Eve Online - Nullsec
So today I activated my jump clone, purchased some second tier implants and made preparations to head out to my new home in nullsec. I decided to travel in a covert ops frigate that allows me to go into stealth mode, or “cloak”, whereby enemies cannot see me. This makes bypassing hostile ships a lot safer and easier. I can’t carry very much cargo with it, but as I’m just exploring right now, it’s not a major concern. That said, even with the ability to cloak, there is still risk.
Since I don’t really know the political situation out in the wilds of 0.0, I decided to base myself with Mordu’s Legion Command (MLC). Since MLC’s territory technically belongs to the game and not any player faction, it cannot be conquered. Thus it seems unlikely that I’d be stumbling into the middle of one of Eve’s many ongoing territorial wars. Basically, my hope is that Mordu’s region is a relatively peaceful area of space with enough people around to still have a functioning market.
This is not to say that it is safe. As I plotted my course from my offices near Jita, the galaxy’s predominant trading hub, to Mordu’s Legion’s Testing Facilities, I noticed something troubling on the map. The border system between Empire space and nullsec, Torrinos, had had 19 ships destroyed in the last hour and 12 pod kills (that is, the destruction of an escape pod). This was clearly a gate camp.
A gate camp is where a group of pirates sets up a no warp field around a gate and wait for an unsuspecting player to try and pass by. The no warp field prevents ships from easily getting away from the predators. It is, in essence, spiders and their web waiting for their flies. Once a “fly” stumbles into the net, the small ships will “tackle” their prey, slowing it’s escape further while the bigger, meaner ones blast it to the verge of destruction. At this point the pirates usually extort money from their victim by requiring a”toll”, or simply blow them away in order to steal cargo or because they are just jerks. With all the pod kills, I was betting on jerks.
As I approach the stargate in Torrinos, I prepare myself mentally for whatever lurks on the other side. Maybe nothing… Maybe a large group of pirates… I activate the gate and it asks me if I’m sure; the warning saying that 0.0 is lawless and the police can’t help me if I go forward. Pausing for just a moment, I hit the Accept button.
Sure enough, as I materialize on the other side of the jump, a group of pirates are waiting for me. It’s definitely not nothing, but it’s not some armada either; 4 spiders are resident in this web.
When you warp into a new system, the gate keeps you cloaked for a little while so you can get your bearings safely, but it doesn’t last long. I set my autopilot to take me off into a random asteroid belt where I can hide, but the computer tells me they have erected a no warp field. If I try to set a course out of the field, the gate’s cloak will come undone and the pirates (who already know I’m here) will be able to see me. If I didn’t have my own cloaking system, this would be a very dangerous situation. As it stands, as long as I can quickly turn my cloak on as the other comes off, I should be ok.
I set the navigation computer to take me out of the field and, after a 1/10th of a second pause, enable my onboard cloak. I’ve fitted this ship with overdrive injectors, meaning that it’s fast. Like jets in real life, I believe that in this game, speed is life. As I pass the field barrier, I set the computer to jump to a random asteroid belt so I collect my thoughts before moving on.
Feeling a little invulnerable with my fancy cloaking device, I decided to head back to the gate camp to get you, my valued readers, a few snapshots (click to enlarge):
A pirate battleship with the gate in behind. The halo is a sensor pulse from his enhanced sensor grid.
A Heavy Interdictor. He makes the no warp field. He is in the left of the picture in front of the gate and surrounded by a purple forcefield.
Having done my duty and got my screen shots, I decided to move on to safer locales. Thankfully, the rest of the journey was uneventful just as the map had promised and I soon arrived in 5ZXX-K, my new base of operations.
Immediately after arriving I started to look into the local market conditions as well as what companies were operating in the region. The market was more or less what I hoped for. Most of the basic essentials were available and at somewhat reasonable prices too. I was expecting to be gouged due to the dangerous shipping, but it wasn’t all that bad. Someone is probably producing goods locally. The selection is not as broad as any of the major trading hubs naturally, but was better than I was expecting. In retrospect, Mordu space is relatively populated compared to the rest of nullsec, so it makes sense that a market providing a reasonable set of products at decent prices should have sprung up.
The local companies are a bit of a mixed bag. Some, such as the “Caldari Independent Navy Reserve” and the “Caldari Neighbourhood Watch” militias, look pretty friendly. “Bad Attitude” whose motto is “Kill Everyone”, not so much.
There are a number of other companies here who may or may not be friendly. Only time will tell I suppose. There is also one regional mercenary corporation and a local arms manufacturer whose congeniality will ultimately depend on what business deals they have struck in the last few weeks.
Overall, it looks like a good first day and I’m keen to start scouting out the local systems to see where I can set up shop.
- Dractyl
P.S. Here is a snapshot of my ship in front of the space station, the docking pylon inside, and some market statistics:
My Covert Ops cruiser and Mordu’s Legion’s Testing Facilites several kilometers off in the background.
My very own docking pylon! Yay!
Some market statistics for heavy missiles. Maybe a good import…