Warfare & Tactics

The Grid automaticly expands. Its a feature.

Edit: Its not defined. Try going from the people until they say you dissapeared <-- only safe way to do it.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by grid expansion. I have done this before (alone) and people are not able to see me at all. Thus, I am curious to know if this is a tweak CCP made lately? If so, is there a dev blog that points this out so I can understand the issue at hand.

From my recollection, the gate or station can still be in sight but the ships are not in sight at all when I'm this far away

You will frequently be visible (i.e. show up on the overview) at distances of over 150km.

I've only heard of the 150km figure apply to distance in regards to sentry guns and warping.

You are visible, on the overview of another player and in their main graphics window, if you are 'on grid' with that other player. Similarly, if you are on grid, you will show on their directional scan with a km distance rather than the "-".

Being 'on grid', I assume, derives from the idea of being on the same tile or grid-square as something else ... except in eve that grid or tile is not a constant size or shape (as opposed to tabletop wargames etc). Not only is the 'grid' not constant, from one location to another, it is also not constant over time.

This results in a variety of (usually) minor hassles. The two that mess me up the most are:
1. A previously offgrid bookmark, that allows me to warp thru a bubble to it (especially relevant for station exits), is no longer offgrid ... and so the bubble catches me.
2. A previously bookmark that I could warp to a gate from is now too close to warp from (I assume this is another manifestation of the same dynamic).

It is possible to deliberately expand the grid around an object, such as a gate, and there's a very good goon manual on this. It's prolly available still via a number of sources, but the first that popped-up in my google search is - http://talocanunited.com/documents/gridfumanual2.pdf

I understand that this sort of deliberate gridfu is a no no in eve, but non-intentional gridfu is an everyday occurrence.

My current practice, having been bitten a number of times, is:
1. If I want to make a bookmark that is ongrid (i.e. I can see ppl near the gate from it) and can be used to warp to the location (gate) from, then I make them at a distance of just-below-300km from the location. That distance is very rarely, if ever, offgrid and very rarely becomes too close to warp from ... in contrast to BMs at 200 - 250km.
2. If I want to build a station exit bookmark (offgrid to mitigate bubbles in the undock line) then I build it a long, long way out .... 1000km+. I assume it is possible to gridfu out that far but doubt many would be bothered.
3. if I want an offgrid bookmark at a gate (unusual) then I make it at 400-500km.

Grids can stretch to over 1,000km pretty easily, and 500km is extremely common. Just because the last time you flew off the safe was off grid doesn't mean it always will be. You want to be safe, get a 10,000km or greater safespot. If you want a really simple one, just try to time a bookmark while warping to the gate, may take some trial and error.

OK, then. Lets say Lachesis.

You're going to be mad one day when he overheats and catches you at 100km.