Four days into my EVE trial and I have a crisp 1,000,000 isk in my wallet. My exuberant joy at such unexpected affluence is tempered somewhat from reading Van Hemlock's blog where he mentions that he earns about 30 million in a single 1.5 hour combat mission. Ah well, wealth in an MMOPRG is always relative.
I am especially pleased that none of my cash to date has come from the boring drudgery of asteroid mining. I hope to avoid mining for the duration of my EVE career if I can. I see myself more as an independent pilot struggling to make enough isk to keep his flying rust bucket in star ship fuel. I've made a few profitable trades but most of my earnings to date come from missions and the bounty on npc pirates that inevitably crop up during them.
Speaking of missions I have already had a fairly rude awakening. I had read that level 1 missions were designed to be completed in a frigate so after breezing through the tutorial and follow on ten part training mission I went off and signed up for my first "proper" level 1 mission - something about killing several waves of Angel pirates. Off I headed to the instance only to find myself sitting in a pod five minutes later wondering where it all went wrong.
The angels come in big bunches ranging from moderate threat level Gislii Thugs to very high threat level Gislii Hunters and Impalers. Attempting to get in close and carve them up with gattling gun fire from my slasher proved suicidal. I switched to a Breacher and tried to hold the angels at a distance while I pounded them with long range missile fire. This approach was a bit more successful but unfortunately they also have missiles and other long range weapons and eventually they wore me down. Finally I hit on the somewhat cowardly tactic of using drones from a Probe frigate to thin them out while I stand off at a safe distance. Those drones are slippery buggers and they generally manage to stay alive long enough to take out a couple of enemy frigates. Once the numbers are thinned sufficiently I can fly in close and mop up the survivors with gattling gun fire. It is fairly slow progress. It takes careful positioning and pulling to keep the numbers manageable and I have had a few close escapes. I also have to make frequenct trips back to base to stock up on drones. Happily the starter drones I am using are cheap and the bounty on the pirates more than covers the cost of drones.
EDIT - Thanks to Van Hemlocks timely advice I am happy to say that I am no longer sacrificing drones with wild abandon. I used his suggested tactics to complete another instance of the mission that caused me so much grief earlier and no drones were harmed in the process. Following VH's advice I let the mobs target me before using my afterburner enhanced speed to stand off at a safe distance while my drones went to work. I also swapped my gatling guns for a canon which allowed me to contribute with potshots from long distance. The trickiest bit is lining up the mobs correctly before a pull to ensure that you don't get pushed into another group while standing off.
I am especially pleased that none of my cash to date has come from the boring drudgery of asteroid mining. I hope to avoid mining for the duration of my EVE career if I can. I see myself more as an independent pilot struggling to make enough isk to keep his flying rust bucket in star ship fuel. I've made a few profitable trades but most of my earnings to date come from missions and the bounty on npc pirates that inevitably crop up during them.
Speaking of missions I have already had a fairly rude awakening. I had read that level 1 missions were designed to be completed in a frigate so after breezing through the tutorial and follow on ten part training mission I went off and signed up for my first "proper" level 1 mission - something about killing several waves of Angel pirates. Off I headed to the instance only to find myself sitting in a pod five minutes later wondering where it all went wrong.
The angels come in big bunches ranging from moderate threat level Gislii Thugs to very high threat level Gislii Hunters and Impalers. Attempting to get in close and carve them up with gattling gun fire from my slasher proved suicidal. I switched to a Breacher and tried to hold the angels at a distance while I pounded them with long range missile fire. This approach was a bit more successful but unfortunately they also have missiles and other long range weapons and eventually they wore me down. Finally I hit on the somewhat cowardly tactic of using drones from a Probe frigate to thin them out while I stand off at a safe distance. Those drones are slippery buggers and they generally manage to stay alive long enough to take out a couple of enemy frigates. Once the numbers are thinned sufficiently I can fly in close and mop up the survivors with gattling gun fire. It is fairly slow progress. It takes careful positioning and pulling to keep the numbers manageable and I have had a few close escapes. I also have to make frequenct trips back to base to stock up on drones. Happily the starter drones I am using are cheap and the bounty on the pirates more than covers the cost of drones.
EDIT - Thanks to Van Hemlocks timely advice I am happy to say that I am no longer sacrificing drones with wild abandon. I used his suggested tactics to complete another instance of the mission that caused me so much grief earlier and no drones were harmed in the process. Following VH's advice I let the mobs target me before using my afterburner enhanced speed to stand off at a safe distance while my drones went to work. I also swapped my gatling guns for a canon which allowed me to contribute with potshots from long distance. The trickiest bit is lining up the mobs correctly before a pull to ensure that you don't get pushed into another group while standing off.
Comments
Re the missions, I'm guessing you're Minmatar from the ships there. I'd suggest using the Artilleries, rather than the Autocannons for mission work - lets you keep them all at arms length a bit for kiting and such.
An afterburner is a must, especially for Min ships, which are all significantly faster than most other frigates, and for all frigates, speed is a vital way to shrug off incoming damage.
Not sure what else you have fitted, but either a Small Shield Booster or Small Armour Repairer is a must, along with Cap Rechargers or Cap Power Relays, to help run it all for longer.
Don't be afraid to warp out if it gets hot...L1s rarely/never have scrambling ships, so you can bug out and return when everything is recharged/repaired - do it in several sorties. Once your core skills are higher, you'll be able to stick it out for much longer, and eventually, not have to warp out at all.
Drones aren't supposed to be a consumable! The key to keeping them alive, is aggroing everything yourself *before* launching them. NPC rats never switch targets once they've locked on to something.
Works particularly well with an AB Frigate...you just blast off in big orbits, and while they're trying to chase you, the drones get a free run.
Train for the Rifter a.s.a.p. That thing is an animal!
I feel guilty now about the poor drones I sent to their doom. I will try your suggestion next time and take the heat while they do their work.
The frigates I have been flying have only two mid level slots. I use afterburner and small shield booster mostly but with Probe I swapped a capacitor battery for the afterburner.
I haven't tried a rifter yet but I think I may already have enough skills. I will check it out asap.
I have added you also but I didn't see you online yet. I will say hello if ever we coincide.
The game is certainly sucking me in at the moment so I am sorely tempted to buy a subscription. I cannot remember why I gave up after doing the free trial a couple of years ago, Perhaps the novelty wears off after a couple of weeks.
PS. I invested in a Rifter like VH suggested and now the level 1 missions are a cakewalk. The Rifter seems ridiculously overpowered compared to the other starter frigates.