Thursday 26 April 2012

Combat Basics


In this post we will cover the basics of combat. Much of this stuff you were told in the Career Agent Missions and Tutorials but they probably haven't had the chance to sink in yet. Combat is a huge subject. There are so many variables involved that there are often many ways to do something. Take some time to familiarise yourself with the basics before experimenting. Its really worth reading the whole lot even if it is a long haul.

Damage Types
Damage comes in four different types; EM, Explosive, Kinetic and Thermal. The damage from any source will be a combination of these. For example, missiles come in all four types but hybrid turrets do thermal and kinetic. The rats in a mission, belt or complex will do a set combination of damage and you can find this out from web sites.

Every ship has resistances against these damage types for shields and armour (hull only has resistances if you fit a damage control). You should investigate what resistances your ships have. If you put your resistances up high you will reduce the amount of damage the repair module has to counter. For mission and complex runners, this means maximising the resistances against the damage type used by the rats they will encounter. For PvP play, you will want to even out your resistances and get them up too so you can deal with any threat.

There are two types of resistance module; Active and Passive. Passive means that the module does not use capacitor and is always working. Active modules must be turned on to work and use up capacitor. Active modules have higher resistance values than passive modules. There is a penalty for having multiple modules adding to the same resistance value. It scales up for each mod so that after three modules you aren't getting much benefit. Its not possible to get resistances of 100%. It doesn't take much time to train for tech 2 versions of these modules and pilots should do it before going for weapons and bigger ships.

There is a module of note to look at when you fit your tank. A Damage Control of some sort will provide resistances to shields, armour and hull for a very small capacitor usage. Its the only module that gives hull resistances and can give you that extra few seconds to escape if you are going into hull. It also is free of the stacking penalty but you can fit only one. Some people will swear that you should never undock without one.

Most ships have a “hole” in their resistances. Shields are very vulnerable to EM damage and Armour ships are weak against explosive damage. This means there will be certain rats which are challenging enemies to each type of ship. You should always find out what NPCs you should expect and plan ahead. If you don't, an otherwise good tank will fail and you will lose your ship. Plugging this resistance hole is also important for PvP.

Tanking
Just about every rookie pilot makes the same mistake when they start their career. They mistakenly believe that bigger guns or bigger ships will improve their survivability. The truth is that just about any ship will die if the tank is not up to scratch. The “Tank” refers to the modules dedicated to dealing with incoming damage. An important factor to note is that most most tanks require capacitor to run. This means that your Tank also includes the modules that supply the capacitor to run it. So early training should be for repairers, resistance modules and capacitor modules.

There are two main types of tanking; Shield Tanking and Armour Tanking. Its inefficient to try to maintain both your shields and your armour. Tanking usually focuses on one or the other. Amarr and Gallente ships tend to be set up for armour tanking. Caldari and Minmatar ships are typically shield tanks. This is because of the resistances, hit points and layout of middle and low slots on these ships. There are notable exceptions to this rule but its a good guide for new players.

Shield Boosters and Armour Repairers both repair a portion of the damage done to your ship. The idea is to repair faster than you take damage or at least slow the rate. Without these systems you can't stay in a fight for long. Shield boosters and shield resistance modules use the medium slots. Armour repairers and armour resistance modules use the low slots. Capacitor modules can be either and there is a rig called a Capacitor Control Circuit that helps capacitor recharge rates. Normally you would fit a repairer, some resistance modules and then try to arrange enough capacitor to run it all. The Fitting window will tell you how long your capacitor will last with all your systems active. You can “turn off” things by putting them off line. A program like Eve Fitting Tool (EFT) will give you more accurate information. For PvP it isn't necessary for your tank to run a particularly long time as the fight is often over quickly but for running complexes and missions you must run the tank regularly for up to an hour or two. An option a new pilot should consider is to use a Capacitor Booster. This module uses a Cap Booster charge to inject power into the capacitor. You can get the charges in different sizes from 25 points to 800 points and you can choose a size that suits. Carry spare charges in your cargo hold and you can artificially sustain your cap until you run out of boosters. This is the option a new pilot must use to run missions until their skills are up to scratch.

All damage comes in one of four different types; EM, Explosive, Kinetic and Thermal. To match this your ship has resistances on both the shields and the armour. It possible to get resistances on your hull as well if you fit a Damage Control module. Resistances reduce the damage taken from a hit. If you have a 50% thermal resistance on your shields, then all thermal damage done to the shields will be halved. Different ships have different resistance layouts but there are some commonalities for most ships. Shields are extremely vulnerable to EM damage. This makes Sansha and Blood Raiders challenging opponents for Shield ships because they typically do large amounts of EM damage. Armour is very vulnerable to Explosive damage. The Angel Cartel and Rogue Drones do a lot of explosive damage so they are natural foes to armour tanks. If you are having trouble with a particular kind of rat in a mission or complex then you should check the damage those rats are doing and compare it to your resists. Increasing your resistances for your tank will reduce the work the repairer has to do.

Resistances suffer a stacking penalty when you add multiple modules of the same type to the ship. The first module gets the full effect but subsequent modules have a reduced effect. This means that it is impossible to get 100% resistances. Even the Devs have to settle for 99.99%. The Stacking Penalty follows the following pattern.

Module Effectiveness
   1            100%
   2              87%
   3              57%
   4              28%
   5             10.5%
   6               3%

Important Note: The Damage Control module is immune to the stacking penalties. This means the module's full resistances are added to the ship's resistances. This makes a Damage Control a very attractive piece of equipment and it is used by most pilots.

After the resistances have been penetrated, your shields and/or armour will take damage. The most common way to deal with this is to fit a repairer. For shields these are called Shield Boosters. Armour repairers are the armour equivalent. These will use an amount of capacitor and repair a portion of your tank. They tend to be power hungry modules so much of your fitting will be geared to feeding these devices. You may turn them on and off during a fight to conserve capacitor but expect to need them running full time for big missions or complexes.

Shield tanks have another option available to them. Passive shield tanking is using the natural shield recharge to counter damage. They fit modules that increase the shield size and recharge rate. This has the advantage of not needing any capacitor to run. The shield recharge rate works on a bell curve and is at its peak recharge rate around the 33% shields. This sweet spot is about three times the recharge rate of 90% shields. The problem with Passive tanks is you are already at 33% shields when you discover that your tank is being broken.

The last main form of tanking is mainly for PvP. Its the Buffer Tank. This is basically a big amount of hit points for either shields or armour. You are either relying on remote repair from fleet logistics ships or hoping to kill the enemy before you run out of hit points. Again good resistances are essential for this kind of tanking because it reduces the load for the logistics ships. This type of tanking doesn't work in missions or complexes unless you are supported by logistics. Its often used in Incursions though.
Weapon Systems
There are a number of different ways you can attack someone in Eve. The most obvious are guns and missiles. Next are drones which are robot fighters. Then there is Electronic Warfare (EWar). After that there are the more obscure and specialised weapon systems such as smart bombs, nosferatu and energy neutralisers. The following sections will cover each group in turn as they all have their own capabilities and restrictions.

There are different “qualities” of each type of weapon. There “civilian” weapons which are the basic guns you get with your rookie ships. These have the advantage of not needing ammo and being easy to fit but are inferior in all other respects. There is the “Tech 1” weapon which is your standard manufacturable weapon system. There are blueprints for these weapons on the empire markets and they tend to be fairly cheap. There are then a set of weapons that are found only from NPC loot but are not particularly rare. I call these “Named” weapons. They differ from the standard in many ways and you must compare them to see the differences as a weapon can be easier to fit but have less damage or can be good damage but poor rat of fire. After the basic named weapons are the “Tech 2” weapons. Tech 2 equipment is the best that can be mass produced. They are more expensive and have higher fitting and skill requirements but their statistics often make it worthwhile. Most PvP ships are at least Tech 2 fitted. Tech 2 weapons are the only weapons that can use Tech 2 ammo. Mission runners should be aiming for these after their tank is stable. The next level is “Faction Weapons”. These are usually equal to or superior to Tech 2 but are often easier to fit. They are expensive and only come from special sources. New players should wait a while before using these. It really hurts when you lose them. The last grade of weapons is called “Officer” and they only come from ultra-rare spawns in 0.0 space called Officer Spawns. They cost a fortune (we’re talking billions) and can get you killed. While they are excellent weapons, people will sometimes hunt you hoping that a few of them will drop as loot.

Overall, Tech 2 weapons are an excellent choice. By the time you can use them you should be making enough money to buy them easily. The option of T2 ammo is also worthwhile as it is usually less expensive than faction ammo.

Ammo comes in three quality grades; Standard, Tech 2 and Faction. Standard is just what it sounds like. The ordinary stuff which can be mass produced. Cheap but works. Tech 2 ammo can only be used in Tech 2 weapons. It usually comes in two types for each gun; long range or high damage. You need more skills for T2 ammo and there are some small disadvantages in using it (listed in the description) but on the whole it is cheaper than faction ammo and just as effective. T2 ammo can be mass produced. The last grade of ammo is Faction ammo. This is only sourced from faction rats or NPC corps as loyalty rewards. However you can buy it from the market and many pilots make good money using loyalty points to buy from the NPCs and sell it to pilots like you. The statistics on this ammo is superior to T1 stuff and sometimes to T2 ammo. There are no disadvantages in using it and it can be used in any weapon so there are no skill requirements. The problem is it is very expensive. If you are not careful you will spend more killing a rat than the rat was worth. PvP players should limit how much they take with them on roams or risk leaving a large amount in their wreck unused.

Guns
This section covers Hybrid weapons, Projectile weapons and Laser weapons. Each of these weapon groups uses ammo of different kinds. While it may seem odd that a laser would use ammo, they in fact use “frequency crystals” that affect the beam that is projected. The ammo for each weapon type comes in several varieties such as antimatter, iridium and lead for hybrid weapons. These varieties differ in range, damage done and sometimes type of damage. For example hybrid ammo has the long range, low damage type called Iron and a short range, high damage type called antimatter. You should have a look at the different ammo types for your weapon of choice and see what the options are. It’s also a good idea to carry several kinds of ammo in your hold so that you can adapt to situations. Many rookies lose their ship because they only had the short range ammo and couldn’t hit the target. There are four sizes of ammo; small, medium, large and extra-large. These ammo sizes match the gun sizes. Small for frigate weapons, medium for cruisers, large for battleships and extra-large for capital ship weapons.

Each weapon group has its own damage types. Hybrid do thermal and kinetic damage and this is only slightly affected by ammo choice. Lasers do thermal and EM damage and the frequency crystal you use can change the proportions of each. Projectile ammo is basically explosive and kinetic but you can get ammo that does some thermal or EM damage making it very versatile. You should know the damage types you are doing with your guns so that you can compare them against the enemy’s shield and armour resistances. Doing the right damage against a target will make killing it a lot easier.

Each gun type has two subtypes. Hybrids have Blasters and Railguns. Lasers have Pulse and Beam. Projectiles have Autocannons and Artillery. The subtypes differ in range and damage. Blasters, Pulse Lasers and Autocannons are high damage, high rate of fire, high tracking speed (see below) and low range. There are differences again between the different weapon types. Blasters are known for being some of the highest damage dealing weapons in the game but the range is very short. Meanwhile, pulse lasers can still reach respectable ranges. Railguns, Beam Lasers and Artillery have longer ranges but their rate of fire, damage and tracking speed are less. They are intended for targets at longer ranges. In each size group (except extra-large) there are three grades of weapon. For example, small railguns have the 75mm Gatling Rail, the 125mm Railgun and the 150mm Railgun. These differ in rate of fire, damage output, tracking speed, range and fitting requirements. This makes a total of six “types” of gun for each size group (except extra-large).

With all the different options you have it is hard to work out what the final statistics are on a weapon. Your skills will also change the calculations and ships often have modifiers to weapons. There is an easy way to work out the stats for a weapon with everything included. Get in your ship then go to the fitting window. Fit the gun to your ship, load it with ammo, and right click on the gun. Select “Show info”. The window you get under these conditions shows you the modified statistics for the gun with that ammo loaded. Compare this to the show info window you got from a gun in your hangar or on the market. You will see the difference. You can also right click on your guns in space to get the same info window for emergency reference.

Hybrid and Laser weapons use capacitor power to fire. This also is affected by ammo type with short range ammo using the most. If your capacitor is so low that there is not enough power to fire the gun (or group) then your guns will turn off. It is important to factor the gun firing into capacitor calculations when working out your tank as the amount adds up across 6-8 guns. Projectile weapons use no capacitor power to fire.

All guns have four critical properties; Optimal Range, Accuracy Falloff, Tracking Speed and Signature Resolution. These are as important as the damage the guns do because if you don’t fly to suit them you won’t hit your target. Here is a brief description.
  • Optimal Range – The guns will hit a stationary target 100% of the time out to this range.
  • Accuracy Falloff – At range equal to Optimal out to range equal to Optimal + Falloff, the chance of hitting a stationary target slides from 100% down to 50%. This means a ship can hit a target at inside Optimal + 2 x Falloff but the chances aren’t great until it gets to Optimal range.
  • Tracking Speed – This is how fast the gun moves to follow a target. If the target is going around you faster than this number then the gun CANNOT hit it.
  • Signature Resolution – This is a measure of the gun’s scatter. Shots are expected to hit inside this radius. If your Signature Resolution is bigger than the Signature Radius of the target ship then you will miss with some of your shots.
These properties are so important to how guns work that I recommend everyone looks at this tutorial that CCP set up. Tracking Tutorial  If you are finding that you cannot hit targets or miss often then you are probably running afoul of these properties. New players often get their first cruiser or battlecruiser and discover they can’t hit the frigate sized rats in missions. This is because either the guns have larger signature resolution than the frigate size and the weapons just missed or the frigates got so close or are moving so fast that the larger guns can’t keep up with them. All large ships need to consider during the design phase how to deal with small ships. If you can’t fit a full set of medium/large guns on the high slots, consider fitting a small gun for anti frigate work. Drones are often used to deal with this problem.

Missile Launchers
There are different types of missile launcher for each size group. Rocket Launchers and Standard Missile Launchers for the small weapons. Assault Missile Launchers, Heavy Assault Missile Launchers and Heavy Missile launchers for the medium weapons. Cruise Missile Launchers and Siege Launchers for the large weapons. There are Citadel Cruise Missile Launchers for Capital Ships. Each type takes its own size of missile but each missile size comes in four damage types. This means that a missile launcher of any kind is capable of launching any type of damage. Missile launchers also use no capacitor power to fire. The different types of launcher vary in capacity, rate of fire and fitting requirements. The missiles determine speed, flight time, damage and explosion radius. Note that you need the skill to use the launcher AND the skill to use the missile as they are different.

Missiles are very versatile as they can be changed to suit the enemy you are engaged with. They also have a Friend or Foe version for light, heavy and cruise missiles. This version does not need a target lock and is great for when you have been jammed. Also missile launchers can fit the only anti-missile system in the game called Defenders. These are somewhat limited and aren’t the “missile shield” we wish they were.

To work out range for a missile you need to put it in a launcher and fit it to your ship. Right click on your ship and select “Show info”. There will be a tab called “Modules”. Scroll down through that until you see the missile and then get the info on the missiles (right-click > Show info). The window you see should have the missile statistics modified for skills, modules and ship. Multiply the velocity times the flight time and you will get the number of metres the missile will fly. Remember that a missile will have to chase a target so this won’t be exact.

Missiles have two important characteristics; Explosion Speed and Explosion Radius. If a target is moving faster than the Explosion Speed of the missile when it hits then the missile will do no real damage. This is a big problem for battleships using cruise missiles and torpedos as they will not hurt frigates. Some frigates are so fast that they can outrun the missile completely. Explosion Radius represents the area the damage is done to. Bigger missiles have bigger explosive radius. If a target is smaller than the Explosive Radius then only part of the damage of the missile will be done to the target proportional to the size difference. The rest is wasted. Don’t confuse this with area effects. A missile cannot hurt more than one target. This is another reason why medium and large missiles have trouble against frigates as they are doing less damage per hit.

Missiles are great for PvE such as missions and complexes. They are heavily debated in PvP circles. The main argument against them is the time it take for a missile to hit. This delay often means you miss out on getting on a killmail.

Using FoF Missiles
FoF missiles will fire at the nearest hostile target without requiring a lock. This causes a few problems. First, a PvP foe will not be “hostile” until he attacks you. Even if the foe attacks other fleet members it is not sufficient. Second, attacking drones count as hostile targets so they will be shot first since they will likely be closer. Third, there is no concentrated fire if there are multiple things at the same range. This means they will spread fire among all attacking drones. Lastly, some structures in missions count as “hostile” and will draw fire. This only really affects mission runners but it seems to exist so people can’t run missions AFK. However, if your enemy is the only hostile target in range and you are jammed then these are your best hope. Manoeuvring is the key to using these effectively. Move away from anything that will draw the FoFs off target. If there is a valid target in range, FoFs will continue to fire until the launcher is depleted.

Using Defenders
Defenders can be put in any launcher available except Citadel Cruise Launchers. They don’t change with launcher type but the rate of fire and ammo capacity depends on the launcher. This makes rocket launchers and standard launchers the best options if you plan to use these. You activate your Defender when an enemy missile is inbound on you. The launcher won’t activate if there are no eligible targets. If there is an eligible target, the defender will launch and try to intercept the closest missile to you. If it reaches the target in time it will destroy it. When the launcher cycles, the defender will fire again if there is another missile homing in on you. It will stop if there are no targets or it runs out of Defenders. The problem with defenders is that it will fire at missiles it cannot reach in time wasting the shot. It is also not smart enough to re-target if a missile is destroyed while it is in flight. This makes using more than one launcher much less useful as two launchers will probably target the same missile. However, they are a method of reducing the incoming DPS from missile users. They are effective against cruise missiles and torpedos, especially in missions. Mission rats use them regularly and they seem to always get it right. Unfortunately, they will not target missiles chasing a friendly ship.

Drones
Everyone should learn to use drones. Gallente pilots should learn to use drones early. Broad statements but her is the reasoning for it. For Gallente ships, drone are an integral part of the ship's fire-power. If you aren't using them you aren't using the ship to its potential. I say all pilots should learn drones because most large ships use them as a frigate defence system. A battleship with large guns on it will have to rely on drones to kill close frigate targets. Your large weapons just wont hurt them. Since frigates often have a warp disruptor fitted you will find it critical to deal with them.

Drones must be loaded into the drone bay of your ship before leaving station. When you undock, you will find a new window under the Overview called “Drones”. There are folders there for your drone bay and local space. Expand them by clicking on them. You'll find the drones in the bay ready to deploy. You can put drones into “groups” which are just like folders to sort them. This allows you to give orders to a group easily. Launch or give orders to a drone or group by right-clicking on it. Make sure to remember to recall your drones after a battle or you will lose them.

There is a different drone for each damage type and a set of Ewar and Logistics drones. This makes them very versatile. Drones can be shot down though so you need to watch over then carefully or they wont be there when you need them. They have a damage readout in the drone window.

Ewar Modules
There are so many Ewar modules that I'll cover each in a brief note.
  • ECM – These have a percentage chance each cycle to block your targeting for 20 seconds.
  • Sensor Dampeners – These will either reduce your targeting range or increase the time to lock a target. Not very effective against rats.
  • Stasis Webifiers – This module will slow a target down. This is great for holding them still for guns to hit them.
  • Warp Disruptors – This module will stop your warp drive from working. An essential PvP module.
  • Warp Scramblers – This module will block your warp drive AND turn off your microwarpdrive. Also common in PvP.
  • Weapon Disruptors - This will either ruin the tracking or optimal range of a target's guns (not missiles). The Optimal range option works against rats and in effect reduces the dps from a ship.

Speciality Weapons
Here is a brief description of what these weapons do;
  • Smartbombs – this does an area effect blast of damage to all ships in range. Very dangerous to use in high sec. If you hit a gate or neutral structure/ship you will be attacked by CONCORD.
  • Nosferatus – These modules suck s little bit of cap from an enemy ship and put it into yours. An option to power a ship at close range. Will not suck a target dry of cap.
  • Energy Neutralisers – This module uses your capacitor to destroy some of the target's capacitor. You can drain a target to zero cap with these modules. Very power hungry.

Using the Market Without Losing Money

The Eve market is a huge complex and slightly scary thing.  The market system is very different from other MMOs and this gets people into trouble sometimes.  I'm going to try show you the basics so you can use the market without losing money and ships.  Yes that's right, you could lose your ship if you make a mistake. I'll explain that later.

The most important difference between the Eve Market and other games is that in Eve, goods are not magically transported around the galaxy.  When you buy something it appears in the items hangar of the station it was on when listed on the market.  That means that it might be many jumps from where you are.  You should always know where the item you are buying is.  The station the item is on is listed in the Details screen of the market.  I'll walk you through this screen later.

Here is the basic market screen;
The Eve universe is divided into regions.  Each region has its own market which is separate and invisible to other markets. The region of the market is listed in the top left of the screen.

Under the Browse tab there is a list of folders with categories of goods.  These expand when you click on them showing individual products. When you click on a sub-folder you will probably get the Groups screen shown on the right side.  Note the tab at the top says Groups.  This should be used as an info screen only. The price shown on this screen is conjured up by some arcane magic that CCP developed and is not right. You should never buy anything from this screen. That is because you have no idea where the item is when you buy it and you aren't being shown the lowest price anyway. Click the View Details button or a specific item to get the Details screen.

Below is the screen you get when you select a specific item.
This screen shows the sales info for a specific item. The item name is listed at the top.  Above it is the item group.  you can click on the item group to get the Group screen again.The Details screen is divided into to areas.  At the top is the Sellers which list all the people selling items. On the bottom is the Buyers section.  People who wish to buy this item have orders on this screen.  Both screens can be sorted by their columns.  The best way is to sort the Sellers so the cheapest price is at the top and sort the Buyers so the highest price is at the top.  Do this by clicking on the Price heading until the entries sort properly.

There is a search tab that will allow you to search for a word or phrase. This is a great way to find stuff you are looking for. At any time you can right click on an item, or its link in chat/email/post and select "View Market Info".  This will show you the details page for that item.

Buying Things
Lets say you want to buy something right now.  Look at the Sellers screen.  The image has the cheapest item at the top but that shows as being in a station 7 jumps away (see column called Jumps).  The exact location is listed in the Locations column.  I don't want to travel 7 jumps so I look down the Jumps column for a entry that says either System (meaning in the same system as you) or Station which means the item is on the station you are on.  To buy the item I right click on it in the grid and select Buy this.  You should now get a little window which will let you set the number of items you wish to buy.  If you have a button in the bottom right that is marked "Simple" then press it because you are currently in the wrong screen.  When you have set the quantity then select buy and the goods will appear in your items hangar.

There is no reason you can't buy items many jumps away if you are willing to go get them.  Many traders do this. However you should always check the security rating of the system before buying.  The easiest way to do this is to right click on the order > Location > Set Destination. Now look at your auto path and see if any systems are low sec.  This is where new pilots often lose their ships.  They buy something cheap in a low sec system and get blown up trying to retrieve it.

You cannot buy more items than are listed at that location.  So on the example above, I cannot buy more than 4 Large Armor Repairer is at Grinacanne.  There just isn't any more. If you try to buy a object from a station with multiple orders (eg Dodixie above) and you right click on an order that is not the lowest at that station, you will in fact buy the lowest item at the price of the higher item.  That is, the owner of the cheapest order with sell his item to you at the price of the higher order.

Selling Things
There are two ways to sell things on the market; Quick Sell and Sell Order.  Quick Selling is selling to the highest Buyer price in range. This is not always a good idea as many places have really low buyer orders and you will not get the full value of the item. On rare occasions there are no buy orders for that item and you cannot sell it that way.  The orders marked in green on the Buyers screen are the orders in range of your location.  Quick selling will sell to the highest of those orders.  To Quick Sell an item right click on it and select "Sell this item". If the new screen has a button called Simple at the bottom right then click it as you are in the wrong window. The new window will list the offered price, how many will be bought, the sales tax and finally the total you will get.  Pushing Sell now will sell the items. There is a Magnifier glass button on the bottom right.  This will show you the market information for that item.  Its worth checking this first to see if the buy order you are selling to is reasonable or not.

If you want to put something on the market and try get a better price for it then you will need to use a Sell Order.  Order slots are something you get from skills like Trade and Retail.  Its worth everyone getting a few levels of these so you can sell your stuff.   Right click  on the item you want to sell and select "Sell this Item".  Now check that the button in the bottom left says "Simple". If it says "Advanced" then click it to get to the right screen.  Use the magnifier glass to get the price info on the item.  Now set the price you want for the item in the top box next to Ask Price.  The quantity will be set to how many you have but you may reduce it if you want. Now set how long you want the order to run in the Duration box.  When you are ready click Sell and the order will go on the market.  It will then wait for someone to come along and buy it.  Your orders will show as Blue on the market screen making it easy to see them when updating prices.  you will have to come back periodically to adjust your price so you are the lowest on the market at that location.

Creating Buy Orders
Buy orders allow you to buy goods cheaper if you are willing to wait for it.  Some people don't want to wait for a sell order to sell so they sell the the highest buy order in range.  This is a common way to obtain minerals and other manufacturing components. You essentially list an order with how much you want and how much you are willing to pay for it.  Then wait for someone willing to sell at that price.

To create a buy order, first get the market information on the item you buy either using the Browse or search or by right-click > "View market details" on the item. At the bottom of the Buyers window is a button called Place Market Order.  Click it and the advanced buy window will open. You can set what station the order will be on by clicking on the Location > Select Station. Note you will need the Procurement skill to place buy orders at range from a station. Next step is to fill in a price you wish to pay for the goods.  At the Quantity section set how many items you want.  Also set the minimum amount you will buy at one time.  This is helpful to avoid having a single unit of tritanium on a dozen stations. Next set the duration of the order.  There is not much reason not to set it to max.  Lastly set the range of the order.  You will need the Visibility skill to use this.  This allows you to buy items in an area with the station as its centre.  Be careful using this as you can't stop it buying stuff in low sec systems. Also you will find that you will have items spread over a wide area and it will take time and/or money to retrieve them. This is why you set a minimum buy quantity so you don't make trips for worthless quantities of goods.

Pro Tips
  • In the Settings tab turn on Mark my Orders.  This will show your orders in the details screen with a blue background.
  • Buy orders affecting your current location will be shown in green.
  • Items on the market in stations on your autopilot path will show with yellow text.
  • Orders with with an "Expires in" value of 364 days are NPC orders seeded on the market.  All others are player orders.
  • You can reduce your taxes and broker fees using the Accounting and Broker Relations skills.
  • Items must be repackaged to sell on the market which means they must be repaired too.
  • The Price history tab will give you historical data about prices in graph or table form.
  • When buying for the corporation, the items will appear in the Deliveries Hangar. See the Deliveries button at the bottom of the station services panel.
  • You can add items to your Quickbar for fast reference in future.  You may also make folders to keep these links in order.

Thursday 12 April 2012

Surviving Low Security Space


Low sec space is 0.4 and down to 0.1. In low sec people may attack you and they will only suffer a small security rating loss and the station and gate guns will fire at them. Otherwise there are no penalties. Obviously pirates roam this region looking for easy kills.

Local Chat
When in low sec or null sec your local chat window is an essential tool. You should have it somewhere you can see it all the time. My local chat is separate from all other chat windows allowing me to always see in a glance who is in the system. You should always know when someone has entered the system. No AFK moments in low sec unless you cloak somewhere safe. If you see someone enter your system you should immediately decide how to deal with it. Leaving the system or docking is the safest option. Going to a safespot (see below) and cloaking is next best. Lastly hanging in a safespot is mostly safe as long as you watch for probes. If you choose to continue what you are doing, then you should be prepared for company. Move away from standard warp in points. Keep an eye on your overview for ships. Use your directional scanner (see below).

Safespots
Safespots are places you cannot warp to using the system menu. That means they are away from normal features like planets, moons and belts. You can only be found in a safespot by combat scanner probes or if you have shared your safespot. To make a safespot first open the map and go to the solar system view. Find two places you can warp to like planets or gates that are far apart. Warp to one. Now open the People and Places window and go to Places tab. Warp to your other target. While in warp, before reaching the other end, click the "Add location" button and save a bookmark. Don't name it yet, you need to be fast. The bookmark should show as an icon in the map view. It should have marked a spot part way between the two planets/gates/etc that you were warping between. This is often enough but for more security you can go one step further. Warp to the bookmark you made. Now warp to a different celestial object and bookmark another spot. This spot should be completely off the paths between planets/gates/stations/etc. You should rename your bookmark and put it in a SAFESPOT folder. Its worth making safespots as the first thing you do in a system. You may even need them in high sec if a war breaks out.

The Directional Scanner
The Scanner is the button middle left of the HUD. It has three modes. You need the tab called Directional Scanner. You can use the DS as a early warning system and intel gathering tool. The max range on the Scanner is about 14.5 AU but you can set that in the range box. Check the "Use overview settings" box to give a scan of all ships in range. Uncheck it to see if someone has combat scanner probes (or Sisters combat scanner probes) out looking for you. Use the scanner to determine what the newest person in local is flying and is he likely to be a threat. You can detect people coming towards you by setting the scanner to 1-2 AU and scanning regularly. If someone shows up then they are close.

Consider adding probes to your overview setting to make scanning for them easier.

The directional scanner can be used to find people in a system but that is an advanced technique. Be aware that if you can see them on the scanner they can see you and maybe find you. Cloaked ships don't show up on the scanner.

Its a Killing Field Out There
Don't assume that people need a reason to shoot you. They have one. You are worth points on their killboard. People will kill you for no other reason. Some people will act friendly afterward but they are after ship kills and will probably kill you again if they get the chance. They will also kill your pod. Sometimes you can pay a ransom to escape death but pirates aren't known for their trustworthiness.

The Price of Survival is Eternal Vigilance
In low sec you must always be alert to danger. You cannot afford to go AFK without a cloak. You should always be watching local and always know when someone enters the system. If you must go afk either cloak in a safespot or leave. Another thing you need to do is plan your escape in advance. Many pilots lose their chance to escape trying to decide what to do. Try to avoid dying to indecision or panic. Its worth aligning to a celestial object so you can warp almost instantly. Also you should avoid being at the most likely warp in point for a aggressor. That means don't be at 0 km on a belt or right next to the warp in point for a complex. Remember that an overloaded tech 2 Warp Disruptor can manage about 28.8km You should be much further away than this.

Getting Caught on a Gate
The most dangerous places in Low Sec or Null Sec are gates and stations. This is where people will wait for you. If you go through a gate and find enemy on the other side remember that you have 30 seconds of gate cloak. Take a little time to assess the situation and let your client load everything. This will avoid the system lagging when you move. You should also let the session timer run out. This is only about 10 seconds now so its done quickly. If there were no enemy on the previous side of the gate then your best option is to run back to the gate and jump through. If the enemy attack you they wont be able to use the gate. Remember to not attack. If you attack someone, the gate will refuse you access for 30 seconds.

Null Sec
Null sec is 0.0 space. Its important to note that things get more dangerous as you go from one to the other. You must always know what sort of space you are in or going to. The first system of 0.0 in a pipe is usually camped and often has a warp disruption bubble established at the gate. This is an area effect warp disruptor so you will be unable to warp inside the bubble.

There are no rules in most 0.0 space. People may attack you with no consequences there. In addition devices like warp bubbles and Bombs are allowed to work in 0.0 space. These make gates and stations very dangerous as you could be trapped away from safety.

Its important to remember that in Non-NPC space (eg Serpentis) the stations are owned by alliances. That means they decide who is allowed to dock. Usually that means you cannot dock in alliance space.

Warp Bubbles
Warp bubbles are area effect warp disruptors. You cannot go to warp inside these bubbles (with one exception). They can be haulled and anchored like cans or they can be fitted to Interdictors and Heavy Interdictors. They will pull you out of warp short of your target or suck you beyond your target if they are in line with your warp. This means you will be a long way from safety and probably surrounded. In 0.0 space it is never a good idea to warp between one gate/station and another directly. People set up bubbles to catch those that do. You are better off warping to a celestial off to one side and coming in at an angle. The best solution though is to have tactical warp points set up (see below).

If you come through a gate and discover you are in a bubble and there are ships waiting for you then the best way to escape is to do the following. Wait for your session timer to run out then run back to the gate at full speed and jump through. Hopefully no-one will stop you and you can escape on the other side.

Tactical Bookmarks
These are bookmarks at stations, POS and Gates that are over 150km away from the feature but are close enough to see if a bubble or camp is there. 250-300km is ideal. You will be able to warp from a tactical to the gate/station/etc if its clear and avoid traps. To make them you just need a fast ship. Keep your tactical bookmarks in a separate folder for easy reference. They will always be useful.

Eve Survival Skills


These are basic high sec survival skills which you need to know. What's more, knowing them is not enough. You must always be ready to use them at the right moment. The biggest killers in combat situations are uncertainty and hesitation. You will have to practice some of these skills to be sure you have them right when you need them.

Check Local

If your corporation is at war you should ALWAYS check local chat for war targets BEFORE undocking. It must be habit. If there is a war target in system then you should reconsider undocking. Also see Escape Points below. This is such a simple concept that people don't realise how vital it is. Always check.

Escape Points

An Escape Point is a Bookmark directly ahead of the undock path from a station that will allow you to go to warp nearly instantly when you undock. This works because you launch at higher than your minimum warp speed and you have lined up the point so you are aligned to warp as you leave the station. The point is always more than 150km (warp range) from the station but is better off being off grid (where you can't see the other ships at the station). If an escape point is properly set up, a Frieghter can undock and get to warp before it is locked by enemy ships.

IF YOU MUST UNDOCK AND THERE IS A WAR TARGET IN SYSTEM YOU SHOULD ALWAYS USE THE ESCAPE POINT.

Its good practice. It is also good to be ready in case the War Target is outside the station waiting for you. Going "Uh Oh, War Target. Better use the escape." Is too slow to make it work. You will be scrambled and probably killed. Before undocking, open your People and Places and get the bookamrk somewhere on screen. Undock and hover the mouse over the bookmark. As soon as you can click (the mouse pointer changes) you right click and warp. You should warp before the targeting immunity runs out.

To make an escape point you need a fast ship with a Microwarpdrive. Launch from the station and head your ship in the direction of the launch path. This wont be exactly the path you are flying when you launch due to a scatter thing CCP put in. You'll have to judge it. Hit the MWD and burn for a while. I tend to make Escapes at least 1000km from the station. Bookmark the spot and return to the station to test it. For it to be working your ship should do that stutter step just before it goes to warp as soon as you click the bookmark. If the spot isn't quite right warp to it and burn sideways in the direction you think will fix it. Make a new bookmark and test again. For a final test use a big slow ship and see if it is as fast to warp as your frigate.

Redocking

You are alowed to redock 10 seconds after you leave the station.. Your targeting immunity should last 30 seconds. That means you should be able to dock about 10 seconds before someone targets you. If you are warp scrambled at the station and you do not intend to fight, then spam the dock button. You may just escape.

Aggression

You cannot use a stargate or dock in a station for 30 seconds after your last aggressive act. If you attack someone you can't just dock to escape. You will have to call in drones and turn off all offensive modules and then wait 30 seconds. This has two main effects on what pilots do. If the enemy has a big ship with lots of tank, and is at the station or gate, we will not kill him in time before he deaggresses and docks/gates.
The other effect is important. If someone attacks you at a gate, and you have no aggression, you can jump through and that player cannot follow you for 30 seconds. Its a good way to shake a tail. The problem is that experienced PvPers will have someone waiting on the other side.

Getting Your Pod Out

There is no reason to lose your pod in Empire space. The reason for this is that there are no warp bubbles. However, hesitation and lag usually cause people to lose their clone and implants. Again you must know what to do and be ready to do it at the right moment.

When you realise you are going to lose your ship, you should select a distant celestial object (a gate, planet, station, etc). Start spamming the warp to button. Keep going while your hull runs out and you swap into your pod. You should get the command through to the Game in time for the pod to accept instructions. Pods warp almost instantly. As long as you get the command through the lag of swapping vehicles. DO NOT TRY TO DOCK OR USE A GATE. There is a 10 second session timer that activates when you lose your ship and you cannot dock or gate while its counting. Warp out or die. Oh and don't think people wont pod you. People get more points on killboards for a pod than for a shuttle or rookie frigate so they will kill you if they can.

Waking Up In Station

If you find yourself suddenly in a station you have probably been podded. You old body has been "killed" and your clone has been activated. You have also lost any implants you had in that body. Furthermore, you have used up your clone AND YOU MUST MAKE A NEW ONE. You have to go to a medical bay and purchase a clone large enough to hold all your skill points. Do this by opening the Medical Window and going to the "Clone" tab. Select the "Upgrade Clone" button at the bottom. The smallest clone offered is probably enough for you though its worth checking on your character sheet.

If you forget to do this and you lose your pod again you will lose 5% of the training points in one of your skills. Sorry I don't know how they choose the skill.

As you train skills, you will have to upgrade your clone periodically. Make sure you check this often.

Choosing to Join a Player Corporation


There is not a great deal of advantage to be had by staying in a NPC corporation. Only that your corp cannot be at war. Otherwise joining a player corp has many advantages. First is the tax rate is often lower than a NPC corp (11%). This will affect you for mission rewards and bounties. The next benefit is the people in the corp. If you have chosen well, your new corp mates will be very supportive as you start your career. Its for this reason that I recommend that new player don't form their own corp straight away. Join a older corp and draw on the experience of the other members. It will also give you ideas you can incorporate into your corp when you eventually found it.

An important point about being in a player corp is that you can "attack" members of your own corp without any penalties.  This allows for corps to stage matches for training and sport.  It also avoids accidents when working together in missions, complexes or other ops.

When you go looking for a corp to join you must ask a lot of questions. The wrong corp could spoil your Eve experience. Also remember that people will try to scam you occasionally so get as much info as you can. Never pay money to join a corp and only give out your API information if you know exactly what that will do. 

The Corporation Window now has a Corporation search feature. This allows you to punch in your requirements and preferences and search for corps that match. This includes a basic time zone matcher. Be aware that there are other ways to search for corps. You can find corps in the forums or by asking in local. Quality of the results varies though. 

The Corp that will best suit you is one with many members that are active at the same time as you, does the things you want to do and has the same attitude as you. Here is a list of things you should ask any corp you are thinking of joining:
  • What language does the corp use?
  • What does the corp do?
  • How many members are online when you are?
  • What is the corp's attitude towards various grey areas in Eve such as piracy and scamming? You'll find some corps feel strongly about these matters.
  • Check to see if there are incentive and assistance schemes that some corps offer new players.
  • Determine what rights and responsibilities you will have in the corp.
  • Find out where the corp is based and where they tend to gather.
  • Some corps have entry requirements like minimum skills or standings and you should check these.
  • If you want to do research and invention later in your career you should ask about corp access to POS (Player Owned Starbase) and whether you'd be allowed to use them.
  • If you want to get a Jump Clone (spare bodies) you should ask if the corp has access to them.
  • Query the corp on what NPC corporations it has high standings with as these will probably be the corps you will work for if you do missions.
  • If you love forums then find out if the corp has its own forum.
  • Ask about Voice communication setups. Some corps will use the game's provided system while others will use third party software.
  • PvP corps will often have a killboard where you can track your victories and losses against other players. Some will require a minimum number of kills per month.
Once in a corp you will be given roles and/or titles. These determine what you are allowed to do with the corp facilities. The most important one is access to the corp hangars at the various offices. Don't expect to get this straight away. Most corps have a trial period while the directors get to know you. Corp theft is a serious problem in Eve and trust is a valuable commodity. Consider this fact to if you are ever tempted to steal. Corps often contact old corps and find out what they can about a new recruit. This means your reputation as a trustworthy pilot is important. Be sure to realise that in order to do manufacturing or research jobs at a corp POS or for the corp, you will need access to one division of the corp wallet. This means that the CEO and Directors will need to trust you before you can do this. Expect to wait a while before you are permitted these rights.

To join a corporation, Use the People and Places to find the corp or get the info on a pilot in the corp and click on the corp badge. At the bottom of the corp info screen is an “Apply to Join” button. Put a little effort into the email you are sending to the corp senior members as it may affect your entry. You then have to wait for the corp to accept or reject your application. You will need to dock for the change of corp to take affect.

Make an effort to get involved in corp activities. Treat them the same way you would an outing with your friends in the real world. You will find that you will eventually call your corp mates friends. Furthermore, you will get enjoyment out of the activities and a sense of achievement that is independent of your skills. There are also some activities that are dangerous to try alone (such as PvP, wormholes and Incursions) and you will need your corp mates then.

You will probably get a fair bit out of being in the corp. From money to free ships and equipment. You should make an effort to give something back. This is recognised by the CEO and helps towards your reputation. Sometimes its just man hours that is needed such as an escort for the supplies shipment or moving some ships to market. CEOs often have a lot of work to make a corporation vibrant. They will remember you if you help them. Some rare corps even reward actively helpful members with shares or extra privileges.

Thursday 5 April 2012

Choosing and Training for a Career in Eve


After you've done the Career Agent Missions you come to a decision point. What are you going to do in Eve? The first tasks are to train skills and earn money. Skills and money determine what you can do in this game. If you want to fight other players (Player versus Player or PvP) you will need money to buy ships and modules. Want to become a manufacturing guru? You need money for blueprints and materials. Thus you have to choose one of the various basic careers available to you in New Eden.

You will probably find that to begin with you do not have the skills you need to properly pursue your chosen career.  However there are some basic career options that allow you to earn money while you are training.  The Career Agent Missions gave you a basic introduction to each. I'll cover below them and give you some training guidelines for each set. 

Missions

Missions come in three basic types; Security, Mining and Distribution.  Security missions are all combat missions where you will have to fight to complete the mission.  Mining missions require you to collect a set amount of a particular ore (usually an ore specific to the mission). There is a little bit of defence required as rats appear in the mining zone. Distribution missions are courier mission.  You are required to move goods from one place to another. These missions don't involve combat but may occasionally require you to go to low sec space.

The advantage of missions is they are regular, predicable incomes.  Mining and Distribution missions are also usually low risk.  Missions also gain you Standings with the NPC corp you are working for and accumulate Loyalty Points. Standings have several effects on the game.  Good standings are needed to refine or recycle without paying tax, use higher level agents and installing jump clones. As you gain corporate standings you will also gain faction standings with the faction the NPC corp belongs to.  Faction standings are needed to join the militia, erect a POS in empire space, do certain COSMOS missions and dictate what states you can enter safely.   Loyalty points can be traded at the loyalty point stores for each corp.  They can get you implants, skill books, faction ammo and other goods. They are effectively another income source.

Agents are found on stations and come in five levels.  You should always be able to use a level 1 agent. To use level 2 agents you need a corp standing or 1.0. To use a level 3 agent you need a corp standings of 3.0. To use level 4 agents you need 5.0 and level 5 agents need 7.0.  You can find out your standings by going to your character sheet and looking at the standings tab. The Connections skill trained to 3 or 4 will make a big difference to your corp standings and may get you to level 2 agents straight away.

Combat mission are designed for you to step up as you train your skills up. Level 1s can be done in a frigate. Level 2s need a cruiser. A well fit battlecruiser can do level 3s.  Level 4s really need a battleship to begin with but can be done in the various advanced ships available.  Combat missions are the only type with level 5 agents.  These tend to be difficult for a solo player and are usually in low sec. I'll cover training for combat later in this post.

Mining missions start off doable by a mining frigate or mining cruiser.  They progress up to the mining barges and then exhumers.  You could still do them in a basic ship but they will take forever. You will also need a hauler.  Mining missions don't pay a great deal but they are almost immune to idiots trying to harm you or steal your ore. See the mining section for training guide.

Courier missions can be done in frigates and a basic hauler to begin with.  They scale up in need as you progress.  Level 4 mission somtimes need a huge amount of cargo space or a ship set up for low sec operations.  Courier missions are a great way to afk mission since you can set the autopilot and do something else.  If you actively fly the mission you can grind standings very easily. Just be careful of the low sec missions.  Refuse them if you can.  Also choosing an agent a long way from low sec space helps a great deal. 

Its a bad idea to do missions in low sec.  While the money is better you are very vulnerable.  A good probe-using pilot can find your ship in 2 minutes or less. Then you are suddenly fighting a pirate AND the rats in the mission. For new pilots, always check if the mission takes you into low sec somehow.  If it does then refuse it.  You are allowed one free refusal every 4 hours.

Mining

Mining is a consistent and generally risk free method of making money.  It can also be done semi AFK or walked away from with little notice if a few basic precautions are taken. This makes it a common pursuit for people with families or other obligations that might interrupt them.  Your profits are directly related to you mining yield and refining skills.  Mining is also essential for the economy of New Eden.  

Generally you will probably start your mining career in a mining frigate or cruiser.  You will also need a hauler to move your ore from the belt to the station.  The general method is to mine a little ore and then jettison it.  Then open the jetcan you just made and continue mining and placing the ore in the can.  When you have enough, get your hauler and collect the ore.  This method is called "Jetcanning".  

Jetcanning is common but has one major drawback.  People can steal your ore from the can. This happens for two main reasons; first they are after the ore for profit and second they are trying to bait you into a fight. Don't go attacking people that steal your ore.  If they have done it then they have planned for your attack.  There is probably a combat ship ready to show up and kill you. Best option is to ignore them and move. If you have friendly pilots nearby (eg corp members) then a group can secure your ore for you. Don't just attack in your mining ship.  They are expecting that.

To begin with you are going to get more money for selling ore as is than refining it.  This is because your skills and standings are going to cause a loss of minerals. Once you are in a mining barge I recommend working on the refining skills.  Getting some standings with your favourite NPC corp is a good idea too so they don't tax your minerals.

Start by training for a mining cruiser.  Each race has one. Then get Mining to level 4 so you can use the tech 2 mining lasers.  Get Mining Upgrades to 4 so you can use the Mining Laser Upgrade IIs. Next train what you need to protect yourself in a belt.  Drones are perfect and are used by the mining barges. Don't go overboard.  After that I would try to get a mid range hauler and Expanded Cargohold IIs. Now I would start training for the Retriever and strip miners. Skip the Procurer as its not much better than your mining cruiser. Now work on defence and fitting skills and drone skills so you can fit your ship better.  Mining barges are shield tanks and you really want to be able to turn on a shield booster and have it run full time. This for when you are doing your mining while watching a video or similar.  Now you need to train refining skills and start the long training for the best hauler and Covetor.  After that your goal is the the Exhumers and mining crystals used in Modulated Strip Miner IIs.  Note that you should not use Modulated Strip Miner IIs without the right crystal as its yield is less than a normal strip miner.

Combat

Combat is part of many careers in Eve.  Its is a part of Security missions, Ratting (hunting rats in asteroid belts) and exploration to name the basics. Even miners need a little combat ability to clear rats from their belts. Becoming good at combat will open many doors for you in Eve and will provide an insight into business and manufacturing possibilities.

 To begin with, train to use the heavy frigate for your race.  This is the Tristan for Galletne, Kestral for Caldari, Punisher for Amarr and Rifter for Minmatar. Don't wast time training for the destroyers to begin with.  You will need your skills refined before you can make it work. Then you want to get Electronics, Engineering and Weapon Upgrades to 4. These skills increase your ability to fit things to you ship.  Train enough weapon skill to use basic weapons.  Don't go overboard on this yet. Next train the skills relating to your ship defences like Repair Systems, Energy management, Energy System Management, Energy Grid Upgrades.  For shield tanks you need Shield Management, Shield Operation, Shield Compensation and Shield Upgrades. Armour tanks need Mechanics, and Hull Upgrades.  Your goal is to be able to use tech 2 repair and resistance modules like a Damage Control II.  These will make a great difference to your survival. Once you can fit an effective frigate, you can start working on cruiser level skills. Don't jump into a cruiser until you have the skills to use all the cruiser size modules. You will find that the cruiser modules can be used for Battlecruisers so you have a shortcut to your next level.

When designing a ship, you must plan how that ship will deal with frigates. Frigates are what kill you in missions and complexes.  This is because they will web you and sometimes scramble you.  They then hold you helpless in place while their big friends wear you down. Medium and large weapons have trouble killing fast, small and/or close targets.  You need a way to make them killable. Use stasis webifiers, target painters, and drones to even the odds or afterburners and MWD to keep them at long range. 

The Tech 1 ships are good for new pilots because they can be insured for full mineral value. While the tech 2 and tech 3 ships are superior in many ways, they can only be insured for their "mineral" value which is a tiny portion of their real value. This means the advanced ships are for people with established incomes who can afford to replace them. Rookies should stick to the Tech 1 ships until they are confident pilots.

Exploration

Cosmic signatures appear randomly in solar systems across Eve. They are found using Probes.  The sites can be one of  five types; Radar (Hacking), Magnetometric (Salvaging and Archaeology), Ladar (Gas Mining), Gravimetric (Ore Mining) or Unknown (Wormholes or combat complex). You would have got a basic introduction during the Career Agent Missions.  You need to decide which of these you are going to do and train accordingly.  

There are frigates for each race specialised in scanning.  They will give you bonuses to your skills.

Skills:  Astrometric Acquisition, Astrometric Pinpointing, Astrometric Rangefinding. Level 4 is enough for high sec scanning. Consider getting the tech 2 scanning frigate for your race too as they have bonuses to scanning.

Radar Sites: These sites are usually lightly guarded and can be done in a frigate in high sec. They can produce some good money for the time invested in a site.  You will need the Hacking skill to open the cans that appear in the zone. The real prize in high sec is the Decryptors. They sell for millions. Your skill doesn't need to be high for this but a high skill will save you time.

Gravimetric Sites:  These sites often have low sec ores in a safe high sec environment.  This is great if you are a miner.  See the Mining section for the kind of skills you need.  If you aren't a miner and you have a good site, try selling the bookmark to local miners for either a fee or a percentage of the mined ore.

Magnetometric Sites: These sites have cans that need either a Salvager or an Analyser to open.  They yield salvage materials and skill books.  Sometimes you get Tech 2 salvage. They are lightly guarded  in a high sec site and they don't tend to be really profitable.  A scanning frigate with the right modules is enough for these sites.

Wormholes: I recommend that rookie pilots leave Wormholes alone until they are well established in Eve. Wormhole space is extremely dangerous and often owned by a corp that will not like you being there. 

Ladar Sites: I have never encountered a Ladar site in high sec.  I do not know if they exist.

Combat Complexes:  This is where the real money in high sec exploring comes from.  These plexes (short for Complexes) have the chance of dropping rare faction modules. I've seen drops over 200 MISK before.  You will often need a really good combat ship to do these plexes.  Often the final room is a lot of incoming damage and a tough boss ship. Consider getting corpmates to help but act quickly.  There are so many people scanning these days that a site doesn't stay around long. 

Most sites are detailed somewhere on the internet.  The Evelopedia is a good place to start.  Do some research first because you might be supposed to destroy some building or something to complete the plex.

Some sites are limited in how be a ship may enter. These sites have DED ratings. 1/10 is frigates only, 2 is destroyers, 3 is cruisers and 4 is battlecruisers and down.  They are referring to ship size not Tech so a Tech 2 Cruiser can get into a 3/10 zone. Be aware that some people will race you to the final goal and/or steal it at the end. Not a lot you can do about this unless you are in a good PvP ship and they steal from you.  Don't get yourself killed for nothing. Overseer ships often salvage into Tech 2 salvage parts so having a salvager along is a good idea.

Industry

Industry is building things.  There are a huge number of things to build in Eve and it can be a little bewildering. The place to start is with Ammo and small ships.  Pick things which are being used in your area.  Have a look at the market and go to the sales data. There it tells you how many of an item is sold each day.  That gives you an idea of what is being bought. Then you need the blueprints.  Blueprints have a quality in the form of Material Level (ME) and Production Level (PE). The production level is pretty unimportant in high sec as the build cost at NPC stations is pretty low.  However the ME level of a blueprint dictates its wastage. Your skill in Production Efficiency also dictates the amount of wastage and serious manufacturers get this to level 5 as soon as possible. The blueprint will have a Bill of Materials and this lists the skills and components needed to make one batch of the item. Check this before you buy the blueprint so you don't get caught out with something you can't build.  

Blueprint Originals (BPOs) can be bought from NPC stations.  They are un-researched. You will need access to a lab to research them.  you corp may have labs or you can use the public labs.  Public labs often have long wait times so are a poor option. You can get researched BPOs and blueprint copies (BPCs) from the Contracts market.  This will save you some time in set-up if you have the capital.

You are going to need a hauler to move your goods around.  Be careful not to carry really valuable loads in a untanked ship.  People will suicide there ships to destroy you and loot your wreck. When your empire is more extensive, consider using courier contracts.  people will move things for small fees.  This is the only way you can insure your cargo.

Get some Sales skills so you can buy materials and sell your goods.  You will increase your margins if you use buy orders rather than buying straight from the market.

Business

Eve has a market system that does not magically transport goods around the galaxy.  If you buy something then it is one the station it was being sold from. That means there is a profit to be made moving good from one place to another.  Buy low in one place, move goods and sell high in the new market.  The main trade hubs are Jita, Dodixie, Amarr and Rens. They are fairly busy hubs and selling there is difficult.  Moving goods out to minor hubs can net you profit.  you could also buy goods cheap from the provinces and sell it in the hubs. There are a lot of options.

You need Trade skills to be a successful merchant. First get a some order slots by training Trade and Retail. Then get a hauler so you can move your goods. Alternately train Contracting so you can use courier contracts to pay other people to move your stuff. Then its a good idea to train Accounting and Broker Relations to reduce the taxes and fees you pay. Next train the skills that let you place and adjust orders at range.  This will cut down on your travelling. Some people will say train for a freighter.  This is a good idea if you are having trouble getting your good moved by contracts.  Freighters are difficult to suicide gank so they can move expensive cargoes more easily.  I'd avoid having more than 3 BISK in your hold though.

This career is about research.  you need to look at the market and see what sells where.  you can also do deals with industrial pilots to sell their goods. There are a lot of options available to you.