If you are an EO player the time to try out EE is now: a chance for a fresh start when there are no entrenched power blocks.
As an EO player trying EE there were a few things I found it hard to get information on EE, so I thought I’d try writing the guide I wish I had when I started. There may be errors in this (There is a reason I have left the comments open). I have mentioned where I am particularly unsure.
Whereas EO has Triglavians cutting up high sec, EE has “Officials” closing stargates. If there is a notification at the top of the screen that officials have closed the gate, you should be able to just retry several times and get through. If there is a popup you really will have to find another route.
Drones
Drones drop like flies in EO, but in EE I have never lost a drone. Not from agro; not from warping off. Is it even possible? Presumably other players can target them (TODO: test)
Drones are “midslots” in EE but you need a special midslot. Really they are an entirely distinct slot that just happens to be in the middle of the screen.
Mining
Mining can be a good source of income for beginning players. If there is a reasonable offer in the market, you will be able to sell Kernite for about 150, Omber for 50 and Plagiocase for 20 ISK. (Note that Kernite is much bigger than Plag). Despite the Officials complaining about how busy Jita is you can’t even reliably sell ore. I have often had offers of 5 ISK for Kernite, or no offer at all. If there is no offer, EE will automatically and silently set a stupidly high price that no one will ever buy. Check your forecast icons on the right of the screen and make sure “sell now” is checked.
EE automatically continues firing on the next target. For combat you may want to disable this and manually select the most dangerous target. On the other hand this is handy for AFK mining in highsec, if you have auto-orbit disabled and click your ship to select stop.
There are no rats in mining belts (As of 27/09/2020 maybe they will be added later)
When grinding Tutorials, mining common ore will rack up your mining achievement just as fast, although common ore tends to be worth less, so will grind your market achievement slower.
This Table details the amount of ISK you can expect to earn from each ore in a Venture III (thanks to bubber100)
| ORE TYPE | RARITY | Volume (per 1 ore) / m3 | Security | ore mount in full cargo | Price per unit | Total Value per 9000m3 load |
| Veldspar | Common | 0.1 | 1.0 to -1.0 | 90000 | 7 isk | 630,000 isk |
| Plagioclase | Common | 0.35 | 0.8 to 0.3 | 25714 | 38 isk | 977,143 isk |
| Scordite | Common | 0.15 | 1.0 to -1.0 | 60000 | 22 isk | 1,320,000 isk |
| Omber | Uncommon | 0.6 | 0.6 to 0.3 | 15000 | 70 isk | 1,050,000 isk |
| Pyroxeres | Uncommon | 1.5 | 0.49 to -1.0 | 6000 | 501 isk | 3,006,000 isk |
| Kernite | Uncommon | 1.2 | 0.6 to 0.1 | 7500 | 170 isk | 1,275,000 isk |
| Dark Ochre | Uncommon | 1.6 | 0.49 to -1.0 | 5625 | 511 isk | 2,874,375 isk |
| Gneiss | Special | 2 | 0.4 to -1.0 | 4500 | 620 isk | 2,790,000 isk |
| Spodumain | Special | 3.2 | 0.2 to -1.0 | 2813 | 1,150 isk | 3,234,375 isk |
| Hemorphite | Special | 3 | 0.2 to -1.0 | 3000 | 820 isk | 2,460,000 isk |
| Hedbergite | Rare | 3 | 0 to -1.0 | 3000 | 1,200 isk | 3,600,000 isk |
| Jaspet | Rare | 4 | 0 to -1.0 | 2250 | 1,500 isk | 3,375,000 isk |
| Crokite | Rare | 6.4 | -0.2 to -1.0 | 1406 | 2,100 isk | 2,953,125 isk |
| Bistot | Precious | 6.4 | -0.4 to -1.0 | 1406 | 2,300 isk | 3,234,375 isk |
| Arkonor | Precious | 6.4 | -0.6 to -1.0 | 1406 | 2,400 isk | 3,375,000 isk |
| Mercoxet | Precious | 8 | -0.8 to -1.0 | 1125 | 2,000 isk | 2,250,000 isk |
Real sec >0.45 sytems show as 0.5, so it is possible to find Pyroxeres in some highsec systems. You can see Real Sec of systems by going to EVEmaps and mousing over the security status. (EVEmaps was designed for EVE Online but is mostly accurate for EE as well) See also: https://www.iskmogul.com/guide-to-mining-in-eve-echoes/
There are no bookmarks in EE, but you can set up planetology in your favourite mining spot, and use the planetology interface to return there (and pick up your PI while you are there). You can leave some item in your favourite trading station and use Inventory>Personal Assets to get back.
Relevant Skills to mining
Mining (For Ventures only, does not help strip miners)
Strip Mining (Only once you can fly mining barges)
Industrial Command (Increase speed to get to Asteroids)
Microwarp Drive
Planetology (May as well mine in your sleep)
(Common) Ore Reprocessing (Shrink your ore for transport)
Ganking
Ganking is impossible in highsec, but you cannot set safeties to green and shooting another player’s wreck will CONCORD you. Combined with auto fire this is great for giggles.
Low Sec gate guns are stupid powerful, so entering Low Sec isn’t suicide in EE. Also there is no scanning down mission locations, so mission running in Low Sec is fairly safe. For example, I sat on a gate overnight in low sec and was still there in morning
When attempting to gank in Low Sec, you get a warning that your security status is reduced by -0.01, but there is no indication that this is used for anything yet (or even any way of checking that it is actually stored)
In EE, autopilot is the standard way to get round highsec and lowsec. Autopilot warps to 0, so it is the fastest way to get places. In null be aware that the autopilot will decloak and align you before you have finished loading the system, giving gankers a chance to kill you before you can react. Also bubbles are expected to be implemented soon, making warping from gate to gate a bad idea.
I recommend disabling the lowsec warning. The warning only appears once you undock, so you can start autopiloting, turn your screen off come back much later and find yourself not much closer to the destination. If it warned you once you reached a lowsec gate like EE… it might serve some purpose if lowsec was actually scary.
Note that there is a distinct warning about leaving CONCORD protection. This warning doesn’t sound scary because you are technically leaving CONCORD protection but it really means “you are leaving CONCORD protection AND ALSO ENTERING NULL SEC.. YOU WILL DIE”.
Loss
Insurance works differently in EE. In EE you can add insurance vouchers to your account, which are used when a compatible ship is destroyed. You will be given plentiful beginners vouchers for T3 and Trainer ships. You cannot buy Insurance vouchers for other ships at the moment, however you can automatically get a ship back once every seven days. This is for a ship lost in PvE for any reason, it doesn’t have to be a bug, but it is done in the support request UI. Just go to Character>Settings>Customer Service>Ship Recovery.
There are no jumpclones in EE but implants are actually skills, so you don’t lose learning implants when you are podded. (because they are actually skills, not implants)
In EE wrecks still last only a short time (Need to experiment, can stay for up to four hours if you are on grid, but don’t last anything like that when off grid), so you may have to try quickly looting your old ship in a corvette. There is no “Board my Corvette” button in EE. You can do the old school thing and show up at an empty station in a capsule to get your free Corvette.
There does not seem to be a way of bookmarking your wreck, and I have ended up 50km from my ship. Still managed to pick up my modules before I was taken out.
The Alpha and the Omega
Alpha clones work differently in EE. In particular not that you will not be able to trade or put things in corporation hangars as an Alpha. It also doesn’t seem to be possible to use blueprints from the corporation hangar (You could take them out and use them, but you couldn’t put them back). Pretty much the only way to give things to your Corp is to jettison them and get Corp mates to pick them up. If you are considering going to null consider how much this may limit your usefulness. At least corp mates (and any other random passerby) can pick up your Planetary Interaction materials in Null.
Omega clones also work a bit differently. Basic Omega is all you need to use all the standard Omega abilities. Standard Omega stacks with Basic Omega and increases your skill training speed and amount of Free SP you can store. An alpha can store 100,000 SP skill points (TODO: how much exactly for Basic). Basic Omegas are still limited to 24 hours of skills queued (TODO: What about Standard Omegas?).
If switching back to Alpha be aware of reports that you lose progress in unfinished skills. When switching back to Alpha you have to demolish planets to fit into your alpha planetology quota before you add time to planets, but you do not need to reduce the number of mining arrays on planets that remain UPDATE: You now also have to reduce the number of mining arrays.
In EO multiboxing alphas is prohibited but there is nothing in the EE Privacy Policy and User Agreement banning this. (TODO: check that this is intended. Official Discord got no response, GM just gave a form response asking for a screenshot, now seeing if someone on reddit can confirm: https://www.reddit.com/r/echoes/comments/i95xqe/is_multiboxing_allowed/g7dgswc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
The biggest ship you can fly well as an alpha is a cruiser such as the Maller. Battlecruisers bonuses depend on advanced skills you can’t get as an alpha, and battleships like large weapons that are omega locked.
You can get Basic Omega for 170 Plex or Duo for 500 Plex per month.
Missions and Storylines.
In EE missions are assigned from the Newsboard. Non-storyline Combat missions always have three waves. You can manually refresh the news board every half hour, but the news board will automatically refresh every 3 (I think) hours. If there is a mission you like you can’t just leave it overnight. You only have 3 hours to complete a mission, but there is no penalty for failing. I have never seen a warp scrambler in t6 or below non-storyline mission.
In EE you get storyline missions from completing sets of unique missions. You can see missions you still need to do by looking for missions that have a faction icon but no tick. If you pick the uncompleted missions and refresh the missions each half hour, a couple of days of grinding should get you your first storyline mission and a bunch of almost completed storylines. To get a complete set of unique missions for a storyline, you will probably have to have low sec missions enabled. You can’t just do 16 high sec missions like in EO.
You can take as long as you want to accept the story line mission. Accepting the mission puts a voucher in your hold. You can use the voucher to proceed with the storyline mission proper, or sell the voucher in the market. You may want to sell your first voucher to build up a bit of ISK tank, as storyline missions are a bit grindy and can go bad real fast. If you use the voucher, you have 10 days to complete the storyline mission.
In EO storyline missions tended to be quite short. cough Materials for War Preparation cough. In EE storyline missions tend to be a bit closer to what EO would call an Epic Arc. For details on each mission see
https://en.game-m.ru/eve-echoes-story-missions-rewards-and-difficulty/
(Will become random like encounter missions?)
In EE missions don’t reset at downtime. EE even doesn’t have daily downtime, but does have weekly maintenance. I have left a storyline mission partially completed for a week and it did not reset.
Scramming frigates seem to have as much tank as a battlecruiser. You cannot rely on quickly taking out PvE scrams like you can in EO.
My battery does not last long enough for a storyline mission, so you may want to be plugged in.
Exploration
Exploration missions in EE are very simple. Just fly to the solar system and press the scan button that pops up. There is no special equipment required, you could probably complete the mission in a pod.
Connection.
In EE on disconnect you do not warp out AND ALSO EE DISABLES YOUR TANK ON DISCONNECT. In EO disconnections are often no big deal. Once I was scrambled in EO and logged back in to find my drones had automatically taken out the scrambler and I had warped out OK. By contrast, in EE I disconnected in a destroyer in a super easy T1 mission where the rats couldn’t even scratch my tank. I survived three hours of them scratching at my tank, but on disconnect I lost my ship.
Only do missions on reliable wifi. Be aware of where you can get a good mobile signal if wifi craps out. Even if your connection is super reliable, EE might just randomly disconnect or crash so be ready to restart your client quickly.
Deliveries
There are a number of challenges for deliveries in EE. There are usually only XL jobs available which currently no one is high enough tech level to complete. While scamming in EO by other players is common, the interface in EE will scam you too. I may say that the job is 100m3 at 30000 ISK per m3. Basic maths says this is 3 million ISK, but it may turn out to be just 6000 ISK. Your contract will often be rejected because your “collateral is too low” even though you were just accepting the offered contract unmodified.
If you really want to do delivery missions there is a trick to getting the cargo into your delivery hold. Choose Move To, and then click on the icon just to the right of Cargo Hold. To get started you can move Large (10,000m3) containers with an Imicus High Mobility if you have the Freight 4 skill.
See also e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37wGzq3cu84
Sample Storyline: T6 For Patriotism
This section is based entirely on attempting the T6 “For Patriotism” Storyline. The advice may hold for other Storylines as well.
In EE storylines you need to warp in at range. In EO most of the scaries are behind warp gates so you can get away with warping to 0. In EE T6 regular missions there tend to be only 4-6 enemies at a time, and you could perhaps get away with warping in at 0. Once you play EE storylines with dozens of ships in a blob warping to 0 can get you killed within seconds.
You need to think before warping back onto grid. It used to be that the enemies would stay where you left them (Now they seem to move, but it is dangerous to assume they have moved in a way that will help you). The enemies will have followed you while you are flying away, so flying back at range could land you right where you left them. Warping to a different celestial object and warping at range reduces your chance of warping straight into the middle of the blob.
Since there are many hostiles at a time, range tanking is almost mandatory. Once you have dealt with the Elites, you could be sitting 30km away from the nearest enemy aligned to station; hands off just watching your spinny things spin; sitting in shields in an armor tanked ship; slowly grinding through the hundred odd ships you have to kill. Alternatively, you could have two ships within 20 km, soon there is another, and you webbed, scrammed and dead within 5 seconds. If you are using lasers, make sure you fit beams instead of pulses!
Market Trading
Broker fees are higher in Echoes, so you need a big difference to your buy and sell prices to make a profit. Also note that if you want to sell to Alphas you need to trade at a station that is in highsec and a ITC (Trading Hub).
There is often a big difference between the buy and sell prices for ships despite rapid trade, so you may want to put a buy order in the moment you can afford the cheaper buy price.
Multiboxing helps market trading simply so you can have Buy/Sell prices open at the same time as you are amending your order.
See also: https://unknownwisp.wordpress.com/2020/10/27/eve-echoes-guide-station-trading/
Other guides with Caveats:
Claims that Industrial Ships cannot participate in combat. There have already been killmails for Combat Ventures. In fact the fast locking Venture II is particularly good at scramming.
References compressing ore. IIRC at the moment you cannot compress ore. Compressed ore needs to be mined from certain very rare asteroids.