You just enlisted with the militia. You are eager to jump straight into the action but soon discover that the New Player Experience tells you nothing about how to participate. With this post, you will get up to speed without a problem. Keep in mind that while this blog focuses on the Gallente militia, the general advice would be true for any of the empires. Also, specific locations and links are valid at the time of writing (August 2023).
Joining the militia community
There's no better way to start your journey than joining one of the numerous communities focusing on Factional Warfare. Such places are the best spots to ask for advice, share stories from the frontlines, and find group content. They also offer access to voice comms used by the militia's fleets, making it easier to meaningfully participate in the war effort, as you can quickly relay what is going in space.
At the time of writing, the Gallente militia uses two main Discord servers:
GalMil - operates mostly around the Heydieles area
Gal Mil War HQ - focuses on Vlillier and surrounding systems
While the links should not expire, Discord is quite fickle with them - in case you run into any troubles, just ask for the latest links in the in-game militia chat.
Set up your overview
Most of the militia players are in low-sec for PvP which means they don't shy away from engaging non-militia targets. This results in their security status being lowered and having them displayed as suspects or criminals on your default overview. This information is displayed over their militia alignment so you might end up mistakenly shooting a fellow militiaman just because they shot a neutral target a while ago. To make sure you don't cause any friendly fire incidents, I recommend setting your overview in such a way that your fleet and militia members are not displayed on the overview. To change what is being displayed on your overview:
1. While in space, open your overview settings
2. Go to the "Filters" tab 3. Find "Pilot is in your fleet" and "Pilot is in your militia or allied to your militia" entries and toggle them to "Filter out" (the column in the middle)
When you save the changes, pilots in your fleet or in your militia will not be displayed on your overview, unless you have set "Always show" on any other state - which means you may filter out fleet members but have them be displayed if they have negative standings. Keep in mind that no matter the settings, those pilots will always be displayed in space.
Make your way to the warzone
Each larger group will have its preferred staging system, where the members are encouraged to store their ships. While you can base out of any system you prefer (even in hi-sec), I highly recommend finding the staging system(s) of your militia and setting it up there. The reason is that these stations are usually well stocked, so replacing any losses will be much easier. Additionally, these systems are usually located close to the action so it should be easier to find PvP content in their neighborhood. At the time of writing, for Gallente militia these are Heydieles and Vlillier.
Finding the system is one thing but getting there is another. While it may be tempting to load all your ships into an Iteron and just warp there, this could prove a costly misadventure as the routes leading from hi-sec to the staging systems tend to be camped. A better approach would be to grab a fast and nimble ship, like a shuttle, and buy your ships on the spot. You can start bringing ships by yourself when you get familiar with the space you are moving into but to start with, stick with local purchases.
Hangar composition
As you can imagine, there's no one ship to do it all in Eve. As such, over time you will acquire multiple ships that serve different purposes. To start with, you should aim to have the following:
- a taxi - a fast and nimble ship that lets you move between systems without being caught. A shuttle will do initially, with the plan to replace it with an interceptor or a pacifier,
- a few frigates - these will be your 'learner' ships. The plan is to use these to run novice / small plexes while looking for your PvP fights,
- close range, high DPS destroyer - this will be your money-making ship. You can use them to run offensive medium / large plexes for huge LP payouts compared to the cost of the destroyer,
- a cruiser that works with fleet compositions (most likely Exequror Navy Issue) - this should be your first long-term goal, to save up enough ISK to buy one of the ships that allows you to participate in fleet operations. At the time of writing, the Exequror Navy Issue (ENI) seems to be the most popular option. Having such a ship at your disposal will make you a more valuable member of any fleet you join, as their strength lies in the numbers and uniformity of the ships.
Conclusion
I hope this short guide will help you with the initial setup, ensuring you can start shooting and contributing to the war effort quickly. Stay tuned for the following posts where I'll show you how to complete your first FW complex.
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