Baiting
Why Baiting?
A good rule of thumb for all warfare is "Only pick fights you know you can win". In Eve, the combination of secure neutral stations and warp drives makes it easy to avoid fights, given enough warning. Baiting is one way of convincing the other guy to commit to a fight.
What is Baiting?
Baiting involves sending out a baitship (or baitfleet), ahead of the main fleet. The role of the baitship is to appear as an easy kill, lure an attacker into combat, and then hold the engagement long enough for the rest of the fleet to arrive. Because local chat displays the presence of all active pilots in-system, the rest of the fleet is usually located in a different system. It's a very brave or foolish pilot who picks a fight with a "lone" ship while a bunch of the victim's corp-mates are somewhere in-system.
Caveat: this article is about baiting legitimate University targets. It is not about hi-sec "griefer" baiting, in which a pilot seeks to trick another into taking an aggressive action, so that the victim can be ganked without CONCORD intervention.
Choosing a Baitship
The most important question to consider is "what does the baitship offer the attacker"? Some attackers are happy with any killmail, regardless of whether it's a shuttle or a T2 battleship. Others are hoping to gank a particularly valuable ship (for the status), or to loot valuable cargo or equipment. A few might just want vengeance.
In each case, the goal of the baitship is to look like an easy kill. Cheaper ships which are known for having a high tank to gank ratio (example: Drake) generally make poor bait, as they are unlikely to be a quick kill. In contrast, a mining ship or freighter - usually quite fragile - that has been fitted to maximise its tank can be quite effective; the attacker doesn't realise quite how many EHP he needs to get through until after he has engaged.
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Setting the Bait
Azual Skoll, Agony Unleashed
You've found a low-sec area that might have hostile pilots. You've chosen your baitship. Now you just need a bite.
The first question is: are you going to pretend you're not bait?
If you're hanging around where you don't really belong, doing nothing in particular, then hostiles are going to suspect you're bait. This has a few disadvantages:
- Foes might try to scout out the rest of the fleet.
- Foes might try to gather their own fleet, to ensure a kill.
- Foes might decide it's not worth the risk.
This sort of baiting can still work. Foes might be overconfident, spoiling for a fight, or just figure it's worth the risk. However, if you can make your presence look like an accident, then foes are less likely to be cautious. Even better if you can add some time pressure, such as a vulnerable ship dropping out of warp and crawling to the gate (on "autopilot"), or a heavy ship wandering into a gate camp and quickly trying to warp off. If the foe feels that he must get it now before it gets away, he's more likely to make a hasty decision.
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Baitship Fitting
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See Also
- [Bait Tactics] thread on E-UNI forums.
- [Intelligence & Counter-Intelligence] Azual Skoll on manipulating intel picking fights. Heck, read the entire blog!
