The Knights of the Order

I have already made a couple of posts regarding the New Order's intention to create an army of suicide ganking alts in Catalysts to help enforce the Code, along with instructions on skill training for said alts. In the coming days, I will make additional posts, and will set up a permanent page for the purpose of organizing and updating info for gankers. In this post, I will set forth the general plan and philosophy for this ganking army.

The Catalyst may not look like much, but it's a ship that will change the world. The Gallente destroyer was chosen because it gives us the biggest bang for our buck--with "buck" defined as both isk and skill training time. A tech I Catalyst can be purchased along with fittings for around 2 million isk. After the Winter Expansion, a freshly-rolled Gallente alt can fit a tech I setup (not counting rigs) after training only Destroyers I, Propulsion Jamming I, and Weapon Upgrades III. In other words, training time measured in hours, not days. (Though continuing training will dramatically increase the Catalyst's firepower.)

Our goal is limitless ganking. There are many Code violators in highsec. For their sake as well as ours, they need to see the light. By exploding their ships and threatening further destruction, we can increase their interest in reading the Code and joining the New Order. I am a peaceful man. I will and would not order the destruction of even one more ship than is necessary to achieve our purpose. That purpose is to bring highsec into 100% Code-compliance. All miners who fail to abide by the Code are fair game. We will likely need to destroy trillions of isk. I wish we didn't have to kill any, but the bot-aspirants brought this upon themselves.

To me, "limitless ganking" is not hyperbole; it has a specific meaning. There are several checks to ganking that prevent all of the Mackinaws in highsec from burning. My plan is to remove each of those obstacles. Here's how it's done:

1. Security status. When you gank someone in highsec, you lose security status. Once it falls below a certain level, you can no longer fly a ship into high security space without the faction police attacking you. When below -5.0, other players can attack you freely. This inhibits a lot of activities, particularly for pilots who like to restock in the major trade hubs like Jita. Sec status can be restored, but it is a slow and boring process.

We surmount this obstacle by using dedicated ganker alts. Their security will fall below -5.0, but they will still be able to gank their targets. No grinding of security status is necessary. When these alts take upon themselves the mantle of "Knight of the Order", they forswear the protection of Concord and embrace the damnation of low sec status.

2. Firepower. After the barge buff, it is much more difficult to solo-gank a miner in highsec. The intention was to make suicide ganking--to the extent it still occurs--a team activity, rather than a solo activity. The New Order is a team. If enough Agents train ganking alts, it will be possible for an Agent to log on, find a gang, and collectively have the firepower to kill a target.

3. Cost. Catalysts are cheap. Tech II versions are more expensive, but as our army grows, we will have less need to rely on tech II. Pilots who can use the more expensive equipment should keep a spare set of tech I guns in case there are enough gankers in the gang to take down the target with cheaper guns. I will put into place a reimbursement system whereby Catalyst pilots on killmails will have their losses paid for out of the isk I have raised with my stock program. The intent is not to make ganking profitable, but to make it free.

4. Motivation. The barge buff did not make ganking impossible. Even solo ganking is still technically possible. However, the suicide ganking of miners in highsec almost disappeared overnight because the barge buff made it unprofitable. Without the possibility of profit, gankers gave up the practice. They didn't have a motive to continue it.

By contrast, we of the New Order have every reason to gank miners. We have a cause and a Code. Our crusade against the bot-aspirants transcends the petty materialism that bound the gankers of the past. The Knights of the Order are men and women of pure motives, filled with honour and zeal for the cause. We will obliterate those who refuse the Code. Not because we're out to make a few isk, but because it's the right thing to do. We do it because it's who we are.

This brings me to another reason why we are different from the gankers of the past. When we kill a miner, it is not an act of random violence; it's a Call to Friendship. We want the miners to join the New Order. There's always a way for miners to avoid the destruction of their property. That's why it's essential that each time we successfully gank a target, we notify the violator of the reasons for our attack and how they can avoid future attacks. They can purchase a mining fee, follow the Code, and pledge their loyalty in their bio. If a miner learns this lesson only after losing exhumers and expensive implants, he's still better off than if we had never arrived to save him from bot-aspirancy. Seen in this light, our attacks are acts of tremendous compassion.

By exercising force in an enlightened, rational manner, we gain influence that extends far beyond those whom we kill. Once the destructive power of the Knights of the Order becomes known, miners within our sphere of influence will eagerly change their behavior without our having to individually force them to do so. Our reputation will help spread word of the Code far and wide.

How can we effect change when there are so many Code-violating Mackinaws to kill--and so much ill-gotten isk with which our enemies can purchase replacement ships? To answer this question, one must understand the nature of our enemy. Highsec mining operations rely on long, uninterrupted periods of risk-free, stress-free mining. Bumpers have sent miners into a frenzy because bumping creates interruptions. Even though the interruptions are small, they are enough to incentivize a miner to change his behavior.

Imagine if a prankster woke you up at night by screaming in your ear. To cause trouble, he wouldn't need to scream all night, every night, would he? A few short screams every once in awhile would be more than enough to make you rethink the situation and how you could avoid future screams, no matter how brief the individual screams might be. Especially over the long-term. Consider if you told the prankster a version of the Miner Bingo favorite: "As long as you're screaming at me, you're not bothering anyone else, so I win." Now you have an idea of how hollow that statement is, even to the miner who says it.

A successful gank may be likened to a highly-concentrated bump. It's a disruption. It's a much larger disruption than being bumped, since the miner needs to spend the equivalent mining hours to replace his lost ship (and possibly implants). Still, it's just a disruption, as the miner can eventually recover. But again, remember that the entire point of highsec mining is the lack of disruptions. Take that away, and the entire structure collapses.

Bumping and ganking are very different in one respect: The emotions they inspire. Bumping tends to cause anger and extreme frustration. Bumpers who have engaged in other forms of PvP often tell me how surprised they are by the miners' tears. They share my observation that people who lose titans or entire regions of nullsec complain less than a miner who's had his cycle broken.

By contrast, ganking causes fear and panic. Gank victims will offer up frustrated tears, too, but they and their neighbors in the ice fields are mostly afraid. Even a miner who can replace his Mackinaw several times over is still shaken by the loss of hundreds of millions of isk. Bumpers prevent the gain of additional isk, but ganking takes away isk that the miner already possesses. Ganking is also viewed as a more "legitimate" threat. Many of those who are too proud to easily acknowledge the power of the Bump will recognize the authority of a ganker's lethality.

Both anger and fear are useful. Who would choose the experience of anger or fear when they can trade them in for the bliss of the New Order? Probably no one, given enough time.

The ganking efforts of the past involved a greater number of gankers, but our own efforts are much more concentrated: Currently in Kamio and the surrounding systems. Occasionally we will strike unexpectedly into new territory, as we did in Tolle and Abudban, each time gaining more notice, more numbers, and more power.

The gankers of the past sent the message, "stop mining". We offer a much more reasonable and optimistic message: Reject botterdom, embrace humanity, and join the New Order family. Once the miners of highsec recognize the choice they have to make, I suspect most miners will voluntarily choose the New Order. As for the rest, bump them, shoot them, whatever it takes.