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How do you survive low/null sec playing solo

Author
Quiick Jones
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#1 - 2015-04-25 23:13:53 UTC
I like the idea of going out to low and null sec to harvest gas and ore. The danger is kind of appealing. But I've been getting my head handed to me quite a bit lately. I've lost a number of ships since I started playing and each one was a learning experience that me better at playing this game. However, I had to replace 2 Prospects in the last 2 days (not that I'm complaining) and I didn't learn a damn thing. I've been playing for 4 months so this is getting expensive.

I know about looking for ships and pods destroyed in the last hour and cynosural fields. Once I've set up a safe spot I don't have too much trouble avoiding trouble. If you pick up combat probes on d-scan it's time to pack up and move on. The problem is they put cyno fields in strategic locations and it's about impossible to get to where I want to go.

I'm going to have to learn how to deal with those things and gate campers. Does anyone have any words of wisdom about doing that? Or can you point me toward information on the internet?

Thanks,
Ron Jonsohn
VEN0M0US.
Out of the Blue.
#2 - 2015-04-25 23:24:22 UTC  |  Edited by: Ron Jonsohn
Quiick Jones wrote:
The problem is they put cyno fields in strategic locations


Are you confusing cynos with something else? Cynos are the beacons that allow titans to bridge fleets, or capitals to use their jump drive to move systems.

As for advice, if you're not already doing this, bounce. Don't warp directly from gate to gate, you'll get caught in a bubble. Warp to a planet close to the gate, d-scan the gate on a <15 degree scan, see if there's anything nasty. If there is, you still won't be able to go through the gate without the risk of being shot up, but at least you're saved the cost of losing your ship.
Quiick Jones
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#3 - 2015-04-25 23:43:40 UTC
Yeah, I guess I didn't know what cynos were. I Meant those bubbles that you can't warp out of.

The bouncing thing sounds like a good idea. I'll try it, thanks.

Also, I don't suppose there's a way to increase the "warp to within100 km" to something like 200 km?

And is it possible to occasionally come at the gate from a completely different direction. Does that ever work?

I think, maybe I should sacrifice some shuttles and try different stuff.

Thanks for the response.
Jonah Gravenstein
Machiavellian Space Bastards
#4 - 2015-04-25 23:48:45 UTC  |  Edited by: Jonah Gravenstein
Quiick Jones wrote:
The problem is they put cyno fields bubbles in strategic locations
You may find these links useful.

Eve Uni on gatecamps and bubbles
Goonfleet wiki on gatecamps and bubbles
Eve Altruist on bubble avoidance

In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded.

New Player FAQ

Feyd's Survival Pack

Ron Jonsohn
VEN0M0US.
Out of the Blue.
#5 - 2015-04-25 23:59:53 UTC  |  Edited by: Ron Jonsohn
Quiick Jones wrote:
Yeah, I guess I didn't know what cynos were. I Meant those bubbles that you can't warp out of.

The bouncing thing sounds like a good idea. I'll try it, thanks.

Also, I don't suppose there's a way to increase the "warp to within 100 km" to something like 200 km?

And is it possible to occasionally come at the gate from a completely different direction. Does that ever work?

I think, maybe I should sacrifice some shuttles and try different stuff.

Thanks for the response.


- Thought so.

- Nope.

- Only if there is a celestial you can get to the gate from (or you're using pings)

- Use frigs with mwd's, set up pings in advance, usually they're about 150-200km in any direction from a gate, and it gives you a better idea of where things are on the gate, where the bubble is etc.

Also are you using a covops cloak on the Prospect? Bit of a waste if you aren't.
Ralph King-Griffin
New Eden Tech Support
#6 - 2015-04-26 00:07:27 UTC
best way is to be blue (mates) with the lads who control the system.
if they like you they likely wouldn't hunt you *

so for instance if there's lowsec a system you would like to loiter in,
have a couple of scraps with the locals**,
be a sport about it when they beat the ever living daylights out of you and get chatting with them in local.

before long you may find yourself with friends (or even a corp to call home).

*assuming they aren't infact giant knobs

**caution, you may in fact find that shooting people in the face is in fact outragiously entertaining and forsake the ways of the carebear forever
Quiick Jones
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#7 - 2015-04-26 00:26:27 UTC
Yeah, I have a covert ops cloaking device II. And I'm trying to make my ship as nimble as possible.

When you say pings are you talking about setting up bookmarks ahead of time? I was just reading about that. (Thanks Jonah. That's a big help and it's giving me something to do besides cry about lost ISK Blink. I'll get a ship that's cheap and kind of fast.

Being blue with gate campers and shooting people in the face. I'll have to think about that for awhile. For now it might be more fun to learn how to skate past those guys and wave goodbye.

Thanks for all the help. A lot of good information here.
Lost Greybeard
Drunken Yordles
#8 - 2015-04-26 00:37:09 UTC
Quiick Jones wrote:
Also, I don't suppose there's a way to increase the "warp to within100 km" to something like 200 km?

And is it possible to occasionally come at the gate from a completely different direction. Does that ever work?


Bookmarks are the answers to both of these questions. Set bookmarks off of the gates in a direction that's not colinear with any of the major celestials, and you can land however far from the gate you want in whatever direction you want with no real danger of getting pulled into a bubble in the process.

If you're really paranoid, you can set your near-gate path marks so far out that you're off grid entirely and have to d-scan in the gate direction instead of actually looking for red crosses. 1000+ km pretty much guarantees a different grid.
ergherhdfgh
Imperial Academy
Amarr Empire
#9 - 2015-04-26 02:05:02 UTC
There are a lot of tricks to getting around low null sec I can name a few that I can think of off the top of my head but I'm not aware of any one location with loads of information aside from say google or youtube.

So the key to staying alive in any space but especially null sec is familiarity. Knowing the space and the locals is your best bet. If you are moving to new space all the time things will be rough. So some of the things you can do to get familiar are set up tactical bookmarks. Those would be book marks near gate that you can warp to and not get caught in bubbles but be able to see what is on grid.

Also there is a lot of skill in using covert ops cloaks properly so you can do some searching on both how to properly use a covert ops cloak to slip past a gate camp and how to camp a gate and catch covert ops cloak users. Even if you don't plan on camping a gate just knowing what other people will be doing to catch you can be helpful.

Interceptors are good for traveling in null since they are bubble free. If you are in NPC null or sov null that you can dock in then set up various stations with what you need and use ceptors to travel from system to system.

Another trick that you can use in some cases is to initiate warp to somewhere like say a gate for example and then cancel warp. That will deplete part of your capacitor so you keep doing that to use up your cap until you see the message about not having enough cap to warp to the destination. So then you finally let the warp go through and once in warp cancel warp which will stop you from auto re-warping once you land. This should get you within D scan range of the gate and give you the ability to D scan for warp bubbles or gate campers while in a semi safe spot.

You could also try joining a sov holding corp so you have blue space to roam around or go to NRDS space which for now I believe is only Provi but those Pheobe Freeport Republic guys might be NRDS also, I'm not sure on that. Either way get familiar with the local residents and you'll know who is who and how they operate and who you need to worry about and who is just patrolling system to see who's around etc... Knowing the locals is a big part of operating in null without loosing too many ships.

Another thing that you could do is scope out a whole bunch of wormholes and find a deep wormhole inside of a wormhole where it doesn't seem like anyone is and try and suck gas in peace. You'll still loose ships that way but if you do it right you will make way more isk than you loose.

Want to talk? Join Cara's channel in game: House Forelli

Tipa Riot
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#10 - 2015-04-26 07:58:22 UTC
You may also considering to ship down to a Venture with an MWD for some time until you get used to travel in less security space. Ventures are "throw-away" cheap and give you some nice margin for error due to the inbuilt warp core stabs.

I'm my own NPC alt.

13kr1d1
Hedion University
Amarr Empire
#11 - 2015-04-26 08:04:26 UTC
Fun factor? Better than afk mining highsec.

Rewards? Half the income because of wasted time safespotting until people leave, hauling farther to a trade hub, and then ship losses if you get blown up.

Its really CCPs fault.

Don't kid yourselves. Even the dirtiest pirates from the birth of EVE have been carebears. They use alts to bring them goods at cheap prices and safely, rather than live with consequences of their in game actions on their main, from concord to prices

Tipa Riot
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#12 - 2015-04-26 09:01:47 UTC
13kr1d1 wrote:

Its really CCPs fault.

No, it isn't. It's a matter of attitude.

I'm my own NPC alt.

Cherri Minoa
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#13 - 2015-04-26 10:03:24 UTC
Remember that some areas of Null are NRDS (Not Red Don't Shoot) and as long as you don't annoy the local SOV owners you can use their systems for PvE. Of course, other visitors may still be a hazard, but it will be safer than NBSI Null, and you will have somewhere you can dock up.

Providence is one such NRDS area ... although at the moment just watch out for NC. dropping Titans on anything bigger than a Venture.

"If I had been censured every time I have run my ship, or fleets under my command, into great danger, I should have long ago been out of the Service" - Horatio Nelson

Tipa Riot
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#14 - 2015-04-26 10:40:56 UTC
Cherri Minoa wrote:
Remember that some areas of Null are NRDS (Not Red Don't Shoot) and as long as you don't annoy the local SOV owners you can use their systems for PvE. Of course, other visitors may still be a hazard, but it will be safer than NBSI Null, and you will have somewhere you can dock up.

Providence is one such NRDS area ... although at the moment just watch out for NC. dropping Titans on anything bigger than a Venture.

Remember also that Providence is New Eden's pirate's heaven and one of the most active PvP areas in the game. Blink

I'm my own NPC alt.

Tsukino Stareine
Garoun Investment Bank
Gallente Federation
#15 - 2015-04-26 11:19:13 UTC
How exactly are you being caught? Even if you're in a bubble you can still be cloaked and fly away until you're out.

The biggest danger is if people have dropped stuff in the bubble to decloak you but that doesn't happen often as they would need to have known exactly which direction you're warping from which means you've been located in space.

As for dying in low, that baffles me even more. You know you can warp while cloaked right?
Tipa Riot
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#16 - 2015-04-26 11:37:05 UTC
The loss in low looks like a smartbomb battleship on outgoing gate, if this is the case the cloak won't help, ping spots will. To properly warp cloaked in low, you hit warp and 500ms later you hit cloak. You need to pay attention only to the message on screen, if there is any about your cloak didn't activate hit cloak again once, else don't touch anything, the cloak will activate even the visual is not there immediately. Needs a bit of practice. The problem is, if you accidentally clicking the cloak twice it deactivates and you are toast. Also you have up to 1min time of gate cloak to assess the situation and calm down after a jump, use this time.

I'm my own NPC alt.

Tipa Riot
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#17 - 2015-04-26 11:49:49 UTC
Another tip for cloakies:

When traveling cloaked by gates, deactivate your cloak a couple of seconds before you land on gate. This has two important advantages, first you start your re-cloak timer early, so you can warp cloaked sooner on the other side and second you avoid getting stuck on the outgoing gate because of decloak glitch something. I had it several times when clicking jump and was cloaked, I didn't jump immediately after warp, but decloak, slowboated a couple of seconds and finally jumped.

I'm my own NPC alt.

ergherhdfgh
Imperial Academy
Amarr Empire
#18 - 2015-04-26 13:07:47 UTC
13kr1d1 wrote:
Fun factor? Better than afk mining highsec.

Rewards? Half the income because of wasted time safespotting until people leave, hauling farther to a trade hub, and then ship losses if you get blown up.

Its really CCPs fault.

CCP intends for there to be advantages to holding sov. Also this is an MMO if you are playing solo and having a hard time with it that is also by design. If you want easy and good isk mining in null sec then get in a corp that holds sov or start a corp that takes sov. Either way get people together so that you have fleets and fleet boosts and supply chains and local production etc... If you do that there will be significantly more isk mining in null and don't forget we have ore changes coming I believe on tuesday.

Want to talk? Join Cara's channel in game: House Forelli

ergherhdfgh
Imperial Academy
Amarr Empire
#19 - 2015-04-26 13:10:50 UTC
Tipa Riot wrote:

Remember also that Providence is New Eden's pirate's heaven and one of the most active PvP areas in the game. Blink

Also with the new sov mechanics coming I'd expect Provi to become a test bed for the new "toys" if entosis links can be called toys.

Want to talk? Join Cara's channel in game: House Forelli

ergherhdfgh
Imperial Academy
Amarr Empire
#20 - 2015-04-26 13:14:51 UTC
Tsukino Stareine wrote:
How exactly are you being caught? Even if you're in a bubble you can still be cloaked and fly away until you're out.

The biggest danger is if people have dropped stuff in the bubble to decloak you but that doesn't happen often as they would need to have known exactly which direction you're warping from which means you've been located in space.

I'd say drag bubbles with something to decloak you are fairly common. But that gets us back to bouncing off celestials like has already been mentioned.

Want to talk? Join Cara's channel in game: House Forelli

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