Now that you have made it past the tutorials it is time to consider the true meaning of Eve and your future in the stars. This is where you will discover the kind of real player you are and the style of play you prefer.
For starters you will feel like you have no power and can't defend yourself this is not entirely true. Corporations are always looking for new pilots some of these corps are simply looking for more cannon fodder for their wars. Others are trying to find players who wanna experience Eve in a slower pace aka laid back atmosphere.
I generally don't recommend jumping straight into faction warfare or a corporation spend a little time to skill up find a quiet section of space and just mine or run missions. This will help you get the skills necessary to fly that frigate of your with maximum skill, or become one extreme miner. My best advice at this points is simple.
"Do Not" worry about training up into every racial ship that sounds cool or awesome. Stick to your race until you can fly everything up to max level in the cruiser classes. Then train on to your battleship once you have skilled all this in your primary race then take a look around maybe you wanna train into the capitals or your have a serious love for those faction ships that require two race's to fly.
Regardless of where you go from here you have the skills to survive about 60% of your future battles regardless of whether your a combat pilot or you an industrialist. At this point is really comes down to fittings and luck. Most combat happens in low security (low sec) or null security (null sec aka 0.0). High sec wars happen usually this is done by war declarations between corporations. There is also a rash of high sec suicide ganking that happens in Eve as well.
If you know what to avoid and spend enough time in an area most people will leave you alone as long as you let them be also.
You might still be asking yourself "well how do I?" stop there I know the full question its the same always the same.
You make ISK by running missions mining watching the market and sell your ores or simply find a group of people who share your view in Eve. This leads many to low or null sec and they join pirate corps. Some corps will help you get started in this is what I did for a while in Eve was help new people get started there are a few other corps like Eve University aka EveUni who help new pilots. I can tell you without a doubt that you can do it alone if you choose to.
Pay attention to your skill training use the certification system to see what you need also and learn to salvage wrecks. If your going industrialist you will learn to recycle this for materials which sell better on market everyone needs minerals.
Again good luck fly safe and the next installment guide will cover some of the do's and dont's of solo combat in low sec areas which yield better ISK.
I know many of you will argue but I truly believe in the starter missions in Eve. These missions will help you get a grasp of the basic controls of Eve quickly. They will also help you get an idea on which direction to take your character when you embark on your journey in Eve.
I always recommend everyone run the tutorials at least every expansion I.E. make a new character run the tutorials learn the new material. If this is your first character then run the tutorials they will help with starting funds and give you much needed basic gear and skill books.
These are your first steps in Eve to be taken.
If you have friends in Eve by all means still run the tutorials as described above and go hang out with your friends after they are done. I also recommend taking the personality test it may help you get an idea ahead of time as to the kinda character you will want to strive for. Most people come into Eve and get discouraged immediately by the training of skills. Do not let this bother you Eve is a progressive time based game and you will find that if you have a lot of real world issues eve will allow for this. Eve can also be a lot like some of the other MMO's like WoW were you need to log in almost all day that is your choice. Eve is what you make it and it gives back as much as you put in.
I have experienced nearly every form of Eve as it is known and I have been with Eve since early 2004. What I am saying here in this guide is simply advice from an old player as I have seen people come and seen them go but one constant in the Universe of Eve is this "Time will make or break even the best of combat pilots its the industrialist who drive the war machine of the economy."
