[Guide] The skills to learn (Core, Combat, Learning)

Explaining Core Skills

With so many skills in EVE it's often difficult to tell where to head next in your training. Especially with the larger ships, simply having the required skills for the hull of a ship isn't enough to "pilot the ship well" or even safely! A Cruiser using Small Blasters to fight off Drones is good tactics. A Cruiser using Small Blaster since that's all the pilot can use is an insurance payment waiting to happen! Inspired by some helpful posts on the EVE Online forums here are some skill suggestions for you to aim towards.
Basic Skills For All Ships
These are skills you'll want at level IV

Skill Name - [Bonus per level of skill] (Ex: Level 4 Electronics gives 20% more CPU.)

• Electronics 1 [+5% CPU]
  o Targeting 2 [Extra target]
  
• Engineering 3 [+5% Power Grid]
  o Energy Management 4 [+5% Capacitor Power]
  o Energy Systems Operation [+5% Capacitor Recharge]
  o Shield Management [+5% Sheild Points]
  o Shield Operations [+5% Shield Recharge]
  
• Mechanic 5 [+5% Structure Points]
  o Hull Upgrades 6 [+5% Armor Points]
  o Salvaging 7 [Allows Salvaging of Wrecks - See Note for Reqs)
  
• Navigation 8 [+5% Velocity]
  o Afterburner 9 [+10% longer AB useage]
  o Warp Drive Operations [+5% less cap needed to warp]
  
• Spaceship Command 10 [+2% Agility]
  o Frigate 11 [See Ship Description]
  o Destroyer 12 [See Ship Description]
  o Industrial 13 [See Ship Description]
  o Cruiser 14 [See Ship Description]

Notes:
1: Use Co-Processors in your low slots for more CPU.
2: Total targets locked = 2 + Targetting Skill, Max of Ship Limit, usually good training just to L3, for a max of 5 targets
3: Use Power Diag Systems or Reactor Control Units in your low slots for more Power Grid. L4 for Shield Hardeners. L5 is required for Assault Frigates.
4: L4 is required for Mirco Aux Power Cores.
5: L5 is required for Assault Frigates.
6: Allows use of Expanded Cargoholds. L4 is required for Armor Hardeners.
7: Requires Mechanic level III and Survey level III to train. This skill allows you to salvage a Wreck, getting Rig Components you can sell or build rigs with.
8: L4 is required for Micro-Warp Drives (MWD).
9: 1MN = Frigate/Destroyer, 10MN = Cruiser/Industrial/Battlecruiser, 100MN = Battleship. L4 is required for Tech 2 Afterburners.
10: Agility is how quickly your ship turns. L3 is required for Industrials.
11: First skill to train! Faction specific. L3 allows access to "Tier 3" frigates, your best first ship. L5 required for T2 frigates.
12: Faction independant. Some people skip Destroyers, but they are very good vs Frigates in Level 1 missions. Level I is all that's needed to pilot a Destroyer, but higher levels help with ship penalties.
13: Faction specific. Cannot be trained on Trial Accounts. Bestower (Amarr II), Mammoth (Minmatar IV) and Iteron Mk. V (Gallente V) are common Industirals
14: Faction specific. Simply being able to pilot a Cruiser doesn't mean you can fly it safely!

Skills are represented by two numbers, Rank and Level. Rank is the "training multiplier". It's a measure of how long a skill will take to train. Each Level within a Rank requires a certain number of skill points to be earned. Level 1 for a Rank 1 skill might take 10 minutes to train, while Level 1 of a Rank 4 skill would take 40 minutes to train. Rank is static, you cannot raise nor lower it. You can however train skills to raise your attributes to make you earn skill points faster thereby training skills faster.

Level is a measure of how advanced you are in the skill. Rank goes from Rank 1 through Rank 16. Level goes from 1 to 5 and is either represented by "Frigate L4" or with Roman Numerials (I, II, III, IV, V) "Frigate IV".

Skill points are simply a measure of how much training you've done in all. Always have a Clone with more Skill Points than you currently have.

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Explaining Learning Skills

Learning skills are extremely important and should come after you've trained your core skills to around level II or III and can use all of the modules you want to when doing basic missions. Do not feel that you need to concentrate on Learning skills from Day One or that they are more important than other skills you need now. While they are vital in the long run, having fun now is what matters.

There's two levels of Learning skills, basic and advanced. You should train them in stages. Get your basic skills to level IV first, than take some time off from Learning Skills. After you're comfortable with a Cruiser and able to go level 2 missions with ease, and most of your upcoming skills are weeks long, then take a MONTH off to train Learning Skills to Advanced III or IV. Training them to Adv V rarely pays off.
Learning Skills
Train as you can to speed up longer skill training.

Skill Name - [Bonus per level of skill] (Ex: Level 4 Analytical Mind gives +4 Intelligence).

• Basic Skills
  o Instant Recall [+1 Memory]
  o Analytical Mind [+1 Intelligence]
  o Learning [+0.2 to all Attributes]
  o Spatial Awareness [+1 Perception]
  o Iron Will [+1 Willpower]
  o Empathy [+1 Charisma]
  
• Advanced Skills [Each costs 4.5 million ISK, so save up!]
  o Eidetic Memory [+1 Memory]
  o Logic [+1 Intelligence]
  o Clarity [+1 Perception]
  o Focus [+1 Willpower]
  o Presence [+1 Charisma]

Learning skills should be trained in a leapfrog fashion like so: Instant Recall -> Analytical Mind -> Learning -> Instant Recall -> Analytical Mind -> Learning till all three are at level IV. Then you can train the other two or three skills. This is because Learning skills are dependant on Memory and Intellience, so raising those first raises the others faster.

Each section of skills trains faster based on a primary and secondary attribute, which are raised by the Learning skills. Below you'll find the table of which attributes to raise to train which type of skills faster.

Skill Type -> Attributes

Corporation Management -> Memory, Charisma
Drones -> Memory, Perception
Electronics -> Intelligence, Memory
Engineering -> Intelligence, Memory
Gunnery -> Perception, Willpower
Industry -> Memory, Intelligence
Leadership -> Willpower, Charisma
Learning -> Memory, Intelligence
Mechanic -> Intelligence, Memory
Missiles -> Perception, Willpower
Navigation -> Intelligence, Perception
Science -> Intelligence, Memory
Social -> Charisma, Intelligence
Spaceship Command -> Perception, Willpower (for most skills)
....................................Willpower, Perception (for elite ship skills)
Trade -> Willpower, Charisma (for basic skills)
..............Charisma, Memory (for more advanced skills)

Implants, like learning skills, can also boost your attributes and save you significant training time. At the moment it is possible to get implants that add anywhere from 1 to 5 points to any given attribute. You can only plug in one implant per attribute. Implants are destroyed if you try to remove them from your head, so once you have plugged one in it cannot be taken out and reused. Removing the implant will destroy it. Implants are also lost if you are pod-killed.

To be able to use implants you first need to have trained the “cybernetics” skill. (In order to train Cybernetics you need the “Science” skill at level 3). Implants can be obtained by doing agent missions (a lot of them) or by buying them off the market from other players.

Remember, implants will be lost if you get pod-killed; therefore, you may want to think twice about buying and installing a full set of implants if you are likely to be operating in dangerous areas.

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Combat Ship Skills

Skills you'll want at Level III at least.

1. Drones [Extra Drone Control]
   o Scout Drone Operation [+5km Engage Range]
   o Drone Interfacing [+20% Damage/Mining Yield]
   o Heavy Drone Operations [+5% Damage for Heavy Drones]
   o Combat Drone Operations [+5% Damage for Light/Medium Drones]
   o Drone Durability [+5% Shield/Armor/Hull for Drones]
   o Drone Navigation [Faster Drones]
   o Drone Sharpshooting [Increased Drone Optimal Range]
   
2. Electronics
   o Long Range Targeting [+5% Targeting Range]
   o Signature Analysis [+%5 Targetting Speed]
   
3. Engineering
   o Energy Grid Upgrades [-5% CPU for PDS, RCU]
   
4. Gunnery
   o Gunnery [-2% Turret Rate of Fire]
   o Motion Prediction [+5% Turret Tracking]
   o Rapid Firing [-4% Turret Rate of Fire]
   o Sharpshooting [+5% Turret Optimal Range]
   o Controlled Bursts [-5% Turret Capacitor Use]
   o Trajectory Analysis [+5% Turret Accuracy Falloff]
   o Surgical Strike [+3% Turret Damage]
   o Weapons Upgrades [-5% CPU cost for Weapon Turrets]
   o Advanced Weapons Upgrades [-5% Power Grid cost for Weapon Turrets]
   
5. Missiles
   o Missile Launcher Operations [-2% Launcher Rate of Fire]
   o Missile Bombardment [+10% Missile Flight Time (More range)]
   o Missile Projection [+10% Missile Flight Speed (More range)]
   o Rapid Launch [-3% Launcher Rate of Fire]
   o Target Navigation Projection [-10% Target Speed Factor]
   o Warhead Upgrades [+2% Damage]
   o Standard Missiles [+5% Light Missile Damage]
   o Rockets [+5% Rocket Damage]
   o Heavy Missiles [+5% Heavy Missile Damage]
   
6. Mechanic
   o Repair Systems [-5% Duration of Repair Systems]
   
7. Navigation
   o Evasive Maneuvering [5% Agility]
   o Acceleration Control [+5% Velocity w/AB/MWD]
   o Fuel Conservation [-10% AB Capacitor Usage]
   o High Speed Maneuvering [-5% Capacitor Usage / MWD]

Some other helpful skills deal with Electronic Warfare. These are skills that help neutralize your enemy. There's a whole set of skills that help with ECCM (Electonic Counter Counter Measures) but that's used mostly for PvP and since I'm dealing mostly with PvE newbies here, I'll just list a few that will help with missions.

• Electronics
  o Electronics Upgrades 1 [-5% Sensor Upgrade CPU need]
  o Propulsion Jamming 2 [-5% Warp Scrambler/Statis Web Capacitor need]
  o Target Painting 3 [-5% Target Painter capacitor need]

Notes:
1: Use Signal Amplifiers (along with Electronics and Engineering) to give yourself more Targeting Range and Scan Resolution (target faster) The Long Range Targeting skill also allows you to use the Sensor Booster to add more range and targeting speed as well.
2: Allows for use of Stasis Webifier I to slow down your target's speed and Warp Scrambler I to stop them from warping away. 3: Allows use of Target Painter I to raise the signature radius of your target to target it faster and do more damage to it with missiles.

Wow this was really helpful, great guide