There is a train of thought there are two types of low-sec. Faction War space which is full of PvP and pirates, and non-FW low-sec which is generally empty as a hermit's address book.
My move two weeks ago has shown that low-sec is massively shaped by the location and the corps that dominate the area. There are many types of low-sec, certainly not just the two types.
My previous year in Tama area was dominated by high-value ships coming after my T1s. I like to fly T1. Good fun, cheap PvP. Whilst I use T1 hulls I tend to T2 fit. That gives a ship cost of between 7 and 15m for most frigates and destroyers. However I spent a lot of the time in 2015 "noping" and been chased by faction, T2 hulls and lots of people in faction and T2 hulls.
Down in Ishomoken things are different. More people are solo. Less are linked. There are more T1's than bling. Battlecruisers and cruisers are more common than I've seen in a long time. It's not all nice cheap PvP as I saw last night, but it is mostly!
Why?
I think it's a combination of space-geography and the corporations who base in the area.
First up "space-geography". Ishomilken is a high-sec border system. If I was to jump through the Uni stargate I'd soon get...
This makes it easy access into low from Jita locale. I put Jita Locale at any system within 10 jumps from Jita. There are numerous ways back into low-sec and making a map of the area I found that I need to be more careful than ever! A lot of low-sec/high-sec interfaces obviously encourages more people to pop in for some "fun" PvP rather than the more hardcore who live in low-sec exclusively. For example Tama is also a low in "Jita Locale" and one of the most dangerous systems in Eve (regularly in the top five systems for kills). However that area appears to be very different from Ishomiken area. A lot more of the "Hardcore" PvP tends to happen there with lots of links, implants and shiny ships. As I write this the top five kills by price in Tama over the last week range from 4bn ISK to a shade under 2bn. Ishomiken ranges from 470m down to 270m ISK. Lets have a look at the killers.
Ishomiken - 335 kills in 7 Days
Comet
Algos
Gnosis
Capsule
Maulus Navy Issue
Harbinger
Tristan
Kestrel
Keres
Firetail
Comet
Algos
Gnosis
Capsule
Maulus Navy Issue
Harbinger
Tristan
Kestrel
Keres
Firetail
Tama - 1847 kills in 7 DaysSvipul
Keres
Comet
Gnosis
Proteus
Thrasher
Jackdaw
Stiletto
Capsule
Malediction
Keres
Comet
Gnosis
Proteus
Thrasher
Jackdaw
Stiletto
Capsule
Malediction
So in terms of tech people are fighting with the most in these two hi-sec border systems:-
Ishomiken Top Ships0 T3
1 T2
3 Faction
6 T1
1 T2
3 Faction
6 T1
Tama Top Ships
3 T3
3 T2
1 Faction
3 T1
3 T3
3 T2
1 Faction
3 T1
Clearly the bling is being flown in Tama and a lot of it. Whilst the Ishomiken area is not as busy for PvP the ship types clearly show its less blingy generally.
And long may that continue (because I lose a lot of ships!).
I suppose it depends on your definition of bling. I don't think of hulls that cost less than 100m as blingy hulls. The only one on the Tama list I consider expensive is the Proteus. Everything else on the list if T2 fit is pretty common. If the hulls have fittings worth several hundred million then they could fall into blingy as well.
ReplyDeleteI don't know anyone that would think an interceptor was blingy despite being T2. You can by a ceptor hull for <20m. Your article while interesting seems very biased from the cheap PvP of T1 as being normal vs everything else being blingy.
I say their are 3 categories not 2, cheap (T1), standard, and bling. The price tags you list for Tama losses are blingy 2B-4B. But the ships doing the killing are pretty standard albeit less in the cheap category than Ishomiken.
Its not just the actual ships, but the ships behind the ships. And the head candy of those flying them. There is more to it than the ships involved in actual PvP.
DeleteI guess it also depends on your wallet, If you don't think anything less that 100m is blingy then i would wager that your ISK balance is high and/or you have a relatively easy way of soaking up 100m loses.
DeleteI personally would say anything over 50m (especially for cruiser down, whilst not blingy in terms of officer or deadspace options would still be a level of ISK I would not want to lose too often.