The New Edener

I was going to start this series by explaining the differences in different styles of PvP, but as I started to write, I realized a lot of it was fairly self explanatory, so rather than more answers to “what?”, I am going to steer this series in the direction of “how?”. This article will be devoted to finding fights. This is one of those conundrums of the game in that you feel like you can always find a fight when you aren’t prepared, and then as soon as you go looking, you either find nothing or a 40-man roaming faction battleship pirate gang.

The first thing you have to answer when trying to find a fight is “what kind of fight am I looking for?”. Are you a pirate, an anti-pirate, a griefer, a NBSI PvP fanatic on an epic roam of doom?! The majority of solo and small gang PvP seems to happen in low-sec empire space, with 0.0 generally sticking to the larger camps and roams, and obviously, the large scale fleet battles. High-sec has its place on the list as well, for empire wars and griefing mostly.

Let’s start with low-sec. Pick a system that you want to base out of. This could be personal preference or based on the base of operations for your corp. Now find the nearest low-sec entry points and take a shuttle or noob ship and go scout around. To be successful in low-sec, it is very helpful to know the immediate area off the top of your head. Using Rens as an example of a base, I know Amamake is the closest low-sec entry, and I know I can get to alternate high sec by going from there to Sisiede, then onto Egghelende, and finally over to Jel, in Gallente space. I can also loop from Ama, to Vard, followed by Ezarra, Arzad, Sifilar, Tzvi, Lamaa, Kourmonen, Auga, and back to Ama. I know Ama is a pretty busy pirate hub, as is Egghelende, so if I am solo, I mostly steer clear of those two systems other than to travel. This kind of awareness is one less thing to worry about once you know it, so you can think about other things while looking for a fight.

So let’s say you jump to Amamake and warp straight to Vard and jump through. You are solo, flying a Rupture. When you come in, there are three others in local. That’s good. If you are solo and there are 20 people in system, chances are if you engage one person, they will have friends, and the friends will be there soon. So you warp to the star at 100, or somewhere equally random, so as to not unintentionally land on a potential target. Using the directional scanner set to max range (roughly 13AU) on a 15 degree scan directed at a single asteroid belt, you pick up a Maller. Perfect. A good old fashioned 1v1 cruiser duel without the prospect of much interference from others in local.

You warp to the belt at 0. The Maller is there, 9km from you. From here, a flowchart would really work better. Are you a pirate?-> Yes -> Attack!…You are not a pirate, but he is flashing red -> Attack!…You are not a pirate, he has negative sec status-> Wait and let him make the first move if you don’t want to take a sec hit, if he engages, return fire, if he leaves, it wasn’t meant to be.

You do not have to be a pirate necessarily to randomly attack people in low-sec. I do it all the time. It is all just a matter of gauging the worth. If you are starved to shoot something, or if it has a high chance of dropping some very desirable loot, it is usually worth it. If you are in a cruiser on a gate and you see a noob ship, chances are losing your ship to the sentry guns is not worth looting his 1 unit of tritanium. Use your best judgement in these cases. Think about your motivations for PvPing before you go out, and it will be easier to tell yourself whether or not to open fire in a certain situation.

To wrap up, I will combine high-sec and 0.0 into one paragraph. Basically, in 0.0, everything is a target. Know your capabilities and limits, and have fun. In high-sec, 99% of the time, your only option for PvP is war targets. In my experience and opinion, empire wars are extremely boring, but if your corp is in one, follow their lead. In both of these arenas, many of the same geography rules apply; have some idea of where you are and where you can escape to, make safe spots using the bookmark tool so you can scan exit gates, etc. Also in 0.0, it is very useful to bring up the map (f10) and color stars by pilots in system in the last 30 minutes, and recent ship kills. If you are going to jump into Doril and the map says 80 in local with 35 ships destroyed in the last hour, maybe wait a while…

I hope that all helps a little in your adventures. Explaining these styles and methods is difficult; as with most PvP related knowledge, the best to gain it is to go out and try it yourself. Feel free to shoot me an eve mail with questions, complaints, and stories about your experiences in PvP, whether you used my advice or not. I would love to hear about it!

Fly safe, and check back for installment #3: “Solo-Gang-Fleet: Which One is for Me?” coming soon.

Master Technique PvP, Tutorials guest article, guides, PvP, Tutorials