One Ship To Rule Them All

In a game defined largely by material assets such as ships, at least on the surface, there are often ships that stand out amongst others. For me, it was the Nighthawk. While on the one hand a lot of us are here in the AU-F because we enjoy meeting new and interesting people who we can enjoy the online entertainment industry with, we all maintain a secret guilty pleasure; our precioussssss ships. Everyone loves some good booty... er, I should say loot, and there are quite a few ways we all indulge ourselves whether it be Varian's drooling obsession with T3, Kuroda's abhorrent desire to fit everything with faction modules, or my own sick passion for collecting frozen corpses.


Summer of '08

Having never really experienced real PvP I found myself in an L4 last summer, with a few friends, scowling at a Heron that had warped into our mission, flipped our loot, and was blinking menacingly. Our friend Troy, who was hotheaded enough already, decided that he could not stand for this, and began firing on the frigate. Caught up in the heat of the moment I too assigned my drones to attack in attempt to eradicate this pest from the mission pocket.

Of course, the more experienced of you will realize, this was our first mistake. No sooner had we begun firing on the Heron, than it warped out, and a gang of T2 ships warped into the pocket on top of us, all blinking, locking us down with all the rage and fury of a Viking invasion. Here I was, fresh into a Hyperion that I had spent my last dime on a week earlier, being target locked by you guessed it, a Nighthawk. Oh the humanity! Missile after missile pounded my armor from what seemed like a million kilometers away, which was in reality maybe 50km. My armor, melting before my eyes, my ship worth more than the family jewels, pelted by death from afar, sent me trembling towards my warp button, as I headed for the nearest station. As I begin to align for warp I fired a few rounds off at him with my rail guns. The rounds hit, but there was not a scratch, he was totally unfazed. I was outclassed in every way. It was time to get out of Dodge. Much to my dismay, shortly after escaping certain doom, one of our pilots in a Harbinger was scrambled and made into little tiny pieces of space debris.

Even though everyone else managed to make it to safety somehow, the lesson had been taught. Nothing is ever as it seems in the dangerous world of EVE Online, and the dark seedy underbelly you find in most major cities in real life, is just a warp away in this MMO.

Having made a lasting impression on me, this Nighthawk pilot in fact did me a favor. Now I had witnessed just how devastating a substantial ship divide can be for a newer, inexperienced, or unprepared player. This Nighthawk, was the epitome of prowess and danger to me now, forming my outlook and sense of the game for months down the road.





Back to the present...

So ok, sure, everyone has had this kind of experience at one point in this game. It is the new player experience. It is no different than when we logged onto Warcraft for the first few weeks and see people in raiding purples, nor when undocking in a rookie ship after a few days of playing the game and suddenly find ourselves straddling a Freighter or Tier 3 battleship which seems to go on forever into space compared to our seemingly tiny gnat of a ship.

Now that I have the Nighthawk, have battle tested it in a real PvE scenario, and am preparing to usher it into PvP in the next few days, what are my impressions of how far I have come since last summer, and whether the long wait was worth it? After all, it took me nearly ten months of training to get to the point where I was ready to train to a ship that costs 250,000,000.00 ISK just to purchase let alone fit and rig.

Well, I am here to say, it was worth every second. Not only is this ship fun to pilot, but it gives you a sense that, well, your time in game has produced tangible results beyond the social aspect that keeps you coming back. Sure, I warn everyone to avoid acquiring more and more ships just for the sake of acquiring them, but given a positive outlook on the game that focuses on building relationships with other players online, I can indulge guilt free in such things as a shiny new 400,000,000.00 ISK Command Ship that I will gingerly take onto roaming gangs while I get a feel for its capabilities.

What does this say for the young character in the game, still focusing on leveling off those core skills, those battlecruisers, those first few T2 ships, and whatnot? Well, it says, hang in there! This game is about patience, not luck. When you set to train something, you wait, you do not hope. It will come! Those 45 day training regimens you ponder endlessly while staring at EVEMon and just wishing you could, "Fly that T2 ship already!", are worth every second. Because it happens, eventually, given time. No competing with people for drops, no worrying that everyone else will see your prized item drop whenever you are not present in the raid, no frustration when you accidentally spend too much DKP and you cannot even enter the running for it the one time it does drop, none of that.

We have quite a few former Warcraft raiders in this corporation, and I think they can all attest to the fact that in EVE everything comes with patience, which is such a wild change from relying so heavily on luck and perseverance.

In EVE, if you want it, you can have it. And I got it. My preciousssssss.







*Note: If you are interested in how I fit the Nighthawk for missions presently here is the build that I use. In the future, I am going to use a T2 Large Shield Transporter on Mithos which will allow me to boost the Nighthawk's DPS while maintaing a more than sufficient tank for any and all mission types.

Null - What You May Not Know

Here is an older post I found laying around that is good source material for newer pilots who still feel very uncomfortable in low or null security when the veterans leave them to their own devices, so to speak.



Heh. Before I go posting a huge How To Be Self-Sufficient In Low And Null in the next few days I thought I'd do a little... tooting of my horn, all in good fun though, with a real purpose in mind, as I do not really care about my records except for hauling. Take a look at this page and tell me if you notice something. Hell, tournament and PvE related losses aside, I have quite a nice record, no? What's that, 4.67:1 kill/loss ratio? So ok, how do I do it, huddle in stations half the time? Well, low and null are not as burninatingly dangerous as you might first believe, or have a mindset revolving around such a concept. You just have to feel the air so to speak, and know when your environment is giving you a green light for certain activities and when there is a sometimes obvious sometimes not so obvious red light going off.

Yes, I am a scout on Mendolus, and yes I spend a lot of my time in a covert hauler, but TBH I spend quite a bit of time in my blockade runner as well, or ratting in various BCs and BSs, or traveling up and down the pipe or area with Mithos in a Geddon, but I have few losses. And I have been out in the Domain/Providence area for eight months now. Careful planning, frequent experience with Citadel and the way it operates, astute use of the starmap statistics options, or a forward scout, or a covert ship, and a good understanding of low sec game mechanics, will pretty much guarantee that you squeeze through a low sec pipe. Only once in a blue moon will you be caught in a situation where you have even a greater than minimal chance of getting snagged not to mention where it concerns moving ships of cruiser or greater size. It all sounds easy on paper though, you're thinking right?

Ok, well look at how many times I have lost a ship coming through the Yong or Kheram pipes. Ah, zero. Interesting eh? Hell I used to take Maduin down the Yong pipe in a Bestower to supply the troops when we had a no-fly in Empire during the merc wars last December while he was not in the corporation, and still did not lose a haul. K, enough with the tootin', let's get down to the real math and aesthetics of it.

I know quite a few of you have lost ships heading down the pipes, while ratting, while doing just a normal routine in low and null security, nothing to do with PvP, so what's the trick? This is not gonna make sense at first, but after having spent eight months in Providence now, I can feel the temperature on any given night, and give you a good prediction of what's a good idea or not. For instance, let's say Lachrymal is floating in Providence, I can tell you that you are not going to want to rat while he's within twelve jumps of you, seriously, don't bother. Let's say, there's a bunch of neuts that I have never seen before coming in and out of the area in H9-->7Y and they show fine on the checker but they are flying ships that don't rat easy, again, might as well dock up and see what shakes loose while you wait.

Little things, too numerous to count, such as the examples I listed, let me live a relatively comfortable life in low and null. Hell some nights I float around in my Occator through systems that have either ongoing or impending engagements between reds and blues, because I know when my chances are better than my risks. I even got caught in my Occator heading down the pipe with the Misaba tower, and other misc. items totaling +400mil when three neuts tried to bump me off a gate so they could pop me, but I planned ahead, I had a gang of scouts in combat ships, and I took action based on their advice and my experience (sic), and was never safer, even when engaged by hostile neuts.

It is all about numbers and aesthetics in some sense, and having a good feel for what wager or bet you are making on one calculated risk or not, will mean that when you do get caught with your pants down it would have to be one hell of a random occurrence (such as three seemingly nonchalant neuts in cruisers passing up the Kheram pipe looking for haulers just within the two or three minutes I decided to go down the pipe myself). I planned for that possibility, and it actually occurred, and I made it out Scot free. As a starting pilot, an older pilot who is just now feeling the pull towards low and null living after having gone on a couple of gangs and struck it rich with the veteran ratters, or just anyone who has recently become interested in the real game of EVE where stuff actually happens, I implore you to take note of the subtle nuances out in space.

The only people who police low and null security are its residents, so learn to read their temperature, know when response times are good, know when systems that may even have reds are locked down and safe as if they were not even there, know when certain reds have been AFK for hours, know when certain neutrals are questionable, etc. I can tell you that the main reason I see for people losing ships has to do with locale and inexperience. And a lot of these people losing ships would survive better and get their bearings faster if they were in a different location. Lots of people feel more comfortable in low security space, as you think to yourselves, well there are sentry guns on stargates and towers, that will ward off the smaller ships, and as long as I am careful mining and ratting, I will be able to make it out.

The problem is frequency, misconception, and a reluctance towards the unknown. Low security is a comfort zone, only a few jumps from the safety of Empire, it does not feel quite like the cold depths of 0.0 space yet, where bubbles, capital ships, huge alliances, and engagements occur, and there are usually tons of people actually friendly to you floating around at all times within a handful of jumps. However, let's be honest, low security is the trash heap of the game where every cutthroat with a few ISK to spare hops in a ship and sees if he can snag some poor ratter or miner sitting at a belt fit with nothing but PvE gear and pretty much helpless to defend themselves.

For the same exact reason a lot of people seem to prefer low security space, those same reasons are why you find more pirates, more danger, and more frequent PvP encounters. Half the pirates that come into the low sec area bordering Providence will not jump past Misaba. That should tell you something right away.

Low security is great for a few things, it is great for its ready access to Empire space, it is great for its missions of which L4s have incredible payouts and quality, it is absolutely amazing for a starting corporation to place research, production, or starter POSs, and you can rent corporate offices there to facilitate operations. Plus it is a lot easier to get a rookie or carebear to come down to low security where they do not feel like they are miles away from safety and can run for the hills at a moment's notice if trouble arrives, so to speak.

What is the problem with this? The problem is that null security is actually a better training ground for newer pilots than low security. I implore anyone who presently thinks low security in Domain is safer than Providence to come out and live for a week or two even in a cruiser, in Providence. I guarantee you that as long as you remain on your toes, that you will have FAR less potential encounters with reds, depending on your location of course, but also depending on the comfort factor. How long do you think it takes a pirate gang of a handful of ships to zip down a low sec pipe, pick off a couple juicy ratters or miners, and safe up before anyone realizes what happened? Not very long. How much warning do you think you will have when this occurs on a slow night when there are few blues or neutrals to report this hostile gang coming down from Empire which is only two or three jumps from you? Very little. On the other hand how long do you think it would take a gang of a few reds to travel from Empire to H9-J8N which is a total of some 12 jumps? How long do you think your warning would be that they were coming in your direction as they move from one system to the next every minute or two and Citadel dings off updates on their locations as they proceed? It takes them a long while, and you almost always have more than plenty warning.

So I implore, anyone who feels like low security is the best place to get their feet wet to turn that sentiment on its head, and do what probably sounds like the most counter intuitive thing they could do, treat null security as if it were the safer place to get your feet wet, because it is. I skipped low security when I first dinged Cov Ops frigate, and went straight to Syndicate 0.0 to see what it was all about and learn how to survive in a harsh but relatively barren environment. This probably all sounds like cloak and daggers, smoke and mirrors, or a dog and pony show at the moment, but trust me, in time you too will know what it is like to zip through low and null and have a high comfort level, and also totally accept and acknowledge the risks and rewards you encounter on a daily basis. After all, that ship is only a pixel on the screen, and as long as you are having fun, and you can replace that ship if it is lost, do not be afraid to take calculated risks! You cannot take it with you when you log off the game, after all.


*Addendum: After further inspection, I have remembered that I in fact DID lose a ship traveling through the pipes, loooooong ago, on Mithos when I first started training him for battleships. I made a rookie mistake, by assuming that since Citadel seemed relatively quiet, that I could just shoot down the pipe without checking the starmap or scouting ahead and instead took a slow, cumbersome, hulking battleship with no warpstabs fit. I got poned. I will edit this post later with the link to the loss on the KBs as I do not think the KBs actually auto-loaded it because it so old. Citadel is a tool like any other, and it is not always right for every job, though you may be able to use it to knock some stuff loose, for some jobs you need that box wrench laying in the bottom of your toolbox as well, so to speak.

Cloaking - Art, Form, Function

If anyone has ever wondered about the basic requirements, art, and form of ships that use covert cloaks, I covered it with a friend recently, as noted below in the chat log:



Member: Thinking about working up to the really nice cloak
Mendolus: yea, it doesn't really take long in some ways, but the skills to fly the ships that use them do, you can use a [covert] cloak with just Cloaking IV, but to fly a Cov Ops you need Electronics Upgrades V (10-12 days) and Racial Frigate V (9-10 days)
Mendolus: but they're super sexy ships, I live by my cloaking ships 75% of the time
Mendolus: You'll also wanna train Warp Drive Operation IV, Evasive Maneuvering IV, Navigation IV, and if you are feeling really bold and you wanna make a scout ship that will really earn every ISK, you can train a few levels into Advanced Spaceship Command for the added agility (even I haven't done this yet and I'm a scout on Mendolus)
Mendolus: the reason I say Warp Drive Operation IV is because the Amarr Covert Ops ship is like the Caldari one, it has a stupid high capacitor requirement to initiate warps, and in large systems with a distance of 75 AU from gate to gate, or even just traveling as a scout for a fleet or if you are running from pursuers, the last thing you wanna have happen is you run out of cap charge, lol
Mendolus: if you train Warp Drive IV you should never have probs tho
Member: yeah, I can see that as being bad
Mendolus: er I meant up above you can use a Cov Ops cloak with just Cloaking IV :D
Mendolus: Proofread fail!
Mendolus: 8-}
Member: takes way to much CPU looks like
Member: wanted to fit that on my BC
Mendolus: Nah, that's the thing, the ships that can use the Cov Ops Cloaking device have a ship bonus to those devices
Mendolus: Covert Ops Skill Bonus: -98% to -100% reduction in Cloaking Device CPU use per level
Member: zomg
Mendolus: I thoroughly enjoy all things cloaky, but as a PvP cloaker, you're always literally on the verge of death at any moment, BUT the chances of that death are stupid slim compared to regular combat pilots, however regular combat pilots have a high survival chance overall in combat situations because they have defensive/offensive systems ya know?
Member: Yeah
Member: if a scout gets caught then that's it
Mendolus: Now, Force Recons like the Falcon who can warp cloaked have defensive systems as well, but if you get caught by more than 2-3 people, those systems won't matter.
Mendolus: yea, so like in a Cov Ops frigate you may only have a 1% chance of being caught a majority of the time you fly, but that 1% is death whereas a regular combat pilot may have a 50% chance of being locked as a primary target by a hostile fleet and then some variable chance of dying depending on the encounter, etc.
Mendolus: I really enjoy being a scout, it's an adrenaline rush, and you play a pivotal role in a fleet that others shirk off because they would rather be listed on killmails than play a role in the fleet that makes or breaks the fleet's survival, which is a lot of responsibility
Mendolus: Plus being a scout means you're on your own almost the entire time the fleet is active, and if you get caught, no one is going to come to your rescue.
Mendolus: Even if they tried, you'll be dead before they can even jump through to your side and begin firing on hostiles.
Mendolus: But that's what makes it exciting, gotta go all balls deep as a scout and if you are good at it, you are always relied on.
Mendolus: The alliance is always looking for new scouts, and it'd give you the opportunity to observe regular PvP while not risking ships all the time as well.
Mendolus: :)
Mendolus: Altho, a probing rigged Cov Ops is generally around 50,000,000.00 ISK with ship, riggings, and fittings.
Mendolus: I have had the same Helios since last August, however.
Mendolus: B-)

*Note: The downside to having low Warp Drive operation and running out of cap is not as obvious as it seems. The reason it is bad to run out of capacitor as a scout is that you get stuck in a system while your pursuers are able to setup shop so to speak and create a gauntlet at the next gate for you to try and bust through.

No matter if you have zero capacitor charge or not, your ship will initiate a warp, even if it only jumps a few hundred thousand kilometers towards the intended destination. So it is not like you are going to have no capacitor and be unable to escape the current grid that your ship is on. This is a very important bit of information that is not readily available nor obvious. Who would assume that a ship with no capacitor can still warp, or limp for that matter?

Other skills I forgot to mention that are sometimes necessary, or come highly recommended:

Electronics V
Covert Ops IV
Astrometrics IV
Astrometric Acquisition IV
Astrometric Pinpointing IV
Astrometric Triangulation IV
Cynosural Field Theory I