Ships & Modules

Welcome to the game Stella,

Having a prop module (MWD, MJD and/or AB) is a bit of habit with most pilots. Almost all ships, well over 90%, have a prop module so that sort of thinking just trickles down to other hulls that might not necessarily need them. For blockade runners you never use the prop mod when going from gate to gate. With deep space transports you might actually use one (look up "MWD cloak trick").

The times that a blockade runner needs a prop mod is when landing on a station for dock and there might be a few thousand meters away from docking range. Some station models in game have weird 'hitboxes' around them so this does happen. It is extremely bad when a sniping Tornado just happens to be there. In this situation you can try to uncloak and dock with AB or MWD (if you are feeling ballsy about the sig bloom). If you have the proper docking bookmarks set up, you will not need a prop mod while operating in lowsec.

Still, pilots like options...and that is exactly what a MWD is. On the random chance you do get tackled by a ship that only has an AB, then the MWD will allow you to escape. I personally think this chance is extremely low in occurrence but I am sure it has happened before.

Most blockade runners are fitted with Nanos and/or iStabs (even warp stabs). Your cloak is your defense, so most don't really bother with it since a large weapon fitting BC can alpha kill you in one shot regardless of defense mods.

the best way to get through a gate camp is still to cloak....

1. Question was about Lowsec, not Null. I think it is pretty obvious even for new people that a MWD or at the very least an AB is required operating in Null due to bubbles.

2. Jumping into a new system in Lowsec and actually being within 2km of potentially hostile ship is such a rare event it's not even worth mentioning since any gate camp you run into will not be 15km from the gate. Lowsec gate camps are on top of the gate so they have the option of using the gate if a large roam comes in (you would be surprised how many 'pirate' gate camps have no scouts around). Any sniper camp will not be 15km from gate either for obvious reasons. Even then you have a full 60 seconds of immunity cloak to assess the situation.

I think statistically speaking you are correct that the word "Never" should have not been used, but in all my time of using BR Transports I can't think of the last time a prop mod saved me from ship destruction. The only time it would be used is during the inevitable "Welp" move and you miss your cloak or some external factor makes you commit a serious mistake...which happens.

Never say never. Sure. This axiom can be applied to many things...such as a rookie ship killing a battle cruiser, doesn't mean it's terribly useful.

Interesting that the cargo isn't scanable. At work the security guys always say that the best anti-theft device for a car is to make sure that you clearly display there's nothing of value in it and that it will be difficult to steal (i.e. steering lock). What's true IRL is also true in EVE :)

It may have been Hier or Sadana. It has been a long time since I ran that pipe.

Yea my recent loot run I flew fine through FW lowsec, passing through Tama without incident, only to land next to concord like 2 jumps out from Jita. Got targeted as I warped away, since I wasn't able to cloak (caught me off guard). I was just waiting for the explosion but luckily it didnt happen (Had 3bil of sleeper loot in cargo at the time).

The align time is not your biggest concern, it's hitting F1 for the cloak in time. Also you better hope someone isn't sitting with 2400m of where you uncloak from the gate. There are no bubbles in low sec & you can;t dock at stations in player controlled sov.

Yes, the mass change from prop mods is only when active. It forces ships that are flying faster than normal due to a MWD or AB to make wider turns rather than turning on a dime at high speed.