Ganking 101: Dealing with Faction Police and Other Busybodies

Last time, I gave instructions on manipulating Concord to minimize their impact on our glorious ganking operations. For traditional gankers, the story pretty much ends there. But the Knights of the Order spurn the comforts of positive sec status (and the discomfort of grinding it back up). When your sec status dips below -5.0, you will be chased by faction police in every highsec system, and all other players will be free to attack you without Concord interference.

How can a ganking fleet operate under such conditions?

1. Everyone undocks together.
2. Everyone fleet-warps to the insta undock.
3. Everyone fleet-warps to the warp-in.
4. Shoot the miner.
5. Get away with your pod after you're blown up.

That's it, see you later and happy ganking. Well, actually that's the short version. Read on if you're interested in learning more about the mechanics behind it.

EMBRACING DAMNATION

If you intend to perform more than a couple ganks, your sec status will drop like a rock. It didn't used to be nearly this severe, but the carebears whined for more protection and they got it. These days, it's difficult to be a ganker at all, if you intend to preserve your sec status.

My own ganker alt, Currin Trading, is already below -5.0 and quickly heading toward minimum sec status. (On a side note, isn't the new "wanted" sign a little obtrusive, given the fact that everyone has a bounty now?) Currin Trading has virtually no skillpoints, so it's not like he can fly out to nullsec and take down a few hundred NPC battleships to grind sec status back up. Sec status goes up only in small increments, and it would drop down so quickly again anyway.

Currin Trading will never have positive sec status ever again. Instead of avoiding this condition, he will embrace it, changing how he lives in highsec. If you have negative sec status, you should always be doing one of three things: Warping, preparing to warp, or shooting miners.

STICK TOGETHER

If you're always warping or shooting, that means no waiting around. It also means no moving long distances toward a target. You'll need a very accurate warp-in. The fleet of gankers must move together at all times--no more rallying at a planet as everyone joins the group one-by-one. Your only rallying point is the station you're all docked in.

The commander of the ganking fleet should ensure everyone is ready before taking a step toward the next gank. Then he will count down, and everyone will undock at once. Afterward, he'll keep everyone together by using the "fleet warp" command. A ganker's first independent action will be firing upon the target.

Lesson One: The commander will keep everyone together by counting down for the undock and using fleet warps.

Lesson Two: While you're in warp, prepare by memorizing the target's name, grouping your guns, and overheating (if you have Thermodynamics trained).

If you have a target lined up in another system (such as Halaima, one jump from Kamio), you can jump through the stargate and hold your cloak for a few seconds while everyone enters the new system. Then fleet-warp to the warp-in.

ESCAPING THE STATION

The problem of faction police can be dealt with by sticking together and getting good warp-ins, but it won't solve the problem of busybodies--all those players who want to shoot at you because you have -5.0 or worse sec status. The New Order has become very well known in Kamio, so sometimes they'll camp the station with fast-locking ships.

In nullsec, station undocks can be bubbled to death. There have been cases of stations being camped nonstop for days or even weeks at a time. In highsec, however, station camps can be trivially easy to avoid.

You're invulnerable for several seconds after you undock. When you start aligning to warp somewhere, you lose your invulnerability. This is when a station camper will attack. But with an "insta undock" your align time is effectively zero, and you warp instantly. There's no gap between the undock invulnerability and the warp, so the enemy camp watches helplessly as the fleet of gankers shoots right by them.

Every ship that undocks a station follows the same exit path. An insta undock is simply a bookmark of a location lined up with that exit path. You undock pre-aligned to it. Only the fleet commander needs a copy of the bookmark, since he'll fleet-warp everyone to it after you all undock.

Lesson Three: After everyone undocks, the commander should fleet-warp everyone to the insta undock to avoid enemy camps.

You should probably get a copy of the bookmark, though. Your fellow gankers will be happy to share. Bookmarks can be copied by holding "shift" and dragging them from your People & Places window into the item hangar.

Insta undock bookmarks are created by having a very fast ship set maximum speed after undocking. The ship will continue flying along the exit path. You'll want to create the bookmark after passing at least 1,000 km from the station. That way, when you warp past the enemy camp, you'll disappear from their view, and they cannot camp the bookmarked location.

HIDDEN WARP-INS

One other way our enemies can meddle is by camping our targets. If they know who the warp-in is, they can gather around and try to disrupt our attack. Sometimes we use bumpers for warp-ins, and other times we'll have a "disguised" warp-in who flies a mining ship to avoid suspicion. It's also possible to have a cloaked warp-in, if he's able to maneuver around the target in-line with the station and get the commander to warp to him at 10km.

Regardless of the person who's providing the warp-in, it can occasionally be useful to have him provide a bookmark for the warp-in, rather than having everyone warp to him. For example, a bumper with a ship scanner locates a target and, after getting right next to it, creates a bookmark. The bumper docks at the station and copies the bookmark, trading it to the fleet commander. Afterward, the bumper must return to the ice field and ensure that the target has not moved.

Can our enemies figure this out and camp the location of the bookmark? Not really. The bumper can move around the ice field freely while keeping an eye on the target to see that it hasn't moved. The bumper can also find multiple targets to bookmark. If our enemies don't follow the bumper, the bumper himself can serve as the warp-in.

Lesson Four: A pilot serving as the warp-in can also create and share bookmarks of potential targets, to prevent enemies from camping the target's location.

So there you have it. Gankers can operate indefinitely with negative sec status, avoiding faction police and hostile pilots alike. (If enemies camp the gates, you can have an Orca or an alt ferry your ships to the next system/station.) With insta undocks, you basically can't be camped in a station, and with a little trickery, enemies can't camp our targets. One more thing, though. Pods are slow, and sometimes don't land within docking range when they warp.

Lesson Five: Pods can avoid station camps when docking by having a bookmark located closer to the station than the normal "warp to zero" point.

Okay, now I'll see you later, and happy ganking!