Accelerated schedule

... and the problems it brings.

Put simply, my hunting in NPC null-sec has been lucrative beyond my expectations. I was imagining spending at least a month getting used to null-sec pirate patterns, and refining both ratting and capsuleer avoidance techniques.

But, after two weeks of about 10 minutes hunting a day, I've earned enough to start the next phase of my plan, and also filed my depots with enough loot to fill an industrial ship... well before I have the capacity to haul it.

I'm not ready to begin the move, and find that it's not worth my time to hang around.

And I ran out of ammo. That's a significant problem.

I'm still deciding between getting Benh, my market partner, to train up advanced hauler sills, or asking his wife stationed in Amarr to begin learning. She only has the basic capsuleer pilot training, as we all expected her to be tied to a desk to support region trading. However, if I skill her up as a dedicated hauler, she'll be able to transport my region traded goods as well, saving me about 10 million a week. That's a whole Rifter!

So, I have a few weeks of vacation time whilst I decide what to do.

I've decided to finish off my Rifter ammunition experiments. I did a few disastrous runs in the past few days, and discovered my capsuleer combat skills atrophied to the point of embarrassment. Whilst I experiment with Rifters, I'll try to get my skills back up to at least an acceptable level. So, I've bought a stack of Rifters, and will work my way through them, until I'm getting confirmed kills again.

It wasn't all bad though, which is something I'll talk about in the next post.

In case you were wondering... I got my loot out of the Wildlands by fitting up a Wreathe with a few Warp core stabilizers. I went in when no one was looking, and got out with everything in tact. I did get caught by a bubble, but there was no pilot patrolling it, meaning it presented only a mildly annoying speed bump.

Needless to say, taking an uncloaked industrial to Null-sec via Low-sec was an incredible risk which you should never do. Let me repeat that: DO NOT TAKE AN UNCLOAKED INDUSTRIAL TO NULL-SEC VIA LOW-SEC. However, the Wildlands are very thinly populated. I only felt concerned zipping through Molden Heath.

Of course, that does give you an idea of the level of security Null-sec gives you. Even Benh was attacked on his trade route. Single incident, but my bomber spent most of its time in the Wildlands quite alone.

Nomadikon: Survival Kit

Living entirely out of a depot is proving an interesting way to live.

But now that I'm here in the Wildlands, there are certain things I brought that I wish I hadn't, and certain things I didn't bring that would be very helpful right now (and I'm hoping a lucky pirate kill will oblige me).

So here's a quick draft of what I'll call the "Nomad Survival Kit". I'll probably be heavily editing this list as I learn more about this way of life, and I'll leave a page up at the top of the site for people to use later on.

Survival Kit

• Ammunition 
• Salvager
• Cargo expanders
• Core probe launcher (and probes)
• Combat probe launcher (and probes)
• Armour/hull repairer
• Mobile Depots
• Cloaking device
• Warp scrambler

Ammunition is fairly self-explanatory. You'll have T1 drops of what you shoot, but you're much better off using faction ammunition. This is, however, the last thing I'd pack. You'll want to bring as much as you can, so pack the other items first, and pad out with ammunition.

The salvager is for salvaging wrecks. Not necessarily needed, but salvage materials, with their great ISK to cargo space ratio are nothing to be sniffed at for the nomad conscious of a bursting hold. That, and removing the wreck will hide your trail in a 'busy' system.

Cargo expanders are a must, if only for the trip out and for the eventual moving day. These are, of course, fit into every low you have. I know someone out there is trembling at the thought of not having warp core stabilizers... well, we'll need to trust in out cloak. The truth is that a dedicated ambush camp will kill you, and the warp core stabilizers are not going to help with that.

The Core probe launcher is to find an escape route if the net closes in on you, and you're not confident in your ability to sneak past. You can also use it to scan down combat sites. I count it as a travel fit item.

The combat probe launcher... I'm sure you can find a use for that.

The armour and hull repairer is something that sadly I wish I'd thought of before flying out here. My bomber took some armour damage, and there's no way for me to repair that outside of visiting a station. The hull repairer is for the same reason. It only needs to be a cheap one, but obviously, the better it it, the less time you'll be spending uncloaked and repairing.

As discussed earlier, you'll need at lest two mobile depots. Oddly enough, they're more secure after you've deployed them, rather than keeping them sitting in a hold. You'll have to balance the number you take with how much ammunition you bring.

Cloaking device will keep you alive. Never fly without one. That is all.

Warp scrambler is a bit of a thorny issue with me. On the one hand, I don't really advocate piracy, or at least I find the actual act of it something I can't do. On the other, We really need to use any resource presenting itself. A mining barge with strip miners is worth at least a million in loot and salvage. So, I'll put it there as an option. Be warned though: We're better off co-existing with locals rather than earning their ire, leading to better relations with them and less chance of a battleship group parking itself in system.

As for the thing I wish I'd left behind? I brought a small pulse laser for dealing with frigates. After using it, it's not really worth it. It doesn't hurt, but the bomber's torpedoes deal with frigates well enough. The lasers damage just isn't enough to justify mounting it.

Hunting and gathering

Yesterday I had a very busy schedule, but managed to find some time to explore space.

The Great Wildlands is an interesting place. The only people you see are generally in transit, explorers looking for wormholes, or people who are just generally lost, confused, and desperately trying to get back to space with more stations.

There is at least one corp I know of living in the small clutch of systems containing stations, but I've never seen them venture far from their docks. I occasionally wander past them, but I have yet to see one in space. I must make a note of greeting them to see what their response is.

I've often heard that all null-sec corporations are violent, territorial and greedy. Also, that warp disruption bubbles are everywhere. I'm working on the assumption that this is mere hearsay, and that the truth is ultimately more complex. It usually is. I'm looking forward to speaking to these more settled null-sec dwellers.

But that's a side project for a later time. 

Over the past few weeks, my depots have been filling up, and I've just added a few more to extend my range. I'm getting into the habit of keeping munitions in my hold down to a bear minimum, so that I can carry back more loot. In terms of actual ISK gained in the last week, that's up to about 70 million. The majority of that is in items and salvage. I'll need Benh to come out and pick it up once he gets over his little incident.

That's not an inconsiderable amount of money, and my actual flying time has been limited to 20 or so minutes a day. I'm finding null-sec to be quite lucrative, and much, much safer that low sec. It's also very peaceful out here. I'm beginning to see the attraction.

Particularly since you can make over 10 million in under 10 minutes. 

Immediately after starting to explore space, I found a Domination Angel battleship loitering around in a belt, surrounded by some cruiser serfs. The bounties alone were worth more than 8 million. Torpedoes flew, and hulls were rent open to hard vacuum. The battleship went down surprisingly fast for such a high bounty.

The drops weren't that inspiring, but that's only relative. Really, 200k modules are nothing to be sniffed at.

Much better than that, someone had clearly been through the belt claiming bounties too, but failed to check the wrecks. That means free loot and salvage! I ended up getting about 2 million in modules and salvage, and it only took a few minutes of picking up someone else's garbage.

The take home message is this: Take everything you can. If you're choosing this lifestyle, you won't have the luxury of a ship replacement program, or a secure place to hoard your findings. Every scrap of ISK is vital for the inevitable day when someone will come to destroy it all.

Practical notes:

I'm getting a better handle on Null-sec mechanics, and the 'true' security levels in particular. Put simply, the lower the true-sec value of a system, the better quality pirates you'll find. You'll need to balance that quality of pirates against number of belts.

Also be aware that these will inevitably be high-traffic areas. If you pitch your tent in this system, expect it to be noticed much more easily. So again, balance true-sec vs. travel time.

Salvage is smaller than modules. It's tight, but fit a salvager. Not only will you make more cash off your kills, but it's easier to transport than modules.

I've also started to refine my depot living techniques, and I'll make the move to sovereign space in two weeks time. 

Nomadikon: Camp sites

Alternative title: At least two baskets...

One of the biggest problems of living undocked full-time, is where to put your eggs, er, I mean, loot.

Battleship drops can be as big as 50m^3, which is roughly 1/5 of a bomber's cargo hold. It's a fairly big chunk of space, even on something cruiser sized. I had filled up my hold within 10 mins of clearing belts, and was sitting in a belt uncloaked wrestling with my ships inability to jettison more than one can every five minutes, trying to sort out the valuables from the not so valuable.

The best solution is a mobile depot.

Mobile Depots

• Big cargo hold for it's size (50m^3 gets you 3000-4000m^3)
• Difficult to scan down (depending on meta level)
• Ability to re-fit ship
• Fits easily in a frigate.
• Relatively cheap (depending on meta level)

You could also use secure containers, but these don't have a good size to cargo capacity ratio, don't have the reinforcement timer, and doesn't look as good.

The depot also has an interesting mechanic, whereby if you emergency scoop the depot, the items inside are immediately jettisoned into a can. Nice for a quick transfer of items between friends, but something to consider if you find your depot under siege and need to bug out quick.

This is the important tip though: have more than one.

Procedure:

• Maintain 2+ depots in your hunting grounds
• Keep at least 2-6 jumps distance between each depot
• Divide ammuntion stores equally between them.
• Divide loot stores equally between them
• Do not log off at your depots
• Safes at about 15AU distance from jump gate travel lines are preferred
• Adopt naming conventions of the locals

Quite simply, if someone finds it, and you can't defend it, you will have lost a good chunk of income. The best solution for this is to have at least two depots you store items in, so that the risk is somewhat mitigated. Nothing is going to stop a determined attacker from getting your spoils, but that doesn't mean we should make it easy for them.

That's why we keep them a number of jumps apart, and away from common travel lines. It only takes a quick D-scan to find a depot (and then a long while probing to actually locate it), but depending on where you set up, those 2-6 jumps can have enough divergent paths to make it a hassle to find them all. Keeping them out of easy D-scan range reduces the risk of people finding them.

Furthermore, keeping all of your assets split up, gives you many more choices to re-deploy from. If one of your depots is taken, you can refit from a different one, and get back to hunting. Be wary of escaping to a system with your depot in it. They will eventually catch you and your depot. Be brave my friend, and run into unknown space, and return once pursuit has lost interest.

The last point to consider is naming your depot. By adopting the naming conventions of the local residents, we gain anonymity in the crowd. Resist the temptation to mark your territory. The closer you mimic  the POS and other depots around you, the less notice you'll attract. They may even assume you to be a friend. 

Savage's Fiddle

Or, "Bar-bar-bar."

I recently wrote about the people who were famous to me in New Eden. Mord Fiddle was one of them.

And that's peculiar. He spends most of his time in Non-sovereignty null-security space, and writes almost exclusively about the various events of the sovereign alliances.I spend most of my time in low-sec, and hi-sec trade hubs. We don't share any common ground.

Except for writing. And writing is the reason I count Mord as one of my most important influences. His writing style is unique among most bloggers, and he has a wonderful way of describing the machinations of the null-sec war-lords. Even me describing them as warlords in due, in part, to the colourful and vivid narratives and thought-provoking analogies he creates.

Not to mention the personal benefit I get from his blog. I get a steady stream of page views directed from his site. I'm proud to be included on his blog list.

But it was mostly what he wrote about that kept me coming back. More specifically, it was when he spoke of barbarians.

As he says, 'barbarian' is essentially another way of calling someone savage, or uncivilized. It's an ancient Greek term, since the conversation of their less-urban inclined neighbors sounded to them like "Bar bar bar bar bar." Over the ages, it's come to apply to anyone we see as overly aggressive, with a tendency to use their enemies' skulls for drinking wine.

And it is these stories that fascinate me.

Mord recently announced his departure from New Eden, based on the new industrial taxes that will hit soon, and the inferred Cosmic developers' contempt for those living in Hi-sec. I'm not convinced this is the whole of the reason.

CSM Ripard Teg said in a comment that most of Mord's posts are based on the unfortunately named CFC, and that they mostly contain a certain amount of vitriol for the group. He claims burn-out for Mord's choice to join the Sleepers in immortal slumber. I tend to agree.

I believe the reason for that is because the CFC are the only worthwhile thing to write about in Null-sec. They have been for a long time. And thus far, despite some minor footnotes of other alliances rising to power, but quickly brokering treaties with the swarm, there has been little else for him to talk about. I'd be burnt-out too if my passion had only come to chronicling the rise of a single entity. After commenting and  analyzing the chaos of null-sec before, I'm not surprised.

In other words, it's kind of dull.

I know nothing of null-sec, but things must have become more barren for one who wrote so passionately about it to lose interest.

So I think of barbarians. More specifically, I think about the more successful ones.

The idea of a barbarian without culture or civilization is entirely misleading. They often do have one, it's just distinctly different from those looking out over the horde and trembling. The word barbarian quite literally means foreigner, or something other.

Which is why Mord's ideas of barbarianism never really gained traction. Whilst he advocated looting and pillaging, I always felt it was from the perspective of setting out to raid and pillage from a secure place. Which is logical. You need somewhere to cart back that plunder.

But the next logical extension is that you'd need to defend said place, and things start to look a lot like a traditional null-sec alliance. And we already have one that reached the peak of that particular development cycle. The real answer lies in a fundamentally different way of living in null-sec. A different culture.

The most successful barbarians in ages past were nomadic herdsmen. They lived in tents, and never built anything to last. When things became uncomfortable, they just packed up and left. An entire empire was built this way. All they asked from their subjects was some gold to prevent unpleasantness. Other than that, they lived off the land, and traded with the more settled people.

This kind of nomadic existence doesn't exist in New Eden's null-sec. There is a general feeling of ownership, and that ownership of systems comes with a right to security. The idea that one should 'own' space before one is allowed to exploit it is built into the narrative of the cluster. Even worm-hole residents put up there POS towers as a way of flag-planting.

But, as Mord says, barbarians tend not to care who's hiding in the castle, so long as they get to use the lands whilst he's there. The very idea of paying to operate in someone else's space is a dream. It is certainly more convenient to be able to dock up, but with current technology, it's no longer absolutely necessary.

The Great Wildlands is home to nomadic Thukkers. I am entering this dark place to learn their ways. Once I have the theory and practice of living without station or POS, I will move to sovereignty held null-sec, and hunt all they have. I intend to find out whether a different culture beyond the settled farmers can exist in null-sec.

I am moving to Null-sec. But I am doing it on my terms. I will not bend my knee to any alliance there, and I will not pay for the right to live in space they refuse to patrol.

I do not go for destruction, although I am aware many will try to bring it to me. I go to create, to learn and to teach. I actually envisage collaboration rather than opposition to the locals.

But the biggest reason, inspirations aside, is to see if I can.

It is a challenge, and one I look forward to tackling.

I keep hearing null-sec is essentially safe. I'm not a big risk taker. Safe space sounds great to me. And if the local landlords come after me, well... I'm not all that risk averse. I love a good chase.

Catch me if you can.

Ugh, I have no talent for this philosophical rambling. Next up, some practical advice for living out of a depot.

Null-sec Nomad

It occurred to me as I looted the clone pirate wreck a week ago, that you don't need to own space to profit from it.

None of the high-sec capsuleers can claim ownership of a single system. Low-sec corporations can, by right-of-might, claim a system as their own. But they don't get to fly their banner from the stations ramparts. The closest they get to that is the cheery little corp logo adorning their station office door.

And yet, these pilots flourish. They exploit their space, quite without the keys to the system. When the mood takes them, they may camp outside the star gates, snarling at interlopers, but when it's time for bed, their ownership amounts to nothing but words lost in the void.

My little jaunt out to Thukker controlled space cemented this idea. I was exploiting space quite beyond the clutches of the Empires, the gentle iron fist of CONCORD, and with only minor pirates for company.

It's dangerous, no doubt about that. There are only a handful of stations in the whole region. But because of that, it's largely untraveled. Warp disruption bubbles aren't a problem if there's no one to deploy them.

So, I made a few little preparations and headed out to see if I could live there for a week.

Preparations were simple. The biggest problem of extended operations in the Great Wildlands was cargo space. This is semi-fixed by deploying mobile depots. I have a number of them dotted around the Region now, all in safe spots, and hopefully beyond the care of other people.

Setting up was easy enough. Cargo expanders in the lows meant I could carry more, and the depot ensured I could refit once I got into my hunting grounds.

I pretty much have this space to myself. I warp out to belts, collect the bounties on a few pirates, and loot them. I then return the loot to the nearest Depot. Rinse and repeat.

I see much more of the alliances I read about in the press. Pandemic Legion, Read Alliance, and some others. I never really met them in Hi- or Low-sec. They flitter around the Wildlands, probably looking for someone to kill. I wonder who? They can't be after me... unless they've brought a dedicated probe ship, and have their hearts set on a mobile depot kill mail. And the pirates in the belts go fairly un-molested, save for one lonely Khanid taking their bounties.

I also met a budding exploration pilot, wandering around the Wildlands in  Magnate, lows full of warp core stabilizers. Rookie capsuleer. He'd only been in space for 3 weeks. We had a brief chat about where to find things, and he left my hunting grounds. I wish him well. He said he learned a lot from his past 3 ship losses. Good man. Hope he can maintain that optimism.

But as I rove between my interstellar camps, wondering how I can convince Benh to pilot an industrial out to pick up all of what I've collected, I struggle with this question: Why am I out here?

And I think it all comes down to one writer.