EVE Online at Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMOG Gamers to the Next Level!

EVE Online has the most vibrant economy in the MMO world, with selling, buying, and market competition reaching heights unheard of in other games. But which skills to train in order to best make use of the market? This guide explains the various trading-related skills found in EVE Online.

Sadly, the skills in the trading category are often neglected by new players, who perhaps rightly prefer to focus on gaining access to new ships and weaponry. That's a good way to keep yourself interested in EVE Online, but there is little point to being able to fly a Myrmidon if you cannot afford to buy one. If using the market and becoming rich in EVE appeals to you, these skills are for you.

Basic Market Skills

These skills allow effective use of the market. They are very handy for most EVE players, and must-haves for EVE trading aficionados.

Trade

Each level of trading allows you to have an additional four outstanding market orders.

This is the skill where it all begins. Two levels of this will let you train Retail, which gives far more orders per skill level, but dedicated traders will want to take this to four so that you can train Accounting and Daytrading, or even level five, in order to get the maximum number of market orders possible.

Even the most anti-trading EVE players will probably want to get a couple levels of this, for setting up the occasional buy and sell orders. It just makes everything in EVE so much easier when you can make market buy offers rather than having to always pay whatever price the sell orders are at.

Contracting

Each level of Contracting increases the number of outstanding contracts you may have by four.

Contracts are an elite market tool, used for researched blueprints, blueprint copies, faction modules, and package deals. Some products are only found on contracts, while others can be found there at cut rates. Every EVE player should have at least a couple levels trained in contracting, just to make their EVE life easier. Contracts are one of the best ways to move goods between two characters you own, if having them both be online to do a direct trade is impractical. It is also helpful for paying other people to move goods: courier contracts make managing a multi-region trading empire far more feasible than it would be, otherwise.

I train a few levels of contracting on every character I own, even PvP characters. Being able to sell fitted ships in stations I no longer have access to is handy, as it "want to buy" contracts for faction goods (like Zor's implants, for example). Training at least a level or two of contracting will probe endlessly helpful, even to newbies. Note, however, that you do not need to train contracting to accept other peoples' sell contracts or courier contracts, and also that every character may have a single outstanding contract, even without training this skill.