NPC rat= computer opponent? How do you know what you are going to run into? In other words when flying against Rats, where would you go and not have to worry about your 100M investment by being jumped by players? You sound like you have confidence on a Rat mission this is all you will encounter?
Yes, a "rat" is a computer opponent. There are guides to the toughness of rats based on where they're found, and what their location is called. The three rats in an asteroid belt I can handle on my own. The several dozen rats in a complex I'll do with several fleet mates.
Regarding other players, I fly with a fleet based in a null-sec system, so if another player enters the system we tend to know whether they're dangerous and we need to dock up, or we start hunting them ourselves.
In high-sec, anybody that attacks your 100m ISK ship without provocation will likely die to CONCORD (an NPC fleet of invulnerable ships) before you die to them. However, they can try to trick you into attacking them first or do something that makes yourself a legal target for them - as long as you know those tricks and avoid them, you're relatively safe. You'll maybe miss out on some of the loot because of them, but that's not the primary source of income when killing rats in high-sec anyway.
Are you saying that combat is mostly static, there is no substantial maneuvering that makes much difference from a combat advantage standpoint?
PvP combat is
not at all static. There's a lot of tactics to it, a lot of positioning, and a lot going on that you have to manage. It's just not hand-eye fast-twitch aiming, I mean.
There's a lot of pre-battle considerations, too. Where to fight, what to fight with, how to split up the enemy's fleet, etc.
For both of you:
How can you evaluate your chances before engagement, are you given a ship to ship analysis?
A lot of that involves knowing the ships by name, and knowing what they can and cannot do well. I still don't have that knowledge down well, so I rely on the more experienced players to direct the flow of battle. (By convention, there's always an FC - fleet commander - who calls out targets and tactics.)
The ships I fly are fast but fragile, so I know they're likely to blow up. But it's still fun.
How much time do you fly solo, versus in the company of several wingmen?
Hmm, probably 90% fleet 10% solo.
Can you always warp out of a situation as it develops before shots are fired?
Sometimes. A warp scram bubble can prevent all warping within an area. And a warp scram module can prevent a single targeted ship from warping. (But it'll take some time to target the ship in question.)
Are the in-game tutorials good?
So-so. There's also a player-run corp called EVE University that does a lot of new-player training, but I don't have personal experience with them except for reading their webpages.