Something Old, Something New - Thera

What the heck is Thera?  Some citizens of New Eden have never heard of nor been to Thera.  Well, they are missing out.  Its unique.  It's technically in a shattered wormhole, but there are stations within that you can set 'death clones' in.  There are also a wide range of connections from high security, low security, null security, and wormholes.  There is even a benevolent group that maintains a collection of bookmarks and publishes the connection on a website, the group is Eve Scout, the web site link here.

The connection listing page on EvE-Scout.com

Eve Scout also maintains a page for connection to another unique system, Turnur.  Turnur is a low security system, but with a full compliment of high, low, null and wormhole connections as well.  Similar concept to Thera, but with the addition of a functioning local chat.  This might be an interesting stage for some future content.  For now, back to the topic of Thera.

Thera has quite a bit of backstory.  I don't think I could do it justice, but you can find a lot of detail across a couple informational web pages:

• Eve Online - Thera release detail
• Eve University - Thera info

Needless to say it's a pretty unique and intriguing system.  I dare say useful as it's a means of traversing all over New Eden via the many connections that are always in change.  It could almost be a hunter's paradise...if not for the many hunters that stage within.  So vigilance, awareness, and if we are lucky the element of surprise are the name of the game.

Another benefit is the availability of stations with which to dock in Thera.  This means some ship variants can be brought in and will serve to increase the engagement profile for the content beyond the usual candidate.  In all honesty, I will still hunt the usual candidates, fear not.  I can also deposit a jump clone in any of the stations, making quick return access should I be in another part of New Eden seeking rapid entry.  

One additional consideration about Thera before this adventure starts, the system is enormous.  342 AU across.  Insanely enormous.  This will take some getting used to.  The risk is that the warp is so long that there is little indication of landing on a drag bubble, a gang camping a wormhole, or some other concoction of death.  A set of tactical bookmarks for perches, docking, and undocking are all in order.

This adventure will bring system scanning front and center as a priority.  But the Eve Scout web site, a set of scanning probes, and some ambition and we have the making of a new adventure.  Next stop, Thera!

For now,

Be Well New Eden!

Hunting Tactics - The Perch

I shouldn't do it.  I should not divulge my secrets.  But, if this tale is to provide any legacy it should do its part in preparing the next generation of hunter.  Of note, the best teacher is failure.  Experience.  Small successes that reward a perfect execution.  But not all techniques need to be invented.  A handful can be passed along, like a watch or useful tool.  Passed along as advise for the next generation or successor.

A small bit of knowledge, but quite useful in ensnaring prey, the Perch.  I've referenced it before in a previous post.  What is it?  Why is it worth mentioning?  Well, having a perch can be the difference between landing on your prey and potentially missing them by having to warp away or slowly burn into position.  Simply put its a bookmark that is at a range away from your current position and from the target that allows the hunter to reset their current position by warping to the perch, then to the desired location ideally on top of the target.  The perch must be at least 150km from the current position as well as at least 150km from the target.  Ideally a perch is at 500km to 1000km away making it better as the greater distance ensures you are at a range that allows warping.

Why does the perch make a difference?  Well as an example, when stalking an explorer at a relic or data site.  If you warp in at 0 on the scanned location you will be forced to burn slowly while cloaked to pursue your target.  If the target is quick, you might be too far away to capture them before they clear the site and warp away.  BUT.... if you create a bookmark at 500km to 1000km when landing on the location, you can then warp back to your bookmark(the perch) reset, and watch your prey.  Waiting.  When the time is prime, you can warp down to a structure, or some object on grid close to the target to strike and unleash your fury.

And how do you make a perch?  Well, when warping into a location you will see a distance shown above your capacitor and control detail.  If you have a bookmark ready, you will just click the create bookmark when you are 10,000 or so km away.

Here you can see I am warping in to a relic site.  I have my Bookmark window open and ready, picked a name 'OCK ping' for the site.  Then I'm watching the distance count down to around 10,000km and will click the Bookmark Submit button to create the perch.

Creating a perch is amplified by a key feature of the Stealth Bomber.  With a Stealth Bomber, when you decloak there is no target locking delay.  So when you warp onto your prey, if you are close to the prey or an object you will automatically decloak and can immediately start locking up the target.  This is quite satisfying.

From your perch, if your target has velocity, say orbiting an astroid or gas cloud, you can also time your attack to align and warp down to the target.  Landing with in time to decloak, lock and tackle.  From the perch you can also take your time to best determine the optimal window to make your attack.

A recent success of an intrepid salvaging Heron on a POCO in Pochven.

I had dscan'd the Heron and found it close to a POCO.  I warped to the POCO and prior to landing created a bookmark or perch.  Once I landed I then warped back to the newly created perch.  I observed the prey for a moment plotting my moment of darkness.  When the time was opportune I warped down to the target, decloaked, locked, and dispatched them back to their home station in known space.  Good times.

For now,

Be Well New Eden! 

New Eden gets some changes

September 9th, there was some updates unleashed upon New Eden.  Lots of ship changes as well as some environment and system changes.  There were even changes for Pochven and wormholes.  The trusty Stealth Bomber remained as is.

You can read all about the tweaks and twists here:  https://www.eveonline.com/news/view/legion-major-update

From the notes, I am curious about the changes to wormholes.  There is mention of an increase in connections.  Not great for the wormhole citizens if they like to lock the hole down to mine or run combat sites or whatever shenanigans they do.  But for a hunter, if more folks are out in wormholes then there are more opportunities for mayhem.

I will say that my preference for hunting has always been wormholes.  I've likely mentioned this before.  I tend to repeat myself from post to post.  BUT...  Wormholes can be pretty quiet and hard to find opportunities to engage on a consistent basis.  I've found Pochven to be a richer environment for targets as it is more contained in the 27 systems.  That said, maybe it's time to take a week or two and see what the wormhole landscape feels like.

In other news, I know I've been quiet here for the past week or so.  While I have not posted my activities or thoughts, I have been active.  I am in the shadows, lurking, waiting, patient.  I've been close a couple times to dispatching some prey.  I've had a Garmur warp in on a lonely target only to run my prey away.  I've found a Magnate at the sun looting containers that somehow eluded my grasp.  Some magic on his part.  I've combat scanned several explorers that are loose in the system, only to warp in to an empty location.  These are the slow times that make you appreciate your successes.  These are the times where the hunted begin to feel confident and comfortable, maybe even propagate and bring their bright eyed friends in with them.

The moral of the story, the prey can be over-hunted.  There needs to be balance.  There will be times the hunter is prevailing and there will be times the prey feel safe.  There is a need for both.

This is my 12th post in a month and a half.  A few more posts than my short run last year.  Bear with me dear reader.  I am still on this journey.  The quest is long.  The challenges plenty.  Provided that the prey is out in space I will find them.

For now,

Be Well New Eden!

Risk Taking

The very fact I am a cloaky hunter says something about my risk taking profile.  It's low, very low.  That said, there are times I kick myself for not jumping on an opportunity.

Within the nomadic Stealth Bomber hunting world, risk taking involves taking on more PVP oriented targets.  This includes gunnery or missile bonus ships as well as drone boats.  Drones are a bomber's worst nightmare.

So when taking risks I need to evoke my biggest advantage.  Stealth and surprise.  I hold the cards as to when I will engage and how.  I also need to be quick.  The faster I can eliminate the target the less likely they realize there is an issue, equally this will diminish their ability to call in reinforcements.

Violence. Speed. Momentum.  -  Dr. Disrespect

So, while doing the tour of Pochven I spotted a Kestrel at the sun.  I decided to see what a Kestrel was up to.  Often I see T1 frigates at the sun or in some special gated area.  I will ignore these mostly, but on this night my interest got the best of me.  Warping in to the Sun at range I made a perch about 700km off.  Perches are handy to pull you away from the field of battle, but also to allow you setup a warp in to the target if there is an object nearby to them.

Use the tools.  I pull up Zkill to review the pilot, their history, and see if I can find a fit used for the Kestrel.  I'd like to see what I'm getting myself into.  Maybe give myself an out.

In the middle of the research a Sunesis warps in and quickly cloaks on grid.  This scares the Kestrel away.  Bummer.  This does not scare me away.  I am intrigued.  I wait.  Not long and the Sunesis uncloaks and proceeds to salvage and scoop the wrecks of the NPCs that are in battle in Pochven.

A Sunesis can be spicy.  Potentially much worse than a Kestrel.  They get a drone damage benefit.  They can also be fit with rockets/missiles or gunnery.  Zooming in on the ship I see that this one seems to be only fit with salvagers.  A little Zkill research, but nothing found for a Sunesis loss on this character.  In the back of my mind the drones are still an issue, but I figure - Let's Do This!

From my perch I warp down to a grouping of wrecks.  Then once near the target I begin my approach.  It's not long and I have the Sunesis tackled and under attack.

Finishing the Sunesis, I am tickled that I also am able to capture the pod and collect a frozen corpse for a trophy.

A beautiful and colorful explosion for that pod.

So, in retrospect I am glad to have taken the risk.  My gamble paid off and I live on able to continue the hunt, seeking the next engagement.  I am grateful for the content provided by Jowemado Egivand.

For now,

Be Well New Eden!

The Competition

Right in front of my eyes, a fellow kindred spirit hunter stalking the same prey.  I had seen a Manticore a few systems back.  A lot of times folks will use Stealth Bombers to bring into Pochven to try and improve their standings with the Triglavians.  A Stealth Bomber is not the most efficient way to do this, but can be effective as you can certainly eliminate some NPC targets and potentially eliminate some player industrials if you are lucky enough to find them.  

For myself on that evening, not finding targets and soon forgetting the Manticore I continued my roam and search for targets.  As I was almost done for the evening I hopped into system and what did I see?

An Endurance.  Sadly the Endurance of a target I have already collected 3 corpse trophies from.  But an empty night and an empty few days so I will take what I can get.  I settle into my approach, the long 145km crawl towards the target.  Along the way I have time to admire the ship, his efforts and the mining laser.

Kinda dark and intimidating if it wasn't just an eager mining vessel doing their part to provide resources into New Eden.  As I near my prey, to my surprise...

It's the other Manticore.  They too have eyes for this Endurance.  And a bit ahead of me as they were already upon the target with me still 97km to go.  As fate would have it the prey was able to escape.  Seen here, note the Velocity.

Our fellow hunter likely saddened by the target simply warping away.  Likely our hunter with a single Warp Scrambler or possibly a single Warp Disrupter.  Our prey likely with a Warp Stabilizer and able to effectively negate the hunter's tackle effects and make their escape.

As you'll recall in my Unconventional Fits discussion, I have learned to utilize two Warp Scramblers in my setup.  One being a faction variant that has an enhanced feature to make my scram ability to be -5 and the target only able to be a +4 at best, commonly a +2.  A powerful lesson for the hunter.

I took a moment to see what the fellow hunter's engagement history looked like.  Using Zkill I was able to see what they used, how they commonly hunt, if they are solo or in groups.  Then I looked through the losses.  I found a few Stealth Bomber losses.  Notably a couple odd Nemesis fits that appeared to be configured for a tackle setup in a fleet.  Tackle being no real ability to damage the target, just hold them until the fleet can arrive to take the target down.

I did find one fit, quite similar to my unconventional fit, but our fellow hunter using two T2 Warp Scramblers, -4 at best.  

This likely good enough to hold the Endurance, but will lose a Venture if they are properly fit with a stabilizer.

So, an empty evening for me.  But some entertainment from watching the encounter.  Always good to know others are around.

For now,

Be Well New Eden!

Useful Tools - Zkillboard

When hunting, there are a number of tools available to assist, support, and maybe even enhance your experience.  One such notable tool is the Zkillboard(https://zkillboard.com/) or just Zkill.

This web portal has a long history for Eve Online.  It's loved by many.  Hated by some.  But a powerful source of intelligence.  It provides an offline portal to review player interactions(kills).  It also offers a lot of analysis and data analytics related to these interactions(....kills).  A daily, weekly, monthly, annually collection of activity as reported by the players.  The information within only the tip of the iceberg.

For me it serves a number of beneficial roles.  It provides a record of player vs. player events that I took part in at a point in time in-game.  A nice log of history for successes and failures.  It also provides a reference for me to review ships and fits.  To see how players are either successful or not with a fit and function of a particular ship.  

As a tool, it provides me with a view of player performance, specifically my targets.  What do they commonly fly?  Do they they win or lose?  When they lose I get a glimpse at the fit.  Do they fly solo or in groups?  If in groups, what is their role?

All of this information for a simple Venture, Prospect, or Endurance and recently for Herons.  All this provides some insight into what is potentially awaiting.  Is my target a creature of habit? Are their fits something that will quickly succumb to my Stealth Bomber platform or choice?  Or will my target have teeth making my job a challenge or chore?  Worse yet, will my target get the best of me with a fit that has an unexpected edge?

All of this detail packaged neatly in the Zkill history of my target.  Easily accessed in the moments prior to my attack.  Giving me the confidence or concern to engage or hold off.  I recommend this tool to be used during your encounters and engagements.  Give yourself a potential edge.  Also, enjoy a moment in time that reflects an encounter or engagement.

More tools are out there, I'll try to cover more of my favorites in the future.

For now,

Be Well New Eden!