Here's some advice to other players... in particular newbs flying alone who find themselves pulled out of warpspace right in the middle of an ion storm.

When this happens you're like a fighter pilot going into a flat spin. What you do in the next few seconds could determine the difference between making it out alive or not, so here's what you do:

1) Check your nav map ('n' by default)

Some ion storms are more dangerous than others. An ion storm is deadliest when it occurs in a sector that's right next to a station and with lots of bots. Look at what sector you are in and remember it so that you can warn others and avoid it on the return trip.

2) Check your sector list ('u' by default)

You want to know who is in the sector with you and what you will potentially be facing.

3) Close the sector list and look for the green cross on your radar

You can only jump out of a storm sector when you are within range of the exit point...'+' marks the spot (about the size of a wormhole). Orient yourself toward the storm exit point and get there as soon as possible, unless you are with a convoy. In a convoy stick with the cargo haulers (Behemoths/Centaurs) and be prepared to defend them from whatever comes your way. To give you a rough idea of the timescale, getting up to step 3 should take less than 10 seconds.

4) Once you are out of the storm...

The next time you dock with a station in the same system you encountered the storm, use system chat to warn other pilots of the storm. When docked click the 'System' radio button at the top of the chat console, this enables you to send a message to all pilots within your current system. Say something like:

"Attention traders, an ion storm with hostiles has been detected in F-13"

That way other pilots in your system will know to plot around the storm and avoid getting pulled in (which they should be doing already, but hey people are lazy). Ion storms usually have a duration of a few hours.

/2c

Is it just me or did this belong in the Drunken Thread?

/me considers writing a five page HowTo on launching from stations...

One point i feel i need to add.

I was escorting a convoy and got dropped in a storm. I met up with the group and they were headed in a different direction than my exit point. I ended up following them as there were some Valent Assaults on their tail. By the time they jumped, my exit was over 11km away.

kp

Good advice here.

@everman7: I believe the devs either have fixed that bug or it is slated for fix.

But yes, good advice. Been noticing a small influx of newbies recently.

Well, Vardonx wrote a useful descriptive mission about CTC. A similar descriptive mission about Ion storms might be a good idea .

@davejohn: agreed. Though let's keep in mind that the "sector list" option will not be there forever.

Noes! I want my Moth Buddy first!

/me has dibs on Phaserlight

Why would you check your nav map to make assumptions on information that your sector list will just tell you?

"Does everyone have their ionstorm buddy?"

Okay... JUMP!

i feel like this could have been summed up into "fly to exit point on hud" and "plot around roid sectors" and lastly "bfd newb"

Really, you're advising people to look at their nav menu before they do anything else, and then not mentioning pop-up roids?

1. Point yourself at the exit point, engage turbo, tap "u" once to see who's in the sector, then again so you can keep an eye out for pop-up roids.

All of which is what a newbie is going to try anyway, imo.

I'd add one thing, make sure the storm sector you are in is not the one you were already going to.
If that happens you won't be able to jump out as you won't have a course plotted anymore (since you got to where you were going)

That's what i see people most often confused about.
I think some might be making wrong assumption that storms are somehow 'between' sectors, which is not the case.