Friday, December 12, 2014

Guide: ECM Skiff for Anti-Ganking

Last week, we enjoyed a Skiff story where I mentioned the ECM Skiff. This is your guide to the usage of ECM Skiff for collecting ganker tears in a form of salty water commodity.
Apart from the many vigilant miners I know who don't go AFK, there has also been AFK carebears who keep complaining about suicide gankers, and the EVE forums are still being shiptoasted regularly by those unhappy carebears, who also keep lobbying CCP for more nerfs to suicide ganking.
One thing these people don't realize is: EVE is mainly a PvP game. Although you can love PvE (mining, missions, incursions etc, which I respect), PvP is around you at all times (whereas PvE isn't). Shooting others is possible everywhere in space and suicide ganking is a form of Highsec PvP. It's a gift that keeps Highsec alive and brings the action miners need in order to enjoy EVE.
Instead of whining about gankers, it would be much more logical to actually do something by using the in-game opportunities and mechanisms. I have already published a post related to miner vigilance and D-Scan which can be read here

The fitting example below is just another very simple example of what can be done by using the already available tools.


Click to enlarge

       
It looks strange, but it's definitely worth flying. In fact, ECM is easily countered, but since most gankers are bot-aspirant and since most of them still haven't realized the importance of ECCM (the counter measure to ECM), with good skills (and some good luck) you will be able to jam up to 5 Catalysts that attack your nearby miner friends.

I have prevented a lot of ganks using that Skiff. The cool thing about this type of anti-ganking is that you're kind of a "stealth jammer". Most of the time, a ganker will not expect a Skiff do such thing. 





You will have the look of a typical ice mining Skiff while actually being a magnetometric threat for those Catalysts.
Some of the miners will definitely ask the following: "But my yield?!", "my ISK per hour??"

My answer is: what is your "Fun per hour"?

 The day you save a nearby miner's Hulk/Mackinaw, you will understand how fun it is to:
1) Have a laugh while permajamming 3-4 Catalysts with your Skiff, thus stopping their DPS and preventing the gank, followed by watching them get CONCORDed.
2) Collect those ganker tears.
3) Put a 'gf' in local.
4) Ask them to get a "ganking permit" in local.
5) Finally understand the true spirit of EVE: which is an emergent, fun sandbox.
6) Mine ice and make ISK while anti-ganking.

I also want to point out that it is stupid to insult, send RL death threats or hate mails to gankers. They aren't RL sociopaths or murderers. In this dangerous virtual Universe, they simply annoy you by manipulating and using the game opportunities and mechanisms, you can use the game opportunities against them too.

"I think jamming is the way we begin to communicate. In the old days, people actually wrote notes on paper and sent them to each other. I guess that's how they jammed."
        -Geddy Lee

The skill named Signal Dispersion is definitely needed to at least level 4 or 5. In addition to that, Long Range Targeting will also help you a lot in terms of optimal range, so it is highly recommended to train that one too. For Long Range Targeting, level 5 is not compulsory, but Signal Dispersion should be level 5. Now stop training that boring Plagioclase Processing skill book and slap yourself with it. 
This tactic certainly requires you to be at keyboard. No AFKing, forget it. Regularly check D-Scan for a Catalyst spike. For a better understanding of using D-Scan as an "early warning tool", again you can read my guide about it here.
There are times when the gankers use the Thrasher too. In those rare cases, the Minmatar jammer 'Enfeebling Phase Inversion ECM' will certainly work better. If you want, you can replace one of the Gallente jammers by that one.




When multiple neutral Catalysts land on grid, start locking them immediately, and once they turn criminal, spread the jammers on them by using F1, F2, F3 etc. For the Love of Holy Amarrian God, don't click to activate the modules! Using the buttons and quickly spreading the jammers will be a lot faster than foolishly clicking one by one (each second counts in those moments).
If the gankers are outlaws (which is often the case), start jamming them ASAP by using the same method. In addition to your jammers, also send your EC-300 ECM drones on another 5th ganker, or the one which your jammer failed on.

In case the Catalysts are neutrals, like I said, start locking all of them as soon as possible.




There are two important details here. Firstly, pre-overload your jammers at all times. You will need them for a short time and overloading provides a nice bonus to your jamming strength.
The second important detail is the safety system, especially in case of neutral gankers. Have your safety on Green so that you can already start smashing the F1, F2 etc.without being CONCORDed. If they engage the miner, thus become criminal while you continuously press the buttons, you will start jamming them immediately (because the Green safety system will allow you engage them the moment they become criminal).




The Catalyst's base Magnetometric Sensor Strength is 11 points. With good skills (and obligatory overheating), this Skiff will have about 63% chance of jamming each of the Catalysts. However, if there is only one Catalyst and you activate all your 5 Gallentean jammers on it, you will have an overall jamming chance of 99,1%. These numbers are of course written with the assumption that you have overloaded your modules, you have Signal Dispersion at level 5 and the Catalyst(s) lack ECCM. 63% might not sound huge, but even if you manage to shut down 1-2 Catalysts only, that can be enough DPS loss and result in a failed gank.

If you can't command the Skiff yet, the Procurer will also offer this gameplay with a very slight decrease in the jamming strength. The Procurer also has 1 less mid-slot.


Click to enlarge


As a miner, I really want to see more and more Highsec miners use this fitting. The more we can spread this setup, the better. The Skiff is rarely targeted by gankers (especially if you pay attention) and it has an interesting amount of mid and low slots, it therefore allows you to do original things like this. If you're reading this and you have connections with the mining community, channels etc, please spread the idea and link this post.

  "Vigilante bears, best bears."
             -Anslo 



4 comments:

  1. as a hard core code enforcer and miner ganker all up and down hisec, I must say, kudos sir. I got jammed in balle the other day by a procurer and I was utterly flabbergasted! I applaud your efforts to actually play the game!

    One small question: many miners are half present or afk. When you save a miner's skin and he doesn't even notice because he's afk, does that put a damper on the white knighting?

    Any how, keep it up! You're clearly a good sport :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. While watching over ice belts in my falcon, I often thought that protecting AFK miners is like rewarding AFK laziness indeed. However, miner protection was never really the only thing that motivated me. I also wanted to create emergent content for gankers themselves and for myself, and make Highsec a more interesting place overall by adding more PvP to it. I do it because I am having fun, not because I 'really' want to protect those lazy AFK miners (not all of them are AFK though) :p

      As an anti-ganker, I say kudos to you as well. You are one of the most important elements that keep Highsec alive.

      Delete
  2. Another CODE. gankster here - Well done! I have yet to run into a miner with ECM, but it gives me some ideas. Wouldn't high-sec be boring without ganking?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah... boring, but tear free.

      Delete