Warfare & Tactics

The problem is highsec: low/null/wspace are 100% free of all these 'issues'.

If you prefer to remain in highsec, take a moment to think about the difficulty of creating mechanics that give players some degree of 'safety' without going full ret*rd and perma-banning players that illegally aggress. Or the difficulty of allowing corps to wardec eachother without de facto eliminating highsec mechanics altogether.

I really think it's pointless to complain about some of the inevitable inconsistencies.

Instead, try to come up with better highsec mechanics yourself. If you think it through, you'll realize it's not easy at all.


About advice on avoiding suicide-ganking, this comes to mind:

- Have an ECM cruiser on field, target the gankers as soon as they land, jam them as soon as they go GCC

- Fly in highsec as you would fly in lowsec (cloaky haulers, scouts, dscan, dock/undock bookmarks, etc.)


About avoiding suicide-podding:

- Dock bookmarks (undock shouldn't be necessary)

- Don't warp gate-to-gate, bounce off celestials or - even better - make tactical bookmarks 250km off gate unaligned to anything


Also, of course never autopilot. The in-game browser is the tool to reduce travel boredom.

Just do the math, balancing worth and EHP. Works great, or leave Highsec, even better.

Not whining, and I totally agree on almost all counts. I miss NBSI nul for exactly that reason- its very clear who's safe and who's not. But even in friendly null, I'd never autopilot anywhere. Its just annoying that the high-sec isn't completely safe, but you can't really PvP without resorting to cheap demi-human-level tactics that ooze through the cracks in the game.

And I agree that the cracks are inevitable. If I had a better idea for how to implement it, I would've stuck in the "Ideas" forum by now. I believe I opened my OP with an acknowledgement that CCP is aware, and there's just really nothing to be done without completely destabilizing the game balance elsewhere.

I know to EHP tank, cloak...etc etc. It just seems that scouted routes and all that shouldn't be necessary in highsec. If that's how it is, like I said, open up everything and ditch CONCORD all together. I'm not really suggesting that, but the dichotomy of the situation is frustrating to me.

I like the ECM idea, though if I'm around when they GCF, I'm not stopping at ECM. But even then, you have to wait until they do flag to be able to do anything. In some cases, there's enough of them or the target is soft enough that they alpha it out, and you can do nothing but watch. Lame.

Far as the war...I guess that counts as winning. =\ In the same way suicide ganking counts as PvP.

I suppose I'm too much of a purist. I'll work on being slimier or something.

(part of this is a copy-paste job from a different thread... so please forgive me if you have already addressed anything down below)

Suicide ganking has been around in EVE since CONCORD was made into what it is now (cira 2005 I think?).
In fact... it used to be MUCH easier to pull off a gank.

Some examples:
- it used to be possible to suicide gank for "lol" because insurance covered the hull cost. Insurance has been removed for CONCORD kills now.
- it used to be possible to gank someone and quickly warp off to another location (in-system) to gank another person.
- You used to have 30 seconds to gank someone in a 0.5 system... now it is 20 seconds or less.
- Smartbombs can no longer be activated in proximity to a station or stargate.
- Procurers and Skiffs used to not be very tanky. Now they are the go-to ship of choice for "social miners."
- Freighters used to not be able to increase their EHP outside of Slave Implants and warfare links.


The only reason it might seem like it is on the rise (when some statistics collected from killboards suggest otherwise) is because there are more people in EVE than ever before. That means there are more potential targets and more people who will see the odd gank attempt.


As for "doing something" about suicide ganking... if you do not find yourself in a position where you will be ganked then congratulations... you just "fought back" and won against gankers.

Not all victories are gained through direct confrontation. Sometimes avoiding a confrontation in the first place is a victory in its own right. You do not have to "kill a bunch of gankers" to "win."

Yes... that is an abstract concept, I know.


Here is the list of solutions to being ganked:

- Scout: someone runs a D-scan 1 system ahead of you. If he/she sees something "unusual" at a gate (or on short range D-scan), dock up the freighter or find a safespot.

- Webbing Assist: (this is my favorite) All you need is ONE GUY in a Hyena (Tech 2 Ewar frigate) apply 2 webs as soon as the freighter initiates warp. If done right, the freighter warps off in less than 5 seconds. That is not enough time for anything to bump, warp to, or get in firing range of the freighter.
NOTE: We use this for our low-sec freighter runs all the time. We have yet to lose anything.

- ECM Burst: have someone in a Griffin run into the pack of gankers right as they are landing on the freighter. Yes, this person will probably die to CONCORD doing this... but it is only one guy. And the ECM Burst will more than likely jam SOME of the gankers... meaning there will not be enough DPS to finish the job.

- Warfare links: similar to a scout... except more lazy as you do not have to actively do anything. Gankers will have no idea whether you have warfare links in tow or not... throwing off any tank and damage calculations they make... which can potentially botch the gank attempt before it even starts.
NOTE: the Warfare links "Passive Defense" and "Shield Harmonizing" together add about 40 to 50 thousand EHP... that is 10 to 15 additional T1-fit gank Catalysts or 6 to 10 T2-fit gank Catalysts (in a 0.6 system).

- Implants: same as warfare links. you have a selection of implants to increase raw shields, armor, and hull... in addition to the Slave Implant series.
I am currently looking at a Providence that went from 346k EHP (with level 5 skills and three T2 bulkheads) to 411k EHP with HG Slaves and 5% shield, armor, and hull implants. That is around a 70k ehp increase which means gankers require 15 to 20 extra catalysts to finish the job.

- Scanner Spam: in addition to your regular cargo, toss in little amounts of small crap. Tobacco, Spirits, Exotic Dancers, etc. If anyone tries to cargo scan you, they will come up with a LONG list stuff they will not want. And remember that the cargo scanner is not entirely accurate. It will usually report only 80% of what is in a ship. Try sifting through a 100 item list of random stuff multiple times. Gankers will just ignore you to save themselves some effort.

- Take the Road Less Traveled: It may or may not add a few more systems to your journey... but you avoid "dangerous routes" this way.
Think of it as taking the "back roads" on a car trip because you don't want to go through high traffic areas that attract crime.

- Fit for Tanking: oh right... there is this option. Tech 2 Reinforced Bulkheads do add a hell of a lot more EHP. But the next point should still be taken into account.

- Cargo Value: unless you are willing to apply some effort in apply the above methods, the best way to avoid being ganked is to simply not carry enough to be worthwhile to gank. It is that simple.
Everyone else (even gankers) has to make tradeoffs in their various professions and freighter pilots are no exception. I do not bling my mission running ship so there is less chance of being ganked... but that means I lose out on greater efficiency and thus more money.

You can stop it, you just have to make wise fitting choices. It won't prevent it, but it will encourage them to look elsewhere, so as long as you haven't painted a huge target on your head by being a jerk either in game or on the forums, you'll be fine if you tank up.



This is somewhat correct. Though many gankers subsist off of the generosity of donors through James 315's reimbursements.



The point of high sec isn't to be safe all the time everywhere. That would be stupid. If you want that go play Hello Kitty Online.



Carebear corps do the same thing, so this one is a legitimate complaint that I fully agree with you on. Unfortunately no one has come up with a good solution that doesn't end up being broken and absolutely stupid.



How is player on player violence of any kind an abuse of the spirit of the world (eve)? That's the definition of the spirit of Eve. As far as your second complaint, yes it does violate it because you can escape the violence far too easily. As far as the first, it comes down to risk vs reward. As has been mentioned killing the gankers doesn't have to be the only way to beat them. Not dying is the best way to beat them. Besides, if you can successfully not die to gankers, than you are winning against your competition, and in that way the gankers are actually helping you.