Is your Corporation/Alliance getting hit by Wardecs from one of the High-Sec Wardec Crews that operate near the Trade Hubs?
These Wardecs can definitely hinder some of your members operations and effectiveness but when these Wardecs happen there are some really simple rules to follow to avoid taking any losses:
Head out to Low-Sec or Null-Sec and stop going to High-Sec, this isn’t hard at all.
Use out of Corp/Alliance alts for your High-Sec needs… no really, stop going to High-Sec.
If you absolutely have to go to High-Sec avoid trade hubs and pipe systems.
If you absolutely have to go to High-Sec use an interceptor or covops.
If you mission or mine or haul in High-Sec while you are at war, then you have failed at all 4 rules above and will likely lose your ship.
If you need something from High-Sec and don’t have an out of Corp/Alliance alt ask for help, I’m sure one of your Corp/Alliance mates can provide some assistance.
If everyone in your Corp/Alliance follows these rules the Wardec Crew will likely drop the Wardec in one week and then you can go about our normal business. But if one person decides the rules don’t apply to them then you will get multi-week wars, and other groups of Wardec Crews will see you as an easy mark and will Wardec you as well.
Don’t be a "volcano of dumb…” you don’t even have to talk with that ‘Rules don’t apply’ person, we all know the excuses:
I’ll watch local (they use neutral alts)
It was only for 5 minutes (you are still in High-Sec)
It’s only 1 gate (you are still in High-Sec)
It’s far away from trade hubs (hello locator agent)
I need to Plex my account (spend $20 or there are lots of other ways to make ISK)
I didn’t think it would happen to me (yay loot pinata!)
I didn’t know there was a war (sure do now)
FAQ:
But why don’t we fight them?!
a) They really know their game, they use neutral scouts, neutral logi, station and gate hug like no one else, if they come off station its because their scouts have cleared it and the target is solo, they use heavily tanked ships with logi.
Could we kill them?
a) Yes of course, but 99% of the time they will dock up and we’ll get nothing, they have no assets in space to force a fight.
High-Sec Wardec Crews aren’t going anywhere, they’ll be out there camping the pipe systems and trade hubs of New Eden 23/7, but their game is preying upon uninformed undisciplined pilots. Please do your part to keep your Corp/Alliance mates alive and teach them this simple SOP
This is a decent starting point for a beginner looking to avoid unnecessary death. If you want I can eve-mail you some tips to add to the post if you want to appeal to a group of players that might be interested in trying to get a “fight”.
I see a couple of major flaws in your reasoning here.
Not everyone who plays this game wants to be outside high sec and that is OK so your comments about leaving high sec are not relevant or even appropriate to some players.
For some paths within this game (market trading to name just one) being in high sec is not only a good thing it is in fact a requirement so leaving high for low or nul is simply not an option.
In the age of alpha state clones everyone should have a high sec alt.
Yeah, you really don’t need to leave highsec as long as you operate in highsec as you would in lowsec. If you treat every neutral as a potential hostile, and remain as vigilant as you would in lowsec or nullsec for potential threats, and fly cheap just in case, you can operate just fine. Now, that might mean you have to stick to the remote backwaters to avoid spending most of your time docked up, but it is completely possible.
But if you are going to be operating like you are in lowsec, you might as well actually be in lowsec and earn some higher rewards. So yes, these points seems like a good starting point for the new player dealing with a war. Throw in Donnachadh’s suggestion for an out-of-corp hauler and trader, and you are good to go. We have three character slots so there is no reason even without alpha clones you can’t have a neutral of your own to dodge the war.
I used to be in Noir. mercenary corp; I wouldn’t say that high sec war decs were our meat and potatoes at the time, but I have been the aggressor in war decs as well as the recipient.
There is really one point that the OP didn’t make that is very important- in some ways more important than any point he did make.
Insta warp bookmarks.
Notice how stations and citadels have defined undocking lanes that your ship is spit out into? Take advantage of that; the vector your ship undocks at is slightly variable, but your ship will already be close to 80% max speed.
Before you are at war, take the time to undock in a fast frigate and burn 500+ km from the undock, and create a bookmark in space.
You can use this bookmark to warp out of lock range as soon as you undock (have people and places open before you undock).
Between having instawarp bookmarks set up for every station and citadel you plan on using, and warp to zero it is pretty easy to get around in a travel frigate with very little risk to yourself.
This really only works in high and low sec; warp interdiction is another ball game entirely, though you should still have a good collection of bookmarks for insta undock.
As a mercenary, my opinion is the biggest thing any high sec corp that finds themselves decced can do is FIGHT BACK. Get frigate gangs together; consider hiring another mercenary corp. Play the alt game as well (neutral hauler alts can keep you industry queue supplied + active).
The biggest thing is don’t give up. Treat the hardship as a learning experience and your corp + pilots will be stronger in the long run.
I’ve seen all sorts of dec responses from high sec corps; some we successfully camped into their home station using shuttles; some fit t1 frigates and cruisers they had been producing and made a good show for themselves, especially when it wasn’t prime time for our corp.
If you have mission runners in corp, don’t let them neglect building standings with locator agents.
Actually for the vast majority of high sec corps this is the worst thing you could possibly do.
you lose a lot of ships in which case the war dec groups keeps extending because they either want to pad kill boards or they are getting paid for every ship they blow up.
if you do have the upper hand and could bloody the war dec corps nose the vast majority of them will quickly turn carebear and dock up and stay docked up until the odds are back in their favor. No this is not winning the war because the moment you return to what you really want to do in this game and no longer represent a real threat they will will come crawling out of their hiding holes.
war dec players for the most part are restless and easily bored, simply docking up and playing on out of corp alts is the easiest, fastest and least expensive way to get war decs to go away.
Considering the costs I have been quoted over the years and the restrictions / requirements those merc corps wanted to place on us it is my opinion that hiring mercs is the worst thing you can possibly do.
While I think a lot of this ‘advice’ is still solid with all the recent Wardec changes, which I’ll have to take a closer look at and get a better understanding of, I do think that this post deserves another pass at.
Will update with any of the newer stuff as quick as I can.
