Finally I'm no longer a pirate!
Don't get me wrong, I had no compulsion to rat up. I wasn't suddenly confronted by the error of my ways or anything like that. Our CEO stated he wanted everyone "non-pirate" before November. Therefore I went ratting!
Why? Well there is this really nasty bug - When in militia (factional warfare), if you assist (logi, remote sebo etc) a pirate or GCC pilot you take a faction standings hit. Obviously this is stupid. The Gallente Federation looks down on people in the Gallente Militia who assist a fellow Gallente militia member?
Anyway, us being pirate was effecting our abilty to join militia fleets so we had to rat up. What a PITA. For anyone who has to go through this here is a "ratting up guide" of the lessons I've learnt in the last 10 days.
Security Status of the System Matters
Get Ombeve's 2D maps from http://www.ombeve.co.uk/ which shows the true security status of a system. You want -0.3 or better ideally. The lower the security status, the fatter the rats and hence the greater the sec status boost for killing them. a 1.4m bounty rat will move you a lot faster than a 500k bounty rat.
Don't get me wrong, I had no compulsion to rat up. I wasn't suddenly confronted by the error of my ways or anything like that. Our CEO stated he wanted everyone "non-pirate" before November. Therefore I went ratting!
Why? Well there is this really nasty bug - When in militia (factional warfare), if you assist (logi, remote sebo etc) a pirate or GCC pilot you take a faction standings hit. Obviously this is stupid. The Gallente Federation looks down on people in the Gallente Militia who assist a fellow Gallente militia member?
Anyway, us being pirate was effecting our abilty to join militia fleets so we had to rat up. What a PITA. For anyone who has to go through this here is a "ratting up guide" of the lessons I've learnt in the last 10 days.
Security Status of the System Matters
Get Ombeve's 2D maps from http://www.ombeve.co.uk/ which shows the true security status of a system. You want -0.3 or better ideally. The lower the security status, the fatter the rats and hence the greater the sec status boost for killing them. a 1.4m bounty rat will move you a lot faster than a 500k bounty rat.
Your Security Status Gets Booster by the Highest Value Rat Per System Per 15 Minutes
Unless you need ISK, there is no point hanging around in one system. Your security status gets boosted ONCE every 15 MINUTES and this is PER SYSTEM. Spend half an hour in one system ratting? You'll only get two security status increases in that time. The boost will be from the highest value rat in each 15 minute segment. It's much better to...
Train the Skill Fast Talk
Unless you need ISK, there is no point hanging around in one system. Your security status gets boosted ONCE every 15 MINUTES and this is PER SYSTEM. Spend half an hour in one system ratting? You'll only get two security status increases in that time. The boost will be from the highest value rat in each 15 minute segment. It's much better to...
Find a Nice Loop of Systems and Chain the Belts
As you only get the one sec status increase per system per 15 minutes there is no point in hanging around. Find a BS rat, kill it and move on to a different system. I found a loop of 6 systems down in Syndicate (98Q area) and would just fly around in circles popping one BS rat per system and move to the next. Took 20 minutes roughly to do the loop so no problem with time. I'd get a sec status booster every 5 minutes by doing multiple systems. Also you should chain the belts so when you come back around, that juicy rat will be back. This excellent guide shows you how....
Train the Skill Fast Talk
Extra 5% sec status increase. Train to 4 and you cut your ratting time down by 20%.
Cloaky Might Sound Best, But DPS Rules
I started in a cloaky Tengu. I thought it would be a good idea. Anyone chasing me, and I could just cloak up. Yes, in that way it's fantastic, but the DPS is so crap killing a BS rat takes too long. I swapped to a 425mm AC gank Hurricane with Barrage. It means bouncing and being careful when someone is trying to kill you, but those BS rats melt!
Spam Scan
People think 0.0 is full of leet PvP'rs who will hunt down and kill anyone they see. Yes, there are plenty like that, but 0.0 is also full of carebears. Just because there are people in system doesn't mean you shouldn't rat. Warp to a planet which has lots of belts and scan. Nobody about? Get to the belts and find that BS! Combat scanners in space? GTFO! Just remember to keep hitting scan, you know that guys that WAS docked when you first scanned the system...
Pop the Wrecks
PvP'rs looking to hunt down ratters will see wrecks and know what you are up to. Pop the wreck after killing the BS rat and you'll help cover your trail.
Time is of the Essence
If you can, rat at quiet times. In the Middle East we get Fridays off, plus we're GMT +4. Some of my best ratting was done on a Friday morning whilst the EU worked and US slept!
Why Risk It?
I ratted up from -10 without losing a single ship. How? I didn't take major risks. Some times there were so many PvP'rs about I'd dock up and do something else for 15 minutes, undock, scan, find a BS rat, pop it and redock and go do something else for 15 minutes.
Go for the Fat Rat
The amount of security status you get depends on the value of the rat. If you warp to the first belt and there is a 500k rat there, pop it. However, it might be worth your while checking the other belts in case a 1.4m is sat there.
Don't Ignore the Gate Rats
Many people won't engage rats on the gate as you could get jumped on. Yes, if a fleet comes in your buggered. But I did by orbiting the gate at 500m and firing on the rat. If someone jumped into me they could either agress me and I'd jump (no agro timer when shooting rats) or they could sit there, when I'd warp off to a safe.
Basically the above is what I learnt whilst ratting up from -10 for 10 days. Now, finally, I can go kill some Caldari militia! However, I'm not going to be going pie on anyone anytime soon!!!!
Why Risk It?
I ratted up from -10 without losing a single ship. How? I didn't take major risks. Some times there were so many PvP'rs about I'd dock up and do something else for 15 minutes, undock, scan, find a BS rat, pop it and redock and go do something else for 15 minutes.
Go for the Fat Rat
The amount of security status you get depends on the value of the rat. If you warp to the first belt and there is a 500k rat there, pop it. However, it might be worth your while checking the other belts in case a 1.4m is sat there.
Don't Ignore the Gate Rats
Many people won't engage rats on the gate as you could get jumped on. Yes, if a fleet comes in your buggered. But I did by orbiting the gate at 500m and firing on the rat. If someone jumped into me they could either agress me and I'd jump (no agro timer when shooting rats) or they could sit there, when I'd warp off to a safe.
Basically the above is what I learnt whilst ratting up from -10 for 10 days. Now, finally, I can go kill some Caldari militia! However, I'm not going to be going pie on anyone anytime soon!!!!
Volvine wave's for some credit..o/
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