It is December 2017 and we received updates to alpha clones to include a vast quantity of new skills for new players. Now they have access to get into Tech One battleships, and even pirate faction variants. This includes the top-of-the-line high-security Incursion battleships, such as the Vindicator, Nightmare and the Machariel.
What you’re going to get from this Article:
A step-by-step guide to effectively fund your account using in-game currency (ISK) for the rest of your Eve career using CCP-updated alpha clone skills from the arms race update. You will be training essential skills that will take you to running highsec incursions while as an alpha clone. You will then want to train a second character using Multiple Character Training (MCT) to follow the EVE career of your dreams essentially FOR FREE!
For the new players: What are Incursions?
Incursions are endgame PvE, which have you in a fleet of up to 40 other players taking on the Sansha Faction: a hostile NPC pirate faction that wants to take over space. Think of incursions as a forward operating force attempting to take control over a new region of space. You’re there to stop them. So you run sites to reduce their influence and you get paid by the high-security police force called CONCORD.
The largest site which you’ll see most of the fleets running are Headquarter sites or HQ for short. These sites pay 31.5 million ISK, and on average you’ll run 4 to 6 sites per hour, totaling 120 to 180 million ISK an hour. You can run these sites indefinitely until the Incursion withdraws. After the Incursion ends, it’ll move to a different location in high-security space.
Time is Money: I sold PLEX so the ISK is free, right?
We’re in an era of paying for instant gratification. It’s my opinion that it has finally had an impact on EVE online with this recent update. An alpha clone could train up the minimum required skills in only 130 days. (65 days omega state) or they could pay for 1,600 PLEX for £33.99+£16.99(£50.98) or $39.99+$19.99($59.98). To be sold on the market, which will help the player economy. In turn, they have the required ISK to buy skill injectors and have enough leftover to buy a cheap Incursion battleship.
There are many things required to be successful in fleet-based endgame PvE: Engaging with a popular community, learning the basics of fleet mechanics, learning how to read the MOTD, and many more core skills essential to maintaining a life in EVE
Tools, Skills & Ships: Let’s get you started
You require character skills to be successful incursions; I used a program called EVEMon to keep track of mine and build towards targets linked below, but as long as you have the basic skills required to use all the modules and the ship, then you’ll get a fleet invite.
- The Vindicator: Hybrid Weapons.
Starter Variant: Hyperion. Gallente Alpha Clone Base / Minmatar Alpha Clone Base
- The Nightmare: Energy Weapons.
Starter Variant: Apocalypse Navy Issue. Amarr Alpha Clone Base / Caldari Alpha Clone Base
- The Machariel: Projectile Weapons.
Starter Variant: Maelstrom. Minmatar Alpha Clone Base / Gallente Alpha Clone Base
Starter variants can be used instead of the Pirate Faction Battleships in case you do not confident enough to invest a large amount of ISK right at the start. My personal recommendation is that you use the starter variants until you feel comfortable with how to use the ship.
Ships and fittings can be found here on the Warp To Me Incursions forums
New Player Friendly Community: Warp To Me Incursions
Currently, Warp To Me Incursions is the most popular new player community to get involved with. This is because their only skill requirement is you can use the modules on your ship. There are other Incursion communities to get involved with, however they weren’t Alpha-Clone-friendly. Players can also find their way to Discord for some out of game help.
To assure any concern for losing your brand new ship, Warp To Me has a Ship Replacement Program. You can pay a daily donation of 10 to 30 million ISK, and if you happen to die due to Fleet Commander error or a mistake by logistics pilots, they will give you ISK to replace your ship. There is a lot to cover on how to get set up and run an incursion, however, Warp To Me has created an all-inclusive Incursion guide which you can browse at your leisure.
Advancing your career within EVE Online
Once you’ve trained your Incursion alpha character, you’ll be wanting to spend that glorious ISK. At this point, you can look into upgrading your account Omega State. However, it is recommended that you train a secondary character. The this is so your Incursion character can just run Incursions whenever you want to make some excellent money, without putting your other characters out of position. You can also make a second account, but you will not be able to log into two accounts at the same time without both of them as paid Omega members.
Your second character (on another account) is for doing whatever you wish. My advice is to join one of the many new player friendly nullsec alliances (The red dots on the map? that’s nullsec. Learn more before you go there). KarmaFleet, Ascendence, BRAVE Newbies, Pandemic Horde or EVE University are common choices for new players getting into nullsec. If you have been playing with Warp to Me or another Incursion group, talk to your fellow pilots about their personal experiences within these alliances to learn more about what option may suit you best.
Great for New Players
While there may potentially be problems with retaining new players, Incursions are a great way to introduce alpha pilots to fleet-based gameplay, ultimately working with alliances, and of course, getting rich. This is something anyone can do with an investment of time, money, or ISK, and with more skills opened up to alpha clones, we may even see fleets dedicated to them in the future, showing off just what they can do.
I’m calling it now: “Joe Barbarians Alpha-Only Incursion Community” in 2018.
