Eve Online Beginners Guide to PvP

Introduction

PvP is the part of Eve were a player fights another player. It involves 2 or several ships going head-to-head to eliminate the other opponents.There is much, a skilled PvP-er knows. He knows what different setups each ship can do, he can analyze what kind of setup his opponent has due to the way he flyes his ship, he then knows the strengths/weaknesses and the way he need to counter-attack that particular setup he ‘belives’ his opponent is using according to his personal analyse and experience.

Setting up overview:

Overview is a KEY piece of information in combat. It can show u name of pilot, his current “distance”, what “size” of ship he is flying, his current “velocity”, his current “transversal velocity”, his current “corp”, etc, etc.

Explanation of the different options;

– name = pilots name

– distance = distance to pilot

– size = which ship-class pilot is flying

100 and below is frigates

100-499 is cruisers/BC (note: Ferox is 726)

500/800 is BS

– velocity = shows current speed in m/s

– transversal velocity = the bigger the number the higher tracking is needed

This is the most important tactical information i find useful in combat.

You can filter what the overview shows using “presets” which can be made by clicking the white arrow and check/uncheck on a list of different objects and afterward save them.
I got several filters like;

-“standard” which shows corp/alliance and all friendly on overview

-“gang” which filters out the above mentioned

-“gang w/gates” which includes gates for easy aligning in a fleet-operation

-“anti-drones” is for when i am flying interceptors and expect my target to release drones

– and many more personal ones like those

Setting up active-modules in-space:

I use keyboard in combat for activating modules because it enables me to do things more smoothly then by using just the mouse. I have a mx1000 mouse which has 2 regular buttons, scroll, 2 buttons on each side of scroll and 3 buttons by my left thumb.

I have setup 3 important bindings;

– Fraps

– Teamspeak push-to-talk

– Alt

The first two mentioned says itself, but why have i setup Alt on my mouse? Yes, Alt is used for the second row on the placement of modules in-space. F1-F8 is for first row, Alt+F1 – Alt+F8 is for second row. My bottom row is for armor repairers, hardeners, sensor boosters and other not so vital modules that requires a shortcut.

When i fly interceptors i got mwd, webbers and scramblers binded to F1-F3, weapons binded to Alt+F1 – Alt+F4 and repairer in low-slot for manual activation by mouse. This makes the flying more smooth then by using mouse to both control the interceptor and activating weapons and mwd when it needs to be.

Setting up your ship:

Setting up a ship requires experience with what works well and what you are setting it up for. Let`s give an example on a Maller for small engagement which i happen to know the different ships.

Maller and Thorax vs 3 Ruptures.

Out of experience i know the Ruptures is decent with both artillery and autocannons. Considering it is 2-vs-3 i need to tank to be able to survive long enough and deal decent damage. I would first put a 2x Medium T2 repairers, 800mm plate and 3x damage mods. That would be a decent tank. In mid-slots i`d use a 10mn AB for speed to get close, webber to keep current primary stay put and a scrambler to stop him warping. Now i got around 500 grid left for damage on 6 high-slots. I`d use 2-3 slots for Medium Nos to keep tank going and to suck capacitor out of opponent along with 3-4 Light Neutron Blaster II`s for best damage in the range of guns i got enough grid to fit after the Medium Nos.

That setup choice combined with the damage output of a Thorax would surely result in atleast 2 killmails, possibly 3 depending on all pilots involved experience and skills.

When you have PvP-ed long enough fitting a ship becomes second-nature. Allthough personally i tend to chose the original path when it comes to following the “rules”. My personal favorite ship-setup to this time would be my AC-Apoc for baiting gatecampers:

Highs – 6x 800 repeating and 2x Heavy Nos

Mids – Webber, 2x rechargers and heavy cap booster

Lows – 2x 1600mm plate, 2x Large T2 reppers, 3x hardeners

Note: This setup is before RMR so it`s out-dated, but i think you see my point.

Scouting and using the scanner (Ctrl+F11):

Scouting is an interceptor job which is to move ahead of a fleet and look for targets. The scout needs to have atleast -2 scrambling ability, preferably -4 and knowledge to use the scanner to track down targets.

Let`s say i enter a system with 2 in local, first thing i do is open scanner, set to max-range and 360′ degrees. I find 2 Apocs either NPC-ing or mining, what they do is not ‘that’ important.

I got 6 planets in system, 1 on each side of sun and 4 surrounding the sun. distance to the planet to left of sun is above 15 AU (max-range scan) so i ignore that planet. Planet to right of sun shows nothing when doing a 30′ degree directional scan towards it. Then i know both ships is at one of the planets surrounding the sun, so i warp to the sun (Star). Upon getting out of warp i set scanner to 30′ degrees and immediately starts scanning each planet and i get contact 1 apoc at either Planet II or Planet III, i narrow scan to 5′ degrees and check each. Target is at Planet II and before i leave i see that the other Apoc is at Planet V. Before i warp to Planet II i align and chek how many belts is at Planet II and there is only one.

Now i got 2 options;

1: I make sure i get the Apoc at Planet II – Belt 1 or

2: I start finding which belt the other Apoc at Planet V is at and when i find him i go in to tackle him while i ask a second ceptor to jump in and warp to Planet II – Belt 1

This would be the FC`s (Fleet-Commander) choice so i ask over Teamspeak what to do.

Finding a hostile in a system that is normal size and not over 60 AU long should not take more then a minute.

Note: 1 AU = 149,000,000 km which equals to 149 million km

Commanding a gang:

Commanding a gang is a difficult job which involves decisions based on your own experience and guts. You got several pilots depending on you, decisions about engagement to be made, tactical choices, etc, etc. It`s a job which few master, i for one am trying to along with many others. A commander needs to know most regular setups a ship uses, the damage output they can do, standard tactics, commanding methods, the use of authority on Teamspeak. A commander also needs to be confident in personal skills, confident voice and show discipline and be calm in hostile situations.

Priority-target calling:

Different commanders got different personal priorities to target-calling, but what every commander hates is EW (Electronical Warfare) ships like Blackbirds, Ferox’, Scorpions and similar.

If i encounter this shiplist with a normal gang i will show my priority and let`s say they are all at same range within optimal.

Armageddon, Apoc, Tempest, Zealot, Rupture, Blackbird, Scorpion, Maller, Sacrilege and 5x Maledictions:

– Blackbird EW-hazard

– Scorpion EW-hazard

– Tempest Insane damage, weak tank

– Armageddon Insane damage, weak tank

– Zealot Insane damage, weak tank, expensive loss

– Apoc Moderate damage, heavy tank

– Rupture Moderate damage, weak tank

– Sacrilege Weak damage, heavy tank

– Remaining ships Weak damage, no tank

If it`s an outnumbered situation i would call out before-hand that support is Primary to take out before we start with the heavy ships in-case we need to warp out.

Experience calling targets come over time as you gain engagements as commander under your belt.

There are several standard tactics widely used by commanders from all of Eve. The most used one is the Bait. Now, imagine you are camping Torrinos gate in ec-p8r. Camp consists of 6 BS, 5 cruisers and 3 support. Suddenly an Apoc warps to gate at 15km and everyone opens fire, now the whole camp is flagged and can`t jump through to safety. The gate flashes an X number of times and the camp is slaughtered. This is a tactic called “Bait and slaughter” which is damn effective, but experienced commanders ought to know about it.

Commanding a roaming-gang and a fleet-gang is 2 completely different situations which calls for completely different tactics. When commanding a roaming-gang you get small to moderate engagement while in fleet you can get up to 200 on each side. Personally i`m a guerilla commander, i find that easier mostly because i have never commanded a BS gang. I am sure i will eventually, but i will need more experience to the deal with being commander first.

Commanding a fleet requires you to have a more generel overview of the situation and requires more experience to the deal with being calm and comfortable comanding 50+ gangs.

It is important to set the rules once and for all. If u want people to be quiet and stop telling their ideas and opinions you better damn well be clear about it the first time. If u don`t want people to jump gates when you tell them not to then start reprimanding people that does. If you are upset with a persons attitude then i feel it`s best to say that in private. But don`t be afraid to take command and tell the gang that you mean busines and want discipline.

Discipline when in gang:

When in a gang the commander got enough on their hands with commanding the gang, thinking of tactics, talking to scouts, etc. He doesn`t need to listen to 30 peoples different ideas on how to solve the situation at hand unless he asks for it. He does not need to hear on Teamspeak what 30 people ate for breakfast unless he asks for it. You get my point? A commander don`t want your opinion UNLESS he asks for it! Many people can`t seem to remember that and needs to be told several times to basically shut up. The phrase STFU (Shut the !@#$%^&* up) is widely used, many people dislikes it, they don`t feel it`s a respectful way to be told to be quiet. Well, let me tell you. You had it coming when you started to talk about your breakfast. If you want to be treated with respect then start treating the person stepping up commanding with respect by NOT talking unless asked to.

Tackling:

Tackling a target may prove difficult from time to time with the WCS-stackers, Smartbombing-BS’, etc, etc. But it is a damn important role which needs to be done.

Tackling a BS:
When tackling a BS you got risks like Drones and Smartbombs, but your role is just to keep that BS there long enough for your gang to get to him and kill him. A well setup decent gang don`t need more then 20-30 sec to take out a BS, tanked or not tanked.

I personally fly -4 close-range tacklers and i just approach him straigth full-speed and bumping him in the process (unless it`s a sniper which will be detailed later). I load up my preset “Anti-Drones” which have friendlies filtered out and combat drones showing in-case the target deploys drones i start popping them one-by-one ’till he`s been shot down by my gang.

Tackling a sniping BS:

When dealing with sniping BS’ the distance can be up to 150km, but normally 80-110km. It`s important to keep your transversal velocity high when aproaching which can be done by flying 45′ degrees towards the target and when you are starting to move away from him be sure he has just finished shooting a volley at you before you turn around and fly 45′ degrees towards him the other way to zig-zag closer. This can be done easily when you know how to do it.

Tackling a cruiser:

When tackling a cruiser i like to orbit 500m, close and fast to be a harder target to hit. This i do because alot of cruiser pilots fit 1600mm which means small fast-tracking guns. This same tactic applies to AFs which i don`t like to tackle as you can get toasted VERY fast. A 125 II Enyo will shred an interceptor that gets close enough.

Combat tactics:

When fighting another ship it is important to fight on your own terms. Let the opponent belive he got the upper edge even though you got it. Lure your opponent to do a move that you want him to. If you are flying a close-range Maller in 0.0 and warp to a gate at 15km and you know there`s a Thorax there that you want to engage. Start approaching the gate without using the mwd you have fitted fooling the Thorax to think you are vulnerable to close-range and makes him engage you which after he gets nossed, webbed, scrambled and drones dead an easy prey. This is called tactic which you now have used to fool an opponent to engage and score a kill.

There is many tactics and traps which can effectively be used, but they are only useful if you encounter the correct situation.

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