0.0 Survival Guide
In 0.0 when you're not blowing things up and in turn being blown up, you'll spend a lot of time docking, undocking and moving between point A and point B - as AGONY typically live in the middle of hostile territory even simple things like moving around can present problems.
The point of this document is to help you feel confident moving around in 0.0, and to increase your survivability if you do run into trouble.
Getting started
Ask questions
We don't expect everyone to be an expert on every single aspect of EVE and there are no "stupid" questions. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say we'd rather answer a handful of basic questions than have somebody sitting around bored and not able to do anything for an hour because they're stuck somewhere.
Clones
Always keep your clone updated. Get into the habit of checking it regularly so you know when to upgrade and if you've just been podded, double check your new clone can hold your current skill points before you undock. Checking takes a few seconds and will save you a lot of misery.
If you have any jump clones, don't store them in the same station as your medical clone otherwise when you die you'll end up destroying your jump clone. Also, avoid leaving multiple jump clones in the same station as attempting to jump into or between the clones can have strange results.
Ships & equipment
Once you get settled, think about spreading your equipment around a little. Yes, keeping everything in one station or even one system makes life really simple but it also means you have a single point of failure - if that station / system gets bubbled heavily they're able to deny you access to all your ships, modules and ammo.
Intel & support
Get into the habit of checking out what tactical intelligence is available - EVE is a big game and we wont always have information on every system or route, but its always worth checking and so you need to know what kind of intel will be available to you.
Ingame channels
Ask about our current intel channels in corp chat or from your mentor (as they change from time to time) - we use these to report intel rather than request it, but if you watch you'll be able to get an idea what's happening in the area. Keep an eye on the MOTD as important items are recorded here.
Corp / Vent
If you have any questions about what your corpmates are doing, what's been happening in the area, known problems etc. the easiest way to get an answer is either to ask in vent or write the question into corp chat.
Local
Just because we don't smack talk in local doesn't mean it's not a valuable intel gathering tool - look at how many are in local and which alliance they belong to. Once you start to learn the tactics certain alliances or players rely on you can pay closer attention if you see them in local.
Ingame map
When no other reliable intel is available, press F10 and call up the ingame starmap - EVE tracks a lot of statistical information and while it's not updated in realtime it's better than nothing.
Some of the options you'll find under "Starmap" > "Color Stars By" > "Statistics" are;
Average pilots in space in the last 30 minutes - populated systems, potential gatecamps. Jumps in the last hour - pipe systems / large fleet movements. Ships destroyed in the last hour / Escape pods destroyed in the last hour - PvP hotspots, potential gatecamps. Pirate and police ships destroyed in the last hour - missioning or ratting systems.
Just bear in mind that this is statistical information on a delayed timer, so it can only tell you what's happened recently rather than what's happening right now.
Tip: Adjust the map animation speed to either "instant" or "fast" to speed up map loading.
Scouts / Eyes
If you're unsure what's outside a station you want to undock from or need to move a vulnerable ship down a pipe, you can always ask for someone in a light ship to provide you with eyes outside the station or scout you down the pipe.
Bookmarks
In hostile 0.0 space having and using bookmarks is the difference between life and death, and as a new member of AGONY you're expected to make your own general purpose bookmarks - this ensures you're familiar with the basic concepts of bookmarking and most importantly allows you to be reasonably confident your bookmarks haven't been compromised.
For more reading material about bookmarks and suggested naming conventions, see the wiki link below;
An Introduction to Bookmarks in Eve
Please note that Celestial Objects ("Celestials") as used in this post refers to the following objects: Planets, Asteroid Belts, Stargates, Stations. NOT MOONS, NOT Complexes (Concord, Deadspace, etc). They are static objects in space which can be warped to and do not move.
Tacticals / Observation points
It is absolutely essential that you get accustomed to making BMs. Making observation BMs (BMs that are in scanning distance of gates) are the hardest to obtain but arguably the most important IMO. The problem with them is that if there happens to be an established gate camp up that you are unaware of (lack of intel, nearby celestial to scan from or BM) and a bubble is up (or might be up) when you warp to the gate at any distance you will be sucked in and killed. This game isn't primarily a U.S or EU game so do not assume that just because it is off-peak hours for the kiddies in your country that Pureblind will be dead for activity and safe. It is not. Nor will it ever be at any time. Its dangerous so conduct yourselves accordingly.
Mid safes
TODO!
Deep safes
Deepsafes are basically BM spots that are so far from any celestial that you can't pick up anything on the scanner celestial wise. You may pick up ships which are floating out in space. You can use both the scanner or the solar system map to determine how close you are to any celestial. Also these bookmarks also unaligned to any celestial object which means that if you fly from any celestial to any celestial at no point in time is it a possibility that an enemy will blink on your overview or show up on your scanner from having passed over or near you.
The map in particular may also reveal any chance of a pilot passing within scanning range of the spot when traveling from one celestial to another. The absolute worst that can happen is you flicker on an opponents screen briefly and they drop a midwarp BM and drop in on you without the use of probes.
Unaligned safespots
An easy way to make them is by using the solar system map. Open up the solar system view, pick a distance celestial object and warp to it. While in warp drop a BM. Warp back to that point. Warp from that point to another celestial (other than the one you were warping to originally when making the first BM) and drop a BM. You have now made an unaligned BM.
Something to keep in mind is that the BM ins't created until after you click "ok" to the add bookmark dialog box. This means you can open people and places, click add bookmark and leave this window open then click ok when your ready to create it. Wherever you happen to be at the time it will make the bookmark go to that specific spot.
Undock
An undock bookmark is a point in space 1,000km+ from the station aligned with the "perfect" undock point. All ships undock at maximum speed, angled at most 5 degrees off the "perfect" undock line - using a good undock bookmark as soon as you're clear of the station should cause your ship to enter warp almost immediately because of your speed and alignment.
If everything works correctly then an undock bookmark makes you pretty much untouchable - the gap between your undock invulnerability ending and you entering warp will be so short that even an interceptor will struggle to get you tackled.
Problems
Sometimes due to the way celestials are laid out in a system using mid warp BMs isn't enough to get a good deep safe hub. This can happen when the celestials are laid out in a line without much variation. Its easy to spot places like this by using the Map (solar system view). If your goal is to make a system in such a place the easiest way is to take it a step further by using a MWD ship which can MWD indefinitely (via the use of cap batts/rechargers or less commonly capacitor power relay [CPR for short]). Warp to the unaligned you just made and just fly off into a single direction with the MWD going and just let it go nuts for awhile. You only need one of these spots to act as a staging area or hub from which all other BMs originate from.
Ships
Different ships are good for different things. Personally I think making BMs like deepsafe hubs are best done with interceptors (intys for short). For doing BM creation that involves observation BMs (BMs that put you within scanning distance of a gate) I think a covops class ship would be best (since its able to stay cloaked while in warp). Both ship classes warp much faster than a standard frigate (9-13AU/sec as opposed to 6) and if you have the skills to use them then most likely you have the necessary navigation skills to warp far (capacitor and warp drive op skill) and to align to points quick (space ship command and evasive maneuvering skill). If you need to go cheap, a MWD rifter can't be beat. Its got a shit ton of lows (for overdrives and nanofibers), and can be made to act like a interceptor (a.k.a Riftorceptor). If you can't use minnie just pick the lightest/fastest frig you can fly.
Stations
AGONY operates in regions with NPC stations as this provides us with relatively stable and secure forward bases without the ownership problems associated with player outposts. Unfortunately you can also setup some nasty traps on 0.0 stations involving bubbles (link:TODO) which is why we're going to talk about docking, undocking, kickouts and undock bookmarks.
Docking
Never warp to 0 on a station unless you know it's safe - if you don't have reliable intel then warp yourself to a tactical bookmark (link:TODO) within scan range of the station and use your directional scanner to check what's on the station.
Also, try to break the habit of docking up for the night - provided you don't have an aggression timer it's much safer to head out to a random deep safe (link:TODO) in the system and logout. Any hostiles will have a hard job finding you
Undocking
Whenever possible make sure you have eyes outside a station before undocking to avoid potential traps.
If you undock into a hostile camp, don't panic - if you're lucky you'll still be within dock range (500m) and provided you don't aggress yourself by firing back you will be able to re-dock once your session/invulnerability timer expires.
When you have a hostile camp on the undock point of a station you can also employ the same kind of tactics you would use to evade a gate camp you've jumped into (link:TODO).
Kickout stations
Kickouts are what we call stations where the undock point places you outside dock range, leaving you unable to re-dock without moving back into dock range. An example of this type of station is the Sisters of Eve (SoE) station in X-7OMU, Pure Blind.
Unfortunately kickout stations are prime targets for bubble traps as a well placed bubble will stop you from warping off immediately, and being outside of docking range stops you immediately docking - leaving you vulnerable to hostile forces.
There are two things you can do to avoid this - know which stations are kickout stations either by their name or the model, and whenever possible get eyes outside the station if you have people in local who are known station campers.
Bubbles & gatecamps
For more reading material on bubbles, see the wiki link below;
Bubbles and Warping
Suspect Gates
If the folks camping it are halfway decent they will have dozens of jet cans and ships sitting on the outer rim of the bubble to de-cloak anything that gets sucked in. In situations like this a covops will afford you no protection. This leaves 3 ways to deal with the camp on gate. 1) Log Out. 2) Dodge the camp using alignment 3) Hit the gate camp head on and push through
Know your Enemy: The Bubble
Think of the path your ship is taking to a gate as a line. Imaging that that line continues in both directions to infinity. If your line intersects with the field the sphere gives off you will be sucked to the edge of this sphere. Gate campers will often drop bubbles 15km behind the gates to suck the ships way the fuck behind the gate well outside jump range to murder folks. Others drop bubbles directly on the gate to catch 2 way traffic. Smalls placed directly on the gate have little chance of catching 2 way traffic. Large bubbles dropped on the gate will catch it all.
Assessing the Threat
First you need to figure out if there is a bubble on the gate or not. A number of situations can arise. The first is you may or may not have planets or other celestials that are close enough to allow you to warp to them and scan the gate in question. If you have a celestial showing up on the solar system map that's close enough to the gate, warp to a distance other than 0 and 100 and scan. If you do not but instead have celestials to either side; warp to a celestial that is to one side of the gate. Then warp to another celestial to the other side and scan as your passing the gate to see if a bubble is up. Think of the letter "t". The top tip of the T is where the bubble sits and the 2 celestials to either side of the gate are the top bar of the T. Its essentially a drive by scanning. Be weary of celestials which blatantly line up with the gate your wanting to drive by. Once you have assessed the danger you can then do one of the following:
Dodging mobile bubbles via Alignment
I have personally dodged gates via alignment. If you can find a celestial that is 45 or more degrees from the gate, you can warp to the gate and then warp to the bubble. The only exception to this (assuming I am not mistaken) is that if the bubble is sitting right on the gate itself. In which case you will always come to a stop on the outer edge of the gate. (Can someone please clear this up for me so I can update this). The first issue that crops up is....how can you discern 45 degrees? The answer is you can't reliably unless its blatant. I've watched my room mate guesstimate 45 degrees only to be sucked into a mobile and blown to bits. The few times I have done it I have given the middle finger to the folks and the bubble on the gate.
Dodging bubbled gates via logout
Not any option anymore per fundamental changes to both mobile warp disruption and interdictors. This is no longer a feasible counter and should not be attempted in the future.
Dodging bubbled gates by virtue of steel balls
So logging out isn't an option (impatience, pending matters,etc.) for you Mr. Sack-o-Steel. First sort the overview by distance. Locate the suspect gate in question on your screen in space but do not click on it. Locate a celestial in the complete opposite direction. If your in a pod you can use celestials that are 180 degrees from the gate you want to run through due to the pods ability to insta warp. For frigs consider using something other than a celestial 180 degrees in the opposite direction of the gate. In ALL cases Minimize the overview button area (click on the small bar just above the orbit, jump, etc buttons area). As your mid flight orient your view so that your max zoom out and not seeing the gate approach you (you want to see the stuff behind you not in front). Just before you land on the gate maximize it. If you land no where near the gate, double click a few times behind you (sometimes you don't stop on the edge of the bubble and get a bit inside) and spam warp to 0 on the celestial you pre-targeted. If your on the gate quickly target the closest gate and click jump and pray to whom ever you call god that there is no bubble on the other side.
You might be asking what exactly this accomplishes? Its my personal method for flying into a gate of unknown bubble status, determining how far from the gate you will land and then warping away. Its a touch-and-go for Eve. If the distances is small enough repeat the process and power to the gate. I leave this decision in your hands. I wouldn't attempt it unless the distance is relatively small.
The reason for the button minimizing is explained in basic (or at least it was the 3 times I took it last year). It has to do with overview lag not updating your distance and stopping you from jumping by graying out the jump button. Last time I was in basic they teach you to "tab tab" which minimizes/maximizes the overview. I am asking you to ignore what you have learned and instead minimize the overview buttons. Reason being is if there is a sizable gate camp asking the overview to redraw the icons, names, distances, and whatever other columns you have turned on for all of the shit on the gate causes more lag than asking the client to redraw 8 (? rough guess) buttons which are static.
I know it must look like a shitty situation at first glance. The corp won't hand out BMs to new pilots to avoid security risks associated with infiltrators but at the same time we crucible our rookies by making them fly in an area where it is 100% essential to know BM making. Weather or not its the intention of leadership I think it has a few side effects.
For one it shows the corp you fully understand the written course materials regarding BM'ing. It shows the corp you aren't dependent on handouts in the form of BMs (which can and will get busted by experienced enemy pilots if your not careful). It teaches the rookies to be depending on their own skills. Most importantly it gives the rookies a HUGE reason to go on wolf packs with the corp. A lot of rookies don't realize it but wolfpacking with the corp is a perfect way to practice making midsafes (the important gate scanning BMs you need). In addition to fittings knowledge, getting used to combat and calming your nerves when you PVP, you can also create your own mid safes while grouped. While in flight watch the distance till warp bubble collapse (distance to the object your warping to) and wait till its reads a number less than 100,000km. Drop a BM. Do this each and every single time you warp to a gate that you have never been to before and you will have your own set of midsafes in no time flat....I promise.
