Page 50 - 26_Q1 3306
P. 50

ship will give you that list: make sure        1. It allows you to scan every ship be-
                                                                                you know how to do this. Check it for          tween the star and your destination
                                                                                any known troublemakers. There are             system. Now you know who is flying
                                                                                certain  commanders  who  are  no-             what  ship,  so  you  can  check  ships
                                                                                torious, and it will be helpful to you         for ‘wanted’ status (a sure sign of a
                                                                                to know who these people are, and              ganker), and you can check if ships
                                                                                whether  you’re  sharing  supercruise          have an FSD interdictor (another
                                                                                with  them.  You  don’t  need  to  scan        warning  sign).  Prioritise  scanning
                                                                                any ships to get this list.                    suspicious  ship types  like  Fer-de-
                                                                                                                               Lances or any other combat vessel.
                                                                                Step 3.
                                                                                Don’t fly in a straight line                   2. It means any ship in the shipping
                                                                                                                               lane would have to come out of the
                                                                                We covered this in Issue 24’s article          shipping lane and get behind you to
                                                                                ‘When a straight line isn’t shortest’,         interdict  you.  Most  gankers  won’t
                                                                                so the point won’t be laboured here.           bother  given  easier  targets,  and  if
                                                                                 However,  some  further  refine-              they do, it makes it easier to see on
                                                                                  ments to the ideas raised in this            your scanner.
                                                                                  article  should  be  introduced  at
                                                                                this point.                                    If you see  a  suspicious  ship head-
                                                                                                                               ing your way, consider dropping out
                                                                                Start out by flying in the opposite            of supercruise altogether to prevent
                                                                                direction, away from your destina-             the  possible  interdiction from  ever
                                                                                tion. Keep close to the star until the         happening. You’ll need to judge how
                                                                                star is directly between you and the           long to  remain  in normal  space, as
                                                                                destination  station  (and  therefore          if the suspicious ship is coming for
                                                                                the shipping lane, and probably most           you, no doubt they will try to drop in
                                                                                of the gankers) then fly directly away         on your low wake. You want to time
                                                                                from the star, with the station also           your exit to be happening just about
                                                                                directly behind you. Do this until you         this time. Keep a careful eye out and
                                                                                are past the orbit line for the planet         don’t  let  the  ship  you  saw  ever  get
                                                                                the destination station belongs                behind you.
                                                                                to. You may even want to go
                                                                                as  far  as  the  orbit  line                  Step 4.
                                                                                for the next planet                            Know your escape route
                                                                                out,  then  start
                                                                                following  this                                Despite  the  best  precautions,  at
                                                                                orbit line.                                    some point, you are going to be inter-
                                                                                                                               dicted — so you need a plan for when
                                                                                As  our  previous  article  explains,          this happens.
                                                                                this won’t be that costly in time, as
                       Just because you                                         — away from any planetary or stel-             The first and most paramount direc-
                       once evaded the                                          lar bodies — your supercruise speed            tive is never to try to evade an interdic-
                       police does not                                          will be very high. Any ganker will now         tion if it is a Pilots’ Federation member
                                                                                                                               interdicting  you.  If  you  see  a  hollow
                                                                                have to detach themselves from the
                       mean you can                                             shipping lane, and it  will  be  more          square on the scanner as the hostile
                       evade a ganker’s                                         obvious on your scanner if they are            that’s  interdicting  you,  immediately
                                                                                coming for you. The orbit line for the
                                                                                                                               throttle  to  zero  and  submit.  Firstly,
                       interdiction.                                            next planet out will also take you on          gankers spend all day interdicting peo-
                                                                                a curving trajectory, which will mean          ple. They know how to win an interdic-
                                                                                you’ll end up approaching your des-            tion and have plenty of practice at it.
                                                                                tination station from behind, and in           Secondly,  gankers  have  engineered
                                                                                the last third or so of your journey, as       FSD  interdictors,  far  better  than  any
                                                                                you begin to spiral in towards your            system  security  ship.  Just  because
                                                                                destination,  you  will  be  facing  the       you once evaded the police does not
                                                                                shipping  lane  and  any  ships  there.        mean you can evade a ganker’s inter-
                                                                                This does a couple of useful things:           diction.  If  you  don’t  submit,  you  will
                                                                                                                               be forcefully wrenched out of super-
                                                                                                                               cruise, and you will have to wait a long

    50    ISSUE 25 | q4 3305                                                                                                                                                                                           ISSUE 26 | q1 3306  51
   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55