[Eve] Solo Pvp

tba

This is a thread for aspiring "independent hostile profiters" ie. Not for blob battles (cause they are boring as hell), feel free to add tips, tricks and general advice.

Solo PVP is by far the most exhilarating and fun things to partake of in the EVE universe. The constant concentration, the cautious examination of the odds, the selection of the target, the meticulous preparation, the heart pounding battle and finally the all important Killmail! In fact the only thing better is a small tight group doing the same thing, and the principals should be the same regardless. If you are running in a group then there are three important rules.

1. Use a voice comm channel, Ventrillo or Teamspeak.
2. Elect a squad commander and let their word be cannon.
3. STFU and listen to the commander.

However thats not what we want to talk about. The following applies regardless of how many of you there are;

Your Screen

Overview Filters
Set up your overview to show only relevant information. It should exclude, gang members, corp members, alliance members, stations, cans, wrecks, dead space complex asteroid belts, the roids themselves, corpses and anything that cant shoot you. In some cases you may choose to exclude other things like pods but in general you should have all ships and drones, showing. Save the filter as PVP.

Chat Windows
Keep ONLY the Local chat window open, this allows you to see who is present in system and immediately identify threats (targets). You should pin it (click the little circle with the dot in it) This make the window transparent and unmovable. Minamise your other windows, and shut down all closable ones like market and character sheets.

Side Bar
Make it autohide and small so it does not take up unneeded space. It will pop out and flash if important info appears.

Modules
Arrange your modules in groups such that ones used together are beside each other. In space you can drag and drop the mods to any available slot. Most pilots like to put guns on the F1-F9 for quick access, but choose your own preference (The best practice is to use the F buttons for commonly used mods). The important thing is to have everything ready so you don't use the wrong mod.

General Setup

Your Ship
For the love of god kit your ship up properly. Find a good setup that is versatile and works well alone and in groups. Tankers and EW specialists work quite well as they allow you to outlast an opponent, but don't neglect the strengths of your ship and skills. REMEMBER TO INSURE YOUR SHIP And don't fly that which you cannot afford to lose.

You and your Skills
Combat is the most skill intensive thing you can do in EVE. Level 5 in mining is great for getting veldspar but terrible for shooting Scorpions, train your skills to get the max out of your setup. Gunnery, electronics, enginnering, navigation, drones and ship command, PVP requires these skills and many more. REMEMBER TO ENSURE YOUR CLONE IS UP TO DATE and if possible avoid PVP in implant clones unless you are feeling brave.

LAGGG!!!
The most deadly foe in the universe, to reduce it do the following.

1. Turn of ALL sound.
2. Turn of turret effects (ctrl+shift+alt+t and ctrl+shift+alt+e).
3. Lower graphics settings, resolution, z buufers and such.
4. Try not to run iTunes, firefox, msm, autoupdate, bittorrent and any other program in the background, its tends to slow EVE down a tad.

Hunting ground
Check the maps and find systems with loads of pilots in space, minimum ship deaths and with as few gates as possible. Make sure there is a station nearby to retreat to if necessary (preferably not a hostile station as they will not to let you dock unless they are stupid)

Bookmarks/Safe Spots
As soon as you enter a hostile system your first instinct should be to make a safe spot or three. While in warp you should open your people and places option. Halfway on your warp make a bookmark. This is a inroute safe spot and although many AU from a warpable target it is easier to find than an offroute safe spot. Here is a diagram explaining how to make an off route Safe Spot.

In Space

System security level
There are three types of security level

1. High sec 1.0-0.5: Only engage targets in this zone if you have a concord approved war with them or you will be instakilled.
2. Low sec 0.4-0.1: Gank whoever you please, but bear in mind that aggression will result in gate guns and stations attacking you.
3. No sec 0.0: Just watch your back out there, everybody wants to kill you too.

Generally low sec is a good place to start as many people like to chance their arm there mining and ratting more profitable ventures.

Keep an eye on local
Secure in your safe spot, check local, see who is staying put in system, if there is a station or deadspace they are probably in there, check the station to make sure if you want. Anybody hanging about could also be in a player owned station, but for completeness sake scan the belts to see if you can find some defenseless miners or haulers, chances are you might find somebody ratting too, mining cans called after a time (ie. 16:30) and wrecks belonging to players in system are all tell tale signs. Remember caution is the key here, the goal here is to find somebody you can kill and jump them, not walk into a gate camp of 20 Battleships. And bear in mind that they are well aware you are in local as well.

Don't stop moving
You stay still and you may be scanned or probed, move every minute or two, use a mixture of safe spots, planets and the sun, Don't go to moons, belts, stations or belts unless you are expecting a fight and are ready.

Bait or Wait
You can get a target in multiple ways, one is to have somebody or something act as bait, then jump, or wait someplace till they come to you (gates and belts being the obvious location).

The Evil act Itself
Be quick, and do the right thing at the right time, micro seconds count in this game. Do not second guess yourself as hesitation is more dangerous than anything else and kills more pilots that anything else, and remember its only a game and the other guy is probably a jerk in real life anyway.

Do not be afraid to run
As soon as you are dead, the fun is over so fly safe and run before you are reduced to structure.

Pod 'em?
Only if they have a bounty is it worth podding somebody, but it is as always up to you.

Fortune favors the Bold
You may well stumble across an defenseless ship on your travels (fitted with miners, just been in a fight or critically weak in some aspect), so don't run just cause you see a battleship.

Oh so thats why you made Safe spots
When the adrenaline rush of battle is over, warp to a safe spot, take a breath then decide what to do, they will give you a minute or two to thinks things through. Its not a good idea to loot if your target is not the only ship in system. However after killing a big ship you might get a nice prize in the wreck if you look.

R0ot

tba wrote:

Oh so thats why you made Safe spots
When the adrenaline rush of battle is over, warp to a safe spot, take a breath then decide what to do, they will give you a minute or two to thinks things through. Its not a good idea to loot if your target is not the only ship in system. However after killing a big ship you might get a nice prize in the wreck if you look.[/INDENT]

Note to you all, DO NOT stay at the same safe longer than 30 seconds as you can be probed, keep moving around your safes.

jaggeh

make several safe spots in a system and when warping to them make a habit of warping in at random distances like 'warp to 100' that way if a cov-ops has busted your safe then you have a sliver of a chance to escape.

Frankiestylee

That's a cool guide, very helpful.

One thing I don't quite get is the safe spots... I understand that you're picking a location off the beaten track, but what I don't really get is the beaten track itself... I thought when you are warping you just warp from one place to another at such a high speed that you can't really see anything you pass by. I thought people would just fly past you if you were in location A or B above?

R0ot

scanner ftw, a skilled person using the ships scanner system even without probes can narrow down your location to an asteroid belt or planet in a matter of secs, safe spots are in areas of space where no celestial objects exist and you need to be probed out to find where you are. Also what most of the macro ratters do, in the region i live in, is as soon as someone enters system they warp around 2-3 safe spots and then cloak, thus a scanner probe can't find them, ill be happy when they introduce a way to find those cloakers.

Frankiestylee

Ah cool cool, ich verstehe.

Hobbes

To avoid being probed while cloaked (which is possible)

1. Using the prototype cloak once invisible keep moving and move off your incoming warp axis as well. You need to get 1,500m off your drop point. To be extra secure you should keep moving. Probes can find you but they find your set point at that time, so if your moving by the time they warp in you will be out of range.

2. If your a recon ship and/or using probes yourself blow up the probes that are local to you once you have used them.