Jump clones

This article should be cleaned up or improved, as of November 2021.
The reason is: The article could use a good scrub of language and graphics, due to game changes (UI and mechanics). References to only being allowed to have one clone per location have been removed - but the article could use a full overhaul.

Jump clones are a technology used by players to transfer ("jump") their consciousnesses from one body to another. They are effectively a "fast travel" mechanic in EVE, and they can also be used to manage different sets of implants used for different purposes.

Jump clones should not be confused with the medical clone that is stored in a player's home station. A character can only ever have one medical clone, and medical clones provide EVE's "respawn" mechanic.

Summary

Jump clones are installed

An animated guide to how jump clones work (click to see animation).‎

You can only have one active "body", but by using clones, your body can jump from system to system regardless of the distance.

When a character jumps from one body to another, they take their skill points, standings, corporation membership, and cerebral accelerators with them. However, they cannot take any items with them, including implants and the effects of [[Medical boosters|drugs other than cerebral accelerators; these remain with the old body. Your old body turns into a jump clone, and you can jump back into it later.

In order to create or use jump clones, you need at least one level in the skill Infomorph Psychology. Jump clones are purchased and installed at Clone Bay facilities. The most commonly-used clone bays are those in NPC stations, which charge a moderate fee (900,000 ISK). Once you have installed a jump clone, it will continue to exist until you destroy it.

Not all stations have clone bays, and other things sometimes offer clone bay facilities. You may install jump clones on board capital ships with Clone Vat Bays fitted (Titans and Rorquals), or in player-owned outposts in sovereign nullsec space and Citadels fitted with a Stand Up Cloning Center (fees may be set by the owner via standings).

A long, long time ago...
Before the Aegis update on July 14th of 2015, there was a requirement that you, or your corporation, have a standing of 8.0 or better with the corp that owned the station where you wanted to buy a jump clone.

Clone activation

Once you have a jump clone installed, you can activate it from your character sheet. You must be docked up, outside of any ship (i.e. just your pod) and ready for a session change to be able to clone jump.

Jumping is instantaneous, but entails a 24-hour cooldown before your next clone jump Training Infomorph Synchronizing decreases this delay by 1 hour per skill level. If you are in a player-owned Upwell structure and you jump from an active clone to an inactive clone stored in the same structure, you do not get a cooldown. You can also jump "within" an Upwell structure in this manner if you have an active cooldown.

Leaving behind, or "installing", a jump clone at the station or citadel you are jumping from requires you to pay a fee. This fee is 900k ISK at NPC stations. Owners of Upwell structures can set whatever fees they like.

Note that, while you can install a clone in an Upwell structure with a clone bay in wormhole space, and switch clones within the same structure, you cannot clone jump into, out of, or between wormhole systems. The sole exception is Thera, which has NPC stations and acts like known space for clone jumping purposes.

Relevant skills

 Infomorph Psychology (1x, 1M ISK)
Allows 1 jump clone per level.

 Advanced Infomorph Psychology (5x, 36M ISK)
Allows 1 additional jump clone per level.

 Infomorph Synchronizing (2x, 5M ISK)
Reduces time between clone jumps by 1 hour per level.

 Cloning Facility Operation (10x, 125M ISK)
Required for the installment of the Clone Vat Bay module. Increases a Clone Vat Bay's maximum clone capacity by 15% per skill level.

The utility of jump clones

There are three main advantages to using jump clones:

1. Quick travel to other parts of the EVE universe: You can have jump clones (with a few ships and modules) positioned in various parts of New Eden, allowing you to easily jump between these stations to participate in activities suitable for that location.
2. Safeguard valuable implants when fighting other players (PvP): you can switch to a "clean clone" (i.e. a jump clone with no implants) when there is a high chance that you will be podded while engaging in PvP, to avoid losing expensive implants (which would be destroyed when you are podded).
3. Have jump clones specialized for certain tasks: As skill hardwiring implants give very specific bonuses (e.g. the Zainou 'Deadeye' Large Hybrid Turret implant gives a bonus to damage for large hybrid turret weapons only) and cannot be removed without destroying them, it may be worth having jump clones with implant sets geared towards different activities.

Examples

1. A pilot is running high-level missions for two NPC corporations, which are located far away from each other (to, for instance, balance out his faction standings). Instead of flying his slow battleship between the two mission hubs, he installs a jump clone (and stations a fully fit battleship) at each mission hub. He can then clone jump between the two locations easily to run missions for both corporations (on alternate days).
2. A new member of EVE University has taken advantage of the University's implants program and installed a set of +3 learning implants to speed up his skill training. He wants to poke his toes into low-sec, but is worried about being ganked and losing his implants. He therefore creates a jump clone without any implants, and switches to it before heading into low-sec, thereby safeguarding his implants. He can then switch back and forth between his clone with implants (to speed up his skill training) and his clean clone (for venturing into lowsec) depending on what he wants to do that day in EVE.
3. An experienced pilot wants to specialise in running Incursions, but still enjoys some frigate PvP to relax. She creates a jump clone and fits it out with high-level (and expensive!) implants to maximise the performance of her incursion-running battleship (e.g. implants to boost the amount of armor on her ship and the damage of her large laser turrets), but switches to a clone without any implants when she just wants to jump into her frigate and shoot at anything that moves.
4. An industrialist runs an extensive manufacturing operation in a quiet, out-of-the-way system. He hates hauling, so to sell his final product he ships his items via courier contract to a trade hub. He then creates a jump clone at the trade hub, and uses it to periodically jump to the trade hub to sell his products (which is faster than flying back and forth in a ship).

Step-by-Step instructions

Skills

Make sure that you meet the prerequisites:

• Have learned at least one level of the  Infomorph Psychology skill
• Have at least 900,000 ISK available to pay for the jump clone if installing at an NPC station. Owners of outposts or citadels may set fees via standings.

Finding a clone bay

1. Access your map (default: F10)
2. Click on the second icon from the left in the title bar, the multicolored circle called Color By
3. In the Services section, select Clone Bay

Your map will highlight all the systems with clone bays, hovering over the system will tell you exactly which station.

You can also look for clone bays in citadels which are often cheaper than stations but you can lose access to them (see below):

1. Access your game menu (the first icon in the top left)
2. In the Utilities sub-menu, click on Structure Browser
3. Click on Service Filter and select Clone Bay

The list will update with all the nearby structures with clone bays. The "Jump Clone Installation" column will show the installation fee for NPC structures.

Create a jump clone

The jump clone window (accessed from the character screen).

1. Dock at the station, outpost, or citadel where you would like to create your jump clone. For installing through a Rorqual or Titan you will need to be in space very close to the ship in question.
2. Use the Clone Bay (accessible from the station services menu) to install and purchase a jump clone. Make sure to select "Jump Clone" (and not "Medical Clone" Note that the Clone Bay can be used to set your new Home station for your medical clone).
   Now you have both your active clone and an inactive jump clone in that station.
3. If you want to fly your current (active) clone to a particular location, undock from the station and do so.
4. To jump into the new jump clone you just created, dock up at a station and leave your ship (so that you are in your capsule).
5. Open your character sheet, and select the "Jump Clones" tab. Here you will see a list of all your available inactive jump clones, including their locations and any implants they may have installed. Select the jump clone you just created, and click the "Jump" button.
   Congratulations! You have just performed your first clone jump!

You can repeat this procedure as often as you'd like to create additional jump clones, with two restrictions:

• You need to have sufficient levels in the  Infomorph Psychology and  Advanced Infomorph Psychology skills to create additional jump clones.
• You may not create a jump clone at a station at which you currently have an inactive jump clone. You can get around this problem by choosing a different station, or by jumping to the offending jump clone and moving it somewhere else.

Losing Jump Clones

Once you have installed/bought a jump clone, it is yours forever. If you get podded, your medical clone will wake up at your home station and will become a fresh active jump clone, while all your inactive jump clones will still be available. (You will have lost any implants that were installed in your active clone in the moment you were podded.)

There are, however, a few cases which would destroy one of your jump clones or prevent your access to it:

1. If an inactive jump clone is located in a capital ship, and that ship is destroyed, the jump clone (and any implants installed in it) will be destroyed.
2. If an inactive jump clone is located in a player-owned structure, that clone will be destroyed if the structure is destroyed, or if the owner of the structure offlines or unplugs the clone module.
3. You will also lose access to a clone in a player structure if the owner of the structure changes the structure's Access List to exclude you.
4. If a structure enters low power mode or enters its hull reinforcement timer, its clone bay will go offline and you will lose access to the clone stored there. Should the structure survive and be powered back up, you will regain access.

You can also destroy any jump clone you via the Jump Clone tab on your character sheet. This can be handy for freeing up a jump clone slot to then be able to install a new one at your current location, especially if the other jump clone was clean, and you don't need to have a clone at that location anymore.

Jump Clone Example

Suppose you have the following clones:

• In Jita, you automatically have a medical clone in the station set as your home station.
• In Jita, you have an inactive jump clone with a memory implant.
• In Rens, you have an inactive jump clone with a willpower implant.
• In Dodixie, you have an active clone (i.e. that's where your character is at the moment), with a perception implant.

Suppose that you fly your character from Dodixie to Rens. You will now have an active clone and an inactive jump clone in Rens.

If you try to install a second jump clone in Rens, the game will refuse to install it. You will not lose anything.

If you tried to jump clone from Rens to Jita, you would have ended up with two inactive jump clones in Rens, which is not allowed. The game will warn you not to do this and allow you to cancel; if you ignore the warning and clone jump nonetheless, your inactive clone in Rens (with a willpower implant) will be destroyed, but you will keep the inactive clone containing the perception implant.

You can, however, jump from your current body in Rens (with the perception implant) to your inactive jump clone in Rens (with the willpower implant) without destroying any jump clones.

At any time, if you are podded, you will wake up in Jita, at which point you will have an active clone and an inactive jump clone, both in Jita.

Clone Vat Bay Specifics

Basic details

The Clone Vat Bay is a high-slot module which can only be fitted to the Rorqual Capital Industrial Ship or Titan class vessels. The skill Cloning Facility Operation at at least level I is required for operation.

The Rorqual permits 6 jump clones. Titan class vessels have enough room for 75 clones. Both of these limits are affected by the Clone Facility Operation skill (10x multiplier; +15% to clone bay size per level, or 1.15x multiplier to effective bay size). Thus, the Rorqual can take 6 clones with CFO I; 7 clones with CFO II; 9 clones with CFO III; 10 clones with CFO IV; and finally 12 clones with CFO V. In contrast a Titan takes up to 86 clones with CFO I; 99 clones with CFO II; 114 clones with CFO III; 131 clones with CFO IV; and 150 clones with CFO V.

Clones are stored in an invisible part of the ship and are not destroyed if the Clone Vat Bay is unfitted, but if the host vessel is destroyed then the clones installed are lost. Clones are visible to the host vessel with the "Configure Clone Facility" option in the capacitor doughnut, which lists the pilots with clones installed, the available clone space remaining and the option to invite or destroy a clone from another pilot. Only one clone can be installed per host vessel per pilot.

Using a Clone Vat Bay

Let's imagine a Titan pilot in an Avatar and another pilot who is currently in a Scythe Fleet Issue cruiser. First, the Titan pilot must fit the Clone Vat Bay and have it online, and he must have sufficient Liquid Ozone in the fuel bay, since the CVB uses 1 unit of Liquid Ozone per activation. Next, he must activate the clone bay, which, given the fact that it immobilizes the Titan and has a 5 minute cycle time, requires the usual safety precautions. (Tethering is not broken when activating a Clone Vat Bay.)

Next, the Scythe Fleet Issue pilot must be on grid with the Titan, and under 5000m in distance from the Titan itself. The Titan pilot select the SFI pilot via the right click menu and chooses "Offer Clone Installation". This sends a prompt to the SFI pilot to accept the offer, which transfers 900,000ISK from the SFI pilot to the Titan pilot and installs a clean clone. The SFI pilot is then free to warp off or go about his normal business.

When the SFI pilot wishes to jump clone to the Titan, the Titan must first have the clone bay active. The SFI pilot then navigates to the Character Sheet and finds the jump clone stored in the Titan, and clicks the Jump button. This subtracts 900,000 ISK from the SFI pilot's wallet as a charge paid to the TransStellar Shipping for the act of jump cloning to a facility that is not a player structure. The SFI pilot then spawns in an empty capsule about 5000m from the Titan itself.

Clone Vat Bays are rarely used in the current metagame, although they can offer a specific advantage or utility in extremely niche circumstances. Titan Bridges are a more effective means of transport to the battle field over remote distances.