When playing EVE for a long time and having “higher” SP characters (more so if they are somehow specialized and not general combat pilots) and they have training plans weeks and months long for special skills, one can easily lose track of the quick wins and multiple unlocks, easily seen by having a good look at the skills window and the ship tree (one of my favourite UI parts in EVE).
So I have this alt at around 30m SP, can do a few things, and is not a terrible combat pilot, deployed to somewhere on a special mission. Recently learned to fly HACs and Logi Cruisers, but after unlocking something else I needed I did this good look at the skills window and have now paused training on my main for a couple of days, because I identified these quick wins:
- Caldari Strategic Cruiser + 4 subsystems = 1h (not combat effective, but I can move it)
- Amarr Destroyer II+III + Amarr Cruiser I+II = 8.75h to unlock 8 Cruisers
- Gallente Destroyer II+III + Gallente Cruiser I+II = 8.75h to unlock another 11 Cruiser (now all Pirate Factions)
- Battlecruiser I – 0.5h if you’re at Cruiser III anyway. I guess I just stopped at Cruiser I at some point when buying skill books, then over the years added II+III and never even thought about BC.
- Medium x Turret II+III + Large x Turret I = 9.5h
So yeah, of course it’s basic math – but it’s less than 2d of training to unlock (even if just to sit, move, and for the cruisers, maybe actually use the T1 variant) 20 hulls. Also if you’re going to shuttle to an NPC station that sells skill books anyway, might as well buy 10 more and inject them “empty” for future use, or for right now.
Also for an alt character that’s older than 5 years, maybe you never checked if they can fly all the new skills. Pretty sure either Signal Dispersion or Resistance Phasing (or both) are new. And then some 0.5-2h gaps in certain Rigging skills or Repair Systems. Yeah, I might not need a lot of this, but my main is stuck on a 17d Weapon Skill V train for a weapon system I don’t even own right now (afaik), a really good decision for a quick pause and giving this alt some love, even if just for a couple of days.
Overall maybe I was just cherry-picking a couple really good bang-for-the-buck skills (and the boring Magic 14 are trained already for the most part) but I was still surprised what I can achieve in such a short term, and I suppose I should’ve done this sooner. Everyone usually focused on training all skills to IV or V for the T2 ships and weapons but sometimes shallow and wide may be better than focused. Which is funny, because my main was originally too shallow and wide and not focused enough, so maybe I overcorrected on a couple of alts. Then again this alt could originally only fly Shield doctrines decently and of course by adding Amarr and Gallente there’s probably some Armor lacking, but I guess if you’re not operating inside of a NullSec alliance with NullSec doctrines and skillplans, better being able to fly that kitchen sink Omen with Cruiser III and T1 Guns III than not having one more cheap combat ship available.