A few pointers on skills:
The training system in EVE is a bit different from other games. Most traditional games like World of Warcraft require you to grind “XP” to “level up.” In EVE, your character's skill progression advances constantly, whether or not you are even logged in. On top of that, there are no “talent trees” or other crazy point-buy systems to unlock by leveling up. Any player can train into any ship/role/job they want, provided they wait through the training time.
Despite what you may have heard, this does not lend an unfair advantage to older players; there are only so many skills that will affect any particular ship. A player who has played for 2 years might be able to fly the fearsome, projectile-turret-oriented Maelstrom battleship near-perfectly, but they might be outclassed while flying the missile-oriented Caracal Cruiser by a 3-month-old newbie who has trained the relevant skills higher.
So, how is the time it takes you to train a particular skill calculated? The number of skill points necessary to train a skill is determined by the skill's rank, also known as its training time multiplier, while the rate at which you get new skill points is determined by your attributes.
The base numbers of skill points (SP) required to train a skill with a training time multiplier of 1x (like Navigation, for example) go like this:
When training from one level to the next you start with the skill points you accumulated training the previous level - so, for example, if you start training Navigation IV, you will already have 8,000 SP in the skill and will need to train 37,255 more SP to move from III to IV.
If a skill has a training multiplier higher than 1, the numbers of SP required for each level are multiplied by that number. So, for example, Evasive Maneuvering has a training time multiplier of 2x, and you need to accumulate 500 SP (250 x 2) to train it to I, 2,828 SP to train it to II and so forth.
The better the benefits of a skill or the equipment it lets you use, the higher its training time multiplier, or 'rank' as it's sometimes called, tends to be. Amarr Titan, for example, has a x16 training multiplier – you need to accumulate 4,096,000 SP to train it to V.
Skill Points = 250 * Multiplier * sqrt(32)^(Level-1)
Another way to increase your character's attributes is through plugging implants into your head. The first five numbered slots on your character sheet's Augmentations window are for attribute enhancers, implants which each give a bonus (from +1 to +5) to one of your five attributes. Unfortunately, if your pod is destroyed all your implants in the clone piloting it are destroyed as well.
The +1/2/3 implants are relatively cheap and you only need to train Cybernetics I to use them, so it's worth investing in these as soon as you can as, even with the smaller bonuses, they reduce training time by a significant amount. Storyline missions sometimes offer an implant as a reward so if you're running missions you may find yourself collecting some implants. Members of EVE University can also take advantage of the Implant Program to buy significantly discounted +3 implants.
Do note that there are also slot 1-5 implants (sometimes known as Pirate Implants) that also provide other bonuses, in addition to attribute increases. While these are usually more expensive, do check the markets carefully, as sometimes some “Low-Grade” ones, which are +2 to an attribute, are occasionally less expensive than the equivalent +2 implant (“Limited <type> - Beta”). See the list here.
If you're podded any implants you are wearing will be destroyed - you can set up a jump clone with cheaper implants, or no implants at all, and jump into it when you want to PvP to lower the amount of ISK you're putting at risk.
Since the more powerful +4 and +5 implants can be quite expensive, particularly for a newer pilot, one common trick is to arrange your skill plan so that you're only training skills which rely on the same two attributes, and then only plug in attribute enhancers for those two attributes. This way you only have to pay for two implants rather than four or five.
The advantage of implants is that they require minimal training time (Cybernetics only), giving you an immediate boost to training time which can quickly add up to months of time saved. The disadvantage is their cost, coupled with the fact that they are lost if your pod is killed
Occasionally there are in game events like the Crimson Harvest that yield cerebral accelerators, which are consumed like boosters and give temporary bonuses to all five of a character's attributes. These only last a short time, and have a cut off date some time after the in game event after which they will no longer have any effect.
Name | Bonus | Duration | Source |
---|---|---|---|
Blood Raider Cerebral Accelerator | +10 | 24 hours | Crimson Harvest |
Advanced Blood Raider Cerebral Accelerator | +12 | ||
Copper Ouroboros Accelerator | +10 | 12 hours | Shadow of the Serpent |
Silver Ouroboros Accelerator | 72 hours | ||
Gold Ouroboros Accelerator | 120 hours |
Neural remapping doesn't let you boost your attributes overall, but it lets you take points away from one base attribute score and add them to another. The remap interface can be accessed through the Attributes tab of your Character Sheet.
Remapping can have long-term consequences. Make sure you know what you're doing!
There are a number of rules governing remapping:
The common strategy for remapping is to put together a long-term skill plan which majors on skills which use a particular two attributes, and then remap so that you denude all your other attribute scores and pump up those two attributes.
If you create a long skill plan in EveMon, you can use one of the options of its 'Optimize Attributes' function to calculate which arrangement of attributes would be best for the first year of your plan. However, if you're new to the game your future career plans are quite likely to change as you explore the game, so making a year long plan after a few weeks isn't very realistic. Be frugal with your remaps for a little while until you get an idea for what you want to do.
Skills are divided into 23 subcategories where within those subcategories lies the individual skills. I am not going to list and describe every skill in Eve Online, you can read the descriptions in-game. I will, however, briefly explain each subcategory and what they contain.
Category | Description |
---|---|
Spaceship Command | Contains all the skills needed to fly ships in Eve Online. Every ship in the game requires at least one skill from this subcategory |
Navigation | Contains the skills required to improve the movement of your ship |
Engineering | Contains mostly skills that revolve around Power Grid and CPU management |
Subsystems | Contains skills required in order to fly Tech 3 Strategic Cruisers |
Armor | This subcategory contains skills that are important to armor tanking and defensive armor bonuses |
Shields | Contains skills that are important to shield tanking and defensive shield bonuses |
Targeting | Contains skills that affect your ships targeting |
Gunnery | Contains skills that allow you to use every type of weapon system, except missiles in the game |
Missiles | Contains skills that allow you to use missile weapon systems in the game |
Drones | Contains skills that allow you to use drones |
Electronic Systems | Contains skills that allow you to use Electronic Warfare devices |
Scanning | Contains skills that allow you to use scanner probes and scan more effectively as well as Hacking for Exploration sites |
Rigging | Contains skills that reduce the penalties or drawbacks that come with attaching Rigs to your ship |
Social | Contains skills that determine how fast or how slow you can change Faction Standing with other factions throughout Eve |
Fleet Support | Contains skills that allow you to use Command Ships to boost the abilities of friendly ships |
Corporation Management | Contains skills that allow you run Corporations, Alliances, and manage their size (Like TEST) |
Trade | Contains skills that manipulate the Market |
Neural Enhancement | Contains skills for Implants, Jump Clones, and Medical Boosters |
Production | Contains skills that allow you create all the items of Eve |
Science | Contains skills that allow you do Research and Invention |
Resource Processing | Contains skills that help you become more efficient at reprocessing ore that you gain through Mining |
Planet Management | Contains skills that allow you to interact with planets and take part in Planetary Interaction |
Structure Management | Contains skills that anchor and deploy structures in space such as Citadels |