Forward Operations Base

[Viin]

We think we've found a good spot for everyone to concentrate on for low-sec operations:



The You Are Here circle shows you the Neesher system, which would be the base of operations. The colors show security status, so you can see that to get into Neesher it's all high-sec systems (green and blue and yellow), while towards Schmaeel we get into .4 to .2 systems. There are two ice belts in Schmaeel (3 jumps away) with another ice belt in another system (I forget which one) which is only 2 jumps away.

Schmaeel also has an NPC station, which we could use as a staging area for any mining in that system - but I was thinking our actual base should be in .5 or higher (Neesher is .5).

None of these systems have a lot of people in there. You'll notice there's only 19 people in Neesher, and this was taken with 19k+ users online. The other systems have even less. (Last night, Schmaeel had 1 other person in the system with 14k+ players online).

I didn't notice much ore other than veldspar, pyrox, and scordite. But my shuttle doesn't have a scanner so I could only click on a few rocks before having to jump away from the rats. We'll need to scout out the astroid fields to see whats available - I only looked in 3 systems with just a couple of astroid fields each. The ice fields are great, but require mining barges.

There's also a buncha agents within a couple of jumps, at least for me. So, assuming you have access to these agents, there are plenty of things to do solo (missions and npc rats at the belts). The rats I bumped into were 25k - 40k bounties, but there are probably higher ones around.

Yoru says there's a trade hub 7 jumps away from Neesher, so we'd still be able to create insta's there and have plenty of access to a busy market area.

Thoughts?

[WayAbvPar]

I will buzz over there tonight and check it out. From the map, it looks promising.

[Yegolev]

I was under the impression you can just check all of the asteroids in the Overview setting.  That's what I do and I just pick the cherries from the list.  I don't think I have any fancy scanning skills, and I certainly don't have any scanning equipment that wasn't factory-installed on my frigates.  I exclude veldspar from the list and am about to uncheck scordite, moving into a .7 system with omber currently.

[Viin]

Well frick, now you tell me!

Wtf is the point of the astroid scanners if you can do that? :P

Apparently there's Kernite in Neesher.

[Yegolev]

Wtf is the point of the astroid scanners if you can do that? :P

I wondered this myself.  I assumed some asteroids had chewy caramel centers, scannable only with special equipment and obtainable only with the deep-core mining skills and equipment, but I have not looked at too much.  I'll let you know when I get one.

I have two Overview preset saved: one for combat and one for mining.

[Yoru]

There's kernite (and quite a lot of it) in Neesher and in the 4 highsec systems within 2 jumps of it. You'll find jaspet in the 0.4 and below, while Schmaeel and other 0.2-and-below systems will have hemorphite. This sort of distribution is pretty common across Amarr space.

The point of an asteroid scanner is to see how much is left in a rock. When you're using a long-cycle-time miner like a Strip Miner, you don't want to waste a full cycle on a rock that has less than half a cycle's worth of ore in it. The amount of ore extracted by a mining laser is a percentage of the mining amount based linearly on the cycle time that it's run. (i.e. Run a 1-minute miner for 30 seconds, you'll get 50% of the output you'd get from a full cycle.)

If I'm mining with other folks using smaller lasers, I try to switch my big stripminers over to bigger rocks once they fall below a full cycle's worth of stuff.

The 'nearby' market hub is the cluster of core Amarr worlds: Amarr, Kor-Azor Prime, etc. I suggest investing in an industrial and purchasing/selling stuff en masse instead of just running frigateloads around.

Oddly enough, there are a few okay Caldari agents nearby in Tash-Murkon.

[MahrinSkel]

Just FYI: Invest in some instas for the area, as well.  I have a set of Domain instas, so if they're still going for 20M a pop, I can hook you up as long as someone is willing to run down to Khanid to pick them up.

--Dave

[Yegolev]

The instas are hard enough to make that people will pay?  Pardon me while I grin and rub my sweaty palms together.

[WayAbvPar]

Full region sets are just a pain in the ass to make; although doing so in a shuttle or small Frig with AB/MWD is much less so. The expensive sets are probably the ones for extremely dangerous regions.

Also, when buying them from someone you don't know, there is always the risk that a few of them don't take you to a SG, but rather to a spot in empty space with a pirate waiting for you...

[Raging Turtle]

Strange, its in Amarr Empire space but there aren't any Amarr agents around for me.  Bah, I say!

[MahrinSkel]

They're also a pain to copy in bulk, I had to write a custom macro program to do it reliably and even so half my copies come out corrupted (I was considering going into that trade, but decided it took too much time overhead).  The more copies you make, the more errors creep in (duplicate and missing BM's in both the source and copy, the "reliable" part of my program is that it won't corrupt the source).  The escrow market is full of both legitimate copies and scams (since you can't tell what a BM points to until after you pick it up, it's ripe for UO-style "FULL SPELLBOOK" scams).  There are reliable vendors, largely you want someone who sells a large variety of sets in a large number of markets.  Avoid Jita, half the BM sellers there seem to be scammers.

Oh, and when dealing with the escrow market in general, ALWAYS INSPECT MERCHANDISE!  Lots of escrows that the descriptions say are for multi-million ISK items at a really cheap price, that are actually 1 unit of Tritium.

--Dave

[Sky]

What's an insta? I gather a bookmark of some kind?

[Furiously]

Yea. You know how warp brings your 15KM from your target...

what if you made your target 15KM beyond your real target. All of a sudden you are right where you need to be. So you can Warp and instantly jump, in total safety.

[Sky]

Ahh, ok. I've made a few of those but didn't know the term.

[Strazos]

Seems, interesting. If I log in and people are not already gearing up for something, I'll try to swing over and explore a bit. I'm especially interested in the possibility of Agents. I've been wanting to run some missions, but not enough so to run back to Caldari space.

[WayAbvPar]

Neesher is working out well for me with one exception- the regional market is non-existent. Gonna have to make regular trips to get rid of all my loot. What is the nearest system with a decent market?

[Yoru]

Try the core Amarr worlds, such as Amarr. I usually can find stuff there.. but of all the empires, Amarr space is the most dead.

You may be better off getting your junk refined and selling off (or remanufacturing) the component materials.

[Merusk]

I have relocated to your barren, desolate side of the world with the Amarr scum.  I'm 3 jumps "safer" than you all in the .7 zone since that's where the only L2 mission holder that's NOT in .2 space I can talk to on that side of the world is. (He's -17 quality but at least he's not L1)   I'll be running my Wolf out of there until I can access the L4 guy in Neesher or some other mission-giver in the area.

The rest of my ships I left back in Minmatar space with the bulk of my equipment (and all my dancing girls... ah pity.).  I figure that way if you all get bored and run off I have far less to move.  :-D

So if you need a high-dps escort just toss me an eve-mail or say something in the F13 channel and we can coordinate loadouts.

[WayAbvPar]

Schmaeel has a decent market.  It is 3 jumps from Neesher, but they are all low sec (Schmaeel itself is .2). Still, not a bad spot to grab skills and the like in a shuttle. Haven't seen any bad guys in the area yet, but the possibility exists nonetheless.

[Furiously]

   Other then being a total pain to replace gear. I like the area. The Blood Angels or whatever they are are good enemies to fight. Set your range to 40Kish and you can kite them forever damage free. Was exciting to take out a big one last night. I was sure I was going to get ganked with my cargohold full of loot (got a 6M energy leech to boot).
   Would like to organize a trip with a couple people to the level 4 complex a system or two over. Overseer robes for the win and all that.
   I suggested last night that we start a collection for buying some BPO's. As I mentioned in the first sentence. Re-equiping out there is a total pain. I brought down a heavy missile launcher (couldn't find any of the better named ones) BPO. We're going to run thought the ammo limited run ones fairly quickly.
   Looks like we have 19M in the bank, I'm guessing we're going to be in the cruiser stage for a few months so perhaps we should look at modules and weapons.
   My suggestions:
   Heavy Scourge Missile BPO
   Medium Shield Extender BPO (these might be on the market at our base)
   Medium Shield Booster BPO
   Power Diagnostics BPO

   Of course - the above is a totally self-centered list, feel free to add ideas.
   
   

[WayAbvPar]

I think some ammo BPOs would be useful as well- I think we have some in the corp hangar, but a more extensive list would be good. Also, some Gallente ship BPOs, bitches! =)

Any thoughts on raising the corp tax to like 10%? That would bring money in a bit quicker, especiallu since there are some decent bounties to be had near our base.

I am interested in the Complex- would I be of any use in a frigate, or do I need to buy a destroyer first?

[Yegolev]

I can't fly or fight for shit, but I'll try anything once.  Insurance paid up through March. =)

[Furiously]

Target Painter BPO - STAT!

Frigs are good for picking up loot. Grab an AB or something.

[Yegolev]

I have a Tristan with ~130m³, max speed something like 400m/s, and an Atron with 90m³ and max speed 998m/s.  These are AB speeds.  Just tell me what I need to be doing.

[Strazos]

Stay away from the things with big guns.

I've been ratting sw of Neesher in the .4 and .3 systems, and raking in loot. Gonan try the .2 and .1 soon.

Sorry I haven't been around much for ops....been falling asleep at weird times, and waking up at 3+ am.

[Yegolev]

Stay away from the things with big guns.

LOL, that gave me a real chuckle.  I stay away from shit with medium guns.

[Furiously]

It's easy to solo the .2 system with a missile cruiser. Hell - you could do it with a frigate with all missiles.

[Strazos]

Frigate missile systems have shit range...I start taking damage if I drift into the lower 20's km range.

[Merusk]

The rats in this area are gunships?

Oh for joy, I might just relocate permanently.  All the shit in Matari was fucking missle-based.  You'd enter a deadspace area and get 6-8 kinetics up your ass within seconds, then you'd have to pray your tank held while you charged the fuckers.  I wondered why the L2s I was running last night were so much simpler than I remembered.

[Furiously]

The blood's are laser based with some projectile it looks like. Don't think I saw a missile all night. But damn when they hit me.... Ouch. You've been hit for 482....

[Yegolev]

I think I mentioned I have base 3 perception (probably 5 now) and only skills for basic small hybrid and light bloodclaws.  I just have a really strong feeling that having next to zero combat skill could be a detriment.  It is important to keep these things in perspective.  However I have Electronics 4 and ECM 2 or 3, Warp drive 2 or 3, AB 3 or 2, maybe that is useful.  You will have to tell me if I can fill in some specialist role, by which I mean "not shooting".  And "not being shot" if possible.

But damn when they hit me.... Ouch. You've been hit for 482....

This number would obliterate any of my ships.

[Furiously]

I'd try to avoid going into an area when a BC/BS can one-shot you. I'd work up engineering and Electronics along with your learning skills.

The caracal offers a quick jump to cruisers as heavy missiles is fairly quick to train to.  But that is just one way your can go.

For PvP you could look at putting in a webbifier and being a tackle.

[Merusk]

Yeah, just took a look in QuickFit and their lasers do primarily EM damage, which Minmatar ships are excellent against.  (Wolf has 75% base shield resist and 92% base armor vs EM ) Kinetic pwns me, since that's my weakest shield and second-weakest amor resist.

Cruiser shields (at least in the cruisers you guys are flying) have a 0% Em resist and a 60% resist on the armor. That's probably why they're eating you up when they hit.

[Strazos]

You will have to tell me if I can fill in some specialist role, by which I mean "not shooting".  And "not being shot" if possible.

I think you could be a webber tackler, Radar jam things, target paint stuff....there are definately specialist things for you to do, especially if you try and run one of the "tech/specialist/science" frigates.

You can also ferry the loot to the big ships. Picking up loot in a 225 m/s cruiser is slow work.

[Merusk]

Yeah, "electronics warfare specalist" would be a quick niche to set yourself up in with the skills you've already got.  You're already at electronics IV so it's not too long to V.  A few levels of Electronic Warfare (asusming you're not at IV there too) and you can train everything needed to target, jam, scramble and hurt others for a gang.  'Course that makes you a huge target too.