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You play to improve your ability to use your skills. And you gain new skills by "training" them. There are a LOT of skills, and you can only train one at a time. Each level of each skill takes a fixed amount of time to learn, and this means that all characters in EVE learn new skills at the same rate. This makes your choice of skills, and [[Skill#How_Many_Levels.3F|skill levels]], a key factor in developing your character. | You play to improve your ability to use your skills. And you gain new skills by "training" them. There are a LOT of skills, and you can only train one at a time. Each level of each skill takes a fixed amount of time to learn, and this means that all characters in EVE learn new skills at the same rate. This makes your choice of skills, and [[Skill#How_Many_Levels.3F|skill levels]], a key factor in developing your character. | ||
Just to give a taste of the breadth of the skill set: each of the four racial factions has six levels of ships (frigates, destroyers, cruisers, battle cruisers, battleships, and capital ships), and each level requires a basic "spaceship" skill. Since there are five levels to every skill, this means you need to acquire 4 x 6 x 5 = 120 skills to maximize your skill at piloting the basic faction ships. And that's just the racial factions ... the Pirate factions have their own ship categories, as do various other NPC groups. And within each faction there are special "advanced" ships that have their own entry skills. | Just to give a taste of the breadth of the skill set: each of the four racial factions has six levels of ships (frigates, destroyers, cruisers, battle cruisers, battleships, and capital ships), and each level requires a basic "spaceship" skill. Since there are five levels to every skill, this means you need to acquire 4 x 6 x 5 = 120 skills to maximize your skill at piloting all the basic faction ships. And that's just the racial factions ... the Pirate factions have their own ship categories, as do various other NPC groups. And within each faction there are special "advanced" ships that have their own entry skills. | ||
In addition there are numerous categories of equipment that also fit on the ships ... scanners, afterburners, drones, and the like | In addition there are numerous categories of equipment that also fit on the ships ... scanners, afterburners, drones, and the like. And there are four kinds of weapons systems (projectile, missile, charged projectile and ray beam). Each ship category uses at least one of these. The weapons systems come in small, medium and large, and each has its own set of skills. | ||
And that describes only ships and their gear. There are more skill sets available in Mining, Scanning, Navigation, Industry, Science, Leadership and other non-combat activities. Generally, the first level of a skill takes about half an hour to learn, the second level about an hour, the third some number of hours. The time varies for different skills, and it can take from a few hours to a few weeks | And that describes only ships and their gear. There are more skill sets available in Mining, Scanning, Navigation, Industry, Science, Leadership and other non-combat activities. Generally, the first level of a skill takes about half an hour to learn, the second level about an hour, the third some number of hours. The time varies for different skills, and it can take from a few hours to a few weeks to learn the fourth or fifth level of a skill. The good news is that training continues while you are logged off, but even so, it takes years to learn everything the game has to offer. | ||
Since there is no level cap, you will not run out of things to do. And, since there is no rush to level up, you can take your time to master one particular set of skills before moving on to the next. Or, you can train a variety of level 1 skills and work your way up multiple paths. EVE is very flexible in that regard. | Since there is no level cap, you will not run out of things to do. And, since there is no rush to level up, you can take your time to master one particular set of skills before moving on to the next. Or, you can train a variety of level 1 skills and work your way up multiple paths. EVE is very flexible in that regard. (Many players train to level III in skills they need, level IV in skills they use a lot, and only go to level V if there is a pressing need ... like a prerequisite to a higher skill, for example.) | ||
'''THE BOTTOM LINE:''' Don't run around chasing points or items. Decide what you want your character to DO (combat, exploration, mining, industry) and focus on learning the skills you need to continually improve your results. Choose your ships, gear, missions and so on to support your choice of "career". | '''THE BOTTOM LINE:''' Don't run around chasing points or items. Decide what you want your character to DO (combat, exploration, mining, industry) and focus on learning the skills you need to continually improve your results. Choose your ships, gear, missions and so on to support your choice of "career". | ||