Section 4: Setting up your UI for success

Setting up your user interface/HUD for success: ( in other words, get the junk off your screen and have your controls at the ready )

A UI is personal to each pilot;  what will work for one pilot may not work for all pilots and therefore trial and error is an important part for getting the controls setup for your own individual play style and maximizing how you perform in fights in Eve.  

Although UI's are personal,  there are some key basics that everyone should have on their screen at all times to ensure they're capturing the information they need to be competitive,   to assist in their safety or to help them destroy their opponents.

In order of my own personal priority ranking,  the main elements of a UI are as follows

1. Local Chat ( detached from your chat window and in view at all times, in it's own frame )
2. Directional Scan ( detached from system map and in it's own frame )
3. Overview Window
4. Selected Target Window
5. Controls (i.e guns, modules, overheat, etc)
6. Fleet ( set on History Tab)
7. Watchlist ( Right click on pilot in fleet, click "Add to watch list" 
8. Drones ( if you have them )

Most of these elements are always on your screen in Eve,   such as Overview, Selected Target, Controls and Drones when they're being carried;  however some suggested UI setup is below

Local Chat

Having local chat open at all times gives you an advantage in any system of knowing how many pilots are in that system with you.   While this doesn’t work for wormholes,  in any of the star systems, it’s key to addressing what sort of opponent force you’re about to face,   or in the case that they call in reinforcements,   seeing them before they’re able to get to you and adding those into your calculation of how best to approach the battle is crucial.

Directional Scan

The second most important window, directional scan is your best friend in knowing out of those in local, how many of them are close/closing in to you.    Directional Scan allows you to search a defined range (up to 14 AU) to scan any ships that are in the region;     this should be spammed multiple times in a fight whenever new pilots appear in local,  or in the case of wormhole space, at all times.     Setting this to 4-6 AU gives you an ability to see people who may be warping in as they warp in, allowing you to either engage, or GTFO under your own terms

Watchlist

When you add a pilot to watch list,  you’ll see the health of their vessel when they’re in your immediate vicinity,  this is highly helpful for understanding the health of your entire fleet and more importantly, means that your overview can be used solely for your enemies, rather than needing to have it show enemies and friends

Fleet Window > History Tab

History Tab shows all broadcast orders from your fleet commander,  be they warp orders, align orders or any other instruction a fleet commander can submit to its fleet.  By using watchlist to identify those in your fleet,   you’re able to use history to ensure you’re taking all of the steps that your commander wants you to take, in combination with being on Discord – it allows you to undertake actions like aligning to a warp point before warping, to ensure all people arrive at the same time.

An example of my particular UI setup is below;     the idea behind this setup is that 80% of my eye movement, mouse clicks and attention will be spent in a reverse L shape, starting from Local moving across my controls, into overview, target, drones, etc

Having an eye on Local

Keeping Local in your eyeline at all times will let you know who to expect when you’re in the midst of battle,   be it during a fleet battle where you have the upper hand but see some of their allies join, or on a solo gank run, where you’re taking out an unsuspecting miner, only for a few people to jump through local.

Choosing whether to engage or not to engage is 80% of winning battles in Eve,  Local + DScan are your tools to do this.

Two screenshots of my UI are below

Out of Battle ( i.e Chat Screen/Inventory Available ) 

In Battle (i.e Chat Screen Rolled Away )

The fundamental changes I've made to assist my playstyle is centering everything that's important for me to look at in a U shape in the center of my screen;   I have my targeted ships available,  my control schemes for modules and overheating,  my selected target,  my drones,  my overview and my D Scan all within an arc for my eyes to be within, and to minimise the movements of my mouse when in battle.   I have local chat, fleet (on history) viewable on screen at all times also.

Outside of battle, you'll see I have anchored the chat screen at the top and can size this accordingly,  I also find it useful having my Inventory there also, to give me quick access to what I'm carrying. 

As mentioned, your UI is personal to you,  but after a bit of trial and error,  I've found this gives me all of the information I need in a nice, easy placement,  and enough "click space" in space to enable my movements and navigations too.