The joy of Overview

One of the most important things to have in place for any kind of pvp in Eve is a decent overview setup. It's pretty much an essential tool to have in place and getting it right should be as high on the “to do” list as fitting ships.

Out in the land of Faction Wars things can get pretty confusing at times. Individual militia corps have + or - standings to each other as well as with corps and alliances outside of the militia and of course the local pirate groups. Pilots in your militia (or even your sister militia for that matter) may have low security standings yet be a friendly part of your fleet. War decs are numerous and relationships can change overnight. This can all prove to be a bit of a headache at times, especially for CEOs and diplomats when things go wrong. War and peace are often just an accidental missile apart.

It is therefore pretty essential to get things set up in a way that lets you know clearly who you should and shouldn't be shooting.

I'm not going to spout overview guidance here, there is plenty out there already (couple links at the bottom) from folks much more knowledgeable than myself. But I do have a tale of caution to share.

I have always been quite happy with my own overview settings. I have separate tabs for pvp and pve activities as well as a travel (aka run away) tab. I also have my settings saved out of game via the “export” tab, which saves a lot of hard work if say you ever need to reinstall or clear your cache. Unfortunately the export option does not remember everything about how you like your overview to appear, and I discovered this the hard way...

One night last year I joined a small but heavy fit roaming fleet consisting primarily of one particular corp that I sometimes fly with. These guys are a rather badass bunch who really know their stuff so I was quite chuffed to be flying with them . Obviously I didn’t want to frack anything up and make a tit of myself so I put the wine back in the kitchen, hopped into my favourite Taranis and did my best to stay sharp (this can be a challenge after a long day with an exhausting toddler).

Previously that evening I had reset my cache but had, of course, remembered to import my saved overview settings and recreate my tabs. Not everything was appearing quite as I expected, but I assumed just a few colour changes here and there was all that was needed, which I would take a look at later.

We had an unfruitful little roam around Black Rise before one of the forward scouts spotted a “flashy” pirate Vexor heading in our direction. Moving quickly to the out-gate (the Vexor pilots in-gate) we set ourselves up for the catch. I sat there orbiting the gate, modules hot, poised and ready to lock. Like a cat in the grass, ready to pounce, the moment this guy appeared I would have him. My eyes fixed on the overview as I listened to the scout intel over voice coms “pushing him through... yep he’s jumping... get ready guys”.

A stripe of red flashes up on my overview *click* “POINT”. I had him scrammed, keeping him from warping and also shutting down his MWD. This guy was going nowhere, w00t eat that Mr Pirate!

My triumphant moment did not last for long, as my eyes registered the pilots name and I realised what I had just done... I’d just pointed a pilot who’s corp was +10 with my own corp... and not just any pilot, it was the bloody CEO... and this guy was not exactly famous for having a calm demeanour either. BALLS.

Whilst my overview settings had been imported correctly various states and ordering needed to be re-done manuall. This included moving the “pilot is an outlaw” state to a lower priority than “pilot has high standings” in the colour tags section... oh dear.



I disengaged within less than 3 seconds of my initial lock, but that wasn’t quick enough. By then the guy was pointed by others in the fleet and had no chance of warping out. Being rather out shipped and outnumbered he was going down like a hauler Amamake. I stepped back from the engagement and then noticed the “friendly pilot coming through” messages in local... friendly to me that is. As the Vexor exploded I made my excuses and headed home. A convo soon popped up from the Vexor pilot, who was let’s say not very happy with me, and I reluctantly started up a convo with my CEO to explain what I’d just done, handing him another lovely mess to sort out.

That one little incident escalated far beyond what it really needed to, but such is the way of Eve. No surprises that I am now rather paranoid about my overview settings.

If my tale of woe has got you thinking about your own overview then check out the following links:

>>Overview Basics<<
>>Tony Potter's Overview guide<<


Just don't forget to double check your set-up if you use the import feature :P