Years ago, when I began my EVE journey I was content to just let the PvE content roll in and grind night after night anticipating the flashy wallet every twenty minutes. But as I imagine some of you experienced yourselves, the grind becomes tiresome.
I branched out. Tried faction warfare for a hot minute and then licked my wounds and went back to running missions in hi-sec. My love of the game drives me to keep learning, to keep getting back on the PvP horse and try again and again.
Explode, Reship, Repeat.
Everyone learns at a different pace, and one look at my early kill board will certainly provide ample proof. I was a slow learner, but I’ve never given up. Which is not to say I have “Arrived” by any means. I still consider myself a below average PvP’er, but it’s what I love to do.
Why hi-sec ganking?
For me I was hungry for new content. I toyed with an alpha ‘Nado off gates in lo-sec. My drill was to warp in at range to the gate, wait for gate fire, start aligning, lock target, fire and then GTFO before the gate guns turned me to slag. Note to new PvP wannabe pirates; That strategy works on paper pretty well and can work from time to time in reality but it winds up being hours of boredom with moments of terror. The ISK payout is pretty poor as well, but it can provide a rudimentary real time education for gate gun mechanics. (There are much better ways to learn, this was just my thick headed way.)
After a stint in null-sec, I decided to return to my roots in Hek. I met up with some old friends, went on a few roams and learned a few more things. Camping a gate in Otou with some noted ne’er do well’s it occurred to me I’d done quite a bit in the game but I never went to (-10.0). I was already teetering at a (-4) sec status from my camping efforts so I decided, hell why not?
The education was priceless. It was something I wish I had done years before. Breaking down seemingly infinite variables into finite blocks of what to do, and when to do it was the best PvP skill I picked up from hi-sec ganking.
My first attempt at miner ganking was sheer overkill. I fit a Cruiser hull with a tank and a whole lot of Tech II crap. Looking back in hindsight, I think I had my cargo bay set with a couple reloads for the Blasters I’d fit. Well live and learn. While the gank was a success in the fact that I had killed my prey, it was a little like killing a spider with a hand grenade. The destruction was complete many times over. (Note: my wife thinks killing a spider with an explosive is an acceptable method.)
Looking at the kill, and the logs, it became clear that I could do the same thing with much, much less. I was fascinated. The science and the math behind the gank became clearer and clearer with each attempt. I began watching gank vids and looking up ganking advice from the interwebs. Here was an untapped source of content for which I had left untouched because of an imaginary moral line in a virtual world.
There are a good number of organizations in the game which are so efficient at ganking hi-sec targets, it borders on grinding.
Okay, Radax you were bored and you decided to get in touch with your inner sociopath, so what?
Sure, there are enough pro/con gank forum posts you could print them out and walk from Jita to Amarr without having to get into a shuttle. It’s true everything I have to say has probably been said before by someone better voiced than I.
However, I’m hoping my voice resonates with a few pilots, and they can take what I’ve learned and expand on it. My goal isn’t to provide a how to gank or how to stop a gank post. There are plenty of guides which are easy to find from folks with more knowledge than I have. My intention is only to encourage pilots to try something they haven’t done yet in EVE. You can knock a few things off your EVE bucket list and the lessons learned from trying something outside your comfort zone can provide exponential returns.
For me the act of ganking made me start thinking of PvP in different ways. The new method of thinking about PvP opened a lot of doors which made me a better PvP pilot in other arenas.
As an example: if you choose to gank a miner in 0.5 hi-sec system, you will have roughly 15 seconds before CONCORD shows up and removes you from the grid. That is 15 seconds to apply between 7,000 to 11,000 damage to said barge before you are no longer a threat to the grid.
Extrapolating on that, I began to start thinking a lot about time during PvP. I have this many seconds to get outside scram range. I have this many seconds to apply damage before neuts will shut me off. I have this much tank which will hold out this many seconds against what an opponent might output.
There are quite a few passionate debates on the EVE-O forums over the legitimacy of hi-sec miner ganking. I’ve contemplated arguments for and against and I find myself middle-centric on the value of this style of play. If CCP modified the game mechanics so that hi-sec miner ganking was no longer feasible I would neither be heartbroken nor relieved. I don’t think they will though as the content provided is too valuable.
You might ask why even bring this up then? Well, I imagine some of you may be asking: isn’t hi-sec miner ganking a form of griefing? It depends on your perspective. Your perspective is important. I would never suggest you do anything in your virtual world which would go against your own personal, virtual values. If you’re against the ganking side of the equation, train up for the counter ganking. Talk about the easiest kill mail you’ll ever get: Catalysts that are fit for ganking Retrievers and Coveters are ridiculously squishy. Seriously, just get in a cloaky bomber and throw a target painter or disrupt on a ganker when they strike. Start whoring on CONCORD kills. Pretty soon you’ll try other things like trying to kill the ganker before they can kill their quarry.
For me trying something new has led to a much richer PvP life. So whether it’s ganking or protecting against the ganking, or even white knighting, try something in EVE you’ve never done before. Get outside your comfort zones.
The worst day getting welped still beats the best day grinding rats!
Above all else, have fun!
