Difference between revisions of "Suicide ganking"

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{{Update|September 2019 release added 3 minute timer to initiate warp. Impossible to perma-bump a freighter now.}}
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{{Legality}}
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{{related class|Suicide Ganking 101}}
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'''Suicide Ganking''' is the act of attacking another ship in [[high-sec|High Security space]] without a legal reason, such as via a [[War Declaration|war declaration]], [[Crimewatch#Legality_Timers | suspect timer]], [[Timers|duel]], or [[Timers|friendly fire]]. Shooting someone without any of those flags or statuses is an illegal action, and will grant you a [[timers|Criminal Timer]] which lasts for 15 minutes, during which being in space in any ship other than a [[Capsule]] will result in its destruction in seconds. [[Alpha clones]] cannot do this, as they are unable to set their [[Safety_settings#Safety_settings | safety]] to red in High-sec.
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'''Suicide Ganking''' is the act of attacking another ship in [[high-sec|High Security space]] without a valid kill-right on them (via a [[War Declaration|war declaration]], [[Crimewatch#Legality_Timers|suspect timer]], or otherwise).  
 
  
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As [[CONCORD]] will always react to destroy any ship which acts in such an aggressive manner, the aggressor is guaranteed to lose their ship - hence the term "suicide". However, CONCORD does not react instantly, giving the attacker time to try and destroy their target. The aim of suicide ganking therefore is to destroy a higher value target than the value of the ship being used to gank.  
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As [[CONCORD]] will always react to destroy any ship which earns a [[timers|Criminal Timer]], the aggressor is guaranteed to lose their ship - hence the term "suicide ganking". However, [[CONCORD]] does not react instantly, giving the attacker time to try and destroy their target. The aim of suicide ganking, therefore, is to destroy a higher value target than the value of the ship or ships being used to gank. Frequently, this manifests in a maximum DPS destroyer destroying a [[Mining Barge]], a cruiser destroying a [[Hauler]], or a swarm of destroyers destroying a [[Freighter]].
  
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{{important note box|Performing criminal actions in high-sec results in a guaranteed loss of ship. Piloting a ship other than a Capsule in high-sec and avoiding being destroyed by CONCORD as a Criminal is considered as an exploit to the game and will cause gamemasters to interfere.}}
  
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Suicide gankers tend to have a target or type of target in mind when ganking, and as such suicide ganking can be broken into several categories. Roughly from the most basic to the more complex:
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== Types ==
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Suicide gankers tend to have a target or type of target in mind when ganking, and as such, the most common types of suicide ganking can be broken into several categories. Roughly from the most basic to the more complex:
  
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'''Shuttle and Podkilling''' - The act of killing Shuttles (Including the expensive Leopard) and Capsules for large killmails. Looting is optional if your goal is to simply pop the capsule, and since you can't scan you can do this with a single account! Simply grab a thrasher, lock a pod, make sure you're in optimal range, and press F1.
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; Shuttle and Podkilling : The act of killing Shuttles (including the expensive [[Leopard]]) and [[Capsules]] for large killmails. Looting is optional if your goal is to simply pop the capsule, and since you can't scan you can do this with a single account! Simply grab a thrasher, lock a pod, make sure you're in optimal range, and press {{button|F1}}.
  
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'''Miner Ganking''' - The ganking of Ventures, Mining Barges, or Exhumers that are mining in belts. Requires 1 or more accounts to engage in, although having a scout is required if you have too low of a security status to slowly approach a target, and even more useful in order to scan the fitting of the miner so you know if you can destroy it or not. The scout can also double as a looting ship, as the cargo of a Mining Barge or Exhumer is generally low volume and can easily recoup the loss of T1 Catalysts.
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; Miner Ganking : The ganking of [[Venture]]s, [[Mining Barges]], or [[Exhumers]] that are mining in belts. Requires 1 or more accounts to engage in, although having a scout is required if you have too low of a security status to slowly approach a target, and even more useful in order to scan the fitting of the miner so you know if you can destroy it or not. The scout can also double as a looting ship, as the cargo of a Mining Barge or Exhumer is generally low volume and can easily recoup the loss of T1 [[Catalyst]].
  
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'''Industrial Ganking''' - The ganking of Industrials, Blockade Runners, or Deep Space Transports as they travel from location to location. Generally requires a minimum of 3 accounts, as you'd need a scout (scanner), a ganker generally in a cruiser in order to tank the gate guns and get effective DPS onto the Industrial, and an Industrial alt of your own in order to loot the wreck. If you're selective enough with your targets a relatively large profit margin can be made, although there might be large gaps of time without a viable target.  
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; Hauler Ganking : The ganking of [[Haulers]], [[Blockade Runners]], or [[Deep Space Transports]] as they travel from location to location. Generally requires a minimum of 3 accounts, as you'd need a scout (scanner), a ganker generally in a cruiser in order to tank the gate guns and get effective DPS onto the hauler, and a hauling alt of your own in order to loot the wreck. If you're selective enough with your targets a relatively large profit margin can be made, although there might be large gaps of time without a viable target.  
  
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'''Abyssal Ganking''' - The ganking of ships capable of running Abyssal sites in highsec, which can range from Assault Frigates, to Faction and Pirate Cruisers, and T2 Cruisers. These generally are much more difficult to gank, as Heavy Assault Cruisers and Assault Frigates have an Assault Damage Control which can nullify a large percentage of incoming damage. Usually requires 5+ accounts, but is more cost effective with more accounts. Finding viable targets can also be difficult, as it can be hard to get a scan on the Abyssal Runner and it requires a bit of ingenuity to figure out how to do this.
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; Abyssal Ganking : The ganking of ships capable of running Abyssal sites in highsec, which can range from Assault Frigates, to Faction and Pirate Cruisers, and T2 Cruisers. These generally are much more difficult to gank, as Heavy Assault Cruisers and Assault Frigates have an Assault Damage Control which can nullify a large percentage of incoming damage. Usually requires 5+ accounts, but is more cost effective with more accounts. Finding viable targets can also be difficult, as it can be hard to get a scan on the Abyssal Runner and it requires a bit of ingenuity to figure out how to do this.
  
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'''Freighter Ganking''' - The classic large fleet versus Freighter fleets. This setup also lets you hit other high tank ships such as Battleships (Including Marauders, Blackops, and Faction/Pirate Battleships), Deep Space Transports, Orcas, and other ships. Usually requires 20+ accounts in order to start hitting the weakest of freighters, and can have up to 100+ before it can kill the most tanked freighters with T1 Catalysts even in Uedama.
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; Mission Runner Ganking : Very similar to Abyssal Ganking, but centered around following and hunting ships attempting to do level 4 missions. These are usually killed when jumping gate to gate, as opposed to them being inside a mission complex. This can also apply to hunting Incursion runners as well.
  
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'''Jump Freighter Hunting''' - The hunting of Jump Freighters. 99% of this involves trying to catch the nigh uncatchable Jump Freighter using tricks, social engineering, or praying they got lazy and complacent. There is a lot that goes into this that isn't public knowledge because
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; Freighter Ganking : The classic large fleet versus Freighter fleets. This setup also lets you hit other high tank ships such as Battleships (Including Marauders, Blackops, and Faction/Pirate Battleships), Deep Space Transports, Orcas, and other ships. Usually requires 20+ accounts in order to start hitting the weakest of freighters, and can have up to 100+ before it can kill the most tanked freighters with T1 Catalysts even in Uedama.
  
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== Ships Used ==
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; Jump Freighter Hunting : The hunting of Jump Freighters. 99% of this involves trying to catch the nigh uncatchable [[Jump Freighters]] using tricks, social engineering, or praying that the Jump Freighter pilot got lazy and complacent. 
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Ships used for suicide ganking prioritise damage over tank, and try to do as much damage to their target for a given ship cost. Ships that are typically used include:
 
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* [[Catalyst]] , [[Coercer]] and [[Thrasher]] are the basic cost effective ships that do high damage for low cost.
 
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* [[Talos]] , [[Purifier]] , [[Hound]] and [[Tornado]]] for more advanced, higher DPS but higher cost ships. The Tornado is utilized for it's high alpha strike to quickly kill a target.
 
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* [[Heron]] , [[Blackbird]] , [[Gnosis]] and [[Nereus]] for use as support ships, to scout, scan, scoop loot, or suicide point targets so they can't warp off
 
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* [[Industrial]] , [[Deep Space Transport]] and [[Freighter]] to be used to loot the wreck after a successful gank
 
  
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== Starter Suicide Destroyers ==
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== Ships used ==
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Ships used for suicide ganking tend to prioritize damage over tank and try to do as much damage to their target for a given ship cost. Ships that are typically used include:
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* {{sh|Catalyst}}, {{sh|Coercer}}, and {{sh|Thrasher}} are the basic cost effective ships that do high damage for low cost.
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* {{sh|Talos}}, {{sh|Purifier}}, {{sh|Hound}} and {{sh|Tornado}} for more advanced, higher DPS but higher cost ships. The Tornado is utilized for its high alpha strike to quickly kill a target.
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* {{sh|Vexor}}, {{sh|Caracal}}, or {{sh|Maller}} to suicide gank Haulers, as ships with some tank are required to tank the Sentry Guns that are present on gates and stations.
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* {{sh|Heron}}, {{sh|Blackbird}}, {{sh|Gnosis}}, and {{sh|Nereus}} for use as support ships, to scout, scan, scoop loot, or suicide point targets so they can't warp off
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* [[Hauler]], [[Deep Space Transport]], and [[Freighter]] to be used to loot the wreck after a successful gank
  
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The basic template will be blaster Catalysts, or artillery fit Thrashers.  Two sample fits using cheap Meta modules are shown below. Tech 2 fits look essentially the same, with all guns and damage modifiers upgraded to T2 variants for a substantial boost to DPS
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== System Security rankings ==
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<pre>
 
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[Thrasher, T1 Thrasher]
 
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Gyrostabilizer I
 
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Gyrostabilizer I
 
−
 
 
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F-90 Compact Sensor Booster
 
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F-90 Compact Sensor Booster
 
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Warp Scrambler I
 
−
 
 
−
280mm Howitzer Artillery I
 
−
280mm Howitzer Artillery I
 
−
280mm Howitzer Artillery I
 
−
280mm Howitzer Artillery I
 
−
280mm Howitzer Artillery I
 
−
280mm Howitzer Artillery I
 
−
280mm Howitzer Artillery I
 
−
[Empty High slot]
 
−
 
 
−
Small Processor Overclocking Unit I
 
−
Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I
 
−
Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
Republic Fleet EMP S x49
 
−
Republic Fleet Fusion S x49
 
−
Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S x49
 
−
ECCM Script x2
 
−
Scan Resolution Script x2
 
−
</pre>
 
−
 
 
−
<pre>
 
−
[Catalyst, T1 Starter]
 
−
 
 
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Magnetic Field Stabilizer I
 
−
Magnetic Field Stabilizer I
 
−
Magnetic Field Stabilizer I
 
−
 
 
−
Initiated Compact Warp Scrambler
 
−
Fleeting Compact Stasis Webifier
 
−
 
 
−
Light Neutron Blaster I
 
−
Light Neutron Blaster I
 
−
Light Neutron Blaster I
 
−
Light Neutron Blaster I
 
−
Light Neutron Blaster I
 
−
Light Neutron Blaster I
 
−
Light Neutron Blaster I
 
−
Light Neutron Blaster I
 
−
 
 
−
Small Processor Overclocking Unit I
 
−
Small Processor Overclocking Unit I
 
−
Small Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer I
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S x160
 
−
</pre>
 
−
 
 
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Knowing how to gank in the T1 Catalyst above is benefitted by knowing the capabilities of the ship. It an optimal range of 1.4km, and falls off to half damage at approximately 5km at maximum skills. The goal is to get as close as possible and to engage before the target warps off, this is best done by utilizing a friend or an alt in a ship that can provide a warp-in, either via a probe scan or by approaching the target, and then having the gank catalyst warp to the friend or alt in fleet. Every meter you can get closer to the target, the more damage you'll do before CONCORD destroys you. When you're at a close enough range, approach the target, activate your warp disruptor, then your guns and webifier immediately after.
 
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As for a strategy for the above Thrasher, the main benefit for the Thrasher is it's much higher alpha strike and range in contrast to it's much lower overall DPS. It has an optimal range of approx 9.4km and falls off to half damage at approximately 16km. The goal with the Thrasher is to first make sure you're within range, and then to minimize the transversal to the target you're shooting if it's a smaller target- this is best done by stopping your ship for a couple seconds before firing on the target. Thrashers excel at killing capsules, ventures, shuttles (including leopards) and other ships that a Catalyst cannot deal with due to it's low range. A benefit to a Thrasher is it's ability to select damage, if you aren't sure what to shoot EMP tends to be the best ammo for most targets you'd want to shoot.
 
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In general for suicide ganking, you don't need to bring that much ammo since you're going to end up dead anyway, just enough has been added into the cargohold of the above ships to ensure that you have plenty before CONCORD arrives.
 
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== System Security Rankings ==
 
 
{{main|CONCORD}}
 
{{main|CONCORD}}
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All systems are assigned a [[System security|security ranking]], from {{ColorSecurityRating|-1.0}} to {{ColorSecurityRating|+1.0}}, visible in the top left of your screen, next to the system name for the system you are in. High Security systems range from 0.5 to 1.0. The higher the security rating of a system, the faster CONCORD will respond to criminal acts, and therefore the less time a ganker has to destroy his target before CONCORD appears and takes him out.
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All systems are assigned a [[System Security|security ranking]], from -1.0 to +1.0, visible in the top left of your screen, next to the system name for the system you are in. High Security systems range from 0.5 to 1.0. The higher the security rating of a system, the faster CONCORD will respond to criminal acts, and therefore the less time a ganker has to destroy his target before CONCORD appears and takes him out.
 
  
 
CCP has never confirmed "official" response timers however by observation, most of the community has accepted the below as "average" values. Response time can vary by 1-2 seconds.
 
CCP has never confirmed "official" response timers however by observation, most of the community has accepted the below as "average" values. Response time can vary by 1-2 seconds.
  
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{| cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="1" style="width: 300px; height: 50px;"
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{| class="wikitable"
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|Security Rating
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|- style="background: #333333;"
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|Base Response Time
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!Security Rating
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!Base Response Time
 
|-
 
|-
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|0.5
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| {{ColorSecurityRating|0.5}}
 
|19 seconds
 
|19 seconds
 
|-
 
|-
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|0.6
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| {{ColorSecurityRating|0.6}}
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|14 seconds
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| 14 seconds
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|-
 
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|0.7
 
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|10 seconds
 
 
|-
 
|-
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|0.8
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| {{ColorSecurityRating|0.7}}
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|7 seconds
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| 10 seconds
 
|-
 
|-
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|0.9 & 1.0
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| {{ColorSecurityRating|0.8}}
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|6 seconds
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| 7 seconds
 
|-
 
|-
 +
| {{ColorSecurityRating|0.9}} & {{ColorSecurityRating|1.0}}
 +
| 6 seconds
 
|}
 
|}
  
 
A few caveats:
 
A few caveats:
 +
* If ganking in a system that has already been ganked in with the same number of players, the CONCORD response time is roughly 5-6 seconds slower.
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* This is the effective time for CONCORD to effectively disable a ship. The time above is when CONCORD disables all drones, drains your capacitor to 0, and infinitely jams you. While most gank ships cannot tank CONCORD damage (or the capacitor neuts) for more than a few seconds, CONCORD will automatically destroy your ship after 6 seconds after you are disabled no matter how much tank you have.
  
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* This assumes that the criminal act is the first recent act in the system, and therefore that CONCORDare a "fresh" spawn. If they have already spawned and are on-grid elsewhere, their reaction time will be slower (around 5-6 seconds additional time) - smart gankers can exploit this as explained in the tactics section below.
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== DPS calculations ==
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The table below gives very rough calculations of the total damage applied by typical gank ships (as per the fits above, with max skills) in various sectors, assuming [[CONCORD]] is already on grid elsewhere in the system – i.e the maximum possible time is available for ganking.
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* This is only the time to arrive. Once on-grid, they will lock the target (around 2 seconds) then aggress the criminal for up to 15 seconds with high damage weapons, and capacitor neuts, before they one-shot the ship if it is still alive. While most gank ships cannot tank Concord damage (or the capacitor neuts) for more than a few seconds, it is important to note that additional time is required after Concord arrives for them to actually destroy the criminal ships
 
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== DPS Calculations ==
 
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The table below gives very rough calculations of the total damage applied by typical gank ships (as per the fits above, with max skills) in various sectors, assuming CONCORD is already on grid elsewhere in system – i.e the maximum possible time is available for ganking.
 
  
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{| cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="1" style="width: 300px; height: 50px;"
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{| class="wikitable"
−
|Ship
+
|- style="background: #333333;"
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|DPS
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! Ship
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|Approximate cost
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! DPS
 +
! Approximate cost
 
|-
 
|-
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|Catalyst (Meta Fit)
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| Catalyst (Meta Fit)
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|385
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| 385
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|2m ISK
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| 2m ISK + Tag Cost (~10m)
 
|-
 
|-
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|Catalyst (T2 Fit)
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| Catalyst (T2 Fit)
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|770
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| 683
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|14m ISK
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| 14m ISK + Tag Cost (~10m)
 
|}
 
|}
  
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{| class="wikitable"
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{| cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="1" style="width: 705px; height: 50px;"
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|- style="background: #333333;"
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| '''Approximate Response Timings'''
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! rowspan= 2 |Approximate Response Timings
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| 0.5 Security
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! colspan=2 | Security level
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| 1.0 Security
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|- style="background: #333333;"
 +
! {{ColorSecurityRating|0.5}}
 +
! {{ColorSecurityRating|1.0}}
 
|-
 
|-
 
| Base Response
 
| Base Response
Line 164: Line 97:
 
|}
 
|}
  
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Multiplying the DPS of a ship by the seconds you have before the CONCORD response is a good way to approximate the damage you can do before you're destroyed. Just keep in mind that the overall raw DPS will be slightly higher than the estimate, but range and tracking issues may reduce the overall DPS.
 
  
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Industrials vary vastly in EHP, they can have anywhere between 4,000 and 25,000 EHP. Blockade Runners are slightly more tanky, capping out at around 39,000 EHP. Deep Space Transports can have hundreds of thousands potentially, capping out at approximately 500,000 EHP.
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Multiplying the DPS of a ship by the seconds you have before the [[CONCORD]] response is a good way to approximate the damage you can do before you're destroyed. Just keep in mind that the overall raw DPS will be slightly higher than the estimate, but range and tracking issues may reduce the overall DPS.
 +
 
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Haulers vary vastly in EHP, they can have anywhere between 4,000 and 25,000 EHP. Blockade Runners are slightly tankier, capping out at around 39,000 EHP. Deep Space Transports can have hundreds of thousands potentially, capping out at approximately 500,000 EHP.
  
 
The Retriever and Covetor tend to have under 15,000 EHP, and the Procurer caps out at around 50,000. The Hulk and Mackinaw tend to have under 25,000, and the Skiff tends to cap out at around 70,000.
 
The Retriever and Covetor tend to have under 15,000 EHP, and the Procurer caps out at around 50,000. The Hulk and Mackinaw tend to have under 25,000, and the Skiff tends to cap out at around 70,000.
  
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Freighters on the low end have approximately 240,000 EHP at the weakest, and can have up to 750,000 max tanked and with implants (freighter pilots often have implants). Jump Freighters can vary anywhere from 400,000 to 1,100,000 EHP with implants.
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Freighters on the low end have approximately 240,000 EHP at the weakest and can have up to 750,000 max tanked and with implants (freighter pilots often have implants). Jump Freighters can vary anywhere from 400,000 to 1,100,000 EHP with implants.
  
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Always know the fitting of the ship you're shooting before you engage as the way any ship is fit could drastically change it's EHP.
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Always know the fitting of the ship you're shooting before you engage as the way any ship is fit could drastically change its EHP.
  
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== Tactics ==
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== Tactics and Mechanics ==
  
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=== Scanning Alts ===
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=== CONCORD spawning mechanics ===
 +
The moment an individual is in a non Capsule ship with a Criminal Timer (whether you've undocked in a rookie ship while having the criminal timer, jumped into highsec with a criminal timer, or gained a criminal timer via shooting an illegal target in highsec) the game will send an available [[CONCORD]] spawn to the offending ship. If there is already an available CONCORD spawn in system and within 150 km, the CONCORD spawn will nearly instantaneously lock up and disable the offending ship. If there is an available CONCORD spawn in the system, but outside of 150 km of the offending ship, that CONCORD spawn will despawn, and then respawn next to the offending ship, resulting in an approximately 6 second longer response time than if there was no CONCORD already in system. If there are no available CONCORD spawns in system, CONCORD will simply spawn and give you the standard time listed in the charts above before they disable and destroy your ship. The key bit of information to note, is that a single CONCORD spawn can only respond to a single ganker at a time, meaning that if you had ganked an Hauler with 3 people, you'd have 3 CONCORD spawns in system, but if later you ganked an Hauler with 6 gankers, the first 3 that fired would get the 6 additional seconds from having a CONCORD already in system, but the latter 3 wouldn't get the additional time as there wasn't an available CONCORD in system for them to move. Basically, if you want the additional 6 seconds, for every ganker you have you need a separate CONCORD spawn for.
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 +
=== Pulling ===
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The act of after ganking a target, docking up and undocking from a station with a rookie ship in order to move and manipulate the CONCORD from one area to where the station is. This EULA-legal act allows gankers to gank in the same area as attempting to gank without pulling in the same place twice causes CONCORD to nearly instantly respond. It is also common that if you're planning to gank in a system beforehand, to simply have all the gankers you have get into a rookie ship and shoot a [[POCO]] or an alt in a freighter to pre-spawn CONCORD, giving you the additional 6 seconds of time before CONCORD responds.
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 +
=== Bumping ===
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The act of flying a ship into another ship in order to move it, and temporarily stop it from warping without actually engaging the ship. This usually involves ramming a larger, or much faster ship into another ship. This used to be a large part of ganking, however bumping was heavily nerfed by CCP in 2019 and every ship enters warp automatically in 3 minutes after initiating warp. Bumping is incredibly niche but useful in a handful of circumstances.
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 +
=== Scanning alts ===
 
When hunting for high value targets, it is common to use a neutral alt either at nearby trade hubs, or further along the pipe where the gank is planned in order to use a cargo scanner on potential targets so that the gank fleet can select and prioritize ships for targeting. This is particularly useful in busy routes such as in systems like Uedama. Passive targeters allow you to lock and cargo scan and ship scan a target without them knowing you've locked them.
 
When hunting for high value targets, it is common to use a neutral alt either at nearby trade hubs, or further along the pipe where the gank is planned in order to use a cargo scanner on potential targets so that the gank fleet can select and prioritize ships for targeting. This is particularly useful in busy routes such as in systems like Uedama. Passive targeters allow you to lock and cargo scan and ship scan a target without them knowing you've locked them.
  
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=== Market Manipulation and Locator Agents ===
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=== Market manipulation and Locator Agents ===
 
Some abyssal runner gankers corner the market on certain high value items that abyssal runners utilize frequently in order to get the names from the market transaction, and use that to find targets. Coupled with [[Locator Agents]], gankers can quickly find the system and find out whether a target is online and move to kill them without them ever being physically scanned at times.
 
Some abyssal runner gankers corner the market on certain high value items that abyssal runners utilize frequently in order to get the names from the market transaction, and use that to find targets. Coupled with [[Locator Agents]], gankers can quickly find the system and find out whether a target is online and move to kill them without them ever being physically scanned at times.
  
 
=== Mobile Scan Inhibitor ===  
 
=== Mobile Scan Inhibitor ===  
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+
If you want to remain hidden off of D-scan, use a Mobile Scan Inhibitor and it will make you invisible in a radius of 30km. This has limited usefulness but can help out in niche circumstances.
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If you want to remain hidden off of Dscan, use a Mobile Scan Inhibitor and it will make you invisible in a radius of 30km. This has limited usefulness but can help out in niche circumstances.
 
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=== Citadels ===
 
=== Citadels ===
 +
* The introduction of [[Citadels]] offers a few key benefits to gankers.
 +
** Logistics: Citadels can be deployed almost anywhere in Hi-Sec (besides trade hubs and rookie systems), allowing staging bases for re-shipping and free jump clones to be established nearby to a ganking area.
 +
** Tethering: CCP, as of 2022 has removed the ability for Criminals to tether or to dock at all in a ship in highsec, heavily nerfing ganking. If you tag up to a less negative security status you can tether again.
  
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*The introduction of [[Citadels]] offers a few key benefits to gankers.
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== Key locations ==
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**Logistics: Citadels can be deployed almost anywhere in Hi-Sec (besides trade hubs and rookie systems), allowing staging bases for re-shipping and free jump clones to be established nearby to a ganking area.
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When looking for a gank location, you are essentially looking for high traffic or high value traffic, and also for low security status which allows you the most time to execute the gank before [[CONCORD]] responds.
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**Tethering: Fleets can tether off Citadels for remote repairs and invulnerability so long as no criminal timer is held. This allows faster response time for gank fleets.
 
  
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== Key Locations ==
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=== Areas of Interest ===
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Gankers have several considerations when choosing an area to seek targets. The two most important factors is the consideration of sufficient population (whether it be passthrough or activity within the system(s)), and the security status of the system (which determines response time and the number of resources required to gank there. Trade Pipes, which are the few systems which most, if not all traffic must pass through to get to points of interest (Trade Hubs, entrances to null/lowsec) generally have lower security statuses and high traffic/population which make them desirable locations for gankers.
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When looking for a gank location, you are essentially looking for high traffic, or high value traffic, and also for low security status which allows you the most time to execute the gank before Concord responds.
 
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=== Trade Pipes ===
 
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The key regions of Empire space (Amarr space, Caldari space etc) tend to be linked via “pipes” of systems with single entries and exits through which all ship traffic between these regions must pass, without a huge detour. More specifically, freighters travelling between Trade Hubs (the most frequent destinations for cargo) MUST pass through these pipes without going through low-sec (very dangerous particularly for Freighters), or adding on 20 or so more jumps to go around.
 
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These pipes also tend to be lower security than “core” empire worlds, often at the lowest hi-sec security ranking: 0.5
 
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This makes these systems ideal for ganking of high value targets such as Freighters.
 
  
 
Common Hi-Sec Ganking locations include:
 
Common Hi-Sec Ganking locations include:
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* Uedama: Uedama is THE most infamous system for ganking, and by far has the most destruction and number of ships destroyed in ganks.
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*Uedama: On the Jita – Dodixie trade route
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* Balle: Key system on the Amarr – Hek route, and second choke point of the Jita – Hek route. A system second only to Uedama.
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*Balle: Key system on the Amarr – Hek route, and second choke point of the Jita – Hek route
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* Systems surrounding any key points of interest. Many of these {{ColorSecurityRating|0.5}} pipe systems have other {{ColorSecurityRating|0.5}} or {{ColorSecurityRating|0.6}} systems on either side, for example, Sivala ({{ColorSecurityRating|0.6}}) next to Uedama ({{ColorSecurityRating|0.5}}), which are often also used for ganking where targets may be less prepared and aware. A lot of time people will stop a jump out of Uedama knowing there are gankers in there and wait for them to log off, only for the gankers to preemptively meet them one jump ahead and catching them.
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*Systems surrounding any of the above. Many of these 0.5 pipe systems have other 0.5 or 0.6 systems either side, for example Sivala (0.6) next to Uedama (0.5), which are often also used for ganking where targets may be less prepared and aware.
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* Jita, and Perimeter: Gankers frequent these high security status areas despite the safety there because of the significantly increased traffic.
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*Jita, and Perimeter: Gankers frequent these high security status areas despite the safety there because of the significantly increased traffic. Most people that gank here are either killing abyssal runners, pods, leopards/shuttles, [[Industrials]], or hunting [[Jump Freighters]].
 
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=== Trade Hubs ===
 
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Trade hubs are some of the highest security space around (0.9 – 1.0) however they have various characteristics which make them useful for certain types of ganking.
 
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*[[Blockade Runner]]s – Blockade Runners carry some of the most valuable cargo around, and also carry very small tanks. However they are extremely fast, and generally always travel under a covert ops cloak making them challenging to gank. The most common way they are caught therefore is on the undock of trade hubs, if they are slow to issue the warp command, or around the docking radius where lazy pilots use the “dock” command rather than an instant-dock bookmark, and land outside of the docking radius
 
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*Freighter Undocks – Most freighter pilots try to avoid ganks on the undock by using an instant-undock in dead space from where they prepare their actual trip. If an instant-undock is known, or can be scanned down, then the freighter can be ganked in dead-space, with a lower Concord response time than on gates. This requires a considerable fleet to successfully gank before the Concord response in systems like Jita, Amarr, Rens, and Dodixie.
 
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[[Category:PvP]]
 
[[Category:PvP]]
 
[[Category:Hauling]]
 
[[Category:Hauling]]

Latest revision as of 11:28, 6 June 2023

Crimewatch
Crimewatch
Legality
Consequences
Miscellaneous
External links

Suicide Ganking is the act of attacking another ship in High Security space without a legal reason, such as via a war declaration, suspect timer, duel, or friendly fire. Shooting someone without any of those flags or statuses is an illegal action, and will grant you a Criminal Timer which lasts for 15 minutes, during which being in space in any ship other than a Capsule will result in its destruction in seconds. Alpha clones cannot do this, as they are unable to set their safety to red in High-sec.

As CONCORD will always react to destroy any ship which earns a Criminal Timer, the aggressor is guaranteed to lose their ship - hence the term "suicide ganking". However, CONCORD does not react instantly, giving the attacker time to try and destroy their target. The aim of suicide ganking, therefore, is to destroy a higher value target than the value of the ship or ships being used to gank. Frequently, this manifests in a maximum DPS destroyer destroying a Mining Barge, a cruiser destroying a Hauler, or a swarm of destroyers destroying a Freighter.

Performing criminal actions in high-sec results in a guaranteed loss of ship. Piloting a ship other than a Capsule in high-sec and avoiding being destroyed by CONCORD as a Criminal is considered as an exploit to the game and will cause gamemasters to interfere.

Types

Suicide gankers tend to have a target or type of target in mind when ganking, and as such, the most common types of suicide ganking can be broken into several categories. Roughly from the most basic to the more complex:

Shuttle and Podkilling
The act of killing Shuttles (including the expensive Leopard) and Capsules for large killmails. Looting is optional if your goal is to simply pop the capsule, and since you can't scan you can do this with a single account! Simply grab a thrasher, lock a pod, make sure you're in optimal range, and press F1.
Miner Ganking
The ganking of Ventures, Mining Barges, or Exhumers that are mining in belts. Requires 1 or more accounts to engage in, although having a scout is required if you have too low of a security status to slowly approach a target, and even more useful in order to scan the fitting of the miner so you know if you can destroy it or not. The scout can also double as a looting ship, as the cargo of a Mining Barge or Exhumer is generally low volume and can easily recoup the loss of T1 Catalyst.
Hauler Ganking
The ganking of Haulers, Blockade Runners, or Deep Space Transports as they travel from location to location. Generally requires a minimum of 3 accounts, as you'd need a scout (scanner), a ganker generally in a cruiser in order to tank the gate guns and get effective DPS onto the hauler, and a hauling alt of your own in order to loot the wreck. If you're selective enough with your targets a relatively large profit margin can be made, although there might be large gaps of time without a viable target.
Abyssal Ganking
The ganking of ships capable of running Abyssal sites in highsec, which can range from Assault Frigates, to Faction and Pirate Cruisers, and T2 Cruisers. These generally are much more difficult to gank, as Heavy Assault Cruisers and Assault Frigates have an Assault Damage Control which can nullify a large percentage of incoming damage. Usually requires 5+ accounts, but is more cost effective with more accounts. Finding viable targets can also be difficult, as it can be hard to get a scan on the Abyssal Runner and it requires a bit of ingenuity to figure out how to do this.
Mission Runner Ganking
Very similar to Abyssal Ganking, but centered around following and hunting ships attempting to do level 4 missions. These are usually killed when jumping gate to gate, as opposed to them being inside a mission complex. This can also apply to hunting Incursion runners as well.
Freighter Ganking
The classic large fleet versus Freighter fleets. This setup also lets you hit other high tank ships such as Battleships (Including Marauders, Blackops, and Faction/Pirate Battleships), Deep Space Transports, Orcas, and other ships. Usually requires 20+ accounts in order to start hitting the weakest of freighters, and can have up to 100+ before it can kill the most tanked freighters with T1 Catalysts even in Uedama.
Jump Freighter Hunting
The hunting of Jump Freighters. 99% of this involves trying to catch the nigh uncatchable Jump Freighters using tricks, social engineering, or praying that the Jump Freighter pilot got lazy and complacent.

Ships used

Ships used for suicide ganking tend to prioritize damage over tank and try to do as much damage to their target for a given ship cost. Ships that are typically used include:

  • Gallente Catalyst, Amarr Coercer, and Minmatar Thrasher are the basic cost effective ships that do high damage for low cost.
  • Gallente Talos, Amarr Purifier, Minmatar Hound and Minmatar Tornado for more advanced, higher DPS but higher cost ships. The Tornado is utilized for its high alpha strike to quickly kill a target.
  • Gallente Vexor, Caldari Caracal, or Amarr Maller to suicide gank Haulers, as ships with some tank are required to tank the Sentry Guns that are present on gates and stations.
  • Caldari Heron, Caldari Blackbird, Society of Conscious Thought Gnosis, and Gallente Nereus for use as support ships, to scout, scan, scoop loot, or suicide point targets so they can't warp off
  • Hauler, Deep Space Transport, and Freighter to be used to loot the wreck after a successful gank

System Security rankings

Main article: CONCORD

All systems are assigned a security ranking, from -1.0 to 1.0, visible in the top left of your screen, next to the system name for the system you are in. High Security systems range from 0.5 to 1.0. The higher the security rating of a system, the faster CONCORD will respond to criminal acts, and therefore the less time a ganker has to destroy his target before CONCORD appears and takes him out.

CCP has never confirmed "official" response timers however by observation, most of the community has accepted the below as "average" values. Response time can vary by 1-2 seconds.

Security Rating Base Response Time
0.5 19 seconds
0.6 14 seconds
0.7 10 seconds
0.8 7 seconds
0.9 & 1.0 6 seconds

A few caveats:

  • If ganking in a system that has already been ganked in with the same number of players, the CONCORD response time is roughly 5-6 seconds slower.
  • This is the effective time for CONCORD to effectively disable a ship. The time above is when CONCORD disables all drones, drains your capacitor to 0, and infinitely jams you. While most gank ships cannot tank CONCORD damage (or the capacitor neuts) for more than a few seconds, CONCORD will automatically destroy your ship after 6 seconds after you are disabled no matter how much tank you have.

DPS calculations

The table below gives very rough calculations of the total damage applied by typical gank ships (as per the fits above, with max skills) in various sectors, assuming CONCORD is already on grid elsewhere in the system – i.e the maximum possible time is available for ganking.

Ship DPS Approximate cost
Catalyst (Meta Fit) 385 2m ISK + Tag Cost (~10m)
Catalyst (T2 Fit) 683 14m ISK + Tag Cost (~10m)
Approximate Response Timings Security level
0.5 1.0
Base Response 19 6
Time if System is Pulled 24 11


Multiplying the DPS of a ship by the seconds you have before the CONCORD response is a good way to approximate the damage you can do before you're destroyed. Just keep in mind that the overall raw DPS will be slightly higher than the estimate, but range and tracking issues may reduce the overall DPS.

Haulers vary vastly in EHP, they can have anywhere between 4,000 and 25,000 EHP. Blockade Runners are slightly tankier, capping out at around 39,000 EHP. Deep Space Transports can have hundreds of thousands potentially, capping out at approximately 500,000 EHP.

The Retriever and Covetor tend to have under 15,000 EHP, and the Procurer caps out at around 50,000. The Hulk and Mackinaw tend to have under 25,000, and the Skiff tends to cap out at around 70,000.

Freighters on the low end have approximately 240,000 EHP at the weakest and can have up to 750,000 max tanked and with implants (freighter pilots often have implants). Jump Freighters can vary anywhere from 400,000 to 1,100,000 EHP with implants.

Always know the fitting of the ship you're shooting before you engage as the way any ship is fit could drastically change its EHP.

Tactics and Mechanics

CONCORD spawning mechanics

The moment an individual is in a non Capsule ship with a Criminal Timer (whether you've undocked in a rookie ship while having the criminal timer, jumped into highsec with a criminal timer, or gained a criminal timer via shooting an illegal target in highsec) the game will send an available CONCORD spawn to the offending ship. If there is already an available CONCORD spawn in system and within 150 km, the CONCORD spawn will nearly instantaneously lock up and disable the offending ship. If there is an available CONCORD spawn in the system, but outside of 150 km of the offending ship, that CONCORD spawn will despawn, and then respawn next to the offending ship, resulting in an approximately 6 second longer response time than if there was no CONCORD already in system. If there are no available CONCORD spawns in system, CONCORD will simply spawn and give you the standard time listed in the charts above before they disable and destroy your ship. The key bit of information to note, is that a single CONCORD spawn can only respond to a single ganker at a time, meaning that if you had ganked an Hauler with 3 people, you'd have 3 CONCORD spawns in system, but if later you ganked an Hauler with 6 gankers, the first 3 that fired would get the 6 additional seconds from having a CONCORD already in system, but the latter 3 wouldn't get the additional time as there wasn't an available CONCORD in system for them to move. Basically, if you want the additional 6 seconds, for every ganker you have you need a separate CONCORD spawn for.

Pulling

The act of after ganking a target, docking up and undocking from a station with a rookie ship in order to move and manipulate the CONCORD from one area to where the station is. This EULA-legal act allows gankers to gank in the same area as attempting to gank without pulling in the same place twice causes CONCORD to nearly instantly respond. It is also common that if you're planning to gank in a system beforehand, to simply have all the gankers you have get into a rookie ship and shoot a POCO or an alt in a freighter to pre-spawn CONCORD, giving you the additional 6 seconds of time before CONCORD responds.

Bumping

The act of flying a ship into another ship in order to move it, and temporarily stop it from warping without actually engaging the ship. This usually involves ramming a larger, or much faster ship into another ship. This used to be a large part of ganking, however bumping was heavily nerfed by CCP in 2019 and every ship enters warp automatically in 3 minutes after initiating warp. Bumping is incredibly niche but useful in a handful of circumstances.

Scanning alts

When hunting for high value targets, it is common to use a neutral alt either at nearby trade hubs, or further along the pipe where the gank is planned in order to use a cargo scanner on potential targets so that the gank fleet can select and prioritize ships for targeting. This is particularly useful in busy routes such as in systems like Uedama. Passive targeters allow you to lock and cargo scan and ship scan a target without them knowing you've locked them.

Market manipulation and Locator Agents

Some abyssal runner gankers corner the market on certain high value items that abyssal runners utilize frequently in order to get the names from the market transaction, and use that to find targets. Coupled with Locator Agents, gankers can quickly find the system and find out whether a target is online and move to kill them without them ever being physically scanned at times.

Mobile Scan Inhibitor

If you want to remain hidden off of D-scan, use a Mobile Scan Inhibitor and it will make you invisible in a radius of 30km. This has limited usefulness but can help out in niche circumstances.

Citadels

  • The introduction of Citadels offers a few key benefits to gankers.
    • Logistics: Citadels can be deployed almost anywhere in Hi-Sec (besides trade hubs and rookie systems), allowing staging bases for re-shipping and free jump clones to be established nearby to a ganking area.
    • Tethering: CCP, as of 2022 has removed the ability for Criminals to tether or to dock at all in a ship in highsec, heavily nerfing ganking. If you tag up to a less negative security status you can tether again.

Key locations

When looking for a gank location, you are essentially looking for high traffic or high value traffic, and also for low security status which allows you the most time to execute the gank before CONCORD responds.

Areas of Interest

Gankers have several considerations when choosing an area to seek targets. The two most important factors is the consideration of sufficient population (whether it be passthrough or activity within the system(s)), and the security status of the system (which determines response time and the number of resources required to gank there. Trade Pipes, which are the few systems which most, if not all traffic must pass through to get to points of interest (Trade Hubs, entrances to null/lowsec) generally have lower security statuses and high traffic/population which make them desirable locations for gankers.

Common Hi-Sec Ganking locations include:

  • Uedama: Uedama is THE most infamous system for ganking, and by far has the most destruction and number of ships destroyed in ganks.
  • Balle: Key system on the Amarr – Hek route, and second choke point of the Jita – Hek route. A system second only to Uedama.
  • Systems surrounding any key points of interest. Many of these 0.5 pipe systems have other 0.5 or 0.6 systems on either side, for example, Sivala (0.6) next to Uedama (0.5), which are often also used for ganking where targets may be less prepared and aware. A lot of time people will stop a jump out of Uedama knowing there are gankers in there and wait for them to log off, only for the gankers to preemptively meet them one jump ahead and catching them.
  • Jita, and Perimeter: Gankers frequent these high security status areas despite the safety there because of the significantly increased traffic.
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