EVE New Citizens Q&A

Greetings,

Its hard to get away from bias feedback from the null-sec community. The game permeates into more than just the physical gameplay, it infiltrates externally with propaganda and deception, so its hard for sides to take a step back, put down the pitch forks and assist the new generations of the game.

I'm offering my opinion, advice and guidance to all new players that wish to know something about Null-Sec. My agenda is simple, to dispel some misconceptions regarding Null and hopefully convince more of you to take the plunge into it, regardless of if its with me and my ilk or not.

So Eve-mail me or post here and I'll try to give you an as honest answer as possible,

Bland Inquisitor

Good idea; hope you and others are reaching out to some of the new player organization forums as well.

I know when I started, even just the story behind the current SOV posturing was fascinating. It didn't hurt to get both biased viewpoints either since it helped demonstrate the player driven story...

EDIT: it may actually help prompt questions from new players and help dispel doubts about intent for you to simply provide your side of the story about what's going on today. Not a mechanics discussion mind you, but what the narrative is. You can even note which points are obviously framed by what side your on. I know that some PL, NC. and Snigg players sometimes post here, so hopefully they can respond in kind. As long as the trash talk doesn't take over e narrative I'd imagine a few paragraphs would spawn uncountable questions from the right new player.

Well I'll give it a try, for you L'ouris.

EvE Online for me has always been about null, I've never spent much time in empire and probably never will. Empire to me is lawless, dangerous and over-populated. Its mechanics confusing, its politics odd. Indeed the longest amount of time I've ever spent in empire has been running incursions for isk. While I'll not argue Null is better than Hi-Sec, it certainly is a lot simpler.



My alliance has been around long enough to know that sov is not set in stone. Any given day in Null somebody is losing theirs to someone else, the objective then is not to be defined as an alliance by the space you hold or the block your part of but by your actions. In fact other than building supers, R64's and rental, holding sov is more hindrance to nullsec entities than anything else.

Sov makes you a target. It puts something of yours permanently at risk. The up and coming expansion will see more industry head out into Null, meaning potentially trillions more isk invested into null that can and will be lost. One thing is certain the end of the so called "cold war" between CFC and N3 will shake the entirety of eve. I guess being part of that is one of the main drives for many players to be in Null. To be part of the big battles like B-R. Having been there I can tell you the actual event was horrific, the idea of the limits of a conflict being the very limits of which the server remains functional does not create good gameplay. The draw for most who attended wasn't that they wanted to be there, it was that they wanted to say they were.



Null Sec en-stows a sense of duty to your alliance. Not every aspect of Null is especially engaging or fun. Its a dilemma that faces many of us. If you hold space you have to defend it, defending it often means becoming friendly with your neighbors which in tern means you defend their space too. Before you know it your forming every day to do house keeping in and around your space and that of your allies space. The flip side of this is, you have fleets on a daily basis that generate some content at the cost of having to do some heavy lifting more often for others than for yourself.

The alternative is to not hold sov, great for hot dropping and having limited number of blues, however your no longer forming daily for house keeping ops (known as Strat Ops) and as fleets are now more casual you tend to not get as many active and participating in fleets.

INIT often goes through cycles of Sov Holding and Non-Sov holding. During the periods of Sov Holding we experience bloat, increase in the number of pilots mainly to take advantage of our space. This increase often comes with a decrease in skill and and increase in carebear deaths. The net profits however vastly outnumber the losses so it pans out

During periods of Non-Sov holding, We experience a reduction in players. The ones that remain are the loyal core members, while the ones only interested in the space move on to graze on other pastures. During this time the stuff that is considered more fun is done, small roaming, gatecrashing other peoples parties, hot drops and the like. However the momentum for these activities dwindles with the reduction in the need to login on a daily basis. Content has to be generated manually and as a result more pressure is placed on content generators to deliver. Eventually people become bored and want to hold sov again. Thus the cycle continues.



What triggers a cycle is most often EvE politics, say what you will but EvE is the best game for news generation out there, I have friends who do not even play but love reading the news about EvE. The events of which, happen the most in Null between null-sec entities.

The current war is nothing new to eve, its happened many times before. To fight one enemy more effectively you ally with another who shares the same enemy. This keeps happening until you end up with two large factions. Often North VS South, one side will "win" and wipe out the very reason their side exists, soon after the internal fighting will start and while that is going on the losing side will reform, rebuild and start again. Conflict within the north and south will wage on, winners will get larger, losers will disband and eventually you back to two dominant super powers, one north and one south. History often repeats itself in EvE Online.

Many people head into these conflicts green. Your first titan kill, your just pos bash, your alliances first region. These are all awesome experiences, After time however its just another pos, just another region (titan kills are still awesome btw ^^). Its no longer about the sov, carving a name out for your team. Its about the fights, some of which can be truly edge of your seat, adrenaline fueled rollercoster rides.

I've been allied and enemies of practically everyone in Null. There are some, that have earned my respect, others have earned my hatred. All have killed me, all have been killed by me. I've lived in the north, south, east and west. Nullsec and WH space too. The one thing I can't understand is why so many cling to empire, if its truly a lack of information I hope I can assist in removing that problem.

Bland

In all honesty, I would move to another system if possible. The problem with wormholes is you can never tell how many people are active on the other side as local chat inside does not display players unless they speak in the channel. Wormholes do not last longer than 24 hours, so your safest bet would be to wait until the hole dies and do alternative activities until then.

You have two more options open, both will put you at greater risk;

1. Attempt to close the wormhole, K162 is an exit side of a hole. Find the side with another name and search it in google (most of the time will pop up with wormhole details, if not search in on a WH website) there is will tell you the max jump mass and total mass. Once the total mass has been reached a wormhole will die. There are some vague warning signs as to how old and how used a wormhole is, however your not going to get an exact number meaning you run the risk of being stuck on the wrong side when it collapses. That and hostiles in the wormhole can engage you at will.

2. Put up a large bubble on the hole, keep eyes on the inside of the hole with your cloaky proteus. Nulified ships such as T3 and interceptors will be able to warp instantly from the bubble but heavier ships and non-nuli t3 wil not be able to. Remember that they are limited to what they can bring through the wormholes max jumpable mass so three carriers that remote repair each other will likely not fall prey to anything they field. The main risk being them having friends with capitals near by.

End of the day, Never put isk generating ships at risk. I would just wait out the life of the wormhole/ head to another system until it dies.

Hope that helps

Bland

Sorry, I guess if anyone needs clarity on any points please feel free to ask. I'm trying not to be condescending and presume they know absolutely nothing. Most I've spoken with are actually quite well informed they just lack a full picture due to the inverted nature of player alliances.

R64's are the most profitable moons that can be mined
B-R was the recent battle that saw $500,000 in ships lost.
Sov stands for Sovereignty. players in Null can claim space for their alliances, they gain certain abilities for doing so.

If there are any more please point them out xD

Bland

and I'm glad to receive your endorsement Candi.

Having done a great deal of carrier killing myself I can assure you that a small group that knows what its doing can indeed kill carrier ratting squads. Most of the time, Ratting carriers are fit to maximize wallet ticks over defense. Often they will be running a single capital rep combined with an array of drone mods. Even if they do have remote reps and transfers, they are cumbersome creatures.

Its a simple case of removing threat, primary their drones until they are no longer a concern. Then remove their tank, Bumping them apart for example, its quite possible to push them out of remote repair range. Draining them of cap can also disrupt their ability to tank your damage. Stealth bombers often make short work of Carriers. Finally, more often than not people will abandon their fellow alliance member to their fate if given the opportunity to escape, by "accidentally" losing point on the carrier aligned out you can allow two to flee in favor of killing the 3rd.

Its actually quite shocking just how vulnerable carriers can be, that is why I would recommend not to use them once a system is compromised. Still many in my own alliance do not listen and pay for it as a direct result.

Killmail link removed. -ISD Dorrim Barstorlode

Good question. I believe it will end when one sides pilots have enough of stockpiling weapons and want some action, maybe it will hold off until winter (as winter is often more active on the wars front, more people staying indoors) but the inevitable is that people will want to use their 30-140b investments in super capitals and titans.

Its a powder keg awaiting a fuse, :)

Is Bliss still as dreamy as he was years ago, and how hasn't he burned out :)

Of course not all null corps are that concerned with the metagame.

How common/uncommon is it for nullsec residents to just have one char?

I've been flying around now for almost a year. Don't really see myself as a player for alts. Most vets in nullsec seems to view an alt or two as mandatory. Is this true/false? Could you elaborate on the topic?