Lo(ne) Sec(lusion)

Welcome to the twenty-first installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check for other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

This month topic comes to us from @ZoneGhost who a few month ago asked “Is Low Sec the forgotten part of EVE Online?” Is it? I’d like us to explore this even further. Is Low Sec being treated differently by CCP Games than Null Sec (Zero-Zero) or Empire space is? Can one successfully make a living in these unsecured systems where neither Alliance nor Concord roam to enforce their laws? What’s needed? Or is everything fine as it is?

My two cents worth: SHOCK HORROR! Low Sec is not as bad as it first appears!!

To give you a bit of background, I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the Great Wildlands. NPC 0.0 space is arguably worse for a couple of very good reasons: bubbles, bubbles and more bubbles. In fact in many ways NPC 0.0 space that is close to high sec is way more dangerous than low sec is.

Obviously, tactics are different and there are the whole aggression mechanics you have to be up to speed on in low. But as far as hitting an outbound gate via warp to zero and jumping, there pretty much ain’t nothing going to stop you.

Provided you know what you’re doing, even dropping cloak and warping from the inbound gate is way less dangerous than null for the very same reason. No having to bounce off celestials or safes either.

The exception obviously is the camps that sit on the first exit from high sec. Smartbombing might get you kills, but it is… very inelegant. And smacks of a lack either smarts, moral fibre, or general all round twatishness.

Anyways, my point is this, if *I* can manually pilot a battleship as unwieldy as a hyperion through low and into null and only have one close call, I think the danger of low sec is overstated.

That is not to say it doesn’t exist by any means, and no, generally the rewards aren’t as great, but they ARE there. And there is usually way less competition for them. LP rewards too (for the carebears among us) are HUGELY up. Up 12k for a single L4…!?!?!!? And that’s with no standing with that corp either.

Yes, you have to have skills. Yes, you need to fit your ship well. Most importantly, you need to know what you’re doing. The skills you gain will serve you well if you decide to take a step further into null.

Low Sec could be very good indeed both for the pirate and for the carebear. Both get the thrill of the chase. Both get access to the potential rewards. A little education might just be the key.

To the pirates I say this: You’re being idiots. By camping the first gate into low sec and killing off (sometimes repeatedly) the carebears who stick their toes in for the first time, you’re teaching them to avoid it at all costs. Internet Spaceship Aversion Therapy 101. End result? Empty space.

Be smart yourselves and let them get a taste of it. Let them bring in some assets and get settled.

To the carebears I say this: learn from your mistakes.

Learn how to set your overview and make safes. Learn aggression mechanics. Sometimes its better to let them aggro you and jump back through a gate when they cannot follow. Learn what happens if you log off in space, both with and without aggression. Look at your fittings and work to a ship’s strengths.

And above all else…. Fly Smart

H

P.S Still am VERY interested to see what the CSM comes up with 🙂