Garresh
Team Chicken and Waffles
313
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Posted - 2014.07.04 16:33:00 -
[1] - Quote
Don't invest in off grid boosts and links or implants. You're new, and they will handicap you so you never get good. Instead...
Learn your own style and stick to it. Find that niche you enjoy flying that works for you. For me its minmatar flexible ships. People said the fire tail was just a better rifter back 3 years ago, and wasn't worth it. I continued flying them and kicked ass. Meta eventually caught up and I saw more people adopting the TD style. People say the Jaguar is awful too but frankly its a great ship that I do well with. My point is if you find your own style that you enjoy, you'll both fight well and surprise people, which is a strength all its own.
Don't go in looking to win. Go in looking for good fights. You'll be less frustrated and get more fights you enjoy.
In the roguelike community there is a saying that "losing is fun". This is true. Some of my best fights I've had have been ones where I ran, or they ran, or I died.
Additionally, take fights that you *should* lose, but aren't 100% about. You miss 100% of shots you can't take. I have a surprising number of kills on my firetail vs tracking disruptor fittings where I stayed around and tried to position to minimize its effects. If its a guaranteed loss don't bother, but as a soloer the odds are "never" in your favor, so take those fights that are stacked against you.
Learn to fight the blob. If you only look for honorable 1v1s you'll never fight. So your mark has backup in local? Screw it, take him anyways, but bait him off the warp in of a plex or split them up. This skill is important. My killboard isn't impressive but I think these days half of my fights I take are vs multiple opponents. I run from many, but sometimes I get a kill before I have to run. And Sometimes I kill em all or they run. Either way if you show courage and take the fights you will improve.
Lastly and most importantly, learn from every fight. Very few fights are played perfectly by anyone. I can only think of one fight I've had in the entirety of eve that I handled perfectly, over the last 5 years playing. And that fight stemmed from me flying my firetail nonstop taking fights I shouldn't and learning the strengths and weaknesses like the back of my hand. Nobody masters eve. They only get better.
Learn to design ships. Some of the best PvPers know how to build a ship and design their own style. This plays into the surprise element as well. You'll get more fights and do better if you run something atypical or put your own spin on something. Use popular fittings as a point of comparison, but understand that paper dps isn't the whole story. A good ship is more than the sum of its parts. When you can learn this and how to do this you'll be well on your way.
Learn to run. You should take every fight you can, but don't feel bad about running. The more important thing is that you managed to both get into the fight and then get away. If you can take 10 fights and run from every single one then you are teaching yourself how to maneuver and position and control range. There's no shame in that. Only shame if you never took the fight to begin with.
Again, my KB is nothing impressive, but I doubt many "true" soloers who aren't 4 bil invested into boosters and links and implants have good killboards. So don't be too hard on yourself. Most people in low are using massive financial investment to rig the game before it starts. If you get anywhere near 50% you're doing well.
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