Missions & Complexes

Okay guys, I think its doable to RE (to an extent) the hacking/relic grids. I don't think they are completely random. There has to be some contraints. If you don't care about diving into the minigame and you think it's easy don't worry about this. But eventually choices in the higher tiers in this game will have an impact on billion isk cargo. So it's worth the analysis.

I've been taking some notes on the level 1 sites I've found in lowsec (.3 system) here's what I've found. It'd be nice to compare notes and relation to difficulty level and security of systems. I think the two sites I did last night were just relics.

Grid Properties:
Container difficulty: Tier 1
Security Status: .3
Site Type: Angel Relic - Particle Accelerator
Container type: Debris/Rubble
Grid size: 9x9 or 9x10
Grid density (how many empty nodes): 50% +/- 1%
Distance to core: 75% of the time the core seems to be within about 1 node of the furthestdirect route from the starting point (I call this the furthest point or FP).

So far my strategy is,

1) Estimate this furthest point
2) Plan route directly to furthest point and eliminate defenses along the way
3) Explore out from furthest point.

Hypothesizing...the simplest route to the node is key to success. You are minimizing the risk of running into defenses.

So on a board of 90 nodes, where 45 are connected, on average, the shortest route will be around 10 nodes or so (depending on density and spread).
Let's say that there will be about 6 defensive subsystems nodes on average: (6/45 13%). I think there are probably a few more properties that defind the nodes, such as, they are typically spread out and not clumped. Let's also just say that there will never be two subsystems beside each other (this isn't true though).

So if you take the most direct route to the FP you have 9 of 44 nodes that must be selected. Logically, hacking the minimum amount of nodes presents the easiest solution to minimizing your risk of uncovering subsystems. I need to review my probabilities again to figure out how to correlate the odds here, but I think the odds of having a single subsystem along that 9 node route is <5%. The longer the route (more % of nodes it is), the higher the likelihood of subsystem interception.

Other properties of the grids (and difficulties) we should observe:
How often are subsystems near each other?
How many of each kind are there?
How many adjacent nodes are there next to each core?
What is the spread...or...On the board, what are the relationship between edge nodes (<6 adjacents) and center nodes (exactly 6 adjacents)? (The more edges there are the more round-about your routes will be to the furthest node. A 45 of 90 node board with 100% edges would be one long strand of nodes with only one route.)


Do different races' board have different subsystem specialties? (I've been doing mostly angel sites in .3-.2 space and see mostly firewalls like 70% of the time, AV's like 20% and defense the rest.)

There are all sorts of mathematical properties of grids that I don't really pretend to understand, but this all boils down to a math problem. And supposedly we like those kind of games here.

I've run well over 500 mini games of various difficulty since the update (average 50 a day every day since the update). 95% of the time the core is on the perimeter of the grid. 4.99% of the time it is 1 space from the perimeter of the grid. 99% of the time it is not within 8 spaces from your start point along the perimeter. Only once was the core on the first and only space available from the start point. All of my mini games had no less than 50 core strength, with the majority being 70; 15-20% had a core strength of 90. All of my percentages are estimates; no actual numbers to back them up.

UPDATE: Following the patch on 7/2, I am now finding cores that are up to two spaces from the perimeter.