“I tried to warp and nothing happened” is one of the most common new pilot experiences — and the answer is almost always tackle. Understanding points, scramblers, bubbles, and warp core strength tells you what is stopping you and what your options are. This guide is new — please send feedback if something is off or missing.
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Orientation, direction, and the first mental models a new or returning pilot needs.
The mechanics and habits that prevent the most confusing early losses.
Read damage, ships, EWAR, fits, and engagement selection faster.
Resources, reprocessing, hauling, planetary chains, and industrial decision tools.
Agents, mission hubs, loyalty rewards, standings, and special-agent planning.
Interactive practice and live awareness tools for field decisions.
Three things can stop you warping. Know which one you're dealing with — the counter for each is different.
The standard tackle module. Prevents warping but does NOT disable MWD. Used for long-range tackle to hold targets until heavier tackle arrives. T2 variant reaches 24km.
Short range but applies 2 points of disruption AND disables MWD. If you're scrammed, you are committed to the fight. Also disables Micro Jump Drive. Afterburner still works.
Faction scramblers (Caldari Navy, Shadow Serpentis, etc.) extend scram range significantly — some reach 12–16km. Especially dangerous on fast ships that can maintain this range while keeping you scrammed and MWD-dead.
Bubbles don't need to lock you. Any ship inside the bubble cannot warp. Launched by Interdictors, anchored by players. Null and wormhole only — they cannot be deployed in highsec or lowsec.
Every ship has a base warp core strength. Tackle modules apply negative points. If your net warp core strength is below zero, you cannot warp.
| Module / ship | WCS change |
|---|---|
| All standard ships | Base: 0 |
| Warp core stabilizer (T1) | +1 |
| Warp core stabilizer (T2) | +1 (better resist) |
| Warp disruptor | -1 |
| Warp scrambler | -2 |
| HIC focused script | -∞ (infinite) |
Each fitted warp core stabilizer reduces your maximum target lock range by 50% and reduces your maximum velocity by 10%. Fitting two stabilizers means your lock range is 25% of normal — a hauler with two WCS can barely lock anything.
This is the deliberate design tradeoff: you can escape tackle, but you sacrifice combat effectiveness to do it. Industrial pilots commonly accept this trade. Combat pilots almost never do — you're there to fight, not escape.
Interdictors (Sabre, Heretic, Flycatcher, Eris) launch warp disruption probes — temporary 20km radius bubbles that last 120 seconds. A dictor on a gate can drop a bubble the instant someone jumps in, catching them in a no-warp zone before they can react.
HICs (Devoter, Phobos, Onyx, Broadsword) can use a focused warp disruption script that applies infinite warp disruption to a single locked target. Unlike bubbles, this is targeted and requires a lock — but no ship can resist it.
HICs can also launch a mobile bubble like a dictor, or run without a script in "omnidirectional" mode. The focused script mode is the kill condition — it turns a HIC into an inescapable anchor on your ship.
If you have only a disruptor on you (not a scram), your MWD still works. Overheated MWD burning directly away from the tackle ship at full speed can break 20km point range in seconds. Once outside range, warp immediately.
Especially viable in PvE scenarios with NPC tackle, or 1v1 situations. In fleet, calling primary on the tackle ship is a legitimate response to being held. A dead tackle ship drops its modules.
MJD jumps you 100km in the direction you're facing after a 12-second spool time. This breaks disruptor (20km) range easily and can break point range depending on geometry. Does NOT work while scrammed — scrams disable MJD.
If you're fit with them, they apply immediately at ship startup. You cannot fit them mid-fight. One WCS negates a disruptor. Two negate a scrambler. Three counter a scrambler + disruptor. Each one trades combat ability for the ability to warp.
If you have no weapons timer, you can burn to a gate and jump through even while tackled — the gate jump breaks all tackle. This is the primary escape from lowsec tackle if you acted defensively. You must reach the gate first.
Sometimes the right choice is to fight. Sometimes the right choice is self-destruct to deny the kill (removes items from the attacker's killmail). Knowing when each is correct is experience — but at minimum knowing they're options matters.
Most pilots use warp constantly without understanding the mechanics. These details explain a lot of frustrating moments.
When you initiate warp, your ship accelerates to warp speed, travels, and then decelerates at the destination. Short warps (under ~1AU) may not reach full warp speed at all — this matters for warp disruption field placement near gates.
Ships with higher warp speeds get to destinations faster, which affects how fast you can travel across a system and how quickly a hostile can reposition on you.
When you warp to a beacon, gate, or player, you land within a certain distance of the target. Warping at range (e.g. "warp to gate at 70km") lands you 70km off the gate — you must then manually fly or warp closer.
Bubbles are placed to intercept ships warping to a gate — the bubble sits between where you land and the gate, so you land inside it rather than on the gate. This is the "drag bubble" technique.
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