A typical high sec ganking catalyst will be all gank and no tank because you can’t tank CONCORD, so the only job is to scram and deal as much damage as possible. However, I have seen some of these being used in low sec. They often die a lot and when I check related kills, usually the catalysts are on the kill of some PVE ship which was killed by other ships. Often it will be something like a battlecrusier, a HAC, a navy cruiser, or a Tactical Destroyer as the killing blow, and some ships including 3-7 of these ganking catalysts on the kill. Is there a reason for going all in on volley damage? Using reinforced bulkheads and a damage control almost doubles the EHP while only losing about a fourth of the damage compared to triple magnetic stabilizers.
I can see only one reason - to make the fight as fast as possible to escape potential reinforcements. Players doing it want to prevent losing their main ship which can be worth billions so losing a few cats is no big deal.
Personally, if I had multiple alt accounts I could multibox I would bring long range snipers either missiles or artilleries instead of catalysts.
This seems to be unpopular. Sniper fits do exist, but they tend to either be actively tanked or just a buffer tank with either a Damage Control or Reactive Armor Hardener. I don’t see all gank no tank on more than 1 player except for the catalyst gank fit.
Why would you tank a sniper? You are going to bring it to blob someone and shoot from range he cannot engage to. I used (rapid? not sure now) light missiles Talwars in past, with other players we used Tornados to break citadel bashing fleet. Both fits had 0 tank and maximum dps or alpha.
Get a Navy Catalyst.
There is no ganking in low sec, its just plain ship pvp.
This is true, it’s just PVP. However, the fits of some ships are pretty much identical to actual ganking destroyers.
So if I catch you on a mission in your blingy ship, the backup I am calling in are not about to gank you?
No? In this game at least ganking has a specific definition related to hi sec pvp that invokes concord. Jumping a mission ship in low sec is just pvp
I call it “hunting”.
The tactics gankers use in high work in other areas of eve very well, we have used them to help break structure bashing fleets, we hunt miners who support criminals in low and null, all sorts of stuff.
The other point is they are new player and alpha friendly, before the alpha change we had groups dotted all over eve, as quick reaction forces all ready in cats and thrashers for any task, now we can only use them in low or for anti-gank or for wars.
Cheap and people understand how to use them with minimal training.
I’m with you on this, it’s still a gank, no matter where it is, when you respond to a gank fleet ping, you know your probably not coming back and it going to be fast no matter where it is , also for us some ass licking ganker supporter is about to die. But each person is allowed their own definition of the word gank I supposed.
So remember don’t ass lick gankers to look cool 
Freedom Fighters
Huh, I always assumed a gank was when you intentionally suicide ships to get a kill. Low sec PVP happens all the time and sometimes the attackers miscalculated and lose hulls, but in those cases they weren’t intending to suicide themselves. In high sec, if you go after someone who isn’t a perma flashy or duel, it is a one way trip once you open fire.
I’d say it was gatecrashing a party and mugging the host.
Nowadays it can be a one way trip as soon as you undock.
This is the specific term, “suicide ganking”, but most people mean this when they say “gank” nowadays.
It is like suicide bombing, it is a type of bombing. Not all bombing is suicide bombing , just as not all ganking is suicide ganking.
What next, if you get mugged , you say you were pvp’ed ?
I noticed in uedama that a group of safety -10 gankers staged out of the low sec system next door, if that become the norm we could try and catch them as they entered the sys before the gank.
That’s a good point, also are catalyst still the cheapest ship to use with the highest dps for the isk, also alpha friendly when ganking in low, bearing in mind that if your target isn’t prepared for a swarm of ships you don’t have to worry about concord popping you after a couple of shots
I think all of the rookie ships have more. If you limit it only to ships with actual value, the winner is a rookie ship with a single metal scraps or something in the cargohold. It does probably 3-5 DPS/ISK, whereas the Catalyst (with T2 guns) does only around 0.00005 (0.005%) DPS/ISK, pulling a random 500 DPS and 10M ISK cost.
You are on to something, now I wonder , how many rookie ships to take down a Jump Freighter.