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Is it even possible to play lowsec solo?
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Ovv Topik
Sebiestor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#21 - 2015-06-01 09:06:25 UTC  |  Edited by: Ovv Topik
Kai'au Charante wrote:
This advice is helpful. There's all kind of people on the internet saying you should always be able to get out with your pod every time. Knowing that it's possible to lock in less than a server tick and knowing that sometimes there's just nothing you can do helps me plan my strategies better.

You have to gimp your fit to lock that fast. Usually at the expence of any tank whatsoever. If an Sebo'd Arty Thrasher warped in on your Frig in a plex for instance, and you orbited him at 500 he would pop pretty fast.

The point about 'Nearly Always' getting your pod out, applies to when your ship explodes in Versus a standard PvP fit.

They sometimes camp Plex gates as well BTW, so always set your 'Warp to' distance to 10km and spam 'Activate' on the gate as you land.

"Nicknack, I'm in a shoe in space, on my computer, in my house, with a cup of coffee, in't that something." - Fly Safe PopPaddi. o7

Cellini Benvenuto
Ephemeral Syzygy
#22 - 2015-06-02 19:00:25 UTC  |  Edited by: Cellini Benvenuto
Fellow newbie here (well, mostly! - closing in fast on 3+ months now - yeah!)

I moved to low pretty early because it was great fun. It is still great fun (albeit my new activity of exploration isn't really catered to in low as relic sites are rare and combat sites are not doable in my retribution). I play solo (mostly because of time constraints and voice-comm constraints). It is certainly possible to play solo and it is actually a lot of fun. Sure, now and then you get killed and podded (I think of my pod as another ship and follow the same rule: don't fly what you can't afford to lose). Isks are pretty decent in low (for my requirements anyway) and even simple belt hunting can be a lot of fun because you are constantly clicking d-scan, getting into fights, running, finding new holes, hunting for clone soldiers and what not.

My advice:

1. Gates to high sec are camped at peak hours mostly. I've found it much safer when taking loot to sell to avoid peak hours. Also frigate-transports work like a charm and I usually end up running through half the gate camps I encounter in my Magnate built for cargo. But if you live in low-sec, it is always better to stay in low-sec unless you really need something from hi-sec. Gates to null are also camped - but then there are wormholes.

2. Establish a base - I did it the hard way (flying ships in one by one because at that time I didn't have the skills to do anything else - but a quick run with an industrial can do the trick too). Get to know your system and neighbouring systems. I've gotten to know quite a few regulars and even playing solo, it is fun to interact with them and play little games. Having a base with your containers with your favourite fittings etc saves a lot of time and effort and you end up not minding losing so much.

3. Keep implants/ship fitting to what you can make in a day or 2. That way, you won't have to worry about losing your pod - it will happen one day or another even if you are good.

4. Start spamming "S" key when your armor is half way through and you know you'll lose the fight. It will save you more than half the time. Don't sit still afterwards. Move from one warp spot to another quickly and towards your safe spot.

5. Multiple safe spots are a must in your home systems - and that includes gate spots (200 KM from the gate) so that you can see which gate might be camped.

6. Have a lot of fun - otherwise it just isn't worth it! And again, in my opinion, low (and null) are way, way more fun than hi even as a solo player.

Hope it helped.

EDIT: PS: Buy supplies in bulk if you can afford it. I usually buy for 7-8 losses in advance. Also, if there are too many camps in your low, you can always move to another low. Khanid, Aridia are all great low-sec areas - try and stay deep in low instead of right at the edge.
Sabriz Adoudel
Move along there is nothing here
#23 - 2015-06-03 05:42:18 UTC
ergherhdfgh wrote:
People who tell you that you should be able to get your pod out every time are lying. It's true with practice you should be able to get your pod out of almost every combat engagement in the game. However no where in Eve and under no circumstances are you ever 100% safe. Gate camps are a special situation where people are set up to quickly lock players. With remote sensor boosters they can nearly insta lock you so there is a risk. You can get past most gate camps with your pod just not all. Your best bet is to avoid them all together and use intel gathering tools like has been mentioned already.

I know that you didn't want to be lectured on trying to play an MMO solo but this is an MMO and in Eve friends are everything. Just because you are in a low pop time zone does not mean that you can not make friends nor that you can't join a corp. Irregular play times also don't exclude you from playing with friends.

I personally have never used this approach but I'd bet that the best way to learn how to avoid getting caught by gate camps is to join a good gate camping group. My guess is that when you see how it works and who gets away and who does not you will have a better feel for it.

The gate camping group will always be at an advantage when getting your pod because they are already loaded on grid and you have to reload grid or something like that. I'm not sure exactly what happens server side but I seems to me that there is some kind of brief pause when you loose a ship. Maybe it's the notifications thing that has been mentioned already I'm uncertain but just avoiding gate camps altogether is what I think the solution is. I've not tried this either but maybe ejecting from your ship that you know you are going to loose anyway could help as you are adding some unexpected timing element that is out of the norm for the campers.

If you would like to move goods you can scout ahead on an alt in a free ship and a free clone. It's possible for trouble to show up in the time that you log back and forth but at least you can check for the gatecamps that are currently sitting there. If you really wanted to be able to move stuff safely you could have a second account and run two clients and have your scout run just barely in front of you. You could then train that second account up for something jump cappable like a black ops Battleship and fit out a Redeemer as a mini jump freighter. Or you could get friends and set up cynos for each other and help each other jump stuff around. Or you could pay a professional courier company to move the stuff for you.

TL;dr
you are NEVER 100% safe in Eve and having friends is the answer to almost every problem that eve throws at you.



This is wrong.

Assuming your connection is reasonable (<500ms latency and no intermittent disconnects), you can always get your pod off grid when you lose your ship in lowsec, *except* if a smartbomb goes off on the very next server tick.

Assuming an instalocking Phobos with scan resolution buffed to 3600mm by remote sensor boosters (800 millisecond lock time on a pod) is trying to kill you, here's how it goes down - in this example you have 300ms latency and the Phobos pilot has 5ms.


27 min 31 sec past the hour: Phobos attempts to lock you. You attempt to align out in your Iteron (14 second align time)
27:32 - Phobos acquires target lock. Phobos pilot tells their client 'activate guns and warp scrambler'
27:32.005 - Phobos pilot's commands reach the server. They will happen next 'tick'.
27:33 - Server actions the Phobos pilot's commands. Your ship is warp scrambled and shot at. You take a few volleys to die.
27:46 - Your Iteron becomes aligned and tries to warp off. Fails due to warp scrambler.
27:52 - Your Iteron is in deep structure. You select a planet and start pressing 'warp to' every second.
27:55 - Your Iteron explodes. On this server tick, the server removes your Iteron from the grid and places your pod stationary. You and the Phobos pilot both react - you by continuing to mash 'warp out', them by attempting to acquire a target lock.
27:56 - The Phobos pilot's command to lock you initiates and will complete before the 27:57 tick. However, you are already aligned, and you disappear from grid.


The Phobos's only option to kill you is to activate a smartbomb (not just one; enough to volley a pod which IIRC is 4 medium smartbombs) between the 27:55 and 27:56 ticks, in which case you will be podded.

I support the New Order and CODE. alliance. www.minerbumping.com
Traejun DiSanctis
Caldari Provisions
Caldari State
#24 - 2015-06-03 06:06:27 UTC
Warp Core Stabilizers. That is all.
Kai'au Charante
My Own Private Corp
#25 - 2015-06-03 06:57:29 UTC
Traejun DiSanctis wrote:
Warp Core Stabilizers. That is all.


I sometimes fly a Venture with +2 warp strength native and an additional stabilizer fitted. As far as I know, it's never saved me. I assume campers use two modules. When I'm wormhole ninja gas mining and someone randomly drops out of warp next to me, I can get away pretty much every time. When I'm gate camped, not so much.
Syrilian
Doomheim
#26 - 2015-06-03 18:54:33 UTC
Ro Fenrios wrote:
- Using starmap and checking statistics, especially "ships destroyed in last 1h" will help you predict if the low sec system you are heading to might have gatecamp. Few kills might be fine, but if the system has higher number of kills per hour, might want to avoid it.




This is the best advice regarding gatecamps. Really the best thing you can do about them is to avoid them.
Baneken
Arctic Light Inc.
Arctic Light
#27 - 2015-06-04 07:37:08 UTC
In general if you start spamming warp to on a celestial when locked your should get your egg to safety in any situation barring warp bubbles.

Failing that I highly recommend on using a prospect instead of venture that cov ops cloak and 10m3 cargo hold are golden, not to mention that a prospect can beat most tackle frigates in shear speed alone mine has a top speed of 3500m/s (5000m/s if you burn it).
Ralph King-Griffin
New Eden Tech Support
#28 - 2015-06-04 08:26:04 UTC
Kai'au Charante wrote:
Traejun DiSanctis wrote:
Warp Core Stabilizers. That is all.


I sometimes fly a Venture with +2 warp strength native and an additional stabilizer fitted. As far as I know, it's never saved me. I assume campers use two modules. When I'm wormhole ninja gas mining and someone randomly drops out of warp next to me, I can get away pretty much every time. When I'm gate camped, not so much.

Actually I generally don't even bother pointing ventures, they're made of wet tissue paper so I just say mean things about them when I land on grid and they explode.

Murderers of Negotiable Motivations

=]|[=
Lord Chumly
Aerial Empire
#29 - 2015-06-04 09:22:51 UTC
There are two ways to avoid destruction at low sec gate camps:

1. Fit a cov ops cloaking device if your ship can use it. After initiating warp, activate cloaking device and they'll never even see you.

2. For ships that cannot use cov ops cloaking, fit one damage control and fill the rest of your low slots with warp core stabilizers (the cheapest ones possible). Activate damage control then warp. There's no guarantee you'll escape by this method. If there are multiple ships trying to warp scramble you they could overpower your warp core stabilizers, but I've found it to be effective for most gate camps.

Also, for #2 you may want to carry a mobile depot in your cargo bay along with the modules you'll need to complete your objective. That way you don't have to dock in a station to swap out the WCS's after you've escaped the gate camp.

By the way, the same tactics apply to Null Sec, although there is the added complexity of avoiding mobile warp disruptors (drag bubbles) which require plotting and bookmarking safe spots along your route.
Hasikan Miallok
Republic University
Minmatar Republic
#30 - 2015-06-04 14:40:05 UTC
Even with covops:

-> warp -> cloak -> MWD

Some people are very good at getting to the place you cloaked - the extra few thousand metres away from your cloak point can make a world of difference
Aaril
Pandemic Horde Inc.
Pandemic Horde
#31 - 2015-06-04 17:38:47 UTC  |  Edited by: Aaril
I always flew with +4s as a casual bear in HS. My first "pvp" was when I went to Egg in a shuttle to buy something when I was missioning next door. I undocked and was nearly immediately blown up and podded. I just assumed saving your pod must nearly be impossible.

Some time later I decided I actually wanted to pvp myself, so I joined FW, and immediately started flying with +3s due to fear of losing pods and being perpetually poor. I read blogs, though, like the one posted in this thread and have a great overview now. I have not lost a single pod since starting pvp nearly a year ago. I really regret not wearing +4s when I was in low sec.

Now that I am in WHs, it is only a matter of time until my pod is caught in a dictor web, so I will stick with +3s.

Just to reiterate what others have said. Unless you are caught by a smart bomber in LS/NS/WH, a bomb or bubble in NS/WH, or have really bad luck with server lag...your pod should be safe.
Cara Forelli
State War Academy
Caldari State
#32 - 2015-06-04 18:14:29 UTC
Depending on your reputation (or that of your corp) you may not need to worry about gate camps. Sometimes I jump in to one with a frigate and everybody scatters. Big smile

Though it is frustrating when you actually are solo and have to work to convince people you don't have a cyno.

Want to talk? Join my channel in game: House Forelli

Titan's Lament
Azda Ja
Native Freshfood
Minmatar Republic
#33 - 2015-06-04 18:25:29 UTC
Cara Forelli wrote:
Though it is frustrating when you actually are solo and have to work to convince people you don't have a cyno.

I hear naming your ship "Not a Cyno" helps.

Grrr.
Hasikan Miallok
Republic University
Minmatar Republic
#34 - 2015-06-05 04:12:47 UTC
Cara Forelli wrote:
Depending on your reputation (or that of your corp) you may not need to worry about gate camps. Sometimes I jump in to one with a frigate and everybody scatters. Big smile

Though it is frustrating when you actually are solo and have to work to convince people you don't have a cyno.


Having a rep for hot dropping carriers on people will do that.
Delt0r Garsk
Shits N Giggles
#35 - 2015-06-07 08:21:15 UTC
Cara Forelli wrote:
Depending on your reputation (or that of your corp) you may not need to worry about gate camps. Sometimes I jump in to one with a frigate and everybody scatters. Big smile

Though it is frustrating when you actually are solo and have to work to convince people you don't have a cyno.

Yea, a panic cyno can make em run as well... :D saved my ass more than once.

AKA the scientist.

Death and Glory!

Well fun is also good.
Yang Aurilen
State War Academy
Caldari State
#36 - 2015-06-07 08:54:21 UTC
Delt0r Garsk wrote:
Cara Forelli wrote:
Depending on your reputation (or that of your corp) you may not need to worry about gate camps. Sometimes I jump in to one with a frigate and everybody scatters. Big smile

Though it is frustrating when you actually are solo and have to work to convince people you don't have a cyno.

Yea, a panic cyno can make em run as well... :D saved my ass more than once.


Quote from FC when a cyno lights

Quote:

Hold fire let's see what they'll bring


Then the pain arrives.Roll

Post with your NPC alt main and not your main main alt!
Delt0r Garsk
Shits N Giggles
#37 - 2015-06-07 09:26:22 UTC
Well i say panic cyno, more measured "well i am dead anyway so lets try...".

Procedure is to first point the shiniest ship on grid or agrees "forgetting to point". Then light cyno.

It was a covert cyno so your not stuck floating around in space for ages afterwards either.

And to all reading this. Yea I really don't have a fleet that can jump behind me. :D. Stay and fight, pretty please.

AKA the scientist.

Death and Glory!

Well fun is also good.
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