Warfare & Tactics

hello, recently I have begun to fly around a back water low sec area, just going around seeing who may or may not be a pirate, who looks like a scout, and so forth.

recently I was in a part of the back water low sec that has no stations. so I rarely see any one in it. however this time it was different as I found 2 people form the same 3 person corp, nether of them screamed pirate at me, I noticed on D-scan the one was in a venture (or at lest had a venture with his name on it) the other appeared to be in a probe.

after about 2-3 min's of me just having fun trying to find them on D-scan (been trying to get better at it, tho I don't pirate ) I noticed the probe left system. after about another 2-3 min's she came back, this time with the 3rd corp member who I saw was in a domi (thank you D-scan).

that's when I noticed the combat probes. having never seen one on d-scan before (played a long time off and on, just never bothered in low sec much) I was amused, then I noticed there where now 5 or so on d-scan. so I warped off to the other side of the solar system. d-scanned again and found none. but then not even a min latter found them around me again.

so I fingered I was being scanned down. so I went to the furthest planet area I could find. no probes for a while. went back to the same cluster area I was in before. saw a single combat probe. then 2 scans latter they where all back again. I repeated what I did with the back and forth, each time they followed me. until I just hide around the furthest point again.

I guess they got bored because they finally logged. I was wondering if they where really hunting me or if there's another reason to use combat probes over reg probes for scanning down sites?

2nd question, are the chances to find me in a T2 cov ops frig (what I fly) the same as if I was in a T1 frig?

Thank you ^_^


Edit: just wanted to add that i was never found and i was in cloak the whole time.

o i was cloaked i asure you. i guess thats why they never found me, i was thinking maybe they where just bad or i warped around to much.

Thank you very much for the info.

Edit: love your name by the way

No, it doesn't (need revising). That subject has been beat to death on multiple occasions.

Not with combat probes. They were probably defensively looking for you - thinking you were stalking them. So, they brought in some more combat power.

True. However, the OP said:

no probes for a while. went back to the same cluster area I was in before. saw a single combat probe. then 2 scans latter they where all back again. I repeated what I did with the back and forth, each time they followed me.

Sounds like someone wasn't cloaked 100% of the time, unless that is SHEER LUCK in dropping probes around the OP as he bounced around the system.

Just because you cannot see a ship on your directional scan does not mean he is cloaked.

This may be the case for some very compact systems, but in many systems it is easy enough to build yourself a safespot that is out of DS range of all celestials and even most / all warplines between celestials. Also those of us who built old-style deep safespots before the nerf will still hold many safespot boomarks that are still way outside DS range of anything you can warp to.

Sure you do not need a flight of combat probes to check the cloakedness of a character, a single DSP will suffice, but that’s often all that is available to a mid-skill prober.

If someone drops combat probes then they’re: Looking for a ship (or POS … but DS is way quicker); or They’ve forgotten their core probes; or They’re gridfu experts (but that’s a whole different story); or They’re using the presence of probes as a psy-warfare tool. If they drop combats and you are the only other person in system then it would be wise to assume they’re looking for you.

Beta didn't have cloaking.

cov ops cloak stays on the whole time from the moment i enter system, to when i jump out, dont even have any thign else on the ship as i am just flying around looking around marking standings. wouldent have even moved around if i knew i was not able to be probed down when cloaked.

it may well have been sheer luck, as most of the plaents/belts where around one area, with a single one way off.

While it's perfectly possible to find sites with combat probes, it doesn't come recommended. Even if they weren't hunting you to kill you in sight, at least they were looking for other people in the system. For example, one could use combat probes to scan out a gate outside of normal d-scan range. I find it best to still assume those probes are looking for me, as I'm quite fond of using them myself and have gotten a few memorable kills using combat probes.