Skiff Stories: Poinen Lights - Currin Training

Catching outlaws at Highsec gates while they head to their target has always been one of my favorite activities. It is another confirmed way of effectively disrupting their operations by simply using the existing game opportunities and mechanics.

"I forget his name, but this guy in Caldari space sits on highsec gates in a battle skiff and tackles any red blinkies he finds. Ive watched him point 2 catalysts at a time, tank them, and kill them."

          -Anslo

Currin Trading is another bot-aspirant "pod-hunter" who wanders across Highsec. 

He was spotted in his outlaw Thrasher without a ganking permit in Poinen. 

One thing gankers fail to realize is: Anti-Gankers also do make plans, traps and above all, create emergent gameplay. As the commander of my Skiff of Doom, I was responsible for quickly figuring out Currin Trading's route and choosing an appropriate stargate, which is exactly what I did at the Josameto gate in Poinen.

Anti-Ganking requires a lot of patience, but many of us don't have a problem with that.

Apparently, Currin Trading wasn't that organized. Not only he failed to keep a scout eye on the surrounding systems, but he also thought that he could freely and safely navigate in Highsec with such security status. Eventually, he foolishly jumped into our gatecamp of permit inspection.

Having seen a lack of gankable Pods and Shuttles, he decloaked as usual and warped to the next gate...

…Not this time. The moment he decloaked, a triple wave of warp disruption was almost instantly sent from our Skiff to Currin Trading's bot-aspirant Thrasher.

About 15 seconds after being tackled, Currin Trading finally realized that he couldn't warp. Gankers tend to have slower brains. No doubt the bot-aspirant, repetitive acts of ganking slowed down their reactions. Doomed, messed-up and frustrated, Currin Trading tried to test his chance of ganking something before being thrashed by the faction police. At that moment, in addition to our Skiff, there was also an Augoror Navy Issue and a smaller ship like Slasher or Echelon on the gate. (IIRC, because this is old and I didn't have my dashcam in those days...) Interestingly enough, the Slasher was a robot-like, monotonous spotter alt for another Industrial ganker in that area. 
Currin Trading finally tried to gank that Slasher.

The gank attempt failed miserably since the Slasher pilot wasn't AFK and swiftly warped away (or jumped through the gate). Also, faction police was already in the area.

Another heretic in a Thrasher was successfully punished. 
Content Generators chelly Dian and Caldari Police 3rd Lieutenant also contributed to this noble intervention, while Content Ruiner Caldari Sentry Gun III KM ****ed the whole thing.

In order to stay alive while performing his robot-like ganks in front of the gate guns and their DPS, Currin Trading had preferred to fit some shield tank, but he did not have a valid ganking permit. The problem is, when it comes to this kind of gankers, our invincible Skiff always wins, no matter what, in all cases. 

"it stops them from even reaching their target, and gives them a feeling that it might be tricky to actually reach their target in this area. I have seen gankers move elsewhere or stay docked after being catched."

-Astecus

Indeed. Only 1 hour after our disruption, Currin Trading was already settled in Hek, 23 jumps away. Yuck.

All gankers are advised to get a proper ganking permit for their operations everywhere in Highsec. 
Not only it guarantees your operations, but it also makes you a better EVE player. 

Advanced Machariel Maintenance

There is no denying it: the Machariel is an exquisite, powerful battleship. It's agility, design and ability to have capable fits make it a special choice for many capsuleers across the great cluster of New Eden. In Highsec, this ship has an additional, laughable role: freighter bumping.

Don't get me wrong, though. In a sandbox like EVE, you can fit your ship the way you want, for the purpose of your choice.

Taishan Mandragoran in his Machariel at the Madirmilire gate in Niarja on 07/12/2013 19:54

Taishan Mandragoran is one of the several freighter bumper alts belonging to the bot-aspirant, multiboxing Talos gank fleet of Aedaric. I do appreciate the Highsec content that comes from the ganks, then why do I call them bot-aspirants?

Aedaric's automated, robot-like behavior has become a danger of its own. The first sign of bot-aspirancy is basically confirmed by the obvious fact: multiboxing. Unlike a normal fleet where each member is controlled by a real player, a multiboxing fleet of Taloses is a disgusting sight, for they move, act and look in the same way, just like a multiboxing mining fleet.

Their standard Talos fit is also one that can make any ECM anti-ganker laugh.

See that remaining empty mid-slot? That, my friends, can result in a disaster for this fleet, since a single well-skilled Falcon can successfully jam about 7 of these Taloses without a problem. During one of our anti-ganking patrols, just the presence of our Scorpion on grid had caused the whole Talos fleet to cancel the gank just before landing on their target. They headed backwards, and left Local. 

One of my priorities in EVE is to make such capsuleers better gankers by giving them guidance, education and surprise magnetometry.When I had insisted in my forum thread that all Catalysts should have at least one ECCM module for a guaranteed gank, I had received, instead, a nice amount of ganker tears who (incorrectly) cried about fitting problems, CPU and Powergrid. Well, that false excuse doesn't really work in this case either.
(Click here to see our official gank Talos fitting advice for Aedaric. Feel free to share your opinions as a comment.)

As you can see, the elevated level of bot-aspirancy seen in this Talos fleet results in the lack of clever modules like ECCM. That module, if you think about it, is another way for gankers to express their ganking permits and their love for us. In this case though, we notice that this fleet fails to express a permit and their love for our Falcons. 

What is more, another sign of bot-aspirant behavior appears in Local chat whenever this fleet engages a Freighter: some robot-like drivel gets spammed by Aedaric.

[ 2013.12.08 17:50:08 ] Aedaric > ATTENTION: PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTAedaric's Mobile Grief Center has serviced another lucky capsuleer.  Please remain calm.  For information regarding your safety, open a conversation.The odds are, in fact, not in your favor!


If you remember the bots in Jita, you'll easily notice their similarity to the above statement.

EVE is a game about consequences. Let's get to the consequences.

Taishan Mandragoran was once again monotonously cargo-scanning freighters that appeared on his grid. This could be the most robot-like and boring role for a Machariel in whole New Eden.

One might think that, what follows is another freighter ganking operation, including a price-check on EVEPraisal followed by bumping, and then providing warp-in for the Talos fleet which is supposed to gank the freighter. 

However, bot-aspirancy and spatial unawareness is not acceptable, especially in a ship like the Machariel. As a result, Content Generators Alhan Gaya, Dekiranu, doomhearted, Votre Dieu, FauztX, Megamaks T44, Capqom Solette, SERJANT UA, Artem Ice, Sobaka Zlaya, Urgent Fury, Dmitry Kuvora and Geras Ser liberated him from this dangerous behavior.

                                                                          

If he had paid attention, he would notice that warp-in hugging his ship, as well as the Catalyst/Thrasher spike on D-Scan. Yet the “mighty” Machariel was demolished within seconds. Angel Cartel (designer of the ship) must have had a day of shame. Even the most shiny Microwarpdrive will not save you if you don't pay attention.

It could be said that, a careful pilot who spams the Warp button while losing his ship, can almost always escape with the Capsule, thus avoid being podkilled. Taishan wasn't careful enough though, and Content Generator FauztX delivered the additional punishment.




                                                 

The conditions of Highsec are the same for all, even for the gankers and their alts: It is not 100% safe. Check D-Scan, Check Local at all times.