📅 Progression Guide

The Venture — every legend started with one ship

Week 1 — The Foundation

  1. Complete all 5 career agent mission chains — free ships, ISK, skills
  2. Train the Magic 14 to level 3 — don’t rush, queue is passive
  3. Do the Sisters of EVE epic arc (“The Blood-Stained Stars”) — 40+ missions, great ISK and standings, unlocks better agents
  4. Explore the market — understand supply/demand basics
  5. Join a new player friendly corporation — EVE is better with others

Month 1 — First Real ISK

  1. Train to fly a Drake or Vexor (your race’s best early PvE ship)
  2. Run L2 then L3 missions for steady ISK
  3. Set up basic PI on 2–3 planets — passive income running in background
  4. Learn to scan — even basic exploration pays well
  5. Save 50–100M ISK as a reserve — you will lose ships

Month 2–3 — Choosing Your Path

Path A: Mission Runner

  • Train to T1 Battleship → L4 missions
  • Research best LP stores for your faction
  • Target 50–80M ISK/hour

Path B: Drone Farmer

  • Train Vexor Navy Issue / Ishtar
  • Join a null-sec corporation
  • Rat anomalies for 80–150M ISK/hour

Path C: Trader

  • Train Trade skills
  • Start with 50–100M ISK capital
  • Focus on Jita margins

Path D: Explorer

  • Train Covert Ops ship
  • Head to null-sec or wormholes
  • Scan and hack for variable but excellent ISK

Path E: PvP Fighter

  • Join Faction Warfare or a PvP-focused corporation
  • Fly cheap frigates, die a lot, learn constantly
  • Move to HACs and T3 cruisers as skills allow

Month 4–6 — Serious Wealth

  • First Marauder or T3 Cruiser — your earning power triples
  • Start manufacturing or PI at scale
  • Consider joining a null-sec alliance for ratting in carriers
  • Begin accumulating wealth for PLEX (paying subscription with ISK)

1 Year+ — The 1%

  • Carrier/Dreadnought capable
  • Multiple income streams running simultaneously
  • Billions in reserve
  • Possibly running your own operation, corporation, or trading empire

🖥️ Understanding the UI & HUD

The Rifter — learn your HUD here

EVE’s interface is complex but completely customisable. Spend time on your UI setup — it pays dividends for thousands of hours.

Essential HUD Elements

Overview

The overview is your radar — it shows everything around you. Configure it immediately.

  1. Right-click the Overview tab → Open Overview Settings
  2. Create multiple tabs:
    • PvE — show NPCs, structures, gates, stations, wrecks
    • PvP — show all players, drones, missiles
    • Travel — show only gates and stations
    • Mining — show asteroids, gas clouds, ice fields

Recommended Overview Columns (in order): Icon | Name | Distance | Velocity | Transversal | Angular | Corp | Alliance | Tag

Bracket Settings

Alt+Shift+B toggles brackets. In busy systems, turn off excess brackets to reduce visual noise.

D-Scan (Directional Scanner)

V — the most important button in EVE. D-Scan shows everything within 14.3 AU in your chosen direction. Use it constantly.

  • Set range to max (14.3 AU) for general awareness
  • Narrow the angle to 5° to pinpoint ships at specific structures
  • Scan every 3–5 seconds in dangerous space

Local Chat

The Local channel shows every player in your current system. Watch it constantly. Neutrals and reds appearing in local = danger. In wormhole space, there is no local — you don’t know who is with you.

Probe Scanner

Alt+P — opens the scanning interface for exploration sites and cosmic signatures.

Ship HUD

Your ship’s capacitor, shields, armour, and hull are shown on the HUD circle. Learn to read it at a glance — your cap dropping means you’re in trouble.

+---------------+-----------------------------+-----------+
|   Chat/Local  |        Main View            | Overview  |
|               |                             |           |
|               |                             |           |
|               |                             |           |
+---------------+-------------+---------------+-----------+
|  Selected Item / Info       |   Inventory / Fitting     |
+-----------------------------+---------------------------+
  • Overview — top right, always visible
  • Local — bottom left
  • Selected Item — bottom centre-left
  • Inventory — bottom right (collapsed when not needed)
  • D-Scan — learn to open/close quickly with V

HUD Customisation Pro Tips

  • Resize the HUD ring — right-click the HUD → resize. Smaller frees screen space for the overview
  • Lock windows — right-click window title → lock. Prevents accidental closing in combat
  • Transparency sliders — under Escape → Display & Graphics → Window Opacity. Raise it so the background is more visible
  • Overview presets — download community presets from EVE forums. Don’t build your first overview from scratch
  • Camera settings — set “Track Selected” on but reduce “Camera Shake” to zero. Shake is disorienting in fleet fights
  • UI Scale — if on 4K, scale the UI up under Display settings
  • Compact mode on most windows saves significant screen real estate in combat

⌨️ Essential Shortcuts

The Drake — master shortcuts and it becomes unstoppable

Memorise these. They will save your ship and your life.

Navigation & Targeting

Shortcut Action
V Directional Scan (D-Scan)
F1–F8 Activate module slots 1–8
Ctrl + Click Lock target
Ctrl + Shift + Click Lock all targets of same type
F Focus fire on selected target
R Orbit selected target
Q Approach selected target
E Keep at range (set distance first)
W Warp to selected object
A Align to selected object
D Dock / Jump (when at station/gate)
S Stop ship
Ctrl + Space Stop ship (emergency)
Z Warp to safe spot / bookmark

Camera & Interface

Shortcut Action
Alt + F9 Toggle UI on/off (screenshot mode)
Alt + Shift + B Toggle brackets
Alt + P Probe Scanner
Alt + D Directional Scanner window
Alt + F Fleet window
Alt + C Character sheet
Alt + A Assets window
Alt + M Mail
Ctrl + Tab Cycle through open windows
Escape Settings menu
Ctrl + Shift + F9 Reset UI layout

Combat

Shortcut Action
F1 Activate weapon 1
Ctrl + F1 Toggle autorepeat on weapon
Shift + Click module Overload module (extra power, risks damage)
T Target selected
Backspace Unlock all targets
Ctrl + W Warp away immediately

Pro Shortcuts

Shortcut Action
Alt + Click system Open system info
Ctrl + Click system (map) Set destination
Shift + Click (market) Buy/sell multiple
Ctrl + Click (inventory) Select multiple items
Ctrl + A Select all in inventory
Middle mouse button drag Rotate camera
Scroll wheel Zoom in/out
Hold C + drag Cockpit view rotation
Ctrl + Click (overview) Lock target directly from overview
Shift + F1 Overload high slot rack
Alt + Click station Dock immediately
Ctrl + B Open bookmark list
Ctrl + Shift + X Open probe scanner (alternative)

📚 Skills & Skill Planning

The Tengu — the reward for months of training

How Skills Work

EVE skills train in real time — even when you’re offline. Each skill has 5 levels, and each level takes longer than the last. Level 5 of a skill can take weeks. Skills are permanent once trained.

Attributes & Implants

Skills have two associated attributes (e.g., Perception + Willpower for combat skills). Higher attributes = faster training.

  • Implants — plug into your head and boost attributes or give specific bonuses. Lost when your pod is destroyed.
  • Learning implants (slots 1–5) — boost training speed. Worth using in high-sec where your pod is safe.
  • Standard implant set for new players: +3 to all five attributes (~5% training speed boost)
  • Slot 6–10 implants — specific combat/industry bonuses (e.g., +5% shield HP, +3% weapon damage)

Skill Priority for All New Players

Week 1 — Survive and earn

  • Learning skills (Cybernetics to 3 for implants)
  • Navigation (Afterburner, Microwarpdrive to 4)
  • Shield/Armour basics to 3
  • Your race’s weapon system to 4
  • Spaceship Command to 4

Month 1 — Efficiency

  • All core skills (the “Magic 14”) to 4
  • Mining skills if you plan to mine
  • Trade skills if you plan to trade
  • Electronic systems basics

The Magic 14 — Core Skills Every Pilot Needs

These 14 skills benefit every single playstyle. Train them all to at least level 4:

  1. Energy Grid Upgrades
  2. Engineering
  3. Shields (Shield Management, Shield Operation)
  4. Mechanics
  5. Hull Upgrades
  6. Navigation
  7. Afterburner
  8. Evasive Maneuvering
  9. Warp Drive Operation
  10. Electronics Upgrades
  11. CPU Management
  12. Power Grid Management
  13. Thermodynamics (overloading)
  14. Capacitor Management / Capacitor Systems Operation

Skill Planning Tools

  • EVEmon — desktop skill planner, shows training time for any plan
  • PyFA — ship fitting tool that shows exact skill requirements
  • EVE Skillboard — share your skills publicly
  • Omega Queue — plan years of skills in advance

Remap Strategy

Character attributes can be remapped once per year (plus one free remap for new accounts). Before a major skill training block, remap your attributes to match the primary/secondary attributes of those skills. A well-planned remap can save weeks of training time.

➡️ Ships & ISK