How to Avoid Getting Ganked While Mining in a Hulk by SeniorSmokesalot

[MeSaR]

tutorial made by SeniorSmokesalot on the older forums.

We were out and about ganking hulks in border systems the other day, when it occurred to me that I could help some of the RR miners here avoid being one of our targets. This is mostly applicable to Hulks and to drive-by ganks. By drive-by ganks, I mean people looking to gank ANY hulk. If someone is looking to get you specifically, then no amount of effort will protect you while botting.

Bring the Right Tank!!

First and foremost, bring a damn tank. You should have ~11k EHP tank on a hulk with two MLU's. With some shield implants, you can get that number up just a little more.

You want to fit a buffer tank. The fight won't last long enough for a shield booster to do you any good. A small shield extender adds ~230 points, which would take ~15 seconds to recharge with a shield booster, assuming you turn it on the INSTANT you first get shot. Also, CPU requirements are much higher for a booster, meaning that you will have to skimp on either MLUs or other tank mods (or both).

Mine in the Right System!!
Stick to .8 and higher systems. The sec level of the system affects the response time of CONCORD. You need to last as long as it takes CONCORD to get there. In a .8 system, that takes about 15 seconds.

If you can stick to .9 or 1.0 systems, that's even better. A rough estimate of how long it takes CONCORD to show up is:


1.0 - 5 seconds
.9 - 10 seconds
.8 - 15 seconds
.7 - 20 seconds
.6 - 25 Seconds
.5 - 30 seconds


Another indirect benefit of sticking with .8+ sec systems is that they tend to me more jumps from low-sec than .5 or .6 systems. Since you will likely be getting ganked by people who don't care about their sec status, and therefore will likely all ready be more than -5, they will be disinclined to make 5-6 jumps into high-sec looking for targets.

Don't Encourge Them!!
There is one thing that fuels Hulk ganking, and that's tears. Don't let them fool you, they don't care about the isk, or the KM, or anything else. It's the tears that fuels them. If you get ganked and happen to be around, throw up a GF in local and be done with it. GETTING MAD AT THEM WILL JUST ENCOURGE THEM! Trust me... http://publicdemands.co.uk/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif

Hope this helps someone....

[iammadeofwin]

It's the tears that fuels them.



Oh how true. The best way to deal with being pissed at a suicide ganker is to pay it forward.

[DannyDeranged]

Having ganked numerous ships in .6s and .5s myself, I'd argue that response times are no where near 25-30 seconds. On average, I can get 6 shots off from an overheated rack of Neutron Blasters. I can't be asked to look up the RoF on them, but I'm assuming the accumulated time there couldn't be more than 15 seconds, no?

[Squelos]

2.5 s rof ? Kinda low no ? Do you actually get some money by suicide ganking hulks ?

[Username]

Having ganked numerous ships in .6s and .5s myself, I'd argue that response times are no where near 25-30 seconds. On average, I can get 6 shots off from an overheated rack of Neutron Blasters. I can't be asked to look up the RoF on them, but I'm assuming the accumulated time there couldn't be more than 15 seconds, no?

Neutrons cycle at about 4s (Usually a tad more depending on skills) a pop, so 6 shots = 24 seconds, sounds spot on for a 0.6 system to me...

[DannyDeranged]

Neutrons cycle at about 4s (Usually a tad more depending on skills) a pop, so 6 shots = 24 seconds, sounds spot on for a 0.6 system to me...

Just looked it up on the wiki. I'm sitting at 2.8s with Limited Light Neutron Blasters (3.5s without skills) and Rapid Firing to 4, which puts it back closer to my estimate. (16.8s total by my math, which is significantly lower. And mind you, Concord usually shows up about 1-2s before jamming you out right before they blow you up.)
EDIT: Just realized that my math could be wrong here. I'm not sure if it's 20% faster firing rate or 20% less time between each shot. I can't recall the mathematical difference, but I know there is one. My calculations use 20% less time between each shot, of course.

And being a Hulk builder myself, I do actually make money from ganking Hulks pretty often. Put some up at just-above Jita prices in the system you're ganking in and you'll sell 'em off easy.

Anyhow, if you're prepared to survive 25-30 seconds in the yellow systems, you'll easily survive any lone gankers and even most double gankers regardless of how long it takes Concord to arrive. I sacrifice about .75m per hour on my mining ship to fit a DCII and spent the extra money to get a Partial Hull Conversion Upgrade which costs you far less hull EHP than a CEII. Combined with having shield skills up, I've come back several times to my ship either sitting happily in Armor or Hull instead of not in a ship at all.

[Username]

I'm sitting at 2.8s with Limited Light Neutron Blasters (3.5s without skills) and Rapid Firing to 4, which puts it back closer to my estimate. (16.8s total by my math, which is significantly lower. And mind you, Concord usually shows up about 1-2s before jamming you out right before they blow you up.)

My bad... I think I may have had BS sized neutrons in my head for some reason :\

[Hourai]

Actually as an Ex-Pirate and Griefer I can legitimately say it IS in fact profitable to suicide Hulks guys. The insurance payouts soften the loss even of a cruiser (we used Thorax's. . .so many Thorax's. . .) to around 400k. If you drop one Strip miner II, we made 2 times that. Add in all the other mods that could potentially be on the Hulks as well as the chance to ransom your corps/alliance mining wing (if you're hell-bent on staying in the area) and it quickly becomes lucrative. This doesn't go only for bots either, suiciding regular miners works just as well.