I’m fairly new to EVE (less than 6 months)… I learned in my first week of playing to not even CLICK on a Lancer (at a gate or elsewhere). The first ship I had blown to bits was simply clicking on a Lancer near a gate just to see what the heck it was… and goodbye to my shiny new Algos!
… but after that encounter, I simply learned “See Lancer, ignore and get out of there ASAP!”
… and I haven’t had a problem with them since.
Yes, they show up elsewhere from time-to-time, but if one simply leaves when they arrive or YOU leave if you warp in where they are, then NP… they might remember you once clicked on them, but they may remember they paid you back in full for doing so.
Just ignore them and move along and there’s no problem… if you are mining a belt and they warp in? Well, as any decent miner knows, have a warp location pre-determined, pull in your drones fast and hit warp. You actually DO have a second or two to get yourself out of a belt where they appear… if you don’t? Well, next time you will know how to avoid them.
I consider myself as still a new player and it was very easy for me to learn: if mining a belt, position your ship for a fast getaway.
… not just for NPC attacks, but PvP attacks… it’s just common sense to have your squishy ship all set to scram out of there.
As for the gates? Ignore them and they ignore you… unless you linger to let them close in on you. Unless you are in a very powerful ship, don’t engage with them, don’t click on them, just keep moving along.
Seriously, I have always seen Lancers as a way CCP keep players from becoming complacent… or to teach them to be carful on what your click on near a gate.
IDK about how they show to you on screen, but they have always shown as red to me… red and BIG (cruiser icon). If that isn’t enough to say “don’t touch me”… IDK what could.
Lancers have never been a real problem. They keep me alert and on my toes… and they remind me that there will always be someone out there ready to one-shot my rear end if I don’t get out of their way fast enough. Plain and simple - see one? Get the heck outta there!
Well… I may not be a NEW player, but less than 6 months… I do have an Orca (my BF treats me well)… okay, he gave me the BPC to build ONE and it took a long time to skill up just to make it, then the time of two weeks to build it…
Even so, I know that Lancers will make short work of my Orca. I repeat from my other comment - if one does not want to be blown up by a Lancer, don’t engage with them, just leave as fast as you can - don’t click on them, don’t look at them… just hightail it away.
… and yes, I have passed Lancers while in my Orca… it’s REALLY easy to do… simply point the ship in the opposite direction and get the heck outta there!
I know I’m replying to your comment from a serious note, but get what you mean - a new player in an Orca?
You just carry a flight of navy light drones ready to go (T2 might do the job, but why risk it?) > you run into lancers > you deploy drones and kill them rather than them killing you > continue about your business with your Orca.
couldn’t you just link the god damn zkillboard killmail? and be careful carrying corpses in your orca, sleepers scan for corpses and attack ships transporting them.
okay, hold the phone. it’s been 2 weeks and over two dozen replies but noone’s pointed out that the OP probably shot and killed one of the silly scanning scouts they have everywhere?
consequence = they come and kill you with bigger ships, later.
reminds me of another game a while back…there’s a meme to be had here
Lancers attack you if
(a) you carry corpses in your ship
(b) you aggress them
(c) you are at a jove beacon, or a drifter wormhole
They also exist in lowsec and nullsec. and you can farm them if you want. They drop some 2M-ish sleeper loot, not worth the risk in my opitinon. The Drifter friends that they can summon, however, aggress on EVERYTHING that is capsuleer controlled, and are way more dangerous.
So what you do, is dropping an MTU as close to a stargate with lancers on it as possible, then warp to the gate and get scanned by them with a corpse in your cargohold. As they call in the drifters, get out. The drifters will stay at the corresponding stargate for a while before they go away again, and they’ll clap any player that doesn’t warp off quick enough. Which means wrecks. Which means loot. Oh, what will the MTU do? In null, you can even improve the intruder’s experience by anchoring a few bubbles on the gate before dropping the MTU and getting scanned
The true dangers in the belts are the incursion rats
Credit cards and PLEX for sure… but my point was my BF has been playing for over a decade and is heavy into researching blueprints. He gave me the BPC to build one Orca and that’s what I did.
… the credit card helps by skill injectors
No, seriously… using his experience, he explained which skill I needed to hit first - I wanted to be an industrialist, too, so I focused months of skilling to be able to build ships like Orcas… still waiting to complete skills for anything greater (T3 ships, battleships and capitals).
OK, the credit card DOES sometimes come out, but not enough to make a difference in building an Orca.
My point is fairly new players CAN get to the point of barely qualifying to fly those ships. You sacrifice skilling in other areas, but it is possible.
