Day 4 B

Tea completed I sit down to continue my wormhole session.

[Khanid Kingdom]
Agil – 1

There is still only 1 signature in the system when I undock, with the same ID. I figure it will be a WH. It only takes a minute to confirm that. I am soon siting cloaked 10km off it, looking at a K162 to unknown space. In I go.

 

J144326 1+1 (WH to C1)

It is another quiet system from the look of it, this time a C2. I check the system over with D-Scan, seeing one Online POS near Planet V (with 19 Moons), and another Online POS on the outer Planet VI with 4 hulls near it.

I warp to the outer most planet first and quickly pick the POS up on D-Scan at Moon 1. I warp in but realise I’ve got it wrong. There is a POS with lots of modules, but this one is Offline.

Another quick look at D-Scan shows up the active POS on VI M2. As I drop out of warp I see the Hurricane, Ibis, Orca and Anathema all floating empty within the shields.

I warp to Planet V to search for the POS I noticed earlier – and pick up there are actually two POS near the planet, the Online one I noticed earlier, and an offline one. I am forced to use 30% angles on D-Scan, but find the Active POS on V M5, and the Inactive POS on V M11.

I’m not pleased to have missed 2 of 4 POS on my initial sweep. I really have to pay closer attention – it is those sorts of mistakes that will get me killed.

Oddly all four POS are from different Corporations / Alliances, and the Customs Office I warped in on earlier was a different Corporation again.

There is no recent activity in the hole and no Anomalies, so I launch probes to search out the second Signature. I get my inbound on one scan, and a second WH on the 3rd scan. It connects to a C1 – and with still no signs of activity here, I step through.

 

J165901 5+1 (WH to Hi-Sec, Gas, Gas, Gas, Relic)

I see a Catalyst on scan with 3 Online POS, a Bubble, and lots of Secure Containers. There is one planet out of range – so I warp out to it but find the area empty.

Warping back towards the inner cluster of planets and a Drake now comes up on scan. I am not sure if I missed that earlier or if it is a new arrival. Then I count the number of POS again, and there are now 4. One must have just been out of D-Scan range from the wormhole entrance.

I’d just been telling myself I had to pay more attention. Obviously in those first rushed seconds as you step into a hole for the first time, mistakes can be made. (The process is to check your overview, hit D-Scan, bookmark the wormhole, look for something to warp to, check D-Scan again, warp away and re-cloak, making sure you don’t drop cloak by warping through the hole, bookmark a safe spot while in warp, hit D-Scan a few times, and finally ready yourself for whatever you might encounter as you drop out of warp)

I find the new / 4th POS fairly quickly, with an unpiloted Drake.

D-Scan tells me a second POS is near Planet VI, and I find it on Moon 1.

The third and fourth POS are near Planets – I, II, III, IV or V. Scratch that, Planet I and II don’t have any moons. I still need to narrow that down more, but I am still wrestling with being accurate enough with D-Scan. I move to another planet and try again, this time Planet V shines as the clear winner.

Moon 2 has the third POS, the Catalyst, and the anchored bubble. The destroyer is unpiloted. The bubble is in a strange spot, and I am not sure from what direction it would catch anyone – maybe the sun?

Anyway the catalyst is empty, and there is no sign of any activity, so I don’t feel the need to find the last POS.  Time to scan.

I resolve my inbound on the 1st scan, another wormhole on the 4th, exclude 2 Gas sites on the 6th, exclude another Gas site on the 7th, and exclude a Relic site on the 8th scan.

The only Wormhole I have to check goes back to Hi-Sec. With no apparent activity here, I step through into what I am guessing will be Verge Vendor again from the appearance of the hole.

 

[Sing Laison]
Dodixie – 0+1

Nope – but the backdrop is kind of the same. I did find it odd coming into a trading hub from a wormhole. I know it is one of the smaller trade hubs, but I didn’t think sites were spawned in them. Maybe that is only with Jita?

I can see Core Probes on scan. Since this Wormhole is the only thing to find in system, maybe I should go back through the hole and wait to see what arrives? Or maybe I won’t. I stay in Dodixie cloaked and watch the probes. They take a long time to get close before finally disappearing. No ship however arrives. Combat Probes then appear – but the same scenario plays out. They take a long time to all cluster around the hole, then disappear – along with whoever was controlling them.

Time to make a move I think. I check the regional map, see a chunk of 0.5 systems nearby, and head in that direction.

 

Vylade – 1 (WH to Unknown)

The next system over has 1 signature. I drop probes and after two scans I have a Wormhole. That was quick. It leads to unknown space.

I check D-Scan and see Sisters Core Probes. I double check and I had indeed recalled mine – so someone else should soon find this hole. I jump in, keeping that in mind.

 

J105632 5+1 (Gas, WH to Hi-Sec, Gas, Data, Gas)

Inside the wormhole there are Sisters Core probes, a Heron, two towers and one force field on scan.

I try to pin point the Heron and it appears to be near Planet V and an Offline POS. I warp to the planet and short range D-Scan. The tower turns up at V M9, surrounded by anchored offensive modules. The Heron however seems to be actively warping around. I’m not going to catch that.

Now to find the second POS – while keeping in mind there is a 3rd planet out of range. The POS is near Planet VII – and as I warp in I get in range of a third POS, this also offline. The second POS is on Moon 3, and the third POS ends up being near Planet 9.

I have noticed that quite a lot of the POS I am finding are poorly configured, and offer no real deterrent to anyone thinking about attacking them.

At this time the night time routine was in full swing with the family, and I was interrupted again for a couple of hours.

When I return I decide to scan down the 6 sites still in system. Soon after I launch probes I see an extra 8 probes and a Helios on d-scan. I find my inbound hole on the first cycle, drop two Gas sites on my 3rd scan, drop a Data on the 6th and Gas on the 7th, and pin point the last site, a second wormhole, on my 8th scan.

In the middle of my scan someone pipes up in local – “Your back again? Lol”. Since I hadn’t dropped probes in this hole before, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t talking to me.

 

[The Bleak Lands]
Junsen – 3+1

My only option is a Wormhole to Hi-Sec, which drops me out in the Bleak Lands.  I don’t bother scanning the 3 unknown signatures, and instead dock up. My gaming is done.  I had managed to half salvage my day after all.

Latest Trip Count – 5 sessions, 29 Empire Systems, 14 Wormholes, 1 Null System, 1 kill

5% D-Scan Angle

Being able to use D-Scan accurately is important when travelling through wormholes or hunting other players. I mentioned in my last post that I was having problems with the 5 and 15% angle not working.  (It will be raised again in the next couple wormhole posts I have backlogged.)

Today I spent some time looking at it, and with the help of Google and some trial and error seem to have solved it.

The process of using D-Scan for pin-point tactical information is relatively simple.  In the “Selected Item” window options, you turn on “Tracking Camera: Track selected Item”.

Then in the “Overview” window you select an object in space, and your camera view will automatically swing around to face it.

You then use the Directional Scan (D-Scan) at 5%, and it should show you the object you are tracking on, and anything else in your overview settings within 5% angle of it.  In this case there is a POS on the moon with no Force field.  It is also a useful way of working out what ships might be sitting on a gate, at a station, or within a POS.

As I mentioned, when using item tracking I was finding it would not appear at a 5 or 15% angle.  This made it rather inaccurate.

The first thing I did was edit the Client graphic settings, and put the Camera View slider to the centre.  This improved the accuracy from 30% to 15%.  (I had it off centre as I have the overview/scanner windows open all the way down one side of my screen.)

I then had to use the “Set Tracking On Screen Position” in the “Selected Item” Window Settings, and by holding down both mouse buttons, line up my ship with the selected item in space – trying over and over again until I got it to accurately show up on a 5% scan.

Success! That should make my wormhole trips just a little safer.  (Watch as I died the next time I venture into one…)

So I sat there thinking CCP made that far too difficult – needing to have everything lined up on screen, not using the offset options they built into the display, and that holding down both mouse button thing. Then I glanced down at the Scanner option and noticed “Use Tracking Camera”.

I wonder what effect that would have?  I tested this with my camera offset turned back on again, and it overrode it.  That’s good to know.  I should also test if it overrode any changes I might make to the onscreen tracking position?  I was too scared to test this however – it took me long enough to get the scan working accurately that I don’t want to mess it up.

I don’t know if I should be pleased with the resolution or not!

Day 4 A

I’m on holidays and have an entire day scheduled to play EVE. My daughter will be at childcare, my son at a football clinic, and my wife will be busy and out of the house, leaving me in peace. Boy had I been looking forward to it.

Then the day before my Daughter gets up with a bit of a cough, which gets progressively worse by the hour until she ends up bent over coughing up lung every five minutes. I feel my shoulders slumping.

Sure enough on the morning of my great EVE adventure she wakes up with a croaky voice and deep hacking cough. I point out that she seems cheerful enough to my wife, but she just shrugs and says “sorry, she has to stay at home with you”.

*sigh*

So dreams of 6 or 7 hours of uninterrupted wormhole roaming are dashed, and instead I spend the day watching over my daughter.

At around 3:30 my wife arrives home with my Son, and I decide to retreat to my study, close the door, and ignore all and sundry to try and salvage a bit of time for EVE.

 

[Verge Vendor]
Scolluzer – 2 (WH to unknown, WH to C2)

I clone jump back to my Loki, undock, and admire the scenery of Verge Vendor again. There are two signatures in system, both leading to unknown space. I arbitrarily pick one and jump through.

 

J142306 – 3+1 (WH to unknown, WH to Hi Sec, WH to C3)

The first hole for the session is a C2. There are three unknown signatures in system, plus an Executioner, Shuttle, 5 towers and 3 force fields on scan. I bookmark the wormhole and warp off, deciding to check out the towers. They are all clustered close together, and I struggle to accurately find them on D-Scan.

I turn tracking on, select a moon and do a 5% scan. The moon doesn’t appear. I use the 15% scan – and still no moon. At 30% I finally see the moon I am tracking on, but also every moon near it. I am not sure if this is a game feature, or the result of having my ship off center on my screen. The end result is it takes me an annoyingly long time to find all 5 towers and to confirm the hulls are empty.

Warping to the other side of the hole finds 3 more active towers which I leave unfound – there are no ships on scan anyway.

The 3 signatures scan down to 3 wormholes – one to unknown space, one to Hi-Sec, and one to a C3. Odd how sometimes it takes me half a dozen systems to find one wormhole, and today I am only finding wormholes. I check out the High Sec one first.

 

[Devoid]
Palpis – 0+1

I find myself in an empty system in a Hi-Sec pocket in Devoid. I’ve never visited here before. I wait out my polarisation time and jump back into the Wormhole.

 

J142306

I’m back into the C2. Next I warp to the WH to an unknown, but find it has collapsed. I really need to start paying closer attention to the description and appearance of the wormholes. Strike that one off the list. There is still no sign of activity in the hole, so I pop my head through the last of the wormholes into a C3.

 

J164729 – 2+1 (WH to Hi Sec, WH to Null)

This C3 has a horrible effect on Shields, so I remind myself not to initiate combat here. A quick scout finds two online towers and no signs of activity. I pin-point these a little easier as the planets and moons are not clustered as closely together. I then scan down the 3 signatures, starting (as I am making a habit of) with my inbound wormhole. Again all I do is find wormholes – one being to Null Sec, the other to High Sec.

 

[Khanid Kingdom]
Bukah – 2+1

The Hi-Sec hole drops me out into Khanid Kingdom, which is not an area I have frequently much over the last 7 years. I note it is near Keberz and the notorious HED-GP. I hear –A- are back in control. I feel comfortable enough (or is that foolish) to polarise myself and step immediately back through the wormhole.

 

J164729

I’m back into the C3 with its horrible effect on my shields. I then warp across to the Null Sec wormhole – but actually find myself at the inbound from the C2. I messed up my bookmarking. I warp away, re-launch probes, and re-scan the Null Link down. I step through.

 

[Catch]
J6QB-P – 0+1

I find myself in Catch with two –A– Pilots and one of their stations. I guess that confirms they are back. Good for them. I am not that far from HED-GP, and have 3 entrances to Providence within 6 jumps. Any interest in looking around is squashed by a croaky interruption from my 4 year old daughter – Tea is ready. I return to the C3, then back to Bukah in Empire Space, and finally take one gate further so I can dock for a while.

[Khanid Kingdom]
Bukah – 2+1
Agil – 1

 

Latest Trip Count – 4 sessions, 26 Empire Systems, 11 Wormholes, 1 Null System, 1 kill

Interesting to see how long this will last

I seem to be hemorrhaging ISK at the moment – I must be subconsciously focused on being poor again. The latest indulgence was to ready myself for the Empire Custom Office changes coming with Rubicon.

There seems to be a level of doom and gloom from some quarters, fearing the main Null Sec entities will sweep through Empire and claim every single planet for themselves. I don’t see it happening, and would certainly be impressed if they did pull off such a feat. We will just have to wait and see.

Meanwhile I have now purchased the supplies required to anchor three Custom Offices of my own, and built two Dominix Battleships to use on clearing some Interbus Custom Offices. 5 Garde II sentries, 6 Mega Pulse Lasers, and 6 damage amplification modules (split 3 each for Drones and Lasers), sees between 1,150 and 1250 DPS for each hull. My main and main alt should be able to bring one down in a bit under an hour, without having to worry too much about ammo changes.

 

I have no idea if they will stay anchored for 5 minutes or 5 years, and I don’t particularly care. They will be set with a low tax rate and ignored. I am just appreciative that I will – as a solo Empire player, have the opportunity to mess around with this sort of thing.

There’s a reason I don’t rely on my luck

As most of you will know CCP announced that they wanted to do something extra special to celebrate EVE Vegas this year, and offered up prizes including Guardian Vexors and Gold Magnates through the third party SOMER Blink Lottery.

http://community.eveonline.com/news/news-channels/eve-online-news/upcoming-community-events-w-c-25-sept-2013/

CCP did this as a way of continuing their support of community initiatives.

Within seconds they were hit with a torrential flood of angst from the player base, mostly around the profits SOMER Blink would make, and the breaking of in game lore by re-introducing extra copies of these rare ships.

CCP then came back replacing the ship hulls with new once off variants of the Sisters of EVE Exploration Cruiser being introduced in the Rubicon Expansion.

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=281298&find=unread

I understand most of the player concerns; and don’t particularly disagree with the outcome. However – my overriding feeling is of embarrassment.

I am shamed by the constant over reactions, tantrums, and dummy spits from the collective EVE player base. Sure CCP might have handled this a little better, but where is the appreciation for what they were trying to do? There seems to be no effort to look at the positives, instead it is just another gleeful opportunity to rant and rave and stamp your feet. We have perfected the behaviour of the most annoyingly unappreciative and impossible to please teenager. CCP must wonder why they bother.

So I did something I have never done, and had no interest in doing – I created a SOMER Blink account and deposited ISK in it. I then blew all of it over a couple of sittings to show my support for what CCP attempted to do, in the hope that when all the dust has settled, CCP can see despite the noise the idea was a success.

And that brings me back to the title of this blog. The reason I am so risk adverse and careful in EVE? I am not a particularly lucky person. At one point I had spent half my money for a 4% return.

It’s a very slick operation with an impressive interface and professional approaches to keeping people logged in and gambling. It is also apparently possible to play the odds. You notice the same half dozen names buying 50 to 90% of the tickets again and again on big ticket items. One person won 25+ Rorqual’s over the one hour I watched, spending mind numbingly large amounts of ISK.

I took lessons from the approach of other players and ended up getting about 35% of my outlay back in mostly Faction and T2 Frigate hulls. I now have a miniscule chance of winning one of those great Prices donated by CCP (don’t like my chances), and I have gifted a chunk of ISK to the coffers of SOMER Blink. It wasn’t a logical way to spend my ISK – but it is worthwhile supporting community initiatives…

Hello Rubicon

So CCP has started the announcements regards the next expansion, Rubicon, slated for release on November 19th.

You can view the release overview TV show and website here:

http://www.twitch.tv/ccp/b/465203586

http://www.eveonline.com/rubicon

Some initial images can also be checked out on the EVE Online Facebook page.

Some of the topics covered:

. This is only the first step of a three year plan. Some of the art released are just teasers, they will not be introduced with Rubicon

. We will be able to control Custom Offices in Empire. I like this change – so much so I logged in Alts and purchased the Gantry and supplies required to build 3 of them. I have also made a note to set up some high DPS ships to allow me to clear a couple Interbus ones. I am not doing this for profit – just for interest. It’s a good game change when you immediately start preparations to make the most of it.

. They have or are working on new code for deployable structures, separate from the old POS mechanic. There should be 4 classes of structure released with Robicon (some possibly with a number of variations). There will be a Siphon Unit (which steals from Starbases doing Moon Mining or reactions, but anyone can take from it), a Depot (which is a mobile home base with personal storage and a fitting service, very inexpensive), a Tractor beam / looting device, and a localised Cyno Jammer ( onetime use disposable module that jams out standard Cynos in a 70-100km sort of range). These can be put anywhere, attacked without concord intervention, will break down over time without management, have a sort of reinforcement cycle if attacked, but which allows the owner to come back and take it away. Lots of possible new and different game play here, so I view this as a positive.

. They are modifying Warp acceleration. A tech 1 cruiser will be the base line – they will travel in warp at around the same pace as now. However smaller hulls will travel much faster, and larger hulls a little slower. It will be possible for small ships to warp past bigger and slower hulls, which adds interesting PVP elements.

. They will be looking to rebalance Marauders (mostly discussed before), Interceptors (Bubble Immunity, slight HP drop, next to no cargo to stop them using Cynos etc), Light Interdictors (more balanced, faster warp speeds), and the Electronic Attack Frigates (better Cap Recharge, better locking, and maybe doubling the range of effects so that they are closer to Recons). I particularly like the Interceptor change, especially in conjunction with the faster warping.

. The bubble art is changing

. There will be a new Battleship sized Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher introduced. The overall DPS will be a bit lower than Cruise Missiles, but they will be more effective on smaller hulls.

. There are two new Pirate Faction ships being released for Sisters of EVE. These sound very interesting and I expect I will own a few of them. In effect they are long range exploration hulls that can use Covert Ops Cloaks, will have hacking etc type bonuses, combat capability, be armor tanked, have large drone bays, and come in Frigate and Cruiser size. *drool*

SoE Frigate Concept

SoE Cruiser Concept

. The rather messy Certificate system is being replaced. No real view on that. The aim is to help newer players.

. You will be able to view Ship hulls mapped out within the game. Again no real view – and again the aim is to help newer players.

. The Character selection screen will be made prettier, with extra details about each character, and an easier redeeming system. They vaguely mentioned there was more functionality to come.

. They will be incorporating Twitch TV into the EVE client, allowing streaming. Not something I am likely to use, but useful for training and just generally sharing your EVE experiences.

So overall I am enthused – not just because there is some new stuff to aim for, but because there are brand new tactical options being introduced that increase the sandpit type nature of the game.

(Edited – added some CCP Images after reviewing the Fan Site Guidelines)

391 Bottles of Beer on the wall

I’ve had some unusual luck during my recent sessions of Hi-Sec exploration, and I found myself in Jita selling off 500M worth of loot. I was looking for things to buy while playing the 0.01ISK game, so decided to check out skill books.

My game client suggests there are currently 398 skills available – and my main had 370.

He was missing the following 28:

Empire Control (#)
Megacorp Management (#)
Sovereignty
Starbase Defense Management (#)
Fighter Bombers (@)
Projected Electronic Counter Measures (@)
Doomsday Operation (@)
Armored Warfare Specialist (#)
Fleet Command
Information Warfare Specialist (#)
Siege Warfare Specialist (#)
Skirmish Warfare Specialist (#)
Wing Command (#)
Neurotoxin Control
Neurotoxin Recovery
Battleship Construction
Cruiser Construction (#)
Outpost Construction
Astronautic Engineering
Sleeper Technology
Takahl Technology
Talocan Technology
Yan Jung Technology
Amarr Titan (@)
Caldari Titan (@)
Gallente Titan (@)
Minmatar Titan (@)
Tycoon (#)

…

10 of these skills (marked with #) are covered by Alts, so I don’t have any pressing need to train them.

7 of these skills (marked with @) relate specifically to Supercarriers, which I am not interesting in training for.

Astronautic Engineering has no in game purpose, and costs 1+B to purchase. It is like a collectible. I won’t bother training that.

I have an Alt who can train Sovereignty – but will never have the need for it. Given it costs 500M, I won’t bother training that one either.

So that left 9 skills that I don’t have access to in game that I might – in the name of being a Jack of all trades, want.

So I picked up and trained the following 6

Sleeper Technology
Takahl Technology
Talocan Technology
Yan Jung Technology
Neurotoxin Control
Neurotoxin Recovery

I added Fleet Command to my boosting Alt’s training queue, and Battleship Construction and Outpost Construction to my main (along with the required prerequisite Cruiser Construction).

When done I will have access to 389 of the 398 available skills. The only ones missing will be for Supper Carriers, Astronautic Engineering and Sovereignty.

A silly milestone, particularly as it gets to 97% done and stops, but it keeps me amused.

Expeditions

I tend to run the exploration anomalies in High Sec. It feels a little embarrassing to do so in a Tengu, but after every dozen or so I will have a Faction spawn at the end of one, which can drop reasonable loot.

I usually do one, launch my probes, and salvage the wrecks while I scan down any sites in the system.

Today I had an expedition come up in my journal upon finishing an anomaly that had no faction spawn. I don’t recall ever having been given an expedition in that way before.

It was 11 jumps away, so I headed over to investigate. Upon arrival it wasn’t the usual escalation, but a DED 3 of 10. Sure enough, it wouldn’t let my Tengu in.

So I flew 11 jumps back to my home system and grabbed my Gila. It is my current hull of choice for Hi-Sec DED complexes.

Then I flew 11 jumps back.

I ran the site, triggered the faction spawn at the end, and looted and salvaged.

Then I flew 11 jumps back home again.

44 jumps for less than 1M in total rewards.

The day previous I ran a Drone combat site in my home system.  This is not something I normally bother with since the loot drops are almost always dismal, but I had 5 minutes spare.  The Faction Drone dropped over 150M ISK in loot.

EVE certainly has a sense of humour.

BB 49 – The tale of two old people

BB 49 – What is “rich” in EVE? Is it simply having more ISK than most everyone else, is it measured in raw numbers of some other ethereal quality? Can you actually be poor? Have you ever lost nearly everything and had to claw your way back? If you are rich, how do you know and how did you get rich?

 

One of my Grandmothers was asset poor, lived in a council retirement unit, and survived on the pension. She never seemed to do anything, instead staying at home complaining about money and her struggles.

At the time I knew an elderly man who was also asset poor, lived in a retirement unit, and survived on the pension. He was never home, always out on some tour or visiting people. He made the very most of his limited income, and took full advantage of all the subsidised resources and activities available to him.

Two people with the same circumstances, yet one’s life was rich, and the other’s was poor.

I saw this contrasting example in my early teens, and I’ve seen the same thing over and over again since.

Wealth is not a number; it is a frame of mind.

 

So how does that relate to EVE?

I think an EVE player is wealthy when they are happy that they have enough ISK to achieve their goals and meet their needs, with a buffer for replacements. It is the point where they don’t need to grind ISK if they don’t want to.

By my own definition, I consider myself wealthy in game. My version of wealth currently comes to 21.0B ISK in the bank, 20.5B ISK of Assets, and some 700+ researched BPO. It was gained slowly over time through dabbling in mining, mission running, manufacturing, exploration, PI and trade – whatever took my interest at the time. It might be considered a paltry sum to some, or a King’s ransom to others.

That’s the thing about wealth – it means different things to different people.

If all you do is PVP in frigates, a few hundred million ISK might cover all your needs. Someone focused on Null Sec battles might be comfortable with a fleet of Alliance Doctrine hulls and the means to move and replace them. Someone focused on owning Supercarriers will need a much higher bank balance.

If that isn’t a vague enough answer, wealth is also fluid. What makes you happy one day might be insufficient the next. Your circumstances can change – a month of losing battles, altered goals, or even just giving too much credence to keeping up with the Jones. If a player feels they are forced to go back to grinding ISK again, then they have probably dropped out of the zone of what they consider wealthy.

Of course in contrast to being wealthy, you can also be poor. I suspect most new players spend the first year or so of the game feeling poor – I know I did. Always having to save up for that next skill book or hull upgrade. Having to undock in ships you really couldn’t afford to lose. Or maybe you are like my Grandmother, and it doesn’t matter how much ISK you have, you will never be happy.

I have only lost everything once in the game – and that was within the first week of playing. I had mined furiously and sold off everything I had to afford my first destroyer. Within minutes of undocking someone had suicide ganked me. I also remember changes in circumstances where my wealth was suddenly insufficient – the transition from Hi Sec to Null Sec saw my reserves quickly depleted. Buying that first Carrier was a big hit. I had a couple of times where the bulk of my assets came close to being locked in stations we subsequently lost access to. If there wasn’t that risk of being poor however, I am not sure EVE would hold the same allure or feeling of accomplishment.

So now that I have suggested that you are wealthy when you feel like you are, I am going to say that wealth does not actually make you rich in EVE. The rich players are those that love the game and are thoroughly entertained by it. And for that, you don’t need ISK, you just need the right frame of mind.

 

Other posts can be found here

 

Oh 7

I am writing a Blog Banter at the moment and happened to check out the birth date of my Main EVE character.  17.09.2006.  What do you know, I’m 7 today.  It’s funny how those sorts of things happen.

I should have logged in and done something to note the occasion.  Instead I’ve been dealing with an extremely nasty headache, multiple full on tantrums from a four year old (I thought we were over that stage, apparently not), and a wild-eyed wife struggling with work stress.

Maybe I will just quickly log in and shoot a belt rat or something.

 

Getting my head around boosting

With family visiting this weekend, there won’t be a chance for a further Wormhole trip. I jump my main back to a more expensive clone with faster learning.

I check over my Odyssey 1.1 To-Do List, and decide to spend some time reviewing the updated Command Ships. These are basically more heavily tanked battle cruisers that provide bonuses to fitted Warfare links. These in turn provide buffs / boosts to fleet members.

My memory is a hazy in some areas, so it is time for a simple rehash for myself.  (Sorry if I get any of this wrong.)

The basic skills impacting fleet boosts: (bonuses are per rank)

Leadership – +2 Members in Squad, +2% Target speed
Armor Warfare – 2% Armor HP
Information Warfare – 2% Target Range
Mining Foreman – 2% Mining Yield
Siege Warfare – 2% Shield HP
Skirmish Warfare – 2% Agility

My Main Alt has rank V in all of those, so when fleeted with my Main they both enjoy +10% boosts in those 6 areas. Rather Useful.

(See https://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Fleet_options for details of fleet management. The skills which impact the size of fleets you can control are Leadership, Wing Command, and Fleet Command.)

Now it gets more complicated. There are a further 6 related skills which allow the use, and impact the effectiveness of, ship modules which provide additional types of fleet boosts. These are generally called Gang Links.

Mining Director
Armored Warfare Specialist
Information Warfare Specialist
Siege Warfare Specialist
Skirmish Warfare Specialist
Warfare Link Specialist

These skills do not provide any fleet bonuses by themselves. The first five relate to individual classes of Gang Links, the final – Warfare Link Specialist, gives a general 10% boost to the effectiveness of all Gang Links per rank.

The types of fleet boosts available are:

Mining
Harvester Capacitor Efficiency – reduces Cap needed by Harvesters
Laser Optimization – reduces Cycle Time of Harvesters
Mining Laser Field Enhancement – increases Range of Harvesters

Armor
Damage Control – reduces Cap needed by Armor Repair Systems
Passive Defense – increases Armor Resistances
Rapid Repair – reduces Armor Repair Cycle Time

Information
Electronic Superiority – increases strength of Electronic Warfare
Recon Operation – increases range of Electronic Warfare
Sensor Integrity – increases Sensor Strength and Lock range

Siege
Active Shielding – reduces Shield Repair Cycle Time
Shield Efficiency – reduces Cap needed by Shield Boosters
Shield Harmonizing – increases Shield Resistances

Skirmish
Evasive – reduces Signature Radius
Interdiction – increase Range of Scrams/Disruptors
Rapid – increase AB and MWD speed

It is worth noting that if you use a link to reduce the cycle time of Armor Repairers or Shield Boosters, you generally have to pair it with a link to reduce the CAP use. In my experience the Harvester Capacitor Efficiency link is useless for any half decently skilled miner.

These Gang link modules can only be fit on certain hulls and in certain numbers, from memory Battle Cruisers (with Command Ships receiving bonuses to doing so), Strategic Cruisers (with the right subsystem), Carriers, Super Carriers, Orca’s and Rorquals. The Command Processor module can be used to increase the number of Gang Links that can be fit.

On top of all this, you can also install an implant in Slot 10 of a clone called a Mindlink. These boost the effectiveness of Gang Links of their class (Mining, Armor, Information, Siege or Skirmish) by 25%, and change the related Gang Skill boost (Armor HP, or Shield HP, or Targeting Range etc) from 10% to a fixed 15%.

In Odyssey 1.1 four more Faction Mindlinks were made available. These boosted two classes of Gang Links at the same time, and impacted two related Gang Skill Boosts to 15%. These are:

Caldari Navy –Siege & Information, 15% Shield HP & Targeting Range
Federation Navy –Armored & Skirmish, 15% Armor HP & Ability
Imperial Navy – Armored & Information, 15% Armor HP & Targeting Range
Republic Fleet – Siege and Skirmish, 15% Shield HP & Agility

So, after all of that, back to the Command Ships. My Alt can fly all of them, so what are my options?

Hull – Bonuses on
Absolution – Armor & Information Links, plus Energy Turrets & Resists
Damnation –Armor and Information Links, plus Missiles & Resists & Armor HP
Nighthawk – Siege and Information Links, plus Missiles & Resists
Vulture – Siege and Information Links, plus Hybrid Turrets & Resists
Astarte – Armor and Skirmish Links, plus Hybrid & Armor Rep
Eos – Armor and Skirmish Links, plus Hybrid & Drone & Armor Rep
Claymore – Siege and Skirmish Links, plus Missile & Shield Boost
Sleipnir – Siege and Skirmish Links, plus Projectile & Shield Boost

I already have a Clone and Orca set up for maximum mining boosting, so I am not looking at that.

In reality at the moment the only real use I would have for a command ship is to dual box / boost my Main while he flies missions.

(Let’s ignore the fact I haven’t run a L4 mission in quite some time as I find them horrendously boring. Maybe this exercise will make them more fun.)

My current mission ship is a Tengu, and I prefer using missiles for versatility. So I need something with bonuses on Siege links. The secondary bonus for those is either Information or Skirmish Links. For missions, particularly where Jamming isn’t much of an issue, it would be better to take Skirmish. Given I want it to use missiles; my only choice is the Claymore.

What a lot of work, and I haven’t even started looking at fitting one.

My Main Alt is currently working on getting all his Gang Specialist skills to Rank V to allow the use of the Mindlinks and T2 Gang Link Modules. He has Warfare Link, Armored and Siege to rank V, and is currently working on Skirmish. That will leave Information to do last. (He already has Mining Director V.) So I am 18 days off being able to fit the Claymore like I will want. I can however plug everything into EFT.

So – what sort of difference can all this make?

My current Tengu fit has a Cap stable tank of 492DPS.

If being boosted by his Alt in a basic Claymore with all three Siege Warfare Links and a Republic Fleet Warfare Mindlink, his tank increases to 735DPS. The Claymore’s own little thought /thrown together T2 tank increases from 632DPS to 973DPS.

Those are substantial improvements, and basically make them over tanked. As such I can change the fittings around so that I lower the tank to more suitable levels, and work on increasing the DPS.

I’ll need to play around with the Evasive Maneuvers Gang Link as well, but that will all have to wait for another day.

With full skills, and kitted out with Mindlinks and the right hull, you can see why these sorts of boosts can make a huge impact to the effectiveness of people in fleets.

More Hauling EFT

Adding the Epithal to my fleet was an easy decision – it is a ship I will be using every other day. Now I had to review all the other Industrial Hull changes.

My standard hauler on 4 of my 5 space faring Toons was the Iteron V. I fit for max capacity, but for travel I swapped out 3 Expanded Cargoholds for Nanofiber Internal structures. It was a workable and somewhat flexible ship. The last Toon flew a Mammoth.

I started with checking what skill levels my various toons have.

Main
Amarr Industrial V
Caldari Industrial V
Gallente Industrial V
Minmatar Industrial V

Main Alt
Gallente Industrial V
Minmatar Industrial IV

Main Industry Alt
Amarr Industrial IV
Caldari Industrial IV
Gallente Industrial V
Minmatar Industrial IV

Secondary Industry Alt
Gallente Industrial V
Minmatar Industrial IV

Cyno Alt
Minmartar Industrial IV

It was easiest to look at the remaining specialist haulers first.

The Hoarder has an Ammo Bay. I don’t haul ammo, so there is no need for it.

The Miasmos has an Ore Bay. If I am hauling Ore it is usually in an Orca, but I throw together a quick fit. It can certainly be set up to move quickly with 8s align times and a tank of around 11.3K EHP. Still an easy enough target for belt gankers, and not something I need at the moment.

The Kryos has a mineral Bay. Again, I would normally haul large volumes of minerals in an Orca or maybe Freighter. The quick fit ends up looking the same as the Miasmos, just with an extra 100 EHP. Another ship I don’t really need.

The remaining 8 racial haulers are set up in pairings of a cargo oriented and a tank/speed oriented hull.

I review each at maximum cargo capacity and a basic buffer tank.

Iteron V, 37,152m3, Align 11s, 5.2K EHP
Nereus, 17,295m3, Align 7s, 13.9K EHP

Mammoth, 35,230m3, Align 10s, 5.4K EHP
Wreathe, 18,576m3, Align 6s, 14.1K EHP

Tayra, 36,675m3, Align 12s, 9.0K EHP
Badger, 19,593m3, Align 7s, 17.1K EHP

Bestower, 39,202m3, Align 12s, 4.7K EHP
Sigil, 17,151m3, Align 7s, 16.1 EHP

Very simply the capacity of the Cargo variants is excellent, but they have very little tank. The tanked / speed oriented hulls were actually surprisingly good.

I can certainly discard my Iteron V travel fit – the Nereus is better in every sense. I can even fit two Nanofiber’s to it for an align time of 5 seconds, with a slight loss in EHP. In fact – I delete most of my Iteron fit variations for low / null sec, tanking and the like. It becomes a one trick pony – capacity only.

I think the sweet spot, given my character skills, is the Wreathe. I set up one for each of my Toons. I then set up either an Iteron V or a Mammoth for each, depending on their skills, for maximum cargo hauling.

Last of all I needed to review my Cyno Bus fitting. I mentioned those back in December (you can view the initial version here). While I haven’t used my Carriers for 10 months now, I still need the ability to move them when I want or need.

The Cyno Bus is an Industrial set up to carry 3 Frigate hulls and all the fittings and supplies required to open Cynos. Due to the skills of my Cyno alts I was left to decide between the currently used Mammoth, or switch to the Wreathe. I decided on a switch to the Wreathe for better tank and align times, but it required the costly purchase of 12 Expanded Cargohold Rigs to ensure it could carry 10K m3.

I started this process with a fleet of 13 T1 Industrials across 5 Toons. I ended up with a fleet of 17 – 1 Mammoth, 9 Wreathe (including 4 Cyno Busses), 4 Iteron V and 3 Epithal.

This reflects the usefulness of the Epithal, and the splitting of roles of capacity and survivability.

This task took a day of on and off gaming. I had wondered what an average MMO Player might think of this whole process. It probably wouldn’t sound like fun! But then I realised how much time you can spend in traditional hack and slash MMO’s on Inventory Management, Crafting and researching and resourcing for builds and equipment. It’s housekeeping that some people can get a perverse pleasure out of.

All told I am enthused by these Industrial changes. Historically the best choice in T1 Industrial hull was the Iteron V. It made most of the other hulls redundant. Now you have at least 9 clearly useful and differentiated hulls. Four focused on capacity, four focused on survivability, and one on PI. You also have the fun factor on some hulls – the Caldari hulls can fit a launcher, and there is a Gallantee hauler that can use Drones. The Ore and Mineral haulers might even have a use for younger players, without the means to purchase or fly something bigger.  (Although as flagged by Serpentine Logic in a recent comment, a POS fuel hauler would have been more useful).  Overall though, good job CCP.

Day 3 and BOOM

The wife leaves with the kids, and will be out for 2 hours. It is one of my rare opportunities to play EVE without fear of interruption. Well, aside from possible orders via SMS.

I put down the haulers I have been playing with, pause the skill training, and jump clone back to the Loki. The training is restarted, and I toggle the Character sheet a couple of times so the icon stops flashing. It is nice to see the next clone jump availability sitting under 22 hours.

I slide into the Loki and give it a quick once over to ensure everything is online and supplies are stocked. I then clean up my bookmarks, which are a mess from my previous outing. Finally I undock, and wow, what stunning views.

Ekuenbiron in Verge Vendor

Let the scanning begin.

[Verge Vendor]

Ekuenbiron – 2 (Data, Combat)
Raneilles – 2 (Combat, Combat)
Vay – 0
Scheenins – 0
Jufvitte – 0
Amygnon – 1 (combat)
Back through Jufvitte
Ansalle – 1 (data)

Maybe I need to move closer to Jita to find Wormholes? I check and it is currently 17 jumps away.

 

Gisleres – 2 (Combat, WH to C2)

In my 8th empire system I finally find a wormhole, which I use.

 

Classified WH – 9 + Entry

I appear near an outer planet. I bookmark my entry point and hit D-Scan. 2 Towers, 2 Forcefields, an Archon, Orca, Thanatos, Archon, Retriever and Megathron. As I warp away re-cloaking I check for recent activity, finding a ship death and some NPC kills about 6 hours earlier. That doesn’t bode well.

My ship falls out of warp near a Customs Office. As I am looking at Dotlan I suddenly notice I have an Epithal on Grid – 64km away from me. He is off in short order and there is nothing I can do about it. At least someone is active.

I hunt down the two POS I saw on scan. The first is on Moon 2, with a piloted Mega, piloted Retriever, floating retriever and floating orca. I find the second POS on Moon 1 with a piloted Iteron V, piloted Epithal (a different one), and floating Achron (x2) and a Thanatos.

So there are at least 5 active pilots in system.

I warp to the Planets around the Sun, but find no further POS. As I am snooping around one or two Epithal keep appearing and disappearing off scan.

I make a halfhearted attempt to chase them, but it’s obviously futile.

I warp back to the POS on Moon 1 to watch. As I am busy writing down some Intel I just catch an Epithal warping out to a Customs Office, but I am not quick enough to see which one it goes to. Why do these things happen when I am not paying full attention?

Then a Shuttle joins the pilots in the POS shield and swaps into another Epithal. I’m ready now to watch this one closely. And I wait. And I wait. And just when I am thinking I might go do something else he starts moving. I watch where he flies off too and am confident I have the right Customs Office. Warp seems to take an inordinate amount of time to enter, and I am already thinking I might be too far behind. I narrow the D-Scan field down to a sliver, and keep refreshing. The Epithal is on Scan, on scan, on scan, on scan, on scan, damn. It disappears before I reach the Customs Office. I suspect I got the wrong one.

He returns to the POS at the same time I do, and swaps back into his Shuttle.

*Sigh*

Then a Tengu warps in.

Ok – I am sort of getting some things right, but I just don’t seem to be quick enough. I can’t decide if I am unlucky not to have picked the right Customs Office, or lucky to have had the opportunities I’ve had. I know my time in EVE is limited and I can’t sit around all day watching people. Normally when I find an active hole I tend to quietly slink out the way I came. This time however I decided to warp back towards the center of the system and scan some of the 9 sites down to look for another wormhole. That should at least wake people up.

As I land at a previously made safe I can see an Epithal on scan again – oh, and some Sleeper wrecks. Ooohhh, and that piloted Retriever. I noticed there was on Ore Anomaly earlier, so I used D-Scan to verify that the wrecks and Retriever were in it. I presume the Tengu had cleared the Sleepers, so the Retriever might be settling in for a mining session.

I still hadn’t launched probes or uncloaked, so I figured I’d warp into the Ore Site and see.

I arrive to find I have the place to myself.

*Sigh*

I’m looking at my watch and calculating when the family will be home, and trying to work out how long I should wait. Oh hello – the Retriever drops back on grid. He must have bookmarked an asteroid and warped out and back in again to move to it. I pull up my mining overview (which I had hidden the previous foray into WH space), bookmark an Asteroid near the Barge, and do the same.

 

As I warped back in I felt nervous and have a mild case of the shakes – but not as bad as I have done in the past.

I land 23km away, but then had to carefully pilot around several asteroids to avoid being de-cloaked on them.

This could end up being embarrassing.

I get to 9km away, give one last check of D-Scan, hit approach, de-cloak, turn on the MWD, Sensor Booster, Damage Control, and target, target, target, target – locked. Scram on and the guns firing I select Orbit, watch for drones, and check D-Scan again.

The damage application appeared to be a bit slow, and I realise I am orbiting outside of optimal. I probably shouldn’t be orbiting at all. I turn off the MWD and overheat the guns. In what seems an eternity but was probably fairly quick the Barge finally explodes. The pod escapes but only just. I don’t even bother looting – I just target and destroy the wreck and warp away.

I watch D-Scan and see a flurry of ship changes being made – Hurricane Fleet Issue, Dominix, Falcon, and extra Tengu. I wait 5 minutes, warp to the entrance Wormhole, and quietly make my escape.

I move over one system, dock and repair the slight damage from the over heat, and contemplate the situation.

Scolluzer – Docked.

My wife gets home with the kids just as the repairs are finished, and I have to call an end to the session.

 

Latest Trip Count – 3 sessions, 23 Empire Systems, 9 Wormholes, 1 kill

To the poor Retriever Pilot it might have looked like I knew what I was doing. In reality it was a bit bumbling and instead of an intuitive or honed hunter, it was more like I was just following a checklist off in my head.

It was my first kill in 11 months, and the very first Mining Barge.

No – I didn’t come away feeling like I have been bitten by the PVP bug, or felt anything inspiring about the situation. I know it sounds pitiful to say – but I have been involved in more than 50 kills previously, and I know I don’t get a lot of satisfaction out of it. My main thought was that it was like I had broken some sort of Carebear rule by killing a Mining Barge! Still – mission accomplished in a fashion.

Epithal

With my main focus this month being on my Wormhole travels, most of my other EVE activities have ground to a halt. I’d like to think that relates to my limited free time, but it might also be an inability to concentrate on more than one task at a time.

With my Main parked back at home and my Collector’s Edition assets stored away in the Pool Room (explained here for Non-Australian’s), it was time to visit the Epithal.

My Traditional PI ship has been the Iteron V. With Cargohold Optimization rigs and three Nanofiber Internal Structures in low, it’s relatively speedy and can carry just under 18,000m3. Enough room if I optimise the order of where I picked up and dropped goods off.

Both my PI Toons have Gallente Industrial V which gives their Epithal a PI Commodities hold of 67,500m3. Rather impressive. So how to fit?

The first thing is the Cargohold – I want it to be able to carry at least one Planetary Command Centre (1,000m3). With a bit of fiddling about I settle on two T2 Expanded Cargohold and a Medium Cargohold Optimization rig. That gives a normal Cargohold of 1,028m3.

That leaves two empty low slots. I could go a Damage control, but generally the risk of doing PI in Empire is pretty low. I settle on two T2 Nanofiber Internal Structures for an align time of 8 seconds, the same as my old work horse.

I want to fit a 10MN afterburner and a Large Shield Extender. I can get a large T2 Shield Extender and an Experimental 10MN Afterburner on with a Medium Ancillary Current Router fitted, which I do.

I have two mid slots left – and as I prefer a passive tank on my haulers, I select a T2 EM Ward Amplifier and T2 Thermic Dissipation Amplifier. The last rig gets a Medium Core Defense Field Extender.

The highs are easy – a Prototype Cloaking Device for when I have to go AFK, and a T2 Salvager, just because.

[Epithal, PI Play 01 – higher skill]
Expanded Cargohold II
Expanded Cargohold II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Experimental 10MN Afterburner I
Large Shield Extender II
EM Ward Amplifier II
Thermic Dissipation Amplifier II

Prototype Cloaking Device I
Salvager II

Medium Cargohold Optimization I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Ancillary Current Router I

10.7K EHP, 1K Cargo, 67K PI, 8s align, 415m/s with AB.

That works well enough on paper.

I then swap to my main Industry Toon and come up short on power grid. I swap the T2 Large Shield Extender for a Large F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction module. Power grid is ok now, but EHP drops to 9.2K. I am still happy enough with that.

I then swap to my secondary Industry Toon, and Power grid is blown out of the water. She also can’t fit the T2 shield tank items. For her ship I drop the Ancillary Current Router for a Core Defense Field Extender, use a T1 tank, and put on a T1 Salvager.

[Epithal, PI – Low Skill]
Expanded Cargohold II
Expanded Cargohold II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Experimental 10MN Afterburner I
Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Upgraded EM Ward Amplifier I
Upgraded Thermic Dissipation Amplifier I

Prototype Cloaking Device I
Salvager I

Medium Cargohold Optimization I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I

5.1K EHP, 1K Cargo, 67K PI, 10s align, 358m/s with AB.

Skills do make a difference. Still – I’m happy enough with these, and they are an improvement over the Iteron V. I set about fitting them up and finally do my first PI run for the month.

I am quite pleased with the Epithal.  I will no longer get caught out with having to dock up mid PI run as I run out of Cargo space, and it is a worthwhile addition to my hangers.

Store or Part with

So I’ve redeemed my Collector’s Edition pre-purchase rewards, a tattoo, the CA-3 and CA-4 implants, and the Nefantar Thrasher. All up they are going for around 1.8B in Jita at the moment.

The marketing on the collection clearly states these are timed exclusive items that will be made publically available via the market or promotions at a later date. Do I cash these in now, presuming I can buy them back at a later date for a much cheaper price, or do I just add them to my collectibles container?

I suspect the tattoos will be an expensive item in the Noble exchange, so might not lose too much value. The implants on the other hand will likely end up going for around 20-30M mark the CA-1 and CA-2 implants are currently going for.

The industrialist within me says sell, the Gollum within me says these precious’s are all mine.

Loopy Patching and No redeeming for me

More update strangeness with the release of the first 1.1 patch.

I ran the EVE client direct and was told it was incompatible. I was then asked if I wanted to download the client patch and I said yes. When that finished I was told the Launcher needed to be updated, and it downloaded and seemed to apply a different patch. Then I was asked if I wanted to download the client patch, and I said yes again (thinking this was poor form). When that finished again I was told the Launcher needed to be updated, and it downloaded and seemed to apply its patch again. Then I was asked if I wanted to download the Client patch, and I said no.

FFS CCP…

I stopped the client and the launcher, and upon restart the client patch was downloaded and successfully applied.

As an aside, I also purchased the Second Decade Collector’s Edition. I’ve hummed and harred about this for a while – but I really wanted the illustrated history book, and to – I don’t know – acknowledge the many years I’ve been playing the game.

I tried to redeem my in-game bonuses (the reason I jump cloned away from my Loki), but got this:

Thank you CCP.

Day 2 – Singing in Sinq, and a need for overview tuning

I had planned on returning to my Loki at 12 noon, but it was 4pm by the time I actually managed to log in. My quiet and uninterrupted run was not to be.

I started Firefox and open up Dotlan, a list of wormhole types and a wormhole database. I also open up my notepad. Prepared, I undock the Loki.

Ainaille – 1 (WH to Hi-Sec)

Ainaille is relatively quiet, and there is just the one Signature in system. It quickly scans down to a Wormhole leading to Hi-Sec. I step through, wondering where I’ll end up this time.

 

Konola (The Citadel) – Entry WH

There is only the entrance Wormhole in system. I check and Jita is only 6 jumps away. Funny how often I’ve ended up near Jita recently.  I check the map and pick a direction where I will be able to scan lots of systems in a row without the need to backtrack.

 

Isaziwa – 1 (Data)

 

Oiniken – 2 (Combat, WH to C2)

A C2 sounds like a good start, so I blindly step through.

 

J140308 – 11 + Entry WH

Dotlan suggests a ship kill here a couple of hours ago, and NPC kills within the last hour. A handful of sleeper wrecks on scan confirm that. This might be more interesting.

I can also see 2 active Towers, a Brutix, Buzzard, Chimera, Orca and Probe on scan.

I use the tracking camera and directional scanner to work out what moons the POS are on. The first tower is on Planet 8, Moon 3. A Chimera sits within the Forcefield unpiloted.

I warp over to Moon 4 to check out the second tower, but there isn’t one there. Seems my directional scanning needs some work. I try again, and Moon 1 comes up as the candidate this time.

As I drop out of warp I see a Buzzard outside of the shields, a Probe, an Orca, an Epithal, a Brutix, a – hold on, that’s a PI hauler. And it’s piloted. I am pretty sure I am meant to be excited about that. The Buzzard is also piloted, but safely tucked up amongst the POS weaponry. It is also probably controlling the combat probes I can now see moving about on scan.

I would normally have thought they were aware someone was in system with them, but in recent blog reading people seem to use combat probes for signature scanning in wormholes, so they pick up on ships as well. I am yet to try it out myself – mostly as I don’t think to load them. I know in EFT my Sensor Strength is 119 with Core probes, and only 59 with Combat. (I dropped the Sisters Launcher, hence lower figure.) It will be interesting to see how much slower that makes scanning.

As I contemplate the scene the Epithal actually starts moving. I scramble to select the right overview and with tracking on I watch where he warps off into space. Only my overview settings are not right, and the customs offices are not shown in my view. I hazard a quick guess and warp to one of 3 Custom Offices he was in rough line with. I arrive 10km off to find myself alone. I check a second Custom Office quickly, but he drops off close scan before I come out of warp. I return to the tower to find him there.

He swaps to the Probe, and the Buzzard finally warps off and cloaks. His combat probes are still out, and moving in and out of scan range. I presume he is scanning down the 12 sites.

I am fiddling with overview settings when the pilot hops back into his Epithal and warps off. This time I have the custom office showing up in space, but there are two of them together in the direction he warped towards. I follow quickly behind with a 50/50 chance of getting the right one. I don’t.

We arrive back at the POS at about the same time.

I wonder what the pilot would think if he realised he had an inept, bumbling Empire Carebear lamely and ineffectually trying to hunt him. Doesn’t matter, I remained cloaked, so no one will ever know about it…

At this point I hear a loud crash from upstairs and then my daughter start crying. I want to ignore it – I’m sure it was self-inflicted and the cry is of the “I need a hug” kind, and not “I’m in pain.” The crying perseveres so I walk away from EVE.

It turns out she was rocking the chair back – like I’ve told her not too previously, and it tipped over on her. I did the “I told you so” speech, but I can see she had already gone back to focusing on her tablet after getting her hug, and had stopped acknowledging my existence.

I get side tracked and return to EVE after a short break.  I decide to spend some time making changes to my overview to make it more useful in wormhole space.

The combat probes are out for a mighty long time, but when they disappear I return to the tower to see what the locals are up to. They are now both in Epithal. I have everything set up right – and I follow as they warp off into – nothingness. A quick glance at the map and I suspect they just went to Empire WH I came through – with PI goods to sell in Jita.

I wait on the hole for a little bit in case they return – but then my Daughter arrives insisting I install some game for her tablet, and while I am trying to fend her off, my wife arrives to say dinner is on the table.  I hop back through to Empire space and park.

 

Ahynada – 2 (Combat, WH to C5)

After eating I return, but my ego won’t take re-visiting the C2. I step across one Empire system and scan down a WH to a C5. Rightly or wrongly I get the impression people who live in C5’s tend to fly in gangs and will likely be able to outsmart my inexperienced Loki – so I ignore that for the moment.  I need to be able to up skill a bit against the C1-3’ers first.  Funny enough while sitting in system my two Epithal’s from the C2 pass through, coming back from Jita. I give them a silent wave.

Real Life then calls me away yet again.  Yep – this is why I play the game solo.

 

Kausaaja – 2 (WH to C2, WH to C1)

I look at the C1

 

J112250 – 5 + inbound (WH to Unknown, Gas, Gas, WH to Hi-Sec, Relic)

I practice my POS finding again, using the sun as a base to find the first 2 active towers, and then hunt down an offline one on an outer planet. I was more effective this time around. There is no sign of life and no recent API activity, so I drop probes and scan.

It is easier to be more accurate with the direction scanner now

My time and brownie points with the wife however have run out again, so I just step through the Hi-Sec hole and look to dock up. I need to jump clone back to my main base for a day, in part to redeem some items from CCP.

 

Ekuenbiron (Verge Vendor) – 2 + Entry WH

No scanning, I just park and jump clone.

 

I’m not sure I am covering much distance so far – but I am focusing on the educational value of these early days.

 

Latest Trip Count – 2 sessions, 15 Empire Systems, 8 Wormholes

Day 1 – Map

For my own interest I threw together this awkward and unprofessional map of my first day’s travels.

Any suggestions on a free or cheap tool to map out wormhole travel?  Must be quick and easy to use.

Day 1 – Refresher and shake down

I am taking rough notes as I travel with my Loki. I will flag what systems I visit here, except for the first Empire systems which were in the same region as my home. The system will be noted, along with the number of Signatures on scan.

Empire 1 – 0
Empire 2 – 1 (Relic)
Empire 3 – 0
Empire 4 – 6 (Combat, Combat, Relic, Data, Relic, Data)
Empire 5 – 1 (Relic)
Empire 6 – 3 (WH to Unknown)

I crossed into a second region during the trip above.

I find it odd how many systems you can scan through in Empire without finding a wormhole. On the weekend I visited 8 before finding one, then 9 of the next 10 systems had at least one. On this trip it took 6 systems.

After a quick check of the locals and what corps / alliances they were in, I jumped through the Wormhole, ignoring the remaining two signatures. I just wanted to get started on this journey already.

J135910 – 8 + Entry

This was a C2 with no recent activity, 11 moons, 11 control towers, and a load of anchored bubbles on scan. There were however no ships. With relative efficiency I scanned down Gas, Relic, Wormhole, Data, Relic, Relic, Relic and Data. With still no signs of life here, I jumped through the new Wormhole.

Hello J135910

J130330 – 13 + Entry

A C4 this time, also with no recent activity reported and no ships on scan. There were 35 moons and 1 tower nearby. I started the process of scanning the system, getting Gas, Gas, Gas, Gas and a Wormhole to a C5. I was then interrupted for an hour to do the school run.

After my son was collected, fed and occupied with his laptop, I logged back in. I looked at my notes and the 14 Signatures, and realised I hadn’t kept proper account of what six digit codes I had already scanned down. On principle I refused to rescan them, and not feeling ready to traverse a C5 just yet, I returned to the C2, Empire 6, Empire 4, and on to a fresh system to scan.

Empire 7 – 8 (Combat, WH to unknown)

Again I stopped scanning at the first Wormhole hit, and after the obligatory check of locals, I jumped back into Unknown Space.

J114308 – 3 + Entry

Another C2, no recent activity, 47 moons, and 3 towers and 2 force fields on scan. Again – no ship hulls. I scanned down Gas, Gas, and a Wormhole to a C1.

J114308 was attractive looking

J105013 – 5 + Entry

The C1 had a slightly odd layout. There was just 1 planet with 19 moons off it. Like all the other systems so far, there was no movement. The sites scanned down to Wormhole (Hi-Sec), Wormhole (C2), Gas, Wormhole (Unknown) and Data. I poked my nose through the Hi-Sec hole.

Ghesis (Kador) – 1 + Entry

Ghesis is actually an old stomping ground, but given there were plenty more options to investigate in the C1 I decided not to hang around. Actually – hold on – I almost forgot. I do have to stay put. If you jump through a wormhole, you can only use it one more time within the next 5 minutes. Further jump attempts fail. It’s called Polarization. If I immediately jumped back into the C1 and found a gang waiting for me, I’d be stuck in there with them. As such I pottered about Ghesis for 4 minutes, checking what the second signature was. (I didn’t note it down. As I said, my note keeping really needs some work.)

While in Ghesis a Heron popped up on scan with T1 probes out. When my timer was up I jumped back into the C1, but stayed just off the hole cloaked in case the Heron decided to jump in. It seemed unlikely, but what the hell.

At that point however my wife asked for my attention, and I had to step away. The heron could have sat on the hole for 10 minutes and I wouldn’t have seen it. Next is the C2.

J122635

Again my notes fail me. I know it was a C2, and what I saw on scan were a ton of ships, a couple Orca, a Rorqual, an Onyx, Tengu’s, Oracle, Sabre, and on and on, most with Russian names. I can hear my wife pottering around in the kitchen and I knew my game time was very limited. I back out of this system. Next from the C1 was an unknown.

Either no ships, or too many on scan.  Never just right.

J105123 – 4 + Entry

Another C2 with no apparent activity. I had just enough time to bookmark a safe when I had to log off. Tea and my Son’s swimming followed.

A couple hours later I logged back in. I looked about the place and found an Iteron V at a POS, piloted. As I watched he swapped to a Nemesis, and warped off cloaking. The first confirmed life – and I had no idea if he was active or not. I should have added the pilot to my contact list so that I could at least pick up if he had logged out or not.

After waiting a while I end up dropping probes and scanning. Relic, Wormhole to Hi-Sec, Wormhole to Hi-Sec, Data. The kids night time routine is in full swing in RL, so I check the closest Hi-Sec out.

Ainaille (Sing Laison) – 1 + Entry

I launch probes, and a 3rd Signature opens up immediately under them – a Relic site. I also find another Wormhole to Unknown space, but the only thing I can do is dock up and log off.

Always found the Sing Laison background rather stunning

9 Empire systems across 4 regions, and six wormholes. Actually – it was 7 wormholes – I documented what I found (nothing), but I failed to note its name down. Again, my note taking.

I was reminded about just how often I am interrupted by RL. This is certainly only something I could do solo. The process was less of a hassle with just the one Toon – but it means when someone actually pins me down I’m likely a goner, as, by their nature, Wormholers are generally not working alone.

Normally I can get a bit nervy when I put myself into danger in EVE, but I was surprisingly relaxed so far about this journey. I still felt much like the hunted instead of the hunter though.

Any bets on how many systems I travel through before dying?

Must restart that Travel Blog

The Odyssey 1.1 patch was annoying.  The Launcher and its P2P approach to downloading is noticeably slower.  When it finally completed the download, the patching process froze on 0% (which seemed to be a common problem).  I had to restart the launcher, which then downloaded the full patch a second time before working.  It was late, but I remember frowning and muttering a FFS towards CCP.

One of the things I was referring to the other day, when I mentioned not being effective at following through on plans, was the goal to lose my Loki in Wormhole space.

I’ve had the hull for well over a year – or is it coming up to two now? It has been on half a dozen voyages through unknown space, some of which I have commented on here, but the process has never really captured my imagination.

I sat down the other day to see why it felt like a chore. I still like the idea of roaming wormhole space, popping in and out of known space, and exploring until I happen upon my own death. It just wasn’t working out as envisioned.

The first annoyance was the effort of moving my Main and Main Alt around together. It was useful having a support Falcon along, both for extra supplies, the force multiplier effect and for watching holes, but it required a lot more concentration, bookmarking and clicking. Solution – my Main Alt can stay at home.

The second annoyance was the effort to scout and map out each system. I was going into this with the view of hunting for targets, but it just seemed to take far too long to sniff out and bookmark each tower and take in each system fully. Solution – I am going to concentrate on finding travel paths, not targets.

With this change in approach, I adjusted my fit. I swapped in an Interdiction Nullifier, which dropped my DPS by about 10%, but made the ship a lot more slippery. I also swapped out one of the Shield Extenders for a Large Ancillary Shield Booster. On paper I would have more EHP with the second Extender than what 9 cycles of the Booster would restore. I have to admit it is just for the mental comfort of being able to overheat and self rep while running for a hole or gate. That’s my excuse, and I am sticking to it.

I then practiced my scanning and note taking again (hence my last post), and read lots of posts on http://www.tigerears.org/.

Feeling ready, I then clone jumped to my Loki and embarked on an interrupted afternoon, visiting 9 empire systems across 4 regions connected through 7 wormholes.

Lessons learnt or reminded about so far – I really need a polished way of notating and bookmarking as I travel; my time zone (AU) seems very quiet in Wormhole space; the new scanning Interface makes the process less of an effort; and not dragging an Alt along behind me speeds things up dramatically.

Not sure why, but the trip had a distinct lack of trepidation as I moved about