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Homefront operation: Difference between revisions

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{{Update|New operation sites. Version 22.01 release 2024-06-20.1 [https://www.eveonline.com/news/view/patch-notes-version-22-01 Patch notes]<br>Changes to [[#Abyssal Artifact Recovery]] in Version 22.01 release 2024-08-27.1 [https://www.eveonline.com/news/view/patch-notes-version-22-01 Patch notes]}}
{{Update|New operation sites. Version 22.01 release 2024-06-20.1 [https://www.eveonline.com/news/view/patch-notes-version-22-01 Patch notes]}}


'''Homefront operations''' are [[Cosmic Anomalies]] in [[highsec]] that require a group of pilots covering specific roles from standard roles like [[EVE Lexicon#DPS|DPS]] and logi to less common roles in fleets such as hacking and hauling. There were  6 types of them balanced for 5 players introduced in [[Expansions#Viridian|Viridian]] and 3 new types balanced for 3 players introduced in [[Expansions#Equinox|Equinox]], each having its own scenario and requiring its own group composition and strategy. The acceleration gate on the entrance allows only certain types of ships depending on particular type.
'''Homefront operations''' are [[Cosmic Anomalies]] in [[highsec]] that require a group of pilots covering specific roles from standard roles like [[EVE Lexicon#DPS|DPS]] and logi to less common roles in fleets such as hacking and hauling. There were  6 types of them balanced for 5 players introduced in [[Expansions#Viridian|Viridian]] and 3 new types balanced for 3 players introduced in [[Expansions#Equinox|Equinox]], each having its own scenario and requiring its own group composition and strategy. The acceleration gate on the entrance allows only certain types of ships depending on particular type.

Revision as of 08:12, 7 August 2025

This page should be updated due to game changes.
Reason: New operation sites. Version 22.01 release 2024-06-20.1 Patch notes

Homefront operations are Cosmic Anomalies in highsec that require a group of pilots covering specific roles from standard roles like DPS and logi to less common roles in fleets such as hacking and hauling. There were 6 types of them balanced for 5 players introduced in Viridian and 3 new types balanced for 3 players introduced in Equinox, each having its own scenario and requiring its own group composition and strategy. The acceleration gate on the entrance allows only certain types of ships depending on particular type.

Goal

The goal of these sites is to bring new and experienced capsuleers together to do new activities, help to establish social connections and introduce fleet gameplay.

Sites are located in empire owned High Security systems, mostly focused around trade hubs or career agent systems.

The enemies, narrative, and specific goals of a site are dependent on which empire's space it is found within.

Some sites introduce hostiles hailing from new traitorous corporations, splintering away from their empire.

Homefront types in different Empires

There is a total of 9 different types of Homefront Operations. Some of them have 4 different versions, depending on which empire space you are in; some of them have only one version. The differences between the versions are the type of pirates you face in each site and the type of electronic warfare (EWAR) that you face. The following table provides an overview of the encountered EWAR. It also outlines the primary and secondary damage types capsuleers should prepare for.

Gallente space Gallente Minmatar space Minmatar
Site Damage types EWAR Site Damage types EWAR
Suspicious Signal: Stop the Siphon Kinetic damage KinThermal damage Th ECM Suspicious Signal: Stop the Sabotage Electromagnetic damage EMThermal damage Th Neuts/ Weapon disruption
Dread Assault: Primacy Base Explosive damage ExElectromagnetic damage EM Neuts/ ECM Dread Assault: Cartel Racket Explosive damage ExKinetic damage Kin Paints/ ECM
Raid: Narcotics Lab Thermal damage ThKinetic damage Kin Damps Raid: Deserters Hideout Thermal damage ThElectromagnetic damage EM ECM
Emergency Aid: Automated Factory Electromagnetic damage EMThermal damage Th Webs Emergency Aid: Clan Holding Explosive damage ExKinetic damage Kin Paints
Metaliminal Meteoroid: Gallente Mining Electromagnetic damage EMThermal damage Th Webs Metaliminal Meteoroid: Minmatar Mining Thermal damage ThElectromagnetic damage EM ECM
Caldari space Caldari Amarr space Amarr
Site Damage types EWAR Site Damage types EWAR
Suspicious Signal: Block the Broadcast Kinetic damage KinThermal damage Th Damps Suspicious Signal: Secure the Intel Explosive damage ExKinetic damage Kin Paints
Dread Assault: Occupied Industry Explosive damage ExElectromagnetic damage EM Neuts/ ECM Dread Assault: Blood Raider Temple Electromagnetic damage EMThermal damage Th Neuts/ Weapon disruption/ ECM
Raid: Black Market Kinetic damage KinThermal damage Th ECM Raid: Hall of Sacrifice Electromagnetic damage EMThermal damage Th Neuts/ Weapon disruption
Emergency Aid: Convoy Kinetic damage KinThermal damage Th ECM Emergency Aid: Holy Mission Thermal damage ThExplosive damage Ex ECM
Metaliminal Meteoroid: Caldari Mining Kinetic damage KinThermal damage Th ECM Metaliminal Meteoroid: Amarr Mining Thermal damage ThExplosive damage Ex ECM
All Empires
Abyssal Artifact Recovery Electromagnetic damageThermal damageKinetic damageExplosive damage Omni Warp Bubble - Neuts/Trackin & guid disrupt/Webs/Paints/Damps
Salvage Research (3 ships) Thermal damage ThElectromagnetic damage EM ECM
Traffic Stop (3 ships) ?? None?[Verify] *Gallente sites have no eWar NPCs*
Stabilize Rift (3 ships) Electromagnetic damageThermal damageKinetic damageExplosive damage Omni Neuts; Enemies Cap Transfer Arrays

Type of ships allowed

For the 5-ships sites only the following type of ships are allowed to use the acceleration gate and enter the sites:

  • Tech 1 frigates, navy and pirate frigates
  • Tech 1 destroyers, navy and pirate destroyers
  • Tech 1 cruisers
  • Tech 1 haulers, including Squall
  • Ventures

For 3-ships sites the list is:

  • Tech 1 frigates, navy and pirate frigates
  • Tech 1 destroyers
  • Ventures

Site summary

Emergency Aid

Your aim is to keep a friendly target alive for 10 minutes. You can provide either shield boosts or armor repairs as you wish. You will have several rats on grid with you. Killing those rats simply results in new replacement rats spawning.

This means the Emergency Aid site can be run solely with Logistics ships. T1 Logistic cruisers like Ospreys or Augurors work well.

Dread Assault

The Dread Assault aims to fill the capacitor of a friendly Dreadnought to full 3 times (3000 cap each time). After each time there is a 90 second period while the Dreadnought attacks a structure and is not ready to receive cap.

Once again, killing enemy ships is futile, as they simply respawn. Enemy ships apply neuts, so it is recommended to bring T1 Logistic cruisers with 3-4 medium remote cap transfers (also large can be used in some strategies) and maintain cap chain with one of them (cap chain cruisers Osprey and Augoror are recommended).

Raid

Your objective is to collect loot from a respawning hauler and bring it to a friendly transporter. The first hauler will spawn almost immediately after you warp onto the site. Haulers will generally try to warp off and if they successfully warp away, you will have to wait for a new hauler spawn.

This means you will want DPS ships to equip Warp Disruptor (long point). As each piece of loot is 3500 m3, you will need one hauler (the quicker the better) that can haul 10500 m3 from the dead hauler(s) to the transport ship. The usual composition is 1 Logi + 3 DPS + 1 Hauler.

Suspicious Signal

The aim of this site is to destroy a single structure. However, it starts invulnerable and only gets vulnerable once 3 data cans are hacked. Each hacked can starts a 90 seconds timer, so if the cans are hacked simultaneously, there is a 90 second window for damaging the target. The hp of the target is estimated to be ≈410k.

Common group compositions are 5 DPS with strong active tank, 3 of which have Data Analyzer equipped; or 4 DPS with 1 Logi.

Metaliminal Meteoroid

The objective is to mine out one asteroid with 14000  m3 (3500 units). As in all other sites, killing rats is futile, as they simply respawn. Possible compositions include 4 ventures + 1 Logi cruiser, 5 tanked ventures, or 5 active tank Cruisers with enough turret slots such as Moa.

In addition to the site's payout, the (event) ore can be sold to NPC buy orders at 5000 ISK/unit. The site contains 17.5M ISK worth of ore (less with residue). One possible tactic is for a 6th person in a hauler to wait outside of the site so that they do not get part of the reward, but they gather all jetcanned ore and sell it.

Abyssal Artifact Recovery

Abyssal Artifact Recovery Miner
Abyssal Artifact Recovery Miner

Abyssal Artifact Recovery (AAR) is a Homefront Operation site found throughout high-security Empire space. It is unique among the Homefront lineup in that there are no regional differences to the site's enemies or layout.

Aside from the standard tank and fitting skills, this site will require proficiency in mining, drones, repair, and capacitor transfer. The site consists of 9 waves with an initial setup timer before the first wave and a 30 second intermission between waves.

The site will progress through three tiers, each containing three waves. The enemy fleet compositions will become more difficult and the wave timers become shorter with each tier.

Site Overview

During each wave, a random Abyssal Weather effect will begin and 12 asteroids will spawn in fixed locations. Each asteroid contains 24 ore, each with a mass of 4 m3, for a total of 96 m3. The presence of these asteroids causes an anti-warp bubble until all 12 are depleted.

Along with the asteroids, each wave will also spawn an enemy fleet which will be one of three factions: Drifters, Rogue Drones, or Triglavians. These fleets have random compositions that may include logistics, capacitor neutralizers, and other EWAR. Enemies will remain until destroyed, so a minimum threshold of DPS is needed to prevent being overrun.

The success of each wave is determined by the depletion of the asteroids. If any remain at the end of the wave timer, the site will fail. Note that the warp bubble will still remain until all asteroids have been mined out.

Successfully completing a wave will result in a payout at the end of that wave's timer, based on the tier of difficulty. After the final wave, a 60‑second evacuation timer begins. Once it expires, a Drifter response fleet will arrive in overwhelming force.

5-man fleet payout
Tier Waves Threat Level Timer Payout (ISK)
1 3 Minimal 3:00 5,372,850
2 3 Moderate 2:30 7,269,130
3 3 Severe 2:00 9,165,440

The total rewards for completing one full site amount to 65,422,260 ISK in raw payout, excluding bounties, Triglavian artifact cache loot, and mined minerals.

Salvage Research

The pocket will be filled with 30 wrecks that must be salvaged. Salvaging drones, MTUs and tractor beams cannot be used. You have to fly close enough to each wreck to run your high slot salvagers on it. There are hostile ships that will attack you, which you can ignore, if your self-rep is decent, or kill depending on your fleet composition. NPCs will target and kill drones. 3 destroyers (confirmed with Algos and Dragoon fits) fitted as T1 Passive Shield tank or Navy Frigate with active tank (confirmed with Navy Comet) works well. Salvagers need to have at least 20% Difficulty Bonus for them to work (Salvaging IV or a rig is needed) (20% however makes those sites rather difficult, 30-35% is recommended)

Traffic Stop

You need to cargo scan incoming ships for 10 minutes. If any of them possess contraband, you need to use stasis webifier and destroy them. This stie takes the full 9 minutes, and you need to ensure both victory criteria are met (1) don't let 5 ships carrying contraband dock up; and (2) don't kill more than 2 civilians. The mission will fail if either of those occur prior to the 9-minute timer on the site ending.

Stabilize Rift

There are several (5?) Destabilizing Arrays, that need to be drained of capacitor. They need to be below 20% capacitor simultaneously. Recommended fit: Dragoon with 1x Nosferatu and 4x Neuts using Warrior I drones. There are NPCs that may neut you (not always), and there are NPCs that may cap transfer the arrays. Having drones kill NPCs is recommended.

Payout

The amount of the payout depends on the number of participants who have interacted with the site. Interacting with the site might consist of dealing at least 1000 damage to any enemy, repairing at least 1000 shield or armor (it counts even if the target has full hp) or other interactions depending on the objective.

Payout amount for Abyssal Artifact Recovery, Emergency Aid, Dread Assault, Raid and Metaliminal Meteoroid peaks at 5 people and is currently 15,486,410 ISK for each player in group of 5. Payout amount for Salvage Research, Traffic Stop and Stabilize Rift peaks at 3 people and is currently 11,025,000[Verify] ISK for each player in group of 3 (and 7,350,000 for each in a group of 2).

Payout diagram for 5-man homefronts before ~9% nerf.

Spawn Mechanics

The anomalies can spawn anywhere in highsec, with a heavily increased probability of spawning near trade hubs (Dodixie, Jita, Amarr, Rens and Hek[1]) and Career Agents constellations. The spawns for each type are independent[2] and the total number for each type in Gallente space seems to be 18, in Caldari space 17, in Minmatar 14 (without newly added in Hek) and in Amarr 28[3].

History

Homefront operations were introduced in Viridian expansion in summer 2023 (see Viridian expansion notes). All of them were tuned for 5-ship fleets (Abyssal Artifact Recovery, Dread Assault, Emergency Aid, Metaliminal Meteoroid, Raid, Suspicious Signal).

In autumn 2023 they were rebalanced, nerfing the overall payouts and bringing the outliers closer to others.

Expansion#Equinox in summer 2024 new 3-ship types (Salvage Research, Traffic Stop and Stabilize Rift) were introduced. The old types had another tuning pass.

In september 2024 Abyssal Artifact Recovery was reworked as it was one of two most complicated but the least rewarding.

See also

References

  1. ^ Added in patch 2024-06-26.1
  2. ^ They do not share a pool (CCP Rampant)
  3. ^ Research by Mednik Breau using Agency per region. Spreadsheet with results and methodology.