The Blueprint to Success (Part Three)

Hey all this will be the last of my blueprint series :) After this we will be getting back to the war stories :) I have a lot to tell- because a lot has happened, big things too! Like the creation of Peek-A-Boo Bombers, but that is for another blog and another time. Now I am going to be telling you good folks about how to properly scan out systems, scan down targets- and of course how to hunt in worm hole space.

First lets talk worm hole systems.

the first thing that you want to do when you jump into a wormhole, is of course book mark the exit- then you want to get your web browser out, and using your fav worm hole site, see what kind of activity the hole has. If it is an active hole, and you might be in luck- as this could be your base of operations for some time. At this point you want to hit your D scan, and see what is going on in the hole. If there are sleeper wrecks you should  go on high alert. never warp to anything on zero, and for god sakes never warp to the sun. Now if you have some sleeper wrecks on scan, the first thing that you should do is hit your ship scanner the second you drop out of warp. This will bring up all of the sleeper combat sites, if you open up your F10 solar system map.

What you have to do next is use your D scanner while you are in your F10 map mode. Set your angle to 15 degrees, and make sure that your scan distance is as long as possible. Remember that you D scan has a range of only 14.4AU- anything beyond that and you will not pick it up. OK so far you have used your Dscan determined that there are sleeper wrecks, and now you have used your ship scanner. While you are in your map mode- all of the combat sites are green arrows. What you have to do now is line up the 'you are here' arrow with those green points. When you have your D scan set to 15 degrees, your scan will be very focused- and you will simply see that site. Once you narrow them down to a site- warp in at 100K

Now that is the 'best possible' case of finding pilots. During the entire 'scanning' time you are passive and never have to decloak! that way the enemy has no idea that you are there, and there is nothing they can do to find you- so you have 100% surprise. The other way that you will most likely find targets is when they are not in a combat site. You will find most of your miners, and gas harvesters inside of Grav and Ladar sites- and sometimes you may even catch people running mag or radar sites. For these cases, you have to go 'active' in your scanning- and need to reveal your presence. Now there is a right and a wrong way to probe. I am going to cover the right way below-

Because you cannot find them on a point in the map browser, you want to take your D scan again and set it to 360 degrees. Start at 1 AU (150,000,000 k) And scan. If you don't see anything set to 2 AU (300,000,000) and scan. Continue to do this until you find the 'distance' they are from you. Ideally you want to get them as close as possible, so getting the targets down within 1-4 AU is ideal. Once you know about 'how far' away they are from your celestial- you are ready to drop probes.

The first thing that you want to try and do when you know that you are going to have to drop probes, is try and create a safe that cannot be found on D scan. that means that you have to be 14.4AU away from ANY celestial body in the system. If you can create one- do it! This is a huge plus, becuase then people can not pick you up on D scan (so they don't know what ship you are flying) and they cannot see you first setting up your probes. Now in some cases this is not possible, and no matter what you are going to be seen somewhere on D scan. If this is the case- try and get off your 'targets' D scan by moving at least 14.4 AU away from them, and preferably- away from any POS or active player ships in the system. Once you have arrived at your probe safe, quickly uncloak and drop your 5 core probes. Re-cloak and warp to your last point. (You last point being where you had 'narrowed' down their position to within 1-4AU of you.)

Once you are there set your probes for the distance you had D scanned them at. If your D scan hit them a 2AU set your probes for 2 AU with the 'middle' probe on top of your ship point. If you found them at 4AU then set the probes for 4. Realize that the second you move your probes over there your targets can potentially see your 'active' scan and warp away. That is why speed is of the essence. Remember your scanning shortcuts, Shift and ALT. That is going to cut down your scanning time by a lot. Once you set up your probes and hit scan- get ready with your D scanner. Make sure that you ahve it to 15 degrees and get ready. The second your probes are done- align the 'you are here' arrow up with each of the red 'sigs.' scan down each sig until you find your targets again- and then narrow your probes down on that sig A sap.

The second you clicked 'scan' on your probes- your targets could potentially know that you are there. Scan fast- and focus in on that point as quickly as you can. Once you get it to 100% recall your probes immediately! and warp to 100K If they didn't Dscan your probes in time- congrats! you have evaded their efforts to protect themselves, and have kept your element of surprise :) Now once you land on gird in any situation- the first thing that you should do is to make sure that you are not de cloaked, and that you have an overview setting showing EVERYTHING pulled up. That way you know 100% that you are not going to magically de-cloak right when you don't want too.

Ideally as a new bomber pilot you should be shooting for the ships like salvaging vessels, mining barges, indys and the like. Patience is a bombers best friend :) I cannot tell you how many times I have followed around a group of players running combat sites- when on the last site they get lazy and leave their hauler. With good skills, you can take down a noctis in 3 shots. That is less than 30 seconds- so the window you need to strike is extremely small. Practice makes perfect - and choosing targets, and getting kills all comes down to experience (in and our of game), skills (in and out of game) and of course how many bombers you are flying with (the more the merrier :) )

In closing- I just cannot stress patience enough! If you see that all of the PVE ships are sitting around while the salvager is doing it's work- get close to the salvage and wait. Sometimes once there is only like 2-3 sleeper wrecks left the others might get hasty and warp off. These few split seconds are where you come in with the finishing blow, and scoop up your kill, and their hard work. Once you get more comfortable you can start going after ships that are being 'guarded'. I have done it many times, and let me tell you - it is a great joy to kill a ship that thinks its 'protected'.

Anyway for next week- get ready for the cold hearten cereal killer stories- becuase ohh I have quite a few that are going to make your day :) Till then-

Fly dangerously!