Avoiding pirates

Here are some tips on how one can avoid player pirates:

Locate yourself in Empire space

Basing out of a system with a security status above 0.5 should be relatively safe. The most wanted player pirates are unlikely to enter these systems because their negative security status will trigger NPC Navy response. Because of this, pirates with a low security status are not often found in hisec. Keep in mind that not all player pirates have a negative security status. Pirates with a high security status can freely enter high security space and may target you.

Use the map

Use these options to view the map. They can be found in the Star Map tab, in the "color stars by" subcategory:

• Security Status

The systems get their own color, depending on their security status. Red is the most hostile, being 0.0, and blue is the safest at 1.0. You can also see the security status of the system, by dragging your mouse over the dot on the map.

• Number of pilots in space

The map displays a big red dot where the most amount of players are located and then smaller, less red and orange dots where fewer players are located.

• Ships destroyed in the last hour

The map displays a number of dots on the map, their color depending on how many ships have been destroyed in that system. Small yellow dots display the least amount of ship kills and large red dots displays the most amount of ship kills. You can also drag your mouse over the dot to get information on how many ships have been killed there in the last hour.

• Escape pods destroyed in the last hour

The map displays a number of dots on the map, their color depending on how many escape pods have been destroyed in that system. Yellow dots display the least amount of pod kills and large red dots display the most amount of pod kills. You can also drag your mouse over the dot to get information on how many pods have been killed there in the last hour.

Prefer safer Under the "autopilot" tab, make sure to select "prefer safer". If you want to be extra careful, set the "security penalty" slider to a high value (on the right end of its spectrum) so that the autopilot will adhere more strictly to your safe passage policy.

Look for bottlenecks in the map

If you need to get from point A to point B, do you have to go through a system that has a high ship or pod kill statistic? Take notice if that system has a security status of 0.4 or less and be extra careful when travelling there. There are known and very famous pirates hide out such as Rancer. You may want to avoid those systems at all cost.

Monitor the chat channels

The chat channels can be very helpful if you want to avoid player pirates and jump-in-point camping. Ask the players who are in your local, trade or help channel whether they know about neighboring systems that are hostile and which ones to avoid.

Read the forums

Reading the forums each day can help you avoid getting killed by pirates. The "EVE New Citizens Q&A", "Crime and Punishment", "EVE General Discussion" and the "Intergalactic Summit" forums can all help you with avoiding hostile territories. Try to figure out where the alliances are located, which ones are pirate alliances and which are not and avoid the locations that are controlled by player pirates.

Ship Setup & Traveling

If, for some reason, you have to go to a low security system, fitting your ship with the right modules can make a big difference. Always fit your ship with a warp core stabilizer and a micro warp drive or afterburner if possible. Using these modules can get you out of tight situations if player pirates are camping a gate somewhere and they try to warp scramble you. Also, while you're in low security space, monitor your jump route to avoid being attacked by ambushers. Furthermore, its worth mentioning that some fellow players leave cargo containers on the safe side of gates warning if there's an active gate camp there. These implode after 2 hours of sitting in space so are usually a good indication.

Moving valuable cargo

If possible, get someone else to do this for you, using a courier contract with full collateral, so they bear all the risk if something goes wrong. Do not advertise the fact that any particular character moves anything valuable; pirates may notice and use locator agents to find them. See also: avoiding cargo scans.

Alt scouts

If you want to make absolutely sure that no danger lurks behind the next jump gate, use an alternative character to spy for you, by jumping into the system before you do so with your main character. This way, even if there are pirates camping the system, you will be able to cut your losses down to a minimum.

Intimidation

Player pirates may try many different ways to intimidate players into attacking them first. If you attack first, CONCORD may protect the pirate, not you.