EVE Online

Feeling Rushed? Do some Exploration

stargrace June 6, 2024 No Comments

EVE is not the sort of game that lends itself very well to randomly AFKing all over the place. I mean, in some aspects it does, but not really. Not if you actually want to make good ISK, at least. Yes, technically you could sit around in high sec all day and shoot rocks, and be mostly safe (never 100% safe, there have been HS gankers in my systems lately going after the ice folks) but there’s not a lot of ISK happening with regular asteroid belts, either.

When I know I’m going to be to/from the computer, I normally settle in for some exploration. Having covert ops is a must, I do this sort of exploration either on my tengu, or my helios. The helios is a far lower value ship and does data/relic sites fast and simple – other times I want a little combat mixed in, so I’ll use the tengu.

I warp 100km away from the site, then burn away and create a bookmark 150+km away so that the containers are still on grid, but I can warp to them individually. I check d-scan every few seconds as I do all of this, and I’ll just casually warp from perch -> container -> hack -> loot -> perch. Then repeat. If something comes up IRL, I can warp to the perch and cloak. If I complete the site, I rename the perch into a safe, and I use that if I need to get away from people / rats (especially in the helios). You can’t be uncloaked by mobile disruption units in a wormhole, you CAN be decloaked by other players if they happen to run into you, and that’s why I don’t hang around the wormholes themselves. The chances of someone running into me in a safe are pretty slim. I have sat AFK for hours before when RL wouldn’t let me play but I didn’t want to fly all the way home / log out. Of course if something were to happen and I *was* decloaked and killed, that would all be on me. It’s never 100% safe. Stuff happens. Be prepared to lose ships.

Still, I find doing exploration (specifically in wormholes) incredibly relaxing. Some times it takes me a bit to find a good (ie: unoccupied) site, but at least I don’t have to worry about randomly stepping away.

What’s your favourite thing to do to relax in EVE Online? Let me know in comments, and as always, fly your way! o7

Local? Not Me

stargrace June 1, 2024 No Comments

I’m not a huge lover of PVP which makes my decision to play EVE a bit of a confusing matter, I know. Don’t take that to mean that I’m a pushover, though. While I may not actively go out and hunt people, I will employ tactics to protect myself, or to protect a site I want. Here’s what I mean:

Yesterday I was in a WH with my Tengu. I have it fit for combat, but brought along a mobile depot and some relic/data scanner II in case I wanted to swap out. Jumped into a WH (it was right off of HS), there was someone in their capsule in there. Thought that was interesting. Then they jumped into their metamorphosis. I mostly ignored them, scanned down the sites, found three non combat exploration sites (of course I did, since I was fit for combat it just makes sense that I’d find no combat). I took out my combat scanner probes so I could figure out where they were. I also uncloaked, since I was parked in a safe with nothing on d-scan, and they didn’t have probes out, I wasn’t feeling too rushed or in any sort of emergency.

They called me out in local – which I’ve never seen anyone do in a wormhole before. Doesn’t mean it never happens, just that it’s rare. In a WH your local is blank – until you talk. When you talk your picture will stay there in local until you leave / log out & back, etc. It gives hunters some extra knowledge about you. I went to zkill and checked this person out to judge how dangerous they were. No significant solo kills to note, a few group kills, lots of NPC deaths. I decided they were probably harmless. I thought it was cute that they said “I see you” – when I was in a safe, nothing on d-scan. They were just trying to get me to reply, which I didn’t do. Instead I left my combat probes out, and went and set up my mobile depot, swapped out to a relic scanner, and did the sites I had scanned down. I checked d-scan the entire time, used the perch method for extra safety, and cloaked a few times here and there.

Eventually, they left (or logged safely, or whatever) and local was empty once again. The loot wasn’t particularly tasty from the sites I had found (I think it came to around 70 million ISK) but I was glad I stuck to it and didn’t let myself be driven off by someone talking in local. If I had of said something, they could have checked out who I was, and seen that I was 100% carebear with zero kills to my name.

You don’t have to engage in toxic behaviour to play EVE – despite the PVP. Consider your ships are ammo, don’t fly what you can’t afford to lose, and learn the tips & tricks to staying alive. The game has been so much more fun for me this round because I’ve been taking the time to learn all of that stuff. Who knows, maybe I’ll change from my carebear ways in the future, too.

Fly your way! o7