8 Golden Rules for EVE Online

New Citizens Q&A
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These are based on Akita T’s Golden rules for new players, originally published on the old forums.

Be able to afford a loss

  • Never fly something (or with something in the cargo) you can’t afford to lose. Yes, not even in highsec. Meaning that you should not fly a ship you cannot afford to replace and refit.

Consent to PvP

  • You consent to PvP when you click “undock”.
  • You are not safe in 1.0 security space. CONCORD is there to punish, not to protect. Get used to the idea.
  • In most cases, the only way to be 100% safe from aggression inside the game is to be docked in a station. Being cloaked in a secret safespot could work too.

Everyone can scam - and so can you

  • Never grant corporation rights to stuff you can’t afford to lose either. No exceptions.
  • People offering free stuff? Probably traps. Be cautious.
  • Free stuff usually isn’t. Not even minerals you mine yourself.
  • If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Paranoia pays off here. Double-check everything.
  • Scamming and unethical behavior some would consider griefing is not only allowed, it is encouraged and rewarded by the game mechanics.
  • Harassment or real-life threats are not ok, and you can get a shiny ban for them. Learn the difference.

Experience matters, not ISK or Skills

  • Just because some character is just a few minutes old doesn’t mean he’s a newbie. Many people have alts. The reverse is also possible, people come back after very long breaks, and characters are sold. You could see year-old newbies around too.
  • Skills that take less than 1 day to train are short skills. Over one week is long.
  • You’re in this game for the long haul. Don’t expect to do something meaningful in the grand scheme of things in the first day of your first trial account ever.
  • All other things being equal (experience, skills), superior numbers more often win a fight rather than superior ship value. However, things are hardly ever equal.
  • Total skillpoints count doesn’t matter much either, it’s level of relevant skills to the current situation that does. Yes, that does mean a 2 mil SP combat-oriented newbie could badly beat up a 60 mil SP industry-oriented veteran.

Bigger is not always better

  • More expensive stuff is not always better stuff.
  • Slightly better stuff usually costs many times more than slightly worse stuff. Choose wisely.
  • Tech-2 is usually cheaper and better, but harder to fit. Sometimes it’s not better. Other times it’s not cheaper. And occasionally, neither cheaper nor better.
  • There are no “solopwnmobiles” in EVE. Everything you can fly blows up if it’s shot hard enough.
  • With enough skills and experience, ship size really doesn’t matter all that much.

Use the in-game info

  • Show Info and Variants → Compare are your best friends. Use it on all stuff you can.
  • Always check your ship insurance before you undock. If it’s a T2 ship however… not that important.

Unfair circumstances?

  • There is no such thing as “a fair fight” or “an unfair fight”. There’s only a fight. Circumstances are irrelevant.
  • Just because you can fly something doesn’t mean you should.

You will lose stuff, don’t worry!

  • If you PvP long enough, you will lose your ship. It’s only a matter of where and when.
  • If you logoff in space without a PvP timer, you’re only safe after 1 minutes… and then only until you log back in. If you logoff with a PvP timer, it’s at least 15 minutes. Bottom line, once a fight started, don’t logoff. You’ll only die anyway.
  • Somebody, somewhere has better skills than you, more experience than you, is smarter than you, has more friends than you and can stay online longer than you. Just pray he’s not out to get you.
  • If you lose stuff, it’s almost always your fault. Really, only yours.
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I stand by my commentary on this

m

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My 2 ISK:

Never fly something (or with something in the cargo) you can’t afford to lose. Yes, not even in highsec. Meaning that you should not fly a ship you cannot afford to replace and refit.

I’ve always thought this was a stupid rule. If every non-bittervet followed this rule, the vast majority of us would never get to fly any of the really cool ships (and let’s face it, that’s kind of what we signed up for). I have lost ships that took me up to a month to replace, but by the gods, it was worth it.

You consent to PvP when you click “undock”.

I violently disagree. If I undock to carry cargo from A to B, I intend to do that and only that and anyone who suicide ganks me is forcing PvP upon me.

You are not safe in 1.0 security space. CONCORD is there to punish, not to protect. Get used to the idea.

CONCORD and hisec mechanics are awful in general, but this has been discussed many times before and CCP have made it clear they can’t be arsed improving upon that.

In most cases, the only way to be 100% safe from aggression inside the game is to be docked in a station. Being cloaked in a secret safespot could work too.

In other words, just don’t play EVE. Got it.

Never grant corporation rights to stuff you can’t afford to lose either. No exceptions.
People offering free stuff? Probably traps. Be cautious.
Free stuff usually isn’t. Not even minerals you mine yourself.
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Paranoia pays off here. Double-check everything.
Scamming and unethical behavior some would consider griefing is not only allowed, it is encouraged and rewarded by the game mechanics.
Harassment or real-life threats are not ok, and you can get a shiny ban for them. Learn the difference.
Experience matters, not ISK or Skills

You forgot: firesales have nothing to do with fire of any sort, when someone says they’re quitting EVE they usually never do, never do direct trades with people you don’t know, and check the market of individual items in an assorted goods contract because someone’s probably trying to rip you off.

Tech-2 is usually cheaper and better, but harder to fit. Sometimes it’s not better. Other times it’s not cheaper. And occasionally, neither cheaper nor better.

Tech 3, on the other hand… Hecate best dessie.

There is no such thing as “a fair fight” or “an unfair fight”. There’s only a fight. Circumstances are irrelevant.

HORSEPUCKEY. Pitting a Talos against a Machariel in null? Fair. Machariel calling five friends over to gangbang the Talos? Unfair. It would be more accurate to say that this is a game that openly encourages psychopathic behaviour and therefore no-one with enough guns and ammo gives a ten-second frak about fighting fair.

Just because you can fly something doesn’t mean you should.

Just because you can shoot someone doesn’t mean you should. But, of course, people do that anyway because THIS IS EVE.

Also missing from the OP:

NEVER, EVER, EVER autopilot through nullsec.

NEVER, EVER, EVER carry PLEX or skill injectors in your cargo hold.

If CODE. tells you to buy a permit, flip them off, buy a new ship with a better fit and be more careful next time.

If you have a friendly or neutral citadel nearby and your ship is damaged or you have a suspect timer (but not a PvP timer), you can tether to the citadel and slowboat towards the structure to avoid being bumped outside the docking radius. You can even log off like that.

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Think you’re taking this to literally.
Of cause you can always replace anything I EvE (almost anything), but the question is, is it worth it?

You lost a ship but to you it was worth it, even for a month work, so you are not effected by this rule.

Every time you press the undock, you might lose what you’re undocking. Are you mentally prepared for this?
That’s what this rule is about.

Remember: EvE is a state of mind.

[quote=“Alessienne_Ellecon, post:4, topic:3973, full:true”]
My 2 ISK:

You consent to PvP when you click “undock”.

I violently disagree. If I undock to carry cargo from A to B, I intend to do that and only that and anyone who suicide ganks me is forcing PvP upon me.[/quote]

Even the worst of haulers learn to be prepared for what might come. Using Dotlan, scouting alts or the in game map. They learn to plan their rute even before pressing undock.

This rule is to warn players, that when they press undock, they enter a pvp zone.
Like the rule above, you have to be mentally prepared to lose your ship when you enter space.
That is; prepared for pvp.

Remember: EvE is a state of mind.

This is EvE, not a WoW clone.
You want a safe haven? Don’t play EvE.

Remember: EvE is a state of mind.

Other than that. Fly safe.

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All useful guidelines.
My only contribution would be “play your way”. Sure, there’s some stuff you should always do to make your life easier, but there’s no linear progression in a sandbox game: if you want to stay in a smaller hull, you can. If you don’t want to go to null, you can. If you want to mine, you can. Play the game to have fun and it will be a positive thing in your life.

The reality is that EVE is a world PvP single server game. It’s an intrinsec part of the game and if someone doesn’t want to worry about PvP, maybe that person should be playing something else.

Why would anyone want that battle to be fair? I’d prefer if it was unfair and that I had the advantage. If I fight for survival, I fight to win. I’ll use any edge I can and you should do the same. Honor makes for a shitty tank, IMO.

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I accept that PvP may take place when I undock but don’t go putting words in my mouth telling me that I’ve given my consent. I’ve done no such thing.

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Of course you did. Just like a rugby player consents to being tackled when they take the field, or a boxer consents to being punched in the face when they enter the ring.

As the golden rules make clear, Eve is a full time PvP sandbox game which puts you at risk every time you undock. You may seek to avoid being exploded nor desire that outcome, but you definitely consented to letting the other guy try when you undocked.

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This thread nor the line about consenting to PVP, is about causing fights or upsetting people. This thread is about informing them.

Eve has always been a PVP game. Without the death from player vs player interaction the market would likely collapse. Therefore, the industrialists would not be able to sell their products, the miners would be unable to sell their ore. The PVPers would have nothing to do. Eve would get very boring very quickly.

So if you do not like the phrasing “by undocking you consent to PVP”, let me phrase it this way.

“By undocking you open yourself up the possibility of being attacked and killed by other players”

It really is as simple as that.

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Let me spell it out then for the benefit of the Thought Police.

“When I undock I am not consenting to PvP”

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“By undocking you open yourself up the possibility of being attacked and killed by other players”

I have no problem with that at all

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You see, I normally wouldn’t especially care what you consider yourself doing or how you define your actions, but this is the New Citizens Q&A section and you are doing an extreme disservice to new players by telling them they have the right to not consent to PvP anywhere in Eve Online. So putting your world view aside for a second, I will reiterate to any new players the second golden rule as presented above:

You consent to PvP when you click “undock”

That does not mean you have to seek out PvP, or even enjoy PvP, but when you undock you have to accept the possibility that the game rules allow the other players to engage in PvP with you. You can play word games all you want and say you “don’t consent” to that interaction, but you have given your explicit consent for the other players to shoot your spaceship when you leave a station. The other players are doing nothing wrong by attempting to explode you, either morally, or as it pertains to the rules of the game. They are just engaging in the intended game play, or as CCP describes it:

The essential core concept of EVE Online is that it is full time PvP in a sandbox environment. As has been mentioned in previous sections any player can engage another player at any time in any place.

So new players, despite how our friend Jasmine Deer uses words, you are indeed consenting to PvP every time you leave the station. Someone shooting you against your will is part of the game and something you consent to by playing, and therefore is something you should account for when you undock. Set your expectations, and act accordingly.

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As Newbie with only some weeks of experience, until now I was never shot at after undocking. My first PvP (“unconsented”, of course) really was a shock for me losing the ship within seconds without being able to even think about countermeasures, but it was in lowsec, so I was thinking “OK, my fault”.
But there are some highsec stations with a whole bunch of campers in front of the door and some even blinking yellow, so I always hope they’re just brawling each other. Is it just a matter of time they pick me as a cheap victim?

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What the Golden Rule is trying to tell you is that it is always “my fault”. Ok, not really, but you always have to be prepared to lose a ship, even in highsec and thus have to take responsibility for your loss. You can’t blame the other guy for playing the game and shooting you when you were unprepared just like you can’t blame the other guy for taking your pawn when you blunder in chess. A mindset that PvP only happens in lowsec or nullsec (and that highsec PvP is an ‘exploit’) will eventually catch up with you and you don’t want to lose so much you end up rage-quitting the game.

So yes, it is only a matter of time. Don’t get me wrong, highsec is reasonably safe, in fact very safe if you fly aware, and prudently, but if you get complacent and keep putting more and more ISK into your ships, either as fittings or cargo, it is only a matter of time before you make yourself a profitable target, someone notices you and explodes you and takes your stuff.

The trick to enjoying and staying with Eve is to minimize your risk so that if you do lose a ship when you undock, you can laugh about it. Different people have different mindsets and thresholds of loss, and some can’t handle losing anything and are perhaps then not cut out for a game like Eve, but if you fly cheap and pay attention, then you can avoid almost all loss in highsec. CONCORD provides a very effective deterrence against casual violence, so as long as you do not make yourself a lucrative target, you are not likely to be targeted.

Also, I recommend you get this “victim” idea out of your mindset as soon as you can. You are playing a PvP spaceship game where ships are disposable and we are all immortal demigods who can’t die. Losing something doesn’t make you a victim - you just lost that PvP round and it was your ship making the pretty explosion rather than the other guy’s. If someone outplays you or catches you with your pants down you should just congratulate them and learn from the experience, or swear revenge and start plotting against them, but don’t think of yourself as a victim.

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You may not explicitly consent to PvP, but due to the nature of the game the act of undocking certainly implies that you do.

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Hello Kitty Online is that way.
:point_right:

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It’s not likely they would choose you as a cheap victim. I have undocked countless times and I have never been suicide ganked primarily because I followed the rules. I undock in expensive ships but I usually fit them in ways that make it too costly for them to try. You would have had to really piss someone off in order get attacked without provocation or hauled something so much more valuable than your ship.

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One way to think about this is that it is similar to getting into a car accident.

When I get on the road, I do not consent to getting into an accident, but I have to accept that it is a possibility and prepare for it. I put on my seat belt, drive carefully, etc. Even before that I get insurance, pick a safe car, etc.

Yet despite all that, my car can be totalled or even just dented. I then have to deal with the aftermath.

This rule about consent to PvP and even not flying what you can’t afford to lose are the same. They are to remind you to be careful and that you may have your ship shot out from under you. And to help you be prepared so that of your ship is destroyed, you aren’t back in a rookie ship trying to claw your way back up.

So to put this in practice terms it means…

Don’t sell your cruiser and everything you own to buy a battleship without a back up plan. When you lose that battleship, you’ll be back to square one and that sucks. Instead work up gradually and have a fallback.

Don’t haul all your items in one undertanked ship. If it dies, you are in trouble. Better to haul 2-3 or however many loads so you aren’t a pretty target.

Don’t sacrifice your tank just to improve damage or yield because you may inadvertently make yourself an easy target. This applies to miners, haulers, and even mission runners.

Don’t so something stupid like sit AFK in your expensive ship at a gate. People will try to take advantage of you.

And you know what… I’ve played for 7+ years. I’ve hauled, mined, ran missions, etc. In all those times, my ships have not been gankef. Some have tried, but because I was cautious and played it carefully, they weren’t successful. And yes I have lost ships to my own stupidity but I learned from my mistakes and because I always had a fallback, it never hurt me that much. So really, if you fly safe and be cautious, chances are you will be fine. Just fly safe and be cautious.

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Oh and a simple rule of thumb…

A Tornado costs 70 mil and can generate about 24k damage before concord kills it.

50% of your loot and modules will drop.

So ask yourself… If I divide my HP by 24k, that gives you an estimate of the number of tornados need to kill you. Multiply that number by 70 mil. That is the cost it takes to gank you.

If the value of 1/2 your cargo exceeds that gank cost, it is profitable to gank you. Reduce your cargo load or increase your tank.

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Love the driving analogy.

Great bit of math.

Fly prepared, do not assume everyone will ignore you. And be ready to accept loss.

m

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