Assessing a low-sec system

New Citizens Q&A
1

Hello,

I just got killed and podded trying to do my first bit of low-sec mining. Don’t mind that, that’s the game, but I’m looking at advice on low-sec and one of the tips was to use DOTLAN to assess how dangerous the system is before I go in.

The system I was in - Domain - Faswiba - DOTLAN :: EveMaps - has zero kills for most of the past 48-hours with the exception of one big spike, to which I donated my Venture. Wondering if someone more experienced can help me parse what that means? I’ve currently got two possibilities:

  1. I got extremely unlucky to be in the system when someone passed through and did a bunch of murdering; or

  2. This system is completely locked down by an individual or group and people generally know not to go there/go there by arrangement, and I didn’t.

Obviously if there’s a third option I’ve not thought of, please let me know!

2

Please don’t take this as an insult, but you got ganked because you used bad intel. 48 hours is far to wide of a window to judge if it’s safe to ninja mine in lowsec.

First off, the in game map now has a layout like Dotlan, let’s use that.

Screenshot 2025-12-25 114835
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This is the Statistics filter from the in-game map. Those top two options, Average Pilots in the last 30 minutes, tell you roughly how people are online in the system. Jumps tells you how many people pass through to chance seeing you, and the two options for destroyed (last hour) tell you where the gate camps are.

Now, even using the right intel, it only gives you the information up to an hour or half hour ago, and the residents of that system could have all logged on two minutes before you got there. Additionally, like your first possibility mentions, nothing is going to stop Rando from pouncing on you whenever he sees you outside Highsec.

The last bit of intel I need to bring up is the D-scan. If someone is in Local, you need to be spamming D-scan like your life depends on it, because it does. The instant you see probes or a combat ship, you GTFO. Don’t wonder if they’re hostile, they are, just start bouncing around your safe spots while making more.

Here’s a tip for ninja mining: Wormholes. Lots of them lead from HS to Low and Null, and let you completely bypass the gate camps usually in the border systems.

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3

Worthless information for most cases. You need to check kills within the last hour. In-game map has this information.

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4

No insult taken at all! That’s very helpful, thank you. Just to clarify, does ‘gate camp’ mean simply someone sitting in the system scanning? Because I got in fine and managed to half-fill my hold.

I had the D-scan up, probably wasn’t hitting it as often as I should have been so didn’t catch the guy quick enough. I also got caught out because the Venture has a built-in warp stabiliser so I didn’t think a single ship would be able to block my warp (I was aligned to my safe and ready to go), but he did. That plus a bit of newbro clunkiness at the controls did for me, I think.

Thanks very much for the advice, I’ll have a look up how to get into J-space (and back) and give that a whirl.

5

No. Gate camp is when people are actively on a gate looking for kills for a period of time. There can be 1-2 pilots doing this. But usually it’s more than that. Look up zkillboard information for a particular low sec system before you go into it. It will show if kills have taken place on gates, like in this particular case:

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6

I see, good to know thank you. What charming fellows those gankers are!

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7

If there are people in Local, or you are at any type of Anomaly that can be directly warped to without probing down, best practice is to spam it as fast as the cooldown allows.

If you’re at a site that needs probes to find it, then you can relax just a little and only hit it every few seconds to check for probes.

Also, be aware that Combat Recon Cruisers are a thing, and don’t show up on D-scan at all, so even the strictest D-scan discipline won’t help if one of those enters system. Your first clue that it’s there, beyond the person being in Local, is them landing on grid with you.

Scan down those Cosmic Signatures on your probe scanner, most of them are wormholes. While most of those wormholes lead to J-space, many lead to Nullsec and Lowsec. Here’s a few tips for ninja mining in LS/NS while being based in HS.

The signature you probe down is not the wormhole, so don’t bookmark that when you finish probing it. Warp to it and bookmark the actual wormhole.

Once on grid with the wormhole, look at it. With some practice, you can look at a wormhole and tell where it goes, each type has a different look to it. Also, you can save yourself a few clicks on the next tip here, because if the wormhole looks shaky and unstable, it’s probably close to collapse.

Before ever going through a wormhole, “Show Info” on it. That will tell you roughly where it goes, how long it until it collapses from time, and how much mass can go through it before it destabilizes.

That said, you will eventually forget to look and jump through a wormhole to either have it collapse on you, or when you warp to your bookmark the wormhole isn’t there. You don’t have a lot of options in most mining ships, unless you make sure to carry a mobile depot, probe launcher, and a set of probes in the miner’s cargo. Either that, or self destruct everything. I have a dedicated scanning alt for wormhole shenanigans, but I learned the hard way to make sure every other alt I take in has the ability to get out by themselves.

As soon as you go through a wormhole, IMMEDIATELY BOOKMARK THE OTHER SIDE!!! Unless you’re jumping through into Highsec, you will be in hostile space and you don’t want to have to probe down the exit while being chased around a system.

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8

In lowsec you have to actually play the game and stare on the screen how the rocks are getting mined themselves. At least when there are no other players in the local. If there are you must spam dscan over and over every 2 seconds to spot whether they are coming for you and if they do you warp away, dock and wait it out or logout for a while before you return.

It is annoying gameplay.

At any way, Domain Research and Mining Inst. | Alliance | zKillboard this alliance is very active in amarr space and they will kill even stupid cheap ventures. So make them red, if you see them enter local dock immediatelly no need to bother with dscan, I would avoid Domain region completely, try Khanid instead. Should be safer there.

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9

Personally I use zkillboard.com and not dotlan for judging a system and individual players. I think zkillboard has more info related to pvp.

And if I’m going to jump with something valuable in my cargo i check the path with eve-gatecamp.space first.

Also remember just because a system is “hisec” or “losec” that’s not an accurate assessment of safety. Just look at Jita which always has pvp shenanigans happening.

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10

Extremely helpful stuff, thank you. I’ve just done the SoE epic arc, so going to outfit a Magnate for exploration next.

Interesting recommendation about moving to Khanid, too, Vokan - I’m a Khanid character so was thinking of moving to there for RP reasons at some point, unless I end up joining a corp first.

11

If you do not have enough time to get away, you can make more. Here’s a trick I used. Note the maximum distance of D-Scan. If you mine in a belt far enough from every gate, no-one entering can scan you down without wasting time warping around. Also, don’t sit at 0 on a belt. Select a rock far out, bookmark it, and start there.

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12

That’s excellent advice, thank you!

13

Here’s more: learn how to make kills. Not for the pleasure of killing itself. But to experience (and internalize) how a target is selected, interdicted, and destroyed. Once you understand how you’re being snuffed out, you’ll be better prepared to prevent it. Now go and kill the competition!