My war is in full bloom, though it should be done by lunch as I shed alliance. However, in the mean time my industry characters are station hugging. I represent a rather small target for War Dec’ing Corporations, with just a few characters in my corp and a single POS in one system. But that single POS represents a potentially tasty target for a corp that might look to harass small industrial corporations.
There is no in-game mechanism that a War Dec’er can use to easily and automatically locate a corporations POS’s. Though its perhaps possible to locate those over time through a significant reconnaissance effort and correlation of intelligence. Assuming a War Dec’ing corporation does locate their targets POS not all is lost if it is in Hi-Sec space. Not only is a corporation given a 24 hour warning that a war is coming, and the corresponding period of time to decide whether to leave up their POS or tear it down. But having decided to leave a POS up, will also receive notifications once a POS is attacked.
I mentioned yesterday that upon receiving a War Dec, corporations need to ensure they have appropriately Stronted their POS. Should a War Dec’er locate and attack your POS and drop its shields to 25%, the POS will go into Reinforced Mode as long as there is at least one hours (one cycle) worth of Strontium Clathrates in the Strontium fuel bay (small towers utilize 100 Strontium Clathrates per hour, Medium towers will utilized 200 Strontium Clathrates per hour, and large towers will will utilized 200 Strontium Clathrates per hour). Corporations can access the Strontium fuel bay up to the point where a POS’s shields drop below 50%, so again, make sure you have placed enough fuel in the bay for the period of time you want the station to remain in reinforced mode. Figure out how many hours you want your POS to be able to Reinforce and place the corresponding amount of Clathrates in the fuel bay.
Having said that, It’s the warning a corporation will receive when their station is attacked that I want to focus on here. You might be thinking there really isn’t anything that can be done to help a POS once its attacked, outside of somehow mounting a defense force. Industrial corporations often don’t have much in the way of combat skills, though an Industrial corp can hire Mercs to defend them. But EVE Online also has an interesting game mechanic that works in an industrial corp’s favor if they are being attacked by another small pvp corporation. Remote Repairs do not cause aggression.
Which means an Industrial Corp can bring in non-corporation logistics ships to Rep their POS shields while its being attacked and those Reppers won’t incur aggression against those attacking the POS. Its a totally cheesy defense, but it works as CCP intends it to work, and therefore is something I whole heartedly recommend. If your POS is being attacked by a small force, bring in one or more Reppers and rep your POS’s shields with impunity during the attack. The only recourse the attackers have is to attack the Reppers and incur the wrath of Concord when they do. The only restriction to this is that POS shields can’t be Rep’ed once the POS goes into reinforced mode.
Outside of that there are no other restrictions, and here is how ridiculous this can get. Each account has three character slots. Every industrial account should have a character filling one of those slots with a Logistics character. And those characters should be piloting either an Osprey or a Basilisk, fitted for remote repping. For instance, one very cheap ship fit based on the Osprey hull sports three remote rep modules and is cap stable once the character done a bit of training. Including Electronics Upgrades V, and Shield Emission Systems V. Learn Jury Rigging V as well for maximum benefit from the rigs and this cheap ship is a decent starter POS Repper. The skills also aren’t that steep, taking about 30-40 days in total to learn.
[Osprey: Cheap POS Repper]
Co-Processor II
Co-Processor II
Beta Reactor Control: Capacitor Power Relay I
Medium Capacitor Battery II
Eutectic Capacitor Charge Array
Eutectic Capacitor Charge Array
Eutectic Capacitor Charge Array
Large ‘Atonement’ Ward Projector
Large ‘Atonement’ Ward Projector
Large ‘Atonement’ Ward Projector
[empty high slot]
Medium Semiconductor Memory Cell I
Medium Semiconductor Memory Cell I
Medium Semiconductor Memory Cell I
A second, better option though is the Basilisk, which is specifically designed to be a Logistics ship and is much more capable of Repping than the Osprey.
[Basilisk: POS Repper]
Capacitor Power Relay II
Power Diagnostic System II
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II
Invulnerability Field II
Photon Scattering Field II
Large F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Large S95a Partial Shield Transporter
Large S95a Partial Shield Transporter
Large S95a Partial Shield Transporter
Large S95a Partial Shield Transporter
Large S95a Partial Shield Transporter
Large S95a Partial Shield Transporter
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit II
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit II
The Basilisk not only has greater range and can sport a bit of a tank, but also has double the Repping power of the Osprey. It’s also more expensive of a hull, going for about 131 Million ISK in Jita currently. And the training to pilot and fit as I indicate above is slightly longer at about 65 days if you already have Caldari Cruiser V. Or about 90 days if you do not have Caldari Cruiser V.
Incidentally, I did not design either of these fits. believe I found them on Battle Clinic at some point. Typically a second account would be used to train up however many Logistics characters are needed, one at a time. Then transferred to the accounts you need them on through EVE Online’s Account Management Character Transfer process (https://secure.eveonline.com/TransferCharacter.aspx). When your POS is attacked, log in your Logistics toons that should remain in an NPC corporation (can’t be War Dec’ed) and flown out to your POS where they can Rep your station during the attack. One Repper might be enough in the face of a very small force, with more required for larger forces. I recommend at least having one Logistics character per Industrial account, giving an ability to field that total number of Logistics Reppers whenever needed.
Start with the Osprey fit if you’re worried about the attack force attacking your Reppers in spite of Concord intervention. As an attacker will almost certainly be in a Battleship when attacking a POS, their loss will also certainly be greater than yours if they do attack you. Ospreys are cheap and you should have a supply of them ready for use as needed. The Basilisk is a more expensive option, but can also absorb a greater amount of damage than the Osprey fit I’ve posted. Station on the opposite side of the POS from the attackers and Rep and warp off as needed, or allow the attackers to attack you and dip inside the shields as needed. I prefer this method as Concord doesn’t like it when shiney Reppers are attacked and will happily aid you. Even if bumped, overheat and the defenses are pretty good on the Basilisk.
