February Screenshot Collection

Posted: 2010-02-28 | Author: | Filed under: screenshot | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

This month we got a shiny new Thanatos into our WH.

  1. Thanatos warping away from a WH link
  2. New Thanatos‘ first time in WH space after entering through a lowsec link in the Solitude region link
  3. Vexor (Gallente Cruiser) with an active cyno and cloaked Thanatos in the background after a cyno jump link
  4. Proteus (T3 Cruiser) camping a WH link
  5. Two Dominix’es camping a WH link
  6. Three Remote Repping Dominix’es near a Lava planet link
  7. Thanatos and three Dominix’es taking on a Sleeper BS link

First Cyno Adventure

Posted: 2010-02-13 | Author: | Filed under: ships | Tags: , , , | 7 Comments

Don’t even think about getting into Capital ships until you have Jump Drive Operation to V with the two support skills, Jump Drive Calibration and Jump Fuel Conservation, to at least III if not IV. These are completely necessary skills in order to move a capital around. Jump Drive Calibration is especially important because it grants a 25% increase in maximum jump range per level (!). Additionally, Jump Fuel Conservation reduces fuel consumption by -10% per level.

We got a link to a C5 with a C140 WH (1,350,000,000 kg max jumpable mass) to Babirmoult (0.18) in the Solitude region. I brought out a scout from WH space and watched the only station in the system for an hour as I planned out the jumps for the Carrier and coordinated logistics with my Cyno-capable corpmate. If my Jump Drive Operation support skills were at 0, then it would have taken us 6 jumps. Good thing I spent the time training up the support skills to III.

Only 1 in local in the WH enterance system. I watched as he switched in between a Legion (T3 Cruiser) and a Sacrilege (T2 Heavy Assault Ship). Meanwhile, in the neighboring systems of Faurulle and Agaullores, there was a 25 person lowsec gategamp. Sheesh, well Eve is about adventure, right?

We decided that the timing wasn’t going to get any better so we planned our route.

  1. Lonetrek, Otsasai (0.35) Caldari State
  2. Black Rise, Iwisoda (0.24) Caldari State, Distance: 8.431 ly
  3. Placid, Grispire (0.18) Gallente Federation, Distance: 8.265 ly
  4. Solitude, Babirmoult (0.18) Gallente Federation, Distance: 9.333 ly

I got my scout into the 1st system, Otsasai, and cloaked him up outside the station.

Corpmate with a Cyno cruiser in place in the next system, green light issued for jump, cyno up, WHEEE! *jump*

I laded some 8k off of the Cyno cruiser so I cloaked up. Now comes the fun part where your Cyno ship cannot move for 5 minutes. After the capital ship successfully jumps, you have two options. Wait for the cyno cycle to finish or self-destruct your ship. The first two systems that we had to jump into were practically empty so we waited the full Cyno cycle.

Everything was going great until the last jump into the system with the WH when I got this notification when attempting to jump:

[ 2010.02.13 04:52:58 ] (info) This jump destination requires 7466 unit(s) of Oxygen Isotopes, but you only have 6615 in your cargo hold.

Um, uh oh. I tried to jump again.

[ 2010.02.13 04:53:10 ] (info) This jump destination requires 7466 unit(s) of Oxygen Isotopes, but you only have 6615 in your cargo hold.

Additionally, the WH from our C6 into the connecting C5 was going to close in less than 3 hours.

I guess I didn’t read the Dotlan jump calculations carefully enough. I rushed my scout around and picked up another 2,000 units (300 m3) of Oxygen Isotopes and jetcanned it right next to the Carrier.

The Cyno Cruiser flew past some lowsec gatecamps in neighboring systems and into position. We dropped the last cyno right on top of the WH (less than 5km) so the Carrier could jump in right away.

Local looks good, green light issued for cyno, cyno up, *jump*.

[ 2010.02.13 05:22:38 ] h > lit @ 2.8k

*jump*

[ 2010.02.13 05:23:01 ] Blake > landed 7k away
[ 2010.02.13 05:23:04 ] Blake > closing range
[ 2010.02.13 05:23:10 ] h > burn fast 😛
[ 2010.02.13 05:23:22 ] Blake > 60 m/s!
[ 2010.02.13 05:23:23 ] Blake > lol
[ 2010.02.13 05:23:26 ] h> XD
[ 2010.02.13 05:23:37 ] Blake > almost there

Overall a success. Now we have some remote repping power in WH space.

Cyno Operation Tips:

  1. After your Cyno module is activated, click it again to stop the cycle. This will ensure that you do not go into another Cyno cycle and become a sitting duck for another 5 minutes.
  2. Scout, scout, scout! Have corp mate(s) or alt(s) scout 1 or 2 systems ahead in your capital ship jump path. You can watch local traffic and really see when you have a good jump window.
  3. Train the Jump Drive Operation support skills up to at least III, if not IV.
  4. Cyno operations can be a blast. How else can you get through 13 systems in 1 jump?
  5. Don’t fly what you cannot afford to loose.
  6. Oh, and as always, check your clones and ship insurance before undocking.

New Project: Build a Carrier in WH Space

Posted: 2010-02-11 | Author: | Filed under: industry, ships, wormhole | Tags: , , , , , , | 11 Comments

When I started my Eve account, I had dreams of becoming a master builder. Since then I’ve put a lot of industry jobs on hold to go mine in WH space. To some mining is boring. I however, have enjoyed my mining career. I’ve been able to buy some nice toys due to hours of sitting on Arkonor roids including a Freighter, T3 Cruiser, Orca, 2x Hulks, Plexes for a 3rd account, and even a Carrier that is currently sitting in lowsec awaiting a good link to our WH system.

Even though I have concentrated on mining over the past 1.5 years, I have done some building such as T1/T2 drones, T1/T2 Hybrid guns, and basic T1 modules since the BPOs were cheap. Now I’m embarking on a large project – build a Carrier in WH space since I’m becoming impatient waiting for a nice link from lowsec to our WH system and honestly, what is Eve without new challenges?

As many of you know, the majority of Eve projects begin with a spreadsheet to see if your idea is ISK-feasible. So now onto the estimations.

With a ME10, PE1 Thanatos BPC, I will need:

  1. Megacyte 17,941
  2. Zydrine    41,849
  3. Nocxium    232,855
  4. Isogen    823,502
  5. Mexallon 5,287,183
  6. Pyerite    14,128,271
  7. Tritanium 57,790,100

This comes to 784,000 m3 of minerals with Tritanium being the biggest spacehog. Sheesh, that’s two freighters full of minerals!

I scanned a link to highsec via a C2 and assembled my NPC shopping list:

  1. X-Large Ship Assembly Array, 90 M – builds the Carrier
  2. Component Assembly Array, 9 M – builds the Capital Ship parts
  3. Capital Ship Construction Skillbook, 65 M – I allows you to build fighters, III allows you to build Carriers. Only took some 3 hours to train to III with +4’s
  4. Small Ship Assembly Array, 90 M – builds Fighter Drones

Along with the NPC orders, I needed some BPCs so I started searching contracts in Jita.

  1. Capital BPCs purchased in Jita 4-4, each 5 unit run BPC was around 2-6 M for a total of about 180 M
  2. Thanatos BPC ME10 PE1, 70 M
  3. Firbolg BPO ME 20 PE 5, 75 M

Raw mineral cost based on Jita 4-4 buy orders:

  1. Megacyte    44.3 M
  2. Zydrine    56.3 M
  3. Nocxium    20.9 M
  4. Isogen    44.5 M
  5. Mexallon    15.6 M
  6. Pyerite    90.4 M
  7. Tritanium    156.0 M

Total: 428.1 M

A few nights ago we had a route from our WH -> C5 -> C2 (occupied with miners) -> C2 -> Highsec and lowesec exits. My corpmate and I made 2x Iteron V runs to get the X-Large Ship Assembly Array (25,000 m3) and Component Assembly Array (12,500 m3) into our WH system. They are currently anchored and offline (as to not consume fuel) since we are currently gathering minerals.

The biggest hogs are Mexallon @ 53,000 m3, Pyerite @ 142,000 m3, and Tritanium @ 578,000 m3 (!). That’s a LOT of Tritanium. Needless to say, I’ve been working on Veldspar, Plagioclase, and Scordite roids since they have the highest yield of the three minerals. I have the money to buy the Tritanium from Jita, but lack the will to haul it all in. So the more Veldspar I can eat up in WH grav sites, the less I will have to haul.

I’ve just started mining and have one hangar filled with raw ore so stay tuned for more industry adventures!

[Feb 17 Update]

Of course a few days after I write this article and bring construction equipment into WH space we get a nice WH link that is big enough to allow Capitals to enter. Details here.

January Screenshot Collection

Posted: 2010-02-02 | Author: | Filed under: screenshot | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

January was the month of new ships for my characters. My main got into a Thanatos (Gallente Carrier) while my alt got into an Obelisk (Gallente Freighter). Here are some screenshots of their maiden voyage, mining in WH space (as always), and some attempted ganks by WH pirates.

  1. New Obelisk heading out of The Forge link
  2. Sleipnir stealing Arkonor from our jetcans after a failed gank link
  3. Mining a 150,000 unit Bistot roid link
  4. Tengu, Megathron, and Drake taking on sleepers in a C3 link
  5. Three Mobile Medium Warp Disruptor I‘s around a WH link
  6. A Helios approaching a Lava Planet link
  7. Route back to Jita from deep in 0.0 link
  8. Oneiros remote repping 3x ships during a WH camp link
  9. Gank during the onlining of a Large POS link
  10. ECM fun with a corpmate link
  11. Pretty POS shot in front of a planet link
  12. 5 Hulks and 1 Orca on a Arkonor roid link

Let me know if a monthly screenshot collection is something you guys want to see as a continuing feature.

Wormholes: how not to die

Posted: 2010-01-28 | Author: | Filed under: eveonline | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

1. There is no way not to die. You are going to die.
2. Possibly quickly.
3. Protect yourself from financial ruin by buying and hiding in a PoS
4. Protect your PoS from ruin by having stront and 2-3 weeks of fuel, at least, at all times.
5. Never enter an outgoing or incoming WH without either a fully insured unfitted ship and an alternate route back in, or a scan probe launcher and a shitload of patience.
6. Did I mention you are going to die?
7. The directional is your friend. But it’s a shitty friend. It’s a way around getting ganked so the gankers have ways around it. Expect to die.
8. If you find yourself outside your PoS for any reason, be aligned to a planet.
9. Don’t forget to cloak when scanning.
10. There are people who get their giggles by killing people like you. They are, statistically, much better at killing you than you are at not being killed.
11. Never leave your PoS without some method of getting back to it from highsec. This usually means having a scan alt logged off in system or in the PoS.
12. If you don’t have a scan alt, you may as well kiss your assets goodbye and start waiting for PoS fuel notifications as your base dies cold and alone because you got podded and didn’t have a damn scan alt.
13. Any WH connecting you to somewhere else is a potential threat. Be aware of incoming WHs, because someone opened that door straight to you and you better believe that they’re gonna use it.
14. If you see a ship you don’t recognize on the scanner, run. And possibly alert anyone you happen to be with.
15. If your corp mates say run, run.
16. If your corp mates start shouting, run.
17. if your corp mate types a sentence fragment, spelled poorly, consisting of any two of the following words, run.
“Sisters””fuck””combat probes””probes””directional””crap””dead””podded””run””any ship name you or he is not currently flying””back to pos””damnit””ANYTHING in capslock””gibberish”
18. Pick some symbol on your keyboard, like # or %. Rename all the ships at your pos with that symbol. If you see a ship without that symbol, run. Warning, easily countered.
19. NEVER assume that the designated Dir scanner dude is scanning. If he has a heart attack or takes a piss, you’re fucked and he could just say they had good scan ships.
20. Did I mention you’re going to die?
21. Getting whatever you came for safely inside the PoS does not mean it’s safe. Get it to Jita first, then call it safe.
22. Anchor your hangar and maintenance array next to each other. Bookmark one of them and call it “PoS” warp to it in case of speedy ship swap.
23. Heavy interdictors are small ships that mean you can’t run away, and by the time you see one on the scanner, you’re already fucked.
24. DO NOT BRING A T2 RIGGED FACTION FIT HULK INTO A WH, YOU ARE A FUCKING IDIOT IF YOU DO SO.(Yes, this has happened. Lost it in under 3 hours. No, it wasn’t me.)
24b. Hell, don’t bring ANYTHING faction fit or t2 rigged unless a) you’re rich enough to buy two more of em or b) you don’t believe in Murphy’s Law.
25. Do not rig your hulk with drone mining augmenters or cargo expander. Use low-friction nozzles, they decrease align time and have saved my ass when there was literally a second difference between getting scrammed by a Loki and getting away.
26. Active tank for sleepers, buffer fit for PvP, mix of both if the site isn’t too hard for gank insurance.
27. If you are attacked during a sleeper run, target the ship and try and scram him. If you didn’t bring scrams to a sleeper fight(understandable) shoot him. The sleepers will eventually switch to him.
28. If a corp mate types”Hey, is that your ____” start aligning and getting up to speed with the nearest celestial until clarification is obtained.
29. If you see a scan ship on the directional, scan again and it’s not there, do not assume that he has left, or so help me I will tear a hole from my WH to yours through sheer rage and beat you over the head with a cloaking device.
30. If you live in a class 5 wormhole, remember iambeastx has a static class 5 entrance and will find you…. eventually. Assuming he figures out how to work a scan ship.
31. If you came into the WH to fight, there are people in here already that fight better than you. If you came here to mine, watch out for the first two groups.
32. Some people will build carriers and rorquals in places that mass limitations would not usually allow them. If a carrier drops on you in a C3, don’t be surprised.
33. Carriers can get into C4s, but not easily and only from a nullsec or incoming link from a C5 or C6. Don’t be too worried.
34. When in a C5 or C6, be worried about carriers. One carrier can shut down an entire mining op until they get bored, and a carrier w/ support fleet can screw over anything else. Except…another carrier with support fleet. Have fun.
35. If your PoS has no guns, jerks will shoot it. If your PoS has guns, they will send interceptors to extinguish your ammo. If you employ webbers, they will warp out and rep. If you employ warp scrammers, they will spider tank. The goal of a WH pos is not to destroy but to annoy the fuck out of. If they have a small force, then they’re not a problem for a PoS. If they have a large force, then they’re not gonna be bothered by a few turrets. Employ shield hardeners, SB ops, and jammers to make them lose interest.
36. Have the max amount of strontium. Or you will regret it.
37. If you afk outside the bubble of a PoS, you will probably die. If you’re cloaked, you may get uncloaked. It happens.
38. C1-C2 are soloable with few skills. C3s take some skills, C4s require two people and RR, C5s require at least five people and C6s require at least ten attentive people.
39. You are going to die.
40. Do not bring implants into a WH and expect them to last over a week. I bought a set of +3s, they lasted 3 months, then I got podded twice in the same 3 days.
41. Skilled scanners can scan out a mining op and only have the probes visible to you for seven seconds. And in the WH, the scanners operate. Make the connection?
42. Never assume that the ships you see on the scanner are the only ships in the wormhole.
43. Whs will make you obscenely rich, assuming you can find an unoccupied one, not get ganked within the first week and get whatever you came for out of the wh.
44. A wormhole in your system is not active unless you or someone else warps to it. Do not activate your static WH unless you need an exit, or you’ve got one more route people can use to find you.
45. By popular opinion, a drake is a good, cheap ship for running up to class three WHs. Don’t forget, popular opinion in an internet spaceship game doesn’t mean much.

To date, I’ve lost two hulks, a covetor, a vexor, a thorax, several Itty Vs, two pods, three domis and a large tower to the WH.
BTY if anyone finds the tower “Calculated Risk” floating in a C6 somewhere and can get me a route there, drop me a line.
45. Don’t type a blog post while mining in a C6.

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