Hi, i am absolutely new to the gameplay involving cloaks / interdiction nullifiers in relation to bubbles and after reading lots of posts on the forum i still have some questions left, maybe someone experienced could help me on this and safe me from ship losses while i try to find it out myself
I want to do some blockade runner transport of high value goods from low / null to high & back. I have chosen the Prowler as my BR, as i had a lot of the required skills already and it seems to be nicely balanced. Currently i am working on the fit and my goals are 10k cargo and the fastes possible aligh time (<2s ?), if possible enough shield to have a chance to survive a smartbomb, priority is to avoid situations where i got locked or near a smartbomb however.
Basically all the basics are clear, never jump gate - gate, use scanner, … but in case i jumped right into a system with a camped bubbled gate, i have some questions:
I was nowhere able to find information about whether a nullifier is able to get me out of a bubble. I mean sure, if i activate the nullifier before i warp, i am immune to bubbles on the way - clear. If i already am inside one, i activate the nullifier - am i able to jump out immediately or does the nullifier only apply to bubbles i pass while warping?
In case point 1 is true and i can warp out a bubble if i activate the nullifier, would the following way of actions be correct if i jump right into a bubbled gate camp from another system:
If no objects near me which prevent me from cloaking:
Nullify → warp → cloak
If objects near me that prevent me from cloaking:
Nullify → warp → cloak
So basically the same way for both?
Still assuming that point 1 is true, and i somehow manage to warp into a bubble (sure that’s avoidable, but if):
If i am still cloaked:
Nullify → warp
If i got de-cloaked immediately sut still not locked:
Nullify → warp
If de-cloaked and instalocked:
Wasted, learn your lesson and re-try
After watching the above assumptions i think that point 1 can not really be true, or i am doing some kind of mistakes in planning my tactics - as always “nullify → warp” would be too easy. Could you please help me on this :)? I checked a lot of other topics reagarding this, but none of them actually explain the use of interdiction nullifiers.
In order for the Interdiction Nullifier to allow you to pass through warp disruption fields, you must activate the Interdiction Nullifier before you give the command for your ship to warp. Otherwise, your warp course will have already been determined, and you will be dragged into, or be unable to escape from, the disruption field.
You can activate the Interdiction Nullifier while under the effects of a cloaking module, stargate cloak, or undocking invulnerability period. This means you will have time to activate the module before giving the warp command.
Once you have activated the Interdiction Nullifier, you will have to wait for the reactivation delay to elapse before you can activate the module again. This reactivation delay can be long, and it is important to keep the delay in mind while traveling. The delay for your chosen Interdiction Nullifier can be found under its Attributes tab.
thank you for your reply!
Yeah i have read that description already several times, however for me it does not give a definitive reply to the question “If i am already in a bubble, can i activate the interdiction nullifier before i try to warp to warp out of it, or not?”.
Probably “or be unable to escape from, the disruption field.” implies that this does not work that way, but may i have a definitive “it does not work” or “it does work” :)?
This would be too easy if it weren’t for the cooldown.
In my blockade runner I almost never activate the nullifier unless I have to. And the only moment I have to is when I jump a gate and notice I am inside a bubble or next to a (cloaked) interdictor on the other side.
So preferably I never activate the nullifier on my way towards a gate as I may need it at the other side.
first of all thanks for all of the replies, i am playing many MMO’s and honestly EVE is not my main, but i rarely see such an active community! Great
Yeah, i am aware of the CD. This is exactly the way i would use it - great to have that confirmed. Basically you use it mostly to escape a bubble, not to prevent being caught in one. To prevent being caught in one you scan, take in-direct routes and stuff.
Thanks a lot everyone for the hints, now i have to test it out myself - gonna go search for a bubble with an emppty cargo, before i risk some expensive stuff xD
I’d like to mention a different situation. Upon jumping into a system with a clear gate (so you can freely warp away), if you suspect your outbound gate is bubbled, what I do is warp at range to a celestial or pre-made “safe” bookmark within D-Scan range of the outbound gate. This is in order to get a D-Scan of the gate. This isn’t always possible with certain constellation and regional gates as they can be positioned in system near no celestials, so bookmarks or cosmic anomalies are needed to get in this position. Once you have a D-Scan, you can see if it is bubbled (with deployables) or being camped by interdictors – who may or may not proactively fired a bubble.
(At this point, a better option to further gain intel would be to have a pre-made bookmark over 1,000km away from the gate, so you can warp and observe the gate on overview without getting caught in a drag-bubble trap which is at the 500km boundary, but I often don’t have these kinds of bookmarks as it takes time to run around in an inty and make them)
All of this is to assess the risk of: “if I use nullification to warp to my outbound gate, I don’t have it available to warp away from the gate in the next system after jumping, and if they’ve bubbled the other side of the gate I will be dead”. Versus “do I head back the way Icame and take another path”, or simply “come back later”.
This is a judgement call whether to attempt to crash the gate under cloak without nullification, or using nullification and hoping there isn’t a bubble on the other side. It comes down to a variety of situational factors. For example, if they’ve set up a wall bubble trap (at the grid boundary) or a drag bubble behind the gate – so the gate itself is clear – warping onto the gate from a different angle than the wall/drag bubble without nullification is fine.
So part of it is indeed equipping yourself with the tools, another major component is good piloting: using the tools to assess the situation, and determine how best to dodge traps.
(On the note of tools, note that equipping ECM burst modules or Higgs Anchor rigs will cause nullification modules to fail/not-work if equipped on the same ship. It is poorly-documented: it is mentioned only on those modules and not the nullification modules.)
thank you for your thoughts on this!
I agree with everything, seems to be a wise way to handle such situations.
Another question, is an MWD really a “must have” for a blockade runner? I mean i have checked a lot of builds, it seems to be included by default by >90% of pilots. However the MWD heavily worsens the align time, and basically can only save you in the following very rare situation:
You land in a bubble, without any objects around you which could de-cloak you, and have the nullifier on cooldown. From my point of view it’s incredibly rare that you jump into a bubble without de-cloaking structures, drones, ships or containers. Besides that, you can take care to let your nullifier cool down before you jump or warp somewhere so you can emergency warp out. If you land in a bubble where you get de-cloaked instantly, with no nullifier available and not able to cloak up, the MWD most probably won’t save you from being insta-locked and two-shot?
So the question is, is a MWD really worth the much worse align time on a blockade runner? Does it really have potential to be a life saver, or is it more of a module giving you a bit more peace of mind and security feeling - while not really contributing to a safer flight?
A MWD only gives your ship a worse align time when it is active, as it adds mass to your ship when active. Afterburners do the same thing.
When you fly a blockade runner you will rarely use your propmod, because you usually want to cloak and immediately warp away. As long as you do not activate your propmod your align time will not be affected.
I rarely use my propmod on my blockade runners, but like having one just in case I find myself decloaked in a bubble with nullifier on cooldown or something. I think I have 10mn afterburners equipped though - these are easier to fit than the 50mn MWD so I have more spare PG and CPU for tank.
You could skip the propmod entirely, which means you can fit more tank, but I don’t think that’s worth it. One time you want tank is when you accidentally warp through a smartbomb camp, which is avoidable when you use d-scan. The other is that you need to burn back to a gate while under fire, but then a propmod would probably be better than a few more resistances.
To add to what Gerard says – staying with the theme of “a prop mods use is dependent on being extremely situational” – a prop mods is also a tool against being decloaked when you cannot warp away.
Let’s say you jump through a gate having used your interdiction nullifier to get to it, and upon jumping through there’s a bubble. The enemy immediately tries to search 12km from the non-constellation non-regional smallest gate to decloak you. Your nullifier is still on cool down and you can’t warp from within this gate bubble. A very dangerous situation.
At that point, a MWD is your best defensive tool. Depending how close they are, you can await your gate cloak timer as long as you’re comfortable. Then you can pick a direction to burn out of the bubble. As you decloak, you mash the MWD and covert ops cloak. You recloak and basically get 1 tick of MWD to (very quickly) slow boat very far away from your brief appearance to the enemy. They will come after your spot where you briefly decloaked at that time. You can also adjust direction after cloaking so that your trajectory is slightly different from when you were briefly decloaked and so that you’re now aligned to something warpable, without losing your precious speed to get away from your decloaked spot. It’s an old fashioned race/chase at that point.
At that point either you’ve burnt out of the bubble and you escape, your nullifier cool down is over and you escape, or they’ve caught you and you’re dead.
Without an MWD, the choices are more limited. Instead, you are probably banking on never getting in this situation in the first place. Which is fair, you fit a ship to match your piloting style.
But yes, I agree with Gerard that MWD is not for ordinary use.
Another question, is an MWD really a “must have” for a blockade runner?
Prop mods are for situations that require prod mods, if you are in a bubble and want to burn out of it real quick or if you land on a station but outside docking range, then you use the MWD for docking and adding some speed tanking before a tornado one shot you so maybe you will survive.
You will not use the MWD most of the time, unless something that requires speed is going on, it’s an “oh s**t” button.
Ok. Here it goes. YOU CANNOT WARP OUT OF A BUBBLE WITH AN INTERDICTION NULLIFIER !!! That’s it. Already tested. Interdiction Nullifiers are usefull not to warp directly in a bubble. And that is all. If you warped into a bubble you’re finished. You cannot warp out of a bubble with any system, even an Interdiction Nullifier. If you warped through a stargate and arrived at the exit of a stargate, and there is a bubble waiting for you there, you are done. You cannot warp out of it. You are stuck. NO WAY OUT !!! Interdiction Nullifiers aren’t so usefull. Just a psychological game of CCP.
Note: Only one module of this type can be activated at the same time. Additionally, fitting a Burst Jammer module will disable interdiction nullification.
There was no burst jammer. You simply cannot warp out of a bubble. nullifier → warp
wont work in a bubble. There are no other modules that might disable the nullifier.
Try it yourself with 1 or more bubbles and please post a video maybe we will learn much more. Stop inside 2 bubbles and try to warp. It didn’t work on me.
Again: nulifier THEN warp out of a bubble. DOESN’T WORK.
Well it didn’t work for me. I was in a Deep Space Transport (Impel). Activated nulifier then warp. And as I said earlier I had no equipment that cancels nullification.
While the destination of your warp is determined at the moment you give the warp order, your ability to warp off is evaluated at the time the warp actually starts. So if you hit warp and then nullify, you can get drag or stop bubbled. But if you hit nullify and then warp, a sufficiently poor pre-alignment might render the nullifier to be non-operational by the time the alignment has finished. Especially on a slow-aligning DST.
The T1 nullification module has a 10 second run time. Are you sure your DST is finishing its alignment within 10 seconds once the nullification module has been activated?
Be aware that the nullifier has a short duration. T2 lasts only 15 seconds, meta 12 seconds and T1 10 seconds.
With good skills, a bare Impel takes 18 seconds to align before it warps off, even slower if it has plates.
If you activated the nullifier and then gave the warp command, the nullifier already stopped being active the moment your ship tried to warp.
Give it another try, but this time align towards your destination and activate the nullifier right before you warp off.
