Travel Advisory - Stain Region

Be aware that the northwest corner of the Stain Region is currently a very dangerous area for explorers. Especially the JVJ2-N system and surrounding systems.

A character named Vihane Finnexus is making an excellent living out of killing explorers like me. He's using a battleship equipped with smartbombs. A quick check will show that Vihane Finnexus's killboard is littered with explorer ships, pods, and some very high value drops from the wrecks he creates (fortunately, I had just dropped my loot off in a station a couple jumps prior to meeting Mr. Finnexus).

Fast align time and even the ability to travel cloaked will not save a target from him. Smartbombs explode immediately with extreme prejudice to everything near the battleship. Targeting? Lock time? Speed? Fast to cloak? None of them matter. The attacker can sit near a gate and hits a button to destroy anything that lands at the gate or decloaks after passing through the gate.

Boom! Poof!

I would advise that if you frequent this neighborhood, you should add Vihane to your contacts list and check to see if he's active.

Good luck!

Risk Aversion

Sometimes explorers are a pretty risk-adverse bunch.  I know I am. 

If I see another capsuleer in local in null sec, I usually don’t even bother to scan down the 2 unknown signatures.  If I happen to see an Astero for an instant on d-scan in a wormhole, I’m fleeing from the relic site and cloaking at a safe spot.  Why take chances when you don’t have to?  There will always be another null system empty of enemies.  The wormhole was just one in a chain, I’ll slip along to the next.

But, I’m starting to change my opinion about risk avoidance.  Or at least trying to – it’s not easy.

When in the game are you most excited, engaged, thrilled?  OK, maybe when you open that Sansha relic can and find 89 million in loot.  But otherwise, at least for me, it’s when there’s danger.  A bubble pops up on a gate I just jumped through (even when I’m in an interceptor, my heart rate jumps).  I’m hacking the last two cans and there’s an Astero whose probes are getting closer and closer and closer. I jump through a gate and there are a dozen red flashing ships that I know have their modules hot in anticipation of catching me…

These are the things that really get me engaged with this game.  And, most importantly of all, but often forgotten - this is only a video game.  It’s meant to be entertaining and fun. 

In addition, with the recent changes (which still haven’t sunk in for me) to the price of clones – a ship and pod loss really is costing just the price of the ship (as long as I don’t have fancy implants).    The interceptor I fly in null sec costs about 25million.  Which sounds like a reasonable amount of isk until I realize that an average relic site nets me more than that.  So if I can successfully loot just one relic site (and drop the loot off safety somewhere) – the ship has paid for itself even if I get attacked and lose the ship and my pod.

So, I’m trying to be less risk adverse.

I’m scanning signatures in null systems that include one or two other capsuleers and hacking the relic sites that I find.  I’m jumping through wormholes into C4 or C5 space hoping to find a juicy gas site for my venture.  I’m attacking the sleepers in C2 wormhole gas and ore sites with my merlin.  I’m hauling loot out of null sec via routes involving several wormhole connections.   

It’s not easy – risk aversion is a primal part of my gameplay, but I hope to change that.