00sage00's Romps Through the Eve Universe

Manasi recently wrote on his blog of the wonders of EveHQ. Having used both EveHQ and the other Eve tools extensively, I’d argue that EveHQ is far from as good as advertised. Edit: Thanks everyone for the feedback! EveHQ is actually quite a useful tool with its own unique pros. Let’s compare EveHQ to other Eve tools.

Skill Training (EveHQ vs EveMon)

• Pro: EveHQ has  a nice “Queue Summary”, which lists all the skill plans in one location and shows their training times, number of skills, etc. EveMon requires you to look at the plans individually.
• Pro: EveHQ lets you set a primary skill plan (it gets bolded). Not really a huge factor, but could be useful for some who don’t remember what they were training.
• Pro: EveMon import. Self-explanatory.
• Pro: Queue merging. For those who made too many queues, this could be useful. Edit: EveMon has this as well. Thanks, AnrDaemon!
• Con: Prerequisites and dependencies. While EveMon shows these as a colorful, easy to understand tree, EveHQ has two separate tabs for these. Plus it doesn’t tell you what you currently have a prerequisite trained to – only the fact that you don’t have it.
• Con: No skill priority management. You can’t set something to high priority or low priority in EveHQ. In EveMon, you can resort queues by fastest skills, priority skills, learning skills, etc.
• Con: EveMon suggests specific learning skills to speed up your plans. EveHQ doesn’t. Yes, you should train learning skills first. But how many Eve noobs know this? And how will you know whether it’s worth training Clarity 5 instead of 4? Edit: EveHQ has this as well. At the bottom of every queue there is a blue “You can learn this queue faster” button. Thanks, Cyberin!
• Con: Item availability. EveMon lets you click “Show me what this skill enables” and shows you what level you need to train a skill to use T1 or T2 items. EveHQ doesn’t. Edit: EveHQ shows this under the Dependencies tab. Thanks, Vessper!
• Con: Limited remapping. EveHQ does have an attribute optimizer. But EveMon has more options for remapping, including the ability to set remapping points along your skill plan.

Winner: EveMon. EveHQ’s skill training manager is well made. However, EveMon’s better features and more intuitive interface give you more control over your skill queues and allow you to understand skill trees easier. For casual skill queue-ers, EveHQ will suffice, although those who want the best skill planning software available will find EveMon more attractive.

CorpHQ

Winner: EveHQ. I’m not a CEO, so I don’t know how good this is. However, no other tool has it, so it’s a +1 for EveHQ. Edit: How many level 4 missions do I need to run to get my standing to 8.0? Answered in just a couple of clicks. Also if you are CEO/Director you can ask the same question but also allow you to nail it down to how should do what mission from your corpmates to get your corp standing to 8.0. Thanks, Quivering Palm!

Character Creation

• I’ve played around with this a bit, and it is pretty neat.

Winner: EveHQ. Once again, no other tool has this.

EveHQ Fitter (EveHQ vs EFT)

• Pro: Import from EFT. Obviously, EFT doesn’t need this feature, but it’s good for EveHQ to have.
• Pro: Import fits from your assets.
• Pro: Auditing tool. Edit: You can easily see how ship and module stats are being modified by your skills, modules, stacking penalties, and remote/fleet effects. In EFT, you need to open module info windows for the original and the fitted versions. Thanks, Vessper and Quivering Palm!
• Pro: Doomsday Calculator. Not really a killer feature. In EFT, just set damage type to EM/Thermal/Kinetic/Explosive (based on what race titan is doomsdaying), and subtract 52,000 (Doomsday Operation level 1) or 70,000 (Doomsday Operation level 5) from the EHP displayed. Unless you’re horrible at basic math, it’s not that hard.
• Pro: Ammo analysis. Useful for those who are just starting and don’t know what different ammo does.
• Pro: Meta level. EFT doesn’t show this; you have to look at the actual stats.
• Pro: Mass export to Eve. EFT only allows you to export one fit at a time. EveHQ lets you export more than one (although exporting more than around 5 at a time will cause import errors in Eve).
• Pro: Locking times. This is useful for a casual look at locking times. However, if you want to see things like how good a Sensor Booster would be, you should use a targeting calculator, as EveHQ doesn’t take into account a MWD or other modules (e.g. Shield Extenders).
• Pro: Wormhole effects. Not sure how useful this is, as there are a bajillion different wormholes and it’s easier to just check a wormhole database when you do find a wormhole.
• Pro: “Find module to fit”. Edit: You can right click an empty slot and select “find a module to fit”. It’s not magical, but may show up a module you could never think you could actually fit in there. Thanks, Quivering Palm!
• Pro: BattleClinic fitting viewer. Excellent tool for those trying to figure out how to fit a new ship. This is better than EveMon’s Battleclinic tool, as it not only allows you to import fits, but also gives you basic stats on the fitting.
• Pro: Up to date. Apparently EFT is still using Apocrypha 1.2 and EveHQ is using 1.3.1. I haven’t noticed the difference; unless I’m mistaken, the only module change has been some tweaks in how Strip Miner fitting is calculated.
• Cargohold: EveHQ lets you see how much cargo your ship can hold, even taking into account things like Giant Secure Containers. Edit: Thanks, Quivering Palm!
• Con: No boosters. EFT allows you to add boosters to the equation. Casual fitters don’t need this, but it’s useful for hardcore PVPers.
• Con: No implant suggestions. If you’re slightly over powergrid or CPU, EFT lets you know what implants will let it fit (+1%, +3%, +5%). EveHQ doesn’t.
• Con: No easy way to switch skill sets. For example, in EFT, you can just select “All level V”, while in EveHQ you must either click Pilot Manager>Set All skills to level 5>Ok and then Pilot Manager>Reset all to actual>Ok. This is tedious, especially if you’re trying to quickly see if your skills are just poor or if something really doesn’t fit. Edit: In EveHQ, you can also make and import a character via the Character Creation Tool. Thanks, Vessper!
• Con: Difficult to access Online/Offline/Overheat settings. You have to right click>Module Status>Overheat. Try setting all the guns to overheat (hint: you have to do them one at a time). Then try setting them back. Now imagine doing that 10x more for other fits. In EFT, you can just Control+Click the module to overheat on/off and alt+click to online/offline. Edit: In EveHQ, you can also middle click to access these settings. Thanks, Vessper!
• Con: Module info windows are huge. In EFT, you can open many side by side and compare stats (I regularly compare 5+ modules at once, so this is a problem). In EveHQ, one window takes up half your screen.
• Con: Fitting windows are put in tabs. While this may be good for keeping things organized, it makes it difficult to compare two fits (EveHQ does have a “Compare Fits” option, but it only shows DPS and tank).
• Con: All completed ship fits are sorted by name, not ship type. For even Eve veterans, that makes searching for certain ships difficult. (What was the name of the Caldari mining frigate?)
• Con: Poor layout. EFT is clean and easy to understand. EveHQ is not. For example: the available CPU/powergrid/calibration bars are on the upper left, the Drone Bay bar is on the lower left and requires scrolling down, and the number of turret/launcher hardpoints and rig slots available is on the upper right. In EFT, all that info is in one box.

Note: Manasi mentioned some other “pros” of EveHQ, which are actually found in EFT:

• Shows how exactly your skills affect the ship your flying in – That’s what the character import in EFT is for.
• Targeting info range scan res sensor strength – EFT has all this as well.
• Propulsion Spped/ align times etc – Once again, EFT has this. Hover your mouse over the Mobility section.
• The great thing is when you hover over icons even MORE info is shown ( drone control range) (maximum warp distance) – Hover your mouse over the Drone bandwidth icon. Hover your mouse over the warp stats.
• Cost of the ship based on areas you set up in the markets you set up in EVE Prism – EFT auto-grabs prices as well; you can set custom prices if you want (right click on a module, select properties, add the price).

Winner: EveHQ. EFT certainly has an easier to use interface, quicker access to often-used features, and better arrangement of information. But EveHQ has more hands-on features, like the audit tool and ammo analysis. For beginners at fitting, EveHQ can be a bit overwhelming, but hardcore fitting wizards will find it useful.

Item Browser (EveHQ vs EveMon)

• This may be a surprising comparison, as EFT initially appears to be a more obvious choice for this. But EveMon has a nice Item Browser that works as well as EveHQ’s.
• Pro: Ability to view blueprint specs. Edit: Thanks, Quivering Palm!

Winner: EveHQ. Despite nearly identical features, EveHQ’s integrated blueprint viewer puts it ahead of EveMon.

Map Tool (EveHQ vs Dotlan’s Jump Planner)

• Pro: It works.
• Con: It’s hard to use. You have to move between various tabs to set everything up. Dotlan’s is all on one page.
• Con: It doesn’t show as much system info as Dotlan’s does (ship kills/day, jumps/day, average system population, etc.).

Winner: Dotlan’s Jump Planner. The last thing you want to do is jump your dreadnought into a busy system with neutrals/reds/pirates who’d love to get in on your killmail. Edit: This is an unfair criticism of the tools, as your cyno pilot, not your tools, ultimately is responsible for safe jumps. Thanks, Vessper!

Market Tool (EveHQ Prism vs EveMEEP)

• Pro: Blueprint manager. EveHQ’s manager integrates with your assets, unlike EveMEEP’s, which shows all the blueprints in Eve.
• Pro: Asset manager. The asset management allows you to filter your items as well as download prices from Eve-Central.
• Pro: Transactions and journal can be exported as a .csv into your spreadsheet software. Edit: Thanks, Quivering Palm!
• Con: No manufacturing schedule. EveMEEP shows you a calendar with current jobs (research, invention, manufacturing).
• Con: Limited finance management. EveHQ lets you view transactions and journal (same as in-game). But EveMEEP lets you do that AND lets you see total profit between dates, what you spent/gained money on (Bounties/Market/Mission/Other), average ISK from items bought and sold, and the number of items bought and sold.
• Con: No invention calculator. EveMEEP has this.

Winner: EveMEEP. EveMEEP has far more features than EveHQ. Of course, I’ve only tried EveHQ Prism and EveMEEP; there are many other good tools out there. Check the Market Resources wiki page for more info. For example, I’ve heard great things about EMMA (although you need to pay for it). Edit: EMMA is now free. Thanks, Dexter! Edit: EveHQ Prism is not a market tool, it’s more of an asset manager tool. Thanks, Quivering Palm!

POS Planner (EveHQ vs MyPOS)

• Pro: Displays DPS and tank info for your POS.
• Pro: Shows stats for each POS module and allows you to see stats for weapons based on different ammo.
• Pro: Maintenance options for your POS. Edit: With just a few clicks you know how much fuel you need for each of your POSes, how much it will cost you, and how much volume it will require. Thanks, Quivering Palm!
• Con: Slow, even on a relatively fast computer.
• Con: Poor UI. For example, the POS fitting picture has a fixed size, so those with small screens will find that the module list at the bottom is crammed in on the screen.
• Con: Steep learning curve. While MyPOS guides you through the setup process, EveHQ simply shows you a POS fitting screen. For those who have used POSes before, this is not an issue. For POS newbies, this can be quite challenging.

Winner: EveHQ. Though MyPOS is simpler and laid out better, EveHQ’s POS Planner offers far more info on your planned POS’s stats and the POSes you already have.

Conclusion

EveHQ provides a plethora of features, some of which appear in other tools, and some of which are entirely unique to EveHQ. Although plugins overall are characterized by poor interfaces, each is good enough to hold their own against more specialized tools. This one-tool-for-everything offering makes it a great tool for both casual users and skill training newbs, CEOs, character creators, EFT warriors, pilots, market junkies, and POS managers.