After reading about EvE for so long, I’ve decided to give it a go. As I don’t have a whole lot of free time - usually 2 hours on weekdays -, my goal is to focus on PvP (the fun stuff). The harshness of it (losing all your stuff when you die et cetera) seems awesome. Reminds me of the old days of Ultima Online.
I’m very much interested in doing FW PvP as an alpha clone (cheap hulls & fits) as the PvE content doesn’t really interest me very much (except maybe for fueling ISK to my PvP activities through an alt via semi-AFK mission running). Or that’s the plan, at least.
To clarify it further: I’m not interested in flying expensive ships, not interested in making huge amounts of ISK, not interested in becoming a space mogul. Couldn’t care less about ISK/hr. I just want to PvP tech 1 ships in Faction Warfare. I was told Nullsec is boring, and I’m not interested in their politics / becoming a peon, either.
After doing a bit of research (watching Youtube hahaha–), it has become clear to me that FW PvP is a viable option for an Alpha Clone (what’s the fun of always losing fights?) and grinding level 3 missions in a battlecruiser should be enough to keep me fighting every day of the week. Hurrah!
TL;DR: Perma Alpha looking for constant self-sustained cheap PvP action in Faction Warfare.
Having said all that - sorry for the long introduction, by the way -, I was hoping you guys could help me understand / figure out a few issues I haven’t yet found answers on my own:
If somebody who is NOT in the opposing milita waltz into a complex (assuming I’m already inside the complex), can I shoot them first without losing security status? I ask this 'cause the whole security status mechanics seems boring as f* and I’d rather not go negative if at all possible.
IF I can’t avoid losing security status - ie: shooting neutrals inside complexes - and turn “red”, how can I supply my character with his much needed hulls and modules? Overly expensive solutions won’t work. The goal is to keep it dirty cheap and the action flowing.
Why is the Minmatar is such a horrible position right now? Is it normal (as in, the tiers fluctuate a lot) or is something else going on with Faction Warfare? I’d love to meet up with other Minmatar militia players and fleet up. Why Minmatar? The ships look cooler (do I need a better reason?).
Once again, sorry for the long post. Thank you for your time. I hope to see you either as friend or foe soon enough.
If you stay in FW and low-sec for any length of time, you will need to reconcile yourself to negative security status - or spend some time and money rectifying it. Shooting neutrals first invariably loses you status - it’s one of the things many FW players would like changed.
There are shipping corporations like PushX that will transport your stuff into low-sec for a very reasonable price. I did that in my first week or so in FW, transporting fifteen punisher hulls and fittings to a low-sec station. (And then a week later learning about the FW mechanic which shuts you out of a station if your side loses the system!). You could start a hauler alt for yourself, but I can’t comment on whether an Alpha can easily fly a basic hauling ship into low-sec with minimal risk.
Because the Minmatar are destined to be enslaved by the glorious forces of the one true God! Deus vult! /rp
More seriously, the war zones fluctuate for all sorts of reasons. When I started, the TLF was very much on top and Amarr only had a couple of systems. Then the Galmil (who can support their allies) left FW and the tide turned. There’s all sorts of factors such as ‘farmers’ switching sides (these are players uninterested in PvP which plex systems using cheap and difficult to catch ships entirely for the loyalty points - the value of their LP goes down the more they control a zone, so the switch when economically sensible).
I would very much recommend you look at finding a corporation to join for advice, fits, hauling and comradeship. The oldest alliance in the game is Ushra’Kahn, a Minmatar group well worth looking into. Aideron Robotics (a Galmil corporation) had a very good reputation for nurturing new players and I read they have come back from null to participate in FW again.
My best wishes to you finding your feet in FW - and a certain nostalgia from this ancient Ultima Online player who felt a tinge of happiness at you using the term ‘red’
It’s far too expensive for 2 hours a day to PvP effectively.
To extrapolate on the expense, 2 hours at your best active revenue is arguably capped about 200mil isk a day. And that is if you spend all your time grinding revenue, and if you meet that cap, which is highly unlikely. And 200 mil isk I would imagine isn’t enough to be competitive PvPer?
You will have a BETTER player experience, depending on your skill set, if you have a different goal, and PvP when you can.
I can already tell you by having bumped into some great Alpha corps living out in Null and WarDec’d, that they are not “cheap hulls and fits” and will wreck your sh**
I’ve done the research (zKillboard etc) and people are doing Faction Warfare in ships under 10 million ISK all the time. I don’t know where you got that crap you just spewed from.
If you’re trying to be bad ass on an online forum, you failed hard.
My basic point is PvP costs isk. And my reply may have been cocky. But the question you should start with is how do you expect to pay for how you want to play.
Master that first. Build up that revenue stream.
Especially a passive one if you want to stay cheap.
And dont expect a lot of great fights if cheap but not wardec’d.
You cant have both. Because all the best pvp with lower end gear requires you to be very underhanded.
There is also Black Frog Industries which has an excellent reputation. (Red Frog does just hi-sec, if I recall).
You might find a hauler trying to start out that might be of use, but they would also be high risk - the two above have long standing reputations and are unlikely to scam a new player.
SET UP YOUR OVERVIEW!! Make it so that “friendlies” do not show up (helps to prevent friendly fire incidents and reduces irrelevant information) and especially make sure that militia status is above suspect status (quite a few militia members have low security status… if you attack them you will incur a large faction standings penalty… and will often be blown up at the hands of your allies).
Buy ships and mods in bulk (mostly frigates and destroyers) and fit them in about 2 or 3 different ways ways for flexibility (ex, shield-fit, armor-fit, DPS/gank-fit, nano-fit, etc). Have them sitting, pre-fit, in an easy to access station… preferably one in low-sec that many other militia members use.
You will lose a lot of ships in militia. Have a steady source of income to replace stuff (which can come from running complexes or missions in low-sec FW systems).
Do not give away friendly fleet locations and/or friendly ship types in Militia Chat. The enemy has many spaiz!!!
5i. Learn the area well. Even the high-sec areas. This will help you when you are looking for stuff to kill or escaping from hostiles.
5ii. Just because combat is more open and encouraged in low-sec it does not mean the enemy militia may not stage attacks in your high-sec area. Keep in mind that joining Faction Warfare puts you in a GLOBAL war declaration. You can be attacked anywhere at any time. Even in Trade Hubs. Especially in Trade Hubs.
6i. When looking for a fleet, type “X” into militia chat and eventually you will get picked up.
6ii. Alternatively, go out and roam a bit. If you stumble upon a friendly fleet, they might pick you up. If not, keep looking (and try killing some stuff while you’re at it).
Once you join a fleet, join audio (be it the in-game EvE audio, Ventrilo, Teamspeak, Mumble, etc) and LISTEN.
7i. LISTEN SOME MORE.
7ii. ARE YOU SURE YOU ARE LISTENING???
7iii. If you cannot figure out where the fleet is by listening, ask [politely] by typing in fleet.
The FC (fleet commander) is GOD himself and his orders should be followed to the letter (ex. even if you’re in a frigate, SHOOT THE GODDAMN “PRIMARY” that has been called). Try to keep idle talk to a minimum (unless nothing is happening) and don’t say anything when an engagement is underway. If you have a question… use your best judgement and ask after it is over.
Get to know the “regulars” within your timezone and help them whenever you can. Good things will follow if you make friends with them.
Listen to everyone’s advice… no matter how abrasive it is. Chances are, they know what they are doing and you don’t.
You don’t really know what you are talking about when it comes to affordable FW PvP. It is easily possible to fund yourself for 2 hours a day for cheap alpha ships. If you make it a point to actually run 1 or 2 of the plexs during that 2 hour period, that will quite easily pay for the ship (or multiples depending on the site/tier your FW is in).
I do nothing but PvP. When I undock, I figure out how much my ship is worth…and I go run a site. After that, my ship is paid for and I can die at my leisure. Not to mention looting those you kill and selling the loot eventually.
With the plus side of while I’m running the site…I’m waiting for pvp content to come to me as well.
I’m a newbie that got started in PVP through faction warfare and I’d highly recommend it as the best place to learn PVP concepts.
What helped me was finding a corp in FW that was laid back and new player friendly. They were able to teach me a lot of the PVP meta and the local corps participating in FW. Some of these players have years of history with each other which is pretty crazy.
I only ever used about 5mil to 10mil fit T1 frigates for PVP. However, you’re going to want as many of these as possible. In an hour I’d lose 5 ships easy. The thing that sucks is funding these ship losses. In FW you’ll gain LP which you can use to buy items and then sell that for ISK, but that process takes a while. Like you I often only have an hour or so to play and most of the time I was logging in only to haul stuff between markets and my low sec home and not actually doing any PVP because I was out of ships. Note you won’t be able to access high sec markets in “enemy” territory! You’ll need an alt or someone (a corp mate!) to help.
Funny you should ask why Minmatar is in such bad shape! When I joined 2 months ago I was asking what Amarr was in terrible shape! My Corp mates have told me its primarily bots and farmers that swing systems. They farm LP from one faction, cash in which crashes the market and tanks the LPs value, and then switch sides to repeat the process.
About sec status, in two months of playing I never went negative on my sec status, but I also started at +1 due to missions. Shooting neutrals will cause you to lose sec status, even if they enter a complex meant only for PVP. It’s dumb but CCP refuses to do anything about it.
Obligatory Note - technique refers to your personal ability to do something, juxtapose your skill levels which makes it easier to have no technique, like an Omega.
Upvoted you, I don’t care that you call me out, it’s cool. But what’s your SP? It makes a huge difference on what you can get away with. YUUUUGE.
For affording cheap fw pvp ships it doesn’t matter, you get the same amount of LP capturing plexes if you have 5sp or 50mil sp. Are you going to lose ships? Yes, but if you are flying 5mil isk ships the LP from one small plex will pay for that. At tier 4/5 it would pay for 2 or 3.
Of course, find a good corp and you might get some free newbie frigs to fight with as well.
Obligatory Note - technique refers to your personal ability to do something, juxtapose your skill levels which makes it easier to have no technique, like an Omega.
body
Thanks, I probably am just an arsehat. Well what kind of dps/tank you recommend then for the FW.
alistair
here again you give advices while don’t know much on the topic
as several people above answered to you you can easily do FW pvp in cheap t1 ships…
i am a guy who tried to help you initially in this forum in your posts about explo/whs, who gave you some links toward good guides and spreadsheet etc, and after a while discovered that you keep on posting on every subject without knowing anythg and giving bad advices
To be clear, eve is a sandbox, you can play the way you want. If you wanna try to do trading without paying attention to broker fee, to try to scan lvl 5 data sites in a t1 ship, to sig tank sleepers in whs in a t1 frig, do it! that’s your fun§ we all do weird things. I wrote you several times that fun/h is much more important than isks/H
BUT, please, why do you think you can give wrong advices to new players about subjects you don’t know???
for example, OP here wants to do FW, and you declare that FW pvp is expensive
or in a post about trading, you give the advice to new players “don’t listen to omegas”
etc…
do what you want, try what you want, but giving wrong advices to new players is not a good thing to do, imo
Ah! I actually have those spreadsheets open at home! But how is all that you have provided going to answer questions about the warp mechanice, or the wardec mechanic or the pipe bomber thread I’m in…etc?
I absorbed what you shared, just because I keep going doesn’t mean I didn’t learn from you. Though I didn’t really pay attention to your user name apparently
