 This page may require cleanup to ensure accuracy of information. Please discuss this issue on the talk page.Comment: Needs to be updated to reflect current situation (i.e. refers to autopilot in low sec and insta bookmarks). |
Faced with moving through low security? This guide will help you get to your destination intact.
Ship Preparations[]
Before you start travelling, ensure that your ship is fitted for maneuverability and ease of escape. The three modules that help with this are Afterburners, Warp Core Stabilizers, and Nanofiber Internal Structures.
- An Afterburner module will allow you to get to where you are going (the gate to the next system) more quickly without increasing your signature radius. (Microwarpdrive modules make you move more quickly, but also make you easier to hit by increasing your signature radius.)
- Warp Core Stabilizer modules help to prevent you from getting warp scrambled.
- Nanofiber Internal Structure modules increase your ship's speed and decrease your ships mass, making turning, acceleration and entering warp faster.
Route Preparations[]
Hostile forces are most frequently met in two different kinds of systems:
- Chokepoints, or systems that form a gateway between 00 and Empire space, and
- Islands, or pockets of low-security space between other high-security Empire systems.
Open your map. If your autopilot is set for your destination, your route should be highlighted with white lines. Click on the Stars tab in your map panel and select Color by Security Status. Find systems that are a shade of red -- these are low-security or 00 systems and are potentially risky. To discover if they are actually risky, use the features of your map tool:
- Pilots in Space in the Last 30 Minutes will show you how many people are in a particular system. A high number can indicate a gatecamp.
- Ships Destroyed in the Last Hour will show you how many ships have been destroyed recently. High numbers can indicate pirate activity.
- Escape Pods Destroyed in the Last Hour will show you how many people have been podded recently. Pirates often pod people; NPCs never do. A high number almost certainly means that the system is camped.
Entering Dangerous Territory[]
Do not use auto-pilot in low-sec!
The next step. You've been traveling, and you are about to enter your first low-security or 00 system. This part is key. While at the gate into the .4 or 0.0 system, take a minute and collect yourself. What you are going to is, when you hear the ships computer or see the notification that your ship has jumped into the next system, immediately either turn off the autopilot, or mash the stop key (ctrl-space) until your autopilot is turned off. To be on the save side toggle it just after the "Jumping to XXX" message appears on screen. This will allow your ship to stay cloaked for a short time when you enter the next system.
Now you are in your first .4 or 0.0. Still cloaked, if you followed the instructions. Now is where things can get hairy. Look around, find any ships that are nearby. Check local always, in fact, you should never not have local on your screen. If others are in system, be wary. First thing is first.
No enemy in sight[]
If its all clear, and local is empty, proceed using autopilot flying manually. If however there are other people in the system, navigate your right click menu and warp to a random planet (not a moon since there might be a POS there). Then, while there, begin doing show infos on the other folks in the system. If they are friendly, or at least appear so, you can probably try moving along without too much trouble. If they are not, either move around from planet to planet periodically, or create a safespot. Never stay in one spot very long - any competent pilot can scan you down quickly. Then move along, slowly, carefully, repeating the above steps. With luck, and perseverence, you just might get through the gate ganking systems, and arrive safely.
Gatecamps[]
However, if it isn't clear, the chief thing to do is keep your cool. Understand that you can not go back to the last system you were in unless you are in a fast, or robust ship. Gate ganks are there to kill you faster than you can get through the gate, so unless you have great confidence, do not attempt it.Gate ganks do want to catch you before you warp off, that can be done with one tackler, but to kill you they need more firepower. If you aren't sitting in a frig or something similar maneuverable it's probably better to move back to gate. However, if you have warp core stabs fitted you have to decide if you can warp off before having to many points on you .
To move back to gate, first wait for at least 20-25 sec because there is a session timer not allowing you to jump back immediatly. While doing so pre-overheat your mid-modules. Then hit approach gate, activate all modules, hope for the best. Do not aggress anything hostile or you will not be able to jump.
If you decide to warp off, zoom in on your ship. Its cloaked, they can't see you, but because of the gate effects, they know you are there and are waiting for you to decloak. Its important to get away as quickly as possible to be safe. So determine what direction your ship is facing, and using the camera, find an object, like a star, that is as much where you are facing as possible. Mouseover the object to find out what it is. If its a planet, then you might just be golden. Navigate your right-click menu to that planet, and if it has moons, pick one and warp to it (In low sec space there can be ouposts build at moons that will rip your ship apart in seconds, so warping to a random moon has a certain element of risk involved). Cross your fingers or pray, but if you manage to warp out, this isn't over. They know what direction you warped in. Now is where cat and mouse might well begin. Once you drop out of warp, move quickly but continue to keep your cool. They don't know where you are and you have time. Select a different planet, with a moon, and now warp to it. Once there, I suggest using a third moon to create a safespot, or logging off for a little while, and regain any wits you lost. Or if you're in a reasonably quick-to-warp ship, it might be advisable to quick-hop to a belt, quick-hop to another belt around a different planet, drop a BM half way through warp, then warp to that while you gather your senses.
An important note is: do not warp to the sun. Thats far too easy. Even warping to a planet proper is better than warping to a sun.
At this point, you can resume from above as if they weren't there once the system calms down and you are there when fewer people are. This can cut into game time, but its up to you whether you want safety.
Entry Gate is Clear, But...[]
OK, so you came through the entry gate and theres no one around. There is still the posibility that there is a gate camp at the destination gate. So, rather than turn on the Autopilot, select a reletively safe point to do some quick research. Don't sit at the gate too long, lets get moving!
Now you have 30 seconds from jumping into the system before the temporary jump cloak wears off. If there are many pilots in this system there may be lag, which can be good or bad, you can never tell. As recommended above you want to move initially to a planet, but which one? The Long Range Scan can help, if you are quick about it. Ctrl-F11 or click the scanner icon.
Don't ever use autopilot in low-sec! Just do not activate it!
Long Range Scan[]
Check the box for "Use Overview Settings" which should speed up your scan by only reporting objects that are in your Overview (by default all ships are includes, but most celestials are not. Smart pilots fine tune the Overview settings to only include NPC and Plaayer ships, turning off gates, stations, asteroid belts and other non-critical objects.
Now, in the distance box, type in ten or more integers, like ones or nines. This is more distance than the scanner is capable of so on actuation it resets to MAX RANGE. Now if your scanner is set for 360 degrees you shortly get a report on all ships withing the Max Range.
While this is helpful, its better to be able to look at a certain location and scan around that location for distant ships. You can lower the angle with the Angle slider and, by rotating the view with your mouse, point at the object or area to be scanned. When set this way, the scanner will do a radar-like scan of the area directly in front of the view at that moment. So let's say you are wanting to fly to planet three and its a distance away. Aim your screen view towards planet three and click the Scan button. A 5-10 degree scan will pick up the planet and the moons around it.
If no ships are located in that scan, then no pilot is lurking there, pick a moon and warp to 100 KM from moon. 100 k away gives you time to escape if there is a POS there (usually) or there is a cloaked ship at the moon (rare, but possible.) If you pick a moon close to your next warp gate, you can then point the view towards that gate and repeat the long range scan. You will now see the names and types of the ships in that angular field of view, up to the Max Range. If its a gate camp, you will know what and how many ships are present.
Rushing in with Instas[]
If you have a good insta (a book mark, 13-14 km behind the point you need to warp to), and you are sure that there are not too many enemies (and your armor will survive a few seconds of harsh attack!) then use the insta to go to the gate (A good insta will place you in jump range immediately.) As you are warping towards this camped gate of doom, turn on the Autopilot choose the gate in overview and prepare to spam the jump to button. As soon as you come out of warp, the enemies will be locking on you, but that will take a few seconds and if your insta is good, the Autopilot will have you jumping before they can fire a shot.
As you are jumping to the next system remember to turn off the Autopilot before you materialize, otherwise the Autopilot will start warping to the next gate and, if the campers follow you, they will immediately start to plot your demise. Instead, turn off the Autopilot, when you come into the next system, check for hostiles again and, if all is well, go to your next insta. - Just do not use autopilot at all!
I recommend that you take that 30 seconds of cloak time to locate the next gate (should be yellow tinted) and first thing, double click slightly above, below or to the side of the gate marker icon. This will start you ship aligning to that gate first, as you decloak you will be mostly lined up. then, use the insta or if you lack instas, hit the Autopilot warp to 0 and pray.
A less than perfect insta can get you killed, so before moving your precious cargo along a new trade route, travel the route with a shuttle and test all the instas. If a bad one gets you killed at least you learned the lesson in a cheap shuttle! If you encounter a bad insta, take your shuttle and go 13-14 KM beyond the gate from the location you are coming from and make a new bookmark... you will be glad you did when you come back later with your precious cargo and theres a gate camp!
What to Do when you Jump into a Gate Camp[]
The sequence of actions determines a lot. Moving, warping or targeting anything will decloak you in a second or two. Instead, use your time to calculate where to go next. A lateral move that keeps you out of their attack range is best. if they are in front of you, see if there is some object behind you, or to the sides to run to.
After you pick an object to warp to, double click next to that object to start alignment before anything else. You have a few seconds before they can lock you, so right click the object and be waiting to hit Warp to 100 km of the objest while your ship gets close to alignment.
Do not wait for perfect alignment, they have you locked now and you have little time to mis-click! Select the warp to and get ready to turn on your shield hardners, damage control or shield booster (and wait until theres some damage to the shield before starting boosting, unless you have excess cap!) Most of the time you warp out just as their first barrage hits you. Unless they have a warp disruptor on you already, or are useing a warp disruption bubble, you should make it out.
Once safe, do not wait long before moving to another location, they will usually follow you! In the worst situations, select a very distant object to warp to and make a bookmark mid warp, name it SS 'cause your in a hurry, right? When you get to the destination, go back to the bookmark you just made which you just named SS. You can do this several times. If they have Scan probes, they can locate you pretty quickly in a small system, or eventually in a large system, so moving around adds safety.
You have a few minutes before they can figure out what you did. You can try running to the next gate, a station if one is handy, or try the old logoff trick (a chicken maneuver but when the going gets tough, the tough turn to dirty tricks...) Wait until that system is uncamped and try again. If logged off, log in as an alt and check the F-10 map to determine when the system is safer.
Good Luck and "Don't Panic!" - end Aramis Rosicrux addition
Sources[]
by Zaintiraris - Caldari - Archon Industries with remarks from Vicarrah - Minmatar Additional content from Aramis Rosicrux, CEO, Ordo Rosa Crux Templaris corp
Links[]
Guides:Using the Map Guides:Using the Autopilot