Last night I did some badly needed some badly needed mining in the asteroid belts to make up for the time I lost Monday to some distractions. The reason for the need for minerals are all of the blueprints I keep picking up running radar sites.
Radar sites are one of the types of sites that requires probes to find, which is one reason that I spent the time to do the Wildfire level 4 epic arc and chose to receive the RSS Core Scanner Probes as a reward. I heard they are pretty lucrative as a pilot can go in, smash a few rats around, unlock containers using a codebreaker and come away with some nice loot. What I didn't realize was just how important radar sites are to low sec industry.
One thing I noticed is that running radar sites provides a lot of materials needed for invention. I've only run four or five sites over the last week but I've picked up 16 data cores, 7 decryptors and a Minmatar Encryption Methods skill book. Picking up the data cores is nice because that means I don't have to pay an agent for them. The decryptors are worth 6-7 million ISK apiece in Hek and include 6 Operational Handbooks, a decryptor that gives +2 to maximum run modifier, +1 to mineral efficiency and +4 to production efficiency. The Operational Handbook is the decryptor I always used when I did my invention work.
One thing I didn't expect is the number of blueprint copies I'm finding. So far I found four. The first three were related to invention, as I've come to expect. I found a one-run Cryptic Data Interface bpc, a 2-run Cryptic Ship Data Interface bpc and a 2-run Cryptic Tuner Data Interface bpc. Those aren't too bad and gives me something to make. But the real prize that sent me to the belts was in a site I ran Tuesday night: a 5-run X-Large Ancillary Shield Booster bpc.
Manufacturing an X-Large ASB requires 1313 Isogen, 476 Nocxium and 113 Zydrine. Now, I could fly to high sec to purchase the minerals needed to take advantage of my unexpected bounty. Or I could just warp off to a belt and mine Vitric Hedbergite for 30 minutes in a Procurer and have enough minerals to make all five. Which is why I was in a belt last night mining.
I'm excited about finding the ancillary shild booster blueprint. When I was watching the alliance tournament this year and saw the effect of the ASB I thought "that is cool but I'll never be able to acquire one." Now, after doing 30 minutes of mining all I have to do is do a couple more mouse clicks and I have something new to experiment with. I won't put them on a PvP ship since I don't really know what I'm doing but I'd like to see how the module performs when put on a mission-running Maelstrom or Typhoon.
So far I'm having a good time in low sec. I can see why people don't want to leave high sec as some people think blowing up your ship is a friendly gesture. But as I begin actually living in low sec I see more and more possibilities that I'd like to explore.
Using it for mission running is somewhat counterproductive considering it uses charges and is meant for short bursts. It's a PvP module. Just get into PvP. :p
ReplyDeleteYeah its really a pvp module because of the charges it uses, along with the 30 second reload time when the charges run out.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there is nothing wrong with trying these things out in a pve environment, so that you get first hand experience of using them when messing up wont cost you a ship.
Using an ASB in pvp benefits most when in a ship with active tanking bonuses. Which is why large / extra large ASBs are often used on the cyclone BC.
Also, use the smallest charges that will fit, you dont get any bonus for the larger charges. It just wastes cargo space.
One interesting pve option that I did hear about is using dual XL ASBs in a Vargur for running lvl 5 missions. I dont know if this worked out or not, but running a single (ship bonused) ASB at a time, so while one reloads you switch to using the other one, you can in theory set up a very nice cap free active tank.
Lvl 5s have neuts so a solo missioner must expect to have no cap. Also the bonus cargo size in a marauder leaves plenty of room for charges.
A Vargur is chosen because it has shield rep amount bonuses.
A bit of a fringe case, but interesting.
Navy 400s for your XL ASB.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I find them I toss in the corp hanger.
If you were going to use the ASB in PvE, I'd say you'd have to build the rest of the fit around it. Instead of focusing on higher capacitor as is typical with PvE ships, for instance, use the rig slots and/or low-slots that you're putting into additional cap for additional DPS and tracking instead.
ReplyDeletecool! so that's where they drop!
ReplyDeleteYup. Radar sites. I have gotten 3, 5 and 10 run copies of all the sizes. They also drop off of faction spawns in some null plexs.
DeleteMinor update: I just pulled a 5 run XL ASB from a mag site
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