Yup… if that’s the only reason it’s overbalanced. Wrong resolution. That would be a perfect instance of the phrase… using a broadsword instead of a scalpel. Here is a better one, make a ship in between a lvl v indy and a freighter… make the freighter a capitol ship. There is still ganking, as there has always been, but it’s no longer the #1 isk making profession in hi sec. Maybe there is a better resolution as well, but that is by far more balanced than what it is now.
Also… I’ve never afkd a freighter… maybe if it was empty once or twice, but they are slow enough the way it is. An AFK trip means you are missing out on production time and getting an item to market and missing the window of sale when prices are hot. We are talking about a window of making isk vs sale at a loss or even sitting on the market for months waiting for a return. Perhaps you don’t realize that most item are sold just above manufacturing price unless you have … what… AN UPWELL structure that can be destroyed as the entity can be war decced and the structure assaulted before it can be taken down. OMG it’s like they based a decision on balance!!
OH… this would also solve the issue of the Amarr trade hub going desolate. Seriously… let the rabbits wear glasses.
There is still a balance issue, try addressing that instead. The ganking of what was vs the ganking that is, is so much different. I’m not kidding when I say anyone is an idiot for not considering ganking as their hi sec profession. Also that if players were… logical in their choice of profession, there would be gank squads all over every trade hub 24/7.
Not that hard to avoid ganking. Don’t make yourself a valuable target. Don’t haul 100 billion ISK worth of crap at once. I’ve been playing EVE for 19 years, and my hauling toon hasn’t lost a single ship. Ever.
100 billion … you know your comments sound like something I would type. Before a few days ago anyway. Now you just sound like you/re very ignorant, as you don’t appear to have read anything I’ve posted. 100 billion… really /sigh
I’ve been reading all kinds of “whining” ignorantly deciding just as you are … that it was likely something avoidable. Now I’ve dug into it and looked past the “whining” and see it for what it is. The ganking incidents are FAR beyond what it was 10 years ago. The avg server population is down, yet there is a large increase in hi sec ganking.
So this leaves me to conclude 1 of 3 things.
you are ignorant and don’t want to look at the facts.
you gank for a living and don’t want others to join in until so many people are ganking that the game becomes a dumpster fire.
you are a lobbyist for those that do gank.
So either educate yourself, or if need be just stop posting because you are not providing any points of valid discussion.
Sorry that you lost an unfit Obelisk as first thing on your return, anyone could have told you that Uedama is a dangerous place for freighters.
Loss aside I hope you have fun!
Don’t let the ship loss sour your idea of the game and no, ganking is not as much an issue as it used to be, you may just have to learn to play again. Good luck!
Before you get to any stupid ideas, it is forbidden and enforced by the EULA to login with anything else while you as a person are logged in with an Alpha account.
Even two accounts logged it with one being in Omega and the other in Alpha state is not allowed at the same time.
Not that I would, but a VPN could be used to mask that. The smart play is to use your alt toons on an account with an Omega subscription. Personally I couldn’t imagine using an Alpha account… either you come to play or you don’t. Just like I think it’s dumb to HAVE to plan a safe trip in hi sec, especially when you have a lower value haul, and before you get into that, I see quite a few ganks on empty freighters… yes empty freighters, also in .6 .7 and a few .8 systems… right in Jita as well.
But I guess it’s better to get someone to try the game and then upgrade to omega vs not wanting to pay to try the game out. I’m guessing that is the intention behind alpha accounts… to entice a subscription. You can, have multiple alpha accounts and use them one at a time. But as someone already pointed out you can’t gank with alpha account so it makes the whole conversation moot. The only thing you could theoretically use the alpha account for would be to bump the target… and if you have a whole fleet at your disposal, why?
It could be masked with a lot of effort and extra investment, as you have to be very strict in keeping all your data separate…like no common email address, no common payment details if you ever consider paying for something with real life money, no account linkage, no trackable trading, NEX store payments and whatnot. And of course several VPN connections for whatever you have to pay for it.
Otherwise those accounts can be tracked to one person and this is what counts. You as one person are not eligible for to run more than one account at the same time when an alpha account is used.
A lot of hassle for the underwhelming experience of having Alphas instead to just pay for Omega.
And make a mistake once and all of your accounts including the maybe paid main one are banned for lifetime.
Thats impossible. I web my Freighter into warp quit often and it is in warp loooooong before any bumper could reach it. It is gone on less than 3 seconds, most ships can’t even lock it before it is in ‘warp’ status.
This has been really burning in the back of me head…
I used to run freighters to Jita bi weekly instead of maybe once every 1-2 weeks.
NEVER had this issue… so your I’ve been playing 20 years means nothing.
Uedama is a trade route through hi sec… for that matter it is the ONLY safe trade route in some areas. "Scouting the gate is near impossible if you don’t know specifically who you are scouting for, it only take a noob frig with a mwd to bump a frighter. At that point someone gives the signal on discord and a fleet of bombing destroyers login … scouting by no means garuanteed.
Wormholes… they just arrived when I stopped playing before (had time issues, kids to raise among other things) So, it’s on my list of things to learn, but wormholes are just as dangerous if not more than low sec. Maybe the pitiful amounts of isk I was making was going to setup a few wormhole exploration ships… And by pitiful I mean I found some things I could build that on the Industry scale are pitiful, but for a single player it is just enough to take the time of travel and bothering with production and putting it on the market with a quick return. The key word being quick as in 24 hours that small window of making or breaking your wallet exists… or your product is potentially tied up for months. So yeah I know jack about wormholes, filaments ect, it was coming up on my list of things to do, but even then I’m guessing they are a roll of the dice for safety… and then finding one that exits near Jita… so many other safety concerns… is someone in the wormhole on the way back, ect. The way wormholes were when I left vs what they are now are very different, but again, while they are on my short list, I’ve not had the time to dive into it yet. (Pushed back further by losses of piloting a freighter in hi sec even while webbing correctly for faster warp).
I used to take a low sec route to Jita… but now those systems are inhabited pretty much 24/7.
Either way this still comes down to one thing… while sure its a .5 system, it is still a hi sec system. Even the route planner states “Prefer Safer - Stay in 0.5 to 1.0 Where Possible”
There is hi sec ganking… and then there is hi sec ganking. I clearly see the current mechanic as abused. The way it’s done now is not how it was done before, and the limitations of it kept it balanced. Now it is a free for all. They need to rewrite everything in line with Hi Sec as it clearly no longer has security, not in the same aspect is used to have. The game has changed in how it’s played, and it’s allowed to abuse a game mechanic while saying Hi Sec is safe space. Yes there were always issues to be considered… but seriously … if you are unable to fly safe in Hi Sec when your avg jump to warp is 3-5 seconds, that is some serious BS. If the game is meant to be like that, they need to change anything in relation to what is called Hi Sec… Faction/Concord ect … just rewrite them into the game as simp police. Peon place holders… remove security rating all together as it is meaning less.
Funny I used to think that too… BUT I DON"T ANYMORE. FYI… they don’t need to lock you to bump you. I will say it was well executed, maybe it was lag I don’t know… but I was a bit surprised as well.
LOL I love your deep dive on it, but ultimately in relation to this topic it’s about alts on an Omega account that you could recycle, Alpha accounts can’t aggress.
And even then due to how lax the security actually is, you don’t even need to do that to maintain a ganking toon for hi sec. The repercussion for hi sec ganking is pretty much non existant.
I know they don’t need to lock you for bumping, but once the Freighter has the ‘in warp’ status they can’t kill it any more, no matter how much Catas, Talos or Bombers they log in. Because all those can’t lock it any more.
The way I remember it… I used to web and I was off in like a second. … Ship warping away sideways and all. BUT now it’s been changed and your ship has to also align to warp before the warp is active, so there is a small window still like 3-5 seconds, but if you get bumped … that is it. I even tried bumping the other ship with my webbing alt to give me the alignment time and it did no good. I mean there is a reason I’m a bit fired up about this… it’s not like I loaded up a freighter and set it on ap. I took all the precautions short of having more accounts where I could set another toon on the gate cloaked to watch it. BUT even then there are plenty of ganks in higher security space as well so… it’s not like watching the one .5 system means you are in the clear.
That small 3-5 second window may be caused by using an unbonused webber with a single T1 web:
Now I’m not a frequent freighter pilot and have never webbed my own big ships before, but wouldn’t it be better to use a ship with at least two webs bonused for strength or range? I would think you can shave off a few more seconds and warp within 3 instead of 5.
The 2 second gap is more about the distance to get into webbing range and the freighter having enough speed before you web.
Perhaps you could gain time off of it with an additional web? Either way kinda pathetic it’s not good enough for safe travel in hi sec.
Hate to break it to you, but thats wrong. There is not such window. I know it is always much easier to blame the game or other players, but chances are you simply messed it up. Either the planning or the execution.
pre-activate the 3 webs on your Hyena (yes, you use a Hyena, Rapier or Loki for this)
click “warp” on the Freighter
lock the Freighter with your webber
As soon as the Webs land (1-2 second depending on locktime or servertick), the Freighter is in warp instantly. No bumper can bump it and nothing else than a fastlocker can even lock it.
The only way to stop you from doing this is if they would sacrifice an instalocker that breaks up your alignment by aggressing you (and thus calling CONCORD to the scene).
I was reading up on this as well… something that came about after I was last playing.
I still think this is more aligned with low sec to 0.0 travel expectation… seems a bit overboard for hi sec. This still should be addressed.
Seriously as it is… safe and hi sec travel shouldn’t be stated or implied anywhere in the game.
I mean they specifically call it griefing newer players, a very fine line for most players. It’s the hi sec mechanics that likely cause most players to quit… not just new players. That and pvp lag, the one and only reason I’ve ever left null space.
But at least that is something I can deal with (I’ve basically been doing it anyway). Another 21 days of training… but I can test it out with other ships… 3 webs is likely near instant from any ship.
So I found a more difficult solution… depending on how visible you want your webber to be.
Cal and Gal cov ops have 5 slots… Scripted Sensor Booster, 3 webs and a MWD (you rarely need the mwd)
IF you want to stay cloaked you have time to get in place…
pop your cloak and start up your sb and webs
… Warp the Freighter…
target/web cloak
This way helps to ensure you are not vulnerable on those regional gates where you could be 30+ from your freighter.
It’s a bit more difficult if you want to stay cloaked as you need to figure out where between the gate and freighter is… you can flash you mwd before cloaking if you think it’s a good pace out, but generally should have no issue getting into position before the freighter cloak timer hits.
You also can make sure your webber is close enough before hitting warp when it drops its cloak… as that is still the most key step.
While I never afk my freighter and use the web to warp anyway, I STILL think it’s a bit absurd at the length you have to go to even consider it mostly safe in hi sec. The numbers of those ganked per week really show how unbalanced that is.