Avoid Losses to War Targets

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Welcome to EVE Online. If you are not busy looking for ways to kill, harass, or at least mildly inconvenience another player, you got a lot of catching up to do. Remember: Hi-sec is safer, not safe. CONCORD provides consequences, not security. EVE Online provides a "PVP FLAG" button. It's labelled and known as the "Undock" button. EVE Online is, at its core, a (non-consensual) PVP game. — Unnamed CCP Dev

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New Eden can be a dangerous place. When EVE University is at war, enemies ("war targets", "WTs") can engage University pilots without consequences in high-security space.

This page explains things you can do to avoid losses to war targets. It is a super-basic guide which tries to get you up to speed with key tools immediately. You will learn much more, in much more detail, as you grow more experienced in EVE.

You may get attacked and lose ships until you find your feet. If that happens, do not feel disheartened. Remember: you are not your ship, you are an immortal capsuleer, and you will never die!

The basics

Before undocking in wartime, you should:

• Be in a fleet!. You can fly solo or be in a fleet by yourself, but we advise against it. Join the HSC Standing Fleet (learn what that is and learn about "Finding and joining a campus standing fleet" at the bottom of this page) or a specific fleet that's going on (for example, a mining, missioning or PvP fleet)
• Be on Mumble! Jump into HSC Mumble channel (Or else the Mumble channel for the specific fleet. If it isn't in the Message of the Day in the fleet chat, ask!)
  • IMPORTANT: Choose where you ask questions in game chats wisely! For example, don't say "I'm in Scheenins, about to leave for Amygnon; can anybody tell me if it's safe?" in the chat channel EVE University (EVE Uni), as you're advertising both your location and your inexperience in a public (and therefore unsafe) chat!
• Check the members of 'Local chat'!. Local chat lists everybody who is online in the same system as you, which is very useful to know! (More info on Local follows below.)

War target icon:

• The war target icon is a red box with a white star in it (blinking if you have used Installing the EVE University Overview). Not to be confused with the Terrible standing (-10) and Bad standing (-5) icons or the Criminal, Suspect or Outlaw tags.

After undocking, you should also:

• D-scan regularly and often. (See below for how to use D-Scan, and why it's helpful.)

Particularly if you're doing missions or mining, D-scanning regularly can alert you possible dangers. In PvP, it can find you nasties to shoot.

Extra tips

• BE PREPARED! Even the most cautious pilots can lose ships to WT's, so in case the worst happens, learn what to do to save your pod.

• Make an OOC (Out Of Corp) Alt Hauler. Seriously, don't use your main. Use an OOC Alt. An alt can fly their racial hauling ship immediately. See Creating an Alt Hauler.

• Also, do not travel to the trade hubs (e.g. Dodixie, Jita) on your main, as many WTs camp these systems (and commonly used routes between them and our campuses) looking for easy kills!

• Do not go AFK in space. You should not be AFK in space, period.

Summary

E-Uni is often at war. This doesn't mean you have to stay docked up:

• Be smart. Think. Use your resources (Mumble, D-scan, Local, etc.). Take nothing for granted.
  • This advice actually applies at all times in EVE, as even when not at war, you are never 100% safe!
  • You just need to learn how to spot trouble and avoid it (reading this page is a very good start!).
• If you see a WT in local/a report of a WT in the next system/combat probes on D-scan, JUST DOCK. If you think you can stay on grid for a few more seconds, you are wrong. You WILL die. Soon or later, they will catch you. Sooner or later!
• Again... Mumble. Local, D-scan.
• Don't rely on any one thing to keep you safe. Being operationally aware is the best defense… and it's worth accepting that getting killed is part of the game—not the end of it.

• There's no such thing as "safe" in EVE. But there is "less dangerous".

Unsure about anything in this post? Ask! In Mumble, in HSC (EVE Uni) chat, in General (EVE Uni), in Discord.... Remember, there are no stupid questions!

Fighting war targets

• We do NOT advise very new players to attempt to take on a war target alone. They don't play fair, and will be flying a better ship than you, often have other WTs nearby, and have had much more practice. You will almost certainly lose!
• HOWEVER, E-Uni has numbers on our side and we can form QRF's (Quick response Fleets - this is when whoever is nearby, who wishes to, can quickly form a fleet) in order to chase off (and sometimes kill) WT's from our areas (they might try to pick off a straggler or two, but mostly they are after solo, easy kills and are pretty risk averse.)... but that is beyond the scope of this post!! :D

Useful survival tools

Local chat

• Keep your Local window separated from the other chat windows. Make it thin and tall, like this:

• It's easier to see who's in local. You don't have to scroll down and up as much to see who's in system. You don't have to change windows from your regular chat channels.
• If you see a war target in local, warp and dock.

• Don't wait. Don't think you will have enough time to warp out when the WT lands on grid. You won't.
• Don't think you can afford 10 more seconds to finish a mission or finish your salvaging. You can't.

• Try to be in systems with just a few people in local when possible. It's easier to keep an eye in Local and to watch your D-scan (see below)
• When that WT shows up on your local chat, just dock up. Immediately.
  

This is how you recognise a WT in Local:

The star icon flashes, so it's nice and eye-catching!

D-scan

• Just because you are not actively PvPing, doesn't mean you shouldn't use D-SCAN. You should. Even if you are doing PvE.
  
• ALWAYS D-scan. Maximum range, 360º degrees. Even if you don't see a WT in Local.
  
• Don't know how to D-Scan? Read about it HERE (for the basics) and HERE (D-scan 102).

D-scan FAQ

• Q: Why should I D-Scan if there are no WTs in Local?
  • A: It's simple: OOC Alt.

OOC Alt means Out of Corp Alt. The WT's have OOC Alts, that are not at war with us, so they don't show as WT's in local. One of those OOC Alts might be watching you.

• Q: But I'm in a PvE site. How can they find me?
  • A: Combat Probes.

That WT's Alt could be scanning you down with combat probes. So if you see combat probes on D-Scan, warp out and dock. Immediately!
(People can use combat probes to scan you down and find you. Then they can warp right to you and start shooting!)

• Q: Why should I be afraid of combat probes if a WT is not in the system or reported in nearby systems?
  • A: Well. Maybe he IS in the system. He's just not logged in. As soon as his alt probes you down, he logs in, undocks, warps to you and kills you!

Or he might be in the next system and nobody has spotted him!
Bottom line is: You never know. So as a rule of thumb, if you see combat probes on D-scan, DOCK. Don't wait. Just dock.
Some people think a WT needs to be on grid with you to be able to hunt you down. They don't.
A good pilot can D-scan you down to a narrow margin and -BAM!- find you with a single combat probe scan.

• Keep D-scanning. Press that button regularly. Always!

Bookmarks

• Learn all about bookmarking HERE if you don't know what I mean!
• Create insta docks/undocks for each station you use often (like campus stations, trade hubs, mission hubs, etc).
• If a WT comes in local they might warp to a station and sit outside it to gank people on the way in, so you want to have an insta-dock to be able to safely dock (based on the advice that if you see a WT join local you should dock up right away).
• You will also want to create *safes* and *tactical bookmarks*. I know this may seem over-paranoid or overly complicated right now, but one day you WILL be glad you took the time to learn and create all these bookmarks! Honest!

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Further reading: Wartime Operations in EVE University

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Finding and joining a campus standing fleet

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A Standing Fleet is a local fleet and aims to provide better communication between pilots within the same area of space. It can help provide a quick response if a member capsuleer is in distress and a defensive force if the campus is subjected to hostile action. Each member of the fleet can freely do their solo or group tasks such as PvE, Mining, PvP or Trading, since there is no specific purpose of the standing fleet itself, but in times of emergency, fleet is transformed into Quick Response Fleet in order to defend a fellow capsuleer, to repel any hostile entity and to defend the space and assets of the EVE University.

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• Go to your Neocom and find the Fleet icon
• Drag it onto your main Neocom for easy access.
• Click it, and the Fleet Finder box will pop up.
• In the *Scope* drop-down menu, choose *My Corp Fleets*
• You should see several Fleets, such as *Stacmon Standing Fleet* or *Amygnon Standing Fleet*
• Right click on the Fleet and hit *Join Fleet*. The Fleet Boss will accept you.
• Say hello.
• Do not be afraid to say if you are new to game and/or Fleets etc. We've all been there and most of us are very happy to help a new player along.

• If you can't find your Fleet tab, or can't see a standing fleet, ask in comms or Stacmon (EVE Uni) chat

Learn more about standing fleets and their set-up on the standing fleet page.

This can all be a little confusing initially, but feel free to ask your corpmates; there will always be someone willing to help you get the hang of it!