The Overview and Velocities

One of the things that is confusing to a new player is the use of the Overview. I would guess the reason being that there is nothing comparable to it in any other game. While it may be a bit different, it is in fact your most valuable tool in the game. In this article I will discuss the overview, the velocity columns, and the various ways to use it throughout the universe.


One thing that CCP has been working on recently, is making the game more intuitive. When discussing the overview many may not notice that the overview does highlight your routes by changing the stargate icon to the color yellow, making it easier for players to quickly find the next gate. In a similar case, beacons are also colored to make it easier to distinguish between NPC sites, and Hostile Sites. When you see a yellow beacon, you know that it is a NPC site where there are in-space agents available.

With that out of the way, let's take a closer look at the overview and how we can use it to our advantage. Let us cover the basics by first looking at the anatomy of the overview.


The overview gives us all the information needed to do whatever it is we plan to do in the game. The first column "icon" shows us icons which gives us a quick look at what is around us. Using these icons we can distinguish between the various entities throughout the game. As you can see on the right, we can easily pick out drones by the X-like icon, know that they are in fleet because of the purple small Color Tag on the icon, and know that they are run by someone in the corporation because of the green Color Background. Both the Color Tag, and Color Background are key to making a optimal overview, and can be altered by the player to allow for easier viewing.

The next three columns are fairly straight-forward. The column "distance" shows the distance between you and an entity. The "Name" shows the name of the entity, and the "Type" shows the type of entity it is. Next we have the "Tag" column. This is not turned on by default, and requires a fleet to use them. As you can see in the screenshot, I've added the tags "A" and "3" to two of the pirate NPCs to show how this column works. Fleet commanders and leaders can right click any entity, and choose a number or letter from the tag context menu. This column is quite helpful in fleets, and used in Incursion Vanguard sites to tell the fleet what NPCs to shoot first, or make a priority.

Now for the Velocity columns. By default these are disabled, but should be enabled due to their importance. The "Velocity" column shows the velocity of the entity. This is quite important as this allows you to determine many things like, "how quick will it get to me?", "can I catch it?", "Has anyone webbed it?", just to name a few. Needless to say, this column is extremely helpful, even in PvE.

The next column "Radial Velocity" tells you rather a ship is moving towards you, or away from you. If the number is a negative number, it is moving away from you. If it's positive, the entity is facing you. While this isn't overly important, it can be helpful in solo PvP situations when you need to move quickly.

Next we have "Transversal Velocity" which is the relative velocity between yourself and the entity which is factored into your chance to hit. The lower the Transversal Velocity is, the easier the target is to hit.  To spare the lengthy explanation here's a great link that explains Transversal Velocity in it's entirety EVE Tracking 101.

Last we have the "Angular Velocity" column. This column is one of the most important columns as it shows the radius per second an entity is moving, which is the exact variable that Projectile, Hybrid, and Laser turrets use for their tracking. This number needs to be lower or equal to your turret's tracking speed. If it is too high, move away from the entity, or try to move with the entity.

You will notice in the overview settings that there are other columns we didn't mention that as also disabled by default. The reason being that the bracket text and Color Tags eliminates the need for a Corporation, Alliance, and Militia. So what are brackets? Brackets are the icons you see floating out in space. Just like the overview, they show the same icons, color tags, and have the same context menus when you right-click them. By clicking them, you can get the corporation, and alliance in the text shown next to the bracket. Militias can be shown by using color tags very easily, saving you the need to use another column.


I hope that this has helped explain the overview in a bit more detail, and shown how useful it can be. Enjoy, and fly safe. o/