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Niche for a small group?
Greyd
Member Posts: 17
I'm thinking about diving into EVE Online, and if I do I'm going to try to bring a couple of IRL friends into the game with me. What I basically want to know is whether or not the three of us can fulfill some fun niche in the game, without having to belong to a greater corp/alliance.
I know that we can do PVE missions and mining runs together. But can we make a viable wormhole exploration group, just the three of us? Or scan for and explore/loot anomalies? I don't know much about the new Tyrannis expansion, but could we form a resource/manufacturing chain? Or-- this is probably a noobish question -- could we ever own a station or some corner of space to call home, or is territorial acquisition purely the domain of the big corps/alliances?
I think you get the idea -- can we do these things, or maybe something else? We really want an MMO where having a small, tight-knit group is an asset. So many MMOs reward only solo players or huge groups.
Comments
Hey Greyd,
I started off much the same way you are talking of starting - with a small group of real life friends.
To answer some of your questions, wormholes of a lower difficulty, or "class" as they are rated, can be easily solo'd in a battlecruiser. A class 2 would be not a bad way for you and your friends to make some isk in game, but you'd need to play together and probably be in at least battlecruisers or battleships.
In high security space, the things you can scan for and make isk off of are often undefended, but not the greatest to get rich off of either. I started off the game as a miner, and I can say that the hidden, scannable, asteroid belts are much more profitable, and less picked over, but can be a pain to find and move ships to.
Owning a station is quite a large undertaking, requiring large amounts of ISK (many billions), and control of the system the station is placed in, in 0.0. With a few friends this isn't strictly impossible, but it would likely be lost to other players with more friends haha.
I would recommend if you're looking to just play with your friends, perhaps founding your own corporation of just you guys. If you'd like at a later point, merge with a larger corp, or simply have yours join into an existing alliance of like minded people.
Planetary interaction isn't bad to start with in terms of required capital and skillpoints. It wouldn't strictly keep you ultra busy while playing though. More of a setup, then watch and wait scenario.
I wish you the best of luck, and if you'd like to convo in game, just send me a message on character Hethor.
Fly safe!
Dropping and keeping an Outpost is impossible for a small group without good diplomatic connections.
Raiding W-Space can be done with even just two people. If you throw some money together you should be able to set up a POS and live out of it too.
Logistics from and to w-space are difficult though. Without thorough knowledge of game mechanics and scouting skill i doubt you can supply it with fuel and get stuff in and out.
I'm currently living together with another player in a w-system, so it's definitely possible to do this with just a few people. Just keep in mind that me and my buddy have over 8 years of collective experience under our belt, and we still made a few mistakes (and burned about 600 million isk) while moving in.
I have to agree with others, running your own POS in a wormhole would be a worthy goal for you and your friends. The income potential is good, and since it is a form of 0.0 space you get the fun of defending your space from the incursion of others.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
@kadepsyson
Hey, thanks for the great response. You answered all my questions, I appreciate it. There's a lot more for three players to do than I thought.
If and when we all play, I think we'll do as you suggest -- start a corp of our own, and later, if we want, join a larger corp or alliance. For now I'll probably be heading into the game solo. I think I'll continue with a Gallente/Intaki character from a prior trial, mainly because I'd finally gotten him into a Vexor (go drones! wooo!), and because I'd gathered and partially levelled the early learning skills.
If I feel like annoying someone with my noobishness in-game, I'll look you up.
@batolemeaus, @Kyleran
Owning a POS in w-space does sound like a great goal (albeit a longterm one!). Who knows if we'll ever get there, but I'm just glad it's possible, and it's something to hope towards if and when we jump into the game. Thanks for the info.
Greyd wormholes can be a LOT of fun and profitable too. We live in a level 3 with a pos and a pos made carrier
So yea wormholes are fun and profitable and with PI even more so than before.
Another great example of Moore's Law. Give people access to that much space (developers and users alike) and they'll find uses for it that you can never imagine. "640K ought to be enough for anybody" - Bill Gates 1981
The most important thing is understanding game mechanics and teamwork. For three players, a WH pos could be had in a few months, but three good players can be very efficient and deadly even in T1 ships if that's what you what to do. Don't get me wrong, EVE is a hard game anyway you play it, but playing with three friends is probably a greater advantage than you realize. I would focus on frigate skills (real not trained), scouting and logistics.
I dont know if I would encourage 3 noobs to put a POS up in W-H space. Even if you made it work, killing sleepers is work and not for the amateur. Get your feet wet in faction 0.0 sec first if you want to try null out. You will be able to mission run for a long while to get the 3 of you to 8.0 and get some jump clones.
Point, 3 RL friends who play at the same time? You can thrive with ease.
No, WH's are not for new players, I was providing the OP more of a long term goal for his crew that involved owning a base of operations and defending "their" corner of space which 3 people can easily do in a WH.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Thanks for all the advice. The game's simply massive, so I need all I can get. I have a couple more newb questions, and this board is a lot better than noob-corp chat, so further advice would be great.
One of my friends will be starting the buddy trial after the server change tomorrow (our other friend will play later (hopefully!)), and I'm wondering if there's a way we can accelerate our income in the short- to midterm by working together rather than separately. It seems like wasted potential for us to go our separate ways running noob missions, so here's some ideas we had to make some ISK:
1) Simple mission-running/salvaging -- my friend can raise faction standing and earn some money while I follow behind in my salvaging destroyer, scooping up goodies.
2) Lowsec mining -- I'm less than two weeks away from having the prereqs and ISK needed to buy and fit a Retriever. Maybe I can mine some lowsec belts in peace while my friend orbits nearby in a cruiser, zapping rats and acting as a pirate deterrent?
3) Planetary interaction chain? If we pool resources we shouldn't have much difficulty churning out 'specialized commodities,' assuming there's a market for any of them. PI is so passive we could combine this with any of the others, it would seem.
4) Manufacturing or blueprint research? I gather that these are bit more advanced as far as money-making goes, so maybe we should save them for later (if we bother at all).
5) Goods hauling + escort? I don't know if a cruiser or such could act as an effective deterrent to pirates.
It would be great to know which of these are good money-makers for young characters. Thanks!
Forget mining. Especially lowsec mining. The best ore in lowsec is currently Hedbergite at 79.28 isk/m³. The best highsec ore is Plagioclase/Kernite at about 92 isk/m³.
CCP screwed up risk/reward for mining and so far hasn't made any attempts at fixing the issue.
If you want to make some easy isk, grab a few frigates, go to evemaps.dotlan.net, look for a quiet 0.1/0.2 system with few jumps and npc kills. Each frigate should be able to repair itself. Bring ammo.
Go take your buddies, fly out there, hit the belts and kill anything that you find. If someone else comes into local, set your directional scanner to 360° and for max range and warp out if you see his ship on directional.
You should be able to kill any npc you can find, so after killing about 3-4 of them, you already broke even. Plus you will learn a bit about lowsec.