EVE Online's essential knowledge:

• click to show/hide. WARNING: this is a LOT of text w/even more links, but I'd want all this explained to me if I were starting now in September of 2025 (time of this page's latest update):

  1. if unprepared, you can be tackledprevented from warping and destroyed anywhere in EVE. you usually won't be killed in High Security space, but you can be, for two reasons:
     1. you joined a player-run corporationa formal group of players, like a guild or clan in traditional MMOs or alliancea formal group of corporations which can have war declared on itmost large player corportions and alliances always have war declared on them by other groups (and can thus be freely attacked by them in HS for the war's duration), or
     2. a suicide ganker decided to kill you, either on a whim or because they could profit from your wreck after losing their ship(s)
        • if you must play in HS, reconsider your motivations and play elsewhere. if you insist,
          click to show/hide info about mitigating gank risk

          • to be unenticing to the profiteering suicide gankers, you should have about 1 thousand EHPEffective Hitpoints, i.e. [shield + armor + structure HP] x [combined average of each layer's resistance] for every 3 million ISK worth of stuff you have fitted to your ship and in its holds/bays
            • check EHP in the fitting window (Alt + F, then click SIMULATE) or out-of game with pyfa (shown here). check the value of the fit & cargo with the Janice junk evaluator
              • if you're fitting to avoid HS ganks, you generally want an omnitanka fit which makes resistances to EVE's four damage types as even as possible (within ~20%), since gankers can scan your fit and attack your lowest resistance
          • mitigate the risk of the whim-based ganks by:
            1. paying attention. gankers usually use the same characters repeatedly and commmonly fly Catalysts, Thrashers, Taloses, Tornados or Stealth Bombers (not an exhaustive list)
            2. keeping a cushion of ISK/assets in reserve
            3. praying to Bob
            4. staying docked or never playing (seriously: if you can't prepare for random losses or you're paralyzed by the possibility, either take up station trading or don't play)
            5. avoiding common ganking locations with wormholes or paying pros
               • common ganking locations & methods of bypassing them are in separate sections further below
  2. you'll avoid the majority of tacklers in High and Low Security space if your ship enters warp in under 2 seconds from a full stopa ship which does this is said to instawarp. anything up to 1.99 s works. check this in the fitting window (Alt + F) or in pyfa (linked again)
     • having any velocity at all can change how long your ship takes to enter warp; this includes the velocity your ship is given when it undocks
       • if your velocity is directed within ~15 degrees of your warp destination, you'll enter warp instantly if the velocity is 75% or more of the ship's current maximum velocity
         • note 1: ships in EVE have inertia, i.e. changing pre-existing velocity takes time rather than being instantaneous (I know this sounds obvious, but... just consider it)
         • note 2: active (cycling) propulsion modules increase a ship's max velocity; you must be at 75% of current max velocity to warp, whatever that may be when you initiate it
     • read here about trainable skills and modules which affect time to warp. capsulesthe egg-shaped pod in which your pilot's body rides and shuttles always instawarp from a dead stop regardless of skill level
       • several frigates and destroyers and a handful of larger hulls can be fit to instawarp, but this depends on the hull, its fitting, and the pilot's learned skills and implants
     • instawarping fits can be caught by specialist tacklersknown as hyper- or ultralockers, but they're rare enough that you shouldn't worry about them unless you're moving billions of ISK worth of stuff
       • click to show/hide a section which gets into the weeds on this. it isn't beginner stuff; I provide it to illustrate one of EVE's many rabbit holes

         • here is a page about subsecond fits which can reliably escape hyperlockers
           • but only if warping from under gate cloak or if warping to a properly-made instant-undock bookmark
         • and here is a partially-incorrect but nonetheless useful explanation of hyperlocking
         • and here is evidence that subsecond ships can be caught by hyperlockers if they undock and stop their ship before warping away: 2014, 2022, discussion
           • the actual underlying mechanics involved here have never been fully explained anywhere, tmk
             • this microcosm of hyperlocking is EVE in a nutshell; it's full of niches in which knowledge of mechanics is incomplete, fuzzy, or not widely-understood
  3. model direction has no impact on warp timing. to reiterate: pointing a ship toward a preferred warp destination then coming to a stop has no effect on how long it'll take to enter warp
     • the idea that model direction is relevant to warp timing is an extremely common belief about EVE mechanics despite it being trivially easy to test & disprove
     • if your ship is currently at a dead stop, these are the only things affecting how long it'll take to enter warp in any direction
       • if you're not changing any of the things in the above link, the only way to decrease your TTW is to have velocity within 15 degrees of where you want to warp
         • and again, if it's at 75% or more of current max velocity and wholly directed to within ~15 degrees of the destination, you'll enter warp instantly (reiterating because it's important)
  4. never use Autopilot unless you've made a sensible risk/reward calculation and are properly tanked for whatever you're moving
  5. terminology clarification (using any of these interchangably is asking for trouble):
     • Stations are NPC-controlled entities which offer docking. some are of the kickout variety, i.e. they have such short undock runways that re-docking may be perilous
       • again, make instant-dock & undock bookmarks for stations you frequent
     • Structures are one of eight player-owned & operated entities (e.g. Astrahus, Fortizar) which may or may not offer docking and tethering but still have docking radii, beyond which tether breaks
       • if you are AFK on tether, your ship can be bumped off tether and then destroyed. dock up if AFK! deep-tether bookmarks are also useful on structures you frequent
     • Player-Owned Starbases aka POS are password-protected enclosed spaces placed at fixed locations by moons
  6. warp disruption fields aka bubbles are player-generated spheres which prevent and intercept warps. they only work in NS, JS, Pochven and active-Insurgency LS, all of which are explained below
     • bubbles don't affect shuttles, can be temporarily bypassed by select ships which can fit nullifiers, and can sometimes be avoided (i.e. moved around) with tactical bookmarks
  7. there are various types of planetary system in EVE, all with different mechanics:
     • Known Space (KS) aka New Eden is every system connected to the main stargate network. there are 66 regions of Known Space in these categories:
       • Empire Space, where every system is controlled by NPCs and all systems and constellations have a name of 1-3 words. Empire Space contains two subcategories of space:
         • High-Sec (HS, 1.0 to 0.5), where NPCs punish but do not prevent unsanctioned PvP by destroying offending ships and applying security status penalties to their pilots
           • note: some HS systems can temporarily host Insurgencies, during which they can become LS-like (pod-killing & criminal-aiding is still punished, but nothing else)
         • Low-Sec (LS, 0.4 to 0.1), where NPCs do not intervene in PvP but still apply security status penalties for it
           • note 1: gates and stations have automated gun emplacements, which do respond to certain types of PvP in their vicinity
           • note 2: some LS systems may temporarily host Insurgencies, during which interdiction bubbles (among other things) can possibly be used there
       • Null-Sec (NS, 0.0) is outside Empire space and controlled by players but is still Known Spaceany space which is connected to the main gate network
         • no security status penalties occur in NS, therefore it is a type of lawless space, and bubbles and bombs can be used here
       • Zarzakh is a unique single-system class of known lawless space where bubbles and bombs do not work
     • J-Space (JS) aka W-Space (WS) aka Anoikis is unknown lawless space accessible only via wormholes. it actually contains further sub-groupings which are detailed at the link
       • Thera and the 5 Drifter systems don't belong to JS proper for various reasons, but I list them here because they, too, are mainly accessed via wormholes
     • Pochven is a lawless region of 27 systemswhether Pochven is is known or unknown us ambiguous; I'll say neither accessible by wormholes and filaments which is connected in a loop by a separate network of stargates
  8. if you're not wisely avoiding HS and having more fun elsewhere,
     click to show/hide suicide ganker haunts

     1. HS trade hub systems at both the stations themselves and at incoming/outgoing gates (arranged in descending order of popularity and thus riskiness):
        1. Jita's 4-4 CNAP stationPlanet IV Moon 4 Caldari Navy Assembly Plant is the main trade hub of EVE; others can be perused here, but they all pale in comparison to Jita and are dwindling with time
           • 4-4 is by far the most dangerous location in the game. make some instant-dock and instant-undock bookmarks for it (make them for the others if you use them, but definitely for 4-4)
        2. Perimeter, the 2nd-largest trading hub due to the player-run trading structures there. you'll be ganked at the gate for these because player structures have tether
        3. Amarr VIII (Oris) - Emperor Family Academy as well as the player-run trading structures nextdoor in Ashab (again, for the player structures, they'll get you on the gate)
        4. Dodixie IX - Moon 20 - Federation Navy Assembly Plant
        5. Hek VIII - Moon 12 - Boundless Creation Factory as well as Rens VI - Moon 8 - Brutor Tribe Treasury
     2. the Big 3 HS gank zones
        1. Uedama & nearby (HS route between Jita & Amarr/Dodixie/Hek/Rens)
        2. the pipe between Du Annes and Hek in Sinq Laison as well as Bei and Uttindar in the Metropolis leg (HS route between Jita/Dodixie & Hek/Rens)
        3. the 0.6-Security systems in this pipe in Devoid (HS route between Amarr and Dodixie/Hek/Jita/Rens)
     3. anywhere with predictable activity involving ships with valuable fittings/cargo (asteroid/ice belts & anoms, incursion constellations, mission hubs, etc)
  9. commonly-gatecamped systems outside of HS: Ahbazon, Rancer, Tama, Thera (wormholes), Turnur (wormholes). this not an exhaustive list
     • EVE Gatecamp Check lets you check systems/routes for recent kills. note: you may be unluckly enough to be a gatecamp's first recent kill, so don't take it as gospel
  10. dscanning allows you to tell if other ships or objects of interest are within 14.3 AU of your location. habitualize dscanning to avoid gatecamps, bubbles, and unwanted fights
  11. wormholes and/or filaments can dramatically reduce travel times in EVE. WARNING: interdiction bubbles work JS/NS/Pochven/Thera, and Turnur is LS which can host Insurgencies
      • here is my primer on wormholes. if you have time, patience, and a scanning character, you can often find shortcuts around ganking zones with direct HS-to-HS wormholes
      • alternatively, here's EVE-Scout, which publicly maps Thera and Turnur connections (how to access their bookmarks), and here's my guide on using Pochven filaments to quickly get back to Jita