Ganked has now been operating for over 18 months, and it has been noted that inside of our very insular community, we may not be as understanding of newer players tagging along as we could be. So I am going to try with this post to layout some of things that folks should be doing before joining one of these roams and what they can expect during a Ganked roam.
Before thinking of attending:
1) Read up on the history of Ganked;
2) Check out all the previous nights and the kill mails we have gotten;
3) Watch the video’s and learn just what you are in for;
4) Join the in-game mailing list “RVB Ganked”. This way you can keep abreast of upcoming nights;
So after checking the videos and this blog out you still actually do want to attend?
5) Setup a Jumpclone. This is a “new” body with no implants, that you can “jump” to and use instead of your current body and its implants. On these roams, you will eventually get podded, so get a jumpclone from either the RvB Jump Clone Service or Estel Arador Corp Services. Both of which are cheap and quick to use;
6) Install Mumble. This is the Ganked comms of choice, learn to love it. I am occasionally on EVE Voice as well, but for those on there, its just not as fun a night;
7) On the evening of a roam, join the in game channel “RvB Ganked” and wait for Mangala Solaris and other’s to start taking x’s for invites to the Ganked fleet;
It’s the big night!
8) Get some beers in;
9) Using Mumble connect to the Ganked server and make sure you are using Push To Talk;
10) Get in your jumpclone;
11) Move to the start system for the nights roam. If in RvB people often move to the start system together as a group;
12) Insure and rename your ship(s) as per the theme of the night, which is always linked in the fleet message of the day;
13) Undock;
14) Join the inevitable conga;
15) When the fleet moves out, you will usually be fleet warped. DO NOT JUMP unless told to by the FC;
16) Kill what you are told to kill when targets present themselves;
17) Enjoy yourselves.
We died.
Yes, on Ganked’s this will happen, and usually happens once or twice during a roam. Not as spectacularly as when we run into a Rooks & Kings smart-bombing battleship super trap, but we still die. Usually we die because we run into a fleet that is taking things much more seriously than us, and are fielding a large number of logistics vessels or ECM of some sort, or is oddly a perfect counter for our mixed bag of ships. However, this often takes quite a while and along the way we inflict a silly amount of damage on the locals of which ever null sec region we are roaming at a given time.
Dieing is one of the aims of the night, we get some juicy kills then karma bites us in the ass getting us killed. Then we roll out again if it is not too late here in the UK. So do not be angry or upset if you do die. It happens. Get in a new ship and we will go out again. If you die early enough we may even be able to help you catch us up if the large part of the fleet survived. Ganked has a large core of experienced pvpers who come along with us, and who understand death is part of the roam, if they can do it, you too can do it!
I am on comms and hearing all these new terms.
For those new to EVE or new to PVP and nullsec PVP in particular, following comms can prove to be difficult with all the terms bandied around. The list below (that will expand over time) hopes to clear some of these terms up:
Bomb. Always means the area of effect weapon launched from Stealth Bombers. If launched at our fleet while on a gate, we have several options. We can jump back through if in jump range, scatter WITHOUT using MWDs (these increase your sig radius making the bomb more effective against your ship, or if we are really lucky, we can lock the bomber and kill it which results in the bomb deactivating if we kill said bomber before the bomb “lands”.
Bubbles. These are items that prevent anything inside of them from warping. The best way to counter them is to MWD out of them and then warp away. We usually have some “bubblers” with us (Heavy Interdictor Cruisers or Interdictors (T2 Destroyers), and try to use them as efficiently as possible. There are also such things as anchorable bubbles, which can be placed in such a way that you warp right into them instead of the gate or station or planet etc they are positioned near, there by allowing any cloaked enemies to get easy kills. Sometimes if we find some anchored bubbles in transit systems we will camp them and get easy kills ourselves.
Cyno. This is otherwise known as a cynosural field and is one of the methods by which Capital ships move around. I have a small problem in that I like to randomly warp fleets to them (Past couple of times, we have killed rorqual and shot a titan at these fields).
I hope all the above helps you make the decision to come along on a Ganked roam, and enjoy all the fights and losses you WILL experience while roaming.
See you in the conga!
