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Class Information

This chapter contains the standard information of this class pertaining to scheduling and class contents. The General Information should be sufficient to create a proper class topic for scheduling on the Eve University forum. Additional information relevant to the teacher is listed under Notes for the Teacher.

General Information

Illustration link for class description on the Eve University forum: INCURSION_in_System_NEW_INDICATOR_INCURSION_PROFILE_for_STATE_OF_SYSTEM.jpg

This class is an introduction to Incursions, including what they are, how they work, the ships & skills needed, how to participate, fittings, and a practical fleet.

  • Duration: 60-90 minute lecture and an additional 60+ minutes for the practical fleet.
  • Location: Docked up safely in a station. Note the fleet for the practical will form in Aldrat and will then travel to the Incursion site.

Class contents:

  • What are Incursions?
  • Incursion Mechanics
  • Ships & Skills
  • How to join an Incursion Fleet
  • Fittings
  • Q&A
  • Practical Fleet (for E-UNI members, Alumni, and alts)

Student requirements:

Additional information: This class is primarily lecture delivered in the Classroom channel in Public Mumble, followed by Q&A. A practical fleet for E-UNI members, Alumni, and alts will follow on the normal Mumble server.

Notes for the Teacher

Required materials:

Class Contents

Introduction

Welcome to the Incursions 101 class!

Over the next 60 minutes or so, we shall cover what Incursions are, what ships and skills are needed/recommended, how Incursions work, and how you can participate in them successfully.

(Instructor should then introduce himself or herself - covering relevant experience level and background.)

We have a few ground rules for this class:

  • Please put your Mumble settings on "Push to Talk" if you have not already done so.
  • Feel free to type any questions in the Lecture.E-UNI chat channel as we proceed - I will try to answer your questions as they come during the class. [At the end of my lecture, we'll open Mumble for any further questions or general discussion.]
  • You should be docked up safely in a station [in Aldrat or already at the current focus if you intend to participate in the practical fleet].

Everyone ready? OK, then - let's begin....

What are Incursions?

Incursions are a random PvE event in EVE. The Sansha's Nation invades a Constellation for up to 7 days with mysterious goals. We as Capsuleers can slow or even stop an invasion by taking on the Sansha ships while they work. If we do enough damage to the Sansha one of their Motherships becomes vulnerable, and the invasion can be stopped by blowing it up...

In game terms Incursions are high level, group PvE content. They are similar to raids in other MMOs. Within any Incursion there are many sites of different sizes ranging from 10 pilot sites to the 80 pilot Mothership. In terms of skill, Incursions are really end-game content requiring at least 2-3 months of skill training before a pilot is ready. In general pilots fly Battleships, Tech II Logistic Ships, and Strategic Cruisers for Incursions.

The running of High Security Incursions revolves around finding an Incursion Community you like to run with. These are not Corporations or Alliances in EVE, but chat channels dedicated to forming Incursion fleets. Each channel has its own requirements, specialties, and culture. This course will cover the basic requirements that they all have in common but it is advised that each pilot do their own research when looking at communities to learn their differences.

Low and Null Security Incursions are not run as often due to the risk of PvP inherent in the space. This is not to say they are never run, and in fact Null Sec Alliances like to get ride of them because they are disruptive. It is more the groups that run any particular one tend to be tighter knit and harder to fly with if you are not already part of them.

Incursion Mechanics

Unless you happen to currently be in an Incursion Constellation the best tool for learning about Incursion is the Journal. Open that now and navigate to the Incursions > Global report tab. This tab lists all of the current incursions in New Eden. There can be up to 7 active incursions at any one time and they are divided into a max of 3 high-sec, 1 low-sec, and 3 null-sec constellations. It is possible for one or more of the high-sec incursions to spawn in a high-sec 'island' constellation that is not accessible without traveling through low-sec which usually results in the constellation being left to disappear naturally. Incursions end when either the mother ship is killed or after 7 days when it will naturally disappear.

Not all constellations are capable of supporting an incursion (Check min number of systems required, think 6) and some such as the ones containing major trade hubs are deliberately removed from the list of potential locations by CCP.

Effects of being in an incursion constellation

When an incursion spawns the constellation that it takes over is drastically altered by the imposition of four different penalties in all systems making up the constellation. All penalties are present in all systems, although some of them vary in strength depending on the type of incursion presence in the system. The four effects are:

  • System-wide cynosural field jammers in effect
    • Makes it impossible to light a cyno anywhere in the constellation
    • Obviously irrelevant in high-sec, can potentially be a serious problem in low or null-sec
    • (Unsure if covert cyno fields are affected, would expect them to not be)
    • This penalty is always in effect and does not vary in strength
  • Financial systems compromised. 50% reduction in CONCORD bounties
    • Makes it not worth running missions in the constellation
    • This penalty is always in effect and does not vary in strength
  • Vessel integrity compromised. All shield and armor resistances reduced.
    • Level of penalty depends on system type, 10% in Vanguard systems, 25% in Assault systems, 50% in HQ systems
    • Penalty is applied as increase in vulnerability to damage in the same manner that resistance modules work
    • Practical results of penalty are minimal in vanguard systems and significant enough to warrant fitting changes in Headquarters systems
    • The strength of this penalty varies with the amount of control the Sansha forces have over the constellation and is entirely negated when they have no influence
  • Capsule interference detected. Turret, launcher, drone and smartbomb damage reduced.
    • Level of penalty again depends on system type, as do practical effects (no refitting required though)
    • The strength of this penalty varies with the amount of control the Sansha forces have over the constellation and is entirely negated when they have no influence.

In an actively run high-sec incursion the Sansha influence will usually be ground down to zero in a matter hours after it spawns. There is also a special constellation-wide incursion chat that you will automatically join when in the constellation.

An active incursion also causes all naturally-spawning rats to be replaced by sansha rats which are significantly tougher and easily capable of destroying mining barges and other lightly tanked ships. Mission-spawned rats are not replaced however if you linger in a cleaned out mission pocket long enough it is possible for non-mission rats to spawn and these will be replaced by the Sansha incursion rats. In low and null-sec incursions the sansha will also setup gatecamps, similar to how groups of ordinary rats will sometimes spawn on gates there, but much more common. These incursion gatecamps will also include rats that can warp scramble you, making even ordinary travel very dangerous.

I have previously discussed there being different types of incursion presence and am now going to explain each of the different types. There are four types of incursion types of incursion presence that can be found in a constellation and all constellation will have at least one system containing each type. The types of presence are:

  • Sansha Staging
    • Only present in one system
    • Generates scout sites which can be completed solo
    • Possibly worth running if you want to test a fit
    • Not worth running for the rewards, you're better off doing missions
    • No rats that spawn in these sites will warp scramble you
  • Sansha Vanguard
    • Present in no less than three systems in the constellation
    • Generates vanguard sites that require logistics supported fleets of up to 10-11 people to complete
    • Very popular with many different communities running these types of sites
    • The E-Uni incursion community will most often be running these type of sites
  • Sansha assault
    • Present in no less than one system in the constellation
    • Generates assault sites that require logistics supported fleets of 15-21 people to complete
    • Least popular of all site types due to one specific mechanic in one sites requiring the use of Strategic Cruisers or T1 battlecruisers to complete the site
  • Sansha headquarters
    • Present in only one system in the constellation
    • Generated headquarters sites that require logistics supported fleets of 35-40 people to complete
    • Very popular with several communities running 23/7 fleets that do these sites exclusively
    • The mothership site will also spawn in this system once the Sahsha influence has been reduced to 0% and at least 1 Headquarters site has been completed.

The mothership site requires between 50-80 pilots to complete and successfully doing so ends the incursion, paying out all accumulated LP that people have been awarded for running sites. This site is also the only site in which any of the rats can drop loot, and the mothership is guaranteed to drop several true sansha modules and blueprints for sansha faction ships, and the low-sec specific version of the mothership site is the only place in the game where it is possible to obtain a Revenant BPC.

The number and location of each type of presence in a constellation are fixed and will be identical each time an incursion spawns in the constellation. The layouts can be found on [Eve-Survival]

How incursion sites work

Incursion sites appear as warpable beacons, like DED sites, and all except for scout sites have acceleration gates. All rats present in incursion sites have no bounties and drop no loot, however they will give security status increases for killing them. Salvaging the wrecks is also not profitable and will in fact slow down the rate at which sites respawn, since a completed site will not disappear until all ships have left it.

The rewards from running incursions are obtained by completing sites, each completed site rewards each person who is both in the fleet that does the most damage to the sansha and on grid in the site with a fixed amount of both isk and CONCORD LP. While the isk is payed straight into each fleet member's walle the LP is accumulated in a pool which is only paid out upon successful completion of the incursion's mothership site by some fleet, you still get the LP paid out even if you are not part of the fleet that completed the mothership site. If the incursion withdraws naturally without the mothership being killed your accumulated LP will be lost. The amount of LP you have been paid out can be seen in the Agents>Loyalty Points tab alongside all other LP and the amount of LP you have sitting in the pool can be seen in the Incursions>Global report tab next to the incursion you have earned it in. The Incursions>Loyalty Point Log tab will show you a complete record of every single time you were awarded LP for completing an incursion site.

The amount of isk and LP that you get paid depends on both the type of site you are running and the number of people on grid in your fleet. The payout mechanic is setup to give the maximum payout to only certain fleet sizes, with steep drop-offs in payout for having more or fewer than the intended number of people. There is also an additional multiplier that depends on the security status of the space you are running the incursion in, high-sec payouts are lower (0.7x multiplier) than low and null-sec payouts (1.0x multiplier). The specific amounts of isk and LP you will be paid can be seen in the Incursions>Encounters tab of the Journal and despite there being individual entries for every specific site listed there the payout amounts and thresholds are identical for each class of sites. It is also common for fleets (not just E-Uni ones) to run with 1 extra person on grid than is allowed for getting the maximum payout, this is because it is generally felt that the gain in speed from having the extra person allows for more than enough extra sites to be completed in a given amount of time to outweigh the reduced payouts caused by having the extra person.

While the mechanics of incursion sites ensure that everyone who is on grid will be payed not everyone in the fleet is on grid when sites are completed. Any size of incursion fleet will require two or three people who are not on grid in order to run efficiently. These people are the Off-Grid Boosters (OGBs) and Scouts. Scouts are most commonly found in Vanguard fleets due to the number of other fleets that are generally running and the short completion times for sites requiring someone to be looking for the fleet's next site while they are still completing their current one. Off-Grid boosters are required in all types of fleets, although the number will vary with Vanguard fleets only requiring one and Headquarters fleets requiring two.

As these roles exclude the people performing them from being paid by the site most communities encourage the people who are on grid and getting paid by completing the site to share a portion of their earnings with the scout and OGBs to thank them for performing the role.

In wartime the E-Uni fleet has one extra role that does not get paid by the site mechanics, the picket. Their job is to provide continuous observation of all routes that war targets could use to try and get to the incursion fleet and provide advance warning to enable the fleet to safely leave their current site and dock up before the war targets can get to them. Public communities generally get around this problem by requiring you to not be at war in order to run with them although their are some communities that will still permit you to run on the condition that you will not receive reps from the fleet's logistics if any of your war targets show up.

CONCORD LP can be used in two different ways firstly, as with all other types of LP, in CONCORD LP stores and secondly by converting it into the LP of a different NPC corporation in order to use it at their LP store. This conversion is however done at a reduced rate of 0.8 NPC LP for every 1 CONCORD LP for most empire corporations, 0.4 NPC LP for every 1 CONCORD LP for Outer Ring Excavations (ORE) and the Sisters of EVE, and is completely unavailable for all pirate corporations. This conversion is one way only so be sure you want to buy something from another corporation's LP store before you convert your CONCORD LP.

As I previously mentioned only one fleet can get paid for completing an incursion site and if more than one fleet is in the site and killing the Sansha (this is called a contest) the payout will be given to the fleet that does the most raw damage (armor/hull damage). This means that the best tactics in a contest situation are significantly different from those used in a normal site, and there are some communities that will assemble fleets for the purpose of going in and contesting other fleets in order to maximize their isk and LP earning.

--

Required Ships & Skills

Getting started with incursions requires a significant investment in both training skills and purchasing and fitting a suitable ship. All 4 races have ship that can be flown successfully in Incursions however not all ships are suitable and each race has only a few ships (not necessarily T1 battleships) that can be suitably fitted for incursions without spending exorbitant amounts of isk on them. Not all races have suitable

All 4 races have ships that can be flown successfully in Incursions. However, there are only a small number of ships in each race, and not all have a Tech 1 Battleship that is suitable. Minmatar, Caldari, and Gallente have the Maelstrom, Rokh, and Hyperion, but Amarr needs either an Apocalypse or Armageddon Navy Issue. Minmatar & Gallente also have Faction Battlships options in the Tempest Fleet Issue and Megathron Navy Issue. For Logistics, the Minmatar Scimitar and Caldari Basilisk are the 2 used in E-UNI and other Shield Incursion communities. The Scimitar can provide Remote Tracking Links for the damage dealers to increase either tracking or range, while the Basilisks have more slots for Shield Repair modules but also require Capacitor Transfer modules so usually need another Basilisk in the fleet to "chain" with. For Vanguards, a ship with Hacking modules is needed for a specific site and a Heron is considered the best option. Note that hacking uses the old system and not the new mini-game system. Finally, the Claymore is the most common off-grid boosting ship.

Advanced hulls include Pirate Faction Battleships, T3 Cruisers. and Command Ships. The Machariel is easy to get into and can be very flexible to fit for either short-range or long-range engagements. The Nightmare has the highest initial (alpha) damage potential but is very skill-intensive. The Vindicator excels at using stasis webifiers to slow down the rats and can remove frigates the fastest. Its web bonus is so powerful that many believe they will be nerfed when CCP rebalances the Pirate Faction battleships. All 4 strategic cruisers are viable, although the Loki and Legion are more popular. For Command Ships, the Vulture has the most versatility, while the Astarte and Slepnir can be used in certain situations (sorry, there are no feasible Amarr ships).

Since Incursions require 2 or more months of focused training, planning ahead is critical to be able to get into them as soon as possible. Unless you are already focused on a certain race or weapon system, deciding what pirate faction battleship, logistics cruiser, and/or strategic cruiser you want to eventually fly may be better than focusing on what you want to fly first. You may also be able to use the skills you train in other aspects of EVE, such as Logistics or Gunnery skills for PVP fleets or missions. If you want to get into wormholes, training for T3s may be a better option than for pirate faction battleships.

There are many skills that are recommended, and a few that are required. Being able to have enough CPU and/or Powergrid, fit a Tech 2 Shield tank (or armor if you want to run with armor-specific communities), target as many ships as possible (especially important for logistics), and have drone skills for either Light or Repair drones are needed to survive. Recommended skills improve the efficiency of your guns (tracking, range, rate of fire), capacitor, lock time and range, ability to rig T2 rigs yourself, and to use T2 drones (including Sentries in certain fleets).

Other skills that are helpful but not always used include Leadership skills (Leadership to V and Wing Commander to at least II), Thermodynamics for when things go bad, and Navigation skills for when Afterburners or Microwarpdrives are used. Also, there are skills you can have alt characters train (best on a separate account) for specific roles such as a scout/hacking frigate, flying an Orca to move your/others ships and modules, or an alt to just fly the ships themselves if we are at war.

How to join an Incursion fleet

The first thing to do is find a few Incursion communities and look at them. This comes even before building a ship as each group has slightly different fitting requirements and there is no reason to fully fit out a ship only to be told that you have to change. Granted most of the communities that people start in are fairly flexible on fits if you meet the minimum requirements but many advanced groups have strict fits that you cannot deviate from. What follows is a partial list of Incursion chat channels to explore when you start Incursions:

After you join all the chat channels the next thing to do is read their MOTD. This will give you information about what fits they use, where they are flying, and how to set up your overview. Most communities have mailing lists. Also, most high-sec communities do not allow pilots who are in a player corporation that is currently at war as the Crimewatch mechanics cause logistics pilots to be attackable if they repair someone who is at war. Since E-UNI can be at war quite often and for long periods of time, we will still run Incursion fleets while at war, but will use "pickets" (preferably out-of-corp alts or alumni) placed in the surrounding systems and if wartargets show up the picket will yell on Mumble and the FC will initiate a controlled retreat by killing all remaining scramming rats and docking at a/the station in system. However, we still will not allow any alts or alumni in fleets that are at war with other corporations than the one(s) E-UNI is at war with.

When you're ready to join a fleet, the standard method is to "x up" with your role and a fitting link to your ship. For example: "x DD (linked ship name)". You can link you fitting by going into the Fitting window and dragging the ship name on the top right to the chat channel. As with PVP fleets, it is best to at least remove your name from the ship name. Once you are in the fleet, another MOTD will usually appear that lists information such as who the logi pilots are, who is the dronebunny, and who are the anchors for Assaults and Headquarters. There will be 1 Wing of 2-5 squads depending on size of site. Boosters can either be

It is expected that pilots have correct settings so that the FC knows everyone sees the same thing. I will cover some of the common things, but each group will have slight variations that should be covered before you fly.

  • Mumble (UNI) or Teamspeak (Public)
  • No Auto Target Back: ESC -> General Settings -> Auto Target Back = 0 Targets
  • Broadcasting for Shield, sometimes Capacitor, and In Position. Adding shortcut keys for these under ESC -> Shortcuts -> Navigation tab. Need Shield when yellow boxed, In position when all red goes to yellow or off. Mandatory for Assaults and Headquarters.
  • Drones to Passive - 3 line box on top left of drone window
  • Fleet Window set to Hierarchy (also applies to E-UNI PVP fleets): once in fleet, 3 line box on tab -> Show As Hierarchy
  • Shield/Armor Alarms: 3 lines bottom right of HUD -> Configure Damage Alert Settings -> Shield: 95%

Fittings

All ships (except the Hacker and OGB) require a Tech 2 tank (shield for E-UNI fleets), rigs, and repair drones (backup for damage-dealers, primary for logistics). The Tech 2 tank on the T1 or Faction Navy ships consists of at least a Damage Control II and 2 Adaptive Invulnerability Field IIs and a Large Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I rig. Some ships also need an EM Ward Field (or Amplifier) II and/or a Large Anti-EM Screen Re-Inforcer I rig. The key is to have all 4 resistances at 70% or higher before off-grid boosts. These can be checked in either EFT or Pyfa or by undocking and turning on all the modules.

For damage-dealers, ammo should be Faction. Short-range is needed for Vanguards, while both short and long-range can be used in Assaults and Headquarters. For the remaining midslots, at least 1 faction stasis webifier, specifically the Federation Navy Stasis Webifier is almost mandatory for Vanguard fleets. A sensor booster with scan resolution scripts and Tracking Computers can fill in the rest. If you really cannot afford the faction webifier, a Tracking Computer or even Target Painter can be used instead. Headquarter sites require a Microwarpdrive. Lowslots are a mix of DPS enhancing Stabilizers and Tracking Enhancers, both T2. If your ship has a spare high-slot, a T1 Large Remote Shield Booster can be effective for emergencies. If there's any rig slots remaining, Large Core Defence Shield Extender Is will increase your effective hit-points, which should be over 10k in Vanguards.

For logistics, Scimitars MUST be cap-stable. This means beginner fits need Meta-4 Capacitor Power Relays in the low-slots (T2 is actually no better here), 2 Cap Recharger IIs, and 4 Meta-4 Large Remote Shield Boosters. A meta-4 afterburner is recommended and the remaining midslots should have a Large Shield Extender II and an Adaptive Invulnerability Field II. Rigs should be a Medium Anciliary Current Router, preferably T2, and a Medium Capacitor Control Circuit II. Once you get the Logistics skill to V, you can swap out the Cap Rechargers for Remote Tracking Links to help the damage dealers.

There are faction and deadspace modules that can improve the efficiency of your ship and even allow you to change the module layout, but these are usually expensive and can make your ship a target for gankers, although it is not common for one ganker to attack an entire Incursion fleet. Also, there are Hardwiring Implants that go in slots 6-10 that can also improve certain attributes. 3% implants are inexpensive, but 6% implants can be purchased from the CONCORD LP stores and are required for certain elite fits in shiny communities. Finally, there are at least 2 drug boosters you can consume depending on what ship you are flyinh, and the Synth versions are enough and will not cause any side-effects.

Life as an Incursion Runner

  • Constantly moving
    • Orca alt
  • Main char versus new alt
    • Pros and Cons
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