Tag Archives: high-sec

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way…

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I have recently been donated a couple of blueprints by the gracious AeB. Thank you very much! Now, upon trying to actually use them I discovered that I apparently still had a finished job waiting that I couldn’t deliver… because it was on the other side of New Eden!

Okay, so, how to do that as fast as possible? Do I have a jumpclone over there somewhere? Hmm… kind of. There was a clone sitting in a rather useless highsec island system somewhere close to where I needed to go so I jumped in there, boarded a free Corvette and starting making my way through about 10 lowsec systems which fortunately were mostly empty.

Arriving in the station I finally delivered the job but was now stuck on the wrong side of New Eden with no quick way to get back. However, just getting into a shuttle and slowboating it is not really my style so I got myself a Destroyer, put some turrets and a probe launcher on it and started making my way back, scanning every signature, and peeking into every A641 (highsec-to-highsec wormhole). And oh boy, did I get lucky!

I remember it like it was yesterday… because it actually happened yesterday: I had 44 jumps to go and I found this A641 which from looks of it went to the same section of space I was already in but I went through, anyway. Now I was 45 jumps away! 🎉

Didn’t care, though. This new system was full of combat sites that I had to plow through first, and oh, plow I did. Also scanned down more signatures, including another A641! Was it my lucky day today?

Guess what, I was still in the same nick of space only now I had 50 jumps to travel! Big oof. Nevertheless, there were also a couple of combat sites in here, and more signatures to scan.

Bloody heck, a third A641?! Yes, indeed, and from the sky visible through the hole I knew this would take me closer to where I actually wanted to be (because really, every other region would be closer to my destination than were I was). I finished off the last combat sites and dove in.

Finally, a success! The rest of the way was reduced to a mere 12 jumps which didn’t take long, even with cleaning a couple of combat sites on the way.

Time to build some shit!

Curious, Enigmatic, Mysterious!

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So, for a couple of days now I noticed a new type of signatures popping up, so called “Warp Matrix Convergences.” They look really weird and beautiful and I can’t get enough of them!

I asked a friend (Remy, I don’t think I ever told you of her?) about what ship she can recommend for these kinds of sites and she was all like, “a Probe, hands down.” She has a lot of experience with these things so I totally defered to her judgment and got myself one of those. This is what it looks like:

A Probe in a Warp Matrix Convergence
A Probe in a Warp Matrix Convergence

Everything about this is just so incredibly beautiful! Where do these sites come from? Who is responsible for them popping up just now? How long will they stay? Will I ever have to live without these stunning visuals again? 😭

For now I am intent on making the best of it. The sites I can find in the backwater of New Eden where I currently am give me a lot of Strange Matter Components and some blueprints, apparently for some kind of filament. After a whole afternoon of visiting these sites all over I went to a manufacturing station and got one of the blueprints manufactured. The result is indeed a filament!

I unloaded my Probe (because who knew what would expect me on the other side?), warped a bit away from the station and activated the filament.

Holy moly. This “warp matrix” thingy is even more beautiful than the convergence sites! See for yourself:

Curious Warp Matrix

Absolutely stunning! This pocket of space is apparently being attacked by some kind of rift in space (see above) and there is a lot of debris floating around; some of which again contains those Strange Matter Components and even more blueprints! I see a busy day ahead of me tomorrow! 😃

Mining & Industry Changes

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So, New Eden recently underwent a couple of changes when it comes to one of my favourite pastimes: mining! In more specific (and relevant to me) terms, the drones of an Orca have lost some of their mining bonus but the Orca has gained the Large Industrial Core which technically is a Siege Module which boosts many of the Orca’s defining traits but in turn make it immobile for quite some time and additionally uses fuel. All in all this again reinforces the Orca’s primary purpose; many people are seeing the Orca as a mining ship but it’s actually not, it’s a mining support ship! You’re supposed to have a hord of real mining ships around, like Mining Barges and Exhumers!

This past weekend I have for the first time tried to use one of the new Industrial Cores and I have to say, they do take some getting used to. First of all, you need to be really slow when you activate it. Optimally, you are at a complete standstill because once you activate the Core, your ship will coast at its current velocity until you either deactivate the Core (only possible after a complete cycle which takes two and a half minutes) or you bump something or something bumps you. Have you ever spooled up a Micro Jump Drive and somebody got too close, sending you 100 km in a random direction and you could neither steer nor brake? Exactly that can now happen with the Orca.

And then it doesn’t have an immediate effect on currently running boosts but its changes will only take effect on the next boost. That your boost range switches from 90 km back to 45 km only because you planning to unload is something that needs to be communicated to your mining fleet as long as they don’t really know how this Core thing works.

Other than that, this new module is really fine! With one Covetor, three Procurers, one Retriever, and one Venture it takes about 30 minutes to fill up an Orca — which in turn uses about 20% of the Heavy Water in the new fuel bay… one more thing to pay attention to!

Another thing that has changed as a part of this patch are the mining crystals. While before you needed a specialized crystal for each and every type of ore there was (except moon ores) you now only have six broad categories of crystals, reducing the amount of crystals you have to pack for certain endeavors. I really like that!

And there’s at least one more thing in the works to look forward to: at some point the Orca will gain in-space ore compression using this new Core! I totally can’t wait for that to happen! 🎉

Optimizing the Tempest

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So, as I have written previously, I am using the Tempest to run level 3 and 4 missions when I’m not doing Incursions. And I’m still optimizing the fit; just recently I have found a real quality-of-life upgrade for it: throw out the measley 100MN Afterburner, put in a 500MN Microwarpdrive! (Find the current version on EVE Workbench.)

Yes, it’s not cap-stable with all of it running at the same time but it doesn’t have to be. With the Microwarpdrive I can get away from the targets and when I’m so far away they can’t even hit me, that’s the perfect time to repair the shields. And it’s really way, way cooler to burn 60 km when you actually do 1.1 km/s and not only 397 m/s… stay tuned for more updates! 😀

Now NOT to PVE…

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Shield 0%, Armor 0%, Hull 50%, Modules Overheated
Shield gone, armor gone, half of hull gone, all modules overheated – what a way to die…

So, I tried one of the Winter Nexus event combat sites in highsec and the above image is the result. I was severely pummeled by the Sansha’s Direwight Stormlord and I barely made it out alive. If I really want to continue trying these sites with a Tempest I clearly need to think of some kind of miracle…

Incursion Fun

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Another type of activity you can do in highsec are Incursions. A friend of mine has been running incursions with EVE Rookies for a number of weeks now and it has been an amazing experience for her. With the right crew running incursions is almost completely without risk (as much as anything can be without risk in New Eden) and even for the rag-tag group they have (it’s geared towards less experienced pilots so lots of Praxises in that fleet) the turnout is pretty great. I hear she will upgrade to a Vindicator or even a Vargur sometime soon. So excited for her!

Welcome

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Welcome to my blog, fellow space-dweller! I will be using this space to tell a bit about my life in highsec (and surrounding areas) and other things that are of interest to me.

I do also develop small applications to help my life in New Eden. One thing I have written is the Asteroid Belt Calculator which shows you how large an asteroid belt is. I still have a number of features planned for it so make sure to check back every once in a while!

Plan for today: moon mining! There is a moon in highsec in the Metropolis area that has just popped, and there’s millions of m3 of tasty moon ore waiting for me!