OOC Preface: I would like to do some offline RP in this thread until I am able to RP in-game once again.
I have for years hoped to eventually somehow have one of each type of ship in this game.
I understand some super-caps just might not ever be possible, so for now I want to RP my Zed’ character discussing with many of you ways to safely construct her family’s first titan without being attacked from the start.
I assume diplomacy/meetings/negotiations will be involved to persuade the big player-groups to allow or even protect my first titan if ever I manage to get all its parts.
Two posts in-character to get us started:
Zedicon’s initial big concern about her potential titan: “Since titans are often said to be attacked during construction, how can I get protection from those able to prevent such attacks?”
Zedicon’s long-time motivation for considering constructing a titan: “There have been attacks and kidnappings conducted by Blood Raiders, against neighboring star systems in my constellation, without much help from the distant (Amarr) empire. (Nothing against the empire; they are faraway and busy, and understandably so.) The biggest corporations and families out where I am are discussing assembling an interplanetary patrol fleet of our own, even to the point of eventually having a titan as part of it. We want to do everything we can to reduce Blood Raider boldness in our region. They nearly wiped out human life on an entire planet once, and we cannot let that happen again.”
*Naturally, the construction site will not be discussed in this thread.
Topic moved to Player Fiction
Regarding the main concern during construction: A low-risk structure has been proposed.
- My region of New Eden is not a rich one, at least when compared to some of the regions ruled by the biggest empires. It does not have the means to construct a titan.
- Regions with structures able to construct a titan are more than a few jump-gates away.
- Our first titan is meant to deter Blood Raider activity in our most populated star systems, and respond (not patrol) to any large Blood Raider fleets approaching any of the populated worlds we are responsible for. This means we don’t have a need to assemble or keep/orbit this titan around any of our worlds; it can start and remain elsewhere. That means we do not need to attempt assembly in a high-risk (high Blood Raider historic activity) system.
- The risk of Blood Raiders sabotaging our titan’s assembly will be low if assembly ends up being at the proposed structure.
- Risk of sabotage from other Space forces is being assessed.
- Protection is already a default at this structure.
- Diplomacy is already in place there, and provided by the organization responsible for the structure.
- While our flexibility in terms of assembly location results in more options during that phase of the project, we will need a fleet of dozens of support vessels to escort the completed titan to our region. Our forces are stretched thin, as we are, again, comparably not a wealthy part of New Eden; we’ll need to have an allied fleet handle this escorting.
- My command is not as concerned with risk to the titan during the multi-jump movement from assembly system to duty region, as it will have a lot more dedicated personnel focused on guarding it during this upcoming time, and it will only take ~10 jumps, at most, to cross that distance.
Parts Progress: More than half of the needed components have been amassed. This took place a few years ago, and their ongoing safety seems to indicate trustworthiness where they have been stored.
- Auto-Integrity Preservation Seal
- Capital Armor Plates
- Capital Capacitor Battery
- Capital Clone Vat Bay
- Capital Computer System
- Capital Construction Parts
- Capital Core Temperature Regulator
- Capital Corporate Hangar Bay
- Capital Doomsday Weapon Mount
- Capital Jump Bridge Array
- Capital Jump Drive
- Capital Power Generator
- Capital Propulsion Engine
- Capital Sensor Cluster
- Capital Shield Emitter
- Capital Ship Maintenance Bay
- Capital Turret Hardpoint
- Enhanced Neurolink Protection Cell
- Life Support Backup Unit
- Radar-FTL Interlink Communicator
- U-C Trigger Neurolink Conduit
Blueprint Progress:
- #/# rating, a.k.a. efficiency, may be significant; funding-goal might end up being reached sooner than the current ~3-month projection
- to be acquired indirectly, not purchased directly
Budget Progress: ~1% of necessary remaining funds available/liquid
Budget Projection: possible funding within the next few months
- ~100B ISK over 3 or fewer months –thus when assembly is likely to begin
- including cost of assembly
- and related costs or fees
- not including costs of fittings
- not including fuel for each jump-portal generation (~several million ISK worth of isotopes per generation)
Skills Progress: All skills needed to operate this vessel have been trained. This has taken place over half a decade.
- Advanced Spaceship Command V (COMPLETE)
- Amarr Battlecruiser III (COMPLETE)
- Amarr Battleship III (COMPLETE)
- Amarr Cruiser III (COMPLETE)
- Amarr Destroyer III (COMPLETE)
- Amarr Frigate III (COMPLETE)
- Amarr Titan I (COMPLETE)
- Astrometrics V (COMPLETE)
- Capital Ships V (COMPLETE)
- Jump Drive Operation V (COMPLETE)
- Jump Portal Generation I (COMPLETE)
- Leadership V (COMPLETE)
- Navigation V (COMPLETE)
- Science V (COMPLETE)
- Spaceship Command V (COMPLETE)
- Warp Drive Operation V (COMPLETE)
- related implants also already acquired
Storage: We will likely keep our titan docked for a while at either the proposed structure or a comparable one, in terms of facilities and risk.
- There are tens of thousands of such structures throughout New Eden, so blending in, even with this project, will be relatively easy.
- The proposed structure can store, not just assemble, vessels of this class.
- Unless Blood Raider activity ramps up like during the near-E.L.E. event on one of our neighboring worlds which triggered this fleet-upgrade project, this first titan does not need to immediately move to our region.
- If there is an event resulting in the titan being moved to Asset Safety (i.e. a nearby structure), storage remains guaranteed, just with a retrieval fee of either 1) 0.5% of the ship’s value (~909M ISK, not including fittings) if the asset is moved to a station in the same system, or 15% (~27.3B, not including fittings) if they are moved to a station in a different system.
Training Beyond the Skills-queue:
- Titan operating/piloting training is being prearranged.
- There is not yet a requested fee for this upcoming training.
- Refresher courses/outings will also become routine, perhaps annual.
Crew:
- ~tens of thousands of individuals
- diverse specialties, heavy on engineering and science
- will be from our home-region
- already in training, if not fully trained, thanks to allies who made hands-on training in their own titans available over the years; no recruiting or training-from-’scratch’ necessary now
Upkeep:
- Largely variable, of course, the costs associated with maintaining, and sometimes repairing, this first titan of ours are being calculated as best we can.
- to insure: “For a ship valued at approximately 160 billion ISK, a gold (90%) insurance level would cost about 14.4 billion ISK, with a payout of approximately 144 billion ISK.”
- hundreds of millions of ISK to repair if significantly damaged during an engagement
Main-enemy Comparable Vessels:
- Intel’ believes the Blood Raiders only have one titan, called Molok; once we have our own first titan… the Blood Raiders are likely to not risk theirs, even though reports indicate it is more powerful than a regular Avatar.
- ~several non-titan super-cap’s; ~definite threats
- ~dozens of cap’s; ~considerable
- ~hundreds to thousands of sub-cap’s; ~negligible
- That said, all those are almost only active outside our region, and the few and smaller Blood Raider vessels which tend to enter our region cannot withstand a titan, especially with its standard escort fleet.
So, for the next season or longer, the remaining components will be added to what is already amassed.
- Storage space at the current structures is sufficient even with the upcoming additions to this inventory.
- Additional funding is not needed to continue storing those/there.
Once the remaining components are amassed, all required components ready for transport, a contract will be negotiated.
- Naturally, diversion shipments will be numerous, on multiple dates, and to different regions across New Eden.
- Will the actual secret contract be with one of the famous shipping companies, or with an individual? Perhaps a combination of those options.
- It is not easy to conceal such a project, due to the names of the components being shipped, and how few classes/types of ships they can be assembled into, so this is being factored in.
- Alternatively, portions of the amassed components might begin their journeys to the assembly location before the remaining needed components are amassed.
- All required components might not be moved to the assembly location until a definitive assembly start-date has been chosen.
Then when all required components are at the assembly location, assembly will likely begin immediately.
- followed by (during assembly) negotiations to pre-stage the recommended escort-fleet
- with possible practice-missions along the likely/safest routes to the region where this titan will do most of its protecting
- and possible diversion-fleet/s ready the moment assembly completes
Assembly of this class of vessel takes, on average, 7.5 weeks.
- That is remarkable, considering the size and complexity of such spacecraft. Several millennia of making this particular undertaking more efficient has paid off a lot (it originally taking years per titan).
- variables: efficiency of the assembly facility,
efficiency of the individual managing the assembly,
rigs in/on the assembling facility,
how researched/improved the BPC/BPO is; its Material Efficiency, and Time Efficiency
Additional Notes:
- total remaining time to amass remaining components (~3 months), transport components (~.25 months), assemble components (~2 months), and escort the assembled titan to our region (~.001 months; ~1 hour): ~5.25001 months
- “Titans in combat in our region are extremely rare. Active combat involving large numbers of titans is generally infrequent across all of New Eden and is highly dependent on large-scale null-sec alliance warfare, which is not centered in our region. Our region is a low-sec region (i.e. not null-sec; where titans are far more frequent), and while it sees some level of activity and small-to-medium gang PvP engagement, it is not a region where major null-sec power blocs base their super-capital fleets.” In other words, our region is useful for hiding a single titan most would not believe is even operating there.
- handover from escort-fleet to local-fleet during the moment of arrival
- diversion-fleet/s stand-down upon handover completion
- escort-fleet (IRP) already assembled; will be decorated/experienced/seasoned by the time our first titan arrives, thus suitable for regularly working with a titan
- In the event of this titan being destroyed or otherwise lost, its replacement will only be assembled once, as in this first project, we can afford not only that 2nd titan but a replacement for it; we only assemble at the same financial threshold we undock at, i.e. when we can afford a total loss of the asset.
- Why this much effort/expenditure for a region with so little activity? Because, again, there was that one extreme/overwhelming Blood Raider event which reduced the human presence on a nearby planet to nearly zero; while there is rarely a need for a super-cap’ in our region, there is at least sometimes an absolute need for one, as our defense forces proved unable to resist that one Blood Raider intrusion. Adding a super-cap’ to our defense forces will provide more than enough firepower to deter the biggest invasion/trafficking fleets the Blood Raiders can send our way.
Also, diplomacy/negotiations have not yet shown signs of persuading Amarr forces to patrol our region often enough to deter such Blood Raider fleets; even years after that global population near-extinction, we remain insufficiently defended. The best we can hope for from the Amarr is partial assistance in rebuilding in the nightmarish aftermath of such Blood Raider surprises. That is obviously not enough.
- Hopefully ramping up our existing fleets enough that we’ll have the ships needed to always escort this first titan of ours will be enough in the meantime (until titan assembly/arrival) to deter all Blood Raiders from making attempts against any of our people/worlds.
So many details hammered out now. How exciting.
So where will you hide it once the beast opens its eyes?
There are only three real options:
-
A deep-pocketed friendly nullsec staging keepstar: quiet enough to avoid attention, fortified enough to matter. But favors of that scale are rarely free, and debts paid in Titans are never small.
-
An abandoned lowsec citadel with no known traffic: a ghost in forgotten space. Risky, yes, but obscurity is often safer than any wall we can build.
-
Your own space, fortification: dangerous, defiant, and poetic. A Titan born in lowsec, raised in lowsec, and unleashed from lowsec. It would be the bold move… perhaps the stupid one. But fortune loves audacity.
Personally?
If you ask me where I’d want to park it…
I choose the ghost citadel.
A forgotten Astrahus buried in a dead-end pocket where the locals don’t bother scanning anymore. It’s not glamorous, but it’s quiet. Titans need quiet before they need glory.
A shadow large enough that even the empires will glance over their shoulders and when it undocks for the first time, the constellation will hold its breath.
Best of Luck,
James ‘TUSKER’ Mac’Call
Mr. Mac’Call,
Thank you very much for that thoughtful reply. That gives me plenty of ideas to work with. Before I reply to your message line by line, I’d like to take a moment to show respect via learning about your surname.
I found this: “The name MacCall is of Irish and Scottish origin, derived from the Gaelic Mac Cathail (meaning “son of Cathal”, where Cathal means “powerful in battle”) or Mac Cathmhaoil (meaning “son of the battle chief”). Both Gaelic origins point to a powerful lineage.” How fitting that a seasoned combatant carries on that name, adding even more glory and legacy to it. Well done.
Your website is impressive, too. I am glad to meet a fellow teacher helping lift others up out of what might otherwise be chaos out there. Do you offer assistance learning how to include super-cap’s in PvE?
How did you get the call-sign / nickname “Tusker”?
Great image/art, by the way.
Regarding option 1 you mentioned:
- nullsec pre-established Keepstar
- ~3,321 nullsec star systems, and ~half of them tending to have minimal or even no activity; lots of decent options for hiding/staging
- ~1,380 EVE Online nullsec systems with some level of player-owned infrastructure
- Sovereignty maps suggest the vast majority are claimed by player alliances.
- >2,000 dead-end / pocket (one stargate) systems
- technically can be said to include WH systems (thus another ~2,600 systems), since they have a negative security rating
- by far the most options for location and other aspects
- difficult to find any details or even estimates about one-time storage fees for super-cap’s –assuming something on the order of 1B/+ ISK for a non-corp’ individual
Regarding option 2 you mentioned:
- lowsec abandoned: I didn’t know there was such a thing as a forgotten structure. If forgotten, how can I make use of it? Wouldn’t its modules be unfueled, offline, and only able to be refueled by the structure owner or manager?
- estimate: tens to hundreds of thousands of player-owned structures,
and many certainly abandoned, but how to find which are abandoned?
(I understand you can check their status, and if one goes unfueled for longer than a week… it will become classified as abandoned, but before I undock a ship to go check such statuses… I’d prefer someone who has already spotted abandoned structures point me in the right direction so I am not checking every system in New Eden until I happen on one organically.)
- 688 lowsec star systems
- far fewer dead-end / pocket, but still probably dozens
- requires a war-dec’?
- Bully brigade specializes in this; tends to already have things in motion for each structure approaching abandoned status –thus perhaps the only major deterrent in this option
Regarding option 3 you mentioned:
- lowsec own: While I have dreams/hopes of one day affording a structure of my own, I’m not quite there yet.
- I am interested in networking to start business relationships which can one day better assure the long life of such a venture.
- hopefully switch to this option in some years
With all that in consideration, I believe you are wise in opting for #2; doing my best to find an abandoned structure, or one the owner no longer wishes to maintain on his/her own, seems the most feasible approach.
I wish you the best.
“Approximately 72.8% of the reachable star systems in EVE Online are not controlled by players. This percentage encompasses high-security (high-sec) and low-security (low-sec) space, which are controlled by NPC factions, as well as wormhole space, which has no sovereignty mechanics.”
Player Ownership by Star-system Type:
- Highsec 1,192 No (NPC Factions)
- Lowsec 688 No (NPC Factions)
- Nullsec 3,321 Yes (Player Alliances)
- Wormholes 2,604 No (Lawless, no sovereignty)
- Total 7,805
(also: 230 Jove (unreachable) systems, excepting 2 which are annually reachable during tournaments)
72.8% of 7,805 = 5,682 not player-controlled;
- 1,192 highsec
- 688 lowsec
- 2,604 wormhole
= 1,198 other systems with no player sovereignty
3,321 nullsec - 1,198 = 2,123 nullsec with player sovereignty;
64% of New Eden star systems allowing player sovereignty HAVE a player/corporation in them with established sovereignty
~1,200 systems available to establish sovereignty of my own in
but none in home region; mostly lowsec, no nullsec
decision/result: ~forced to go with James’ option #2 (assuming still parking this ship in the home region)
Six star systems have been identified as having one of the desired characteristics; cul de sac.
However, these systems are too close to region-gates.
Two star systems have been identified as having the desired characteristic of being fairly central to the home region; as many jumps to a region-gate as possible.
Now to determine if there is a player-owned Keepstar in or very close to one of those two systems.
