Scouting: Difference between revisions

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* Your own probes - if you're launching probes, keep a close eye on your cloak, as your probes can decloak you while you're moving them around - very easy mistake to make, and very easy to be looking at the map view reorganising your probes and not realise it.

== Bookmarks: ==

== Bookmarks ==

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So, what to bookmark? There's a handful you'll want:

* Bookmarks warp distance off ~~gates~~. You want a few bookmarks that are more than 150Km and less than grid size off each gate in each system you go through. You want to be further than 150Km because you want to be able to warp in and that's the minimum distance. Further away is better so long as you can still see ships coming through the gate. You'll spend a lot of your life at these bookmarks watching gate traffic.

==== Gate Warp-ins ====

A bookmark at warp distance off a gate. You want a few bookmarks that are more than 150Km and less than grid size off each gate in each system you go through. You want to be further than 150Km because you want to be able to warp in and that's the minimum distance. Further away is better so long as you can still see ships coming through the gate. You'll spend a lot of your life at these bookmarks watching gate traffic.

There's two ways to get these. The first is to warp to 100Km off a gate then turn in a random away-from-the-gate direction and move (while cloaked) until you're out far enough. This is a great thing to do if you're doing other things, like watching traffic through the gate, or talking with FC.

Alternately, warp to 100, bookmark that, then warp to something else at 100 and bookmark that. Then warp back to your first bookmark _at 100_. Presto, you have a spot close to 200Km off the gate. If you do this still move a bit to be off the plane, and don't do your two warp-ins in-line with each other.

Alternately, warp to 100, bookmark that, then warp to something else at 100 and bookmark that. Then warp back to your first bookmark _at 100_. Presto, you have a spot close to 200Km off the gate. If you do this still move a bit to be off the plane, and don't do your two warp-ins in-line with each other. Also, don't jump between gates to do this, as gates are the most likely place other people will warp from.

Incidentally, note that when you come through a gate you come out at 15Km away from the gate - 150Km is your minimum warp distance, so your bookmarks should ideally be more than 165Km away, 170Km+ to be safe.

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Try to move off the plane once you have your spot - that's directly up or down - as that'll make you less likely to be found.

*Note, bookmarks are dropped when you hit the final "OK" after naming, not when you first hit the "bookmark" button.

'''Note, bookmarks are dropped when you hit the final "OK" after naming, not when you first hit the "bookmark" button.'''

Note also, if you can, try and make sure that multiple bookmarks around a gate are far enough away from each other that you can warp between them - that makes hunting down an enemy for a warp-in point much faster (more on that below).

* Bookmarked warp distances off stations. ~~Same rationale as the gate bookmarks~~.

A small tip: If you hit "F10" and toggle the map to the local solar system view, you'll be able to see the layout of the celestial bodies. If you can get your bookmark on the "outside" of the wormhole (ie. put the wormhole between you and the sun), then your field of view should encompass many of the planets, moons, and stations. This will make working out where pilots are heading to when they warp away much easier.

* Bookmarked safe spots. You want these to be as non-obvious and non-easy-to-find as possible. Between objects (ie. inline from gate to station) is bad but better than nothing (and can have some uses as they're deceptive to an enemy watching you warp out, assuming you're not moving cloaked). Out at scanned down locations - cosmic anomalies and the like - can be good once they're empty. Use safe spots to generate new safe spots by dropping bookmarks mid-warp between them. Keep creating new safe spots - if you or any of your fleet members turn up in them uncloaked you may burn them and have to throw them away.

==== Station Warp-ins ====

Same rationale as the gate bookmarks, same basic practice - try and put them "behind" the station, so you can see people warp off.

==== Safe Spots ====

You want these to be as non-obvious and non-easy-to-find as possible. Between objects (ie. inline from gate to station) is bad but better than nothing (and can have some uses as they're deceptive to an enemy watching you warp out, assuming you're not moving cloaked). Out at scanned down locations - cosmic anomalies and the like - can be good once they're empty. Use safe spots to generate new safe spots by dropping bookmarks mid-warp between them. Keep creating new safe spots - if you or any of your fleet members turn up in them uncloaked you may burn them and have to throw them away.

Note, if you're closer than ship scanner range to other celestial objects you may be spotted (if uncloaked) by any ship using their shipboard scanner. This can happen very quickly so don't assume that just because the fleet stopped in your safe spot for only 60 seconds it hasn't been scanned down. Ship scanners have a range of 14.4AU, so that far from the nearest celestial would be great.

* Bookmarks off-grid. These are like the warp-ins for gates and stations, but just off-grid. Off-grid means far enough away from the location in question to not be able to see ships on the overview (typically near the 500Km mark from your location). These are useful for a couple of things - they're great hiding places and they're very close, so if you want to (for instance) setup an ambush, you can bring a fleet to the off-grid position then move yourself closer to watch the gate or station, get a warp-in point, and bring the fleet in quickly. See below for more info on getting warp-in points on targets.

=== Off-grid ====

These are like the warp-ins for gates and stations, but just off-grid. Off-grid means far enough away from the location in question to not be able to see ships on the overview (typically near the 500Km mark from your location). These are useful for a couple of things - they're great hiding places and they're very close, so if you want to (for instance) setup an ambush, you can bring a fleet to the off-grid position then move yourself closer to watch the gate or station, get a warp-in point, and bring the fleet in quickly. See below for more info on getting warp-in points on targets.

To get these, you can either warp and drop a bookmark while warping (this can get you out 1AU or so if you can time it right) or you can simply point away from the station and travel - if you do this at a gate, switch brackets on and watch the gate guns - when they disappear, you're off-grid for ships (which means you can't see ships and they can't see you, but you can still see the larger structures). A little further will take you off-grid for the gate itself.

@@ Line 60: / Line 60: @@
 * Your own probes - if you're launching probes, keep a close eye on your cloak, as your probes can decloak you while you're moving them around - very easy mistake to make, and very easy to be looking at the map view reorganising your probes and not realise it.
-== Bookmarks: ==
+== Bookmarks ==
@@ Line 67: / Line 67: @@
 So, what to bookmark? There's a handful you'll want:
-* Bookmarks warp distance off gates. You want a few bookmarks that are more than 150Km and less than grid size off each gate in each system you go through. You want to be further than 150Km because you want to be able to warp in and that's the minimum distance. Further away is better so long as you can still see ships coming through the gate. You'll spend a lot of your life at these bookmarks watching gate traffic.
+==== Gate Warp-ins ====
+A bookmark at warp distance off a gate. You want a few bookmarks that are more than 150Km and less than grid size off each gate in each system you go through. You want to be further than 150Km because you want to be able to warp in and that's the minimum distance. Further away is better so long as you can still see ships coming through the gate. You'll spend a lot of your life at these bookmarks watching gate traffic.
 There's two ways to get these. The first is to warp to 100Km off a gate then turn in a random away-from-the-gate direction and move (while cloaked) until you're out far enough. This is a great thing to do if you're doing other things, like watching traffic through the gate, or talking with FC.
-Alternately, warp to 100, bookmark that, then warp to something else at 100 and bookmark that. Then warp back to your first bookmark _at 100_. Presto, you have a spot close to 200Km off the gate. If you do this still move a bit to be off the plane, and don't do your two warp-ins in-line with each other.
+Alternately, warp to 100, bookmark that, then warp to something else at 100 and bookmark that. Then warp back to your first bookmark _at 100_. Presto, you have a spot close to 200Km off the gate. If you do this still move a bit to be off the plane, and don't do your two warp-ins in-line with each other. Also, don't jump between gates to do this, as gates are the most likely place other people will warp from.
 Incidentally, note that when you come through a gate you come out at 15Km away from the gate - 150Km is your minimum warp distance, so your bookmarks should ideally be more than 165Km away, 170Km+ to be safe.
@@ Line 77: / Line 79: @@
 Try to move off the plane once you have your spot - that's directly up or down - as that'll make you less likely to be found.
-*Note, bookmarks are dropped when you hit the final "OK" after naming, not when you first hit the "bookmark" button.
+'''Note, bookmarks are dropped when you hit the final "OK" after naming, not when you first hit the "bookmark" button.'''
 Note also, if you can, try and make sure that multiple bookmarks around a gate are far enough away from each other that you can warp between them - that makes hunting down an enemy for a warp-in point much faster (more on that below).
-* Bookmarked warp distances off stations. Same rationale as the gate bookmarks.
+A small tip: If you hit "F10" and toggle the map to the local solar system view, you'll be able to see the layout of the celestial bodies.  If you can get your bookmark on the "outside" of the wormhole (ie. put the wormhole between you and the sun), then your field of view should encompass many of the planets, moons, and stations.  This will make working out where pilots are heading to when they warp away much easier.
-* Bookmarked safe spots. You want these to be as non-obvious and non-easy-to-find as possible. Between objects (ie. inline from gate to station) is bad but better than nothing (and can have some uses as they're deceptive to an enemy watching you warp out, assuming you're not moving cloaked). Out at scanned down locations - cosmic anomalies and the like - can be good once they're empty. Use safe spots to generate new safe spots by dropping bookmarks mid-warp between them. Keep creating new safe spots - if you or any of your fleet members turn up in them uncloaked you may burn them and have to throw them away.
+==== Station Warp-ins ====
+Same rationale as the gate bookmarks, same basic practice - try and put them "behind" the station, so you can see people warp off.
+==== Safe Spots ====
+You want these to be as non-obvious and non-easy-to-find as possible. Between objects (ie. inline from gate to station) is bad but better than nothing (and can have some uses as they're deceptive to an enemy watching you warp out, assuming you're not moving cloaked). Out at scanned down locations - cosmic anomalies and the like - can be good once they're empty. Use safe spots to generate new safe spots by dropping bookmarks mid-warp between them. Keep creating new safe spots - if you or any of your fleet members turn up in them uncloaked you may burn them and have to throw them away.
 Note, if you're closer than ship scanner range to other celestial objects you may be spotted (if uncloaked) by any ship using their shipboard scanner. This can happen very quickly so don't assume that just because the fleet stopped in your safe spot for only 60 seconds it hasn't been scanned down. Ship scanners have a range of 14.4AU, so that far from the nearest celestial would be great.
-* Bookmarks off-grid. These are like the warp-ins for gates and stations, but just off-grid. Off-grid means far enough away from the location in question to not be able to see ships on the overview (typically near the 500Km mark from your location). These are useful for a couple of things - they're great hiding places and they're very close, so if you want to (for instance) setup an ambush, you can bring a fleet to the off-grid position then move yourself closer to watch the gate or station, get a warp-in point, and bring the fleet in quickly. See below for more info on getting warp-in points on targets.
+=== Off-grid ====
+These are like the warp-ins for gates and stations, but just off-grid. Off-grid means far enough away from the location in question to not be able to see ships on the overview (typically near the 500Km mark from your location). These are useful for a couple of things - they're great hiding places and they're very close, so if you want to (for instance) setup an ambush, you can bring a fleet to the off-grid position then move yourself closer to watch the gate or station, get a warp-in point, and bring the fleet in quickly. See below for more info on getting warp-in points on targets.
 To get these, you can either warp and drop a bookmark while warping (this can get you out 1AU or so if you can time it right) or you can simply point away from the station and travel - if you do this at a gate, switch brackets on and watch the gate guns - when they disappear, you're off-grid for ships (which means you can't see ships and they can't see you, but you can still see the larger structures). A little further will take you off-grid for the gate itself.