The last few days I’ve spent quite a bit of time in HighSec, doing some missions, some mining, trying to (finally) fill out the AIR reward thingies, and also to see some things I’ve not really seen for many years.

One thing I did was doing 20 “Distribution Missions” from Agents, basically ferrying stuff from A to B, with the very, very occasional shooting or mining. So I’ll get 100 points for doing those 20 missions, and also get some 2-3 others done on the way, for example by grabbing 375 LP to spend, or raising standing with some NPC corp.
But mostly I’m kinda shocked how different you’re fitting your ships here, or at least what you could do.

I am using a Sunesis with some Hyperspatial Rigs and some Inertial Stabilizers, so it aligns in under 2s and warps faster, because I’m doing a lot of travel. It basically has no tank (I had some room for a single Multispectrum Shield Hardener and it has an MWD and an Afterburner. I am carrying a refit of 3 Mining Lasers and 3 Light Missile Launchers. If I was in NullSec this would be a completely unfocused shitfit, but in HighSec where there are no bubbles, no one who will aggress my 20m Destroyer (as I never have valuable) cargo, it’s perfect.

It’s like I’m playing a completely different game. Just some chill space trucking, no worries to be shot. But on the other hand I’m making less than 1m ISK per hour, so Level 1 missions are really just for beginners and to learn the game. Still weird how NullSec is a complete sandbox and the missions in HighSec (or grinding out standing) is so, so different.

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.

Nearly missed it, also basically missed it by 2m or so, that would be Cybernetics V and Graviton Physics V
Last post in December.

Skill category             Points     No. of skills
===================================================
Spaceship Command         50,984,980  69 *
Gunnery                   23,499,131  48 *
Missiles                  13,599,659  25 *
Drones                    11,904,316  22
Navigation                 9,660,314  13 *
Engineering                7,474,275  15
Fleet Support              5,532,130  13
Shields                    4,760,628  12 *
Armor                      4,509,010  12 *
Subsystems                 4,096,000  16
Targeting                  3,840,000   8 *
Electronic Systems         2,863,220  14
Neural Enhancement         1,913,570   7 *
Scanning                   1,899,374   7
Science                    1,599,255  19 *
Trade                      1,066,275   8
Resource Processing          976,960  10
Rigging                      679,060  10
Social                       434,510   6
Planet Management            394,040   4
Production                   276,743   4
Structure Management         135,765   1
Corporation Management           250   1

* = changes since last time

Skills at Level 5:   163 (+14)
Skills at Level 4:   115 (-8)
Skills at Level 3:    36 (-1)
Skills at Level 2:     2 (0)
Skills at Level 1:    28 (+4)
Skills at Level 0:     0 (-1)

The main alt is at 90m now, so here it goes:

Skill category             Points     No. of skills
===================================================
Spaceship Command         26,277,811  53 *
Gunnery                   13,975,963  40 *
Missiles                   9,532,944  22 *
Engineering                6,762,040  14
Drones                     6,705,425  18 *
Navigation                 4,548,550   9
Armor                      4,442,510  10 *
Subsystems                 4,096,000  16
Shields                    3,524,550  10 *
Electronic Systems         2,985,495  13
Science                    1,544,000   3 *
Targeting                  1,521,805   8
Neural Enhancement         1,055,060   6 *
Scanning                   1,006,354   7
Fleet Support                889,570   6
Rigging                      790,825  10 *
Planet Management            394,040   4
Resource Processing           33,000   3
Structure Management          24,000   1
Social                        23,072   4
Trade                         12,244   3
Production                       250   1 *


* = changes since last time

Skills at Level 5:   117 (+10)
Skills at Level 4:    99 (-4)
Skills at Level 3:    28 (+4)
Skills at Level 2:     7 (-1)
Skills at Level 1:    10 (0)
Skills at Level 0:     4 (-2)