Monday, December 7, 2009

Using a third Alt

Late last week, as I was spending more time in the adjoining static C2, I began to be concerned that fate or bad luck or both would shut me out of my "Home" W-space system. Regardless of how closely and carefully I monitored mass restriction/consumption and the WH timer, with both my main and alt in a different system than my POS, it was very feasible to lose the WH entrance and thus lose the POS.

So, I decided to train up a new scanning alt, to be deposited and logged off at the POS indefinitely. It took less than 72 hours to get a decently trained toon up to Imicus + Expanded Probe Launcher + Astronomics 4 + all other probing skills to 3+.

Once I did that, I flew the toon into the most recent lowsec entrance and parked it at the POS, then logged off.

Now, if I happen to lose that WH back to my POS system, I can always scan my way out (both fit standard launchers) and the new scanning toon can separately locate the next static LowSec exit/entrance.

Considerably less angst over losing the WH now - feels like a weight off the proverbial shoulders.

Fly Safe!

14 comments:

  1. That is exactly why I have my 3rd alt as a scanning pilot.

    Let me ask you...
    What is your view on using an Orca for Operations in a hole? can they even fit in a C2 hole? I plan on putting up a Medium Tower, but I am wondering if I should punch my ship through a hole and see what I can pull down in some of those Gravimetric belts.

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  2. I love the synergy of using alts. You just get more done in Eve by using alts wisely, and offers more variety of play as well.

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  3. A horror story for the sake of encouraging the use of this practice:

    I've been reading this blog forever, researched wormholes like mad, and read the Everything Wormhole guide. A few weeks ago, I asked two friends to join me in a wormhole venture and they quickly obliged. They were experienced covops pilots who knew their way around scanning on top of being close in-game friends for some time. I amassed our tower, equipment, and fuel, but had to be absent these last two weekends due to RL. In my absence, I trusted my friends with the equipment so they could deploy and have the system settled by my return. A few days ago I logged on to great news: they had found a plump new w-space system and settled in, as well as having made some nice loot already... Only problem was that they couldn't get the loot out. Upon asking why, they told me that while friend 1 had left to buy more supplies, friend 2 got podded while soloing sleepers... with no one left in the hole to scan. Goodbye stuff.

    Losing stuff in a wormhole has to be the worst because you know it's still there, but you don't quite know where "there" is.

    Moral of the story: Never trust anyone with your isk.
    Moral of the story for wh pilots: Always have a scanning alt parked in the POS.

    240M iskies thinner, I'm now amassing equipment with what's left in my wallet and plan to deploy on my own this time.

    If anyone happens to come across WH system designation J133052 or a POS anchored by corporation FAQ-Q in w-space, please contact LordRay093 in-game, there will be a reward for your goodwill.

    Here's hoping no misfortune befalls you in EvE *raises a tall glass of scotch*

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  4. With a mass of 250M kg, it can easily fit in C2's. Most HighSec WH's are 750M kg. My static LowSec is an A239, which is 2B kg.

    The answer on the Orca is another spreadsheets in space effort, and might be different based on how you are going into it (i.e. Solo or Solo+Alt or Gang).

    I might work it out tonight for my own (Main+Alt) situation. I would have to compare the yield from 2x Hulk with T2 Strip Miners and T2 crystals versus one Hulk + Orca (fitted with mining foreman bonuses).

    Problem is that I am still convinced the only mining I want to do is the little bit I need for hybrid reactions. I still make more ISK running sleeper sites.

    Just for fun, I am going to inventory an entire typical C2 Grav and see what it adds up to be for ore totals and then calc the Jita prices for raw ore and refined minerals.

    Then I can work out the rough timing on the 2x Hulk or Hulk + Orca and see if it is cost justified to invest in that Orca. Although I am max-skill on mining and refining, I am still a mining n00b and cannot definitively set a value on a typical C2 Grav site...

    Let's keep this thread going in my next post, which I will make on the C2 Grav site inventory.

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  5. I really am not terribly interested in the whole "is it more profitable to do 2 hulks vs 1 + orca... I just want to get in and get my feet wet. my miner is pretty well rounded. Dominix Pilot, Hulk driver, I can pilot a Drake pretty well too. I just want to get in and see how things go. Maybe do some sites, crunch rocks, and see if I can turn a profit with my efforts. every ship I take into the hole is paid for and I have backups in the wings.

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  6. Anon - Ouch! That is a Class 1 WH for those of you scanning WH's - if you find it, I will add 50M ISK to the reward!

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  7. Elixir - I agree - I am out here in W-space for the new experience, moving into research and manufacturing, and evaluating W-space for where the value is. I am just posting my findings on some C2 Grav sites - interesting findings.

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  8. OK, posts on two common Class 2 Grav sites are here:

    http://eve-wormholes.blogspot.com/2009/12/unexceptional-frontier-deposit.html

    http://eve-wormholes.blogspot.com/2009/12/common-perimeter-deposit.html

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  9. We have daily access to Class 1 systems - I'll keep an eye out for your POS...

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  10. Very interesting post as we have ben in a class 2 WH for about 7 weeks. The Alt suggestion is one we came up with when we were new in a Class 1 hole...I also enjoyed your posts on ore availability but ask this of the small group wormholers...who has the time to fully mine a site like that???

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  11. Elixir.. while "Trying out" wormholes, maybe just have a third alt with an industrial logged off to store the ore in?

    I mean, scan hole down, go in and find a safe, bring in industrial and jettison some GSC´s and mine-drop into those..

    A rigged IttyV can hold quite a bit, and its not so expensive a loss as an Orca :)

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  12. Yargok - yeah, but my max-rigged Itty 5 has a max cargo of just over 50K (with GSC's) - that would be more than 60 round trips - just no way with an Industrial.

    Thanks Thomasale!

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  13. Yargok, that would be a feasible day-trip plan. My plan is to do extended remote ops. I have a bit of frontier mentality, and because this is just a game, I am not very skittish of risk. I am looking at the risk-reward side of it.

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  14. I go a step farther the a third alt.

    On every account I have I have a dedicated "breadcrumb"

    This toon has the very very very basics of scanning. Racial Frig 3, Astro 2, Astro Range 2, and skills for grav rigs.

    Since you are looking for WH's and they are big sigs I have never had a problem scanning down wh's with these "sub-toons"

    So I have multiple "insurance plans" for w-space and each "breadcrumb" cost less then 5-6 hours of training time off my main characters training schedule. (Remeber to remap right away to memory and intel).

    Fly safe.
    Mick

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