EVE University's Random Tip of the Day

[Seamus Donohue]

Seamus Donohue's Random Tip of the Day: Check for Incursions when travelling outside HighSec!

When Sansha's Nation launches an Incursion into a Low Security or Null Security constellation, Incursion rats frequently (but not always) camp the Stargates. These gatecamps will include a mix of ships that usually includes frigates that can microwarp 2.5 km/s. They all can, and will, targetlock and chase any player on-grid regardless of the distances involved, so if you appear 400 km off the gate, they will start running after you.

I've never seen Sansha gatecamps use smartbombs, so Covert Operations frigates can worry a little bit less about being smartbombed on Stargates (though I still don't advise warping to zero on any LowSec Stargate if you have non-blues in Local; a sufficiently large player gatecamp can deal with Sansha rats that show up, and Sansha gatecamps yield no rewards, so there isn't a reason to limit the size of a player gatecamp).

Non-CovOps non-frigates, however, are at considerable risk, as they may be destroyed by a Sansha gatecamp when emerging from a Stargate in Low Security. Slow frigates like rookie ships and other slow frigates may also be destroyed before they can align. I once saw an Apocalypse-class Amarrian battleship get eaten by Sanshas when emerging from the first Stargate into the Incursion area.

[Shin'alor]

Sansha rats should be treated as if they were players; they can and WILL warp scramble you if given the chance!

[Zeroniss]

I've never seen Sansha gatecamps use smartbombs, so Covert Operations frigates can worry a little bit less about being smartbombed on Stargates (though I still don't advise warping to zero on any LowSec Stargate if you have non-blues in Local;...

Smartbombs do not discriminate on the basis of standings. Don't warp to gates at zero if there is someone else in system with you at all unless you can identify that they are not a smartbomber of some kind (you would need to warp at range or offgrid to ascertain this anyway).

[Seamus Donohue]

I've never seen Sansha gatecamps use smartbombs, so Covert Operations frigates can worry a little bit less about being smartbombed on Stargates (though I still don't advise warping to zero on any LowSec Stargate if you have non-blues in Local;...

Smartbombs do not discriminate on the basis of standings. Don't warp to gates at zero if there is someone else in system with you at all unless you can identify that they are not a smartbomber of some kind (you would need to warp at range or offgrid to ascertain this anyway).

Hrmmm.... I suppose blues might decide at any moment to violate their diplomatic agreements and try to kill you with smartbombs. Or maybe the blues in system aren't blue to each other, and they might kill you with smartbombs while trying to nail someone else. Or maybe they have their overviews set up wrong and don't see you as blue when they're supposed to see you as blue.

[Seamus Donohue]

Seamus Donohue's Random Tip of the Day: Look at your route before autopiloting.

Letting the autopilot fly your ship isn't a good habit to get into, even in High Security. But, if you're going to do it, then make sure your autopilot is set to "Prefer Safer" and also check the color symbols on your route to make sure that there are no orange or red icons for your route.

(I'll expand on this later, but I want this posted lest I forget to expand later.)

[James Arget]

Seamus Donohue's Random Tip of the Day: Look at your route before autopiloting.

Letting the autopilot fly your ship isn't a good habit to get into, even in High Security. But, if you're going to do it, then make sure your autopilot is set to "Prefer Safer" and also check the color symbols on your route to make sure that there are no orange or red icons for your route.

(I'll expand on this later, but I want this posted lest I forget to expand later.)

I can givea huge +1 to this, and would go so far as to say that you should check your route every time you set your destination, as that includes highlighting gates for manual piloting.

[Eikelhaven]

I can givea huge +1 to this, and would go so far as to say that you should check your route every time you set your destination, as that includes highlighting gates for manual piloting.

[Rain Kaessinde]

Seamus Donohue's Random Tip of the Day: Look at your route before autopiloting.

Letting the autopilot fly your ship isn't a good habit to get into, even in High Security. But, if you're going to do it, then make sure your autopilot is set to "Prefer Safer" and also check the color symbols on your route to make sure that there are no orange or red icons for your route.

I can givea huge +1 to this, and would go so far as to say that you should check your route every time you set your destination, as that includes highlighting gates for manual piloting.

Also, when following a highlighted route, check that you warped to the correct gate before jumping.

[Seamus Donohue]

Seamus Donohue's Random Tip of the Day: Look at your route before autopiloting.

Letting the autopilot fly your ship isn't a good habit to get into, even in High Security. But, if you're going to do it, then make sure your autopilot is set to "Prefer Safer" and also check the color symbols on your route to make sure that there are no orange or red icons for your route.

(I'll expand on this later, but I want this posted lest I forget to expand later.)

Okay, to make sure your Autopilot is on "Prefer Safer", go to:

NeoCom > MAP > WORLD MAP CONTROL PANEL > AUTOPILOT [tab] > SETTINGS [subtab] > Prefer Safer

This will help, but you also need to make sure not to set a destination for Low Security or any isolated High Security pockets. When you set your destination, your route should be represented in the upper-left quadrant of your screen as a series of colored symbols: squares for systems that are NOT waypoints, and plus signs for waypoints. Each should be colored according to security level: blue, green, and yellow are High Security. Orange and red are Low or Null Security.

[Carrathel]

Sometimes when I'm travelling (in a hurry or under threat), as I hit the gate after warp I start spamming the jump button until I'm told a session change is already in progress. This, at the time, assured me that the server had reached the first command to jump and the other button clicks were being ignored - I then stopped clicking confident that in a second or two, my ship would jump through.

But sometimes I noticed that even though I got the message that the session change was already underway, my ship wouldn't jump at all. I then realised it was because I was still under the session change from a PREVIOUS jump, and that I had travelled a very short (and thus very quick) distance from the previous gate to the current one.

So you might find that useful to know if you ever find yourself not jumping through and wondering why, especially if you're being chased by nasties. Those short trips (less than 1AU) between star gates can really fool you.

[Seamus Donohue]

Seamus Donohue's Random Tip of the Day: Be paranoid of NPC tacklers.

When warping into a PvE site (wether a mission or an exploration site or something else PvE), be extremely mindful of what can and can not warp scramble you. Read up on the site ahead of time. If you can't find information on the site, then bring friends you trust to back you up. NPC warp scramblers in k-space are usually (but not always) frigates, and usually have a scramble range of 20 kilometers or less. Make absolutely certain that the moment you get warp scrambled that you can see it on Overview. If it takes you longer than 5 seconds even in the heat of battle to realize that something has started warp scrambling you, then you're doing something wrong.

One Unista recently lost a Raven Navy Issue in a mission because their tank was slowly breaking and they didn't become aware of the fact that they were being warp scrambled until they attempted to warp out and nothing happened. They lost that ship.

A different Unista recently lost a Tech 2 fit Harbinger in an unfamiliar exploration site because they sat still at the warpin point trying to figure out what the site was all about as the NPCs approached them doing minimal damage. When the damage became significant, they were already warp scrambled by four frigates. They lost that ship. (Side note: Not all NPCs are fit for long range. If they're doing piddling damage to you at 50km+ ranges, then the damage will most likely ramp up with alarming rapidity as they get closer.)

[Jacob Reuben]

Seamus Donohue's Random Tip of the Day: Be paranoid of NPC tacklers.

I found all of this information very helpful, thank you!

[Seamus Donohue]

Seamus Donohue's Random Tip of the Day: People can attack you (more easily) in Low Security

In Low Security space, you can be destroyed and podkilled without CONCORD intervention because CONCORD never shows up outside of High Security. Gate and station guns will fire on criminals, but sufficiently tanked ships can largely ignore these. If you fly an industrial into LowSec and anyone is waiting for you on the other side of the gate, they can warp scramble you before you get into warp because you are VERY slow to align to warp. If you run missions in Low Security, then players can use combat probes to scan you down, warp into your mission, and kill you. Circumstances may dictate that the mission is then undoable because your killers are now camping the mission, waiting for you to come back and try again. Having to fail the mission will cause a standings loss severe enough that it negates any benefit from having even tried.

Now, this is not to say that these activities are always a bad idea. However, new Unistas are advised against these sorts of activities unless part of a University PvP fleet or escorted by someone you have a reason to trust. "This person is my officially-assigned E-UNI Mentor" is one good reason. "It's a friend of mine who I play with in three other online games, and he knows more about EVE than I do" is another good reason. "If he betrays me, then I can get up from my computer, walk over to his computer, break his nose in real life, and get away with it" is yet another good reason to trust someone.

Epic reasoning for trust. I'd say thats almost a comprehensive list right there!

[Alicia Fermi]

On a semi-related note, I've completed a couple of low-sec hauling missions if they only involve a quick hop in to the system. One thing I always do is check the statistics for the system before I accept the mission. Things like ships and pod kills in the last hour and day, number of jumps, and average pilots in space. All of these help to get an idea of how active the system is, and how likely you are to run into a pirate camp. Of course, I am always checking my directional scan once I enter the system, and I make sure to check local and who is docked up in the target station if I need to drop off or pick up a package.