Safety Tips for Operating in Low Sec

This page is a work in progress. For specific guides and syllabi, please contact the original author before making significant changes..

Have an escape plan at all times

This one is pretty self-explanatory. You should always have an “out” planned in your head before you need it. What this plan will be is determined by what you are doing and where you are doing it (i.e. mining vs. hauling vs. mission running vs. pirate hunting). Taking 5 seconds to pre-plan your escape route will get you out of more trouble than anything else in this guide.

Never use your Auto Pilot to fly anywhere for any reason

Your auto pilot will warp you to a point 15km away from your target (Station or Gate) then slow boat you to the target. During that time, any pirate at the station/gate will probably kill you. Even if you were at your computer, the time it takes to align to a new destination and accelerate to warp will usually prove fatal.

Never go AFK in space

This should be obvious. Never leave your computer while you are in space, always dock up. There is no place in low sec that doing this is safe. The only possible exception to this is if you are using a cloaking device, but even then it is not a good idea.

Never warp to 0 when destination is unknown

If you are going to rescue a friend, you want to jump at your weapons optimal range. If you are going to an asteroid belt or like location, you want to jump in a long way off (60km+ at least) so you can see what is waiting there for you before you are close enough to engage. If you are loosing a fight and warp away, any half skilled pirate will be able to figure out where you have gone and jump after you. They will jump to 0 hoping to catch you. The only exception to this is when you are warping to a gate or docking at a station. In that case you usually do want to warp to 0 so you can jump/dock right away. Be careful, though, when warping to a gate. A properly positioned and fit battle ship can use smart bombs to kill small ships (like frigates) as they warp in. This can happen often in the areas of low sec that act as short cuts from from one part of high sec to another. If you are not sure the gate you are jumping to is safe, warp to it at a far distance (or a tactical bookmark: see next tip) and check it out first. If it is clear, warp to somewhere else then back to the gate at 0 and jump.

Have good bookmarks in any low sec system you frequent

Whenever you enter a new low sec system and are planning to stay longer than it takes to get to the next gate, or you are planning travel through the system frequently create at lease a minimal set of bookmarks. You should always have the following bookmarked in any system you frequent. Tactical bookmarks (or off-grid observation bookmarks if you know how use the d-scan) for every gate and station. A minimum of three (five is better) safe locations that are near nothing and are not in a direct line between any two other things in the system. An instant undock bookmark for each station you use. If you are planning on doing Planetary Interaction in the system, you will need tactical bookmarks for the customs offices that you use. If you planning to mine or kill belt rats, you should have tactical bookmarks on all the asteroid belts.

Read this article for more information about creating and types of bookmarks. http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Bookmarks

Always fight aligned when rating or mining

When you doing anything that requires you to stay in one place for more than a few seconds, there is always the chance that a player pirate will find you and warp in on you. Remember, the bigger your ship the longer it takes to align and warp out. You should always be ready to warp out at the first hint of danger. It is not always necessary to run away, but you should ALWAYS be ready to.

Use your Directional Scanner

There is a special art to using the Directional Scanner (d-scan) to hunt people that takes time and a lot of practice to master. It requires almost no skill, however, to use the d-scan to see if you are in danger. Simply set the angle to 360 and distance to maximum. Click the scan button every few seconds. If you see a ship appear in the d-scan that you don’t know, be ready to have a visitor. If you see Combat Scanner Probes, then someone is looking for you, be ready to have a visitor. If you are in an exploration site and you see Core Scanner Probes someone is looking for exploration sites, be ready to have a visitor.

Watch local closely

Always, always, always have your local chat window open and tall enough to see all players in the local system. Whenever someone enters the system, they will appear in the list. Right click on their name and “show info” on them. You are looking for two pieces of information: their security status and corporation/alliance. If their security status is -5.0 or less, you should assume they are going to attack you if they find you and think they can win the fight. If their security status is higher than -5.0, they might attack you so it is safest to assume they will until you know the area better. If you spend enough time in same area of low sec, you will soon learn who the local players and corporations are and how they will react to your being in the system. From that, you will have better idea of who to watch out for and when someone new is in the area.

Always fit your ship to handle PVP

This is one of the most difficult subjects to describe to players new to PVP. The difficulty stems from the fact that while every ship can be fitted for PVP, the best PVP fit for each ship will be different based on specific skills of the character, the play style of the player and what you are doing with your ship. Here are some basic principles that will help guide in fitting your ship to handle PVP, but remember there always exceptions to every rule, even these.

Capacitor is Life

If your capacitor is drained to zero, active defensive modules will be turned off as well as most weapon systems. In short, if you run out of capacitor during a fight, you are going to loose the ship. Therefore, always try to fit your ship to be as capacitor stable as possible by avoiding modules that suck lots of capacitor (active repair modules are a good example).

Use a propulsion module (i.e. afterburner or micro warp drive) whenever possible, especially in smaller ships.

These will give you the speed to maneuver, dictate range and run away during a fight. Remember, however, that these modules use a lot of capacitor, so use them sparingly.

You should always try to use a Damage Control Module

These will give you resists to your hull as well as boost your resists on Armor and Shields. Many of the smaller ships (frigates, destroyers, and some cruisers) with few mid or low slots, will often have a Damage Control as there only “tank” module.

Tank your ship appropriately for the type of ship and activity you are doing

One of the most tricky things that you can do when fitting a ship is getting your tank correct. It is also one of the most debated subjects in the area of "proper" ship fitting. Many ships benefit most from passive buffer tanks. Some ships give bonuses to active repair modules so may be better suited to the active tank. Other ships are best fitted with speed tanks that use only modules that affect agility and top speed to avoid damage. Read these articles on ship tanking to get a feel for the philosophy of ship tanking then do what will work best for your ship with your skills.

Armor Tanking: http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Armour_Tanking

Shield Tanking: http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Shield_Tanking

Never rely on someone else’s fit.

You can get PVP fits from the Internet, other players, even blogs and wikis. While, these can be useful to study, always remember they are tailored to the pilot who created them and will probably not work for you without modification.

If you are in E-Uni, you can always get help in the chat channels and Mumble.

Never go GCC by a gate or station while in a small ship

If you attack a neutral player (anyone with a security status higher than -5 and that your corporation is not at war with) you will be tagged as a criminal for 15 minutes. Everyone will be able to attack you without repercussions. If you are within 150k of a gate or station, the sentry guns will open fire on you. Small ships (frigates, destroyers, most cruisers) will evaporate under those guns in seconds.

Always have the Auto Target Back feature turned off

The auto target back feature is one that seems like a good idea but, in practice, is a very bad one. You should always manually lock your targets, so you always know exactly what you have targeted. Often times, pirates will target you to try and get you to fire on them first. If you have auto target back turned on, you are much more likely to do this accidently. Further, the auto target back will work on any ship that targets you, including friends. In the middle of a battle, you don’t want to kill a friendly support ship that locks you in order to use their “helper” modules (remote repair, remote sensor boosters, energy transfers, etc…).