Low Sec PI and the Safety Margin

I was reading a blog post from the Nosy Gamer.  In it, he shares his point of view and experiences on low sec planetary interaction (LSPI).  It got me thinking about my experiences in null and low sec.  

When I was living out in null doing the PVP thing, I had a carrier fly in my Viator (Cov Ops Transport) in so that I could move around modules I looted from rats while waiting for the next target.  Sometimes you could get good drops and the largest ship I had in null at the time was a Hound.  My plan was to make the run from null to high (it was about 25-30 jumps) with the blockage runner and make some ISK.  I turned out I wasn't in null long enough to procure a cargo full of loot.  When we left null shortly after, I used my transport to get back to high sec with as much shit as I could carry.  There were two camps on the way back where I nearly lost her.  The first one was the most serious.  There were about 30 ships from fast tackle to insta-locking Lokis and Hurricanes.  Luckily for me, a Drake jumped in just before me and decloaked while I was figuring out what to do.  I was danger-close to their fast tackle but the few seconds of confusion by the Drake pilot saved my life.  I was able to align, cloak and get to warp before their fast tackle had a chance to reach me.  From what I recall, they were less thank 5km from me by the time I warped.  It was close.  

Hey Chris, this post is about PI.  Yes, the reason I tell the story of Null (way before I ever thought about training for PI) was that I had experience with industrial logistics in unsecured space.  I only starting doing PI while living in a wormhole (WH) during the disastrous WH campaign of 2011.  The output of raw materials on planets in WH space, Null Sec and Low Sec are magnitudes better than High Sec.  If you're careful, you can increase your margin of safety and decrease your chance of losing your shirt in unsecured space by following a few guidelines. 

1. know your area - generally look for inactive systems.  Low Sec pipelines that are surrounded by High Sec are not too bad and tend to be a little quieter.  Low to Null pipelines can get really busy (Like PF-346 or Oulley from Orvolle in Placid).  Go to your Map on the Neocomm and bring up the statistics tab and click through a few of the options, like "number of pilots currently active".  If the system is busy, it is best to avoid it.  If the system is empty or has less than 5-10 people, its probably relatively safe.  Most of those pilots could be docked, afk or doing other things.  Dead systems don't attract too many PVPers.  They want a target-rich environment.
2. fly the correct ship - the best ship is a covert ops transport like the Prowler or Viator.  They can warp while cloaked, have a quick align time and are pretty speedy.  At the least, you will want a T1 hauler with a MWD and a prototype cloak.  There is a tactic that you can use to limit your time visible.  While you can't warp cloaked, you can cycle the MWD, then cloak, then align and once you are aligned, decloak and warp.  You should nearly insta-warp.  
3. When you reach a POCO - you might want to warp to 10km of the POCO and then check local with your directional scanner.  If there is no one on grid with you, head towards the POCO, check your directional scanner a few more times.  If someone drops on grid or you see combat probes out remain cloaked and stop yourself so you don't get within 2km of the POCO (it will decloak you).  ALWAYS keep pinging your directional scanner.  Alternatively, you can warp to the sun, move all your items to the POCO and then run around and gather them.  I would suggest pre-staging so you limit your time in system and at each POCO.

Raw material extraction amounts increase significantly the lower the sec status.  I would estimate (and these are my best educated guess) that a 0.4 system has about 5-10% more minerals per cycle than a 0.5 system.  It get's better as you get into more lawless space.  It is certainly well worth the effort to set up (at least) raw material extracting planets that turn them into tier 1 commodities.  I like to extract heavy metals and turn them into toxic metals in low and then transport them to a factory planet in High Sec.

So, fear not.  You can mitigate your Low/Null Sec PI risks if you follow the guidelines above and use some common sense.  If all else fails, just fly safe-ish.