Grismar's EVE Wiki : GateRunning

Gate Running

This article details strategies to detect, avoid and possibly get through (running) gatecamps.

On this page:

• Detecting gatecamps
  • Check the map
  • Borders and bottlenecks
  • Ask the locals
  • Using the scanner
• Avoiding gatecamps
  • Using the autopilot
  • Plan an alternative route
  • Using downtime
• Running gatecamps
  • Exit gatecamp
  • Entry gatecamp
    • Going to warp
    • Using a cloak
    • Tanking
    • Jamming
    • Running
  • Staying alive

Detecting gatecamps

If you can avoid a gatecamp, it's almost always preferrable to running it. Of course, you need to know where the camp is before you can avoid it.

Check the map

In the map (F10), you can set the display settings for stars to average pilots in space in the last 30 minutes or ships destroyed in the last hour. If you see some pilots in space in the system and a lot of ships have been destroyed in the last hour, this can be an indication of gate camping.

Check escape pods destroyed in the last hour to see if anyone was podded and pirate and police vessels destroyed last 24 hours, to see if the system is being hunted or has a lot of mission runners. Hunters or mission runners may account for some ship destruction, but they will never lose their pods, unless a player attacks them.

Borders and bottlenecks

Check if the system is a bottleneck or a border system. A bottleneck system is a system that you need to go through to avoid having to take a far longer route to get to the same target system. To check if a system is a bottleneck, plan a route from a system before it on your route to a system after it, using the EVE Navigator. Now, plan the same route, but tell the navigator to avoid that system. If the route is much longer, it's a bottleneck system.

Example: the route from Hasateem to Mendori goes from 4 jumps to 12 jumps if you avoid Nakah on that route. So, Nakah is a bottleneck system.

Border systems are systems with a security status of <0.5 with gates into >0.4 systems and systems with a security status of 0.0 with gates into >0.0 systems or vice versa. Rahadalon is such a system with an 0.4 security, leading into the 0.5 Mendori. Another example is Assah, which is an 0.3 system leading into an 0.0 system.

Note that border systems to 0.0 systems always come in pairs: the first 0.0 system and the system connected with it in Empire space. Usually, the lower the security of a system, the more likely it is to be camped, but remember that in some cases the gate being camped is the gate on the side of Empire.

Both low security bottlenecks and border systems are commonly camped.

Ask the locals

As obvious as it may seem, asking the locals or just watching conversation on the local channel may tell you a lot. Do note that asking on local will give you away to any allies of the campers in the system. You could try to start a conversation with someone you notice coming out of the gate you're about to jump through.

Using the scanner

Most of the gates are near some other celestial object. Warp to a planet nearby and scan the gate from there. This is a good way to detect gatecamps that are set up on your way out. But it may also give you a clue of a gatecamp on the other side of the gate. Many gate campers will have a scout sitting on or close to the gate on the incoming side.

Avoiding gatecamps

Once you've established that you're faced with a gatecamp, or you just don't want to take the risk with a specific gate, you may want to reroute and avoid the gatecamp altogether.

Using the autopilot

You can set the autopilot from the map (F10) screen, to avoid systems where pod killing has recently occurred, if this is the case. Or you can set it to prefer safer, so you will only travel through 0.5 and above. It's not always possible for the autopilot to find a new route though and it may come up with a route that takes a larger detour than needed, since you will be avoiding all podkill zones or all 0.4 and below.

Plan an alternative route

For this purpose, use the EVE Navigator or a similar tool to plan a route around the camped gate.

Using downtime

If you need to use a gate that's camped, you might consider running the camp right after downtime. Downtime occurs daily from 11:00 GMT to about 12:00 GMT. If you make sure you log in soon after the servers come back up, you stand a good chance of beating the campers to the gate. At the worst, the camp will have only just been set up and your chances of running it may improve as a result.

Running gatecamps

If you're positive you can't avoid a gatecamp, you can try running it. There are two distinct situations in this case. Running an exit gatecamp or an entry gatecamp. An exit gatecamp is a camp on the outgoing gate of the system you are trying to leave. An entry gatecamp is a camp in the incoming gate of the system you are trying to enter.

Exit gatecamp

Running an exit gatecamp isn't too much of a problem if you warp to zero at gate. Without them, it's virtually impossible unless you are in an extremely fast ship or a ship with a Covert Ops Cloaking Device II (i.e. a covert ops frigate or a recon cruiser).

Scan the gate before you warp towards it. If you detect any mobile disruptors like the Mobile Small Warp Disruptor I or an interdictor like the Heretic, warping in from a gate or station or even a planet is probably a bad idea. Any scouts watching their scanners will see you warping in and you will end up in a warp bubble, which will probably be a ways from the gate.

Note that if you do get caught and try to make it for the gate, you should not attempt to jam or otherwise fight the gatecampers. Doing so will prevent you from using the gate for a brief period of time, due to 'aggressive acts'.

For gates that you regularly use and that are often camped, it pays to have special bookmarks to bypass a gatecamp. Create a bookmark far from the gate (2000+ km) in a direction where there are no gates, stations or planets. Then warp to zero at the gate from the first bookmark.

Entry gatecamp

Once you jump into a system with an entry gatecamp, you're committed to that course of action. You cannot jump back into the system where you started, since you will enter the system at exactly 15km from the gate in a random direction.

You will enter the system automatically cloaked (you don't need a module for this) which will last about 20 seconds. During this time, gatecampers will know you have entered the system at their gate, since they noticed the gate flash and they can now see you on the local channel. However, they won't know where you are, relative to the gate.

Going to warp

To go to warp, you need to satisfy 2 conditions: you need to attain 3/4 of your ship's maximum speed and you need to be headed straight for your warp target. Not that installing modules like 1MN Afterburner I that will increase your maximum speed won't help, since you will still need to get to 3/4 of the new maximum speed. Conversely, pilots trying to web you with modules like Stasis Webifier I won't stop you from going to warp, since they are reducing your maximum speed.

(Note that in some cases, fitting afterburners may help, if the total weight added to the ship is less of a factor than the added thrust. But in general, it won't. Read more in the article on afterburners.)

Instead, fit modules like Nanofiber Internal Structure I. Remember though that these modules take up slots that might have been used for Warp Core Stabilizer I or even Damage Control I (or their named or Tech II counterparts).

Using a cloak

To get away from the camp using a cloak do the following:

• visually locate your warp target;
• start movement by double clicking space close to the target and immediately activate your cloaking module;
• prepare for starting the warp while your ship is turning;
• as soon as your ship is lined up with the warp target turn off the cloak and start the warp;

Your ship will still need to accelerate to 3/4 speed after you turn off the cloak, since cloaking reduces your maximum speed significantly. Also, when you first move and activate the cloak, you will be visible to the campers for about 2 seconds (no matter how fast you cloak). They will move to your location and try to decloak you with fast ships or drones circling their ships. If anything gets within 2000m of your ship while cloaked, the cloak is deactivated. Watch for this and start the warp as soon as it happens.

Tanking

As soon as you start to accellerate to go to warp, the campers will try to lock, scramble and hit you. You can prevent (some) scrambling with Warp Core Stabilizer I but using spare midslots to fit a shield tank is probably wise.

Jamming

Another use for midslots might be jammers, though you have to realize that you need to have a lock before you can jam someone. Only ECM Burst I will actually jam unlocked opponents at close range. But be careful with these, as you may hit 'innocent' targets nearby. In Empire, this will get you either a security hit or CONCORD killing you.

Running

There is always the tactic of speed. Especially useful with frigates and cruisers, fit the lows with 3 Overdrive/ Nanofiber Internal Structure I modules and a MWD (1MN for frigates and 10MN for cruisers). Overdrives are the best for increasing the base speed. Nanofiber Internal Structures give a moderate speed increase in addition to decreasing the time required to both obtain optimal speed and begin warp out. Avoid fitting armor plates or other modules which slow the ship down. The running tactic is to simply MWD out of the bubble (in 0.0) and away from the tackling ships. If they get a tackle on you, then try to outrun them to get out of their tackling range. Lastly, warp to a safespot when able. If you warp in to a gate camp, you have to options: punch through or retreat. The retreat option is the safest, because you don't have to close distance with the gate campers. To retreat, align to a planet or double click in the direction of a safe spot bookmark with MWD on, get out of the bubble (in 0.0), and warp away. To punch through the gatecamp, MWD to the gate. Keep in mind that getting too close to ships allows warp scram modules to kill your MWD and leave you moving very slow, so going in to a gate can be very risky. Approaching a gate forces you to move in a single direction regardless of the locations of the gate campers, and usually that direction is toward them.

Also, if there are interceptors, then you will not likely outrun them, but your MWD can buy you enough time to align and warp out before the interceptor moves close enough to tackle you; your speed creates distance which the interceptor must cross in order to intercept you. MWD away from the interceptor by aligning to the object or bookmark opposite his direction for the most time available for aligning and warping.

Staying alive

Once you've successfully passed a gatecamp, you need to make sure nobody is following you. Gatecampers don't appreciate getting outwitted by 'care bears' that refuse to fight and they are likely to follow you. Any camper that turns on their tactical overlay will have a very good idea of where you warped off to. And if they are in interceptors, their 9.0 AU warp speed may mean they actually arrive there before you do.

Try to warp to the target within an unpredictable range (i.e. not 15km) to avoid being caught by interceptors straightaway. If you arrive before the enemy does, immediately cloak if you can and if you're unsure whether you have the time to warp off unseen. If you can, warp off unseen to another location.

In systems you travel often and that are likely to have hostiles, it pays to have bookmarks inbetween the gates. These locations will allow you to scan the gate without requiring you to warp to (potentially dangerous) locations like planets and they make a good location to warp to when running a gate camp. Read more about this in AdvancedBookmarking.



You have to be aware that campers may have scan probes along though. And since they probably know what you are in and where to look for you it may be only minutes before they find you. So make sure you keep moving all the time.

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Current EVE version: 2.09.3913 (Bloodlines)