EVE General Discussion

Not really, because the bumper can't blow up the freighter by themself. If the freighter pilot never pays up then all of the time the bumper spent trying to extort them was basically wasted unless he has a gank crew standing by to finish the job. Likewise all of the time the freighter pilot could have spent finishing the run, manufacturing, trading, etc. is wasted because they wouldn't pay the ransom.

A situation involving a bumper and a freighter or miner is like a game of "bluff" or "chicken." "Is there a gank squad on the way. Will my friends show up in time to save me? Will they get bored soon and leave? Is the ransom they're asking worth it based on the amount of time I've been stuck here?" All questions which may have an impact on the outcome.

In addition to that the freighter pilot requires one buddy to web him into warp whereas the bumper would require several buddies to gank the freighter. It doesn't take a whole lot to have a corpmate fly alongside you as an escort. In fact it would make the freighter's trip a whole lot quicker as well.

Bumpers and gankers take advantage of the ill-prepared. Just like pirates do.

I am talking about ganking because it clearly violates TigerXtrm's Rule which states: "If a game mechanic requires an uneven number of players it is by definition unbalanced".

Of course I don't believe that or that bumping is unbalanced because it requires a friend to avoid.

Bumping may not be the most entertaining mechanic to ever be put into a video game, but it is one that has been with this game since practically the beginning and is an emergent one from the decisions the original game designers made. Many a capital and super-capital pilot have been pounding their desk in frustration yelling for help in comms hoping that their corpmates to come and deal with the pesky subcap pilots that are preventing them from aligning and escaping, before the tackler's fleet arrives and finishes them off. Why do highsec freighter pilots feel entitled to be made immune to one of the major weakness of capital ships?

Freighters should not be flown solo. This vulnerability to bumping is their major (only?) downside. But the single pilot has options:

1) Call the bumper's bluff and log off. If there is no gank fleet waiting then there is nothing the bumper can actually do. Hyperdunking has increased the risk that the bumper has a few friends that may keep want your freighter in space and take a shot at you, but if you are not carrying expensive cargo they will likely move on.

2) Negotiate your way out. Eve is a social game. Bumping takes as much of the bumper's time as yours so come to an agreement where you both get to move on for a fee.

3) Call your friends or plead for help in the AG channel. Technically this isn't a solo activity, but making the initial distress call is.

You took the risk that someone would bump your capital ship when you decided to fly it unescorted so you are going to be at a disadvantage in getting out of that situation. But Eve pilots have been dealing with that for a decade. You are not entitled to engage in risky hauling (or mining, or ratting, etc.) behaviour and have a "get-out-of-PvP" button you can press to avoid the consequences of your action. If you get caught, the next step is escalation where you and the bumper both call your friends and engage in a PvP contest to save your ship as has happened countless times before.

Do this and the new method of ganking freighters involves bumping freighters into other freighters.

Simple Solution, Contract your goods. Never Ever buy anything with a "Hauler" design.

Indeed there is, but it is somewhat oxymoronic.



How can one make an effort to move systems, if one is tackled permanently and deprived of vessel control?

Oxymoronic may be harsh, the ruling is from a time when miner bumping was the big thing and moving systems a more realistic option, perhaps "dated" is a more fitting term.

What can the bump-ee or his friends do to shake off the bumper? In lowsec or null you (or friends) could kill it and save your stranded capital but in highsec there is very little that you (or your friends) can do once the first bump lands short of suicide ganking the bumper or wait until the gank fleet shows up to kill your stranded ship.

Webs are not an answer because once bumped a web will not help you, and no human would be interested in following a freighter around all day on the off chance that today it will be ganked since whether or not one of the hundreds of people you pass in highsec is about to bump and then gank you is really up to chance.

Webbing is a preventative, proactive measure. If you web a freighter into warp a bumper has very little time to try and catch it. The warp is near instantaneous as the freighter's maximum speed and thus 75% max speed warp requirement is substantially reduced.

Then run the risk and be prepared for any potential consequences of that decision. As I have already stated:

People don't seem to think that a giant, slow, lumbering cargo ship filled with goodies that doesn't have any direct way of defending itself from pirates and ne'er-do-wells requires some sort of escort. The ship has very many inherent weaknesses by design. It's supposed to require protection, because its only role is to ferry around large amounts of stuff people want and need.

In addition to this another way of combating a bumper is to simply fight fire with fire. Send in your own counter-bumper. Bump away the ship that's trying to pin them down. At this point webbing a freighter into warp becomes viable again as well if you have someone on stand by.

"and no human would be interested in following a freighter around all day on the off chance that today it will be ganked"

To clarify I mean that no friend or corpmate would be interested in following a freighter around all day relegating the job to an alt which means you need to pay for two accounts to prevent against one account. Sound fair in highsec?

Bumping applies in an equally frustrating way to battleships in station games during wars. There is little in situations like that one pilot can do and a second pilot to help has little effectiveness. Would some sort of module that would allow a helper to provide some assistance post-bump be a better topic for discussion?

And you know what also helps against getting bumped?

Being webbed.
It literally locks you down in place.
The more, the weaker the bump is.


****** friends aren't anyone's elses fault.

Aaahhh yes, thanks!