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| Homefront Operations |
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| Universal Sites |
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 and the primary and secondary damage types capsuleers should resist.
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
- Main article: 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
- Main article: 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
- Main article: 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 3,500 m3, you will need one hauler (the quicker the better) that can haul 10,500 m3 from the dead hauler(s) to the transport ship. The usual composition is 1 Logi + 3 DPS + 1 Hauler.
Suspicious Signal
- Main article: 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
- Main article: Metaliminal Meteoroid
The objective is to mine out one asteroid with 14,000 m3 (3,500 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
- Main article: Abyssal Artifact Recovery
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.
After an initial set-up peroid of 90 seconds, asteroids from beyond the rift will appear and a timer will begin. The site will progress through a total of 9 waves divided into three tiers. The enemy fleet compositions will become more difficult and the wave timers become shorter with each tier.
During each wave, a random Abyssal Weather effect will begin and 12 asteroids will spawn in fixed locations. Each asteroid contains 24 ore (Admixti Mutanite), 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.
Each of the 5 pilots in the fleet receive a total payout of 65,422,260 ISK for completing all 9 waves. This amount does not include any Triglavian Artifacts (Unaligned Dekaisogen, Fluctuating Entropic Regulator) found in hidden Faulty Triglavian Caches. These caches may appear when an asteroid is depleted—destroy them quickly, as they have a limited lifespan.
| 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 |
After the 9th and final wave, a 60‑second evacuation timer begins. Once it expires, a Drifter response fleet (Tyrannos Basileus) will arrive in overwhelming force. Your vessel has no chance of withstanding the Basileus battleships attacks.
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Tyrannos Basileus Battleship -
Admixti Mutanite -
Unaligned Dekaisogen -
Fluctuating Entropic Regulator
Salvage Research
- Main article: Salvage Research
Salvage Research is a Homefront Operation site found throughout high-security Empire space. It is designed for a fleet of 3 pilots. There are no regional differences in the site’s enemies or layout.
Damage types & EWAR:
Th
EM
ECM
The operation takes place in a deadspace pocket with an acceleration gate that allows the following ships:
- T1 Frigate (including Navy and Faction)
- T1 Destroyer (excluding Navy and Faction)
- Venture
The pocket contains 30 wrecks that must be salvaged within 20 minutes. Mobile Tractor Units (MTU) and tractor beams are prohibited—you must approach each wreck and use high-slot salvagers directly. Be aware that hostile ships can target and destroy salvage drones.
Hostile ships will spawn and engage you. These can be ignored if your tank is strong enough, speed-tanked if you’re fast, or destroyed depending on your fleet composition.
A Malfunctioning Werpost is located in the pocket. It can be activated with a Data Analyzer module; once online, it will attack enemy ships with its disintegrator weapon. For more info please read: Hacking.
Salvagers must have at least a 20% Access Difficulty Bonus to function (Salvaging IV or a rig is required). At 20%, these sites are quite difficult; 30–35% is recommended. For more info please read: Salvaging.
Optimal payout for a fleet of 3 pilots is 11,025,000 ISK per pilot upon timely completion of the mission. The 30 salvaged "Encrypted ‘Istina’ Data" items can be sold to NPC buy orders for an additional 3,000,000 ISK to be shared among the pilots.
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Malfunctioning Werpost -
Access Difficulty -
Encrypted 'Istina' Data -
Timer and wreck count
Traffic Stop
- Main article: Traffic Stop
This 3 man Homefront Operation site is found throughout high-security Empire space. There are no regional differences in the site’s enemies or layout. Pilots should resist
EMdamage type. There is no EWAR being deployed in the site.
You need to cargo scan incoming ships for 10 minutes. If any of them possess contraband data, you need to use stasis webifier and destroy them. This site 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 shoot or kill more than 2 civilians. The mission will fail if either of those occur prior to the 9-minute timer on the site ending.
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Enemy drones aiding smugglars -
Opportunities Window -
Contraband Data
Stabilize Rift
- Main article: 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. The max number of people who can receive a payout is twice the ideal fleet size: 10 people for 5-person sites and 6 people for 3-person sites.
Payout amount for Emergency Aid, Dread Assault, Raid and Metaliminal Meteoroid peaks at 5 people, giving 15,486,410 ISK. The payout amount for Salvage Research, Traffic Stop and Stabilize Rift peaks at 3 people, giving 11,025,000 ISK. The graphs below show the payout based on fleet size for 5 and 3 pilot fleets.
Abyssal Artifact Recovery payout peaks at 5 people but follows a different, wave-based payout structure that is not reflected in these graphs.
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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
- Talk:Overview#June 2023 additions — new overview entities
- User:Amfion_Bravais/Homefronts — collection of fits and strategies
Notes and references
- ^ Added in patch 2024-06-26.1
- ^ They do not share a pool (CCP Rampant)
- ^ Research by Mednik Breau using Agency per region. Spreadsheet with results and methodology.