🪐 EVE Online: Basic New Player Guide (2025)
Welcome to EVE, where every action matters, every ship is at risk, and every player is part of a living economy and universe. It’s unlike any other MMO. Here’s how to survive—and thrive.
📘 1. Understand What EVE Is (and Isn’t)
EVE Online is:
- A sandbox MMORPG set in space
- A single-shard universe (everyone plays together)
- Driven almost entirely by player actions
- Slow-paced, strategic, and deep
EVE is not:
- A fast-paced arcade shooter
- A hand-holding theme park MMO
- About “winning”—it’s about progress and persistence
🛠️ 2. Setting Up Your Character
- Choose any faction—Amarr, Caldari, Gallente, Minmatar. It only affects your starter ship and aesthetics.
- Name carefully: your character name is permanent and public.
- You can train all skills regardless of race or background.
💡 Tip: Don’t overthink character creation—you’ll get all ships and skills over time.
🧠 3. Learn the Core Mechanics
🕹️ User Interface (UI)
- Press F12 for help/tutorials
- Use the Overview to see everything around you
- Right-click is your friend. Always right-click things.
⚙️ Core Systems
- Skills: Train passively over real time (even when offline)
- Modules: Ship fittings (weapons, shields, mining lasers, etc.)
- ISK: The main currency (earn it, keep it, don’t fly more than you can afford to lose)
- Clone States:
- Alpha = Free account
- Omega = Paid account with 2x training speed and access to all skills/ships
🚀 4. Complete the Tutorial (AIR Career Program)
You’ll be guided into four career paths:
- Combat – PvE and PvP
- Exploration – Hacking sites and scanning
- Industry – Mining, crafting, and PI
- Enforcer – Missions and NPC combat
Finish all career agents: they give free ships, gear, and ISK.
🛸 5. Choose a Career Path to Try First
🛡️ Combat Missions
- Fight NPC pirates (PvE)
- Rewards: ISK, standings, loyalty points
⛏️ Mining & Industry
- Mine ore → refine → build ships/modules
- Very beginner-friendly and low risk
🛰️ Exploration
- Scan down sites, hack them for loot
- High reward, higher risk (great for solo players)
👥 PvP
- Fight other players
- Risky but very engaging; even cheap ships can be fun
💡 Try everything early on. No path is permanent.
⚔️ 6. Understand the Risk Zones & Ganking
| Security Status | Area | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 – 0.5 | High-sec | Police (CONCORD) protects you after you’re attacked |
| 0.4 – 0.1 | Low-sec | No CONCORD; only gate/station guns |
| 0.0 / Null-sec | Player-owned | No protection; full PvP |
| Wormholes (WH) | Uncharted | Hidden space with no local chat |
You can be attacked anywhere—risk is always present.
So with this what is ganking?
Ganking is another player attacking you, knowing concord will destroy their ship in the process. Its all about the maths of the profits. So long as your cargo/modules are worth more than their ship, they win. If the drop will be more than double the cost of the gank ship, then you are a potential target.
Gankers use many ships at many values, but at the low end a 2M catalyst fit can take out a T1 industrial ship solo, a 30 man 10M catalyst fit that can take out almost anything.
LSE will mark known gankers in red so keep an eye in local and please do have a look at LSE’s approved mining fits.
💰 7. Making Your First ISK (Money)
Fast beginner ISK ideas:
- Complete career agent missions
- Mine and sell basic ore like Veldspar
- Do level 1 security missions
- Explore high-sec relic/data sites
- Salvage wrecks after NPC battles
⚒️ 8. Fitting Your First Ships
Each ship has:
- High slots (weapons, mining lasers)
- Mid slots (shield boosters, propulsion)
- Low slots (armor, mining upgrades)
Use “Fit Ship” button or open the Ship Fitting Window (Alt+F). Learn to balance:
- Powergrid
- CPU
- Cap usage
💡 Don’t just slap on the biggest guns—fit for your role.
📈 10. Long-Term Goals
Set your own goals:
- Fly a battleship or mining barge
- Master industry and make billions
- Become a feared PvP pilot
- Explore wormholes or become a smuggler
- Own a structure or lead a corp
EVE is about writing your own story—there’s no endgame.
📌 Pro Tips for New Players
✅ Don’t fly what you can’t afford to lose
✅ Insurance helps—but doesn’t cover full loss
✅ Train Core Skills early (CPU Management, Powergrid, Capacitor, etc.)
✅ Never autopilot with expensive cargo
✅ Bookmark safe spots and stations
✅ Use Dotlan Maps: https://evemaps.dotlan.net