I try to limit my high-sec cargo movement to < 500 MIL isk in value at a time, and whenever possible, I do so in a sub-2 second aligning Atron.
I’m always looking for more ways to be paranoid, and got to wondering some things about the logistics of ganking-for-profit in high-sec (“selective” ganking.)
Let’s assume I’m unlucky, and undock from a station without an instant-undock BM, and that I’ve got someone outside the station looking for a profitable kill; that they’ll scan cargo before shooting or at least not be shooting the first thing that comes along.
Do I add any “layer” of protection by including a large portion of junk? Say 20 unique junky items for every type of valuable one?
Do I add an additional layer if I separate out each junk item to be an individual unit? Say, instead of 15 stacked scrap metals, I have 15 split individual scrap metals?
Is all of this moot because someone is just going to Ctrl-a Ctrl-c Ctrl-v lightning fast into an external appraisal tool?
Do I draw less attention to myself if there’s no green or purple or light blue little colored flags on the items in my cargo?
Anything non-flying related that I can do w/ my high-sec hauling approach that deters, even if only slightly, these types of gankers?
EDIT: I’m mainly trying to understand the thought process and order of events from the ganker’s perspective (what they see, what they’re looking for, how hard it is to see / estimate), and essentially the key factors in the shoot / don’t shoot decision. And hopefully, I’ve warped off before that decision can be made.
I’m not a ganker, but it’s my understanding that anyone making a half-decent effort at it isn’t going to eyeball your cargo. They’re just going to copy-paste the whole thing and stick it in a website that spits back the current estimated value of your cargo.
It’s possible that if they see too much junk one the first screen or two, they might assume you’re a junk collector and not even bother, but that would be based on whim and not on good procedure.
Your best bet is to check system activity before undocking. Have an alt available to check outside without undocking your cargo. You don’t need multibox for this, just an alt on the same account even. Tank your hauler well. Go through the effort to make the instawarp and instadock bookmarks.
That said, all you can do is reduce your risk profile. At some point someone will pop you just for giggles or boredom. But if you make 30 successful trips for every random pop, you’re still ahead of the game.
Yup, if I was ganking for profit, that’s exactly what I’d do. Sounds like there’s honestly not much defense in cargo arrangement; just stick to good flying practice and stay sub-2s-align whenever possible. And yeah, system activity, alts, etc, I get it. Thanks much.
Limit your value-to-EHP ratio as much as possible per trip
Scout ahead
Haul during off-hours
Find wormholes
For small but very expensive items, don’t use a tiny/fast ship, but something super-tanked, like a triple-plated Proteus. Most gankers simply won’t have the firepower on standby to kill something like that.
Also, there are implants that boost your EHP.
Here’s a trick: you get scanned way ahead of the gank system (usually), so if you think you got scanned, a system or two down the line warp to a celestial in the same cluster as your next gate (in case anyone is following and observing you) and then go somewhere else and dock (or just log off). As in, a different system instead of your next waypoint. After a while they’ll be wondering why you haven’t shown up yet, and will give up on expecting you. Then a few hours later (but not at the same time the next day) continue your trip. This might even be worth doing as an extra precaution even if you didn’t notice yourself getting scanned.
You can also do partial hauling. As in, travel normally through space you know is safe, and then when you approach a gank zone, dock up and split your cargo into a few loads that you individually take through the cluster of .5-.6 systems, then consolidate and make the next leg of your trip normally (just make sure you aren’t being watched).
In situations where you’re approaching a target destination that might have ganking despite being high-security (e.g. Jita or Amarr), plan your route to take a detour so that you don’t go through any normally-expected gates.
If you need more cargo you can use a Sunesis which is also sub 2 sec align, with omega skills you can get that to almost 1800m3, as alpha it’ll be a bit less.
If you’re omega you can also use cloak/mwd to massively lower your risk where, if done right, it becomes pretty much 0% risk. This works on frigs and smaller haulers like the Badger or other faction equivalents, NOT the Tayra.
That’s not being unlucky, that’s being unprepared. the REAL way to solve this is to first make an undocking BM in an empty ship and then load the cargo.
If this is low sec or whatever then just don’t even bother and just wait it out. You can, if it’s not a kick out station, toy with the 30 sec invul timer where you undock, stop your ship and then redock just before the timer runs out. And then just keep repeating it till they get bored and leave.
As a side note: you can use double wrapping to avoid cargo scans but it’s not a sure bet as they will scan the container and might suspect foul play.
Think of hauling as a combination of three things: cheap, safe, fast.
Cheap: you haul yourself instead of paying someone to do it for you
Safe: you ensure that you suffer few losses, if any
Fast: you don’t spend a lot of time on the activity
You can have two out of these three things. Or maybe more accurately, you can allocate 200% any way you want to three categories that together comprise a maximum of 300%.
You can have cheap and safe hauling, but it won’t be very fast, because you’re be carrying small loads that aren’t worth ganking.
You can have cheap and fast hauling, by basically shoving everything into one load, but it might not be safe if that load exceeds gank profitability thersholds.
You can have safe and fast hauling, by hiring someone else to do it for you, which will cost money.
You can mix and match as you see fit, by for example splitting your load to minimize some but not all risk when going for the cheap and safe method.
Okay, I have hidden priceless items among a bunch of “junk”. Having one priceless item in your cargohold will stand out like a sore thumb. But having one amongst an inconspicuous assortment of crap is far less likely to be spotted.
Can’t say whether or not this strat has worked for me, because I use a combination of strats to manage the risk of ganking. But, it can’t hurt, and it’s easy enough to do.
You can only try to hide priceless items among junk if they don’t have an actual market price. But it won’t really help outside of a very marginal way. Trust me on that one. People who scan ships know what to look for.
Generally not worth all the stress and upset stomach worrying about things so rare as hauler ganks. I just load the freighter and autopilot where it needs to go while watching a movie. No stress, big profits when you return later to sell your cargo.
MWD cloak trick only works succesfully if you’re not within 2km of an object or ship and only if the hostiles do not have a frigate pilot capable enough to decloak you in the 10 seconds it takes you to align.
I mean, the MWD cloak trick helps a lot, but won’t reduce risk to 0.
Use covert cloak, bookmarks like insta undock and insta dock, Autopiloting turned on mid warp to a insta dock bookmark makes you insta dock when you land.
Tried many times and you can haul everything not fearing gankers if you can fit it in cargo. It will work also in low sec.
The point with cloak/mwd is that you can’t get scanned or ganked on the out gate any more as you’re not on AP. Solo gankers generally sit on the outgate, checking people who are on AP 10km from the gate. The gankers who catch people on the in gate are the ones who are way more organised and thus make use of scanning and ganking in different systems.
That means that you have to mess up TWO cloak/mwd in TWO following systems: one to get scanned, the other to get ganked. If the first one didn’t scan you then they won’t know you’re a gank target. If they DID scan you because you messed up the cloak/mwd in that system they can only catch you if you mess it up again.
Messing up cloak/mwd in HS happens very very rarely, messing it up twice in succession is thus hilariously rare.
It does seem easier to mess up from the other side of the world. I can usually get the sequence to work correctly but occasionally lag says NO!
I just have to take this into account when travelling in EvE.
Random lag can surely cause issues but generally you can get a “feel” for it through sheer practise. Also click cloak FIRST, and THEN hit your MWD. This is generally safer to do as you’re not waiting/hoping for your MWD to fire to then cloak which if you have lag might not happen or you’ll mess up the timing… and then you’re targeted.
So: cloak FIRST, then hit MWD. That’ll make it a ton safer to use.