Eve-online: Pirating Convoys In High Sec Space

Pirating Convoys In High-Sec Space Searching the EVE-Online forums for information on attacking convoys yields almost no real useful info. Most of it is either out of date, guessing/heresay, copy-paste or just plain obsolete/incorrect. So, it’s about time to create an article on how to successfully attack convoys, and dispel a couple rumors that are going around the forums (for a long time ...). Lets begin with the basics. Convoys are NPC haulers usually in groups occasionally as low as 2 rarely as large as 6, and most often number between 3 and 5. They have various names depending on which faction the convoy is being sent from, so before you start blasting every hauler you see, you’ll need to do a li’l bit of homework first. Here are the facts: 1. You DO take standing hits for the corps the convoys belong to. 2. You DO NOT take sec status hits or racial standing hits towards factions. 3. You DO NOT get WTFPWND by CONCORD even in high sec space UNLESS the convoy belongs to CONCORD (explained later on) or belongs to Customs Officials. 4. “Convoying” is essentially high-sec NPC piracy. 5. ONLY attack convoys that are INCOMING from ANOTHER corp’s station. 6. Convoys NEVER leave the system. They travel from station to station only. 7. You’ll have the most luck in either 0.5, 0.6 or 0.7 sec space, less stations owned by the same corp in the same systems the lower the system’s security. Attacking convoys is profitable if done right, ISK for your time it is not the best bang for your buck, however the materials dropped are often expensive in large quantities. Reports, synthetic oil, hydrogen, oxygen, robotics, and several other POS/Tech2/R&D resources are common drops. Sometimes more Quafe Cola than you could ever drink yourself drops. Try avoid blowing up Quafe Cola haulers. Unless you’re running out of Quafe, that is. The basic premise is knowing which NPC corp’s convoys you’re dealing with, this is not as easy as it first sounds; however it can be done to avoid needless confusion/complication. You want to attack only incoming convoys to stations from other NPC corps. You have to be sure that the convoy you are attacking isn’t coming from another station owned by the same corp as the station it’s on it’s way to. It MUST be owned by another corp. This is essential to your success.

Which brings me to the point of how convoy's assemble, so you can better decide where your involuntary donations come from. Please read this carefully. Convoys begin by one NPC hauler spawning at a station. It flys out from the station into the middle of no-where. 1-2 mins later another will spawn. The first hauler that left will turn right around coming back to the same station and meet up with the hauler that spawned and then continue going into 'no-where' again. This process repeats over and over until the 'max' number that the convoy is supposed to be is filled. DO NOT mistake these returning convoys for inbound convoys! If you shoot them, the station will open up a can of WTFJUSTHAPPENED on you. So if they're flying towards the dock; it DOES NOT guarantee they are inbound convoys. Having said that; after the convoy forms up and the max number has been reached it will travel out into space, in the general direction of another station within the same system. They will travel approx. 150-170km's from the dock at this point then vanish, presumably warping. Though there’s no warp out graphic, they just disappear. DO NOT shoot them on their way out, you will anger the station guns. About 10-20 seconds later they will appear at the dock they are going to. All docks form up their convoys at the exact same time, though, oddly, some take up to 20 minutes longer to actually get to their destination than others (?!). Convoys DO NOT leave the system they spawn in. They will ALWAYS warp to another station in your system. Following these convoys from when they 'warp' out they will vaguely line up with another station (no where near exact).So, select the 'lead' hauler, click on look at; shift your view around behind them and see what the closest station they are travelling towards on their course, if they're travelling into the 'void' the convoy most likely hasn't filled yet and will be doing another 180° turn to pick up another hauler to add to the convoy. Which means another hauler for you to blow up.

Under no circumstances do you want to attack any convoys inbound or outbound that belong to CONCORD. Or Customs Officials. If you do, they’ll open up a can of whupass on you. Generally avoid systems with any CONCORD stations in them for this very reason. That leaves you with systems between 0.5 and 0.7, with no CONCORD stations in them, and where there is no more than one station owned per corporation. If you find a system like this, it is ideal, as you’re pretty much guaranteed that a confirmed inbound hauler spawn can be melted without consequence. After following the convoy which has left a station headed towards another, find which station it is warping to. And if it belongs to a different corp than the station the convoy left (a convoy leaving from Federation Navy is a Fed. navy

convoy) warp to that station, depending on system loads it takes approx. 10-20 seconds for them to appear. At this point if: 1. The convoy doesn't belong to the station they are arriving at. 2. It doesn't belong to CONCORD, you can open up on them regardless of where the turrets are as they will not engage. I would suggest especially if your just starting to use either a well equipped frigate or cruiser as they’re cheap and disposable, should you attack the wrong convoy at the wrong time. A well armed frigate, or small cruiser without much tank will easily be able to kill the haulers. I would suggest a micro-warp drive as you will be required to close the distance between you and the haulers quickly. A tip I've used to further simplify this process is to get yourself into a gang, either with another player, or use an alt or two. I would suggest bringing a hauler alt anyway as the sheer volume of goods is a little much for any non industrial ship to carry. (note: contraband drops often, which is nice if you’re into drugs manufacturing.) Some convoys are more apparent than others. Joint harvesting & Chemal Tech for example use Iterons as haulers (and occasionally badgers??). Whereas Minmatar corps use Hoarders and Mammoths. But you should get the idea. You will ALWAYS get a warning with a YES/NO dialogue when engaging one of the haulers (unless you’ve turned it off ...). It’s okay to accept the consequences of opening fire on one of the haulers, as long as you’re ultra-positive that it doesn’t belong to the station you’re a sitting duck in front of. Whether you get aggro'd by station turrets or not, as soon as you aggro one of the haulers in the convoy they will all lock you and start firing (while continuing towards the station). They're very lightly armed and will be no match for a cruiser, even in large groups. The station guns, however, will PWN you like your ship was made of papier maché. This may sound like a cakewalk, however multiple convoys will be travelling to different places at the same time, so it can be hard to ensure that the convoy that you’re tracking and intending to melt down is from another corp other than the station you’re outside. As a general rule, if you don't know which corp it belongs to, your taking a risk. And while risks are fun, that’s not the point In practice, keep it simple.

As an example, say you have 4 stations in your system: A, B, C and D. Station A and B belong to Joint Harvesting, station C belongs to Fed. Navy, and station D belongs to CONCORD. If station C sends a convoy to station D, you can attack it while it is arriving at D, the CONCORD station, and not even CONCORD will intervene. If station D, again the CONCORD station, sends it's convoy to station A, you can't attack it PERIOD. It's CONCORD owned, and you will get melted. If station A sends a convoy to station B, you cannot attack it either. This is because the stations, and consequently the hauler spawns, are owned by the same corp. The turrets will turn your ship into free salvage if you fire on the convoy as it is arriving. Lastly, and again, and again, and again: Don't use any ship your not willing to lose. If it’s worth anything at all to you, just don’t undock it. Ever. Spin it around in station like everyone else. Everyone occasionally messes up and attacks the right ships at the wrong time; or wrong ships at the right time. Use cheap mods you can afford to lose. Use cheap ships you can afford to lose. Always insure. The type of insurance used depends on the person, I’ll always take the cheapest, as it might not cover the entire cost of the ship, but it’ll cost you the least, and has the greatest margin of payback. This is a long read, but honestly, if you haven’t the mind to read this far, then you probably haven’t the patience to go hauler pirating in high security space. Thanks for your time; and happy hunting!