Jump clones
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Jump Clones are a technology used by capsuleers (i.e. players in EVE) which allow them to transfer their consciousness between different bodies.
Jump clones require specific skills and standings to use, and cost ISK to set up, but can be used at will (with a cooldown period between uses).
A good way to think about jump clones is to imagine that you have a number of bodies available to you (which may be in widely scattered corners of the galaxy), but only one of these bodies currently holds your consciousness; the other bodies, without a consciousness, are inert. You can transfer your consciousness from your current body to another body, thereby taking control of your new body and rendering your old one inert. You will still have your experience intact, but any physical possessions won't travel with you (they stay with your old body).
In game terms, when you jump from one body ("clone") to another, you take your skill points, standings, corporation membership, and cerebral accelerators with you (i.e. they are unaffected). However, you cannot take any items or ships with you, and any implants also remain with your old body. Your old body effectively turns into an inactive jump clone, and you can jump back into it later.
Note that medical clones are a separate topic from jump clones, as they are only activated if your pod is destroyed (i.e. being killed in game terms). They are best thought of as a respawn point that can save up to a set amount of skill points.
Prerequisites
In order to create or use jump clones, you need at least one level in the skill 
Infomorph Psychology (1x, 1M ISK); every level of allows you to create an additional jump clone. After training Infomorph Psychology to level V (which allows you to create up to 5 jump clones), you can train the Advanced Infomorph Psychology (5x, 36M ISK) skill, which allows you to create one additional jump clone per level (up to a maximum of 10 in total).
Jump clones (just like medical clones) are purchased at medical facilities in stations. In order to buy (create) a jump clone, you (or your corporation) must have a standing of 8.0 or better with the corporation that owns the station where you want to buy the jump clone. However, once you have bought a jump clone(s), they are yours forever (even if your standings drop, or you join a different corporation, or put them into other stations where you don't have good standing), unless you destroy them accidentally (see below).
Note that not all NPC corporations own stations with medical facilities. Additionally, you may also buy jump clones on board capital ships with Clone Vat Bays fitted (Titans and Rorquals), or in player-owned outposts in sovereign nullsec space.
Activating jump clones
Once you have a jump clone installed, you can activate it from your character sheet after momentarily pausing your current skill training and exiting your ship. Jumping is instantaneous, but you must wait at least 24 hours between clone jumps (training Infomorph Synchronizing (2x, 5M ISK) decreases this delay be 1 hour per skill level).
Reasons for using jump clones
There are three main advantages to using jump clones:
- Quickly 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.
- 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 are destroyed when you are podded).
- 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 one different activities.
Examples
- 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).
- A member of EVE University wants to both be a part of the Nullsec Campus and still participate in the occasional event at the University's headquarters in Aldrat. The trip between these two locations is long and dangerous, so she installs a jump clone in Aldrat, allowing her to clone jump from the nullsec campus to Aldrat (and back) quickly and easily.
- 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.
- 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 (eg. 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.
- 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 and standings
Make sure that you meet the prerequisites:
- Have learned at least one level of the Infomorph Psychology skill
- Have at least 100,000 ISK available to pay for the jump clone
- Have standings of at least 8.0 with the NPC corporation which owns the station where you want to buy a jump clone (or be a member of a player-run corporation with standings of at least 8.0 towards said NPC corporation).
The first two steps are easy (although note that the skillbook costs 1 million ISK; members of EVE University can get this cost reimbursed through the University's skillbook program), but the third step is more difficult. Unless you are a very prolific mission runner, you are unlikely to have standings of 8.0 with any NPC corporation, which means that you will need to take advantage of your corporation's standings with NPC corporations.
- EVE University maintains these standings with two NPC corporations specifically to allow members to create jump clones; see the specific University instructions below.
- For pilots who are not a member of the University, the player corporation Estel Arador Corp Services has high standings with a large number of NPC corporations, and allows anyone to join them for a brief time in order to take advantage of this to create jump clones. This is by far the easiest way of creating jump clones (see below for more details); it may be a good idea to take advantage of this service before joining EVE University (or while you are waiting for your application to be processed) or any other player-run corporation.
Create a jump clone
- Dock at the station where you would like to create your jump clone.
- Use the medical services (accessible from the station services menu) to purchase a jump clone. Make sure to select "Jump Clone" (and not "Medical Clone").
Now you have both your active clone and an inactive jump clone in that station. - If you want to fly your current (active) clone to a particular location, undock from the station and do so.
- To jump into the new jump clone you just created, dock up at a station, pause your skill training queue, and leave your ship (so that you are in your capsule).
- 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! - Don't forget to restart your skill training queue.
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 easily get around this problem by choosing a different station belonging to the same NPC corporation, or by jumping to the offending jump clone and moving it somewhere else.
EVE University instructions
For members of EVE University based out of Aldrat, here are the step-by-step instructions for creating a jump clone. As you will need to make about 50 jumps through stargates, it's recommended to do this in a fast ship (preferably a shuttle, or a fast frigate).
- Choose the station (from those listed below) where you wish to install your clone (for purposes of this example, Isikano IX - Moon 11 - Wiyrkomi Peace Corps Logistic Support)
- Select the "Guests" tab in station before leaving to avoid being tempted to talk to the agents.
- Fly to Isikano IX - Moon 11 - Wiyrkomi Peace Corps Logistic Support. As stated below, DO NOT talk with any agent there.
- Use the medical services (accessible from the station services menu) to purchase a jump clone. Make sure to select "Jump Clone" (and not "Medical Clone").
Now you have both your active clone and an inactive jump clone in that station. - Fly back to Pator Tech School in Aldrat (if this is where you wish your current clone to be, you can obviously choose to place it anywhere) and dock up at the station.
- Pause your skill training queue, and leave your ship (so that you are in your capsule).
- Open your character sheet, and select the "Jump Clones" tab. Select the jump clone you just created ("Located in Isikano IX - Moon 11 - Wiyrkomi Peace Corps Logistic Support"), and click the "Jump" button.
You have now jumped to your clone in Isikano, while your old body has become an inactive jump clone in Aldrat - Restart your skill training queue.
- Fly your new "clean" (i.e. it doesn't have any implants installed) clone back to Pator Tech School in Aldrat (or anywhere else you would like it to be).
Shorter way
You can use a shortcut to reduce the number of stargate jumps needed (although it's also a little more expensive).
- Set up your medical clone at Pator Tech School in Aldrat, make sure you choose a grade high enough to hold all your current skill points.
- Follow steps 1-8 of the instructions above.
- Undock from the station, right-click on your pod, and self-destruct.
- You will "wake up" in Aldrat (where you had set your medical clone to). Update your medical clone to ensure you don't lose any skill points the next time you are podded.
Both your original clone and your new jump clone are now in Aldrat.
EVE University jump clone stations
EVE University has enough standing with two corporations, Wiyrkomi Peace Corps and Khanid Innovation, to allow its members to create jump clones at stations belonging to these corporations.
All of these systems are in high security space, but make sure you set your autopilot to avoid low security systems, so that you do not pass through dangerous space while traveling. You can also find these locations in the corporate bookmarks (under "Corporation Locations", "Jump Clones (don't talk to the agents!)"), for easily plotting a course and determining which is the closest to you.
Why so far away from Aldrat?
The ability to install a jump clone at a station is based on having personal or corporate standing of 8.0 and above at that station. The (corporate) standing of EVE University towards an NPC corporation is calculated as an average of the (personal) standing of every pilot in EVE University towards that NPC corporation who:
- has a relationship with that NPC corporation, and
- has been a member for more than a week.
Since your standing with an NPC corporation is only calculated after the first time you interact with them (i.e. talk to one of their agents), as long as you have never had contact with them, you are not included in that calculation. Hence, members of EVE University must not talk to any of the agents of the abovementioned corporations, in order to ensure that the average stays above 8.0, allowing all EVE University members can make use of the facilities to create jump clones.
When choosing which NPC corporations to use for jump clones, EVE University needed to identify a corporation that is unlikely to be used by members for missions. Therefore it needs to be small and unappealing, but still have medical facilities. While a similar corporation may be a great deal closer, there is a significant chance a member may inadvertently run missions for them (or interact with their agents), preventing jump clone access for all EVE University members.
Estel Arador Corp Services
If you are not a member of EVE University, there is another jump clone service available to you: the player corporation "Estel Arador Corp Services" [EACS]. It has high standings with a large number of NPC corporations, and it accepts all recruits for just a few days so that they can install jump clones and then leave EACS. Anyone joining EACS is responsible for acquiring their own copy of the Infomorph Psychology or Advanced Infomorph Psychology skillbook and paying the 100,000 ISK jump clone installation fee to the NPC station, but the service is otherwise free.
- Check out this forum post to find out more information about EACS, or visit their website.
- The EVE Online wiki has a list of EACS's jump clone stations.
Note that there are two minor dangers you should be aware of when joining EACS. It is recommended that you keep an eye on the local chat channel, and travel in fast, hard-to-catch ships (shuttles or fast frigates).
- War
- Other corporations declare war on EACS from time to time in hopes of catching an innocent jump clone shopper unawares. However, as EACS offers jump clone services in a large number of places (over 1000 stations all over New eden), the odds of being caught by a war target is fairly small.
- You can check the war status of EACS before joining. Open the "People and Places" window, search for "Estel Arador Corp Services" and open their info window from the search results. Open the "War History" tab. If there is a war with a "Started" date and no "Finished" date, then they are at war and you should be cautious.
- Your EACS corpmates
- Another possible hazard (mentioned in EACS' forum posting) is that their service is open to everyone, nice and not-so-nice alike. Because it is legal for members of the same corporation to shoot each other at any time, anywhere, it is perfectly legal for another capsuleer who is a member of EACS to blow you up if they manage to catch you. Again, given the size of New Eden you're very unlikely to be caught, but stay alert.
Thanks to the Advanced Infomorph Psychology skill, you can now own up to 10 jump clones. If you wish to add a large number of jump clones during your brief stay in EACS, there are several highsec solar systems across New Eden with 4 or more possible stations to install clones, minimizing travel.
- Gallente Regions
- Inghenges
- Jel
- Pozirblant
- Stetille
- Minmatar Regions
- Altrinur
- Anher
- Freatlidur
- Lustrevik
- Rens
- Amarr Regions
- Aphend
- Bahromab
- Baviasi
- Dresi
- Fahruni
- Hostni
- Kador Prime
- Kor-Azor Prime
- Nare
- Penirgman
- Shemah
- Soumi
- Tash-Murkon Prime
- Caldari Regions
- Auviken
- Haajinen
- Isaziwa
- Isenairos
- Korama
- Nonni
- Poinen
- Torrinos
- Vuorrassi
Losing Jump Clones
Once you have bought a jump clone, it is yours forever, even if your standings change, or if you join another corporation. Additionally, if you get podded, you will find yourself at the station where you installed your medical clone, while all your inactive jump clones will still be available (although you will lose any implants that were installed in your active clone in the moment you were podded). Also, you will need to update your medical clone to preserve your skill points in case of future death; your medical clone will preserve up to the number of skill points specified in the clone grade you bought, regardless of which jump clone died (i.e. the skill points saved is a property of the medical clone, not of the jump clone).
There are, however, two rare cases which would destroy one of your jump clones:
- If an inactive jump clone is located in a capital ship (with a clone vat bay module), and that ship is destroyed, the jump clone (and any implants installed in it) will be destroyed.
- Due to a limitation of the game mechanics, you cannot have two inactive jump clones at the same station. The game will warn you if you try to clone jump away from a station which already has an inactive jump clone, but if you ignore its warnings, then one of your jump clones (including any implants installed in it) will be destroyed. Note that this does not apply to medical clones - it's perfectly safe to have a medical clone and an inactive jump clone in the same station.
Example
Suppose you have the following clones:
- In Jita, you have a medical clone.
- 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.
