Difference between revisions of "Rookie FAQ"

Revision as of 12:37, 2 August 2009

Common questions gathered from Rookie Help channel, answered here!

Ship Fitting

How do I increase my ship's powergrid?

[[Rookie Help Channel FAQ#Ships and Modules (fitting)]

How do I increase my ship's CPU?

The best method is to study the electronics skill, which will increase the CPU of every ship you fly by 5%. You can also fit a co-processor.

How do I increase the cargohold capacity of my ship?

For certain ships, like industrials, simply increasing your piloting skill (e.g. Amarr Industrial) will increase your cargohold size. You can also install Expanded Cargohold modules in your lo-slots or, for richer players, Cargohold Optimization rigs. Finally, if you have over 3,000m3 of cargohold size, consider keeping a Giant Secure Container in your cargohold: they are 3,000m3 in size, but they will hold 3,900m3. This is a 30% increase when carrying small items, but don't do it if you want to carry items larger than 3,900m3. Of course, if you're only working from one station, then you can simply drop the GSCs off when you need the full space, and then pick them up later.

What are hardpoints?

A hardpoint is a location where a weapon may be placed. It is more specific than a 'slot'. Your ship may have both turret hardpoints or launcher hardpoints:

• When you mount a turret, you need both a free hi-slot and a free turret hardpoint
• When you mount a missile or rocket launcher, you need both a free hi-slot and a free launcher hardpoint.

There are also "upgrade hardpoints", which limit the total number of rigs you can mount. Rigs can be found in the market under the category 'Ship Modifications'.

What are calibration points?

Calibration points are consumed by rigs, much like powergrid and CPU are consumed by modules. Calibration points limit the number/type of rigs that can be installed. Each rig you install uses one 'upgrade hardpoint' and a number of calibration points determined by the rig.

How do I use drones?

See the Drones for details.

How do I increase my drone hold size?

You can't. Buy a ship with a bigger drone hold. The only exception to this is with the Gallente Ishtar. Its drone bay increases in size as your Heavy Assault Ships skill increases.

Merlin or Kestrel?

I don't know why these ships are constantly compared, but this is one of the most common questions on Rookie chat. Both are excellent ships:

• The Merlin is an excellent defensive frigate that supports two launchers and two turrets (normally missiles and railguns). It has a great tank, and is very versatile, but does less damage overall than the kestrel. It may be slightly more difficult to learn to use well because of the mixed weapon types.
• The Kestrel is a great platform for missiles and rockets, and is typically used with four missile launchers. It does more damage than the Merlin, but has a weaker tank. It's easier to understand the weapons (because they are all the same), but you must be more careful about taking damage.

What's a good setup for (ship type)?

Try some of these ship setup indexes:

• The Eve Forum Ship Setup Index
• Scraphead Challenge PVP Setups
• Scraphead Challenge PVE Setups
• Battleclinic loadouts forum

Missions and Agents

How do I find a new agent?

There are lots of ways to find agents:

• Try opening the star map (F10), then choosing Display Settings>Color Stars By>My Information: My Available Agents
• Read the excellent Missions Guide, especially the section on Agents
• There is a video tutorial for finding new agents available here.
• You may also wish to review the Eve Agents website.
• For a tutorial document, check this website.

How much standing do I need for a level 1/2/3/4 agent?

If you right-click the agent and choose 'show info', you can check the attributes tab for that agent. Required standing will be listed. For details, see the Missions Guide

What type of ship do I need for a level 1/2/3/4 mission?

There are a lot of details that affect this decision, but as a rule of thumb:

I'm stuck on a mission and need help

If it's a combat mission, you may be able to learn some details about your mission from the Kill Mission Survival Guide. If you feel like you need help, consider asking for help in local channel first. If no luck there, ask for help in the Help or Rookie Help channel.

How do I get to the deadspace complex (in the tutorial mission)?

1. Check the mission details to see what system the deadspace complex is in. Travel to that system (if necessary) by using stargates and/or the autopilot. Once in the correct system, right-click in open space and at the bottom of the menu, below Agent Missions:, you will see a menu item for your mission. A submenu will include an option to warp to the complex gate.
2. Another method is to close and re-open the tutorial. If you are in the correct system, you will be prompted if you want to warp to the complex.
3. Also, check out this FAQ
4. Finally, the following is from an in-game helpful bio:

If you're here, you probably need to get back to the Deadspace Tutorial Complex to continue the tutorial. Just follow the instructions below:

When you are sure you're in the right system, view the left sidebar, the Neocom. Near the bottom, you will see a button that says Tutorials, with a picture of a white face. A new window should appear with a list of tutorials. Click on the first option, Aura : Tutorial. When the tutorial window appears, you will automatically be warped to the Deadspace Tutorial Complex. You should now be at the tutorial area.

What does agent quality mean?

All mission agents (except for storyline agents) have a quality between -20 and +20. Quality has no impact on the mission difficulty, but greatly affects the reward that the agent offers you: standing gain, isk, and loyalty points are all increased in a high-quality agent. For more detailed information, see the Missions Guide

Is salvage profitable?

Mission running can be very profitable, and salvage significantly increases that profitability. The small investment of time and isk (to learn the required skills and buy salvaging equipment) is quickly repaid if you do much mission running. Mission profits will include bounties, mission rewards, time reward bonuses, loot and salvage. What you salvage (most broken ship parts) won't initially seem to be of much use. You can sell it (but make sure you get a fair price), or you can store it up until you move into the production of rigs (see above) -- you will find that most rigs are composed of the salvaged parts you have been storing up.

For details, see the Salvaging Guide

How do I salvage?

You need a ship with one or more hi-slots, a Salvager I module, the skill to use the module and a wreck. Navigate to within 5km of the wreck, lock it and activate the salvager. Wait.

Tractor beams are not required to salvage, but they can speed the process by pulling wrecks within salvager range. Destroyers make popular dedicated salvage ships because they can fit up to 8 tractors/salvagers and are fast.

For details, see the Salvaging Guide

What are loyalty points for?

See Loyalty points and loyalty points store.

The Market

Why are some buy orders green?

Buy orders are colored green when their range extends to your current location. That means that you could sell into that order from your current location.

Warping

How can I Warp faster?

• Make sure you are not using the autopilot. It exits warp 15km from the Stargate, which slows you down a LOT. Manually warping, via a "warp to 0 meters" command, is much faster.
• You can invest in a ship with a faster warp drive.
• There are Hyperspatial rigs, which will increase your Warp velocity. They require the appropriate Skills and cost a considerable amount of ISK. Rigs of any kind generally aren't worth their expense unless you plan on keeping your ship intact, and in-use, for a very long time.

I want to warp manually, but it takes a long time to find the right Stargate!

To make this easier, set the destination in the EVE map (F10) as you would for autopilot.

Once you've done that, look for the yellow marked Stargate on either the Overview, or in your field of view. Warp to each one in turn using your click method of choice.

Alternatively, you can memorize the names of each place you must travel to. This is only really feasible if you travel through the same places a lot.

Can I set the Autopilot to Warp to 0 Meters?

No. (Remember that warping manually is much faster - see the answer above for more details). However, there are some kludgy workarounds that might help you achieve faster travel while using the autopilot:

Why does my ship stop in the middle of a warp?

Usually this is because your ship made a warp with insufficient Capacitor to go the entire distance. This is typically only a problem for frigates (or ships fitted with a MWD), so many people just put up with it until they get a bigger ship.

You can upgrade to a ship with a bigger capacitor, install modules that boost your Cap, or study Warp Drive Operation.

Interaction with other characters

How do I send isk to another character?

Several options exist:

• If neither character is on a trial account, one can right-click the other's icon (in People & Places or anywhere else) and select Send Money.
• If neither character is on a trial account, either can setup an item exchange contract which includes isk.
• Regardless of whether characters are on trial accounts, they can simultaneously dock in the same station and trade with each other (by right-clicking the other character in the Guests panel
• If two trial account characters cannot dock in the same station simultaneously (e.g. they are on the same account), they can exchange isk by trying to sell an uncommon item at a ludicrously high price, and then have the other character buy it. Note that this is dangerous: if you are being undersold by another player at the same station, they will get your isk - not the character you intended!

What actions cause me to get flagged as a criminal?

See the CCP article on The Criminal Flagging System. It's also worth reading the article on stealing.

What is an aggression countdown?

If means that you performed a hostile act against another player (or, often an NPC faction like Blood Raiders), and that they have the right to kill you without Concord interference. You can hover your mouse over the countdown to find out who you have victimized.

For details, see Aggression Timer

Mining

What's a good mining ship?

For newbies

There are a thousand different factors that influence this, but here are some rules of thumb:

• Many players start with their race's mining frigate:
  • Caldari Bantam
  • Gallente Navitas
  • Minmatar Probe
  • Amarr Tormentor
• If you plan on jetcan hauling (and everyone should, really!), you may also want another ship with a much bigger cargo hold for moving your ore from a jetcan to a refinery. Although many options exist, an industrial ship is an excellent choice and can be used for many other activities: (courier missions, courier contracts, trading and group mining)

Next steps

Caldari pilots will usually move to an Osprey after they get the skills. Similarly, Minmatar have the Scythe. Amarr and Gallente pilots typically move to the small mining barge, the Procurer, although these races have excellent drone mining cruisers.

Common progressions for Caldari include Bantam>Osprey>Rokh>Hulk or Bantam>Osprey>Retriever>Hulk

What is jetcan mining

All serious miners in eve use jetcan mining because it dramatically increases the amount of ore yield for a given period of time. The goal of this process is simple: use a ship optimized for ore extraction when extracting ore, and a ship optimized for hauling when hauling. This process can be done solo, but works even better in a group:

• Choose a ship with mining yield bonuses and support for mining laser upgrades and good miners. Don't worry about cargohold size. Park the ship at a position within an asteroid belt where you can mine from multiple asteroids. Start mining.
• As your cargohold fills up, jettison it into space. This will create a jettison canister capable of containing 27,500m3 of ore. Move additional ore into this canister.
• Repeat this process for up to an hour, then dock your mining ship and return in a hauler to move the ore into a refining station.

When group mining, have one person occasionally haul ore while the other mines full-time. Some notes worth keeping in mind:

• Jettison canisters are not secure, and can be stolen from by ore thieves. If you are mining in an area prone to this activity either move to a less popular system or switch to giant secure containers (which only hold 3,900m3). Look into mission mining as a good alternative to using public asteroid fields.
• Jettison canisters only last for about 90 minutes, then they explode, destroying all their contents. Rename your canisters with the time that they were created to help you remember their age, and empty them every hour to insure you never lose any ore.

What ore should I mine to get a specific mineral?

Grismar's ore chart shows the refining yield from each ore type.

Which ore is better: ore X or ore Y?

Try Grismar's Full Ore Chart, which compares the varieties of each ore, like Condensed, Azure, Silver, etc.

Where can I find a specific ore to mine?

Check this graphic to get an understanding of what ores are present in which areas of space.

What can I do about people stealing my ore?

I know, it's frustrating. But there are lots of things you can do about this:

1. Mine with a friend, and have them haul your ore as you mine it.
2. Mine in a less populated system
3. Use a secure container instead of a jetcan (although you pay a big price in container size this way!)
4. Mine in a private asteroid field by using Mission Mining or Exploration

Which ore is most profitable?

This is a difficult question to answer because it changes frequently and depends on your regional market prices. However, here are a few factors that most rookies overlook:

1. For most players, "more profitable" means that they earn more isk per hour, not that a single unit of ore is more profitable. This is an important distinction which is explained below.
2. Remember that you mine at a constant rate of m3/hour, not a constant rate of units of ore/hour. Different types of ore are different sizes. You will always fill your cargohold in the same amount of time, but with some ores, you get less units.
3. When determining profitability, focus on the on the isk/m3 of ore, not the isk/unit of ore. You can calculate isk/m3 by taking the market price for the ore and dividing it by the size of the ore (as shown in the ore's 'show properties' window)

General rule of thumb/rookie suggestion: As of the writing of this guide (October 2008), Kernite is almost always the most valuable hi-sec ore in nearly every regional market. Veldspar is almost always in the top three. Since veldspar is so plentiful and easy to find, it is a very reasonable mining choice for rookies.

Should I sell or refine?

This decision depends on a lot of factors including several skill levels, your standing, station equipment and most of all, your local market prices. The easiest way to answer this question is just to test it: sell 1000 units of ore and note the price. Then refine 1000 units of ore and sell the minerals. Note and compare the prices. Use whichever method earns the most isk. As you improve your skills and standing, your refining efficiency will increase while your tax rate decreases.

Where can I learn more about mining?

Try The Complete Miner's Guide by Halada, or here for a downloadable PDF: [1]

Corporations

How do I find a corporation to join

Although there is a recruiting channel in-game (click Channels & Mailing Lists and look under corporate), the recruitment forum has far more and far better information.