Camping Expectations

This post is in effect a reply to a recent comment.

I used to operate my holiday camps out of Low Sec. I could find quiet corners where if I was patient I would be able to undock and get Carebear type stuff done.

Over time with game changes to resources, faction warfare and population movements (some out of Sov Null) I found it more and more difficult to find these sorts of Low Sec backwaters. When I did it would not be long before an active pirate group moved in, and I’d have to move out.

There are two aspects to the decision to have to run away.

The first is that I play a solo game. When a group regularly has 2 or 3 half competent and active players online in the area I am trying to operate from, most of what I do can be countered. It doesn’t matter how many Skill Points I have or how expensive the ships are that I am flying.

The second is the somewhat fluid tipping point on the danger level in the area. I will operate in space that through careful play I can mitigate most of the danger. You might lose ships occasionally through mistakes, inattention, skilled opponents or bad luck – but that’s ok. I don’t want to operate in space where I will inevitably lose ships regardless what I do.

This isn’t just a simple case of being risk averse. It is at the core of how I play the game.

As I have commented, I now find my camps are located in NPC Null Sec. It is in many ways poorer from a resource point of view, but there are quiet backwaters where a Carebear can still find moments of peace.

I do see risks to this sort of game play.

The first have been the changes to capital jump ranges. I used to be able to pack my camp into a carrier, and move it across a region or two at fairly short notice. Now it can require 3 or more jumps just to get across a region, with even longer travel inevitably putting you through carefully watched and hunted chokepoint systems. Now I have to rely on suitable wormholes to move in and out, which in NPC Null Sec are not reliable.

The second is the outcome of World War Bee. When Major Sov holders lose their space they regularly end up in places like Low Sec or NPC Null to regroup, reorganise and rebuild. Even if they don’t pick the poor and quiet systems I operate out of, they can displace other groups who then might. In the long run they will move on again – assuming the Sov mechanics encourage them to. The jury seems to be out on that.

The third are Citadels. As I have harped on, I don’t see them having the huge economic impact some fear, but I do certainly see them being used in dangerous backwaters to make them more habitable for small Corporations and Alliances. This will particularly be in those areas with few stations – the areas I historically get to operate in.

The more vibrant and busy all space is, the worse off it is for my particular style of play. I’ll have to cope that on the chin for the greater good.

NPC Null V Low Sec for the Solo Carebear

I like to have some sort of base outside of Hi-Sec with a couple Jump Clones and a collection of suitable ships that I can visit when I want to. I enjoy the challenge of staying alive in that sort of harsher environment, and being able to experience the different content available there.

Historically that location would be in Low-Sec. In recent years however I have struggled to find a Low Sec area that was quiet enough to allow me to regularly undock and mine, rat or run exploration sites. Between Faction Warfare, changes to Exploration, the movement of large groups from Null to Low, and the rise of large organised pirate alliances, even out of the way Low-Sec systems are much busier than they used to be.

Recently I’ve operated out of a NPC Null Sec constellation instead. While it requires patience, I do have the place to myself at times and I am able to undock and “get things done” on a semi regular basis. Having been there for a while now I’ve decided overall, NPC Null Sec is actually a rather poorer cousin to Low Sec.

. Generally, it seems like there are less stations
. Generally, it is a fair bit more difficult to access Hi-Sec
. The market tends to be poorer
. There are a lot less anomalies
. There are a lot less wormholes
. There are less exploration combat sites
. While content can be more rewarding, it can take noticeably longer to run
. You can access similar mining options in Low Sec through Anomalies
. There are no tag rats
. You have to contend with bubbles and bombs (not much of an issue)
. In Low Sec other Carebears tend to be less likely to attack you due to security loss

The positives – aside being more quiet, include that Pirates seem to hunt you for much longer and more persistently in Low Sec, and there is a lot less competition for on overview resources in NPC Null Sec.

Throwing down the Gauntlet

I’ve had a couple multi-regional sessions searching for Blood Raider Gauntlet sites, both with 40+ Hi-Sec jumps, and both only resulting in a few sites found. I’ve had more luck just finding them in my home system when I happen to undock.

Almost every site I’ve run has ended up being contested, which is not really the way I like to do PVE. The Zealot I set up a week ago however has worked out well. It has no problem tanking, no problem quickly taking down the rats, and so far, no problem beating the drone boats (mainly Gila and Ishtar) to the Blood Battlecruiser kill for the loot. Lasers for the win.

While it has been running the normal sites haven’t been hammered as much, so I’ve been able to run more of those than usual.

I expect CCP’s statistics should show this PVE event has been a success.

I’ll get back to the Caldari Epic Arc once the event wraps up.

Meanwhile I plonked an Alt down into another low sec area, to make bookmarks and flag the local pirates as negative contacts. On and off I’ve tried finding some quiet low-sec backwater where I can do a little mining or run sites for something different. I’ve only spent a few hours there but I suspect it will be too busy. In fact – Low-Sec as a whole has been much busier over the last year or so. I only need a semi reliable 10 minutes here and there of peace to get something done, but that doesn’t look promising.

I’ve even done some half AFK mining this week.

I continue to keep myself amused.

The Low Down

I’m in the process of abandoning my Low Sec home. (A process that is taking an age due to a lack of suitable wormholes to exit via.)

When I first moved in Easily Excited was the main pirate group in the area. While they would actively hunt you and salt systems by always leaving someone AFK in them day after day, it was quiet enough at times to undock and do something.

Lately they have been replaced by Surely You’re Joking. Reading chatter and trolling in local it appears as if there is some current bad blood between them. (Apparently in part around a corporation moving from EE to SYJ.) SYJ tends to be more numerous in my time zone, and while they still hunt and post scouts, they also often run sites or mine ice. As a result I wasn’t finding many opportunities to do anything.

I haven’t given up on the Low Sec notion. I enjoy the stories and image portrayed by The Nosy Gamer too much for that. The reality is however as a solo player I have to adapt and fit around what other players are doing.

So I am back to the drawing board looking for a different place where I can fairly regularly get 10 minutes at a time to undock unmolested in Low Sec.

I think I’ll give Genesis a miss this time round, and Faction Warfare space is just too busy. I do like Molden Heath – from its quiet statistics in Dotlan, to how it has been when I have occasionally visited. It just really isn’t useful if I want to store my Capitals there as well.

At the moment I am thinking Kor-Azor. It links to multiple regions and has multiple entrance points. My initial scouting suggests it is under the sway of Easily Excited. They seem to camp the more obvious entrance systems heavily, but some of the systems off the main pipes seem extra quiet.  (Probably because of the camping.)

It might also work as a place to store my capitals. I can reach Syndicate after the capital nerf in 3 or 4 jumps in one direction and Providence in 3 or 4 jumps in another direction. I’m not sure why that is particularly important, but since I have lived in both it seems comforting to think I can return.

The problem with Kor-Azor, particularly with the camping, is that there doesn’t seem to be a cluster of quiet systems to work in and around, instead just a couple here and there.

More research is required.

Under, off, over the Radar

My wife has started her new job. She leaves the house before the kids get up, and gets home after they have had tea. I find myself the full time stay at home parent, who also happens to have a busy paying job. I’m not sure EVE will get much of a look in during the week.

I scheduled for a long session in game on Saturday, and actually managed to achieve it. I started by logging in my Low Sec Scout, but the system I am basing out of was once again awash with Pirates. It has been the same since Kronos – far more pirate gate camps, far more pirates out hunting. It is just not feasible to do any carebearing, so I move my focus elsewhere.

Next I log in my Island Scout and go looking for access to Hi-Sec. There are only 4 wormholes in the constellation, but luckily one is to Hi-Sec. It is some 20+ odd jumps from where I base my supplies, but I make use of it anyway. I ferry in one of my Gila, a Gas guzzling Venture, and a PVE Stabber Fleet Issue I wanted to test out. While there I picked up a contract purchase and brought back a Pilgrim I wasn’t using.

I had one stumbling block – I couldn’t work out how to get a bookmark from my out of Corp Alt to my main that didn’t involve a Contract. I ended up moving the Alt into my main Corp and putting it in a Corporation bookmark folder.

The moving of ships took quite some time, so while manually flying 100+ combined jumps I looked at my PI Alts. I remarked the other day about two pilots at war, one in a station, the other outside trying to goad them into undocking. It turned out the war was against the Corporation I have blue standings with in my old home system. I had originally witnessed an Ally to the defending Corp goading one of the aggressors. Later, I witnessed an Ally to the aggressors trying to goad the defenders to undock. The irony was not lost on me.

We had both remarked that we could call on each other for help if our POCO were in danger – but they didn’t send me a message. That was probably lucky for me as I am not really in a position to log in.

Coinciding with them losing their POCO someone offered to buy my four. I expect, unless unusually fortuitous, it is probably from the person behind the takeover of my blue’s POCO. Given I don’t use them, can’t defend them, and they generate very little income; it’s prompted me to sell them. I’ve spoken to the blue and offered it to them first. They will look at it after their war is finished. If the wars move to me I’ll lose them for no ISK, but that’s a minor price for doing the right thing by another player. (I am really not suited to this game!)

I emptied my planets and cleared the installations so, if I ever felt inclined I could set up new planets closer to my new home. I think I have remarked before, my dabbling in POCO would last simply as long as it took for someone else to notice I had them and take them off me. Once I sell (or lose) them, any further PI I do is at the mercy of finding planets with reasonable tax rates. It’s the price of solo play. I finished off my session with yet more hauling, moving my PI supplies to my new home and closing the old corporate hanger.

No EVE time for me

Work has been hellishly busy. I’d like to say this is because of new customers or new projects, but instead it has been fighting fires and fixing mistakes caused by the offshore resources management have decided to use.

I’m barely managing one half reasonable play session a week at the moment.

Last weekend my Low-Sec scout found a useful wormhole to Hi-Sec, so I managed to move in some supplies, a Salvaging Destroyer and Venture between constant interruptions from work and family. This rather piddling result took some 10 hours.

This weekend I’ve been testing a few fits and doing some PVE. I’ve been playing around with a lot of Hawk fits for a while now – and while I have decided on a PVP fit I will leave in Low-Sec, I decided to give up on PVE fits. It is just too slow when compared to the Retribution when working through sites. I also decided on what I would do with the extra high slot on my Viators – which are getting Core Probe Launchers.

I probably shouldn’t be admitting it – but in the earlier years of my EVE playing I would be feeling rather grumpy and frustrated by now at my limited game time. I’d be throwing out “nose off to spite face” comments such as it is pointless to play the game in such circumstances. Now I accept it is not EVE’s fault, and try to appreciate whatever free time I do manage to wrestle from my busy life, and don’t dwell on it. It helps that I don’t have to feel guilt about letting down a Corp.

I was bemused by the Kronos 1.4 patch. The notes on the update were sparse, yet it required a 229MB download.

I was also bemused to see my name mentioned in Amarr local recently. Apparently I was paid out several 100 million ISK by one of the duplication scammers. I had the Window’s helpdesk call me for the 350th time recently, and I asked the person why they were using the same old scam, and couldn’t they come up with something more original each time they called. They just hung up. I wonder the same thing about EVE scams. In the grand scheme of things there isn’t as much variety as there should be.

No Jita Price checking for me

I have two scouting alts. Both are trained in flying a Covert Ops and using Probes.

The primary Scout flies a Cheetah, and with current fit has a probe strength of 133 for Core and 68 for Combat.

The secondary Scout flies a Helios and has a lot less Skill points. Their current probe strength is 110 for Core and 53 for Combat.

There are practical benefits to having alts to use just for scouting.

Living in a Hi-Sec Island and also in Low-Sec introduces logistic issues. How do you move in supplies and ship out loot? Both Alts are able to scan down wormholes looking for convent links in and out of those bases. They can do this while I am busy on my Main, or it might be while I am deciding on which location I am going to base myself out of for the day.

My scout in Low-Sec tends to be logged off in space, so they can be used to check if a station is clear for my Main to safely undock.

Sometimes they will be used to scout unsafe routes, or to sit cloaked off gates watching who is passing. Sometimes they will be logged in for hours just getting an idea of who lives in and passes through a system. This is particularly useful when you are moving capital ships. Sometimes they might do minor shopping trips where they can happily wait out gate camps. If you are a PVP player hunting for targets, they have even more uses.

Having said all this – their key utility is not so much from the reconnaissance they do, but in that they release your Main character from the chore. That means you can do something more productive, or more enjoyable on your primary character.

Yesterday I moved my Primary Scout Alt out of my Hi-Sec Island home, through Low Sec, and to a Trade hub. I updated the fit on their Cheetah, grabbed rigs and tank for my Procurer, and then flew them into my new Low Sec Home.

I then logged into my Secondary Scout Alt, which was sitting in Jita acting as a price check alt. I adjusted the fit on their Helios; then flew them to my Hi-Sec Island home (again via Low Sec).

The scouts didn’t get much use when I lived only in Hi-Sec, but they will be in space much more now.

Oh – I forgot the required mining crystals and a propulsion mod option for the Procurer. I need to be much better organised.

Unpleasant wake up

I’ve not felt particularly well this week, including an unpleasant 2am intrusion on my slumber from a rather painful Migraine.

(I can hear your chorus of sympathy from here – it sounds somewhat like my wives, which tends to be in the nature of “will you die quieter”.)

I have managed to dabble a little in EVE. In my last update the new Low Sec home consisted of an Exploration Ship, an Unfitted Mining Barge, a Covert Ops and a Stealth Bomber. My Main had one jump clone in the area, and my Main Alt had two.

I undocked my Alt during a short session and scanned down two wormholes, one being an end of life Hi-Sec connection. While the location was not particularly convenient, such connections are not common enough for me to just ignore. I roused up the Main and brought in a hauler loaded with a collection of mining gear. I realised I had actually left the tanking and rig modules behind, so I set off back through the hole to collect them. Inconveniently it closed shortly afterwards.

I then did a lot of flying around to create a new jump clone for my Main, move it to Jita to plug in suitable implants for low sec exploration, then over to my staging system to grab another stealth bomber, then I flew it into my low sec home.

When I got there I realised I forgot to bring the barge’s tank or rigs again.

So now I have 4 clones across two characters, an exploration ship, a hauler, a still unfitted mining barge, one covert ops and two stealth bombers all moved in.

The area is much more workable than the last. I should be able to actually make use of the space. There are however still plenty of explorers moving through the area, and a number of pirates. One of those obviously sits on relic and data sites in hope of catching explorers.

So I have a Low-Sec home and a Hi-Sec island home, both suited to having readily available short bursts of content. I still have to decide if I want to move my central storage hub to somewhere closer to Jita, and where my Industry should be based out of. I also have to move my two scouts around – one from the Hi-Sec island into the Low-Sec home, and the other from Jita to the Hi-Sec island. It is useful being able to scout for suitable transport links to and from those areas without having to jump clone in one of my mains.

The low down

Last week was very busy and I had few opportunities to log into EVE. On the weekend my wife and I left our kids with their Grandparents, and had a couple nights away to celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary.

This would normally be a great opportunity to get some uninterrupted EVE time in. No, before you say anything, just let me explain. I awake at around 6am, so my wife actively encourages me to quietly play EVE or some other such activity on my laptop while she sleeps in. (This is the sort of thinking which helps a marriage last.)

The only problem was the mobile internet access was dismal. I literally had to hang the access point out the window to manage to get even the weakest of signals. I did log in and check over some ship fittings, but I couldn’t undock. As such today was the first time since my last post that I spent any time pottering around in space.

I’ve had to give up on my original Genesis Low Sec home – it was just too busy to do much in. I spent a lot of time looking at the stats in Dotlan, trying to pick a better area deeper into Low Sec. After reconnaissance of various spots I ended up back in Genesis, but in a different constellation. I moved my gear out of the old home and into a staging system. I’ve got a few ships into the new location, but it will take me a while to get everything in I want. It will probably require a convenient wormhole or two, or possibly stocking up and jumping in one of my carriers. Today I spent time moving a second Jump Clone into the area for my Main Alt. While I prefer my solo play, I was thinking the logistics of living further away from Hi-Sec would be easier if I was in a Player Corp.

Sailing around the island

I’ve been in the Hi-Sec Island for a few days. I’ve logged in four times for short sessions. The first I ran half a dozen anomalies. The second I went looking for a wormhole leading elsewhere in empire without luck, but ended up running two relic and one data sites. The third and four times I just ran a handful of anomalies before logging off again.

It is the sort of easy access to quick content I need with my game time being so restricted.

There are not many pilots in the pocket – generally systems are empty or only have one or two other pilots. (It is a little busier on the weekend.) Most tend to have a security status of 5.0 and have been playing for years.

I have had two minor encounters with them. The first was after real life had interrupted one of the anomaly runs. The system was empty and the site had dropped from the scanner overview, so I just walked away. When I returned there was another pilot in the system, probes on scan, and their Vialor (not your first choice in scan boats) sitting 2,000m away from me. I am guessing he was checking if I was in a cosmic signature, so I assume he’s one of those more rude type of pilots who prefer to warp in on people already in sites.

The other minor encounter is some of the pilots I am seeing are in a corporation with the name I had originally wanted for my Alliance. It is a small world.

The location isn’t perfect – there are no manufacturing slots in the constellation, and escalations always seem to be across Low Sec and a dozen jumps or more away.

I had another fairly long EVE session again today. I used my scouting alt to go looking for a Wormhole to Empire space, but of the 6 wormholes I found in the constellation all went to W-space. He did stumble across a Ghost site during his search, so I got to run that. (I managed to clear two of the cans, and finished the third mini-game but the can blew up a fraction of a second before I could hit loot all.) I mined a retriever load of ore. I ran a couple Anomalies and a combat site. I also went in and out of Low Sec half a dozen times to manufacture and haul in some station containers. Last of all I jumped into an expensive Clone, and moved it and a bling fit Buzzard back into the Island across Low Sec. I am expecting I’ll hang around here for a while.

Islands in the stream

I had quite a nasty sinus headache, so had to finish up work early and take some stronger pain killers. After a shower and a nap I woke with a fuzzy head and some unexpected down time.

I decided to run the next site in the escalation chain I had started the previous night. Because it lay behind half a dozen low sec systems I swapped into a cheaper Clone and grabbed my Jack of All Trades Pilgrim.

The trip there was uneventful, and the loot drop from the site dismal.  Just the way EVE falls sometimes.

Because I was there I figured I would have a look around the 8 system Hi-Sec Island. It was, as expected, full of anomalies, numbering 30+ in some systems. These included hidden belts that hadn’t been mined. I quickly came to the conclusion that this would be a worthwhile place to leave a clone and a few ships. When I have such limited play time it will be nice to be able to log on, have a high chance of being able to run a few sites without competition, and then log off again. I would just need to use wormholes to move out loot and ship in supplies.

I logged in one of my scouting alts and flew them into the pocket in a Covert Ops. Interestingly one of the low sec systems I passed through had a Ghost site in it. More surprisingly the very next system also had a Ghost site in it. Not equipped to do anything about them, I moved on.

While I ran sites on my main, I sent my scout off to look for wormholes. I had to scan the entire constellation and only found three. The first two were to unknown space, while the last was to a Low Sec system. The name was familiar (I’ve purchased a carrier from there before), and it lay only one jump from Hi-Sec. While it was a bit of a hike, I could get to Jita via this route.

I grabbed a reasonably priced shuttle, fleeted with my scout, and made my way to Jita via the wormhole he had found. What to grab? I started with a Stratios. This would be my bread and butter scanning ship. On my next round trip I went for a Viator Transport, carrying a Retriever Mining Barge. The race was on however to beat downtime – less than an hour to make 21 jumps, purchase everything, then make 21 jumps back. I made it comfortably with 9 minutes spare.

So I ended up playing the longest session of EVE I have done in months, without expecting or planning to do so. I’m also aware of the irony that with my limited time, to actually play EVE the MMO, I need to place myself as far away as possible from where most people are playing.

Lay of the land done

I’ve finished my bookmarking of the Low Sec systems I am going to spend time in. I flagged two more groups as Orange – one of which I had pegged as being non-hostile, until chatter in local alluded to them being blue and willing to fleet with one of the main Pirate groups.

Never underestimate the wealth of knowledge you gain just by sitting quietly in a system for an hour or two.

Actually, you see all sorts of strange things while quietly lurking. I watched a Capsuleer rating in a Typhoon Fleet Issue in a 0.4 System which is usually active with Pirates. An hour later in the same system I watched another Capsuleer using Discovery Survey Probes. I thought you couldn’t do moon mining in anything above 0.3?

With that somewhat arduous task complete I ran some sites through the area just for the hell of it, ending up with around 15M of loot.

I’m not sure about the final mix of ships I am going to use. I’m a bit spooked by how often the entrance systems are being camped. While I am going to be able to get through them most of the time, they are bound to get lucky on occasion. There are some backwater systems behind these camps which are quieter. I am considering stocking one or two of these with ships. I might even leave a jump clone there.

I did take the opportunity to use my new bookmarks to make a shortcut through the Low Sec systems and return to my base to pick up the Astero I had sitting there. I refit it and flew it back.

So – now that I am done and ready to spend some time in Low Sec, I decided to jump to my Wormhole Clone and do the day tripping I had planned to do almost a week ago!

162..

I’m down to the second last Low Sec System that I want to bookmark in the immediate area I will operate out of. I’ve made 162 bookmarks so far, on each Gate, Belt and Station, plus some safe spots and undocks.

I’ve identified the three main Pirate groups, where they operate out of, and some of their tactics and neutral Alts. I have flagged some of the better known Pirate groups that hunt the area, such as Rixx Javix’s Stay Frosty. I’m also aware of the main explorers who operate across the area at the same times I am active.

The area is busier than I had expected – both with how active the pirates are, and the competition for sites. There have also been an amazing number of lower SP characters mining and ratting – which are common fodder on the Pirate Killboards.

I’ve allowed myself to be distracted at times and ran a few Data and Relic sites. The drops have been poor so far. I’ve also kept an eye out for wormholes to known space, and visited Impass earlier this week for the first time in my career. It wasn’t very inspiring.

165..

Nothing to see here

It took 11 days into my leave before I actually had a few hours to play EVE online. I settled on roaming WH space, but then mistakenly jumped to my Low Sec Clone instead.

Not what I had in mind, but never mind. I undocked from my Hi-Sec staging system and scanned down a Wormhole and a Drone combat site. I ran the later just to get back into the grove, including 3 escalations. The loot drop was minimal, but I was feeling ready to jump into Low Sec. Then the phone rang, and I unexpectedly had to go pick up my wife and daughter. Session over.

A couple hours later in the day I tried again – this time hoping into a Covert Ops and moving into a Low Sec area I had not started bookmarking yet. I had covered off the first gate when I heard my 4 year old daughter throwing a tantrum outside. A moment later she came into my study to inform me that Mum was naughty and that she never wanted to see her again. Then she proceeded to cry for 20 minutes. Session over.

A couple more hours pass and I manage to log in again. I bookmark a station and 4 belts. I also flagged a second corporation as Orange after noticing half a dozen of them were hunting around the system and gate camping.

At one point a Covert Ops fit Loki drops probes in the system. The now Orange pilots quickly ran to the belts and hung around innocently, hoping to be dropped on. When that didn’t work, one of them tried this..

[05:14:32] iamreallynotapirate > what are you scanning?
[05:14:46] iamreallynotapirate > us? We just want to do sites
[05:14:46] lokipilot > W/H’s
[05:14:53] iamreallynotapirate > ah
[05:15:08] iamreallynotapirate > we can go back to sites then?

At this stage they had shown the Loki all their pilots and ship types. (Ship types which would not be running sites in Low Sec.) If the Loki was indeed hunting them, he would have known what he was up against, and how much help he would need.
Around this time – while I was sitting cloaked slowly moving away from a Gate, I noticed a pilot named Rhavas, flying a Cynabal, move through the system. I presume it was none other than the blogger and story teller at http://interstellarprivateer.wordpress.com/. I gave a silent wave.

When I logged off at a safe to go pick up my Son from a friends place, I felt that I had at least managed to be half productive in game.

I had one more EVE session – although it was interrupted by another tantrum from my 4 year old, having to cook tea, and half a dozen other demands from family that saw me having to walk away from the game. I had moved into another system which seemed to be home to a congenial collection of -10’s camping gates and chasing pilots, while cheerfully waving and chatting in local. I wonder if the banter actually has people let their guard down, and make themselves easier targets?

What has surprised me most about my disjointed exploration today was the number of different pirate groups actively hunting in what is a relatively small and not particularly populous Low Sec pocket. When I do something in this particular area I am going to have to use scouts and be careful.

Wormholes and known space

I had the Stratios out again across a number of sessions running Hi-Sec exploration sites. Towards the end of my last session I ran Sansha Vigil – which triggered the True Power Shipyards escalation. I crisscrossed Hi-Sec until I was given the final site in Low Sec.

I grabbed my Pilgrim again – this time making the effort to fix up the fit. I ended up with a Mobile Deport and supplies to allow me to Scan, Rat, PVP, run lesser combat sites and escalations, and repair drones out in Low or Null Sec.

Before I set out to Low Sec I also had to set up a new cheap Jump Clone as my others were being used elsewhere.

Finally – after well over an hour of preparation I was ready to run the final site of the escalation. Now where was it – 8 jumps away and in… oh, that’s no good. I recognized the area and the stats confirmed my suspicions. It was very active and it would be highly unlikely I could get the site done without being scanned down.

All dressed up and with nowhere to go I remembered I had found a Wormhole to Null Sec earlier in the day. I decided to go check that out. I found myself all alone in a system in Tenerifis with SBU’s onlining. There were no sites to run, so I went through the belts to confirm the fit had no issue with ratting and killing Battleships. As a consolation price I earnt 15M ISK for not much work.

I returned to Empire and docked up for Downtime.

A little later I returned again via the same wormhole. The SBU’s had onlined but the system was still empty. (Aside a visitor from Empire who came via the same wormhole – who stayed for a minute in a Kestrel then left.) There were two new signatures, which the Pilgrim comfortably scanned down as a Data and a Relic site. I’ve never run these mini-game versions in Null Sec before, so I figured I would give them a shot.

It obviously required a lot more effort than in Empire, starting with setting up bookmark perches above each site so I could hide without it despawning, and warp out and back in to each container instead of slow boating. I managed to access all 9 cans across both sites – although failed on 5 of them the first time through. So that was 14 mini games. It requires a lot more thought and frankly – luck. On several occasions I found the system core but would have to go looking for utilities to be able to tackle it. Other times I just kept finding too many Restoration nodes or Virus Suppressors.

Given the hull does not have exploration bonuses, and I haven’t fit rigs to help in the mini game, I am pleased overall with how it all went.  I came away with 41M ISK in loot from the second visit to the system.

I have found that the wormholes to known space have really added interest to my game – from getting to trade hubs quicker, resupplying distant bases, doing a partial datacore run, making use of a cache of exploration sites, or visiting Low and Null sec areas I would never have got to see otherwise.  I like the randomness to them – how they can shape and totally change the direction of your EVE session. Even if you only spend a couple minutes on the other side and gape at the nebula before returning, I think they have really added something to the game.

Meanwhile I almost always ignore the ready access to wormhole space. I guess this comes down to being a solo player – but there are far less resource gathering options to be had. It would be interesting to have some lesser relic or data sites that don’t spawn sleepers. They don’t have to be particularly profitable, just something different enough to encourage more day tripping.  If not that – something else that isn’t worth the while of the locals, but feed them visitors from Empire.

Sick

Fortuitously for EVE, I’ve been sick this weekend. Instead of doing chores and errands, I’ve mostly just sat around feeling sad and sorry for myself; at my computer; with EVE running.

I finished off bookmarking the closest low sec pocket. I’ve covered 5 systems so far with 79 bookmarks.

The local POCO landlords seem to be active across all time zones, but tend to be at their most quiet when I am active. I see them roving around the pocket looking for targets. They are usually in Cruisers and Battlecruisers, with a Fraction Frigate or two sniffing about. They also often have a cloaking Hull (Stealth Bombers and T3) close by.

They have recruited a number of pilots recently. I’ve seen these newer players mining, running PI or ratting. I’ve had opportunities to hunt them if I wished, which I didn’t. It will be an avenue to explore if that Corp ends up griefing me too heavily.

Aside the POCO landlords, the population is fairly sparse. One of the systems appears to be used for staging capitals, or more likely given its location, as a Cyno chain midpoint. It does not look to be overly busy. Otherwise there are a few Explorers, an Industrialist or two, and a handful of Pirates (who often have to sidestep and dice with the landlords).

The last system I bookmarked had a string of reinforced POCO. The timings were fairly close together, suggesting a large group attacking them, or the use of Capitals. I’ll have to check back in a few days to see what Corporation replaced them. I am presuming the local landlords.

It looks like I should be able to get some stuff done in that pocket, although I am going to be interrupted lots.

I then mined for a little while, before scanning down the three signatures in the home system.

I ran a Data site for 2.6M ISK worth of loot.

I ran a Relic site for 6.7M ISK worth of loot.

I found a Wormhole to another Hi-Sec system just 5 jumps from Jita.

I grabbed the Orca and set out to fill in some of the gaps in my hanger. I grabbed some modules and supplies that I had listed down as needing. I setup two Ventures for use in Low-Sec. I set up a Hi-Sec scanning Buzzard, and an alternative PVE Assault Frigate (Ishkur). I also grabbed two hulls for ratting in Low Sec, an Arbitrator and a Pilgrim. (I noticed several of the special tag rats during my bookmarking. It might be worth shooting those when I get the chance.)

I then returned via the Wormhole – saving myself more than 30 jumps on that round trip.

I ran an Anomaly that had subsequently turned up on my overview in the Ishkur. A fun little ship that I might use for the basic stuff, and leave the better tanked Hawk for the minor DED sites. That earnt me a couple more Mil. My loot container is currently worth around 17M ISK.  Small change, but it should add up over time.

Finally I returned to Jita via the Wormhole to fit up my second Stealth Bomber. The first is an anti-exploration fit, the second is more for support with Damps.

While moving gear I noticed half a dozen pilots from another one of the Alliances common to the area coming into my home system. They had a couple Corp freighters out and a Falcon. I wonder what they were up to? I’ll probably never know. At least the pilots in the area seem to generally be active.

Bring a Nemesis home from Jita. A great looking ship.

Redefining Backwater

I’ve made a list of 33 little things to do in regard the Rubicon expansion. That should keep me busy for a while.

I’m still nowhere near fully setup for my Low Sec excursion, but am slowly progressing. I thought Derelik was painful to live in, but Genesis seems an even more distant backwater (at least from the side I am living in).

I have got my Empire Exploration PVE Frigate and Cruiser set up, as well as several Mining Vessels. I earnt my first ISK in the region – just small change, but ran through some belts, found my first Dark Blood (which dropped nothing), ran a Combat site, and even mined in a Venture.

I’ve also stepped into Low Sec, and started the mammoth task of making bookmarks over every gate, station and belt, plus safes and undocks. This is a very laborious task, particularly as I am often cloaked. It will pay off down the track – plus is giving me useful intel on the locals and their movements.

The Corporation I flagged when I first arrived is very active, owning many of the Low Sec POCO and constantly flying around, including sitting cloaked off gates and converging together for targets. I am not going to get any solo PVP out of them.

I’ve covered 3 systems with 45 odd bookmarks so far.

Thrown Spanners

The last few weeks have been extra busy with travel, social events, and the previously mentioned tantrum throwing four year old. On top of that both my wife and I have had some turbulence on the job front. I got some extra job security and more work when the other person in my team with a similar skillset was retrenched. My wife got 72 hours of work a week allocated to her for the next 9 months. She point out to her manager that she does 32 hours a week, and that he would need to move some of her tasks. He did, but he was furious that she did not just do the work. It has left us reviewing the longevity of our careers, and thinking about what lifestyle would actually make us happiest. In the meanwhile we both have even less free time.

I expect my Trade and PI endeavours will be undergoing a hiatus. I will update things sporadically, but there will be no real focus on them. I will put my mini mission running resurgence on hold. I don’t plan on having any goals in that area. I will continue my Wormhole exploration, but finding a few hours of uninterrupted spare time won’t be easy. For the most part I just plan to focus on exploration and my Low Sec adventures – the process will just be slower.

I want to thank the comments on my last post about Blood Raiders, and in particular the EVE-Mail I received from a player with valuable insight to the Genesis Low Sec areas. Very much appreciated. It seems that NPC neuting is handled by keeping range and having a buffer fit tank with a single repper. It doesn’t matter much what you use in Hi-Sec.

Funny enough I already had prepared a rather expensively fit passively tanked Hawk for use in the Empire Blood Raiders PVE. It seems somewhat pointless now, but I’ll give it a spin anyway.

It took 4 days of sporadic sessions, but I made it back to my current Genesis base of operations with my first load of fittings, including some mining ships. I’m now sitting in Jita setting up some extra hulls.

Bookmarking station undocks

Starting my Low Sec Exploration in High Sec

My EVE time has been less than optimal these last few weeks. After six months of respite our 4 year old Daughter has returned to the worst of her tantrum throwing ways. She has been an obnoxious, self-destructive horror, and there has been very little downtime left after constantly dealing with her.

Today I had a few quiet hours to myself, so decided to use it in EVE to further my goal of making a Low-Sec Base for myself. I am starting that process in Hi-Sec.

The system I have chosen to stage my Orca and main supplies from has immediate access to two small Low-Sec pockets. Nearby are two further and much larger Low-Sec areas that have links into more space in different regions. That should give me enough scope.

I moved a Jump Clone for my Main Alt here the other day, along with a Bling fit Falcon. Today I moved in a Jump Clone for my Main. I have been trying (and failing) to come up with some fitted ships for this endeavor, so the Orca I docked in was mostly empty. Not ideal, but I wasn’t sure when I would next have the opportunity to move it, and after Rubicon the process would take much longer.

Ready to undock

While here I started out by bookmarking scout positions over each gate, asteroid belt and station. I also watched the locals, which so far have been a handful of Carebear types coming and going, and one active looking PVP Corporation with plenty of kills in the nearby Low Sec systems. I flagged them as -5, as it is apparent they hunt any targets of opportunity.

Glad that fit did not appear on a killboard

I ran the last stage of an escalation in Low Sec today, earning around 60M for the effort and risk. I used a quickly thrown together and somewhat strangely fit Pilgrim, but it managed to have both the required tank and DPS to get the job done.

(I don’t ever recall fitting two Large Capacitor Batteries to a ship before..)

I generally ignore the Escalations into Low Sec. It might seem strange to someone who lives there, but it is annoying to have to jump into a cheaper clone, and historically the drops have not been commensurate for the risk or effort. This time however I figured if I plan on spending some of my life in Low Sec, I need to start familiarising myself with the process again.

The various zones of EVE all have very different idiosyncrasies, but I think you have to pay particular attention to this in Low Sec. Faction Warfare space is different to the target rich Choke points and mission hubs that attract Pirates which is different to the Capital staging systems which is different to the quiet backwaters.

I’m hoping I’ve picked one of the quiet backwaters.