Planning ahead

Unless you are already heavily invested into a certain race or weapon system, it might be a good idea to think of which logistics ship, strategic cruiser or pirate faction battleship you'll want in the end, rather than what your first incursion ship should be.

You should also consider secondary value of whatever you train, perhaps you can find an end-of-the-line ship that not only furthers your goals for incursions but other goals as well given the skills you'll end up training for it. If you already know that you like smaller ships, or have plans for diving into a wormhole in the future, it would make much more sense training into a strategic cruiser than a pirate faction battleship.

Depending on the race, training for strategic cruisers will make quite some progress towards being able to fly logistics as well, or the other way around if your goal is to fly logistcs. That said, most strategic cruisers pale in comparison to the pirate faction battleships who remain the epitome of incursion boats.

Recommended battleships:

Races	Ship	Description
		The Maelstrom can easily lead into the Machariel, retaining the projectile skills and Minmatar skills, but requires Gallente battleship. Minmatar in general also offers the Loki and Sleipnir as well as the Scimitar for logistics.
		The Rokh can train into a Vindicator, retaining the hybrid skills, but forced to train both Gallente and Minmatar battleships. It can also train into the Nightmare, retaining the Caldari battleship skills, but forced to crosstrain into lasers. Caldari also offers the Basilisk for logistics.
		The Hyperion can easily lead into the Vindicator, retaining the hybrid skills and Gallente skills, but requires Minmatar battleship.

End-game ships:

Races	Ship	Description
		The Machariel combines a flexible engagement range for autocannons with a high rate of fire. Fit for long range the impressive alpha is unmatched. It also has enough midslots to fit for any occasion.
		The Nightmare has very good damage at any range due to fast-swapping crystals and compensates for the innate low tracking of lasers with the ship's tracking bonus. It also has plenty of utility midslots available. Has some cap issues.
		The Vindicator is a brawler without match, both in terms of damage and incredibly strong webs. Despite appearances, it is also a very potent sniper when fitted with railguns, and tech two ammo makes it possible to use blasters at medium range.
		The Legion combines powerful short range capabilities with instant-swapping long range capabilities due to how crystals work. Ideal ship if you prefer smaller, more agile ships to the bulkier battleships.
		The Loki combines multiple webs with extreme tracking which makes it very useful. It also has the option to fit for longer webs, which isn't always needed but makes a world of difference when it is.
		Very few Command Ships have the range and utility needed to make them good for incursions, suffering the same problems as most ships with medium weaponry. The Sleipnir stands out with exceptional tracking, range and damage capabilities.
		The Scimitar is a logistics ship, the core of fleet defense. It does not rely on energy transfers to be cap stable and can therefor be fully operational on its own. The bonus to tracking links makes it an enormous asset on the field, on top of the repairs it supplies.
		The Basilisk is another logistics ship, but unlike the Scimitar, it needs someone to exchange energy transfers with to be effective. With good skills it can provide energy transfers to the fleet or field one more shield transporter for extra repping power.

Recommended skills

The following skills are recommended, if not downright required to fit the modules you have to in order to do incursions. For more information on what the different skills do, see the Support Skills page. It's worth noting that the skills we recommend are basic skills, useful for pretty much all combat ships in EVE.

The training times listed for these will assume that you trained Cybernetics I and got a cheap set of +3 attribute implants, which is not only reasonable but highly recommended regardless what you plan on doing in EVE. There's even The +3 Implants Program for unistas to get started.

Damage dealers

Getting the recommended skills for a damage dealer requires a little over 60 days of training, if you train into a turret-based battleship on a brand new character.

Considering that is far more likely that you come looking for incursions after you have played the game for at least a couple of weeks, having trained some of the support skills already (the tutorial mentions many of them), you can often get ready much faster. Add to that the potential of neural remapping and what might seem like a daunting train can be covered in no-time.

These recommended skills will allow you to fly any of the recommended battleships for vanguards and assaults.

Support skills	Gunnery skills	Ship skills	Drone skills
~ 21 days and 22 hours	~ 22 days and 2 hours	~ 4 days and 11 hours	~ 13 days and 9 hours
Cybernetics I CPU management IV Power Grid management IV Mechanics IV Weapon Upgrades IV Capacitor Management IV Capacitor Systems Operation IV Shield Upgrades IV Tactical Shield Manipulation IV Signature Analysis IV Target Management IV Long Range Targeting IV Propulsion Jamming III Target Painting III ^[1] Jury Rigging III Shield Rigging III Shield Operation IV EM Shield Compensation III Hull Upgrades IV ^[2] Warp Drive Operation III	Gunnery V Motion Prediction IV Rapid Firing IV Sharpshooter IV Surgical Strike IV Trajectory Analysis IV Controlled Bursts IV ^[3] Small <racial> Turret III Medium <racial> Turret III Large <racial> Turret III	<racial> Frigate III <racial> Destroyer III <racial> Cruiser III <racial> Battlecruiser III Spaceship Command IV <racial> Battleship III	Drones V Drone Interfacing III Scout Drone Operation V ^[4] Combat Drone Operation III Minmatar Drone Specialization III ^[4] Drone Durability I ^[5] Repair Drone Operation II ^[5] Shield Emission Systems III ^[5] Drone Navigation III Drone Sharpshooting III
~ 61 days and 20 hours worth of training in total

^ Target Painting III is only needed if you'll use a Target Painter module.
^ Hull Upgrades IV is required to fit the Damage Control II module.
^ Controlled Bursts is useful for all hybrids and lasers, but useless for projectiles and missiles as they do not utilize cap.
^ ^a ^b Drones V, Scout Drone Operation V and Minmatar Drone Specialization I is required to use Warrior II and Valkyrie II drones.
^ ^a ^b ^c Drone Durability I, Repair Drone Operation II and Shield Emission System III is required to use Shield Maintenance drones, which can be trained in mere hours if you can already use tech two scout drones.

Logistics

Training for logistics is considerably more time-consuming than that of a regular damage dealer. Please remember that when you think the above mentioned skills for a damage dealer is a long train.

It takes up to 79 days to get good enough skills to fly a logistics starter fit.

Support skills	Logistics support skills	Ship skills	Drone skills
~ 20 days and 2 hours	~ 6 days and 9 hours	~ 47 days and 9 hours	~ 5 days and 6 hours
Cybernetics I CPU management IV Power Grid management IV Mechanics IV Capacitor Management IV Capacitor Systems Operation IV Energy Grid Upgrades II ^[1] Shield Upgrades IV Tactical Shield Manipulation IV Target Management V ^[2] Advanced Target Management III ^[3] Jury Rigging III Shield Rigging III Hull Upgrades IV ^[4] Afterburner III Warp Drive Operation III	Shield Emission Systems IV Capacitor Emission Systems IV ^[5] Sensor Linking IV ^[6]	<racial> Frigate III <racial> Destroyer III <racial> Cruiser V Signature Analysis V ^[7] Long Range Targeting V ^[7] Logistics IV	Drones V Drone Durability I ^[8] Repair Drone Operation II ^[8] Shield Emission Systems III ^[9]
~ 79 days and 2 hours worth of training in total

^ Energy Grid Upgrades II is required for the reactor controls and power diagnostic modules.
^ Target Management V is a requirement for Advanced Target Management.
^ Advanced Target Management III is required to lock up 10 fleet members.
^ Hull Upgrades IV is required to fit the Damage Control II module.
^ Capacitor Emission Systems is only required if you fly a Guardian or a Basilisk with energy transfer modules, the Oneiros and the Scimitar does not need this skill.
^ Sensor Linking is only required if you can fit the Tracking Link module and only needed at higher skill-levels if you try to fit several faction links at once.
^ ^a ^b Signature Analysis V and Long Range Targeting V is a requirement for the Logistics skill.
^ ^a ^b Drone Durability I, Repair Drone Operation II and Shield Emission System III is required to use Shield Maintenance drones, which can be trained in mere hours if you can already use tech two scout drones.
^ This skill is a requirement for Shield Transporters and Shield Maintenance Bots and is covered in the Repair skills section.

Further training

Once you have the recommended skills, it's time to consider what else to train.

In the time it takes to train a skill from IV to V you can usually train up a handful of other skills from I to IV, so as a general rule of thumb we recommend that people train their skills up to IV before starting to max them out. Sometimes you need a skill that requires you to train another skill to V, so it's not always avoidable, but until you have a solid set of skills trained it makes sense to hold off on training skills to V.

Advanced hulls

The step from a battleship to a strategic cruiser or a pirate faction battleship is surprisingly short and you should take this step as soon as possible to get into a really good ship. You might need to top off some of the support skills, pending on what ship you decide to move into, if you run into powergrid, CPU or cap issues.

For strategic cruisers you'll most likely require you to train some support skills to V and of course your racial cruiser of choice to V. Then you just move towards tech two medium weapons for further efficiency. When it comes to pirate faction battleship hulls like the Machariel, Nightmare and Vindicator, which are better in all regards compared to the regular battleships regardless of your skill, you'll need to train anything from a secondary racial shipline to two new racial shiplines and new racial turret skills. Flying ships that cost over a billion in just the hull shouldn't be taken lightly however, but from an efficiency point of view there is no reason not to get one.

Also remember that once you've trained the generic support skills for ships and weapons, crosstraining into a different racial ship or a secondary racial turret doesn't take that long. Same for logistics, once you have the skills to fly one of them, the other is a matter of training up a new racial cruiser skill to V. Being able to fly several ships and roles, like both that of a damage dealer and a logistics, gives you a tremendous amount of flexibility. It also makes you quite desirable among the incursion communities, both within EVE University and beyond, as having pilots capable of switching roles or ships based on what the fleet needs is incredibly useful.

Strategic Cruisers	Pirate Faction Battleships ^[1]	New racial turret	New racial shipline
~ 43 days and 20 hours	~ 24 days and 15 hours	~ 5 days and 5 hours	~ 9 days and 17 hours
Mechanics V Shield Operation III CPU management V Power Grid management V Gunnery V ^[2] Missile Launcher Operation III ^[3] Navigation V <racial> Cruiser V <racial> Strategic Cruiser III <racial> Defensive Systems IV <racial> Electronic Systems V ^[4] <racial> Engineering Systems IV <racial> Offensive Systems V ^[5] <racial> Propulsion Systems IV	<primary> Frigate III <primary> Destroyer III <primary> Cruiser III <primary> Battlecruiser III <primary> Battleship IV <secondary> Frigate III <secondary> Destroyer III <secondary> Cruiser III <secondary> Battlecruiser III <secondary> Battleship IV Small <racial> Turret III Medium <racial> Turret III Large <racial> Turret IV	Small <racial> Turret III Medium <racial> Turret III Large <racial> Turret IV	<racial> Frigate III <racial> Destroyer III <racial> Cruiser III <racial> Battlecruiser III <racial> Battleship IV

^ Assuming the worst possible starter skills, two racial shiplines and new gunnery skills. Most likely you'll end up only needing to train a new racial ship line for your secondary battleship skill.
^ Gunnery V for the Legion, Loki and Proteus, but only Gunnery III for the Tengu. This skill is covered by the recommended skills already.
^ Missile Launcher Operation V for the Tengu and Missile Launcher Operation III for the Loki. Neither the Legion or the Proteus needs this skill trained unless they decide to fit missiles.
^ For the Loki it is very important to get Minmatar Electronic Systems V, since it increases damage projection as well as reduces cap usage of your turrets. Slightly less important for the Legion, but it does increase your scan resolution.
^ For the Legion it is very important to get Amarr Offensive Systems V, since it increases damage projection as well as reduces cap usage of your turrets. For the Loki it is a straight up damage projection increase.

Honing your skills

Remember that the recommended skills are just the beginning and there is much room for improvement. Increase these skills, train up for tech two weaponry and max out the gunnery and support skills, and your ship will be much more efficient. You'll also have many more options to improve your fit with better fitting and support skills, like upgrading a module, drop an excessive tank module for more utility modules and so forth.

What you're going to train next differs a little bit based on what ship and what weapons you're going to use. For some fitting skills will be prioritized due to the lack of CPU or powergrid of their hull, for others capacitor skills are more important while others can simply go straight for better ship skills and tech two weaponry.

Once you start training skills to V it might be a good time to start doing some serious skillplanning and consider neural remaps and better attribute implants. While restrictive, a good neural remap and attribute upgrades can lower the training time significantly.

Support skills	Gunnery skills	Ship skills	Drone skills
Prioritize which skills to train first, some are more important than others, so do your research.
Cybernetics V ^[1] CPU management V Power Grid management V Mechanics V Capacitor Management V Capacitor Systems Operation V Shield Upgrades V Target Management V Advanced Target Management III Long Range Targeting V Jury Rigging IV ^[2] Shield Rigging IV Shield Emission Systems V Capacitor Emission Systems V ^[3] Sensor Linking V ^[4] EM Shield Compensation V ^[5]	Weapon Upgrades V Advanced Weapon Upgrades V Gunnery V Motion Prediction V Rapid Firing V Sharpshooter V Surgical Strike V Trajectory Analysis V Controlled Bursts V ^[6] Large <racial> Turret V ^[7] Small <racial> Turret V Small <racial> Specialization IV ^[8] Medium <racial> Turret V Medium <racial> Specialization IV ^[8] Large <racial> Specialization IV ^[8] <weapon> Rigging IV	<racial> Battleship V Logistics V <racial> Defensive Systems V <racial> Electronic Systems V <racial> Engineering Systems V <racial> Offensive Systems V <racial> Propulsion Systems V <racial> Strategic Cruiser IV ^[9]	Electronic Warfare IV ^[10] Electronic Warfare Drone Interfacing IV^[11] Drone Interfacing V Combat Drone Operation V Minmatar Drone Specialization IV Repair Drone operation V ^[12] Drone Navigation V Drone Sharpshooting V Drone Durability IV ^[13] Sentry Drones V ^[14] Gallente Drone Specialization IV ^[15] Heavy Drones V ^[15]

^ Cybernetics V is required for the top-tier advanced implants, like the +6% CONCORD-implants.
^ Jury Rigging IV is only needed if it is a requirement for your more generic rigs, like energy grid rigs.
^ Capacitor Emission Systems is only required for ships that use energy transfer modules, like the Guardian and the Basilisk. It's also useful for ships in need of cap chains to remain cap stable, like the Nightmare.
^ Sensor Linking is only required if you can fit the Tracking Link module and only needed at higher skill-levels if you try to fit several faction links at once.
^ Only if you actually use the passive EM Ward Amplifier module.
^ Controlled Bursts is useful for all hybrids and lasers, but useless for projectiles and missiles as they do not utilize cap.
^ Training the large racial turret to V before you start training for tech two small and medium guns allows you to enjoy the extra bonus from having the skill to V while you're training the smaller weapons.
^ ^a ^b ^c Turrets have two different specialization skills, for example projectiles have both autocannons and artillery which are split into two different specialization skills.
^ While it isn't a requirement for anything, it does add longevity to your overheat abilities.
^ Electronic Warfare is required for Electronic Warfare Drone Interfacing.
^ Electronic Warfare Drone Interfacing increases your drone control range by an additional 3 km / skillevel.
^ Repair Drone Operation V is needed for tech two shield maintenance bots.
^ Drone Durability is one of those skills that you might consider twice before training. It's nice to have some studier drones, but ideally they shouldn't be taking damage anyway.
^ If your ship can field sentries, train Sentry Drones V so you can field tech two sentries. Not useful for common fleets, but very useful for specialized fleets.
^ ^a ^b If your ship can field Ogres, train Gallente Drone Specialization IV and Heavy Drones V. While not used in vanguards and assaults, they can be very useful in some headquarter sites and the mothership site.

Miscellaneous skills

While not critical, being able to overheat your modules for a short while is often more than enough to save your ship when things turn from bad to worse. Basic navigation skills are good too, especially a decent level in warp drive skills so you don't cap out in long warps. Having the skills to use the microwarpdrive and cloak trick for safer travel is also handy.

As such, it's also recommended that people train the following skills:

Thermodynamics	Navigation	32px MWD + Cloak trick
~ 5 days and 12 hours	~ 9 days and 17 hours	~ 1 day and 19 hours
Power Grid management V ^[1] Science IV ^[1] Thermodynamics III	Acceleration Control IV ^[2] Afterburner IV ^[2] Evasive Maneuvering IV Fuel Conservation IV ^[2] Navigation IV Warp Drive Operation IV	High Speed Maneuvering III Cloaking III

^ ^a ^b Power Grid management V and Science IV are required to train Thermodynamics (training time assuming you have Power Grid management IV already, as per the recommendations). Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "thermo" defined multiple times with different content
^ ^a ^b ^c Mostly for logistics-pilots, but generally applies to anyone who uses an afterburner.

Crosstraining into armour

While we primarily run shield fleets, most of the skills you use will be reusable for armour fleets as well. It wouldn't take too long to touch up on your armour skills to be able to run armour fleets. For unistas it also gives them great skills to use within the Wormhole Campus, as they run primarily armour fleets.

Damage dealers	Logistics
~ 18 days and 10 hours	~ 46 days and 7 hours
Hull Upgrades V Armor Rigging III EM Armor Compensation IV Explosive Armor Compensation IV Kinetic Armor Compensation IV Thermic Armor Compensation IV Repair Systems II ^[1] Remote Armor Repair Systems III ^[2]	Hull Upgrades V Armor Rigging III EM Armor Compensation IV Explosive Armor Compensation IV Kinetic Armor Compensation IV Thermic Armor Compensation IV Repair Systems II ^[1] Remote Armor Repair Systems IV ^[2] <new racial> Frigate III <new racial> Destroyer III <new racial Cruiser V

^ ^a ^b Mechanics III and Repair Systems II are required to train Remote Armor Repair Systems.
^ ^a ^b Remote Armor Repair Systems III is required to use Armor Maintenance drones.

[1] Target Painting III is only needed if you'll use a Target Painter module.

[2] Hull Upgrades IV is required to fit the Damage Control II module.

[3] Controlled Bursts is useful for all hybrids and lasers, but useless for projectiles and missiles as they do not utilize cap.

[warriors-4] Drones V, Scout Drone Operation V and Minmatar Drone Specialization I is required to use Warrior II and Valkyrie II drones.

[maintenance-5] Drone Durability I, Repair Drone Operation II and Shield Emission System III is required to use Shield Maintenance drones, which can be trained in mere hours if you can already use tech two scout drones.

[6] Energy Grid Upgrades II is required for the reactor controls and power diagnostic modules.

[7] Target Management V is a requirement for Advanced Target Management.

[8] Advanced Target Management III is required to lock up 10 fleet members.

[9] Hull Upgrades IV is required to fit the Damage Control II module.

[emission-10] Capacitor Emission Systems is only required if you fly a Guardian or a Basilisk with energy transfer modules, the Oneiros and the Scimitar does not need this skill.

[links-11] Sensor Linking is only required if you can fit the Tracking Link module and only needed at higher skill-levels if you try to fit several faction links at once.

[logistics-12] Signature Analysis V and Long Range Targeting V is a requirement for the Logistics skill.

[maintenance-13] Drone Durability I, Repair Drone Operation II and Shield Emission System III is required to use Shield Maintenance drones, which can be trained in mere hours if you can already use tech two scout drones.

[14] This skill is a requirement for Shield Transporters and Shield Maintenance Bots and is covered in the Repair skills section.

[15] Assuming the worst possible starter skills, two racial shiplines and new gunnery skills. Most likely you'll end up only needing to train a new racial ship line for your secondary battleship skill.

[16] Gunnery V for the Legion, Loki and Proteus, but only Gunnery III for the Tengu. This skill is covered by the recommended skills already.

[17] Missile Launcher Operation V for the Tengu and Missile Launcher Operation III for the Loki. Neither the Legion or the Proteus needs this skill trained unless they decide to fit missiles.

[18] For the Loki it is very important to get Minmatar Electronic Systems V, since it increases damage projection as well as reduces cap usage of your turrets. Slightly less important for the Legion, but it does increase your scan resolution.

[19] For the Legion it is very important to get Amarr Offensive Systems V, since it increases damage projection as well as reduces cap usage of your turrets. For the Loki it is a straight up damage projection increase.

[20] Cybernetics V is required for the top-tier advanced implants, like the +6% CONCORD-implants.

[21] Jury Rigging IV is only needed if it is a requirement for your more generic rigs, like energy grid rigs.

[emission-22] Capacitor Emission Systems is only required for ships that use energy transfer modules, like the Guardian and the Basilisk. It's also useful for ships in need of cap chains to remain cap stable, like the Nightmare.

[links-23] Sensor Linking is only required if you can fit the Tracking Link module and only needed at higher skill-levels if you try to fit several faction links at once.

[24] Only if you actually use the passive EM Ward Amplifier module.

[25] Controlled Bursts is useful for all hybrids and lasers, but useless for projectiles and missiles as they do not utilize cap.

[26] Training the large racial turret to V before you start training for tech two small and medium guns allows you to enjoy the extra bonus from having the skill to V while you're training the smaller weapons.

[specs-27] Turrets have two different specialization skills, for example projectiles have both autocannons and artillery which are split into two different specialization skills.

[28] While it isn't a requirement for anything, it does add longevity to your overheat abilities.

[29] Electronic Warfare is required for Electronic Warfare Drone Interfacing.

[30] Electronic Warfare Drone Interfacing increases your drone control range by an additional 3 km / skillevel.

[31] Repair Drone Operation V is needed for tech two shield maintenance bots.

[32] Drone Durability is one of those skills that you might consider twice before training. It's nice to have some studier drones, but ideally they shouldn't be taking damage anyway.

[33] If your ship can field sentries, train Sentry Drones V so you can field tech two sentries. Not useful for common fleets, but very useful for specialized fleets.

[ogres-34] If your ship can field Ogres, train Gallente Drone Specialization IV and Heavy Drones V. While not used in vanguards and assaults, they can be very useful in some headquarter sites and the mothership site.

[thermo-35] Power Grid management V and Science IV are required to train Thermodynamics (training time assuming you have Power Grid management IV already, as per the recommendations). Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "thermo" defined multiple times with different content

[ab-36] Mostly for logistics-pilots, but generally applies to anyone who uses an afterburner.

[remote-37] Mechanics III and Repair Systems II are required to train Remote Armor Repair Systems.

[armour_bots-38] Remote Armor Repair Systems III is required to use Armor Maintenance drones.

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Preparing for Incursions

Contents

Planning ahead

Recommended skills

Damage dealers

Logistics

Further training

Advanced hulls

Honing your skills

Miscellaneous skills

Crosstraining into armour

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