Before we begin, we need to clearly define what we mean by ganking. For the purposes of this guide, ganking is an attack on a ship in high sec that results in the attacker being destroyed by CONCORD. That means that while some of these suggestions might help in low-sec, null-sec, or J-space, but that is not the primary goal of this guide.
First of all, set all the known ganking groups to orange or red in your contacts list. Type the name of the group in the search bar in your Eve client (its got the magnifying glass beside it). Hit enter to search. Find the group in the listing provided. Right click on the name to bring up a dropdown menu. Left click on “Add Contact”. Click on the orange or red box and then left click on “Add Contact”. Now, whenever that group is in local, an orange or red box will appear by their name. This makes it very easy for you to see if they are in system and when they pop into system. Add groups as you find them. Safety. is the probably the most (in)famous of them currently active. I also keep CODE. on the list just in case.
Now, watch local. If you are in a vulnerable ship (mining ship or hauler) and you see a lot of them: either dock up immediately. Local is free intel, use it.
Second, learn the types of ships most oftenly used for ganking. Those are going to be the Catalyst, Thrasher, Coercer, and Tornado. The reason this knowledge is important is it can be used with another tool to get intel to keep you safe: D-scan. I’m not going to go deeply into how to use D-scan. There are numerous guides on You-Tube on how to use it.
Once you understand how D-scan works and what ships you are looking for, set your D-scan to about 3 to 5 AU (depends on your comfort level). If you see several of those known ganking ships on your D-scan, you should probably align to either your safe or towards a station to dock. As soon as they appear on-grid with you, you can just warp off as you’re already aligned and at over 70% max speed (the requirements to go into warp).
Now bear in mind that people do use these ships for shooting rats; so if they appear on your D-scan, they might not be looking to gank you. That said, if someone who is orange or red to you lands on-grid with you, warp out. Better safe than sorry.
Third, let’s talk about one of the reasons gankers gank. Many players (new and old) think they do this for the laughs and/or to provoke a reaction out of someone. And while I won’t deny that one of the reasons they do this is to “grief” other players, that’s not the only reason. One of the primary reasons they gank people is because they are mining those areas and they are protecting their turf, mafia style. This is why you’ll find gankers mostly near the trading hub systems: Jita, Dodixie, and Amarr. Hek and Rens are also considered trading hubs, but I haven’t seen ganking groups near them. They mine those areas for the same reason you want to: close to the hub to sell for quick turnaround without hauling.
But with the modern game of Eve where ore compression exists, that’s not nearly as important as it used to be. You can haul large amounts of ore with relative ease now. So, why is this important to not getting ganked. Ever seen Karate Kid? As Mister Miyagi taught, “Best defense, no be there.” In short, if you want to avoid getting ganked, don’t mine within 5 or so jumps of a trading hub. I have spent a fair amount of time mining in high sec and I have never been ganked while mining.
Fourth, I want to talk about mining barges and exhumers. New players frequently get into a retriever to mine because its mining yield is higher than the Ventures; although, they are much easier to catch. Did you know you can make a mining barge/exhumer that is virtually ungankable? You’re thinking I’m crazy, right?
Let me introduce you to the Higgs Anchor rig. So, how does this rig make barges/exhumers ungankable? Because it slows your velocity down to almost nothing. The fastest barge/exhumer is the Hulk at 160 m/s; with a Higgs rig on it, it slows down to 50 m/s. So, you’re still asking how this helps. Simple. To go into warp, a ship must be aligned towards its destination and be going at least 70% of its max velocity.
So, take out another ship besides your barge/exhumer, a rookie corvette will work just fine. Warp to at least 2 belts/anomalies you are going to mine from. Bookmark asteroids at both locations. Now take out your exhumer and warp to one of the bookmarked location at 0. You’ll land right on the asteroid. Now, align to a safe or a station. Lock the asteroid and start mining. Before you are out of range of your strip miners, you’ll already have chewed through the asteroid because of how slow you’re moving. However, if anyone lands on-grid with you, you can simply warp away to your station before they even have a chance to start locking you. While you’re mining, you might want to bookmark another rock and delete the bookmark on your current rock since you won’t need it again.
After you finish off the asteroid you’re on, warp to the rock in the other location at zero. Rinse, repeat. I won’t say that the ship is completely ungankable; but, its virtually impossible to gank a barge/exhumer equipped with a Higgs rig. Not what the Higgs rig was intended for, but it still works.
Fifth, I want to talk about hauling stuff and avoiding being ganked. So, full disclosure: I’ve been ganked while in a hauler because I didn’t take my own advice. I got lazy and got ganked because of it. It wasn’t the gankers’ fault I lost my ship, it was mine for being lazy. So, what’s my advice. Well, it only works if you’re omega unfortunately; but, it still does help prevent getting ganked. Learn, practice, and get good at doing the MWD+cloak trick. If you do this every time you haul stuff in high sec, you’re virtually impossible to gank. I got lazy and wasn’t doing this and paid the price.
If you follow these basic tips, you shouldn’t get ganked.
TL;DR version
- Set ganking groups to orange or red. Watch local
- Watching for ganking ships on D-scan
- Avoid mining near trading hubs where gankers are known to patrol.
- Use a Higgs rig on your exhumers/barges for insta-warp ability.
- Learn the MWD+cloak trick for hauling in high sec. (Omega only)
across the universe. If you’re a part of a corporation that constantly redeploys then the moving „fun“ will still happen (and if they’re a good group everyone will help each other out with logistics).