I want to be an Explorer and a Covert/Black ops pilot, so far after much reading as I’m a newb, I have settled on the ships Buzzard, Asteros and Tengu, only planned out that far atm.
For skilling up, I am using the ship info. for initial and masterys but in so doing I’m wondering if I’m missing some really obvious stuff and can’t, so far, seem to find a pilots skill list for these jobs, is there any or is there a massive one I just don’t know the terminology to find it?
Also, is the above a decent general plan?
One other thing, after Tengu, if I want to go bigger the Sin seems to be the major choice, it’s cool yeah, but am I missing another really effective ship/choice?
While it’s important to have long term goals, I would focus on what you can realistically achieve in the next year. Start with a Heron and practice scanning in highsec. Use the mastery tab in the ship info pane and plan to skill to level 4 mastery - you’ll need all those skills for the more advanced exploration ships.
Once you’ve mastered the art of scanning highsec signatures (that is a player skill, not a character skill) fit a combat scanner and learn to scan down other players.
You should plan to join an exploration community like https://www.signalcartel.com/ as early as possible. They are the pros and can provide guidance and support as you move into more lucrative and dangerous regions of space.
I think mastering the T3 cruisers is a worthy long term goal, they are incredibly powerful and versatile ships.
Work on the Engineering Skills as much as possible. These skills affect ALL ships and will make it easier to fit and fly.
Different races have different skill requirements.
– You seem to be starting with the Caldari line of ships… which is typically uses shields, hybrid (blaster/railgun) weapons, and missiles. Then you mention the Sin… which is a Gallente Black-Ops Battleships… and Gallente ships are centered more around armor, hybrid (blaster/railgun) weapons, and drones.
– While it is good to experiment early on as a newbie, try not to spread yourself out too much. This game better rewards people who “specialize” versus becoming “jack-of-all-trades.”
Working to use Tech 3 ships is an admirable goal. But don’t get caught up in the mindset of “if I can’t fly it, I can’t practice with it.” Yes… yes you can. Use Tech 1 Cruisers to get a feel for how cruisers work. Every trick you learn with a certain class of ships transfers well to other ships… or allows you to better counter those ships when you are on the receiving end.
Talk with people. Make social connections. Ask questions. Make jokes. Join a group (officially or unofficially). EVE is a game where “who you know” will help you WAY more than any number of skills you have (character or player-wise).
You can do exploring solo, but Covert/Blackops generally requires a group of people to pull off. Very few people can pull it off solo, and even then, they will lose ships once in a while, which can be expensive. Grouping up can help mitigate the risk by having a dedicated, experienced Fleet Commander lead you and help each other out.
I suggest looking into Bombers Bar or Spectre Fleet, they do Black Ops content frequently.
As for the Sin, id say no. Once you get into it, you will realize how niche that line of ship is. I myself have 2 panthers, 2 widows and a redeemer, but i havent been able to fly them for a long time because of how niche they are in day to day fleets.
