Understanding Warp Bubbles

It's finally time to cover this subject. There are a few things to note on this particular game mechanic; bubble use, bubble effects, bubble types and bubble counter measures. All can be yours as you read on. o/



What are Bubbles?

First of, what are these "bubble" I talk of? Well while they are not called "bubbles" in game, their graphic does in fact represent a bubble. What they do is keep anyone in this bubble from warping off, and will cancel initiated warps when made active. Not only that they can stop your warp early, and pull or drag you into when your warp is finished. Keep in mind they can only be used in Null Security, and Wormhole space.


Bubble Types

Now that you know what they do let's go over how they work. Here are the types below:

Interdiction Probes (Used with Interdiction Sphere Launchers on Interdictors)
Warp Disrupt Field Generators (Used on Heavy Interdictors)
Mobile Warp Disrupt Field (Basically an item used like a starbase module, that can be anchored in space from a cargo bay)

The probes are launched like any other probe, and do not move while the interdictor can. The Field Generators hinder the heavy interdictor as they are projected directly from the ship lasting 30 seconds unless the pilot chooses not to turn it off, starting another 30 second cycle. The Mobile bubbles have to be deployed and take up to 480 seconds to anchor. Tech II versions of the take half the time of the Tech 1 version with the Tech 2 Mobile Small taking 60 seconds; whereas the Tech 1 takes 120 seconds.


Stop and Drag Bubbles

One of the most devious, and one of my favorite ways to use bubbles is to manipulate a pilots warp path. When a bubble is aligned with a path of a ship, it can effect it by stopping it before the warp path is finished, or pull it further. This happens when your warp path is with 100km of the bubble that has been deployed. Needless to say, warping to gates at 100km will not remedy this issue. The best way to avoid them is to make bookmarks 200km away from the gate especially straight up or down from it. Another thing many people do without bookmarks is to warp to the closest celetial and warp to the gate. Of course some systems only have a single celestial near the gate, and will align a bubble to it stopping people from getting around their other bubble. Not always, but if you see two mobile bubbles on your directional scan chances are there is a bubble setup for that celestial's path as well.


Bubble Ranges

Below are the ranges of each bubble. While this is fairly cut and dry on paper, each bubble does in fact "pulse" giving it a slightly longer distance when it has this effect; so be aware of these natural changes.

Warp Disrupt Probe (Interdictors) - 20km radius
Mobile Small Warp Disruptor I - 5000m
Mobile Small Warp Disruptor II - 7500m
Mobile Medium Warp Disruptor I - 11.50km
Mobile Medium Warp Disruptor II - 17.50km
Mobile Large Warp Disruptor I - 26.50km
Mobile Large Warp Disruptor II - 40km
Warp Disruption Field Generator I (Heavy Interdictors) - 16.00km (20km Level V Heavy Interdictor)
Warp Disruption Field Generator II - 19.20km  (24km Level V Heavy Interdictor)


Effective Bubbling

The best way to setup your own bubble is to be at the entity you wish to add your bubble, and align to the other entity you plan to see other pilots come from. Once you are at your desired distance drop your bubble.  This method is mainly for stop bubbles, allowing pilots that warp to you to stop dead in the bubble. You can also warp to the entity you wish to bubble at 100km or less, from your desired entity you plan to see people come from giving you a perfect align.

For drag bubbles you need to manually move away from the entity by double-clicking in space, and move yourself away to the distance you want the bubble to drag to. From there you need to make sure you can make your ship, your entity (like a gate you plan to camp), and the other entity (like another gate) line up perfectly over each other to make sure the alignment is correct. Failing to do so can result in a misplaced bubble allowing people to warp directly to the gate. If their warp path is not aligned to any part of the bubble, it won't work.


Counter Abilities

Since it's a warp disruptor you would think that warp core stabilizers would be able to help you. Think again! Bubbles have "infinite strength" so stabilizers will not help you one bit. On the other hand each T3 ship has a "Nullifier" module that gives you "Immunity to non-targeted interdiction". Unless you are pointed with targeted warp disruption, you can simply ignore the bubble altogether.


That's it for now. I hope this has been helpful giving you a better insight on how bubbles work, and how to possibly avoid them. Have fun and fly safe. o/