Here are some things I’ve been learning that really helped push me out of my comfort zone of high sec (which as I already mentioned yesterday, is NOT very safe) and into other zones.
Number one – bring a security blanket for the first few adventures. I’m talking about that covertops cloak. Yes, I know this requires Omega, so this isn’t for the alpha player. You don’t have to, but it really comes in handy. I also learned something that I did not know for the first.. 15 years of the game. There’s a 15 minute timer that counts down when you’re cloaked. I always thought that was the ONLY time you could be cloaked, and if you let that 15 minute timer lapse you’d expose yourself. Turns out, that isn’t true. I’ve floated around in space for hours before and never felt safer. Now, there are some exceptions to this. People can deploy a ‘mobile observatory’ in lowsec and nullsec and it WILL be able to de-cloak you. I haven’t had this happen yet, but I spend most of my time in a wormhole, where you cannot use this item. You also can’t use it in high sec. Read up about cloaking here if you were like me and had no idea. If I’m going exploring, or am not sure about the systems I’m passing through, I tend to feel a little less exposed if I can cloak. Eventually, as you get more comfortable and learn how to deal with aggressive folks, you can leave the cloak for a different high slot.
Number two – if you’re in an anomaly, or a signature, you’re never safe (I mean, you’re never safe even if you’re not in those, but in specific, those things that show up on in space). People can use the d-scanner to figure out which one you’re in, and the guys who are good at it can do it before they de-cloak at a gate. I asked how people were able to find me so quickly, and they told me they use d-scan in 5% increments and narrow down which anomaly you’re hanging out in. If you see someone you’re not sure about in local, your best bet is to fly off to a safe – which brings me to number three.
Make a safe. Make 10 safes. Bounce between them all. If you’re there a lot, change them every so often. A safe is basically a bookmark in the middle of no where. Warp to something, like an anomaly or a signature, and while flying make a random bookmark (ctrl+b, L to open your bookmarks). Warp there, and then burn off from that bookmark for a few hundred KM away from things, and make another bookmark. Use the 2nd one as your safe. The further away it is from planets / stars / buildings / etc – the better. If someone jumps into your system and you’re not familiar with them, go warp to your safe. Cloak up if you can, and if you can’t, just keep mashing that d-scan to see if they’re probing for you. If you see combat probes and you can’t dock up safely, bounce between all of your safes. Don’t bounce between until you see them trying to come at you in your new safe, you don’t want to accidentally run into them on-grid as you hit a new safe. Patience is the key to this game. What I don’t do when an aggressive person comes into the system is try to leave via gate unless I can safely scout first and make absolutely sure that no one is there camping it. In most cases my patience outweighs theirs (because they’re looking for a fight, and I am not) and they leave, or they get bored. I usually say hi and try to talk in local, because why not.
Number four – Learn that wormholes are your friend. I love wormholes! Every day it’s some place different in New Eden. Don’t like where the exit is today? That’s OK, just give it 24h and see where you pop out tomorrow. I also use the WH system more than anything else to find my way around high sec, especially to get back home. Filament over to nullsec, and done your adventures there? Instead of trying to jump through a billion gates in hostile land, I’ll look for a wormhole every time. Jump in, and I can almost guarantee you that within 3-4 connecting wormholes you will find one that leads to high sec. Obviously there are exceptions to this, sometimes wormholes are camped when they lead to specific territories, for exploration and travel purpose I suggest sticking to C1-C4 holes. I spend a little time in C5/C6 but people like to live in those ones. If you stumble into a shattered one, enjoy the eye candy. Those wormholes are absolutely beautiful and they’re ‘rare’ (I say that, but I’ve walked into three so far).
Number five – You do NOT need to bring the bling. A bigger ship isn’t always going to be the best for your specific situation. I spend a lot of time in fairly cheap ships, it means I can lose a lot of them and I don’t stress or worry about it. I do own a few special ships that cost a fair amount, they have specific purposes and yes I do own the Orca which is a 2b ISK ship (but it wasn’t nearly that amount when I bought it 10 years ago). I try to be patient about the skills I’m training up, learning how to actually play with lower ISK value fits has taught me WAY more than flying something expensive that I didn’t understand.
As always – fly your way! o7