Thursday 2 August 2012

Eve Online: Hiding

For the last six months I've been hiding in Eve. And not just in game, I've deliberately maintained a low blogging profile too.

I've been living out in an obscure class 1 wormhole. Class 1 is the smallest class of wormhole: it has the weakest rats, the smallest entrances (hulks, orcas and battleships can't enter but frigates cruisers battlecruisers and haulers can).

I'm now winding down my operations in that hole to graduate to a higher level of wormhole play involving other people. However, like everything wormhole-related, even winding down is a major project that will take considerable time. I'm also going to relax my self-imposed restriction on blogging about it (as I don't want that hole anyway).

Soloing a wormhole has been a very interesting experience that has taught me a lot about the game. Over the next few weeks I'll be talking about hole security, scanning, exploring, raiding nullsec for mag and radar sites, ratting in wormholes, living arrangements and PI.

I'd like to explain a little now about the lack of blogging.

Eve is designed as a game where players destroy other players' stuff. Putting down a structure in space is a bit like building a sandcastle in a sandbox, you're inviting another kid to come kick it over.

So there are two rational ways to handle information when you place a structure in Eve - talk about it because you want to attract people so you can kill them. Or keep quiet so people don't come over and kick your stuff in.

Of course for some bloggers their blog is more important than their Eve assets. Mabrick for example has cheerfully invited the wrath of Goon death squads because it gives him lots of fun stuff to talk about. However I've seen people claim that no one would be deterred from writing simply because The Mittani announced a special operations group tasked with tracking down and trashing pesky writers. They're wrong - I am an example of someone who decided to be a lot more careful while my solo wormhole operation was ongoing. I certainly didn't want to be in a position where I'd have to watch what I said all the time while blogging.

The flipside though is that now that my operation is winding down I have a lot of things stored up. So expect a burst of Eve discussion here. Amongst other things I'll be talking about information security.

2 comments:

  1. You know, if you read back to my first posts it is blatant that I was being Security Conscious when posting. I abbreviated, or outright changed, names and then sometimes abbreviated the changed names, (LOL) I was very careful to never give out anything I felt could lead back to us... and I assumed anything could…

    Then I figured it out... nothing you say here can 'lead back' to a specific wormhole unless you give the name of a system you have a current active hole in, and that info is good for only 24 hours at best...

    In the year I have lived full time in holes, I have yet to find ANYONE who knows of ANY mechanic whereby someone could intentionally 'find' a specific W-space system.

    Locator agents can't find you... and you can jump into a random hole in Empire and scout for WEEKS and never find one particular system out of the estimated 2500 or so wormhole systems 'in' EVE... I have scouted our local constellation of W-space and not seen the same hole for weeks…

    After a few months I asked corp and Alliance mates about posting security and they all said no need for extreme measures, just dunt let em know the systems, either in Empire or W-space that we are connected to is all...

    Now with a Locator Agent you CAN find someone ‘if’ he is currently 'in' Empire, like I was for about 45 mins total last night, (selling off the past several nights Sleeper L&S, 1B ISK worth) and then 'if' you can get to the system he is in, while he is still in it, and if he’s an idiot you might be able to do the cloaky "Follow that car!" thing and follow him gate to gate, find the system where he doesn't warp to a gate and yet goes 'poof' in local... then you could scan down the holes and find him...

    But…
    (1) I (almost) NEVER USE AUTOPILOT. =]

    (2) I don’t EVER warp gate to gate uncloaked… I first accelerate in whatever random direction I landed in when I jump a gate, then cloak up fast, only when under full cloak do I align and warp to my intended gate, so you will never ‘see’ my ship warp off in any specific direction… then I spam the crap outta JUMP as I land so I am uncloaked as short a time as possible… I doubt any one single player could follow me five hops, much less ten or moar.

    (3) I also tend to look over my shoulder… a lot... I will very often jump a gate and accelerate/insta-cloak then just watch to see who jumps thru after me, and I keep track of anyone "going my way" as twere...

    If I get that creepy ‘eyes on yer warp trail’ feeling, I will make a random gate hop or two off course and see who pops out after me... and I watch especially for cloakies… Cheetahs, Helioseses, T3s, etc.

    In other words it's not here they spai you out... It's in Out There...

    "Paranoia is a sane response to an insane situation." =]

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  2. I look forward to your posts!

    I also have to admit that my corps situation has changed and I may not be so eager to incur the wrath of anyone. I added three rookies to the corp just before and during the war. I am more than willing to risk my skin, but with corp mates comes responsibility. That's a heavy burden.

    Anyway, get to posting already would you! I want to glean all your pearls of wisdom while they're still fresh.

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