Difference between revisions of "Ninja Salvaging and Stealing"

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"Ninja salvaging" is defined as entering a mission-runner's mission and salvaging their wrecks without their knowledge or permission for your own profit. The term is also used more generally to refer to salvaging any wreck which does not belong to the person salvaging. While game mechanics allow anybody to salvage a wreck without any form of criminal flagging, doing so is still considered theft by a significant proportion of the community.
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{{important note box|Regardless if salvaging other people's wrecks are allowed or not by game mechanics, EVE University members are not allowed to salvage or loot other people's wrecks without their permission. See the [[EVE University Rules#Looting_and_Salvaging|rules for looting and salvaging]] for more information.}}
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The term ''"ninja salvaging"'' is used to describe the act of following unsuspecting people around, salvaging (and sometimes looting) their wrecks without knowledge or consent for your own profit. This is commonly done against mission runners in high security space. While game mechanics allow anybody to salvage a wreck without being flagged as a suspect, doing so is still considered theft by a significant portion of the EVE community.
  
Stealing (also known as "Ninja Looting") on the other hand is taking items from a wreck without permission, and will flag the thief as a suspect, either for profit or to provoke the owner into allowing you to blow them up (for fun and profit).
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Stealing, or ''"ninja looting"'', is taking items from a wreck without permission. This act requires you to have {{co|yellow|yellow safeties}} (partial) or {{co|crimson|red safeties}} (turned off) and will flag you as a [[suspect]]. With {{co|lime|green safeties}} (full) you will simply not be able to take loot from someone else's can or wreck. While some people do steal things for the sole purpose of selling their spoils, this is more often done mainly for the purpose of becoming a suspect in an attempt to lure you into shooting them so they can shoot back without CONCORD interfering.
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== Related game mechanics ==
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This article assumes you know the basics of the following game mechanics.
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* Basic knowledge of [[timers]] and what they do (especially the [[suspect]] and [[Timers#Limited Engagement Timer|limited engagement timer]]).
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* The basics of [[Salvaging#Mechanics|salvaging and looting]].
  
The two terms are sometimes confused, or classed together, even though the penalties for each are different (stealing results in a criminal flag, while ninja salvaging does not.)
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== How ninja salvaging/looting works ==
 
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A rough outline of the process of ninja salvaging/looting:
Note that '''University members are [[EVE University Rules#Looting_and_Salvaging|not allowed]] to <span style="color:#FF0000">salvage or loot</span> from other peoples' wrecks without their permission'''.
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# The capsuleer looks for suitable targets running level 4 missions and gets a warp-in on one using combat scanner probes, often pre-scouted with the [[Directional Scanner Guide|directional scanner]] to limit the time they have probes out in space (to minimize the risk of the mission runner spotting the probes).
 
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# The capsuleer warps into the mission pocket in a fast and expendable ship (the [[Vigil]], for example).
==Wrecks==
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# If the capsuleer just wants to profit from salvage with no risk, he will simply salvage the wrecks while keeping an eye on you.
 
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# Otherwise the capsuleer will loot the wrecks (and thus gain the [[suspect|suspect timer]]) to flag themself as a valid target to the mission-runner, often accompanied by taunts in local or through a private conversation in order to try to goad the mission-runner into engaging them. Stealing critical mission loot to this end, or to simply extort the mission-runner is also an option.
[[File:File:Overview-wrecks.jpg|thumb|right|Overview symbols for wrecks.]]A wreck is the remains of a ship that has been destroyed. Wrecks can be either NPC or player ships, and EVE does not differentiate between them. A wreck is visible on the [[Overview]]. The Overview icon denotes whether the wreck has items inside it which can be looted. 
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# If the mission-runner engages he or she will flag themself (through the [[Timers#Limited Engagement Timer|limited engagement timer]]) allowing the capsuleer to hit them right back, which they often do right away or after having swapped to a more suitable combat ship. This is usually easy for the capsuleer, since they can take note of the rat type in the mission, the ship you're flying etc and make sure that they have all the right counters to easily defeat you.
 
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# The capsuleer then scoops any valuable loot and possibly screencaps any mission-runner tears in local for posterity, possibly making a note of their name if they were exceptionally profitable, so they can revisit them in the future.
Wrecks that belong to you or your corporation will be white. Wrecks that belong to someone else are yellow, and those wrecks that have been abandoned (and are therefore available to everybody) will be blue. A player can take items from any wreck that is white (except in the case of a player who is in an non-player corporation who takes from another player in the same non-player corporation) or blue without penalty from CONCORD. A player who takes items from a yellow wreck will be warned by the game (if the player has not disabled this warning) and if they take from the wreck, they will be flagged with a [[Timers#Suspect_Timer|suspect timer]], allowing any player to shoot at them for a limited time (15 minutes). Taking items from yellow wrecks is considered stealing.
 
 
 
According to CCP, items within a wreck belong to the player, but the [[salvaging|salvage]] is owned by no one. As a result, players can legally salvage yellow wrecks without being flagged. However, players must realize that most mission-runners consider salvage to be part of the perks of mission-running, so while you may not receive a suspect flag, you may antagonise the mission-runner with all of the likely consequences.
 
 
 
===Stealing from a wreck===
 
 
 
Stealing from someone else's wreck is very much like looting your own wrecks.  Get close enough to the wreck, and then open it. However, once you do so you better be ready to fight or run away, since the player you steal from now has rights to kill you. Furthermore, they may call for a fleet of ships to come in and help them.
 
 
 
===Salvaging a wreck===
 
{{main|Salvaging}}
 
To salvage a wreck, you need to possess a salvager module on your ship and need to have the {{sk|Salvaging|icon=yes}} skill. To salvage, click on the wreck and select "lock target". Once the wreck is locked, fly within 5000m of the wreck and activate the salvager module. You can use tractor beams to move white or blue wrecks, but not yellow wrecks, so it is best to just move close to the wreck to salvage it.
 
 
 
Warning: If you shoot at a yellow wreck CONCORD will consider this an act of aggression against the owner (even worse than stealing), and will give you a [[Timers#Criminal_Timer|criminal timer]], which will cause CONCORD to destroy your ship in [[high-sec]]. If you have weapons and salvagers on your ship be sure to use the right one on the wreck.
 
 
 
==Aggression==
 
 
 
When someone steals from you, they get marked as a criminal and you (or in the case of a player-owned corporation, all members of the corporation) have rights to kill them. They will become red and for 15 minutes afterwards, you can retaliate without CONCORD getting involved.
 
 
 
However, if you shoot at them, you will receive an aggression timer yourself, and they will be able to kill you without CONCORD getting involved.  Like [[Can Flipping]] the person who is looting your wreck is usually trying to provoke an attack, often because they think that mission-running PvE ships are no match for their PvP-fitted ship (however, this sometimes backfires.)  If you are flying a PvP-fitted ship, and think you can take them on, or you have a bunch of corp buddies waiting to pounce on them, then this might be a good time to take the player up on their provocation.
 
 
 
If someone who does not own a wreck takes loot from it, they flag themselves as a valid target for the wreck's owner (but ''not'' globally) for fifteen minutes. They will go "flashy" on the owner's overview, if it's set up competently. Flagging allows the destruction of the flashy's ship but not their pod.
 
 
 
If the wreck's owner then attacks the flashy looter, he will flag himself to them for fifteen minutes too. This means that they can escape, switch or replace their ship, find the owner again and re-engage if they want to.
 
 
 
If the mission-runner who owns the wrecks has responded violently, flagging himself to the looter and starting a fifteen-minute timer, it is possible for the looter to reset the timer back to fifteen minutes by shooting one of the mission-runner's wrecks.
 
  
This means that the timer can be effectively extended much longer than fifteen minutes. Extended timers '''are invisible''' to the mission-runner -- mission-runners who don't know about this aggro-extending mechanic frequently attack a looter, dock up, wait out their ''visible'' aggression timer, and then undock only to be blown up because the looter had invisibly extended the timer. This invisible timer is not currently confirmed by CCP as either intended, or a bug - as such you may be able to have a ship lost due to the invisible timer reimbursed. Do not count on this.
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=== Combat anomalies ===
 
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There is a separate variant for combat anomalies:
This invisible timer can be extended for up to '''4 hours 15 minutes''' by the ninja carefully managing aggro on your wrecks. 2 hours on the wrecks, one or more of which is salvaged near the end of the 2 hours. 2 hours on the cans which then appear from salvaged wrecks. 15 minutes for the timer to expire.
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# The capsuleer will access a combat anomaly before someone warps in to attempt to clear it.
 
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# The capsuleer bookmarks the site then warps away nearby, or cloaks themselves in the site. Using the bookmark method, they can keep track of the site's progress using the directional scanner.
==How Ninja Salvaging/Looting Works==
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# The target warps into the site and starts to clear it.
 
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# Once most threats are neutralized, the capsuleer warps in or uncloaks and starts to rush to the wrecks to salvage and/or loot. In the event of looting, this will get the capsuleer the "suspect" status, enabling the target to shoot them. If their target chooses to do so, they forsake Concord's protection and this allows the capsuleer to freely retaliate.
A rough outline of the process of ninja salvaging/looting:
 
#The ninja looks for suitable targets running L4 missions and gets a warp-in on one using combat scanner probes, possibly augmented with the [[Directional Scanner Guide|directional scanner]]. This is usually in a popular mission-running hub system.
 
#[[Battleship#Marauders|Marauders]], [[Strategic Cruisers|T3 cruisers]] and faction battleships are popular targets since they're often fitted with valuable faction modules.
 
#The ninja warps in in a fast and expendable ship (the [[Vigil]], for example).
 
#The ninja salvages. If the ninja just wants to profit from salvage with no risk, he will simply salvage wrecks and not flag himself.
 
#The ninja loots from a wreck to flag himself as a valid target to the mission-runner. He might try to goad the mission-runner into engaging by taunting him in local or in a conversation.
 
#If the mission-runner engages he will flag himself back to the ninja who will escape (with or without his ship) and switch to a powerful combat ship.
 
#The ninja returns and destroys the mission-runner. This is usually easy, since PvE-fitted ships are not much use in PvP, and the ninja can take note of the rat type in the mission, and make sure that he is dealing damage that the mission-runner is ''not'' tanked for. A strong PvE tank is '''not''' usually a strong PvP tank!
 
#The ninja scoops any valuable faction loot and possibly screencaps any mission-runner tears in local for posterity.
 
  
If the mission-runner engages and destroys the ninja, or forces them to run, and then docks up to wait out their visible aggression timer, the ninja can hang around in the mission pocket, shooting one of the mission-runner's wrecks every fourteen minutes to extend an invisible aggression timer. Then the ninja can engage and destroy the mission-runner when they return.
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Note: While in most instances, the salvage and loot aren't really that valuable in high-security systems, the capsuleer can sometimes nab expensive faction modules or warp disruption field modules, provided the target doesn't get to them first.
  
For this reason, if you do decide to shoot a ninja it may be necessary to set all the wrecks in your mission pocket to 'abandoned' before docking up to wait out your aggression timer.
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=== Ninja swarms ===
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Some corporations or groups of players have taken ninja salvage and stealing to the next level. They form fleets of ships that move into a system, scan for missioners and then jump into the mission deadspace pocket for each missioner and ninja salvage or loot. The effect is similar to locust moving through the plains, in that it causes mass-grief for all missioners in the system. These fleets usually move on or get bored, so this activity is very rare.
  
==Ninja Swarm==
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== How to avoid being griefed ==
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There are several ways to both avoid and limit the threat or efficiency of ninja salvagers/looters. They are all based on either denying them wrecks or making it more trouble than it's worth to grief you. Here are, in no particular order, some ways to achieve this:
  
Some corporations or groups of players have taken Ninja Salvage and Stealing to the next level. They form fleets of ships which move into a system, scan for missioners and then jump into the mission deadspace for each missioner and ninja salvage or loot. The effect is similar to locust moving through the plains, in that it causes mass-grief for all missioners in the system.  These fleets usually move on or get bored, so this activity is very rare.
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==== Spotting them ====
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Most missions are ''"gated"'' behind acceleration gates, meaning the ninja salvager/looter must come through the gate before actually being on grid with you. By setting your directional scanner to at least 100 - 200 000 km range and continuously hitting scan, you can get advanced warning before anyone actually comes ongrid with you. This will give you enough time to either warp out, kill the wrecks or take any other appropriate action.
  
==How to Defend Yourself==
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The range of your directional scanner can be increased for more advanced warning (you can often increase it to 1 AU without problems), but the further out you scan, the more likely you'll start getting hits of things that aren't necessarily coming towards your pocket. You can easily adjust the range on the fly to suit your needs.
  
If you find a ninja in your mission, you have a number of options:
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==== Simply ignore them ====
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This is the most frustrating option, but it's also the safest. If you refuse to respond to a ninja salvager or looter, they can't attack you without being destroyed by CONCORD. The worst that will happen is that you will lose the loot and salvage for that mission, but you'll still get the mission reward, the Loyalty Points and bounties.
  
===Ignore Them===
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Since many ninja salvagers and looters are motivated by the potential of easy, consequence-free PvP in highsec, valuable loot from your ship and amusing tears from you in local, refusing to respond will probably bore them into finding someone else to pick on. If you're unlucky you'll have met a capsuleer who's doing it solely for profit, and in that case not responding may encourage them to repeatedly salvage your missions. If that is the case, see [[#shoot your wrecks]] below.
  
This is the most frustrating option, but it's also the safest. If you refuse to respond to a ninja, they can't attack you. The worst that will happen is that you will lose the loot and salvage for that mission -- you will still get the mission reward, Loyalty Points and some of the bounties.
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==== Bring a friend ====
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Besides providing excellent social content, bringing along a fellow corporation member or out of corp friend to help salvage and loot will not only dissuade the ninja salvagers and looters, but it (strength in numbers) might also make them think twice before trying to play suspect games.
  
While ninja looting will result in a criminal flag and you can choose to fire at them or not, ninja salvage does not result in a criminal flag, so if you fire at them, CONCORD will come in and attack you. Often times, with ninja salvage, this is the best approach, though it may not be fun.
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==== Shoot your wrecks ====
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Blowing up your own wrecks can sometimes be a valid strategy to stop a ninja salvager, since it effectively denies them any spoils. With no wrecks to salvage, they might decide to simply leave you alone (if their goal is to profit from ninja salvaging).
  
Since many ninjas are motivated by the potential of easy, consequence-free PvP in highsec, valuable loot from your ship and amusing tears from you in local, refusing to respond will probably bore them into finding someone else to pick on. If you're unlucky you'll have met a ninja who's doing it solely for profit, and in that case not responding may encourage them to repeatedly salvage your missions.
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While this, especially combined with ignoring them, can be a strong statement that you're not worth bothering, it is possible that the ninja salvager might take this as an opportunity to turn ninja looter, or simply decide to put more effort into griefing you.
  
===Take a Friend===
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==== Leave the site ====
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Warp out of the site and leave them to it. By warping out, any remaining NPC rats will switch to attacking the ninja salvager. Normally this isn't much use as any half-awake player will notice that you've gone and realise what's going to happen, but just like shooting wrecks, it will require more effort for the ninja salvager and they might leave you alone in favour of easier prey.
  
Bring in a corpmate to help with the looting/salvage, so that while you are fighting the baddies, your corpmate is busy clearing the space of wrecks. This will dissuade a ninja looter/salvager, since there are two or more people who can attack them if they try anything, but it may not keep everyone away.  Using fleet and loot logging helps, as you can then split the proceeds of the adventure.
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In some missions with well-defined orders of waves that are triggered when you destroy particular ships in previous waves (like '''The Blockade''' and '''Gone Berserk'''), you have a slightly better chance to get them killed because you can stimulate the arrival of more rats. Especially if you can spawn a wave of warp scrambling frigates on them.
  
===Shoot Your Wrecks===
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In order to avoid getting caught by the new wave, you'll need to plan accordingly:
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# Identify a trigger ship.
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# Check that no rats are tackling you.
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# Align to a celestial so that you're ready to warp near-instantly.
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# Blow up the trigger ship.
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# Immediately warp out.
  
Blowing up your own wrecks stops the ninja from profiting from them. It also hopefully indicates that you don't value your wrecks ''that'' much, and might not be easily baited into fighting them. Watching someone blowing up wrecks and refusing to respond to your smacktalk can be quite boring, and this may persuade them to find another victim.
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Provided you are pre-aligned you should warp out instantly, meaning the next wave won't have a chance to lock you, so if it has warp scramblers they won't be able to pin you down but go for any remaining ships in the pocket, which would be the ninja salvager. This obviously works best against inexperienced ninjas without a firm grasp of game mechanics.
  
===Leave the Site===
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Some missions have a complex combination of warp-in, trigger and proximity aggro (some rooms in '''Worlds Collide''', for example) and it's possible for them to be attacked by rats in these. These missions are harder to control than ones which consist of sequentially triggered waves.
Warp out of the site and leave them to it.
 
  
When you warp out, it's likely the rats in the pocket will switch to attacking the ninja. Normally this isn't much use as any half-awake player will notice that you've gone and realise what's going to happen. In some missions with well-defined orders of waves which are triggered when you destroy particular ships in previous waves -- such as The Blockade and Gone Berserk -- you have a slightly better chance because you can stimulate the arrival of more rats, especially if you can spawn a wave of warp scrambling frigates on them. To do this, you should
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==== Move to a different area ====
#Identify a trigger ship.
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Perhaps not the best or most efficient way if you're already in an isolated area, far from normal mission and trade hubs. But if you're missioning close to trade hubs, close to common mission hubs where a lot of other people run missions, moving can easily lessen the risk of being visited by ninja salvagers/looters.
#Check that no rats are tackling you.
 
#Align to a celestial so that you're ready to warp near-instantly.
 
#Blow up the trigger ship.
 
#Warp out. Provided you pre-aligned this should happen instantly, meaning the next wave won't have a chance to lock you, so if it has warp scramblers they won't be able to pin you.
 
  
This seems to work best on inexperienced ninjas (but remember that some ninjas who are new characters are experienced players' alts) who don't have a firm grasp of aggression mechanics or the speed-tanking abilities of their small ships.
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The reason for this is that a lot of them gravitate towards heavily populated areas, as more people missioning means more people to grief and more profit to be made.
  
Some missions have a complex combination of warp-in, trigger and proximity aggro (some rooms in Worlds Collide, for example) and it's possible for ninjas to be attacked by rats in these. These missions are harder to control than ones which consist of sequentially triggered waves.
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==== Fly less obvious missioning ships ====
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Certain ships will draw more attention than others. Flying [[Battleship#Marauders|Marauders]], [[Strategic Cruisers]] or any of the pirate faction battleships will paint more of a target on you than flying something else. Since these ships are also the most effective ones, this will obviously limit or lessen the effectiveness of your missioning fit, so perhaps not always a good choice, but a choice nonetheless.
  
At the end of the day this tactic is not that likely to blow up their ship, but it's still quite safe and considerably more satisfying than doing nothing. If the rats do kill your ninja, remember that they own their own wreck and looting it will flag you to them (just as they would want!). Even if the rats don't kill the ninja, they will probably force him to leave and prevent him from stealing any more loot or salvage, which will defeat a profit oriented ninja. It also clearly shows that you're not going to attack him, which will cause a griefing ninja to move on as well. Do a different mission or just leave it a few minutes and come back and you'll probably find your site clear again, most likely with the wrecks still there.
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===== Use less expensive faction/deadspace modules =====
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It's not uncommon for griefers to ship scan mission runners, especially if they are more interested in trying to goad you into taking a fight. If you've fit expensive faction or deadspace modules, you can easily become a highly valuable target both for suspect-baiting ... or worse, if you're putting way too much bling on your ships, [[suicide ganking|suicide gankers]].
  
===Fight Back===
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To lessen this, simply consider just how much ISK you're throwing at your ship in order to make it run faster. Find a good balance between efficiency and overblinging, so as not to be too much of a loot piñata, as that will inevitably make you far more likely to be griefed.
  
Unlike the [[Can Flipping#What to do when flipped|policy]] for dealing with can flippers, the University does not currently have an official procedure for responding to ninja looters. However, we advise that you only engage them if you have fleet backup, much as outlined in the canflipping policy.  Never, ever, fight back against a ninja salvager, as doing so will result in not only them getting kill rights on you, but CONCORD will show up and have their way with your ship too.
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==== Fight back ====
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EVE University doesn't have any official procedures for responding to ninja looters, but in general you can assume the ninja looter is both prepared and willing to fight you back. In most cases, you will be at a severe disadvantage, no matter how things may seem at first glance.
  
Be prepared to lose whatever ship(s) you put at risk, and be prepared for unpleasant surprises. Ninjas' resources and experience vary, but besides their own combat ships they sometimes have
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That said, sometimes you will face an inexperienced ninja looter, or you're simply feeling adventurous that day wanting to see if you can outplay them.
*Friends backing them up in combat ships
 
*Friends remote-repairing them
 
*Out-of-corp scouts, potentially in covops ships
 
*Out-of-corp Orca characters letting them rapidly switch ships in space
 
  
Whatever you do, '''don't''' engage using your PvE ship. This is precisely what the ninja wants. Your PvE ship is almost certainly expensive, expensively-fitted and badly fitted for PvP.
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If you do decide to engage them, remember this:
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* Be prepared to lose whatever ship(s) you put at risk and be prepared for unpleasant surprises.
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* Seriously consider changing to a properly PvP-fit ship before engaging, as they are most likely more than prepared to deal with your mission-running ship, plus you might want to jump into a cheaper ship if you're flying expensive fits or hulls.
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* Just because the character is new doesn't mean it's a new player behind the controls. Especially after the introduction of skill injectors, a brand new character can easily surprise you with both player and ingame skills far beyond what you might expect.
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* They can easily have friends on standby, ready to back them up in case you engage.
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** Out of corp friends or alts in remote repairing ships (they'll go suspect too, but that won't stop them from repping).
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** Out of corp Orca pilots nearby for quick reshipping or refitting.
  
Even if you decide to engage on your own, at the very least warp out and get a PvP ship. This means a ship which you can afford to lose, with a thought-out PvP fit already in it. It does ''not'' mean something you grabbed from your hangar or from the market because it's large or expensive, and then fitted on the fly using modules you had lying around.
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So even if you decide to engage them on your own, it is recommended that you at the very least warp out and get a PvP ship. This means a ship, which you can afford to lose, with a purposeful PvP-fit.
  
 
[[Category:PvP]]
 
[[Category:PvP]]
 
[[Category:Missions]]
 
[[Category:Missions]]

Latest revision as of 03:42, 11 October 2023

Regardless if salvaging other people's wrecks are allowed or not by game mechanics, EVE University members are not allowed to salvage or loot other people's wrecks without their permission. See the rules for looting and salvaging for more information.

The term "ninja salvaging" is used to describe the act of following unsuspecting people around, salvaging (and sometimes looting) their wrecks without knowledge or consent for your own profit. This is commonly done against mission runners in high security space. While game mechanics allow anybody to salvage a wreck without being flagged as a suspect, doing so is still considered theft by a significant portion of the EVE community.

Stealing, or "ninja looting", is taking items from a wreck without permission. This act requires you to have yellow safeties (partial) or red safeties (turned off) and will flag you as a suspect. With green safeties (full) you will simply not be able to take loot from someone else's can or wreck. While some people do steal things for the sole purpose of selling their spoils, this is more often done mainly for the purpose of becoming a suspect in an attempt to lure you into shooting them so they can shoot back without CONCORD interfering.

Related game mechanics

This article assumes you know the basics of the following game mechanics.

How ninja salvaging/looting works

A rough outline of the process of ninja salvaging/looting:

  1. The capsuleer looks for suitable targets running level 4 missions and gets a warp-in on one using combat scanner probes, often pre-scouted with the directional scanner to limit the time they have probes out in space (to minimize the risk of the mission runner spotting the probes).
  2. The capsuleer warps into the mission pocket in a fast and expendable ship (the Vigil, for example).
  3. If the capsuleer just wants to profit from salvage with no risk, he will simply salvage the wrecks while keeping an eye on you.
  4. Otherwise the capsuleer will loot the wrecks (and thus gain the suspect timer) to flag themself as a valid target to the mission-runner, often accompanied by taunts in local or through a private conversation in order to try to goad the mission-runner into engaging them. Stealing critical mission loot to this end, or to simply extort the mission-runner is also an option.
  5. If the mission-runner engages he or she will flag themself (through the limited engagement timer) allowing the capsuleer to hit them right back, which they often do right away or after having swapped to a more suitable combat ship. This is usually easy for the capsuleer, since they can take note of the rat type in the mission, the ship you're flying etc and make sure that they have all the right counters to easily defeat you.
  6. The capsuleer then scoops any valuable loot and possibly screencaps any mission-runner tears in local for posterity, possibly making a note of their name if they were exceptionally profitable, so they can revisit them in the future.

Combat anomalies

There is a separate variant for combat anomalies:

  1. The capsuleer will access a combat anomaly before someone warps in to attempt to clear it.
  2. The capsuleer bookmarks the site then warps away nearby, or cloaks themselves in the site. Using the bookmark method, they can keep track of the site's progress using the directional scanner.
  3. The target warps into the site and starts to clear it.
  4. Once most threats are neutralized, the capsuleer warps in or uncloaks and starts to rush to the wrecks to salvage and/or loot. In the event of looting, this will get the capsuleer the "suspect" status, enabling the target to shoot them. If their target chooses to do so, they forsake Concord's protection and this allows the capsuleer to freely retaliate.

Note: While in most instances, the salvage and loot aren't really that valuable in high-security systems, the capsuleer can sometimes nab expensive faction modules or warp disruption field modules, provided the target doesn't get to them first.

Ninja swarms

Some corporations or groups of players have taken ninja salvage and stealing to the next level. They form fleets of ships that move into a system, scan for missioners and then jump into the mission deadspace pocket for each missioner and ninja salvage or loot. The effect is similar to locust moving through the plains, in that it causes mass-grief for all missioners in the system. These fleets usually move on or get bored, so this activity is very rare.

How to avoid being griefed

There are several ways to both avoid and limit the threat or efficiency of ninja salvagers/looters. They are all based on either denying them wrecks or making it more trouble than it's worth to grief you. Here are, in no particular order, some ways to achieve this:

Spotting them

Most missions are "gated" behind acceleration gates, meaning the ninja salvager/looter must come through the gate before actually being on grid with you. By setting your directional scanner to at least 100 - 200 000 km range and continuously hitting scan, you can get advanced warning before anyone actually comes ongrid with you. This will give you enough time to either warp out, kill the wrecks or take any other appropriate action.

The range of your directional scanner can be increased for more advanced warning (you can often increase it to 1 AU without problems), but the further out you scan, the more likely you'll start getting hits of things that aren't necessarily coming towards your pocket. You can easily adjust the range on the fly to suit your needs.

Simply ignore them

This is the most frustrating option, but it's also the safest. If you refuse to respond to a ninja salvager or looter, they can't attack you without being destroyed by CONCORD. The worst that will happen is that you will lose the loot and salvage for that mission, but you'll still get the mission reward, the Loyalty Points and bounties.

Since many ninja salvagers and looters are motivated by the potential of easy, consequence-free PvP in highsec, valuable loot from your ship and amusing tears from you in local, refusing to respond will probably bore them into finding someone else to pick on. If you're unlucky you'll have met a capsuleer who's doing it solely for profit, and in that case not responding may encourage them to repeatedly salvage your missions. If that is the case, see #shoot your wrecks below.

Bring a friend

Besides providing excellent social content, bringing along a fellow corporation member or out of corp friend to help salvage and loot will not only dissuade the ninja salvagers and looters, but it (strength in numbers) might also make them think twice before trying to play suspect games.

Shoot your wrecks

Blowing up your own wrecks can sometimes be a valid strategy to stop a ninja salvager, since it effectively denies them any spoils. With no wrecks to salvage, they might decide to simply leave you alone (if their goal is to profit from ninja salvaging).

While this, especially combined with ignoring them, can be a strong statement that you're not worth bothering, it is possible that the ninja salvager might take this as an opportunity to turn ninja looter, or simply decide to put more effort into griefing you.

Leave the site

Warp out of the site and leave them to it. By warping out, any remaining NPC rats will switch to attacking the ninja salvager. Normally this isn't much use as any half-awake player will notice that you've gone and realise what's going to happen, but just like shooting wrecks, it will require more effort for the ninja salvager and they might leave you alone in favour of easier prey.

In some missions with well-defined orders of waves that are triggered when you destroy particular ships in previous waves (like The Blockade and Gone Berserk), you have a slightly better chance to get them killed because you can stimulate the arrival of more rats. Especially if you can spawn a wave of warp scrambling frigates on them.

In order to avoid getting caught by the new wave, you'll need to plan accordingly:

  1. Identify a trigger ship.
  2. Check that no rats are tackling you.
  3. Align to a celestial so that you're ready to warp near-instantly.
  4. Blow up the trigger ship.
  5. Immediately warp out.

Provided you are pre-aligned you should warp out instantly, meaning the next wave won't have a chance to lock you, so if it has warp scramblers they won't be able to pin you down but go for any remaining ships in the pocket, which would be the ninja salvager. This obviously works best against inexperienced ninjas without a firm grasp of game mechanics.

Some missions have a complex combination of warp-in, trigger and proximity aggro (some rooms in Worlds Collide, for example) and it's possible for them to be attacked by rats in these. These missions are harder to control than ones which consist of sequentially triggered waves.

Move to a different area

Perhaps not the best or most efficient way if you're already in an isolated area, far from normal mission and trade hubs. But if you're missioning close to trade hubs, close to common mission hubs where a lot of other people run missions, moving can easily lessen the risk of being visited by ninja salvagers/looters.

The reason for this is that a lot of them gravitate towards heavily populated areas, as more people missioning means more people to grief and more profit to be made.

Fly less obvious missioning ships

Certain ships will draw more attention than others. Flying Marauders, Strategic Cruisers or any of the pirate faction battleships will paint more of a target on you than flying something else. Since these ships are also the most effective ones, this will obviously limit or lessen the effectiveness of your missioning fit, so perhaps not always a good choice, but a choice nonetheless.

Use less expensive faction/deadspace modules

It's not uncommon for griefers to ship scan mission runners, especially if they are more interested in trying to goad you into taking a fight. If you've fit expensive faction or deadspace modules, you can easily become a highly valuable target both for suspect-baiting ... or worse, if you're putting way too much bling on your ships, suicide gankers.

To lessen this, simply consider just how much ISK you're throwing at your ship in order to make it run faster. Find a good balance between efficiency and overblinging, so as not to be too much of a loot piñata, as that will inevitably make you far more likely to be griefed.

Fight back

EVE University doesn't have any official procedures for responding to ninja looters, but in general you can assume the ninja looter is both prepared and willing to fight you back. In most cases, you will be at a severe disadvantage, no matter how things may seem at first glance.

That said, sometimes you will face an inexperienced ninja looter, or you're simply feeling adventurous that day wanting to see if you can outplay them.

If you do decide to engage them, remember this:

  • Be prepared to lose whatever ship(s) you put at risk and be prepared for unpleasant surprises.
  • Seriously consider changing to a properly PvP-fit ship before engaging, as they are most likely more than prepared to deal with your mission-running ship, plus you might want to jump into a cheaper ship if you're flying expensive fits or hulls.
  • Just because the character is new doesn't mean it's a new player behind the controls. Especially after the introduction of skill injectors, a brand new character can easily surprise you with both player and ingame skills far beyond what you might expect.
  • They can easily have friends on standby, ready to back them up in case you engage.
    • Out of corp friends or alts in remote repairing ships (they'll go suspect too, but that won't stop them from repping).
    • Out of corp Orca pilots nearby for quick reshipping or refitting.

So even if you decide to engage them on your own, it is recommended that you at the very least warp out and get a PvP ship. This means a ship, which you can afford to lose, with a purposeful PvP-fit.