Starting Out

Well, here you are.  You are the proud owner of a Rookie ship and you are faced with the sheer massiveness which is EVE-Online.

What to do first?

First and foremost. Finish the in-game tutorials. It will teach you about the EVE Universe and how to maneuver within, including how the user interface is operated.

If you've finished the in-game tutorial, you may now read on....

What is EVE

The EVE Universe is a content rich environment, which while created by CCP, is mainly shaped by the actions of all the pilots within. Every action taken by each and every player has an effect on the virtual reality within EVE. It's truly amazing. Obviously, some actions may affect you directly, whereas most will have in indirect effect on your new life.

The EVE Universe is made up of literally hundreds and hundreds of star systems. Each star system is accessible through 'Jumpgates'. You will have encountered these in the in-game tutorial. Some of these systems you may never visit. Each system has been assigned what is called a security rating, or status. This ranges from 0.0 to 1.0, where 1.0 is the safest, and 0.0 is the least safe. In 1.0 you are protected from aggressors by 'Concord'. Concord is an NPC organization much like the police in the real world. Their job is to patrol systems and protect Empire assets and the pilots within. In 0.5 and above, should you be attacked anywhere in space, Concord vessels will warp to your location to come to your rescue and will destroy whomever is attacking you.

In systems rated 0.4 down to 0.1, Concord are absent. The only security features are near stations and jumpgates in the form of sentry guns. These sentry guns will fire on any aggressor within the range of the gate or station. However, no Concord vessels will come to your rescue. Your aggressor may be able to 'tank' the sentry guns, and survive long enough to destroy you and warp out. So be careful in systems rated 0.4 to 0.1.

The exception to the above rules concerning 1.0 to 0.1 space is the war system. Corporations may declare war on each other, 24 hours after which all involved parties may engage each other in combat without fear of Concord intervention.

0.0 is the Eve Universe equivalent of the Wild West. There are no police to come to your rescue, and no laws with which you must abide. You are free to shoot who you please, and they are free to shoot you right back. 0.0 is a very dangerous place, and I strongly recommend you not visiting there in the early game.

There are all kinds of different careers that you may pursue and all kinds of corporations you can join. You are not limited to the NPC corporation that you start your life in, and in many ways, joining a player run corporation will leapfrog you towards your goals. Provided that is, that you have joined the right corporation.  Some corporations are pirate oriented, and on the other end of the scale are the anti-pirate corporations, like Universal Army. In between you have industrial corporations. Some that are dedicated miners, or dedicated manufacturing corps, but all corporations will have an element of combat in them, and all may be run differently. Some are freelance based, where you are left to your own devices, others are more strict and place demands on their pilots.

Choose wisely.

Whooooo are you?  Who who!  Who who...!

When you were creating your character, you probably had thoughts of being a mean, fierce bounty hunter, ridding the galaxy of pirating scum, or maybe you had your sights set on becoming the richest pilot in all the universe through entrepreneurial enterprise and superior trade skills.  Well, I've got news for you, neither of these goals are easily attained.

The good news however, is that you can be all of these things and more.  There is no limit on the skills you can learn in EVE.  A choice to be a Miner now, does not have an effect in the long term on a change of career.  Your character can be a 'Jack-of-all-trades' or you can specialize in one thing only.  It's entirely up to you, and I guarantee, at some point, you will change your path.

For more information on skills and how they work, visit Beginner's Guide to Skills. This is a very useful document that will assist you in training your character efficiently.  I recommend reading it.

Now What

So, you've completed the in-game tutorial, now what...

There are many things you can do in EVE.  You can become an industrialist, a miner, engage in manufacturing, research, etc... The list goes on.  Or you can concentrate on your combat skills and you can seek out agents and carry out 'missions' for them, or enter the realm of PVP, to name but a few.

Personally, I feel that your best option, considering your early stage skills, is to start your early game as a miner, and punctuate your activities with agent missions.

There is money to be made in mining, and you can't survive in this game without ISK.  Mining is a recommended first career within EVE.

The Miner

Whatever race you are, there is an optimal ship in each class to use for mining.  For example, in the Frigate class of vessels, Gallente pilots should acquire an IMICUS frigate.  The Imicus frigate is slow but hard-shelled bulk-freight frigate, ideal for any type of cargo hauling operations. It is often used by merchants and miners.  It has a relatively large hold considering the size of the ship, and you need this when starting out, so as to be able to carry the ore you have mined back to the station.  When you can pilot a Cruiser, give the Thorax a go.  It's an excellent mining Cruiser.

If you are a different race, pay attention to the bonuses listed in the description of the ship in the 'show info' dialog.  Pick a ship based on what you are actually going to use the ship for.  The bonuses will make a world of difference.

Fit the ship with two of the best mining lasers you can use.  Your skills in 'Mining' will dictate this, and if you are planning on being a Miner for some time, it is highly recommended that you reach Mining level 4 so that you can use Miner II lasers.If you enjoy the mining career then you will want to attain the skills in order to pilot a Mining Barge and use strip mining lasers.

Find a belt that is in relative safety.  I recommend choosing a system that has a security status of at least 0.7.  Agha is a good choice, and if you still have problems with the NPC 'Rats' that spawn in the belts, move up to a system called 'Yuzier'.  Yuzier has a security status of 0.9, which means you are unlikely to encounter Rats there, and Concord will protect you from Pirates. Serad is a 0.5 system that has some nicer ore to mine, for example Kernite. It is the rule of thumb that the lower the security status of the system, the more valuable the ore.

When you get to the belt, target an asteroid and then, making sure you are within range, activate your mining lasers.  The lasers will continue to mine the asteroid until either the asteroid has been depleted, or your hold becomes full.  Moving out of range will also cause your miners to stop.

Once your hold is full, ferry the ore back to the station, and then return to the belt with a fresh empty hold.  Target an asteroid again, and repeat the above step.  Keep doing this for as long as you please.

This is obviously a lengthy and tiresome process.  Ideally you will want to mine in a gang, with other pilots, including a pilot with an Industrial class vessel to haul the ore.  For more information on mining in gangs, see Beginner's Guide to Gang Mining

Alternatively you may learn the skills to fly a hauler yourself.  If you do have both a mining vessel and a hauling vessel, then you are advised to mine into a can with your miner, then ferry your yield back to the station with your hauler.

To do this, first start mining as normal, then when you have some ore in your hold, right click it and select 'jettison'.  This will take the ore from your hold and place it into a can in space.  This can is not secure, and anybody can take your ore from it.  Remember that when there may be unscrupulous ore thieves around!

Now that you have a can in space with some ore in it, make sure you stay within 1500m of that can, and keep it open on your screen along side your hold.  As your hold is filled by your mining lasers, continue to 'drag' the ore from your hold to the can, until the can contains as much as your hauler can carry.  Once you have reached this point, cease mining and fetch your hauler to ferry your ore back to the station.

As a newer pilot, your are unlikely to have the skills to refine the ore into minerals efficiently.  Therefore it is suggested that you investigate selling the ore on the market as it is, or if you are fortunate you may have a colleague in your corporation who can refine it for you.  Once your mining skills are up, you can then work on your refining skills and you will be able to refine your yield yourself.  But one thing at a time.

Of course, mining isn't for everyone. Some find it outright boring and might choose a little spicier way of life...

Running Missions

The EVE Universe incorporates an agent system with 20 NPC Factions and 170 NPC corporations containing over 5,600 NPC agents to interact with within its 33 regions.  That's a lot of agents!

The burning question is, which one do I choose!  It's a question that has no right or wrong answer.  But there are some guidelines to follow when choosing agents.

Your ability to interact with an agent is based on your standings with the agent or the NPC corporation the agent belongs to.  your standing is influenced by the number of missions you have successfully completed with the agent, or with the agents NPC corporation, and also by your social skills.  If you plan to be a serious agent runner, then you should invest in 'Social', 'Connections', 'Fast talk', and later on, 'High Tech Connections'. (Expensive one that.)  These skills with help raise your standing with the agents.

Agents live in their own tab in the graphical user interface you see when docked.  On the right side of your screen (when docked), you can see information about the station.  The left side of the screen has icons containing information about you.  The right side has icons that allow you to interact with the station.  Look for the three tabs showing the 'Guests', 'Agents', and 'Offices' in the station.

Switch to the Agents tab and you will see either Agents 'AVAILABLE TO YOU' or 'NOT AVAILABLE TO YOU', or a combination of both.  Not surprisingly, those available to you are available to you, and those not available to you are, well you get the picture.

In the image at the beginning of this section you can see the information on two agents, one of which the pilot can interact with (The top one.) and one which the pilot cannot interact with.  The info on the lower of the two agents informs you of what your standing must be before you can use that agent.

The information outlined in those screens also tells you the 'Level', the 'Quality' and the 'Effective Quality' of the agent.

The Level is the level of difficulty.  The higher the Level, the more difficult the missions will be.  In hand with that, a higher standing is required with that agents NPC corporation to use higher Level agents.  Notwithstanding skills, it is typical for a pilot to complete many missions with a Level 1 agent before reaching a suitable standing to switch to a Level 2 agent, and so on up the levels available.  Currently there are five levels of agent in the EVE Universe.

The Quality indicates the quality of the rewards, the quantity of loyalty points, and the increase in standing received from the agent for successfully completing a mission for them.  The higher the Quality, the higher each of those are.  Ideally you want to use the highest quality your standing will allow.  Higher quality agents require a higher standing towards their NPC corporation before you can interact with them.

The Effective Quality is very similar to the Quality, except that your skills are factored in.  This is the true quality of the agent from your perspective.

Loyalty points are awarded alongside a cash reward.

As previously stated, there is not a huge difference between choosing one NPC corporation over another when it comes to running missions.  Regionally, they are very similar, however it is wise to choose an npc corporation that resides near your corp.  For example, Universal Army highly recommends running agents with 'Ammatar Fleet'.

Your life with Universal Army

Your life within Universal Army can be as diverse or as specialised as you deem necessary. Universal Army is a loose 'collective' of pilots with a similar outlook on life. We are a gathering of some 40 or so pilots with a wide range of skill points. We range from those who have recently passed there initial flight tests to those with over 60 million skill points.

Universal Army has prospered over the years by the mere virtue of people helping people. From the top down to the bottom and right back up to the top again, each pilot within UARM has had a hand in at least one other pilots success, be it from answering a simple question, to assisting him or her with hauling or refining, or maybe taking down that difficult battleship on a level 4 mission.

We are very fortunate to have one of the best CEOs in the game, and his lieutenants are second to none. More often than not you will find them sacrificing precious time to help out fellow corp mates complete their goals, in addition to their existing duties that comes with their position. But as has been alluded to, the flow of information within Universal Army travels in all directions. Down, up, and most defintely across.

There are many corporations in existence in this huge universe. Some have been around since the start, although not many. Many corporations start with all the best laid plans, only to fail very quickly and disappear. Universal Army has been making a name in Eve for almost four years and I think I can confidently say that we owe our success to two primary fortunes:

• Management

• Each other.

Your career path in your new life is entirely up to you. Universal Army will back you in any adventure you undertake, so long as it is within its powers to do so. Of course, we draw the line at piracy, and any pilot caught pirating will be expelled from the corp and summarily executed or placed on the corporations 'Kill-on-Sight' list, depending on the merits of the case. We do have a Code of Conduct and I recommend having a read at your earliest convenience.

Universal Army places no demands on its pilots. We do not insist that you mine X hours a week or haul Y minerals per month. What you do with your time is up to you. If, however, you decide that you do wish to get involved in corporation activities and help out, please come forward. No matter what your skill level or previous experience there is likely to be a task for you. View this as a good opportunity for you to learn from the corporation and for the corporation to have yet another set of eyes to view things through.

Your involvement is beneficial to everyone.

The Future of Universal Army

Universal Army is a corporation in its fourth year in the Eve Universe.  There is very little that our collective experiences haven't seen, but there is always room for improvement, always.

With many active pilots across several time zones, there is almost always a Universal Army presence in Eve.

We have ambitious goals, and working together we are confident that we will attain those goals.  Eve is an ever changing environment.  New features and new pilots mean that even the best managed corporation is constantly reacting to change.  This adds some instability to life in Eve, but not an amount that is unmanageable.  The key to success is to analyze, adapt, and overcome that change.

Eve is not a real world.  I know, shock horror, where are my blue pills?!   We don't wake up in the morning, drive for twenty minutes to Dysa and spend 8 hours 'working' as if this were our real life careers.  Adaptive organization is the key to continuing success, and this involves the time of a great many pilots.

At this time, UARM is neck deep in industrial projects, based in a 0.2 system in the region of Derelik.  Let's take a look at that sentence...

'Neck deep':  Yup, we have bitten off a very large mouthful of industrial pie, there's no doubt about that, and even though my jaws are aching, it is working, and we have grown to become an ogranization boasting over 125 billion isk in assets.

'0.2 system':  Operating a PVP corporation in a 0.2 system can sometimes be tricky.  Consider the effort required to maintain an industrial corporation in the same system...  uh-huh, I hear ya.   It is possible though, and UARM's sister corporation is the proof of this.  It takes time, effort, and most of all, the sense of possibilities.  Universal Army management has guided this corporation through very tough times, combating some very notorious low lives.  Sure, we've lost assets, but at the end of the day, we always remain victorious, no matter the cost.

'The region of Derelik':  Derelik is pretty famous for attracting people who are, shall we say, unlikely to be labeled 'pillars of the community', but still, these unsavourables have been unable to drive UARM out of the region, despite many attempts.  Moreover, the frequency of attempts has reduced, notwithstanding the odd spike here and there, considerably since our arrival here almost three years ago.   Corporations have come and gone, but UARM stands fast.

So, the future...  what's next?

Universal Army will continue to expand its industrial projects, its ISK making machinery, but more and more we will need the assistance of our pilots to maintain these projects.  Management will be looking to shuffle the ranks of UARM, and to increase the opportunities for more pilots to 'get involved'.   As always, we do not expect pilots to work 'for free' and a payroll incentive is in place to reward your efforts.

The Freighter project has recently received a boost in capital, and Universal Army is now capable of building Freighters of all races, the Archon and Thanatos Carriers, and the Phoneix Dreadnought.  Freighter pilots are no longer needed to transfer these vessels to the market, as production now takes place within a sister corporation in high sec..

In addition to our capital programs, Universal Army is also managing a POS network of 7 POSes, and producting 5 Tech II modules.

As far as your future in Universal Army stands...  Well, that is up to you.  Your destiny is in your hands, and only you can decide what you will do with that gift.