Transporting in highsec is fundamentally different from transporting in low and nullsec. At first, you can't jump, must take gates. Secondly, the gates are full of neutrals, all the time. Good luck waiting until Jita local is empty! Thirdly, CONCORD helps the attacked one.
Despite these differences, lot of people try to transport with low-null mindset, for the amusement of anyone watching the killboards. They try to transport cloaked for example. Which is a good supplement to your defenses, but won't work by itself. Trafficked gates often decloak me and one can safely setup a "perfect gatecamp" with jettisoned debris that decloak everyone. There is often TiDi, making an "uncatchable interceptor" lockable. Finally one can smartbomb. While all these are theoretically possible in low/null, they aren't practical, because their perfect camp will likely catch only a frigs that worth less than the jettisoned trash, or their camp is broken by a PvP gang. In highsec on the other hand no one attack them and it's guaranteed that sooner or later something big comes in their way.
While you can make the campers work harder, eventually the day will come when their DPS and your tank will decide the fate of your cargo. For that day you have to understand one crucial highsec-only mechanic: bump-tackle. Of course one can bump-tackle in nullsec too, but there is little point when he can tackle normally. In highsec, being able to avoid bump-tackle is a watershed in safety.
Bump-tackle allow the campers to position their target away from pre-existing CONCORD and gateguns. It also give them time to get people online, form a proper fleet and include pilots with less than 5 security status. It lets them use high DPS, low range ships. Finally it allows them to try again if their first gank failed. On the other hand if you are agile enough to avoid bump-tackle, they must be in a safe near the gate, aligned, with positive sec status pilots and players ready to press the button at any moment. They must have a tackler on gate who survives gate guns until the gank fleet arrives. They must clear the gate from pre-existing CONCORD or bring enough pilots to succeed despite some instablapped. One can see how it is harder than bump-tackle.
This is why my transport Tengus were never caught. No one went trough the effort of collecting 50+ tornadoes with proper sec status pilots, with players waiting and hoping that no one messes up and I don't notice their rather obvious camp - or simply don't delay a transport because of RL. So if you can't be bump-tackled and have enough tank to survive a pair of opportunistic Tornadoes, you are pretty safe, even with very expensive cargo.
People die because they fly paper-tank or bump-tackle vulnerable ships. Don't be among them!
PS: there won't be regular posts in Christmas as visitor counts during holidays are horrible.
PS2: as a Christmas gift, Goons now attribute me the power to form nullsec coalitions. The fact eluded the desperate Goons that I advised against forming large fleets a month before the coalition formed and openly criticized the non-pirate members of the coalition when it was formed. I wrote "So if Battlement forms up with 100+ pilots for various timers, they will indeed do nothing but provide entertainment to CFC pilots. I hope they'll stick to small gangs, destroying CFC ratting, industry and renters. The risk is coming from the alliances with large-fleet background in the coalition who can act as bad influence." After this, blaming me for forming the coalition is ... what you'd expect from the Goon propaganda site that consider all Germans Nazis and all non-goons "shitlers".
Despite these differences, lot of people try to transport with low-null mindset, for the amusement of anyone watching the killboards. They try to transport cloaked for example. Which is a good supplement to your defenses, but won't work by itself. Trafficked gates often decloak me and one can safely setup a "perfect gatecamp" with jettisoned debris that decloak everyone. There is often TiDi, making an "uncatchable interceptor" lockable. Finally one can smartbomb. While all these are theoretically possible in low/null, they aren't practical, because their perfect camp will likely catch only a frigs that worth less than the jettisoned trash, or their camp is broken by a PvP gang. In highsec on the other hand no one attack them and it's guaranteed that sooner or later something big comes in their way.
While you can make the campers work harder, eventually the day will come when their DPS and your tank will decide the fate of your cargo. For that day you have to understand one crucial highsec-only mechanic: bump-tackle. Of course one can bump-tackle in nullsec too, but there is little point when he can tackle normally. In highsec, being able to avoid bump-tackle is a watershed in safety.
Bump-tackle allow the campers to position their target away from pre-existing CONCORD and gateguns. It also give them time to get people online, form a proper fleet and include pilots with less than 5 security status. It lets them use high DPS, low range ships. Finally it allows them to try again if their first gank failed. On the other hand if you are agile enough to avoid bump-tackle, they must be in a safe near the gate, aligned, with positive sec status pilots and players ready to press the button at any moment. They must have a tackler on gate who survives gate guns until the gank fleet arrives. They must clear the gate from pre-existing CONCORD or bring enough pilots to succeed despite some instablapped. One can see how it is harder than bump-tackle.
This is why my transport Tengus were never caught. No one went trough the effort of collecting 50+ tornadoes with proper sec status pilots, with players waiting and hoping that no one messes up and I don't notice their rather obvious camp - or simply don't delay a transport because of RL. So if you can't be bump-tackled and have enough tank to survive a pair of opportunistic Tornadoes, you are pretty safe, even with very expensive cargo.
People die because they fly paper-tank or bump-tackle vulnerable ships. Don't be among them!
PS: there won't be regular posts in Christmas as visitor counts during holidays are horrible.
PS2: as a Christmas gift, Goons now attribute me the power to form nullsec coalitions. The fact eluded the desperate Goons that I advised against forming large fleets a month before the coalition formed and openly criticized the non-pirate members of the coalition when it was formed. I wrote "So if Battlement forms up with 100+ pilots for various timers, they will indeed do nothing but provide entertainment to CFC pilots. I hope they'll stick to small gangs, destroying CFC ratting, industry and renters. The risk is coming from the alliances with large-fleet background in the coalition who can act as bad influence." After this, blaming me for forming the coalition is ... what you'd expect from the Goon propaganda site that consider all Germans Nazis and all non-goons "shitlers".
6 comments:
This is precisely why I always fit for speed and alignment time and recommend others do the same.
Flying speed fit blockade runners with covert cloak and unscannable cargo hold, gankers don't even bother you when you're on auto.
Holy crap! That thing is basically unkillable in High Sec. Unless, of course... you fly it while wardeced. Which would be a hilarious way to lose a pile of PLEXes or whatnot.
The only possible way for that to be taken out would be if they knew exactly where you would be, what you would be carrying, and when. And it would still be a logistics miracle. Of course, only an idiot (cough: https://zkillboard.com/kill/43058910/) would tell their corpmates what they're doing.
When I first saw the Tengu, I was "What the hell?" Oh... You put it together yourself lego style.
It would appear Goons just cannot abide losing to you GG. Clearly their propaganda site is working hard to show you up if they have to ignore provable facts.
Oh, and in the event something has to be moved in a large vessel... say a freighter, then double wrap is the best wrap. At least if it does get ganked, there is no positive isk value to the gank.
I never saw bump tackle in highsec. do people really do that?
It's a lot of tank if you have a dedicated fleetbooster that also scouts.
but if you scout you know how busy a ingate is.
I haul into systems around jita and haul it with a WCSed t2 into jita on not so busy hours. I never encountered decloak in highsec on gates or did someone try to gank me. I never haul stuff worth the kill.
@MoxNix: I can guarantee you your 6k EHP autopiloting noncloaky hauler with the potential of having a fortune in it will be blapped sooner rather than later.
Gevlon is arguing for anti-bump "tank" in addition to regular tank, which is something I can heartily agree on.
Well if by "sooner rather than later" you mean I'll lose 1 single empty BR to a gank in over 2 years with 26 BR pilots then I guess you're right.
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