My corp recently spent 2 days in Providence region. From my point of view it was 2 days too much. The current residents seem completely satisfied with the chaos and constant PVP opportunities. Kafkan, member of Dhamu’Khonde Alliance, was talking to me about the changes. You no longer need to travel to other regions on a roam. You can find PVP right next door, he told me. When CVA controlled Providence region, their NRDS policy made the region hospitable to neutral pilots who just wanted to experience a somewhat tamer version of 0.0. Now Providence reminds me of Curse region, a haven of pirates.

Nowadays, you’d have a better chance flying through Pure Blind region than Providence… and stay intact. D’K even admits that sovereignty is controlled by -A-, the Russian-dominated alliance that occupies neighgoring Catch region and further south. They are allied with IT in the greater political scheme. At this point the only NRDS alliance that holds space in Providence is the Star Fraction, with Jade Constantine President. Even though they hold sovereignty, they have all but given up being there. Gee, I wonder why.

So much for the promises of NRDS by D’K. The excuse they give for giving up on NRDS is that other alliances in the region would have to cooperate. My reply to that is… well yeah, CVA had arrangements with other “holder” alliances and insisted they follow the NRDS policy as well as honoring the official CVA KOS list. In turn, CVA would honor a request for KOS by the holders when just cause was given.

There really isn’t much of a difference in my mind between the current state of Providence as “managed” by D’K and Daisho Syndicate compared with NPC Angel Cartel or Serpentis space. One man’s PVPer is another man’s pirate. At least I can dock in Angel Cartel stations.

It was bound to happen. In July of this year, CCP Zulu made this announcement. I read it and just shook my head. It could only end in disaster one way or another. The pilot that made the fatal error was part of an alliance that is blue to me in the game. He was killed by war targets. Apparently the 74 PLEX were part of his corp/alliance investment strategy. The items were undoubtedly going to be sold on the market in Pure Blind, where they lived. It was a huge loss but there are a few takeaways from the experience:

1) When you find your corp or alliance in a “Declaration of War” by someone you never even heard of, it is a good bet they are looking for some easy targets of opportunity in and around the major trade hubs. That would be Jita, Oursulaert, Amarr, and Rens. Trade routes are the high sec shortest routes between these systems. If you cannot fly a covert ops hauler (transport ship), covert ops frigate, or equip a cloaking device on a heavily tanked battleship complete with warp core stabilizers, do NOT attempt to fly solo through these systems with a war dec.

2) Other tips about war decs include the myth that you are “safe” inside a mission or complex. Absolutely not. Using a combination of probes and ship scanner, enemy vessels can scan you down in a matter of minutes. The only safe spots to be from hostile ships are: docked in a station, inside POS shields, or in a remote place with your cloaking device on.

3) High sec suicide gankers are also a problem. It has gotten so bad that I never travel in the above mentioned trade routes in a normal hauler or other easily destroyed ship with anything valuable in my cargohold. This was a lesson learned the hard way when I was not even using autopilot, traveling gate to gate as fast as possible in an Iteron Mark V. A pilot looking for “targets of opportunity” decided that my almost empty cargo containers were worth being shot by CONCORD for. Well I did lose about 35 million ISK in BPCs. But the rest of my hold was empty. Lesson learned. Next time: use a freighter or a decently tanked BC or BS to carry anything of value through high sec.

4) What this proves is… suicide gankers (and other pilots in general) CANNOT scan what is inside cargo containers inside your cargohold. They will think twice when they scan your ship and see a bunch of containers… not knowing what is inside. The decision to fire or not to fire will be based on other things, and they will hesitate, perhaps giving you the time you need for the jump. Therefore, I also do not transport items without first putting them inside containers whenever possible.

Personally, I think CCP needs to tweak game settings to the point that if you are hauling in high sec, traveling from gate to gate, not using autopilot, there ought to be an expectation of safety. I know suicide gankers are “part of the game”. This isn’t a whine. But high security ought to be just that… “high security”. Just a thought. But until measures are taken, please take care to protect valuable items with an equally valuable ship.