One of the hardest things about being a solo or small gang PvPer is finding good fights. Too often you either find nothing or jump into a large camp and die. As the size of your ship and gang increases this can become more and more of a problem. So how do we go about finding the fights that you see in videos such as those by Miriam Sasko, Kil2, or Kovorix? Here’s a few of the methods that we use.

The Long Roam

The most basic way of looking for a fight is just to roam. Pick a destination either deep into null sec or on the other side of empire space and set your autopilot. Due to its simplistic nature this is the least reliable way to hunt for action. The likelihood of finding nothing or dying in a fire is pretty high but it is possible to use some of the intel tools that I’ll talk about later to improve the hit and miss nature of this strategy.

Nullsec Entry Systems

My next suggestion for a simplistic way of looking for fights is simply to check out the nullsec entry systems. These systems are pretty regularly camped so you can expect to find a few people kicking around looking to gank the unsuspecting traveller. If you’re feeling sneaky there are often more than one way into a region so you can pick the quieter entrance (usually a low sec route) and go through that way then roam through null sec towards the busier entrance. If you have tactical bookmarks in the main system – You don’t? Why not? Go and make some now! – you can use these to take a look at the camp if there is one and decide how best to proceed. This has the added advantage that it will move you along some reasonably busy pipes where you might meet other roamers on travellers.

NPC Regions and Providence

The NPC regions are usually home to smaller entities, albeit those more focussed on PvP. While you are far less likely to run into disorganised gate camps of bored press-F1-recieve-killmail PvPers you are likely to find people actively hunting for a fight. The most obvious NPC regions for this are Syndicate and Curse, both of which border empire space and both of which are home to a variety of PvP entities. Syndicate in particular is a hot-bed of action and has been the busiest PvP system for several years running according to CCP Diagoras’ numbers.

I’ve included Providence in this section as well because, once again, it is in the hands of CVA who enforce an NRDS policy. This makes Providence a very welcoming region for those willing to live under CVA’s wing and an inviting place for those who want to shoot them. CVA’s red list is impressively long so whether you chose to follow their rules or shoot them in the face you are sure to find lots of action in this busy little region. Four entrances to empire (two highsec and two lowsec) make it an ideal place to travel to regardless of your security status.

Amamake, Tama, Hevrice… The Mos Eisleys of New Eden

There are a handful of low security systems that are notorious either because they are ideal for pirate activity or simply because a group of pirates have called them home. Amamake falls into the former while Hevrice, home of The Tuskers, is a good example of the latter. Depending upon the nature of the residents you might even be able to find good opportunities for duels and other such honourable combat. I’d say that was the exception rather than the rule, though. A particular favourite of Matari Exodus is to go and look for The United in Rancer and neighbouring systems.

Finding these systems is relatively simple. Check out the killboards of notorious pirate organisations and see where they are most active and then go there looking for them.

A simple expansion of this idea is to find out where null sec entities live and go visit thier home systems looking for activity.

Mission Hubs and Static Complexes

If you’re looking for more unwary prey then this might be the route for you to take. A quick look at Eve-Agents or another such site with tell you where you can find low security level 4 and 5 agents. These systems and those around them are good places to hunt for mission runners. Likewise mission hubs with neighbouring low security space can lead to the overeager or unsuspecting mission runner to venture into lowsec. A probe launcher is your friend here but there are rich pickings to be found, especially if you can hold down your target.

For those who like their action fast and furious there are several fixed 2/10 complexes littered throughout low security space. Theses systems are home to frigate PvPers and the ideal places to test out your recently boosted assault frigate. Molden Heath is a good place for this kind of PvP with four 2/10 complexes and the Black Rebel Rifter Club in resisdence. You could always plan an epic roam just by plugging as many of these into your autopilot as you think your sanity can take.

The In-Game Map

This is possibly the most useful intelligence tool at your disposal, especially when combined with the brute-force methods I have described above. By now you should have a mental list of the kinds of places you want to go and look for a fight. The in-game map allows you to do some basic scouting by providing details such as the average number of pilots in space over the last 30 minutes, the number of ship and pod kills, the number of NPC kills, and (often importantly) the number of docked pilots in a system. By looking at the hot spot systems that you have in mind either from the above suggestions or just personal experience you can assess the likelihood of finding a horrible camp (big angry red circles on the map) or just twiddling your thumbs (no sign of activity at all).

Because the data for pilots in space is averaged over time you can learn something about the nature of the people you can see on the map. If there is a single system that looks to be populated then it is probably a static group of people. Flicking to the ship kills and NPC kills statistics should tell you if this is people PvEing or if you have found a small camp. If you see a chain of systems with similar populations then the odds are that this is a roaming gang out looking for fights. Watching the map should give you an idea of their direction and allow you to plan accordingly.

Dotlan Eve Maps

Wollari‘s excellent Dotlan Eve Maps provide an fantastic extension to the in-game map. By pooling data from Eve’s API and the EVE-Kill killboard he allows you to look at the bigger picture. Open up a region and you can quickly get a feel for the local geography. A simple dropdown menu lets you flip between NPC kills, ship kills, and jumps. Areas of PvP and PvE activity are easily found, as are regularly traversed routes. The best thing, though, is that when you find a system with an interesting number of PvP kills you can click on a button and see the EVE-Kill entries for that system. Was the activity a single Kestrel getting ganked by a 40 man nano HAC gang or a battlecruiser-heavy 6 man gatecamp killing a battleship that was foolish enough to jump into it?

If you want to quickly see where the activity is then Dotlan’s most violent systems statistics page is what you want.

A really nice feature of the Dotlan site is that you can interact with the Eve client through the in-game browser. When you’ve found an interesting system you can treat it like an in game link and set destination or avoid as appropriate. By registering you can go a step further and bookmark your favourite systems for future reference.

EVE-Kill

This talk of using the EVE-Kill data in conjuction with Dotlan’s statistics nicely brings me to the EVE-Kill front page. Here you can see the most recently posted killmails on a board that not only has a huge number of APIs to poll but also trawls many other EDK killboards. The majority of ship losses in New Eden will appear here sooner or later and the front page is a nice place to find the most recent ones. Scan through the live feed looking for kills with a suitable number of particpants. A Raven with six people on its mail? A single click will tell you the composition of the gang and where they are. If it looks tempting plug it into your autopilot and off you go.

It is also worth bookmarking the killboards of any groups that you find yourself fighting regularly. That way you can quickly see what they are up to and if they are worth a visit.

By combining all of these intel tools you can get an idea of where the good fights are and get yourself there with minimum risk. Of course it is always beneficial to use a scout if you have one. There’s no substitute for knowing what you are about to jump your Megathron into. At the end of the day if you keep roaming and go through busy places you will find fights. Kil2 and Kovorix talk in more detail about how they roam looking for fights in their Bringing Solo Back podcast.

Do you guys have any tips of your own for finding the good fights and avoiding the bad ones? If so, please post them in the comments.

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