A Look At Faction Warp Scramblers

With Tuesday's changes to warp core stabilizers, three became a magic number. The only ships with a potential warp core strength greater than 2 when fitting a WCS module are the Venture and the four deep space transports. Fitting a warp core stabilizer gives those ships a warp care strength of 4. When I read the change, I thought we might see more ships fitting a scrambler and a disruptor. Then I started hearing people mention faction warp scramblers.

Faction warp scramblers are one of those modules that immediately brings to mind EVE law #1, "Don't fly what you cannot afford to lose." Sure, only fitting one module opens up a mid slot. But for how much?

A list of the scramblers with a +3 warp core strength

EVE has nine different types of faction warp scramblers. I divide them into two types, those which are purchasable from a loyalty point store, and those that only drop from NPCs.  The five that only drop are:

• Dark Blood Warp Scrambler
• Domination Warp Scrambler
• Dread Guristas Warp Scrambler
• Shadow Serpentis Warp Scrambler
• True Sansha Warp Scrambler

The Dark Blood, Domination, and True Sansha versions each have a base range of 11.25 km. The Dread Guristas version has a range of 10 km and Shadow Serpentis Warp Scrambler has a range of 10.5 km. Compared to the Warp Scrambler II's base range of 9 km, not only do the faction versions have 1 extra warp scramble point, but have extra range as well.

I decided to find out the availability of the modules, so I visited Fuzzworks last night and looked up the prices and quantity available on all markets. Below were the prices and quantities for the first group of scramblers.

• Dark Blood Warp Scrambler - 79 on market, 120,000,000 ISK lowest sell/110,000,000 ISK highest buy
  
  
• Domination Warp Scrambler - 79 on market, 110,000,000 ISK lowest sell/110,000,000 ISK highest buy
  
  
• Dread Guristas Warp Scrambler - 92 on market, 60,710,000 ISK lowest sell/57,780,000 ISK highest buy (not including one in Solitude listed for 49 million ISK)
  
  
• Shadow Serpentis Warp Scrambler - 75 on market, 67,000,000 ISK lowest sell/65,000,000 ISK highest buy
  
  
• True Sansha Warp Scrambler - 75 on market, 120,000,000 ISK lowest sell/117,100,000 ISK highest buy

The price seems linked to range of the module, but I'm not positive. I usually don't buy PvP modules that cost more than my Cheetah.

The four flavors of faction warp scramblers available from loyalty point stores are:

• Caldari Navy Warp Scrambler (base range 10 km)
• Federation Navy Warp Scrambler (base range 10.5 km)
• Khanid Navy Warp Scrambler (base range 10 km)
• Republic Fleet Warp Scrambler (base range 11.25 km)

What stuck me immediately is that the Amarr Navy doesn't have a faction version of the warp scrambler. That function is filled by the Khanid Navy. However, Khanid is a little out of the way from the usual trade lanes.

The cost of the modules in the loyalty point stores differ greatly. Not only in loyalty points and ISK, but in insignias required as well.

• Caldari Navy Warp Scrambler - 14,000 LP, 5.6 million ISK, 38 Federation Navy Captain Insignia I, 61 Federation Navy Major Insignia I
  
  
• Federation Navy Warp Scrambler - 80,000 LP, 32 million ISK, 1 Caldari Navy Commodore Insignia I, 10 Caldari Navy Admiral Insignia I. 5 Caldari Navy Vice-Admiral Insignia I
  
  
• Khanid Navy Warp Scrambler - 14,000 LP, 5.6 million ISK, 38 Republic Fleet Captain Insignia I, 61 Republic Fleet High Captain Insignia I
  
  
• Republic Fleet Warp Scrambler - 80,000 LP, 32 million ISK, 70 x Imperial Navy Colonel Insignia I, 43 x Federation Navy Fleet Major Insignia I

What about manufacturing the modules. Usually, players can purchase 5-run blueprint copies from the loyalty store. When researching the prices of the BPCs, I discovered the game doesn't have blueprints for the Federation Navy Warp Scrambler.

A list of warp scrambler blueprints

Also, while the game lists a blueprint for the Khanid Navy Warp Scrambler, I did not find one offered in the Khanid loyalty point stores. The cost of the two BPCs for the remaining modules are:

• Caldari Navy Warp Scrambler BPC, 5 runs - 42,000 LP, 16.8 million ISK, 111 Federation Navy Fleet Captain Insignia I, 185 Federation Navy Fleet Major Insignia I
  
  
• Republic Fleet Warp Scrambler BPC, 5 runs - 240,000 LP, 48 million ISK, 128 Imperial Navy Major Insignia I, 211 Imperial Navy Colonel Insignia I

Given the acquisition costs of each of the modules from the loyalty point stores, I wasn't surprised to see Caldari Navy Warp Scramblers were the most popular of the four types when I searched the markets. In order of quantity available for purchase:

• Caldari Navy Warp Scrambler - 306 on market, 61,340,000 ISK lowest sell/56,260,000 ISK highest buy
  
  
• Republic Fleet Warp Scrambler - 139 on market, 109,600,000 ISK lowest sell/101,000,000 ISK highest buy
  
  
• Federation Navy Warp Scrambler - 18 on market, 117,600,000 ISK lowest sell/86,800,000 ISK highest buy
  
  
• Khanid Navy Warp Scrambler - 2 on market, lowest sell price was 135 million ISK.

I have to admit my biggest worry travelling through low sec is running into a gate camp with a sensor boosted heavy interdictor fitted with an infinite point. In those cases, 10 warp core stabilizers wouldn't help. As a result, I really only fit WCS if I had nothing else to put in my low slots. I'm not worried about someone fitting a faction warp scrambler. 

I also think a lot of PvP pilots won't worry about the possibility of running into a ship fitting a warp core stabilizer. They will be looking for other pilots looking for a fight. In those situations, neither side will fit WCS and a single disruptor will suffice to keep the opponent from warping off.

I can see all those tech 1 industrial pilots used to zipping in and out of low sec not feeling as comfortable running cargo now. Since the odds of surviving a surprise meeting decreased a few days ago, the pilots will need to recalculate the risk versus reward for their activities. Hopefully we don't see any unintended consequences in the economy.

Finally, do I think we are going to see a wild upswing in players purchasing faction warp scramblers. Not really. The modules are pretty expensive. A slow uptake in usage is possible, though. Although, if we see a movement complaining about the price, CCP might make acquiring faction warp scramblers easier. I hope not, though. I'd like to see how the new environment plays out.