Using Alts to "Win" a Fight

Lets say a guy shows interest in fighting you. You both have battleships. You are both looking for “content” as it were. Both looking for a fight. You warp into range and lock him down. It’s a close fight, but you are starting to win. As his ship enters hull, his alt jumps into system, locks you up, and your ship explodes a few seconds later.

Most people use alts. Market alts. Cyno, ratting, mission, industry… etc etc. I want to talk about the “other” alts.

The past couple years I’ve started dabbling in “solo” fights. But almost every day I experience players that have no problem bringing in an alt to dramatically tip the scale in their favor.

Tackle alts. ECM alts. Logi alts. Bumping alts! It’s usually always a guaranteed win for them. And many of them still say “GF” at the end of the Jayden gank, which really confuses me. Obviously not too many people feel shame in “winning” this way.

Some questions for you all:

  • How many people would say, “Normal part of the game, deal with it!”
  • How many people would say, “Get an ECM alt to counter them.”
  • How many people would say this would be stooping to their level?
  • How many people think this is cheating/poor form/dishonorable?
  • How many people think that fights SHOULD be won by the multiboxers, because… ___reasons.
  • Do you truly believe a fight should be won by the person who brings more characters?

Don’t tell me “THIS IS EVE”. I know what EVE is. One thing I love about EVE is, one person’s hell is another person’s fun… ie hunting miners/rorqs, camping systems, ganking freighters, gate camps. You are having fun at another pilot’s expense. Obviously this is just a game. We all play it the way we want. Limited rules means the sandbox remains a sandbox.

One more question for those of you using alts to pvp:
If you looked up a target’s name on zkill and they usually brought 4 alts instead of your 3, would you still engage them for the fun of it? Or are you truly just looking for easy kills, so you would pass them up in favor of a player with no help? I guess my question is… Is it the easy ganks that you crave, or do you like the “power” you have over this helpless pilot with only one account?

Looking for some honest, mature answers here! If you don’t respond accordingly you will be ignored lol

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You mean “I just want answers that validate my own viewpoint and if you tell me that ‘This is just part of EVE, learn to HTFU’ I’m going to ignore you.”

This isn’t “cheating,” this isn’t “dishonorable,” and this is fine.

Welcome to EVE, you must be new here.

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If you want “fair” fights you can always try the Triglavian arena stuff.

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You ARE the smartest cookie. Just thought you should know that. Thanks for the idea. I seriously didn’t even think of that.

I’ve heard it said that if you get a fair fight then someone is doing it wrong.

Often you will bet blobbed so to only have 1 other ship turn up is actually encouraging. When you go out, never expect a fair fight, never expect honourable 1v1, if you get them then it s a bonus. There are others out there looking for the same, but they are rare.

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It is kind of the nature of the game. No one likes to lose some are worse about it then others. As for honorable fighting in the game in only consider there to be one type. That is when both sides agree to certain terms, how many players on each side, what types of ships allowed such as frigates only etc. Outside of this always assume they have backup. You can have backup ready if they bring theirs but if it’s just them you can test your solo abilities otherwise.

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I guess I’ve gone into this game thinking people are wanting the same thing I do: good fights.

Simply not the case lol

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Would you be just as miffed if he called in a friend rather than used an alt? Because that is eve…And an alt isn’t really any different than an extra player.

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you will get them from time to time. just dont expect it.

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Na, friends are cool. Unless he agreed to a 1v1 obviously.

But I would def disagree with a friend being the same thing as an extra account.

Friends require a personality and effort. Requires relationship skills and a friendly attitude. An alt does not.

An alt is just that hidden ace up your sleeve.

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I am moving more into solo BS roams now, can be good fun, just need to fund it properly

“Solo” fights are very possible. You just need to dictate the terms of engagement (usually by flying something cloaky, or using combat probes to find suitable targets and warp in at ideal range), and bring enough alpha/dps to end the engagement as soon as possible. I found T3 destroyers & cruisers most effective for this style of combat.

If you take too long, or a fight is forced upon you, expect third party intervention. I was ganking an Astero the other day. It was bait, and a Cynabal & friends jumped into system and headed in my direction. Fortunately I had enough dps (polarized Proteus) to melt the Astero and GTFO just as they landed. If I had lower dps, I would’ve died. The lesson I learned: dictate the engagement so you get alpha, and crank that dps.

Yeah, been using a svipul like this for awhile :slight_smile: nice to get in a get out before the cavalry arrive

Ok standard trailer park Eve Forum replies to the OP to get them out of the way now:
Hurf blurf Hello Kitty Online is that way —>
Tears! Glorious tears! Oh the salt!
LOL HEADSHOT
HTFU
Eve is a sandbox and now for a wall of text to ensure you are too confused by bafflegarble to realize it’s MY litterbox…

So with that out of the way, you have to realize that for a lot of people, no matter if it’s a game, or what the game is, RL, or anything for that matter, if they can “cheat”, they will. And I put quotes around cheat because these people really have it in for any judgment of how they play, as that is a judgement on what kind of people they are. So in their mind, they win. You lose, and you are the loser, and they are the winner. And all because “the game allows it”.
It’s one of the wonderful things that make Eve Online the globally recognized popular game that it is where every household has at least one person who plays it and nobody has anything negative to say about it.
Oh wait. Sorry. That’s something else.
If you want true one on one battles, I recommend some kind of arena game. Or you can beg CCP for that, get derided and made fun of in the forums, and it’ll fall on deaf ears. As always.

Overall some of the advice you are getting is pretty good. High alpha, GTFO gear, etc. If you are going to fight with battleships and it become a typical “numbers game” of DPS/TANK and just back and forth salvos, then that’s the perfect situation where an alt is just going to mess with the equation and pop goes your ship.
Unconventional methods and ideas though, where one has to think and act on observation, is going to make the “just warp in an alt” solution a little too dicey. Beyond that, there is not much more that can be done. It’s just the way it is.

If you find yourself in a fair fight, you did something wrong.

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“If you are looking for a fair fight, you have already lost”

  • WWI ace (paraphrased)
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I dont know what is normal part of the game…
But as Small gang \ solo pvper myself I know that this is the game!
U will go to solo fight and u encounter a Cloaky Loki just at the moment u think u have won the fight.
90% of the fights u get as solo, turn out to be unfair.

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I’ve played with 1 character on 1 account for PVP for 14 years and Jayden, I feel your your pain. I do this mostly because I’ve awful multitasking ability, but also because I feel the game is more immersive and rewarding that way.

I feel people are free to play how they choose, but I personally have less respect for any PVPer relying on alts to win fights. Off grid boosts used to really annoy me especially in FW lowsec as they swung 1v1’s ridiculously - I generally fight anyone but if someone uses cheese on me to win, then I just add a note/standing to them and won’t bother fighting them again.

I used to really take the piss out of one guy in Gallente militia (on my team!) called Crosi Wesdo who used to chestbeat about being an elite ‘solo’ pvper. But he literally never engaged without his HG snake set and boosts and would get so salty when anyone beat him - alas he left around the time boosts got nerfed, though I’ve no idea if it was related hehe

All you can do is accept some people only enjoy a game if they’re winning and so will cheese for victory at every opportunity. It is literally their loss if they can’t derive enjoyment from playing a game and sometimes losing.

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If you both agree to a 1v1 and your opponent brings in an alt(s) then straight up hes a pu$$y! However, if you happen to be out solo hunting and your target brings in an alt(s) and they melt your azz then it sucks to be you $h1t happens!

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hey @Jayden_Thomas

you do that in LS? NS? WH?
why dont you duel in HS? then its only between 2 chars and they cant bring a alt …

in general … yes it is poor to “win” a fight like that but its EVE and EVE is not fair so you can only cheat them the same way … if you look for fair fights do HS duels … in the past there was a chat channel for that … no idea if it is still there or not

JuuR

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