (Soli's unofficial Grindstone initiative, KarmaFleet, Pandemic Horde, Brave Newbies, a Providence corp, etc). I would recommend being honest that this is an alt of yours and that your main character is in E-UNI. This can be a good way to get a taste of other groups' culture and see if you would be a fit for their community without needing to move your main from E-UNI. Arrange for a VNI or three to be shipped or purchased on location (usually around 100 mil ISK each for ship, fit, and drones), and travel to your new home. Start ratting while you work on the Supplemental skill plan. Enjoy your new ISK faucet and watch out for roaming hostiles!

Skill Book Shopping List

Core Plan Books to buy:

• Anchoring - 75,000
• Drone Sharpshooting - 150,000
• Gallente Frigate - 40,000
• Gallente Destroyer - 100,000
• Gallente Cruiser - 500,000
• Heavy Drone Operation - 380,000
• Infomorph Psychology - 1,000,000
• Light Drone Operation - 50,000
• Medium Drone Operation - 100,000
• Repair Systems - 30,000

Total: 2,425,000

Supplemental Plan Books to buy:

• Acceleration Control - 40,000
• Drone Durability - 50,000
• Drone Interfacing - 500,000
• Drone Navigation - 100,000
• EM Armor Compensation - 120,000
• Explosive Armor Compensation - 120,000
• Kinetic Armor Compensation - 120,000
• Thermal Armor Compensation - 120,000
• Jury Rigging - 60,000
• Shield Operation - 35,000
• Shield Rigging - 100,000

Total: 1,365,000

Grand Total: 3,790,000

Implants and Attribute Remapping

Implants will increase your skill training speed by roughly 4% per point attribute added. For example, plugging in a set of +2 implants will reduce the time needed to train skills by roughly 8%. You can typically buy a set of +2's for between 30-40 million ISK.

Speaking of remaps, your new alt comes with two. We're going to use one of them to shave about 10% of the time needed off the training time of both parts of the combined skill plan. Values are with a +2 set of implants. Adjust your numbers accordingly.

• Intelligence: 17+2=19
• Memory: 27+2=29
• Perception: 20+2=22
• Willpower: 17+2=19
• Charisma: 18+2=20

Skill Plan

Core VNI Ratting Skills

All the basic skills needed to sit in a ratting VNI and use all the modules and be cap stable.
Expand this box to view a Skill queue to use in-game

Infomorph Psychology 1
Repair Systems 1
Gallente Frigate 1
Anchoring 1
Drone Avionics 2
Drones 2
Repair Systems 2
Gallente Frigate 2
Shield Upgrades 2
Energy Grid Upgrades 2
Evasive Maneuvering 2
Drones 3
Light Drone Operation 1
Medium Drone Operation 1
Drone Avionics 3
Repair Systems 3
Evasive Maneuvering 3
Gallente Frigate 3
Gallente Destroyer 1
Gallente Destroyer 2
Gallente Destroyer 3
Gallente Cruiser 1
Gallente Cruiser 2
Shield Upgrades 3
Weapon Upgrades 3
Energy Grid Upgrades 3
Drones 4
Mechanics 4
Repair Systems 4
Shield Upgrades 4
Weapon Upgrades 4
Energy Grid Upgrades 4
Capacitor Management 4
Drones 5
Drone Sharpshooting 1
Heavy Drone Operation 1

Total time with no implants (alpha | omega): 36d 6h 21m 16s (-3d 10h 21m 10s w/ remap) | 18d 3h 10m 38s (-1d 17h 10m 35s w/ remap)

Supplemental VNI Ratting Skills

Increases the DPS and damage mitigation of the ratting VNI.
Expand this box to view a Skill queue to use in-game

Gallente Cruiser 3
Gallente Cruiser 4
Long Range Targeting 2
Long Range Targeting 3
Drone Interfacing 1
Drone Interfacing 2
Drone Interfacing 3
Shield Management 2
Shield Management 3
Shield Operation 1
Shield Operation 2
Shield Operation 3
Shield Operation 4
Tactical Shield Manipulation 2
Tactical Shield Manipulation 3
Heavy Drone Operation 2
Heavy Drone Operation 3
Heavy Drone Operation 4
Acceleration Control 1
Acceleration Control 2
Acceleration Control 3
Navigation 4
Hull Upgrades 4
EM Armor Compensation 1
Explosive Armor Compensation 1
Kinetic Armor Compensation 1
Thermal Armor Compensation 1
Drone Avionics 4
Drone Durability 1
Drone Durability 2
Drone Durability 3
Drone Durability 4
Drone Navigation 1
Drone Navigation 2
Drone Navigation 3
Drone Navigation 4
Drone Sharpshooting 2
Drone Sharpshooting 3
Drone Sharpshooting 4
Jury Rigging 1
Jury Rigging 2
Jury Rigging 3
Shield Rigging 1
Shield Rigging 2
Target Management 3
Target Management 4
Light Drone Operation 2
Light Drone Operation 3
Light Drone Operation 4
Light Drone Operation 5
Medium Drone Operation 2
Medium Drone Operation 3
Medium Drone Operation 4
Medium Drone Operation 5
Thermodynamics 2
Thermodynamics 3
Thermodynamics 4

Total time with no implants (alpha | omega): 95d 14h 35m 44s (-10d 23h 32m 42s w/ remap) | 47d 19h 17m 52s (-5d 11h 46m 21s w/ remap)

Combined total time with no implants (alpha | omega): 131d 20h 57m 0s (-14d 9h 53m 52s w/ remap) | 65d 22h 28m 30s (-7d 4h 56m 56s w/ remap)

If you plug in a set of +3's and use the specified remap above, you can complete combined skill plan as an alpha clone in roughly 103 days. =)

Vexor Navy Issue Fits

Vexor Navy Issue: VNI_NullSec_Ratting_KF

EFT

[Vexor Navy Issue, VNI_NullSec_Ratting_KF]
Drone Link Augmentor I
Auto Targeting System I

100MN Y-S8 Compact Afterburner
Cap Recharger II
Large Compact Pb-Acid Cap Battery
Cap Recharger II

Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Medium Armor Repairer II
'Refuge' Adaptive Nano Plating I

Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I

Imperial Navy Praetor x5

FITTING DIFFICULTY

EVE VERSION

LATEST

ALPHA CAN USE

YES

EFT

SKILLS

NOTES

RECOMMENDED SKILLS

NOTES

• This armor fit tanks more damage than the shield fit VNI against rats that shoot any mixture of EM, Kinetic, and Thermal damage. For rats that shoot Explosive damage, check out the shield fit VNI.

Vexor Navy Issue: VNI_NullSec_Ratting_PH

EFT

[Vexor Navy Issue, VNI_NullSec_Ratting_PH]
Drone Link Augmentor I
Auto Targeting System I

100MN Monopropellant Enduring Afterburner
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Denny Enduring Omnidirectional Tracking Link, Tracking Speed Script

Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Capacitor Power Relay II
Capacitor Power Relay II

Medium Anti-Kinetic Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit II

Caldari Navy Wasp x5

Tracking Speed Script x1

FITTING DIFFICULTY

EVE VERSION

LATEST

ALPHA CAN USE

YES

EFT

SKILLS

NOTES

RECOMMENDED SKILLS

NOTES

• While this shield fit tanks less than its armor tanked cousin, it applies its drone damage a little better and is the preferred fit when fighting rats that shoot a high amount of Explosive damage at you.

Vexor Navy Issue: VNI_Ratting_Armor_Cheap-Alpha

EFT

[Vexor Navy Issue, VNI_Ratting_Armor_Cheap-Alpha]
Drone Link Augmentor I
Auto Targeting System I

100MN Monopropellant Enduring Afterburner
Medium Cap Battery II
Medium Cap Battery II
Cap Recharger II

Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Prototype Thermal Plating I

Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I

Caldari Navy Wasp x5

FITTING DIFFICULTY

EVE VERSION

LATEST

ALPHA CAN USE

YES

EFT

SKILLS

NOTES

RECOMMENDED SKILLS

NOTES

• There are 4 modules changed from the Omega version of this fit: the two cap batteries, the cap recharger, and the passive thermal resist plating. Once you have enough to PLEX your account and train a handful of AB / cap skills, you can upgrade to the Omega version with just a swap of a couple modules.

Vexor Navy Issue: VNI_Ratting_Armor_Cheap-Omega

EFT

[Vexor Navy Issue, VNI_Ratting_Armor_Cheap-Omega]
Drone Link Augmentor I
Auto Targeting System I

100MN Monopropellant Enduring Afterburner
Medium Compact Pb-Acid Cap Battery
Medium Compact Pb-Acid Cap Battery
Omnidirectional Tracking Link II, Tracking Speed Script

Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Prototype Armor Thermal Hardener I

Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I

Caldari Navy Wasp x5
Hornet EC-300 x5
Vespa EC-600 x5

Tracking Speed Script x1

FITTING DIFFICULTY

EVE VERSION

LATEST

ALPHA CAN USE

NO

EFT

SKILLS

NOTES

RECOMMENDED SKILLS

NOTES

• If you train Hull Upgrades 5, you can upgrade the thermal hardener to T2 without a problem. You can also use a meta'ed down tracking link if you don't have the skills for T2.

Passive Shield vs Active Armor Fits

This boils down to:

• Passive Shield fits: requires much less cap fitting and so generally has more space for drone tracking modules; tank breaks at ~25% shield and is difficult to recover from and you have only one option for overheating to enhance your tank temporarily (prop mod); tank at max skills is lower overall in terms of repping power (a little over 70 EHP/s) but you do have significantly more buffer; better for active, at keyboard ratting
• Active Armor fits: requires more cap fitting and PG and so has fewer slots available for drone tracking modules; tank will not break until you run out of structure points and blow up allowing for recovery from even deep structure; if you need to temporarily increase tank, you can overheat prop mod, armor rep, and your resist module (if omega); at max skills you hit just under 90 EHP/sec which is notably more than the passive shield fits; also starts its scale of EHP/sec far higher at low skills compared to passive shield fits which start way lower making armor fits more newbro friendly; best for newbros and afk ratting

Combat Tactics

So you have your alt moved to sovnull and you have a shiny new VNI and you are all skilled up into a basic fit and you are ready undock. Now what?

You want to run two types of sites: Forsaken Hubs first and Forsaken Rally Points if there aren't any hubs available. You can pretty much ignore all other types of sites unless you are ratting in such a busy system that none are available, then you can look at regular Hubs and Rally Points (but I would recommend just moving to a different system if possible). So undock, find a Forsaken Hub preferably, but if not, a Forsaken Rally Point, and warp off! You want to warp to the site at 0km. Here is the next sequence of actions:

1. As you are in warp and landing, delete the previous combat site's bookmark.
2. After landing, deploy your flight of five heavy drones.
3. Orbit at 5km. If you are running a Forsaken Hub, there should be a rock a little above where you are warping in and that is perfect to orbit for the duration of the site. If you are running a Forsaken Rally Point, what you are going to do is kill the closest Cruiser and orbit its wreck for the duration of the site.
4. Turn on your prop and auto-targeting modules. Make sure your armor repairer and any tracking links you have are also turned on (you can do this in warp to the site as well).
5. Bookmark whatever you are orbiting. For Forsaken Hubs, that's the rock that is above you when you land at 0km and for Forsaken Rally Points, that's the wreck of the first cruiser you kill.
6. At this point, you are running up to speed, your drones have likely started to engage the rats, the rats have started shooting you, and you have not much left to do at this point. What you need to ensure is that the rats do not start shooting your drones. If they don't start shooting them within the first 10-20 seconds of starting the site, you should be fine for the rest of the site. If the rats do start shooting your drones, simply recall them to drone bay (shift+R), wait for all the rats to red box you again, and then launch your drones and manually order them to attack a rat. Again, wait 10-20 seconds to make sure the rats don't start shooting your drones again (extremely rare).

At this point, you are pretty much good to go. There are two things to keep an eye out for during the rest of the time you are in the combat site. The first is perma-yellow boxing. This occurs when a rat can't shoot you or doesn't think it can shoot you or just bugs out. For whatever reason, it just follows behind you in your orbit and never fires its guns at you, so your drones will not engage it. The fix is to simply order drones to attack. This is rare when you orbit at 5km and gets more commonplace the farther out you orbit. If this does happen to me, it happens on the waves with frigate spawns.

The second thing to watch out for is the second wave's frigates in a Forsaken Hub and the 4th wave's frigates in a Forsaken Rally Point. These frigates can point and web you (they do not scram). Points don't really matter in terms of endangering your ship inside the combat site, but they will prevent you from warping off if a neutral comes into system and you want to dock up. The most dangerous EWAR is webs. One web is not dangerous at all. Two webs is concerning and if you just have the bare minimum skills, you may bleed some structure before killing enough battleships to relieve pressure on your armor repairer. The rare triple web spawn sis very dangerous. Three webs will slow you down enough that battleships will have zero issues tracking you and you will probably lose your ship. It's not common to get triple webbed and if any fit has a chance to live through it completely AFK, it's an armor rep fit. That said, what I usually do is start my site and then come back in 5 minutes or so for the spawn of the second Forsaken Hub wave and manually direct my drones to kill all the frigates, at which point the rest of the site is completely AFK-able. Triple web problem is technically possible in a Forsaken Rally Point but should be exceedingly rare. If you do want to check up and prevent it, you need to come back in time for the 4th wave and target the frigates.