I’ve been an exclusively PvE player for a long time in EVE, generally any PvP that I get involved in is because my attempts at evasion failed me completely, and because of that the result is basically pre-determined - I lose.
So I’ve been on hiatus for a few years and I’ve used my big pile of resources that I’m sitting on to buy some fancy ships to mess around with in a small friend-group corp, mainly because I figured that EVE was only going to be a short term thing and I wanted to mess about with some cool toys with some mates.
Anyway, after some expensive losses and a few post-death chats with some really lovely PvPers, I’ve sort of come to the realisation that they’re having a whole lot more fun than me, so I’ve decided to get into it. The problem is that I’m pretty terrible, and don’t have much of an idea of what I’m doing or the best way to go about it. So I’ve got some questions.
Where should I start? I’ve just had a bit of a roam in a bargain basement Drake and got rekt by a Loki, especially when his mates turned up - but he didn’t need them, I was losing.
Obviously, buy the cheapest ships possible; I’m sat on enough ISK to keep me in bargain basement Drakes for about a year if I lose one a day and don’t bother making any more money - but are Cruisers a reasonable place to start with it all?
Really, massively honest question here - The people I play with are friends, but the vast majority are pretty PvP adverse. There’s only one who I can really count on to want to do this stuff with me. Am I better off looking for an actual PvP corp in the game? Will this ever work basically solo?
… anyway, sorry if this is all stuff that’s been asked a million times before!
Easiest is probably to get either some people to fly with, or just to join an actual pvp corp. Solo PVP is kinda harsh, most people will tell you to buy a shitton of frigs and welp them in lowsec. But honestly i think the fights are far too short to get some learning out of it.
Good starter ship for Null for kitey stuff are the Osprey Navy or Omen Navy, or a bit cheaper the Caracal, Omen and Stabber are still decent ships to fly. If you want to go more brawly, then the Thorax is a decent Start i would say, basically ram and roast it.
Last i would suggest to watch some pvp videos on twitch or yt, people like BjornBee, Suitonia say often what they do and why. So this answers often why he is orbiting instead keeping range etc.
Hmmmm - I’ll definitely find some of those videos on Youtube; that’s always a good way to learn stuff. I suspect a good start will be the Caracal, as I’m pretty focused on the Caldari stuff of Shields and Missiles, and I know that pretty much pushes it to the fore. It’s also handy that it’s cheap!
Try a bit around, for nano caracal there is basically the default fit dual large extender, adaptive with point, mwd. But i prefer personally triple extender (less buttons to press infight). I think chessur actually flew that thing sometimes, there is probably footage on yt. And/or suitonia (eveiseasy on youtube).
Also you can try variations with it, like dual web, ham, armor tanked. Basically the brawly Caracal.
If you can, record all your fights. Then you can go back and watch later to learn from them. Even in cruiser fights, there can be a lot happening that you don’t notice at the time.