Monday, August 24, 2015

Small Ships, Big Fun (+Griffin Guide)

Fun in EVE can be had in small, inexpensive ships as well as in large, expensive ships. This also applies to Anti-Ganking being an excellent example of emergent Highsec gameplay.



While the Falcon can be considered as an excellent ship for jamming Catalysts, smaller ships like Griffin also offer a fun counter-ganking gameplay. In fact, the Griffin is suggested as a first ship for anyone interested in fighting the gankers by enforcing the art of GankerJamming™ . It is fast, cheap and it doesn't require high skills. In his excellent Anti-Ganking web page, Astecus describes this ship as follows:
"Very cheap, very agile, good enough lock time to not have to fit sensor boosters. The go-to ECM ship for new and veteran anti-gankers alike. The main drawback is probably its low EHP, very easily ganked if you are caught off-guard, but also easily replaced. Fitting a cap-stable MWD allows it to tank rats and avoid most gankers."

Image Source: evepics.wordpress.com

So let's see an Example Case: During another Anti-Ganking patrol in Otela, I was looking for possible gank targets that I can protect (ships like Covetor, Retriever, Hulk) and I noticed a Retriever at an asteroid belt. Swiftly, I warped to his belt, positioned my cloaky Griffin near the Retriever (within the optimal range of my jammers) and started checking D-Scan frequently for possible Catalyst spikes.

[ 2015.04.09 21:17:21 ] (notify) The scanner is recalibrating, please wait a second


Image source: fledglingcapsuleer.blogspot.com


I watched.

I waited.



Here we go. I was lucky enough to see two Catalysts on D-Scan only 3 minutes after my arrival to that beltThis is really nice because sometimes we wait for like an hour but no gankers show up. Interestingly, one of the Catalysts was named "Jammer", which shows that our jammers are getting into their minds more and more! However, I don't think I will meet Sky DuMont any time soon.



The outlaw Catalysts (-10) belonging to Super Perforator and D34dly D34dly landed but both of them got jammed quickly by our Griffin which made them abort the gank and warp away.

I Love This Scene. 

The gank was prevented successfully. Meanwhile, D34dly D34dly was renamed as J4mm3d J4mm3d.

(This, by the way, is another example of the fact that Anti-Ganking does not always generate killmails, but it does generate fun while stopping the gank.)

       Additional tactics:


  • In this case, almost all my mid slots were filled with jammers. I didn't have a Warp Disruptor, so the gankers managed to warp away. To prevent this, some Anti-Gankers prefer to drop one jammer to replace it with a Warp Disruptor so that the bot-aspirant can be tackled as well as jammed (which, if you think about it, is a glorious scene: Doomed into Oblivion, they just wait for the arrival of Faction Police).
  • A cloaking device, despite slowing down lock time a little, can be an option. As a Frigate, the Griffin has a good base scan resolution. The lock time with a cloak therefore remains acceptable. The usage of cloak for surprising the gankers also requires good timing because of the delay that prevents you from locking anything. If Catalysts approach within like 1-2AU of your D-Scan results, de-cloak immediately before it's too late.
  • It's obvious: overheat your jammers. If you can't, then go study Thermodynamics in a dark corner of the University of Niarja's library.
  • As the Catalysts start landing on grid, you can orbit the targeted miner (with the MWD on, if you chose to fit it) just below the maximum limits of your jammers' optimal range. Do not stand still next to the miner like a fool. You might end up being targeted by the gankers who decide to shoot you instead of the miner. Send your ionized particles of love from distance, securely. Be classy. 
  • Don't be too much paranoiac though. Enjoy the moment. Losing ships is a part of EVE. And it's a Griffin after all.
  • Fitting. It's quite easy. The Catalyst, which remains the most popular miner ganking ship, has a Magnetometric type sensor, so you want to fit Magnetometric jammers. I don't really recommend a sensor booster, because even with a cloak, your Griffin can lock a destroyer quite quickly, very often before it's too late. As a result, 4x 'Hypnos' Ion Field ECM I and a microwarp drive can be a good combination in med slots. This means that if you get lucky, you can jam 4 Catalysts at the same time! You can even save freighters who are being attacked by Catalysts that lack ECCM. For low slots, I highly recommend 2x 'Hypnos' Signal Distortion Amplifier I, they give an important bonus to the jamming strength. For rigs, it's a good idea to fit at least 2x Small Targeting System Subcontroller I to fasten lock time just a little bit. The high slots choice is entirely up to you. If you fit a cloak, the gank scout will not see you and the Catalysts will be surprised to see your Griffin as they land on the miner. Without a cloak, any intelligent gank scout will notice your presence and leave that area, which is also a good thing, because your presence alone prevents the gankers' arrival. If you're spacerich, get the Centurion implant set: an amazing bonus to ECM optimal range.
  • Overview. I recommend creating an additional overview tab that does NOT show Mining Barges, Exhumers, Veers, Industrial Command Ships and Freighters. When you're out there waiting for the landing of a Catalyst, you want to see it clearly, click on it quickly and target it before it's too late. This is especially useful when you protect a crowded ice belt. Remove all that clutter with dozens of mining ships so that the Catalyst will be distinguishable.
  • Check D-Scan every 10-15 seconds so that you will have an early-warning about incoming gankers.

Video: Always Safety Red is a video kindly recorded by a member of a gank fleet with around 30 Catalysts during the Caldari Ice Interdiction 2013. It really shows what Anti-Ganking is about:  lowering or mitigating the damage of the gankers enough to make their target survive.



The video starts with the gank fleet warping to the ice belt. The ganker who does the recording forgets switching his safety to Red and as they land and start shooting the Orca, some troubles badly affect their DPS.

There are three main reasons behind the survival of the Orca:

1) Damage Control, Damage Control, Damage Control! The Orca pilot simply did Anti-Ganking by fitting this important module which considerably lowered the damage of the Catalysts.

2) The ECM Anti-Gankers in the ice belt. Astecus (Griffin), RangerGord (Griffin) and Count Rais (Falcon) started jamming multiple Catalysts as soon as they started shooting the Orca. In total, around 15 gankers  (about half of their fleet) were engaged by these 3 Anti-Gankers and since the Catalysts were fail-fit, most of the jamming attempts had probably succeeded. This drastically lowered the damage of the Catalysts as well.

3) Another small reason: just like the recorder of the video, a few more gankers probably wasted some time to switch their safety from green to red. This is often caused by a lack of proper communication in a fleet.

What followed was the emergent energy of Anti-Ganking, once again filling local and putting smiles on people's faces:

[ 2013.08.23 01:50:13 ] Astecus > Orca survived with 25% hull 
[ 2013.08.23 01:50:23 ] Count Rais > lol nice 
[ 2013.08.23 01:50:26 ] Ev00 > Thats not Fair! 
[ 2013.08.23 01:50:32 ] Jimwinz > haha 
[ 2013.08.23 01:50:36 ] MBizon Osis > lol 
[ 2013.08.23 01:50:45 ] Ev00 > We wanted to kill an orca :( 
[ 2013.08.23 01:50:49 ] KhrisKruel > So I frapsed that one, and it has me frantically trying to figure out why my guns didn't work, hit red and confirm, and then we all died 

      Chat logs source: www.astralservices.net

Everybody benefits from Anti-Ganking. Everyone. 

"I love it that people are providing protection for miners. I love all kinds of PVP so adding more makes me happy."
        -IIshira


Alright, now let's move onto another perfect, small Anti-Ganking ship: The Ibis!


Image source: www.starmadedock.net

Hell yes. Before you say: "WTF?", allow me to share its bonuses:


ECM bonus!

Are you getting it? This ship smells like GankerJamming™!  One might ask: Why would I use the Ibis when there's a better ship like Griffin? 
Because: Fun, dear. The idea of being able to ruin ganks with an Ibis is amazingly beautiful. 


Minmatar space
Image source: saftsuze.tumblr.com

Let's have a look at another fun engagement example: I was roaming in Highsec with my ECM Ibis, looking for bot-aspirant Catalysts. In Teonusude Local, I noticed two outlaw (-10) gankers named PanzarPanda and Quinn Barviainen. This was a great opportunity to test my ECM Ibis. I quickly warped to the crowded ice belt and then cloaked my Ibis far away while remaining within the optimal range of my jammers. However, I was not alone. Count Rais was there as well, in his Falcon. Cloaked. Watching. Waiting. Also, BUBAKAR MAHAHA (that name gets me every time!) and Jerod Hakuli were patrolling the belt with a Stratios and a Stiletto.

Several minutes later, two Catalysts appeared on D-Scan. Soon after I decloaked my Ibis, they started landing at the ice belt. However, thanks to my good timing of decloaking, I was able to start locking them immediately. For a guaranteed jamming cycle, I preferred to concentrate on PanzarPanda's Catalyst only…


…and it worked. My Ibis was successfully jamming the Catalyst and contributing to the prevention of a gank. 

[ 2013.12.13 22:07:05 ] (combat) Warp scramble attempt from BUBAKAR MAHAHA [OCTHE]ROC (Stratios) to PanzarPanda [929]CODE. (Catalyst)
[ 2013.12.13 22:07:05 ] (combat) Warp scramble attempt from Jerod Hakuli [30D]SOUL (Stiletto) to PanzarPanda [929]CODE. (Catalyst)

PanzarPanda was being bombarded with warp disruption, DPS and ECM. 
What about the other Catalyst then? Was he actually shooting the miner?

[ 2013.12.13 22:07:15 ] (combat) Warp scramble attempt from BUBAKAR MAHAHA [OCTHE]ROC (Stratios) to Quinn Barviainen [929]CODE. (Catalyst)

No. According to my game logs, the gankers actually didn't even become criminal (didn't shoot the miner), probably because they saw the other Falcon and wanted to abort the gank, but they couldn't warp away either, so it was a glorious scene. Since I like to inject some humor into this kind of situations, I quickly applied some Sentry Gun Humor into Local.

[ 2013.12.13 22:07:09 ] Azov Rassau > PanzarPanda: you have foolishly engaged in gankological activity within sight of our Ibis and must suffer the electronic consequences. :)
[ 2013.12.13 22:07:27 ] PanzarPanda > gankological activity is best activity

PanzarPanda's response was prompt and determined. He is not completely wrong though, because their gankological activity allowed me to test my ECM Ibis to ruin their gank. Actually, while I was jamming PanzarPanda with my Ibis, Count Rais was jamming Quinn Barviainen with his Falcon. Now that's teamwork.



Kill report




As you can see, real players prevented the gank and punished the criminals before the boring faction police had even arrived. Faction police couldn't even be seen on the killmails. Just like in the case of Keikira Otsada (a must read!), real players replaced NPC police and punished the criminals a lot more quickly, funnily and interestingly. PanzarPanda was quite lucky though: In Anti-Ganking vocabulary, we say that he got the "full package". No NPC Police, pure and heavy player interaction: Point, ECM and DPS.

[ 2013.12.13 22:11:08 ] BUBAKAR MAHAHA > it was too good to be true :P

Yet it was true. Everybody had enjoyed this emergent moment.

Besides the Griffin and Ibis, there is another ship that can be used for fighting the gankers: the Catalyst.


Image Source: evepics.wordpress.com

Before you have a heart attack, let me explain with another example case.

If I tell you "Amarr - Jita", what's the first thing that comes to your mind?

Niarja
Image source: personal screenshot collection

Right. In fact, in any busy trade route, the following situation can be seen:
In an attempt to spot juicy industrials or freighters before sending a group of High-DPS/Alpha ships on them, most gankers make use of scouts dedicated to cargoscanning ships coming in and out. They sit right next to the stargates connecting busy trade routes and look for possible targets.

So why not gank those spotter scouts to annoy and disrupt their operations?

There are ways to understand if they're a gank scout or not. The activation of cargoscanning module has a visual effect: a yellowish beam being projected from one ship to another. It looks like this:


So if you see this happening at a stargate, it's most probably a gank scout. That's exactly what could be seen during another afternoon in the lovely, golden system of Niarja. claira can in a Vigil was sitting on the Kaaputenen gate in Niarja, repeatedly and monotonously staring inside freighter and industrial cargo holds like a programmed, dull-witted robot for a possible gank organization. 


Something had to be done to save her from this robot-like state of mind. As a consequence, our comrade Muhzer Sei simply used a Catalyst and delivered the punishment by ganking this heretic scout.



Kill Report

Boom. Have a closer look at claira can's face expression: there is robotism, crime, regret, anger, frustration and the boredom that is caused by having to do the same thing whole day. Luckily, Muhzer Sei and other Content Generators of Highsec enjoy bringing a quite regular action to her boring routine.




"So what can we do?  Perhaps.. annoy them to death? Yeah. Sure. Let's go with that."

-Sir Livingston


Simple and effective. Griffin, Ibis and… Catalyst. Small ships, Big fun!

--

I'm hoping to keep this blog updated by posting new content whenever time permits, but it's not always easy, especially when you have to concentrate on so many other things at the same time.

My sincere salutations and thanks go to those who have expressed their enjoyment and support via EVE mails and comments. You know who you are, I thank you all again. I think we managed to show that shooting your enemies in the face with the usage of existing game mechanics is one of the best things in this game.

-Azov R. 

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Niarja Memories: Ion Fields & Explosions

Anti-Ganking transcends corporations and alliances. Although the motivations, means and objectives can be different, the result is ultimately the same type of gameplay.


It is implemented in the game itself: just like other forms of Highsec PvP (Suicide ganking, Wardecs etc), fighting criminals within the borders of CCP's Crimewatch mechanics is a perfect example of intended gameplay. Some people do it because they can, others do it because they want to prevent a gank, while some do it to annoy their enemies.

''There's another nullsec group that used to do freighter ganks. We don't like them, so we used to ruin their ganks & save their targets. This nullsec group doesn't gank anymore.''
          -Mallak Azaria/GoonWaffe 

Reading the above statement brought back lovely memories. It was fun (and ironic) to stop ganks with Goon Anti-Gankers in Niarja back when Confederation of xXPIZZAXx's public gank fleet tried to kill freighters with fail-fit Catalysts.


Not only Goonswarm Federation, but also people from Gentlemen's Agreement, Devil's Warrior Alliance, Sev3rance, random neutrals, regular Anti-Gankers, Industrial corps were all contributing to this player-generated gameplay. 





People from a variety of backgrounds could be seen: Some preferred to enforce GankerJamming™, others applied tracking disruption, while some brought suicide Griffins with ECM Bursts. ECM presence, however, was already dominating the scene with its excellent ganker-tear collecting capabilities.

[ 2013.10.16 19:12:34 ] nuggt007 > Niarja all pvper get ya buts to  Niarja now gogogogogogogog


More people started making their way to Niarja as soon as the first reports and intel about ganked freighters was heard. Some freighters were already down and more gank attempts were highly expected. Several ECM ships were also on the scene already.

[ 2013.10.16 19:29:15 ] Dertay O'haray > so what was just attacked?

[ 2013.10.16 19:30:08 ] Jane Kimble > prob another freighter
[ 2013.10.16 19:30:20 ] NearNihil > yep, an obelisk to be more precise
[ 2013.10.16 19:30:51 ] Vena Saris > resistance is futile
[ 2013.10.16 19:31:18 ] Vena Saris > PL CHARON
[ 2013.10.16 19:31:22 ] Vena Saris > PLEASE GET IT PIZZA
[ 2013.10.16 19:31:26 ] Vena Saris > headed to MAD GATE
[ 2013.10.16 19:31:27 ] Dertay O'haray > can you link kill mail ? : )
[ 2013.10.16 19:32:12 ] Theophilas > trying
[ 2013.10.16 19:32:13 ] Theophilas > lol
[ 2013.10.16 19:35:04 ] Dertay O'haray > no kill mail on the freighter kill?

I remember seeing the beautiful lines of the Machariel which was now ramming into the next target. It was Krissada, a legendary freighter bumper. 


Image Source: Personal screenshot collection


"He set a collision course with the fat greedy bitch, who was now, so plump full of ore. Thrusters exploded to life and giant plumes of exhaust flames erupted from them. At acceleratingly horrific speeds the Machariel was sent screaming towards it’s target."
          -Jaxi Wreckful

With each bump, the freighter (and soon the Catalysts) were going beyond even my Scorpion's good optimal jamming range, so I had to do more than my best to approach them as quickly as possible before the Catalysts land on grid.


Image Source: evepics.wordpress.com

[ 2013.10.16 19:18:15 ] (notify) Aaaarrgg: You have foolishly engaged in criminal activity within sight of sentry guns and must suffer the consequences.
[ 2013.10.16 19:18:15 ] (notify) Aaaarrgg, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.

Kill Report

Meanwhile, ganker Aaaarrgg was busy delivering his classic punishment to another stupid AFK pod. 


Kill Report


The heretic's Thrasher was then dealt with thanks to Amarrian Content Generators Amarr Sentry Gun, Cannibal Kane and thirstytom. 


Wherever I looked at, something was going on. Travelers passing through Niarja were dazzled and flabbergasted as they found themselves in the middle of this hilarious chaos: Ionized ECM particles were traveling everywhere, a frozen corpse was being liberated from a Capsule, the reverb of various guns and missiles was being heard from all directions, frequent explosions were blasting here and there, several Marmite Cynabals were rushing from gate to gate, some random AFK freighter was being bumped towards God knows where, Pizza was attacking these freighters, Goons were attacking Pizza, while Goons were also encouraging Pizza to gank a PL freighter at Madirmilire gate... Nullsec politics had combined with the activities of Highsec Content Generators and what resulted was this unique form of chaotic PvP environment including Ganking, Anti-Ganking, conflict, excitement, emergency, surprise, humor and tears: all in Niarja, at the same moments.


While I was thinking of these, in about 5 seconds, Niarja local spiked:




Few words can describe the feeling you get when you watch these numbers increase so fast. Regardless of where you're in space (Null, Low, High), it gives a sudden feeling of shock, curiosity, excitement and uncertainty in the ominous vastness of space. Catalysts were incoming.




Lots of them.





But we were ready. Griffins, Blackbirds, Falcons, a Scorpion, a Pilgrim and other ships were ready to disrupt, annoy, shoot, jam and punish this robot-like horde of Catalysts which was now warping towards us.  From my memory I can say that we really had a good amount of pilots on our side, unlike in the previous gank attempts. We could do it this time. I was "Looking At" the bumper so that I could see exactly what he was doing. 

They started landing on the freighter but the gank attempt failed thanks to the DPS & ECM bombardment done by Content Generators NearNihil, Graham Oriki, Sinabbi, Azov Rassau, nuggt007, Heinrich Rotwang, Norri Matora, Vena Saris and Hydodyn. We had managed to lower their DPS enough to make their target survive. Sinabbi also destroyed a Catalyst completely with his Oracle before CONCORD's arrival.




The gank was stopped successfully. 


Image Source: Daopa's Twitch Stream

I saw some fireworks as CONCORD brought the divine intervention and then the Pizza fleet's criminal pods left our grid one by one.


But only a minute later, another gank fleet appeared on grid. What the hell?




This time, it was the Goons. A 4-man gank fleet was now landing at the same area! 

Who were they going to attack?



[ 2013.10.16 20:06:07 ] (notify) Styx Sertan, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.
[ 2013.10.16 20:06:08 ] (notify) Sixx Spades, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.
[ 2013.10.16 20:06:09 ] (notify) La Nariz, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.
[ 2013.10.16 20:06:09 ] (notify) Sipphakta en Gravonere, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.


[ 2013.10.16 20:06:09 ] (combat) Warp scramble attempt from Styx Sertan [GEWNS]CONDI (Brutix) to Krissada [WOMYN]PIZZA (Machariel)


[ 2013.10.16 20:06:11 ] (combat) Warp scramble attempt from La Nariz [GEWNS]CONDI (Catalyst) to Krissada [WOMYN]PIZZA (Machariel)


[ 2013.10.16 20:06:11 ] (combat) Warp scramble attempt from Sipphakta en Gravonere [4S]CONDI (Brutix) to Krissada [WOMYN]PIZZA (Machariel)






Pizza's bumper Machariel!    


*opens champagne bottle*


[ 2013.10.16 20:06:39 ] Loki Tengu > Wow condi
[ 2013.10.16 20:06:41 ] Loki Tengu > what the hell was that
[ 2013.10.16 20:06:53 ] Loki Tengu > and or pizza lol

Of course, the Goon Anti-Gankers who were around didn't jam their alliance mates, but...



Kill Report



Kill Report


Kill Report



(Activates a Gallente jammer on an alpha Tornado. Epic.)

...NearNihil jammed them in an impulse. As a consequence, the gank failed and the bumper Krissada survived, funnily enough. I managed to abort jamming these Goons, because I would prefer to watch that Machariel explode. Oh well. 

[ 2013.10.16 20:07:03 ] NearNihil > freighter is still not dead

[ 2013.10.16 20:07:04 ] NearNihil > gfgf
[ 2013.10.16 20:08:05 ] TheMeanPerson > it lived? lol

Ganker TheMeanPerson seemed to be quite surprised by the survival of the freighter.




What other result did he expect?  Those Catalysts were more fail-fit than I had expected.

[ 2013.10.16 20:08:58 ] Vena Saris > nah i jammed the cats

[ 2013.10.16 20:09:00 ] Vena Saris > and they flubbed
[ 2013.10.16 20:09:19 ] Sinaluna Shihari > and now they have all run away
[ 2013.10.16 20:09:28 ] Vena Saris > they french fried when they should have pizzad


Shortly after all this period of mayhem, I logged out. That day, several freighters were already ganked before I (and others) had arrived to Niarja, but the next three Catalyst fleets had a hard time figuring out what the heck was going on, and I can assure you that every single person in Niarja was enjoying this hilarious chaos.

I hereby say "Thank you" to everyone involved during this amazing Highsec battle. It doesn't matter which alliance/corp you come from or what you do. In less than 3 hours, you made Niarja one of my all-time favorite places in Highsec and these distant memories still make me smile. After that day, I remember keeping a close eye on Niarja kill reports for several months. During one of these checks, I noticed another ganking activity, once again done by people affiliated with Pizza. Motivated by the memories from the previous chaos of Pizza's Niarja gank attempts, I literally flew to that system with my Falcon.



Image Source: www.pozniak.pl

Upon arrival, I remember seeing once again Krissada, bumping another freighter at the Madirmilire gate. Before my arrival and also the day before, their Catalysts had ganked multiple freighters and an Orca. I was eager to cause electronic trouble to their fail-fit Catalysts.


Then I noticed a local spike, and what I saw was… disgusting.



The gankers were here but they were not the same ones as before. Although they were operated by a Pizza member, it was now a multiboxing fleet of boring robots. Their names were like generated by a computer program: Ammai, Ammbi, Ammci, Ammdi, Ammfi, Ammgi, Ammhi, Ammji, Wrong Target Sorry1, Wrong Target Sorry6, Wrong Target Sorry3, Wrong Target Sorry4, Wrong Target Sorry8, Wrong Target Sorry7, Wrong Target Sorry5.




D-Scan results also confirmed their arrival. I would be more impressed if their ship names had some serial numbers instead.


As they landed on their target, I started to lock as much Catalysts as I could. I also deployed two light ECM drones, ready for departure. They weren't outlaws, so I only started engaging them the moment they became criminal. I remember activating my jammers on the Catalysts quickly, one by one, and I watched the successful jamming cycles on each of them. The liquid space between my Falcon and the crime scene was now being painted with the light of strong ionized particles that were electronically punishing the gank-bots.





"It was the light of Anti-Ganking. The light of guidance brought to the darkened minds that lacked ECCM, civilization and innovation."
          -Azov R.


It wasn't the light of hatred. It was pure enjoyment. Jamming is just a means of communication. Having looked at the kill reports, I had managed to shut down the DPS of… one, two, three, four, five, six, seven Catalysts, which made their target survive. 


[ 2014.04.06 21:46:36 ] Adaahh Gee > failed gank? i see no yellow wreck?

[ 2014.04.06 21:48:52 ] Mysterious Merchant > never saw so many alt gankers in my life.

People were still shocked by the sight of this furious group of robots. Not many people had witnessed this horrible scene before. It was the "apogée" of robot-aspirancy.

[ 2014.04.06 21:49:07 ] Darth Biznaga > yeah they failed unfortunatly
[ 2014.04.06 21:49:11 ] Darth Biznaga > for them
[ 2014.04.06 21:49:14 ] Adaahh Gee > was it the orca?
[ 2014.04.06 21:49:19 ] Darth Biznaga > I dont know, think so
[ 2014.04.06 21:49:32 ] Mysterious Merchant > lol @ failed attempt get more real  people

Of course, getting more real people and extending the fleet size with real players would be an acceptable, 'human' solution.

[ 2014.04.06 21:50:05 ] Loranna Richard > they ganked a orca some hours ago. But with those many alts..  they should waste the money in a better way..  for booze and ***  ;)
[ 2014.04.06 21:50:20 ] Adaahh Gee > probably trial accounts
[ 2014.04.06 21:50:43 ] Darth Biznaga > no their loot was t2

Despite their ruthless T2 blasters, the Catalysts had failed. The gank was stopped successfully. The robot-like fleet of gankers were given a lesson about the need for human resources, innovation and improvement of their fits and tactics. 


Several weeks later, I wanted to pay another visit to these robots. The same gank fleet was online, so I headed to Niarja again. 





Why hello there. I was lucky enough to find myself in the middle of a gank preparation which was definitely going to be followed by the arrival of another Catalyst fleet.


As they landed on the freighter, the Catalysts spent some time approaching it. By the time they were hugging it, I had already locked seven of them, with my ECM drones and overheated jammers ready.


[ 2014.04.29 18:06:46 ] (combat) Warp scramble attempt from Ja'kay 47 [S.G10](Osprey Navy Issue) to Wrong Target Sorry9 (Catalyst)


Seconds before the freighter was engaged, a kill right was activated on one of the gank-bots. So one Catalyst was already dying before the gank had even started.


[ 2014.04.29 18:06:53 ] (notify) Wrong Target Sorry4, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.

[ 2014.04.29 18:06:53 ] (notify) Wrong Target Sorry3, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.
[ 2014.04.29 18:06:53 ] (notify) Wrong Target Sorry6, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.
[ 2014.04.29 18:06:53 ] (notify) Wrong Target Sorry5, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.
[ 2014.04.29 18:06:53 ] (notify) Wrong Target Sorry1, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.
[ 2014.04.29 18:06:53 ] (notify) Wrong Target Sorry9, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.
[ 2014.04.29 18:06:53 ] (notify) Wrong Target Sorry7, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.
[ 2014.04.29 18:06:53 ] (notify) Wrong Target Sorry8, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.
[ 2014.04.29 18:06:54 ] (notify) Ammai, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.
[ 2014.04.29 18:06:54 ] (notify) Ammbi, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.
[ 2014.04.29 18:06:54 ] (notify) Ammji, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.
[ 2014.04.29 18:06:54 ] (notify) Ammhi, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.
[ 2014.04.29 18:06:54 ] (notify) Ammfi, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.
[ 2014.04.29 18:06:54 ] (notify) Ammdi, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.
[ 2014.04.29 18:06:54 ] (notify) Ammgi, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.
[ 2014.04.29 18:06:54 ] (notify) Ammci, criminals are not welcome here. Leave now or be destroyed.


Holy crap. I had to be quick: once again I spread the ECM on 7 Catalysts one by one. They all succeeded, again.




Having lost the DPS of at least 7 Catalysts, the gank fleet failed to inflict enough damage to kill the freighter before CONCORD's arrival. The gank was prevented and the freighter was saved. The freighter was damaged in hull but the bumping didn't continue. So I decided to go to Bahromab to see what was up (the system where Pizza ganks had their base). While I was landing on the gate, the frustrated ganker pods were also returning back to Bahromab like terrified rabbits.




An Omen was also passing by. I wonder what his reaction was like upon seeing that sudden appearance of bright red capsules on the overview.


After that day, this gank fleet didn't come to Highsec again. I think Mallak Azaria was right when he said "This nullsec group doesn't gank anymore." However, there will always be people making sure Highsec remains alive. Also, if Pizza decides to do it again, it will be a pleasure to see them once again in Niarja. 


These fun memories, among many others, proved once again that both gankers and anti-gankers are needed for a healthy Highsec. I hope it also showed that it is possible to do something against gankers. Yes, you need patience and dedication to do it, but some people regularly cry and complain on the EVE Online forums saying that it's impossible to do anything about them, which is wrong. Like Blackhuey once said, simply pick a side, create content, be a suicide ganker or an antiganker, or that guy who whores on Concord and salvages 20 Catalysts every 15 minutes. But keep the perspective that you are playing a competitive PVP MMO, and the aim of the game is ultimately to outwit, outplay and/or space-murder other pilots. Be excellent to each other, win or lose. 


Succeed or not, as long as you're out there fighting your enemies while keeping it in-game, having fun and improving your tactics, you're doing it right.


In this post, as you may have noticed, most of the ECM Anti-Gankers in Niarja were using ships like Blackbird, Falcon, Pilgrim and Scorpion. However, that doesn't mean small ships are useless. In the next post, I will give some simple examples about how even smallest ships can be used for fighting the gankers!


o/