Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) in a system seems to change game play in that system. I know about how the roaming fleets from FOBs, in how they like to torment anyone mining in the belts of the system. Also, when there are 2 or 3 fobs, the methodology for downing the pirate stronghold changes. With two fobs, the spawns are abnormal, and with three the spawns return to normalcy. Normalcy being the behavior experienced and expected when downing a FOB that is alone in a system.
If the Bessy or Gimpy are aggressed or too close to the player fleet, a npc response fleet comes to play. That fleet then can bounce between stations if there is more than one FOB in a system, and take about 15 minutes to de-spawn if not attacked. When the Bessy or Gimpy are not present, aggressed, or approached during a fight, there is no response fleet, and so long as no other fleet is messing with one of the other fobs in the system, we have never had a random, unexpected, npc fleet warp in. The roaming fob rats that plague miners never come to defend the station in the many hours I’ve been present during this activity.
I found a system that has 6 FOB’s and have corp/alliance mates who are convinced that it would be a mess of random npc fleets moving between the stations, and would make our task impossible.
I am forced to consider my experience with 2 and 3 fobs in a system when thinking about 6 fobs in a system. I do not expect for random fleets to come in. There might be several Bessy’s or Gimpy’s circulating, and that might be what they are talking about. When the Bessy/Gimpy land on grid during the burning down of the station, one defense response fleet is guaranteed… two Bessy’s landing in close succession would be a potential with three fobs in a system, and I’ve seen them visit within three of four minutes of each other.
The corp/alliance mates mentioned above have never seen 6 fobs in one system before… or 5… or 4… They seem certain it is a problem nonetheless.
Is there a real concern with 6 in a system that makes attempting to down them a waist of time?
Guessing he is refering to the industrials usd by the FOB’s to collect ore from their miners … Bessy = Bestower … no idea how Gimpy comes about though.
I also believe I have the issue correct. After discussing it with some other eve long-timers, it is the presence and arrival of the haulers and their response fleets that cause the issue. Not a good day to have three show up while burning down the fob. We are going to give it a go.
Just gank the haulers and they go away for a while. They also drop strong boxes as loot, not great in high sec mind you though. Would give you more than enough time to do your bashing.
Our fleet downed 4 of the 6 before our Europe friends went to bed, and before we were done a 7th spawned in that same system. The haulers were not a problem. Only the first of the fobs gave us more than one response fleet, got spicy fast. After it was cleared, the remaining fobs went as normal. The spawns were very nice to us, nothing crazy.
We did not hunt down the haulers, just had the destroyers and frigates in the fleet step away while the battleships and Hecate took out the swarm. Not a bad night.
