EVE New Citizens Q&A

Default cargo on a bare Nereus is about 3000m^3 IIRC, at 80k and 10m^3 a pop 300x Celadon Cytoserocin gives a value of about 24M, not enough to get ganked over unless you do something silly like not fit it at all, fit it for max cargo, use autopilot or go AFK.

Personally I work on the basis of <3000 isk for every effective hit point. I'll haul up to 100M in hisec with the following fit.

The Luggage (Nereus)
Damage Control II
Reinforced Bulkheads II
Reinforced Bulkheads II
Inertial Stabilizers II (Swap for an Expanded Cargohold if you need a little more capacity)
Inertial Stabilizers II

Kinetic Deflection Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Thermal Dissipation Amplifier II
EM Ward Amplifier II
Large Shield Extender II

Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I

3x Combat drones
3x ECM drones

Bear in mind my skills for it are all at level 4 or 5 which does affect the EHP, that I've been playing for years and know who the gankers are, and that the ship is omni tanked because I also use it in lowsec. For hisec gankers a kinetic and thermal tank is usually enough.

If you can't use the tech II modules play with the fit in a ship fitting tool like Osmium or Pyfa using tech I and meta modules, you should still be able to produce a fit that will tank a decent amount of damage while hauling your stuff.

The math for suicide ganking is based on concord response times, DPS capability, the EHP of the target and the value of the cargo and the average loot drop rate of 50%

Assuming a 0.5 systems (Concord response time 20 seconds), 600 DPS catalysts (@circa 10M each) and 45,000 EHP against the kinetic and thermal damage of blasters (what I get from the fit above) it would require 4 Catalysts to kill it.

The potential loot drop is 50M (with a 100M cargo), on average any gankers that kill it will net a 10M profit to share between them after covering their costs.

Also note that the calculus changes dramatically based on whether you are autopiloting or actively flying your ship.

It is quite difficult to gank someone warping directly from gate to gate, and the typical victim here is flying a large, slow ship like an Orca or freighter that can be bumped out of warp alignment while the gank squad is assembled. It's not impossible to gank an actively piloted smaller ship - gankers may use high alpha strike ships like thrashers or tornados to instakill high value, weak targets - but the point is that you can transport valuable cargo much more safely than autopiloting.

If you autopilot, however, you are a sitting duck. You should only autopilot if you have a low value cargo/fit or you have a heavily passive tanked ship. It doesn't make much sense to gank someone for a load of tritanium, or to go after a brick tanked ship with a moderate value cargo.

The above is all good advice and if you follow it the chance of losing your ship is very, very low, but sometimes you will be exploded for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sometimes the 'to gank or not' calculation is influenced by something other than pure profit. To mitigate this risk, always fly what you can afford to lose. Don't put the majority of your assets in a single ship, no matter how unprofitable or difficult you think it would be to gank.

A target of opportunity.

First, a ganking catalyst costs under 11 mil, not 15mil.
But can a catalyst really suicide-gank an industrial as long as it has tanks?
The main threats for the industrials should be tornadoes or taloses, and you should always try omni-tank because the tornado can select damage type.
Generally you shouldn't have 3k/ehp in your cargo-hold. Max-cargo fit Nereuses or even Iterons Mark V can also be ok as long as it follows this. And a scout ahead is also handy.
Last, never fly what you cannot to lose. Sometimes people don't gank for profits (or even an isk-positive kill), but just for fun or whatever mental satisfaction. (You see CODE throws 4 catalysts on a retriever?)

Use Scouts!

Never go afk!
If you have to take a dump or a pee, DOCK UP!
if your child is crying and you have to comfort it, then DOCK UP!
If you're Wife/Hubby/significant other is standing naked in the door, DOCK UP!
And if you don't listen and you have lost your ship, don't ya dare to come to the fourm to whine and ***** about it.
I'll personally will collect your tears and many others will do it too!

Never autopilot!
If you don't have the time to fly yourself, then don't do it!!
Same points as above! You'll get the message, I'm sure!

Put an appropriate fit on your ship!
NO, Cargo Hold Expanders are not a proper tank fit!

Take a look on the Star Map before starting your hauling run. Use the seting "Ship kills in the last hour".
If there are bigger orange or huge red circles around the Trade Hub, delay your hauling run.
Also highly advised to use: Dotlan
Have the "ususal" suspects set in your contacts list to red or orange, so that you can see them right away in local. Same goes for your Overview settings.

Be aligned to a celestial or a station when filling your hauler for other players (e.g hauling your Corp mates ores out of a belt)
Don't haul in Null or Low Sec before you have a proper understandig of the games mechanics.
After you have that knowledge, If you want to haul there, fit your ship accordingly!
Use Microwarpdrives to burn out of bubbles, use Warp Core Stabilizers and so on and so forth!
Again, Cargo Hold Expanders are not a proper tank fit for your hauler!

If your cargo is to expensive, haul it twice or more times!
Gankers don't kill for shitz and giggles, they do it for a living.
Try to understand how ganking works and then outsmart them.
Don't believe all those whiny morons out there, who tell you, that we're all sociopaths and so on, we know very well what we're doing.



AND PLEASE:
Never ever transport Plexes in your ship from or to a Trade Hub!
Not that I don't like those killmails, but please in the name of Bob, don't do it!
PLEASE!

Never said anything about 15m. That was the guys post above me.

Never mind all that b******s; if you haven't got a Permit, you're fair game.

No worries! It can be interpreted either way.

value of the target is the only thing that matters. A vexor is a pretty commonly used gank ship and they aren't going to waste the sec loss, ship loss, and kill right generation on some cheap hauler. Most other gankers are going to be using something even more expensive.