Mining in EVE is easy to access, requires very little upfront investment, and is a crucial part of the game’s industrial economy. Whenever a ship is destroyed, the demand for the minerals it’s made of goes up!

For the new EVE player, it’s the perfect opportunity to both learn the ropes and make some serious starting ISK at the same time. With that money you’ll be well prepared to explore EVE’s deep systems of research, industrial production, and logistics support.

EVE’s free to play and available to everyone too! Go ahead and grab it from the Epic Store once you’ve brushed up on the basics in this guide.

 

We’ve put together 8 tips to help new players find their feet in the industrial side of life in New Eden.

1. EVE’s New Player Experience now includes an exciting chapter that explores the miner’s life! Complete this to unlock an excellent starter industrial ship, as well as the in-game skills and knowledge you’ll need to start your mining career off in style.

2. Don’t hit up a belt until you’ve checked the local market prices. EVE’s economy is player-run, and prices change as supply meets demand. Certain ores are more valuable than others, but they occupy more space in your hold. It’s often better to think about the value of your cargo hold, rather than focusing on the price of individual ores.

3. While mining in an asteroid belt, be sure to activate your Survey Scanner from time to time. This helpful tool shows how much ore remains in any given asteroid, so you don’t waste your mining cycles on rocks that won’t pay out in full!

4. You can use mining drones to significantly increase your yield. Once you’ve targeted an asteroid, dispatch your drones and set them to mine repeatedly. They’ll then scurry back and forth delivering ore to your hold, but time is money! Make sure you mine as close to the asteroid as possible, to reduce the distance your boulder-bashing buddies have to travel.

5. After mining your ore you can either sell it on the market as is, or reprocess it into potentially more valuable minerals. Until your reprocessing skills improve, however, you may find it more valuable to sell your ore in its raw state, and then get back into the asteroid field for more.

6. Found a favorite mining spot? Add some bookmarks around the perimeter of the asteroid belt and you’ll be able to warp in much closer to the ore next time. Industrial ships move slowly in EVE, so anything you can do to reduce traveling time means more ISK in your wallet.

7. Anything can happen in EVE, and it pays to be prepared! Fit some modules that will improve the hitpoints or resistances on your mining ships. This will help protect you from NPC pirates curious about the contents of your cargo hold, and make more opportunistic players think twice before trying the same.

8. EVE’s players have built a powerful set of tools and communities over the last 20 years. Sites like Cerlestes provide useful information on which asteroids to target for any given mineral, while the EVE subreddit includes thousands of experienced pilots who can help you find your feet.

You can play EVE for free on the Epic Store now!