Any advice for somebody wanting to start out?
Get yourself into a solid starting corp (and i don't mean those corps that are BEGGING for members). The difference between playing with a group of people or just by yourself is large in terms of enjoyment (imho). Mining/Missioning by yourself could be great, yeah, but doing it with the other people that have the same enjoyment as yourself can be a large boost.
Some good starter tips:
-Start with the race you feel you'll have the most enjoyment playing as:
Gallante (think USA), Ammar (think Egyptians, religous based), Minmatar (young republic), and Caldari (state composed of mega corporations).
- Gallante are short range fighters and largely use blasters and drones, small bots that attack your enemies.
- Ammar use lasers that hit for normally high damage and good accuracy.
- Caldari primarily are long range fighters, using railguns and missiles.
- Minmatar have Projectile weapons, which are currently the short end of the stick in terms of weapons, but have some of the best cruisers and frigates.
- Do missions in the beginning of your career to make yourself cash and get experience with weapons. Do some offhand mining if you'd like to see the industrial side of the game as well.
- Until you feel you have a good hand on your combat skills and could fight back if need be, don't venture into low sec.
- Always keep your clone up to date.
and thats all I can think of for now. The rest you'd learn on your own.
I currently live in 0.0 in Outer Ring (like 25 jumps of so of Gallante space) and fight in the "mythical" 0.0 battles between alliances fighting for control of space.
Good luck, hope to see you flying in the skies. If you need any help, contact my character "Rant Calmante" via chat or mail, i'll do what I can.