Do you want to learn how to PvP in EVE? Give the 20 Frigate Plan a try

PvP Gameplay Center Warfare & Tactics
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T Sky over at http://evefrigates.blogspot.ca/ has posted the third edition of his report about solo T1 frigate PvP. It’s a fantastic guide and and super resource. Go check it out!!!

Reddit Post:

Link to the Google Doc:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1SV_sWWIinoheBaGZgL2nUVJGYwnsNJqJ

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I’ve been doing (approximately) this for the last week or so. It’s working. (So far, 17 losses, but kills include 2 Dramiels, 3 faction frigates, and a Flycatcher). This is starting from decent character skills but a long break in play followed by a period of just PvE.

Personally, I’d rather buy 10 then review my fit (and maybe ship choice) when they’re gone. I was starting with pretty extensive experience moving around hostile space, though, so I got to skip some of the lessons.

Remember, your goal is to lose 20 ships. What you’re really doing here is signing up to learn 20 things that can kill you, and how to deal with them. So long as you aren’t making the same mistake repeatedly, every death is progress.

Sooner or later, kills will come. Some fights are yours to lose if you mess up… and that means that once you have exhausted all the ways that you can mess up, you’ll win. (Also, sometimes you turn out to be fighting an Atron with no modules at all… gfgf).

Responding to some concerns:

  • Engaging in lowsec is optional. The main way you fight a blob is by not fighting a blob. Sometimes they will use tricks to make you think it’s a solo fight. You’ll learn some of them the hard way. But that’s exactly the sort of thing you are signing up for.

  • Nobody is making their money killing newbros in T1 frigates. You certainly aren’t. Those 20 ships are an investment in your skills and experience, they are not a way of making isk. There are perfectly workable 2m isk fits. If you can’t afford 40m isk for several evenings’ learning experience, then you need to deal with that first, realistically. (See also: How I made 150m in loot drops by spending just 300m on ships…)

  • My sec status has dropped from 5 to 3 in the course of maybe 50-60 engagements. Worst case, buying that much sec status costs you 100m isk (clone tags from market, from -2 to 0).

  • The actual fights are often not very interactive. You go in with your fit and a plan… and you try to execute it. There may well be no “decision points” mid-fight about your tactics. This is ideal to start with. You’ll have a lot to think about managing heat, reps, etc - plus watching D-scan and local for incoming blobs, &c &c. Learn to do all that stuff at once while fighting before you try to learn to think about the fight as well.

  • Lots of people suggest scram kiters in FW space as a good set of training wheels. I agree. Reasons are threefold:

  1. Plenty of people there genuinely looking for 1v1 fights, so you will get more than in any other “wild” environment.
  2. Against a lot of fits, you will win regardless of the exact dps/tank numbers, which is ideal with newbro skills and cheap fits.
  3. You generally don’t need to micromanage position/etc, just hit “keep at range” and activate appropriate modules, so it works while learning to think about the fight, as above.
  4. They can sometimes project far enough to force off kiters, which is a nice way to avoid auto-losing to trap fits.
  5. They can sometimes disengage if it turns out to be bait for a gang, which is useful to learn.
  6. Range control is probably the most important thing in PvP, so start learning it early.

  • When you die, try to figure out why, and what you could have done to prevent it. If you can’t, convo your killer and ask them. Chances are, they know exactly how, and they may well be happy to share. (Someone convoed me to ask this, yesterday. It was great. Far more of an ego boost than the killmail).

  • Oh, and buy 10 hulls somewhere convenient to quickly reship, then take the fittings out to them. Don’t fly out from a trade hub every time; you want to get right back into it as soon as you’re done reviewing lessons from your loss; the distractions of a trade hub or similar will give you an excuse to put it off, which you don’t want or need.

7 Likes
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Great stuff @Sin_Tsukaya appreciate all the pointers!

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I support this plan.

However, those who know me know I’m a proponent of mechanics training in conjunction with experience.

Here is a link to some mechanics training I posted a while back.

If you read this, understand it, and then set about this 20 frigate plan… I think you will find your learning will be substantial.

Becoming good at pvp is largely in your ability to choose the correct maneuver style to gain relative advantage between 2 different ships. Winning and losing is often the difference between flying straight/orbiting or fighting from 5km instead of 500m.

Good luck out there… and try not to ever drop a module that hasn’t been overheated like a secondhand Camaro.
Mo

3 Likes
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I’ve slightly adapted this plan into a “20 Tengu plan” :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
Works quite well right from the start

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