EVE New Citizens Q&A

So I am running another level 3 mission in low sec, in a passive shield drake, in my alt combat spec. Get jumped and started fighting. I was warp scramed and webbed, but he wasn’t able to break my tank, until his buddy in a raven showed up, at which point I lost. He offered me a ransom of 10 mil to save my ship. I said I couldn’t trust him and he might as well kill me. I did make it away with my pod. But I started thinking maybe ransom isn’t a guaranteed bad idea, I lost 60 mil in ship and modules, and several hours shopping and fitting.

The biggest reason why I don’t want to pay ransom, I don’t want to award a jerk for being a jerk. In fact I would love a self-destruct button that would kill my own ship and pod leaving only a salvageable wreckage, aka no modules.

Also even if I pay there in no guarantee they actually leave me alone, so now out even more value.

The biggest reason why I might want to pay a ransom, it will take me several hours to recoup my losses, and my time I can play a day is limited, because I work in real life. So I might be back to where I was by Saturday but more likely Monday. And I still have to try and beat the mission or loose major faction.

What are you veterans opinions? Pay/don’t pay? Sometimes?

Side topic, I really like that drake set up for mission running, bad idea to have two identical ships in my hanger?

Side topic, I know a lot of you are wondering why I don’t have a pvp ship to try and take my revenge. Revenge is a waste of my playing time, because of my limited chance of actual success, and risk in isk for that type of ship, fight a pair, is more than I can lose comfortable, even the drake loss caused disappointment. And the risk vs reward seams mighty small.

One last question but unrelated. I crush a level 3 in my drake. Is it possible to do a level 3 in a cruiser?

Make a judgement call. Some might honor it... some might not. I will personally let a genuine newbie go if they react well under the circumstances. If they call me a "jerk" or spout off their mouths... well...


Here's an option not many try; haggle.
If you don't have the ISK but don't mind losing a bit of dignity you can ask to sing a song for your release. I'm pretty sure there is a recording of me singing "I like big butts and I cannot lie..." and "I'm a Barbie Girl."

And +1 purely for the Barbie Girl singing!
Im not sure i want to know how drunk you were

Guess what, there is.

Right click the capacitor hud...initiate self destruct...only takes 2 minutes (and they will kill you before you complete that timer, as everybody on grid sees you started self destruct countdown).




1. Sometimes. It really depends on situation though. So what are you flying, how much is said person asking, who is it...etc etc

2. NOT AT ALL. I would even say, it's preferred as if something happens to ship A, you have ship B ready already to go out again.

Personal example. I run with a certain public fleet very often and this always departs from the same station. Because of this, I just keep about 10 - 20 PvP ships ready and fitted there, of which a good bunch are duplicates of each other. As when I get blown up, I can jump into the next one and just go out again.

3. Don't worry, many people don't really care if you dont want to PvP (though I must admit, it is fun and make EVE 10 times better).

4. Depends on ship, fit, skills (both in game SP aswel as player skills). But it's manageable. It's even doable in an Assault Frigate if you want to, but it won't be the most effective way to run it. It is however much more "rewarding" as it makes it a little bit harder then just sitting there with your BC.

Holding ships for ransom is a long standing tradition in this game. It isn't, in itself, "being a jerk". In lowsec everybody is fair game - you can take steps to evade pirates, but you can't really hold it against them when they catch you.

As for the ransom, obviously you can never be certain if they will honor it, but many of the more significant pirate corps enforce policies on that. If a Tusker asks me for a ransom, then I'd pay without hesitation. Anybody else? I guess I'd go with my gut. If you want to play in lowsec, it's good to figure out who the local pirates are and what their reputation is.

Seven plus years in the game and I have never once paid a ransom. After they blow up my ship I will defiantly bump them with my pod until they blow that up too.

One bit of advice: Pirates feed on tears. Don't give them any. Be nice in local. You might even ask them what you did wrong and they might give you some good advice. I've made friends with people I've met on both sides of a gank over the years.

Remember this always. It's just a game and ships are made to be lost. Don't sweat it when it happens.

Mr Epeen

I would not trust someone offering a 10m ransom on a 60m ship.

If the ransom demand was closer to half the value of the ship, I'd be more inclined to trust them.


I have been ransomed once, and I paid and it was dishonored. I have ransomed people twice - one declined and lost their 2600m ship (I asked him what he would pay and was intending to honor anything over 600m and decline but not dishonor anything less) and the other ransom client wasn't as helpless as I thought and got away.


Expect to make this decision again in your EVE career.

That singing thing can’t possible work, unless it’s a set up.

Lol, it works fine and has done for years

http://www.gamebreaker.tv/mmorpg/odyssey-singing-to-stay-alive-in-eve-online/

The Bastards are a pirate corp well known for collecting singing ransoms and then posting them on their website

Stranger things have happened. There have been... unconfirmed... reports of people being ransomed for medium veggie pizzas before... not that I'd know anything about that or something.

And before you comment on how serious people must take this game if they order pizza to save their ship I would like to point you to other... unconfirmed... reports on how some guys located the RL residence the head Fleet Commander of an alliance and cut the power to his apartment with a pair of boltcutters during a massive fleet battle