Jumping into any new game can be quite the challenge, but it is a little bit
true that EVE Online takes challenge very seriously. Should new gamers shy
away from such a game? Nah! Just grab any ole newbie guide (this one
should do just fine) and get a little reading in before taking off into the big
world of New Eden.
Getting in Game
If you haven't already, give our
Guide to the
Races a read. This will give you some tips that will get you through
character creation. It's generally better to do a little research on what
you'd like to play and then create your character than just jumping in blindly.
Deleting a character isn't instantaneous and this is not a game that is very
alt character friendly. Once you've made your choices and get logged in, you are
ready to get to know this exciting new world!
The very first thing you see when you log in is your home space station.
This place has everything you could possible need so you might want to make note
of where you are. The next thing you might notice is some chickie talking
at you. This is your Aura your tutorial guide and you will want
to make good use of her by doing every single thing she says. Unlike other
games where the tutorial can be ran through in a matter of hours, I found myself
relying on Aura and re-opening the Help screen repeatedly over my first month of
playing. Luckily she is always there if you need her, so if you
inadvertently close the tutorial, you can always open it back up by clicking the
"help" tab on the side bar in game and choosing the "tutorial" tab. From
here you can either pick and choose topics ranging from beginning to advanced or
you can choose "Beginner Tutorials" and then "Aura: Tutorial" to restart the
walk through. Do the walk through. I promise you will be very glad
you did.
Another life saver is your chat box. Here you'll see a "Rookie Help"
tab and I suggest keeping it on that tab just to watch some of the chat spam.
Good questions are asked in there, and there is always someone around to answer
them. Don't hesitate to ask your own questions no matter how big or small.
This channel is specifically there to assist the new player and it will only be
available for your first 30 days.
Space Station: Your Home
There are stations all over the universe and each will have various features
that are available to you. The one you start in will depend on your
character choices, but the key elements of the stations are about the same.
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Just about everything you need can be found on a
space station.
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Items - What you store in one space station under your "Items"
tab doesn't carry over to another. You can see in your "Assets"
tab what you have and where it is at but it's likely a good idea not to spread too much around until you know
your way around the universe a bit better. -
Station Services - This is the stuff that you can only do on stations and
you'll find that not all stations have all services! The big ones to note
right off the bat are the Repairshop, the Market, and Fitting. Fix what
you have, buy new stuff, and put it on your ship all in one nifty location! -
Agents - These are the guys that give you stuff to do and pay you to do
it. The very first thing I learned about them is they are easily snubbed.
Don't take a mission from an agent unless you intend to complete it. Once
a mission is offered to you, you have a certain amount of time to accept or deny
it. Deny too many or fail to complete missions and an agent will no longer
work with you. Don't worry, if you tick one off accidentally, there are
always more agents at other stations that will give you work. -
Ships - Aw yeah. This is where you store your babies and you'll
eventually find out that building ships and changing them out can be downright
addictive. I'm sporting a pretty hefty habit myself right now! The
"Ships" tab will open up a window that will show you what you have and allow you
to switch between ships. You start out with a very flimsy rig but no
worries, you'll soon have enough cash to get a small upgrade. -
Character Sheet - All the vital information regarding your character!
Here you will find your skills, attributes, and other interesting little
tidbits.
Take some time to look at all your windows while you are docked. Get to
know your station and if you are unsure of what something is for, click it to
bring up the window and there will be a help option that will explain it.
Your Ship
This is essentially your character. You will build its stats, equip it,
and use it to battle the bad guys just like you would with any avatar. The
"Fitting" tab is how you equip your current ship and you'll notice your newbie
ship has a gun and a miner which are activated by your F1 and F2 keys (or by
clicking on them when you want to blow stuff up). You can add bigger and
better guns (read the info on what you pick out, some will need ammo!).
Shield accessories can be fitted and you get these as drops early on (find the
shield booster in your items and right click to fit to current ship) and are
useful during combat to give you some added protection.
While docked you can use your fittings, add items into your cargo bay, change
out ships and deal in most of your ship needs. Undocked it's all about
getting where you need to go and killing what you need to kill. The bottom
middle of your screen you will see a big circle with buttons to the left and
guns (modules) to the right and these are your spaceship controls and "health
bars".
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Your ship is, for all purposes, your character!
The middle ring is basic ship information. On the bottom of the ring
you'll see a speedometer. One small arrow will make the ship go, the other
will make it slow down or stop. I personally don't use those as I choose
to point and click where I want to go, but it is a little helpful when you want
to make small controlled movements to pick up cargo loot.
The middle of the ring shows your capacitor status and heat status.
Certain things eat up your power such as your shield booster. Once it is
used up, it'll take a bit of time to completely recharge.
The top of the ring shows the status of your ship's defenses. The
outermost gauge is your shield. This recharges on its own when you aren't
being blasted at and is your first line of defense. Taking too much damage
to your shield will end up causing you to take more serious damage to your
armor. Boosters and other shield add-ons help your shield take damage
without injuring your ship.
The middle gauge is your ship's armor. This does not recharge on its
own and if you take damage here, you'll have to have it repaired or repair it
yourself if you have that skill. Too much damage to your armor puts your
ship's structure at risk and this is where things really start to go bad.
The innermost gauge shows your structure and once your shield, armor, and
structure are in the red you will blow up.
The buttons you will need to worry about early on are your cargo and the
auto-pilot. The cargo is your inventory where all your stuff goes.
When you loot another ship that you have destroyed, you can drag and drop it
right onto the cargo button and it'll go where it needs to. To see what
you've picked up, just click the cargo button.
The auto-pilot is a bit of awesomeness that allows for you to travel without
having to know the way. For example, if you have a mission in another
system, you can open your journal, right click on your location destination and
"set destination". Hit the auto-pilot button and your ship will make the
needed warp travels and jumps to get you to the appropriate system. After
that you only need to warp to your location. Don't make a habit of
traveling AFK though as there are bad things out in the black and they will get
you if you aren't paying attention!
Death
Speaking of blowing up. Death happens and it happens often. As
your ship and skills grow, you'll die less mostly just because losing a ship can
get expensive and you learn a bit better what you can take on and what you
cannot.
The first time you get shot to bits can be a bit startling though. When
your ship explodes you will find yourself in a little pod. Don't panic!
Warp your rear to the nearest space station quickly to switch out your pod for a
ship! Your newbie ship is insured so you will get a replacement (read your
mail after your death for more info). After you upgrade your ship you'll
want to consider insuring it so that you can recoup some of your costs but early
on I suggest you keep the ships cheap and basic with only a few needed fittings
so you aren't tossing all your ISK out the window. Frigates with a couple
of guns and shield boosters will do the trick for most of your early missions.
You can be killed in your pod. Pod death is much more severe than just
getting your ship destroyed and also unlikely to happen in your early days.
After training in skills you'll want to clone so that you don't lose those skill
from a pod death. EVE's death penalty is pretty harsh but somewhat
avoidable if you keep your clone up-to-date and choose a good quality clone so
that you may keep a some or most of your skills.
Most importantly, take your time and read through everything in game and out. EVE
Online provides a lot of valuable information in game and while sometimes it can
be overwhelming, just remember that with time you'll slowly absorb it all.
This guide will help you get started, but be sure to check back with
Ten Ton Hammer
for more comprehensive and advanced guides in the future!
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our EVE Online Game Page.
