# High-sec cargo value threshold for smartbombing a standard shuttle to be profitable? **URL:** \ **Category:** New Citizens Q&A\ **Created:** [October 18, 2026, 7:16pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/high-sec-cargo-value-threshold-for-smartbombing-a-standard-shuttle-to-be-profitable/520448 "2026-10-18T19:16:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Afriles\_Jasmone](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/afriles_jasmone/32/505494_2.png) [@Afriles\_Jasmone](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Afriles_Jasmone)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 7:16pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/high-sec-cargo-value-threshold-for-smartbombing-a-standard-shuttle-to-be-profitable/520448/1 "2026-10-18T19:16:09Z")
Have googled this and read various forum and Reddit stuff about it (plus a bit more from the search engine LLMs, some of which is likely to be a combination of hallucination and out-of-date info), but am still unsure of the answer. Simply put, I’m wondering how much value you can put in a regular shuttle when pootling around in high-sec before it becomes profitable for a smartbomb attack. (I’m a noob, but I’ve got the impression that essentially only smartbombs can take down a shuttle in high-sec.) I haven’t yet built a smartbomb-capable ship, which is a big part of why I have no real clue how much it costs to create a (suicide-ganking) ship which could take down a shuttle… ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Lord\_Trump](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/dark_lord_trump/32/411482_2.png) [@Dark\_Lord\_Trump](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Dark_Lord_Trump)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 7:38pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/high-sec-cargo-value-threshold-for-smartbombing-a-standard-shuttle-to-be-profitable/520448/2 "2026-10-18T19:38:46Z")
I think a maller can smartbomb a shuttle successfully. Infer from that what you will. ---
**Author:** ![Gerard\_Amatin](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/gerard_amatin/32/481361_2.png) [@Gerard\_Amatin](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Gerard_Amatin)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 6:41am UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/high-sec-cargo-value-threshold-for-smartbombing-a-standard-shuttle-to-be-profitable/520448/3 "2026-10-19T06:41:45Z")
Yep, a T1 cruiser indeed. Also this is not really a relevant question. It is not viable to cargo scan shuttles, they’re too fast, so if someone has taken all the steps to kill a shuttle and you come along in a shuttle warping that particular path they will kill you even if empty. There is no cargo value threshold above which people kill your shuttle. Leopards are expensive and have a different warp speed, and it’s the warp speed which determines where mid-warp smartbomb spots are so people can be set up to specifically hit just those shuttles. Also you could consider a Council Diplomatic Shuttle. They have slightly more EHP than common shuttles. While not immune to smartbombs a smartbombing ship could be kept cheap and only hit the minumum damage to kill a shuttle so you might live. Might. Best is to not carry value in your shuttle but to use other ships for that. Or take less predictable ways in your shuttle, and don’t warp for example straight from the Jita undock to the Perimeter gate carrying valuables in a shuttle. ---
**Author:** ![Karla\_Khamsi](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/karla_khamsi/32/509959_2.png) [@Karla\_Khamsi](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Karla_Khamsi)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 8:36am UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/high-sec-cargo-value-threshold-for-smartbombing-a-standard-shuttle-to-be-profitable/520448/4 "2026-10-19T08:36:01Z")
Undocking in Leopard is just asking for it… you realize there’s whole channels dedicated to just eradicating leopards right? Random people concord themselves just because it was a Leopard, they don’t even scan you for it. (and for price of leapard, you can have very very posh yacht or br.. see below) That being said, shuttling anything in hisec is just bad. That thing is to move your empty pod between station, not for cargo of any value. Issue is not it’s speed, but if anything like dc happens, or you warp in wrong, or just forget the client is out you are sitting there 1 keypress away from losing it. If you really need high collateral small volume, use a proper instawarp yacht (can make it instawarp without implants) or a blockade runner (can’t really insta without implants, but sub 3s without implant is possible), as both have covops to remove any issues when initiating warp, and actual tank that can survive couple of smartbombing battleships with passive em module, so you don’t have to dscan/scout/press buttons. Both can also be rigged to warp 3-4 times faster than a shuttle and match/overcome ceptors. ---
**Author:** ![Afriles\_Jasmone](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/afriles_jasmone/32/505494_2.png) [@Afriles\_Jasmone](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Afriles_Jasmone)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 11:37am UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/high-sec-cargo-value-threshold-for-smartbombing-a-standard-shuttle-to-be-profitable/520448/5 "2026-10-19T11:37:30Z")
Thanks, all. I had thought that cargo scanners might be usable on a shuttle on the _departure_ side of a gate (by a spotter for a gate camp) but… like I said, I’m a noob, so am gonna be making wrong guesses on plenty of this stuff. I have used PushX for transporting “big” quantities of loot (which for me means a billion ISK or so) but when moving more like 100M worth, I have just hauled it myself a few times. The Council shuttle is dirt cheap so I’ll certainly use one of those alongside my hauler (Nereus, slightly tanky) until I can train into BRs and other better options 👍 ---
**Author:** ![Karla\_Khamsi](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/karla_khamsi/32/509959_2.png) [@Karla\_Khamsi](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Karla_Khamsi)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 11:51am UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/high-sec-cargo-value-threshold-for-smartbombing-a-standard-shuttle-to-be-profitable/520448/6 "2026-10-19T11:51:32Z")
Shuttles have very fast base align of 2.22 , so with very little skills (note that slipped: nowdays you have it all by default, like spaceship command 3 and evasive 1 or 2 ) you will push them under 2s and just instawarp. This makes it not really possible to cargo scan them on gates unless you autopilot. Same for undocks, unless it’s a 180 degree turn, chances are you won’t get scanned (and if you stop and then warp, they can’t do it at all). Most suicide ganks in hs on shuttles would be the shuttle autopiloting, or tabbing on another client and forgetting they are still undocked, random disconnects (you remain in space for some time after dc) and such. Smartbombs are not that common in hs, but they do happen from time to time … bored ppl, or just poor bro who forgot to change security and forgot he in hs… If you are in leopard, you will eat one for sure though, just don’t use that thing, it is overly expensive and stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Lucy\_Alfrir](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/lucy_alfrir/32/382506_2.png) [@Lucy\_Alfrir](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Lucy_Alfrir)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 11:51am UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/high-sec-cargo-value-threshold-for-smartbombing-a-standard-shuttle-to-be-profitable/520448/7 "2026-10-19T11:51:33Z")
I used to use a T1 covops, a probe specifically, for smaller quantities of cargo, as you can mwd/cloak fit it and get the practice in. ---
**Author:** ![Lucy\_Alfrir](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/lucy_alfrir/32/382506_2.png) [@Lucy\_Alfrir](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Lucy_Alfrir)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 11:52am UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/high-sec-cargo-value-threshold-for-smartbombing-a-standard-shuttle-to-be-profitable/520448/8 "2026-10-19T11:52:11Z")
I \<3 my leopard, it goes Zooooom! ---
**Author:** ![Karla\_Khamsi](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/karla_khamsi/32/509959_2.png) [@Karla\_Khamsi](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Karla_Khamsi)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 12:00pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/high-sec-cargo-value-threshold-for-smartbombing-a-standard-shuttle-to-be-profitable/520448/9 "2026-10-19T12:00:20Z")
so does a yacht (Tenzin is 140m nowdays? leopard 400m+) that costs the same fitted to instawarp, has covops, and 28-35k em ehp instead of 800 … that’s the whole point ^^; ---
**Author:** ![Afriles\_Jasmone](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/afriles_jasmone/32/505494_2.png) [@Afriles\_Jasmone](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Afriles_Jasmone)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 8:26pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/high-sec-cargo-value-threshold-for-smartbombing-a-standard-shuttle-to-be-profitable/520448/10 "2026-10-19T20:26:26Z")
> [@Karla\_Khamsi](#): > > Shuttles have very fast base align of 2.22 , so with very little skills (note that slipped: nowdays you have it all by default, like spaceship command 3 and evasive 1 or 2 ) you will push them under 2s and just instawarp. This makes it not really possible to cargo scan them on gates unless you autopilot. Yeah, I already have my shuttle aligning in 1.73. What I had _thought_ was the deal with cargo scanning by scouts was that they’d get you on the way to the gate, during the time when the ship decelerates before making the jump. (Can’t find much good info on that though, but I now suspect that for at least some of that period the ship is invulnerable anyway.) I had also been thinking that scanning people _after_ they pass through a gate would be the unusual thing to do, because many would be cloaked anyway (…but again, I now realise that some ships can’t do the MWD+cloak thing anyway). Am now thinking that I should just head to a gate and do some experimentation to help it all get properly into my brain 🙂 > [@Karla\_Khamsi](#): > > Same for undocks, unless it’s a 180 degree turn, chances are you won’t get scanned (and if you stop and then warp, they can’t do it at all). Huh!? It’s quicker to stop and then warp than to just warp during the undocking? 🤯 ---
**Author:** ![Gerard\_Amatin](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/gerard_amatin/32/481361_2.png) [@Gerard\_Amatin](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Gerard_Amatin)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 8:43pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/high-sec-cargo-value-threshold-for-smartbombing-a-standard-shuttle-to-be-profitable/520448/11 "2026-10-19T20:43:16Z")
> [@Afriles\_Jasmone](#): > > Huh!? It’s quicker to stop and then warp than to just warp during the undocking? 🤯 Your align time is how fast it takes for your ship to get into warp from standstill. It’s rounded up to the nearest full second. So, your 1.73s align time shuttle is in warp within 2 seconds from standstill. If you were already aligned, which means going over 75% max velocity in the direction of your warp destination, you would instantly warp when you give the warp command. This even applies to a ship with an align time of 50 seconds: if you’re aligned you can instantly warp. Even if your warp destination is somewhat near where you’re moving, it can take less than your standstill align time to realign and warp faster than expected. The opposite is also true, if your ship first has to slow down and then accelerate in the opposite direction because your warp destination is _behind_ you, your ship would take more than the standstill align time. And if it takes more than that 1.99 seconds you’re adding a whole extra second to your align time rounding up to 3s which is plenty for a fast locker to tackle you. Luckily slowing down is ‘free’ when done while undocking from an NPC station. If you press Ctrl-Space your ship slows down but doesn’t drop invulnerability yet so people cannot lock you. And once you’re in standstill you can give the warp command to warp within the 2 seconds advertised by your align time. ---
**Author:** ![Karla\_Khamsi](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/karla_khamsi/32/509959_2.png) [@Karla\_Khamsi](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Karla_Khamsi)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 10:00pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/high-sec-cargo-value-threshold-for-smartbombing-a-standard-shuttle-to-be-profitable/520448/12 "2026-10-19T22:00:16Z")
> [@Afriles\_Jasmone](#): > > (Can’t find much good info on that though, but I now suspect that for at least some of that period the ship is invulnerable anyway.) There is a window when going out of warp where you are untargettable (not invulnerable though, you take aoe damage and can get lanced, smartbombed, vorton arc can probably jump to you as well although i never tried the latter). If you just warp in the system and press “jump” on random gate, you can not get scanned because to scan you they’d have to target you. It looks slow from pow of the one jumping gate, but for others you just hover there on grid, until they see a small “poof” blue animation indicating you are out, past that point you will no longer take any damage (say a smartbomb cycling 2nd time etc). This one is actually easy to test yourself even in hisec - take ibis and just try to target people going out of warp on a random gate… you will never see them locked unless they warped to 0 without jump, or autopilot 🙂 For warp mechanics, Gerard explained it very well. Just small note - this does not mean you should always stop. If you know the station undocks you right out in the direction you want to go, take advantage of it and just warp away asap. Best to test it yourself couple times so you get a feel for it, and also get to know where the stations you undock often point… for highsec it’s more relevant for blockade runners, or anything that is in tornado territory. So say you are in jita 4-4 hub, if you want to go to Perimeter you can just warp from undock because you will get propelled that way. But if you want to go to Sobaseki, you either use insta undock bookmark, cloak there and then warp again. Or do the stop+warp trick, as the time you spend on grid changing direction is precisely what the campers need to scan you or take you out. ---
**Author:** ![Afriles\_Jasmone](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/afriles_jasmone/32/505494_2.png) [@Afriles\_Jasmone](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Afriles_Jasmone)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 11:23pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/high-sec-cargo-value-threshold-for-smartbombing-a-standard-shuttle-to-be-profitable/520448/13 "2026-10-19T23:23:33Z")
> [@Gerard\_Amatin](#): > > Luckily slowing down is ‘free’ when done while undocking from an NPC station. If you press Ctrl-Space your ship slows down but doesn’t drop invulnerability yet so people cannot lock you. Ahhhh. I was aware of some fragments of that, but hadn’t put the pieces together, thanks!