Ships & Modules

Hello,

I am basically a carebear, although I don't shy away from risk and danger. In fact, I love it. I will gladly take more risk for more reward or just more fun, although I don't actively seek out PvP, or very rarely do. I just love the adrenaline rush of trying to avoid or escape potential danger.

So, this said, I've been considering training up to fly a tier 1 carrier (not super carriers which are way beyond my budget) and I was wondering if anyone has tried to use them in low sec space alone, without alts, for pve? I was thinking of scouting out a few regions to find a nice quiet pocket of space, setup a station there, and do plex's and level 5 missions in a carrier.

Keep in mind this is just a little idea for the hell of it, and it's months away anyhow in training time, but I think it could be cool. I'm more of a solo or small gang type of player so this really interests me a lot. A capital class carrier is really the only ship one can fly solo that truly has the dps and tank to withstand more than one sub cap ship in pvp indefinitely. I only need to worry about HICs and cynosaural fields.

So the questions are,

What would be the best carrier (or dread if you think it could be good in pve) to run level 5s and some plex's in low sec with?

And just to be sure, normal carriers can use stargates and dock in stations, right?

Thanks.

Aim smaller.

Much smaller.

And less expensive.

If I see probes on the D scan I'll aligning instantly. I know it takes a few seconds in a carrier, but I doubt they'd have time to probe me out and get a fleet in before I could escape.

I don;t know, part of me just wants to try and see if I can do it. I mean, a couple billion isk for a carrier is a lot, but it's not unrecoverable. It's worth it for the excitement.

So really, which carrier or dread would be best suited for this sort of venture?

Ok you have seen probes so you warp out, Prober scans out your mission site then sits cloaked inside waiting for you to come back.

I have no idea which carrier would be good for this and good luck if you decide to still do it.

Wait a second, I thought non super capitals could use stargates? Just dreads and tier 1 carriers.

Even basic relatively cheap and small tier 1 carriers can't use stargates? Are you kidding?

Damn that's a bummer.

I don't understand why CCP decided not to let basic carriers use a Stargate.

Do they just despise solo players or something?

If I want to risk an expensive ship and go about it alone why should I be restricted from doing so alone?

Also you only need a HIC to tackle a Super Cap a carrier can be tackled by a Rupture

point

Sorry, I don't want to come across as angry. I am just shocked and rather very disappointed. I had an idea of something cool and risky to do, and I truly did not believe it would be stopped because of an arbritrary game mechanic. That's not very sandboxy.

Also I thought carriers were immune to being tackled besides bubbles and HICs. That's surprising too, although far from a deal breaker, just means I'd need to be more cautious.

I don't see why capital ships jumping into sov space is much of a factor. If you want to limit huge cap fleets from blobbing in through the gates, just make it limit capital ship travel through gates leading into sov space to 1 every 5 or 10 minutes, or something like that. That'd be acceptable to me and would allow me the ability to use a basic carrier without having to rely on friends or an alt.

Oh and by the way, for the suggestion to use a T3, I am. I'm using a Tengu right now, and I love it. Currently training towards a Nightmare actually, will have that soon enough. I just wanted to gravitate towards large ships to see how I would like them. I love the idea of having extreme defenses.

Risk Vs reward is good, and usually it pays out well. One of the greatest examples of this is doing L5's in a nyx :)

In terms of normal low sec solo stuff though (each out of 10, where 10 is the greatest): Risk = 10, reward = 2.

Nul sec sov space: Risk = 7, reward = 8

Gangs working L5's in low sec with carriers: Risk = 9, Rewards = 10.

You will need a pretty awesome gang to work like a well oiled machine though. But if you do, you could rip through L5's like there is no tomorrow!

If you're heading off to low-sec in something mildly expensive you'ld better learn low-sec in something cheap first. Do some PVE in an AF, than a HAC. A carrier shouldn't even be on the menu atm.

You seem to be under the impression the carrier is merely 'the next step up' after a BS. This isn't true. A carrier is a fleet support ship. That it can be used to effectively PvE doens't change its role nor the need for a corporation with intel, logistics, safe space, ...

If any half decent pirate in low sec finds a carrier on D-scan (no probes needed) and that it's not on a station, you'll be hunted down. At some point some combat probes will warp to your location from out of scan range, do one scan and warp away. If you don't D-scan within this 10s window, you'll be surprised when a stealthbomber decloaks to point you. If you're unaligned, you're always dead.

If you manage to get out, your PVE spot will be watched.
If you dock up too late when a hunter shows up in local (i.e. after he notices a carrier PvEing and he has mates), he probe down you spot and trap it.

TL,DR: carrier PvE works, but it's not a 1-man job.
TL,DR2: start loosing some ships in low sec again first.