Beware: Newbie Question Incoming

[Ricco]

Hi everyone playing EVE, I'm having a slight problem with my weapons. I can't seem to fire my mining laser due to a low capacitor. It's not at full capacity. I've done the research and know about the skills training for the Engineering, on it, and the Energy Systems Operations, and understand that by training these skills I will reduce the recharge time of the capacitor.

During this research, I discovered a shopping list of items that I want for my ship. Can I get the following items from mission drops or inside floating cargo containers?:

-Battery
-Booster
-Power Diagnostic System
-Semiconductor Memory Coil
--Capacitor Recharger
-Cap Flux Coil
-Cap Power Relay
-Cap Control Circuit

and these ..."toys" I want which I'm sure can only be bought on the market:
-Energy Transfer Array
-Nosferatu
-Energy Neutralizer

and an Energy Port Maximizer.

Do I contact Santa for these, or will I have to purchase all on the market, and I wonder If I need the stuff, and I'll lose it all when I get blowed up?

[Barrogh]

ETA, nos, neuts definitely drop from rats.
But can you please post your fit here so I could fugure out your problem? Never seen mining ships struggling with cap.

To do so, go to your fitting window, save your current fit and "copy to clipboard" button in the fittings list that can be opened by "browse" button in fitting window.

[Ricco]

I've located the fitting window, and have on numerous attempts, fitted and un-fitted, put it on-line, and accidentally took it off line, then had to return to the station to have it put on-line again. When I pull out of the station, and up to an asteroid, (I can only get a lock on a veldspar variety), the tutorial wants me to acivate the laser by left clicking it's icon in the HUD, only, the weapon doesn't show up anywhere on the HUD. By "activated" is that the same as "on-line" ? And if the meaning is the same, how do I fire the thing? Where is the fire button?

[Ricco]

Here is a short video illustrating my problem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIt_Yvxis2Q

If the video is not showing here, go to YouTube and search Captain Ricco, the video I'm referring to is the newest one.

[battlecattle]

When a module is online, that means it's turned on and can be used. At this point in your adventure, you really don't have any need to turn any modules offline so leave them all on (putting modules offline is a situational thing).

You'll want to use modules via clicking the icons on the HUD (to the right of the capacitor/shields/armor display by default).

Looking at your video, I believe you have the HUD icons hidden. Just to the right of the capacitor indicator there's a ">>" icon, press it and it should show you the icons.

[Ricco]

Oh man, there's a whole lot left un-explained in the "tutorial", thanks for your help, I'm sure that's all there is to it. I'm on it.

[Ricco]

Problem solved! Thanks a bunch! It's a funny thing (or not so funny) I was just wondering about that button, and was about to check it out the next time I went in. Uncanny how these things pan out. I'm going to dedicate my first shot to you. I hope the rest of the problems I might face in this game are as easily solved :)

[Shotgun]

There's an unspoken rule in EVE: "when in doubt, click it, or right-click it." Pretty much everything in the game is either some kind of toggle or setting, or if it's an item or object, has a right-click contextual menu that will have such entries as "show info."

Anyways, since the practical problem has been solved, let's talk about your OP.

Originally posted by Captain Ricco:

During this research, I discovered a shopping list of items that I want for my ship. Can I get the following items from mission drops or inside floating cargo containers?:

-Battery
-Booster
-Power Diagnostic System
-Semiconductor Memory Coil
--Capacitor Recharger
-Cap Flux Coil
-Cap Power Relay
-Cap Control Circuit

and these ..."toys" I want which I'm sure can only be bought on the market:
-Energy Transfer Array
-Nosferatu
-Energy Neutralizer

and an Energy Port Maximizer.

Do I contact Santa for these, or will I have to purchase all on the market, and I wonder If I need the stuff, and I'll lose it all when I get blowed up?

In EVE, almost every single module is either dropped from NPCs (this applies only to the "named" and rare versions of T1 modules - show info on something and go to the variations tab to understand), or is crafted by players using player-acquired materials and blueprints bought from select NPC stations, or "invented" as in the case of T2 items.

Furthermore, everything in the game can be bought and sold on the open market. The market is self-explanatory. You can either make timed sell or buy orders, or buy instantly from sell orders or sell instantly to buy orders. Most of the orders are player-made, because this is an open, player-driven economy. Beware, because there are scams, and they're allowed, so always check the figures (although at the moment, you have nothing expensive to lose anyway).

With regard to the modules you listed, it's important to understand that a fitting for a ship can be good or bad. You can't just throw various things on your ship and think it's fine; it's not that kind of game, and there are correct and wrong things to do with regard to your fitting.

I know you're new, but do not hold some overly romanticized view for the feel of the game. It's nice to be new and to have that feeling of exploring something complex and unknown, but you're not a "spaceship captain trying to survive amongst the stars by ingenuously rigging his trusty starship with whatever he's able to find as he gets by." EVE is more of a single-unit RTS game with established norms of efficiency. Part of this involves not expecting to be able to do everything yourself, and as an extent of that, you should get used to buying and selling on the market. Most T1 items are dirt-cheap, and you should have no issues buying them even on your first day. You might have to travel though, because not all starting areas are stocked by players.

Generally speaking, if you need help with a fitting, post yours using the method provided by a previous poster, and we'll tell you what's bad and how to change it.

And to answer your last question, yes, you will lose your stuff when you get blown up, and you can get blown up by player at any time. There are various consequences to attacking other players in different areas of space, however, and you should be almost totally safe as long as you're in high-sec (.5 and above) and aren't doing something stupid, like carrying hundreds of millions of ISK worth of stuff in a hauler, stealing items, or accepting duel requests.

[Ricco]

Thanks for that detailed info. I'm used to player driven market from STO (Star Trek Online). I spent most of my time at the exchange buying components and ingredients for crafting equipment. I have an endless supply of patience for this kind of stuff. I have no great expectations of a fast and exciting life as a pirate just yet. I'm going to take my time testing everything. I'm sure the real heavy duty rigs are not going to hang around my home base picking off noobs for no profit. So, I'll have plenty of practice on the mid-level targets.

As far as posting my needs, I'm keeping a very good journal on YouTube with each major achievement and any trouble I'm having will be evident on the next video. (Search Captain Ricco on YouTube).

Thanks again for your friendly advice.

[Shotgun]

I don't really have the patience to watch videos in order to pick stuff out for discussion, so if you want my input, please keep it to questions on the forums.

Anyways, there are a lot of things you can safely avoid experimenting with. For example, aside from the couple of minutes you spend on mining in the tutorial (how's that coming along by the way?), it's safe to put mining down and not touch it for a very, very long time. Mining won't teach you the skills you need to become a good player, and those who start out with it (and especially those who stick with it) usually never become proficient at the game.

[Ricco]

@Shotgun, I totally understand about time to watch videos. I'm only doing the videos because I feel the urge to do it. I'm not going to cry if the thing doesn't go viral :) Regarding the mining, I will only do it to get the initial modules for the capacitor and armor and shields, until I can start crafting my own. I'm not into spending hours a day blasting rocks, I prefer blasting moving targets that shoot back.

My ultimate goal in this game is to master each level. I'm starting small and slow and will try everything I can get my hands on. I know I have to resort to blowing up cargo ships and haulers to get the kind of revenue coming in so I can craft the ultimate pirate ship. I'm ready to spend years doing it if the game lasts that long.

Regarding the mining for the tutorial, (thanks for asking) sucess! I was finally able to activate the laser and got 1200 au of Veldspar. I've got to convert it to ISK. Or keep it for crafting?

[Ricco]

I ordered a Cap module from the market, I have to travel at least 2 jumps from my present location to go get it? I think I should be well-armed just to get through the asteroid belt to the jump-gates. Can those jump-gates be interrupted by pirates during a jump? I remember a game by the name of "Freelancer" from Microsoft Games, and in that game there were jump gates to get from system to system, and it was easy to just start shooting at a gate junction and interrupt someones jump so they can be jumped.

[battlecattle]

Originally posted by Captain Ricco:

I ordered a Cap module from the market, I have to travel at least 2 jumps from my present location to go get it? I think I should be well-armed just to get through the asteroid belt to the jump-gates. Can those jump-gates be interrupted by pirates during a jump? I remember a game by the name of "Freelancer" from Microsoft Games, and in that game there were jump gates to get from system to system, and it was easy to just start shooting at a gate junction and interrupt someones jump so they can be jumped.

There's a distinction between "jumping" through a star gate and warping from point a to b in this game.

Jumping from a system to another system via star gates cannot be interrupted once one activates the star gate.

Warping from A to B within a system can be interrupted via 2 main methods.

Method one is for an attacker to use either a warp scrambler or warp disrupter ship module to block a ship's warp drive. The scrambler has stronger warp blocking capabilities and can also disable micro warp drives, but is shorter range than the disrupter. Method one can be used in any security space, though it's consider an illegal action in high/low sec (assuming one's target isn't a legal target... but it's probably a bit too early to concern yourself with crime & punishment stuff so I'm not gonna' get into it).

Method two is for someone to deploy a warp disrupting "bubble" that prevents anyone within it from warping away. "Bubbles" can only be deployed in null security space.

There's a tertiary method of delaying a warp called "bumping" where a player can crash into another ship and knock it out of alignment (ships align before warping), but that's an advanced concept and can be somewhat challenging to pull off correctly.

Warping from system to system via star gates is relatively safe in high security space.

Edit: BTW, Pandemic Horde has some videos on youtube oriented towards beginner pilots. This particular video may be helpful to you: https://youtu.be/9nqNoK63XCA

I'll also point out that PH is a pvp-oriented low sec corp that accepts newer players (its parent corp, Pandemic Legion, is a notable mercenary corp). They may be worth considering joining once you're comfortable with the basics, since you stated you want to be a space pirate.

[Ricco]

Again, thanks for your extremely helpful hints, that video is perfect. I will definitely be using this information when I reach the "comfort zone" with a ship. I know when a ship feels right when all systems are flowing smoothly, all lasers have the propper boosters and mods, and shields and engines are doing what they should be doing, and bombs/missiles are going boom. It's that invincible feeling I get, just before someone with a better setup blows me out of the universe, and I guess when that happens I have to start again from scratch.

At least if I follow some kind of regime, I should be on-track and ready to join a militia/mercenary organzation in about a month, or, I will start my own with a group of rogue rebels. :) I feel the possiblitities in this game are endless and It should take the rest of my life to get tired of it.

[Ricco]

At this time, I've sold the Veldspar for 19,000 ISK. I'm trying to complete the "find a low slot module" tutorial. The best I could come up with is an extended cargo hold for 16,000 ISK. It's 3 systems away to go get it. Should I just stick around the base and blast some cargo containers to try and find a low slot module?

[Shotgun]

Forget about crafting anything for a while, aside maybe from just trying it out once with something simple just to see how it feels. Manufacturing has its own skill set, which you either train for and doing so skip training necessary combat skills, or you use only baseline skills to do it, and will be limited to only making some beginner items, very inefficiently and unprofitably at that. Buy everything from the market. Yes, sometimes that will require travel. Save the manufacturing for when/if you decide to get an alt.

Also, please, please lose the overly-romanticized perception of the game. I don't want to see you get hurt, and it will happen like it happens to like 95% of new players I've seen approach the game in that sort of manner.

Less "I'm going to make sure all systems are nominal" and more "I'm going to try out this thing to see what it does, and also, should I put this thing on...what does it do?" Trust me on this.