New Bro Exploration Tip of the Week - Suspect Timers

Johnny Pew recently posted a very nice video on his YouTube channel which went over the process of mining untold amounts of ISK that have been littered all across New Eden in the form of abandoned Mobile Tractor Units.

However, there is one unique consequence of hunting for these abandoned units and putting them out of their misery.  You acquire a suspect timer for shooting the mobile tractor unit.  Once you engage with an offensive weapon on the unit, in the upper left corner of your User Interface you will see this:

This means that for 15 minutes, other pilots are allowed to shoot you without intervention on your behalf from Concord.  Here is an explanation of the suspect time.

In the past, I have informed our corporation members of the ability to go hunting for these units and the fact that there is ISK just waiting to be appropriated.  Unfortunately, not everyone in the corporation heard me speak on Teamspeak about the need to either dock up or activate your cloak once you get the suspect timer.

All of this is a result of a recent loss on our killboard which piqued my curiosity:

The first thing that jumped out to me was a loss which occurred in high security space.  The only way that can happen is a derp by our pilot, unless ganked.  With a single hostile on the kill, gank is not possible.  So, derp it is.  The second thing I noted on the kill was the use of a very shiny ship for what appeared to be high security exploration.  The Orthrus does not receive any bonuses to hacking, scanning or anything related to exploration.  This also made me wonder what occurred.

So, early morning today I chatted with the corporation member who had this occur to find out what occurred.  It took some time, but eventually he mentioned that he had an aggression timer, which prevents you from jumping gates or from docking.  This is where that cloak would have come in handy.  So, I told him that he needed to bounce safe spots.  He stated that the Proteus found him at his safe spot and committed space violence on the Orthrus.

So, our lesson here is that you might get a suspect timer even for actions in high security space.  Other pilots are free to engage you if this occurs.  You need to either dock up or activate your cloak if cannot dock.  And finally, do not use a 400 million ISK ship to go hunting abandoned mobile tractor units.

Sometimes Newbies Can Be Challenging

Just a short post this morning on an interaction in our hole this morning:

[ 2015.01.06 13:30:46 ] Midori Musashi > \o
[ 2015.01.06 13:30:56 ] Jormungand Andven > hi
[ 2015.01.06 13:31:09 ] Midori Musashi > you are probing in  Jxxxxxx atm?
[ 2015.01.06 13:32:16 ] Jormungand Andven > yes
[ 2015.01.06 13:32:28 ] Midori Musashi > just wanted to pass along some advice.
[ 2015.01.06 13:32:57 ] Midori Musashi > first, always rename your ship when you sit in it.  be default, the game names each of your ships your name, which told me you were in our system
[ 2015.01.06 13:33:13 ] Midori Musashi > second, always fit a cloak and turn cloak on when probing
[ 2015.01.06 13:33:50 ] Jormungand Andven > I myself a novice in these matters
[ 2015.01.06 13:34:18 ] Midori Musashi > oh, i understand
[ 2015.01.06 13:34:43 ] Midori Musashi > we recruit pilots exactly like you to our corp.  we are an exploration corp and specifically look to help new pilots in game
[ 2015.01.06 13:35:57 ] Jormungand Andven > I am a member of the corporation
[ 2015.01.06 13:36:07 ] Midori Musashi > i know
[ 2015.01.06 13:36:42 ] Midori Musashi > just trying to pass along advice to a new member.  if you would like assistance, tips and help in the future, we welcome providing advice to members, even if they are in a different corp
[ 2015.01.06 13:37:12 ] Jormungand Andven > I have no desire to change

I realize that with new bros joining the game, there is a conflict if they wish to become an explorer.  They was high skill levels in scanning, so that they can scan down those juicy fat loot sites in null sec or wormhole space.  Yet, they also need to balance that with skills which would help them dfend their ship, keep it safe, and possibly extract themselves from a hostile situation.  Choices are hard.

This pilot literally stayed in system for 20+ minutes scanning down every system uncloaked the ENTIRE 20 minutes.  My failure today was not having a point available.  I burned an alt down from low sec only to see him disappear finally as my alt was 1 jump out of our static.  :sigh:

The other perplexing moment during this interaction was that I wanted to extend advice to him in the future in helping him try to stay alive.  Yet, he thought that I was trying only to poach him from his current corporation.  I guess the part where I said even if they are in a different corp, totally sailed over his head.  Reading is hard sometimes.