Getting started in EVE Online can be daunting; CCP’s space MMO is a famously deep game and its players can be (in)famously ruthless. But - as we discovered when we asked Just About EVE Online for their best beginner’s tips - they’re also very helpful. This apparent contradiction is one of the many quirks that makes EVE so special. These hard-bitten veterans shared loads of useful advice for surviving your first week in New Eden as an EVE newbie, which, if you follow, will set you up well to range deeper into New Eden and start making money - check out our EVE Online mining guide and gas huffing guide for that - or even taking the fight to others with our EVE Online PvP tips.
We’ll begin by discussing the best early-game activities to actually pursue - what should you play once your new capsuleer is fresh out of the pod - to the mindsets and basic gameplay fundamentals you should adopt when doing so. Without further ado, read on for real players’ beginners’ tips on surviving your first week in New Eden.
EVE Online: what to do first
Career Agents and the AIR Career Program
“EVE offers an almost infinite number of things to do and ways you can play,” says Wadd Enderas. “Do not try to do it all, especially not from the get-go. Once you're dropped into New Eden, the scale of the universe can be overwhelming, leading a lot of new players to quit either due to decision paralysis or because they've tried to jump into an element of the game that really isn't accessible to them yet.”
Career Agent missions and the newer AIR Career Program are designed to solve exactly this problem, which is why Wadd, FirestormGamingTeam, and Roypedd agree that the first thing you should do once you’ve made your character (choose your name carefully; it can’t be changed) is to complete them all.
What’s the difference? Career Agents hand out fixed, linear missions that teach you about EVE’s core activities, while the AIR Career Program gives you more open-ended, long-term milestones, helping you grow into those activities and see them as professions. Those professions include: explorer (scanning and analysing secrets from the far reaches of space, including wormhole space), industrialist (mining and manufacturing), enforcer (doing PvE combat missions for EVE’s NPC factions), and soldier of fortune (PvP in the lawless regions of space).
Here’s Wadd: “The AIR Career Program is a huge help. Complete all the Career Agent mission paths, reading carefully through all of the descriptions, to learn the mechanics of the game and to discover an element that seems most interesting to you at that stage.”
Hoard your skill points, and then focus them
The AIR Career Program drops skill points (SP) among its rewards. These govern not just your proficiency in different areas of gameplay - like piloting ships, using weapons, mining, and so on - which in turn affects the roles available to you when you play with others in fleets or corps, but they’re actually an unlock requirement to even access certain ships, modules, and activities. You’ll want to hold off on spending them until you’re confident about the areas of the game in which you want to specialise.
Here’s Jaques Ufaltred with a nice hack on this:
“When you start playing, use a referral code for one million free SP. Then, do not claim those skill points. Just let them chill in your redeem queue. Play as an Alpha on a free account for five months or so until you a) know what you’re doing and where you’re going (and if you like the game...), and b) run out of the five million free training SP. Then you can redeem the one million SP towards your chosen goal, and decide from there whether or not to pay subscription or sloooooowly work toward other goals as an Alpha (Alpha, or free, accounts progress much more slowly than Omega, or paid, accounts).”
Once you’ve decided what you’d like to invest your SP into, try to stick with it on one particular character. If you get a little tickle of FOMO as a result of this, don’t worry - you can always create a different account for the other skills. That’s the sound advice of orik Kado, who says, “don’t try to do everything with a single character. At the beginning, you might feel tempted to do industry, PvP, mining, trading, etc. Following that whim would mean levelling up many skills that will make your character have various abilities but ultimately not excel at anything. Try to focus on a few activities first, and then you can start creating other accounts to focus on those other skills.”
Epic Arcs
Epic Arcs are much longer, story-driven mission chains that’ll give you a step up in gameplay challenge and rewards, as well as a taste of EVE lore. FirestormGamingTeam says that once you’re done with the AIR Career Program, you’ll want to play the Sisters of EVE Epic Arc: “Start at System Arnon, SOE (Sisters Of Eve Station) and follow this arc till completion. The end boss is a bit hard sometimes for new players, but there are vets who place alts in the system, logged in, to specifically help you.”
You’ll find exactly that tip among many others in our Sisters of EVE guide to this epic arc, which is one of the most rewarding repeatable activities for any EVE player, not just newcomers.
“After the SOE epic arc is done, focus on exploration,” says FirestormGamingTeam. “This is a very important skill that comes in handy in the PvP arena as well, learning how to scan quickly and effectively.” Roypedd suggests you “visit wormholes, Lowsec, and Nullsec”, which chimes with this tip on the importance of exploring.
Joining your first corporation in EVE Online
Once you’ve completed the onboarding content, explored the universe a bit, and figured out which aspect of the game you enjoy most, Wadd says you should “start pursuing it gently and focus most of your energy on it. Try not to be drawn into every different aspect of the game before you've had a good go at what first drew you in.”
You can afford to invest some SP in this direction now, and a good way to further explore your preferred activities is to “find a corp that it's focused in the career that you like”, says Roypedd (who also says you’re probably well past your first two weeks of play by now, but whatever, let’s be comprehensive). Sturmer adds that “joining a player corporation can be immensely beneficial. More experienced players can offer advice, help, and protection. Corporations also provide a sense of community and shared purpose, which can be very helpful for new players navigating the game's complexities.”
Here’s Wadd on how to approach this:
“EVE is a social game; in my opinion that’s its greatest strength. You don't have to socialise, but find a new-player friendly corporation (there are guides out there) and leave the NPC corps behind. Then engage as much or as little as you'd like with that corporation, but have them on hand to answer any questions or provide any support you require as necessary. Other players in this game can be and want to be a huge help to new players. Let them.”
When it’s time to make money, don’t forget to have fun
Once you’ve learned the ropes and are looking at your first corps, you’ll want to start earning money, which means InterStellar Kredits (ISK). Just remember that all work and no play makes a bored capsuleer. Here’s Orik Kado: “When starting out, try to find one of the many ISK-generating activities that you enjoy. Don't go for the one that generates the most ISK regardless of whether you like it or not, or you'll end up seeing it as a job and eventually stop doing it. EVE is more than ISK. If you find something you enjoy doing, I assure you that you will specialise in it so much that ISK will never be a problem again.”
New-player survival tips
Ok, now you know what you should be doing in your first week - more like a month, really, to do all the above - but how you should be doing it is just as important: EVE Online is a vast, deep MMO which has developed its own norms, both at a technical level and in terms of social conduct. Don’t assume any of it works as it does in other MMOs, let alone the real world.
Luckily, our experts have you covered. The below are miscellaneous yet crucial survival tips on how to fly your ship, work your scanners, and interact with others that’ll minimise your exposure to all kinds of social faux pas and material dangers, from getting swindled by scoundrels in Jita to getting surprised by gankers.
How to develop situational awareness
Spend enough time on Just About - as we hope you will - and you’ll notice a theme in our EVE tips bounties, which is the critical importance of knowing how to read the game. Useful information is everywhere on your UI if you know what to pay attention to. As Sturmer says, “in your first week, it's not just about exploring and completing missions; it's also about constantly being aware of your surroundings and potential threats.” Here’s what constant vigilance looks like in EVE, according to Sturmer:
“Know your location: EVE Online's universe is vast and varied. Some areas are relatively safe, while others are notorious for PvP encounters. Always know where you are and the risks associated with that space. High-security space (Highsec) is safer but not entirely risk-free, whereas low-security (Lowsec) and null-security (Nullsec) spaces are much more dangerous.
“D-Scan is essential: The directional scanner (D-Scan) tool is a critical aspect of EVE gameplay. It allows you to see ships and structures in your vicinity that aren't immediately visible on your overview. Regularly using D-Scan can alert you to potential threats before they become immediate dangers. Consider it as a rear-view mirror in your car.”
Right-click everything
“Information in EVE is everywhere,” says FUN INC, “and if you don't understand something in-game - items, skills, modules, etc - right click is your friend. If in doubt - right click. You can find a plethora of information about EVE by doing exactly this.”
Use local chat… but never trust local chat (especially in Jita)
Another tip from Sturmer is that local chat is your friend: “Pay attention to the local chat channel. It can provide valuable information about who else is in the same area. A sudden increase in the number of players in the local chat could indicate potential danger. Even in Highsec, that could be a 40-man fleet of Catalysts aiming for your friend's Orca.”
Note, however, that monitoring local chat isn’t the same as trusting what people say there. That’s especially true of the local chat in Jita, New Eden’s largest, busiest system and de facto trading hub. Here’s greybill with some important advice to avoid common Jita tricks and traps:
“Nobody is going to double your ISK, no matter how well you read the rules in their bio.
“That contract with the faction module that has a buy-order up for a couple hundred million? If it was legit, the guy would have sold it already, instead of lamenting about a 'fire sale' in local chat.
“Blueprint Copies aren't Blueprints. Know the difference.
“Triple-check that contract with the shiny navy ship. Is it truly the 'navy' version or a T1?
“Trade-window deals are always shady if you don't know the other party.
“Don't click away pop-ups when buying and selling things on the market. You might have forgotten that important digit, changing millions to billions.”
Local chat is a critical tool to understand who’s in your vicinity from their activity. That doesn’t mean you should trust what they say… especially in Jita.
In fact, best not trust anyone for a while
You may have heard that New Eden is a cutthroat place and, well, you heard right. The game is deep enough that there’s abundant potential for treachery, skulduggery, and other flavours of intrigue, and plenty of folks have no qualms getting ahead through underhanded tactics.
“While having connections and making friends is an integral part of the game, you will 100% come across pilots and capsuleers that want to do you more harm than good, even going so far as to try and help you out and befriend you specifically to then betray you,” says Sabrina_Yorkey. “You will want to take a while, even weeks on end, before you fully trust another capsuleer to be your friend. You can still do activities with others, but you should be very cautious, and not put yourself in a vulnerable position.”
Check out these three cautionary EVE Online tales so you don’t repeat others’ mistakes.
Autopilot is not your friend
“Learning how to set destinations so that your route is planned out for you is essential, and something you'll likely do multiple times per day in your EVE career,” says EVEIL. “But don't you touch that autopilot button.
“Sure, your route may be completely in Highsec, but an autopiloting player is an easy gank target, regardless of what you're flying. Autopilot also warps you some distance from the gates, and then slowboats you to within jump range, so not only does it make you a gank target but it also considerably increases journey times. The last thing you want to be doing in your first few weeks is spending all your time travelling. Yawn.
“I rarely use autopilot. My main use case is when I need to travel long distances in Highsec in a worthless shuttle, no cargo. I accept the risk of getting ganked, and set off before doing something more fun in real life. Maybe I come back at the destination, maybe I'm back where I started having been podded. Autopilot is a tool to be used wisely; don't let it ruin your fun per hour.”
To further minimise the risks of a ganking, check out our EVE Online gank-avoidance masterclass.
Don’t fly what you can’t afford to lose...
This tip is a classic that you’ll see repeated in tips guides everywhere, including here on Just About in our EVE Online money management guide. Here’s a fusion of Sabrina and Sturmer on this important point:
“Losing a ship in EVE is permanent, and once you undock from a station, that is taken as consent to PvP, no matter what you’re flying or where you are. If you can’t afford to replace whatever you’re flying exactly - modules and all - then you shouldn't take it anywhere dangerous or even risky, and even Highsec systems throughout New Eden can be at least a bit risky. Manage those risks; stick to less expensive ships until you're more comfortable with the game's mechanics. Don't fly what you can't afford to lose.”
...but don’t be afraid to lose what you can
The corollary from the above point is that, assuming you’re not flying anything you can’t afford to lose, you must be flying something that you can afford to lose, so act like it.
“Losing ships in EVE Online is an essential part of the game, as it keeps the economy of New Eden thriving,” says Sabrina. “Allowing yourself to not get attached to a single ship will allow you to have more fun in the game without losing out on too much.”
You initiate everything
“Lots of great advice here,” says the venerable Rixx Javix of the rest of our tips. “But I want to share something about expectations and a more accurate description of EVE than you might have ever heard before. I share this in various forms with all new players I encounter.
“EVE is a game in which nothing happens. Unless you do it. Do not be daunted by this fact. EVE is one of the largest science-fiction sandboxes ever built and it is just sitting there waiting for you to do something with it. If you choose to just sit there in your hangar all day, EVE will be more than happy to let you do that. It isn't going to do anything for you. You have to do it for yourself. This can be intimidating for many players, but those that understand this fundamental fact are the ones that can excel in this universe. Take charge of your own fate.
“Secondly, EVE has no end goal to achieve. There is no finish line, no end-game, no pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. EVE never ends. It is a stream that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without end. All you can do is jump in and join the flow. As long as you are in it your character is immortal and every action and decision you make will live with you, but it will be just a part of that much, much larger story. This can also be somewhat intimidating for some players, until they realise this actually means you have immense freedom. What you choose to do with that freedom is totally up to you. And that is incredible.
“Everything else is HOW. This is WHY.”
Orik Kado’s final tip was along similar lines: “Patience is the key to everything; this game isn't one of those where you're rewarded in five minutes. Advancing in EVE requires time and dedication, and with enough perseverance, you'll reach the point where something clicks internally, and you start moving like a fish in water. It's basically playing Dark Souls with spaceships, so patience and learning are everything.”
And on that liberating philosophical note, you now understand everything you need - the what, the how, and the why - to dive into your first week in New Eden with energy and confidence. Or do you? Did we miss any other essential advice? Share it in the comments! If there’s any EVE jargon in this guide that went over your head, visit the essential resource: the EVE Online Glossary.
Some text has been edited for brevity, clarity, or spelling, punctuation, and grammar. You can find the original wording here. Image credit: Razorien on Flickr.
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