Science & Industry

Hello


Looking for some insight on using a blocakade runner (Prorator in my case) to haul, avoiding gatecampers etc

Hence a few questions :

- Looking for clarity on the best Null/Low Cloak/Warp method. Some guides say steps as follows :

a Align
b Cloak
c MWD (then cancel MWD - or not needed?)
d Wait for Cycle to end
e As soon as cycle ends, cancel cloak & spam Warp

I presume waiting for cycle to end depends if baddies on gate, or can you skip (d)? Is it necessary to cancel cloak?

Things getting confusing as theres alot of old advice out there that may have been superseded by game updates


- How do I avoid the message "You failed to Dock/Jump because of your cloak", at the end of a warp to Station/Stargate? Is it because of a short trip, or mistiming on my Warp +Cloak ? Sometimes I stay cloaked, and I Warp after I wait a few secs and press warp. Other times I arrive at a stargate/station uncloaked, & nervous & not gating straight away :)

- Insta Bookmarks seem necessary to stop being killed at Station Exits. Simply a matter of undocking, and warping to bookmark when screen refreshes? Can these be bought/traded with other players?

- Has anyone compiled a list of "Tube" systems to avoid? Seems to be common ganking points. Or any other systems not in Null sec? recall there was a couple between major trade hubs. I do check the maps for pods/players killed in last hour.

- When approaching a Stargate/Station, is it better to "Warp to zero, and jump manually" or just hit the Jump command? Not sure which is quicker or safer

- Are Multiple Warp core stablisers, & Nano Fibers pointless? Have read that no use having more than one, but some Fitting builds have had multiples

- Is it better not to have Cargo expanders, to to keep speed/agi up, and signature down? I think Im going to specialise only in small packages as I like to be zippy. My current hold only has 3124m3 odd, and restricts my carrying ability and courier options

- Or if Im just restricting myself to very small packages, is their a ship more suitable than a BR? Think I would still like the cloak ability, but would have to be speedier. Income alternatives would drop Id expect

- Do NPC Courier missions pay well for the effort/time?

- Are there any Channels / Mailing lists suitable for trade Hauling? Have heard of RF Freight and Bulk Trade Mailing list

- Will the contract still work if I get an alt to collect the contract, and then pass the parcel to my main? Aiming to avoid gankers knowing whos collected the contract, and running me down. May slow things down in remote stations if I have to fly two chars around. Do people find out who filled a contract on delivery?

- Are jump clones viable to get closer to far flung Hauling starts? I'd expect I'd have to set up a few ships around the universe, but may be quicker and safer than warping 30 systems to pick up some goods

- In safer areas, is it enough just to do Warp/Cloak, rather than the Aligning/Cloak/MWD/Warp?

- Is there a noticeable effects from Implants? have run across a few agi/speed , but cant find the link..... Similarly for Snake/Halo?

- What fitting recommendations ?


Cheers

"You can only quote 5 times in a single post." ARRGH! That's stupid! Quotes removed...

No need to do align-MWD-cloak with a Covert Cloaking Device II. Just warp to your next destination and immediately cloak immediately.

Click on your cloak to deactivate it and immediately jump or dock and avoid the message that you can't do that because you are cloaked.

You have 10 seconds (I think 15 seconds after today's patch) to look around. If safe, warp away, otherwise re-dock when the session timer expires (make sure to enable the session timer display).

Any system that connects to lowsec or hisec is suspect. I like to use Ombey's 2D EVE Maps, but DOTlan works too.

Depending on my mood, but tend to use warp-and jump and warp-and-dock most.

W-stab are pointless. If you are uncloaked in a blockade runner you are dead 99 percent of the time.

Nanos help get out of bubbles faster. Meta 4 Inertial Stabilizers (never tech 2!) help you get to warp faster.

Cargo expanders and rigs do not affect signature.

I have T2 cargo rigs on all my BR, but I try to avoid nulsec systems when possible. Lowsec is a piece of cake.

I've used Covert Ops, but a Strategic Cruiser is also great for small item movement (example: a 2 billion ISK Covetor BPO).

Rewards from courier missions being adequate is subjective. Try a few.

I've never used more than courier contracts, so am unaware of any other channels / lists.

Whomever accepts the contract / mission has to make delivery. How it gets from point A to B beyond that doesn't matter.

Jump clones are helpfule, but in a BR you can take a lot of shortcuts through lowsec / nulsec.

In lowsec you can warp and cloak from gate to gate with 99.99 percent safety (0.001percent chance of being extremely unlucky - hasn't happened to me yet).

In nulsec you want to be very cautious, even when the system is empty, and never warp gate-to-gate.

You have 10 seconds (I think 15 seconds after today's patch) to look around. If safe, warp away, otherwise re-dock when the session timer expires (make sure to enable the session timer display).

I would double check this. When CCP first lowered the session change timer, this was independent of the session cloak and invulnerability timer. So while the session timer is now shorter you still have plenty of time to look around cloaked.

> Looking for clarity on the best Null/Low Cloak/Warp method. Some guides say steps as follows:

That 'trick' is for 'normal' ships fitted with a cloak, not covops ships fitted with covops cloaks.

For a covops-cloak fitted ships it's more a case of: jump thru; look around while still cloaked and decide what to do. If bubbled then choose direction, align, burn and cloak until clear of bubble. If not bubbled then commence warp to destination and cloak immediately. If WH too close to cloak and nasties nearby then decide whether to jump back out, or to burn / warp away and hope to get cloaked before they stop you ... not a nice situation even in a bloackde runner.

> I presume waiting for cycle to end depends if baddies on gate, or can you skip (d)? Is it necessary to cancel cloak?

If you start the MWD / AB and then cloak the AB / MWD will finish a cycle and then switch off. Same happens if you cloak and then quickly start MWD (I assume AB the same but never done that).

> How do I avoid the message "You failed to Dock/Jump because of your cloak", at the end of a warp to Station/Stargate? Is it because of a short trip, or mistiming on my Warp +Cloak ? Sometimes I stay cloaked, and I Warp after I wait a few secs and press warp. Other times I arrive at a stargate/station uncloaked, & nervous & not gating straight away :)

That one can have fatal consequences if you're not attentive.

To avoid it you have a number of options:
- decloak manually towards the end of the warp;
- watch closely as you land and manually decloak (usually by aligning towards your destination) and then dock / jump;
- use the warp-and-jump button rather than just warping to your destination.

> Insta Bookmarks seem necessary to stop being killed at Station Exits. Simply a matter of undocking, and warping to bookmark when screen refreshes? Can these be bought/traded with other players?

Exit bookmarks are very handy for longterm NPC nullsec and lowsec survival. They can certainly be traded (as vouchers). This is a big component of one of my businesses: https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=12973&find=unread

Every time I enter a lowsec / nullsec system I've not previously visited I build myself a set of bookmarks ... an approach point near each gate, an approach point near at least one of the stations, an instawarp exit from that station, and sometimes a safespot. It takes longer the first time round but now, having done this for a longtime, it's rare for me to enter a system and not have several green bookmarks showing in P&P.

> Has anyone compiled a list of "Tube" systems to avoid? Seems to be common ganking points. Or any other systems not in Null sec? recall there was a couple between major trade hubs. I do check the maps for pods/players killed in last hour.

There is a posting thread in C&W about active gate camps. I have never used it and am not sure how useful it is.

In hisec the ganking areas tend to be on high-turnover trade hub station exits ... e.g. Jita IV 4 CN ... and pipelines of low-end security systems (e.g. 0.5 like the piupe running thru deltole). These are pretty easy to identify in advance using DOTLAN if you're not already familiar with those routes.

Transition systems (hisec => lowsec, hisec => nullsec, & lowsec => nullsec) are also important choke points that people often camp. Similarly lowsec and nullsec pipelines are often the locations for camps or other tricks aimed at turning your ship into spacedust.

All of these locations can be worked out using DOTLAN, and the statistics provided by DOTLAN or your clients map functions can be used to inform you on likelihood of camps etc.

> When approaching a Stargate/Station, is it better to "Warp to zero, and jump manually" or just hit the Jump command? Not sure which is quicker or safer

The warp-and-jump button is very quick and very good unless you not attending and get caught out by the cloak problem already mentioned. In nullsec, tho, I still warp to zero (but always from a location near the gate) and then jump manually ... it's only a few seconds but I'd still prefer to have the option to change my mind.

> Are Multiple Warp core stablisers, & Nano Fibers pointless? Have read that no use having more than one, but some Fitting builds have had multiples

My blockade runners are all fit for speed and manoeuverability, not maximal cargo space. My lowslots have nanos and / or cargo expanders.

Warp core stabilisers will, in theory, let you get away if one ship locks and single-scrams or points you. They no use at all when you caught in a bubble.

In general, if you get locked in a blockade runner you are prolly dead ... your cloak and propensity to GTFO are your protections.

If I am hauling a very high value small volume cargo (e.g. a month of w-space spoils) thru null or lowsec I use a 'hauler' T3 with dual prop, nullifier, covops cloak, EW, and some stabs fitted ... not a blockade runner.

> Is it better not to have Cargo expanders, to to keep speed/agi up, and signature down? I think Im going to specialise only in small packages as I like to be zippy. My current hold only has 3124m3 odd, and restricts my carrying ability and courier options

I usually carry nanos and cargo expanders and swap them in and out as needed, and my BRs are fitted with astro rigs for speed and manoeuverability rather than cargo volume. Intertia stabilisers may also have a role here, but I usually just use T2 nanos.

> Or if Im just restricting myself to very small packages, is their a ship more suitable than a BR? Think I would still like the cloak ability, but would have to be speedier. Income alternatives would drop Id expect

Covops frigate for very small loads, they take longer to lock and get into warp quicker than blockade runner.
Appropriately setup T3 can be very difficult to stop, and can be immune to bubbles.

....

p.s. You do not need to dock to build exit instawarp bookmarks - which is useful to remember when you're in very active PvP system for the first time. You can work out the exit chute line from the mainscreen graphics and use that. This is especially easy for those Amarr stations that drop you out vertically downwards, but is easy enough for all station types.

Cloak/MWD--Yes, begin align, as soon as the speed changes hit cloak, a second later hit mwd, steer as necessary to avoid obstacles and decloaking ships. While this isn't totally necessary in losec, you should get into the habit of doing it no matter what in nosec. A cloaked interdictor working with cloaked campers can ruin your day. You hit warp and cloak, a split second later the bubble goes up, your warp is canceled, your speed drops to zero, the campers decloak and race to decloak and point you. Since you're cloaked, all you can do is increase your speed, but the MWD is no longer an option, since you'd have to decloak to use it.

1. Whenever you warp, you land within 2000m of your destination. Sometimes this means you arrive at a gate at 2500m, which is outside of the decloaking range of the gate. Uncloak and jump or close distance and jump.

2. Instas are critical. You can always avoid getting ganked by doing nothing and then redocking, but if you don't have an insta, you'll be camped into the station. If you're doing a pickup that will mean you have already accepted and are "on the clock." Obviously this presents a danger of you not being able to deliver before expiration. Not to worry, you can always bring a trial alt in to create a bm outside the station if you can't do it.

3. Niarja, Uedama, Kaaputunen, Madirmillire are ground zero. But any system under .7 is a potential gank setup system. Of course, you can be ganked anywhere, anytime; act accordingly.

4. If you hit jump and warp to the gate, only to see a small gang go through to the other side when you arrive on grid, hit ctrl+space to cancel the auto jump. To avoid mistakes and distractions, I use jump in hisec, warp to in losec/nosec.

5. Stacking penalties make more than 3 nanos less and less useful (this goes for any mod that affects the same stats, e.g. agility rigs). My general feeling is that in a BR, its better to get off grid as fast as possible than it is to hope your warp cores save you.

6. Expanders up your risk factors significantly. Cloaked ships can be decloaked. The more time you spend aligning, even cloaked, the greater the chance you'll get decloaked and killed.

7. From a business perspective, limiting your load size means limiting your earning potential. cloaked ships other than BR's hold significantly less cargo, unless you're using cloaks on indies, which is asking for trouble.

8. Hell no.

9. There is/used to be a list called The Courier Hub. Don't know if its still in use.

10. I do this all the time. In fact, the Red Frog war model is based on it. There are two ways to do it: contract alt accepts contract, right clicks on package and creates another courier contract (it auto completes fields, its awesome) to the hauler alt, hauler alt accepts and then completes his contract, it shows up in contract alts assets, and he completes the contract. No need to fly around after him... UNLESS the package contains an assembled can. In which case you cannot create a second courier contract. You must window trade the package at the start and end destinations.

11. Not a bad idea, but since JC's are only good for once per day, they aren't as useful as one might hope. Side note: if you're going to haul full time, you must resign yourself to lots of jumps.

12. Not in losec or nosec. Perhaps if the system is empty, but its a bad habit to get into. One distracted day could get you killed by cloaked campers.

13. Rogue HY-# are for warp speed and Rogue AY-# are for agility. Both are great for haulers, though the benefits are far greater for a freighter/jump freighter pilot. Low grad Nomads are pure agility win, but they are outrageously expensive. If you lose a pod, you're out 2 to 3 billion (on top of your ship/collateral).

14. cloak, nanos, mwd, agility rig/warp rig. Everything else is case dependent.

I recommend against any module on a covops cloaked ship which increases siganture. Larger signature makes it easier for someone to get a lock on you before you can cloak and get away. Is it enough to get you killed? It could be just enough.

By default, the Crane has 125m signature radius. With those extenders that you've added, you're now up to 157m (25.6% larger sig). That's a pretty big bump, which works out to about 0.1-0.2 sec faster lock times for ships in the 800-1200mm scan res bracket.

Better to pack in a 2nd Invuln II in the mids and maybe a DC2 in the lows for those times where you need the EHP.

Any chance there's some kind of area to practice warp bubble escape?

Unlikely I guess, but after some recent travel, I think I need some more practice for nulssc

Thanks for all the advice

Cheers

SISI or practice with cheap ships.