Ganked!

[ECLIP5E]

I’ve been thinking about how to write this post for a while now because I know that feelings are strong about this topic on both sides of the coin. The great thing about ED is that we can choose our own paths. We can be explorers, traders, combat pilots, miners, pirates, or whatever we want really. Fdev has given us the freedom of choice and that’s the greatest gift in ED’s design IMO.

It’s a dangerous galaxy after all, and for me, it adds a certain element of excitement that I could be interdicted and ganked. I deliberately try to avoid shipping lanes, traveling in deep space. I also try to avoid busy systems as well. It’s not uncommon that I’ve encountered human commanders and most are peaceful. On rare occasion though, they’re hostile...

I’ve been ganked and lost my unarmed exploration ship more than once but honestly it doesn’t really bother me all that much. I always fly w rebuy and imo it’s a part of the game. Sometimes the “ganker” will engage in fun role playing like making me sing a song then let me go, other times I’ll get slaughtered within 5 seconds of interdiction (no idea how they killed me that fast that time but whatevs). Sometimes I’ll tell em to pound salt and try to escape before they can kill me. Sometimes I’ll dump my cargo and walk away alive. Often I’ll chat w them after and they send a friend request and invite me to their wing (I’m not really sure how that works but I prefer to play alone). What I’m saying is that it’s an interruption and it can be a problem if you don’t have enough credits on hand for rebuys but it’s part of what makes the game fun for me.

I’m gonna get some hate for saying this and that’s okay, we all have different play styles and I think Fdev is right to allow ganking. I also think it was a very smart move for them to set up the permit locked training zone or whatever it’s called for new commanders to learn the game in safety (although I’ve read a post that gankers created alt accounts just for this). For me, I stayed in solo for the first month of gameplay until I felt comfortable and after my first time being ganked I actually enjoyed the excitement of being prey. I can’t remember flying in solo since. o7

 

[Phisto Sobanii]

Great attitude, OP! Thanks for sharing it.

 

[Darthtool]

Frontier should adopt a points system for FSD interdictions, like Eve online. The mini-game is just annoying, some entrepreneuring engineer im sure could made an FSD reinforcement module that added resistances against fsd interdictor devices, enabling those with the utmost wish to avoid the gank the ability to fit a ship for safety at a sacrifice of something in the ships fit out..

to counter this the pirates would need to maybe be in a wing and double team one ship to overcome the resistances, so you wouldn't be 100% safe.

 

[Moriarte]

Sing a song, eh?

Spins up 5 multicannons

Dakkadakkadakka-dakka!!!

Great attitude, Eclipse! I’ve been there, making small steps, looking round the corner. Eventually initial awe with exploration, trade and progression worn out, so I did dive into a whole new world of warring tribes with grudges, conflicts and alliances.. ended up with a ton of new engineer/fighter friends and quite few episodes to remember.

 

[GeoJase]

Agreed OP.

I play Open 95% of the time, have been truly griefed (yanked out of SC and destroyed without warning carrying no valuable cargo) only once. Space in ED is pretty much padded with cotton-wool (ie its hard to die), so I need the occasional cat and mouse interaction with gankers to keep it spicy. Some better SC dynamics would improve the situation (cool running/stealth, Darthtool's suggestion, etc).

Most of the time, encounters with Cmdr's are more interactive and two-sided. I had one dude pull me over when I had a full hold of opals. After a brief chat it turned out he was just hunting a-holes, and let me go on my merry way. (I showed my wife the comms log to give her third party proof that I'm in fact not an a-hole )

 

[Schmack]

I get ganked by bugs, not goids just bugs in the game. They gank me, then they grief me, then they force me to combat log.

 

[Quantis Trap]

Doesn't the term "ganked" mean ganged up on in a massively unfair way? I think it implies that you were attacked by overwhelming odds instead of pirated in a game play sort of way. I think this word is probably used too often.

I don't believe you can every get "ganked" by NPCs. If you're not prepared for NPCs be them regular or bugs, it's your fault.

By my definition, I never like being ganked, but being challenged in a more honorable and fair way is quite fun some times.

 

[Captain Willard]

I haven't seen it in awhile but I remember being interdicted several times in a row by a wing of npc's.
I had my asp x interdicted by a wing of npc's in my home system on the way back from Sag A and destroyed me.
Hilarious. Never saw that coming.

 

[fireusi]

I been on the receiving end of this while i was stream live 3 days old at the time by guess who so not sure what the RULES are on this from FDEV but from twitch point of view stream sniping is a NO NO

But this player also goes around to other streamers and ask them if they are playing open or solo/group play then hunts them down just to get reactions then up loads them to places like youtube if he get good reactions so i seen and been told.

In one day while i was watching 4 streamers while gaming on my 4 screen set up he went to each one in turn and asked the above. So is this a harassment or not its kind of a gray area from Fdev's part as i could not find any thing but word of mouth and text from other streamers and viewers on the matter.

I like to see the rules on this matter also. As for NPC doing it i 1 run i was doing i got interdicted over ten time's but then i was running multipool missions and that was the main reason for it to happen fun thing was it was from the station to the planet on the outer ring of the system so a very short run.

But have notice that its ur in a type 9-10 just drop out of supercruise and boost away till you jump ( i found the best way ) reason for this is that even slowing right down to do interdicted mini game 9 out of ten time NPC win cuz u cant keep up with the movement of the interdicted escape route which is a little shocking when you think about it.

 

[Chaparral]

Ganking is fully within the game mechanics and is absolutely promoted with in game tools like snare and cripple gear and burst dps.

The question is why the only open instancing vehicle (allowing for player socialization with new people) embraces this structure.

FDEV could have learned from 20 years of mmos, and the various pve/pvp solutions that have evolved through thoughtful design and feedback loops.

They did not.

So now we have a niche game, with noob zone bandaides, ineffective C&P, and an endless cycle of players championing PVP only servers vs. having both PVE and PVP servers.

The numbers don't lie. Player retention is poor with ED. Ganking is certainly not the only reason for poor retention, but it is a contributing factor.

(If ganking wasn't a factor, we would never have seen noob zones.)

I am looking forward to ED 2.0, hoping for central servers of a variety of flavors, incorporating solutions that appeal to a broader audience.

I've been rolling around in the latest CG in Open for several days. Fighting in CZs over and over. I was instanced with a commander only one other time in a CZ. We were on opposite sides and completely ignored each other. It was weird. He was racking up kills for AX missiles, I was testing out a chieftain rail/MC build and scooping mats (lots of guardian stuff in USSs to go along with CZ mats). We could have fought each other I suppose, but what is the upside of PVP in this game? Is there ranking, rewards, skins? Just rebuys. In this CG its AX missiles vs. small fixed AX MCs - pretty meh as far as a pvp incentive. A game layer gate to improve access a single type of raid boss or scouts.

I can fully understand why players gank, this game lacks the rich range of pvp and wvw incentives found in other mmos. I hope FDEV gets out of their bubble and embraces what is possible.

 

[Aashenfox]

There's nothing more satisfying than doing something about it yourself

 

[S~P]

Oh, another 'gank' thread, no one ever wins this argument.

 

[Valorin]

I’ve been thinking about how to write this post for a while now because I know that feelings are strong about this topic on both sides of the coin. The great thing about ED is that we can choose our own paths. We can be explorers, traders, combat pilots, miners, pirates, or whatever we want really. Fdev has given us the freedom of choice and that’s the greatest gift in ED’s design IMO.

It’s a dangerous galaxy after all, and for me, it adds a certain element of excitement that I could be interdicted and ganked. I deliberately try to avoid shipping lanes, traveling in deep space. I also try to avoid busy systems as well. It’s not uncommon that I’ve encountered human commanders and most are peaceful. On rare occasion though, they’re hostile...

I’ve been ganked and lost my unarmed exploration ship more than once but honestly it doesn’t really bother me all that much. I always fly w rebuy and imo it’s a part of the game. Sometimes the “ganker” will engage in fun role playing like making me sing a song then let me go, other times I’ll get slaughtered within 5 seconds of interdiction (no idea how they killed me that fast that time but whatevs). Sometimes I’ll tell em to pound salt and try to escape before they can kill me. Sometimes I’ll dump my cargo and walk away alive. Often I’ll chat w them after and they send a friend request and invite me to their wing (I’m not really sure how that works but I prefer to play alone). What I’m saying is that it’s an interruption and it can be a problem if you don’t have enough credits on hand for rebuys but it’s part of what makes the game fun for me.

I’m gonna get some hate for saying this and that’s okay, we all have different play styles and I think Fdev is right to allow ganking. I also think it was a very smart move for them to set up the permit locked training zone or whatever it’s called for new commanders to learn the game in safety (although I’ve read a post that gankers created alt accounts just for this). For me, I stayed in solo for the first month of gameplay until I felt comfortable and after my first time being ganked I actually enjoyed the excitement of being prey. I can’t remember flying in solo since. o7

Well, we have different modes for that reason. Open Play is where others players can shoot you. It is known.
Doesn't change that people who shoot others for the fun of it are still infantile jerks, but well, no use to get upset about that. If you click "Open" you're Open.

That said, I'd love a "no PvP" button because I really like to be able to meet the community but still want to avoid the bad apples from Kindergarten.

 

[Reggit]

Fighting the Gankers (Or becoming one ) are the closest thing Elite has to an End Game IMO.
Private and Solo can guarantee anyones safety (more or less - those tricky NPC's eh?).....The threat of sudden and immediate death in open keeps the game alive for me.

I mean - PvP - no Cmdr was into PvP within days of buying the game - i was fodder for many a gank myself and i hated it! But for anyone who wants to play Elite for an extended period of time....really - players are the only proper threat and it would be soooooo boring without them....especially the baddies!

Anywho - agreed OP o7

 

[Midian Cabal]

I guess originally it came from abbreviating the 2 words "gang" and "killed", but nowadays most people use it without the gang nuance.

verb
INFORMAL•US
verb: gank; verb: ganked; gerund or present participle: ganking; 3rd person present: ganks; past participle: ganked

1. 
   take or steal (something).
   "if I have the money, I won't have to gank the books"
   • defraud or rob (someone).
     "they can take trade-ins of new releases and sell them for $55, essentially ganking the publishers"
2. 
   (in a video game) use underhand means to defeat or kill (a less experienced opponent).
   "that troll just ganked me"

Origin

 

[AndersSchm]

What is the ingame reward for the spawn campers? Yesterday I login lift off and am shot down immediately at Farseer Inc by 2 players, 24 hours later I am back at Farseer Inc and after taking off shot down by 3 players (inc 2 the same people).

I kind of see the point if I have cargo and want to see PvP/piracy/crime in the game but don't understand how the game system rewards shooting noobs on takeoff other than somebody is bored with the game so wants to ruin it for others?

 

[Midian Cabal]

What is the ingame reward for the spawn campers? Yesterday I login lift off and am shot down immediately at Farseer Inc by 2 players, 24 hours later I am back at Farseer Inc and after taking off shot down by 3 players (inc 2 the same people).

I kind of see the point if I have cargo and want to see PvP/piracy/crime in the game but don't understand how the game system rewards shooting noobs on takeoff other than somebody is bored with the game so wants to ruin it for others?

Have you ever played other PvP games? Maybe FPS? If yes, have you ever told to yourself: "This guy is obviously a noob newbie, I won't kill him"?

 

[Phisto Sobanii]

Well, we have different modes for that reason. Open Play is where others players can shoot you. It is known.
Doesn't change that people who shoot others for the fun of it are still infantile jerks, but well, no use to get upset about that. If you click "Open" you're Open.

That said, I'd love a "no PvP" button because I really like to be able to meet the community but still want to avoid the bad apples from Kindergarten.

Not understanding the rules of the game and then complaining about it in a thread about positive PvP experiences is pretty infantile.

 

[AndersSchm]

Have you ever played other PvP games? Maybe FPS? If yes, have you ever told to yourself: "This guy is obviously a noob newbie, I won't kill him"?

Yes in CS, DOTA, Rocket League or any PvP environment generally you'll be in the heat of the moment and beat whatever opponent is in front of you. It isn't so much that I'm a noob really - more so that I'm mass locked and have just spawned, nothing about it is fun or rewarding for either party beyond juvenile hijinks.

Most PvPs offer a range of player interactions- A) Good battles/contests with opponents B) Good teamworking with colleagues C) Grief/team killing/spawn camping/abuse

I'd like to continue with Open play as theoretically there is some A & B types of interaction out there but so far I've only seen C from ED.

 

[Villany]

I have just recently bought horizons, and I was "griefed" for the first time when I first visited Farseer. Right as I was landing, I noticed an FDL with weapons out hovering above, which set off some alarm bells, but I ignored them and proceeded to land, got rammed down to 66% in the process, but luckily the perp was wanted so the outpost defenses meant I lived.
Quick repair once docked, a few G1 and G2 rolls on my DBX, then took off to get some more mats. As I was leaving I got a ton of missiles dumped on me by a wingmate of the FDL Commander, they were waiting in stealth for someone to leave. I got destroyed, rebuy, and instead of being angry, I turned it into a game of wether I can escape these gankers in a barely engineered ship with paper shields.
What I ended up doing for the next attempt is carefully lift up just high enough for the masslock to go away, but still be well withing the no-fire zone, charge FSD while stationary, then high-wake. It felt soo good when I heard the missile warning, and I saw nothing but a huge swarm of missiles headed my way on the radar, but my FSD was almost charged, so all I had to do is boost and I jumped out.

This was the most fun I've had in a while playing Elite, I have kinda been hoping these griefers return so I can refine my strategies even further now that I invested in stronger shields, and have a little bit of engineering on them, and the entire ship.

How one percieves griefers depends a lot on what is at stake, when I got destroyed by NPC pirates in my paper Type 9 with ~150 Void Opals onboard after I refused to give them any, I just ragequit. (thats the reason I'm doing Painite2 in my Anaconda now, and not VO)
I can understand ppl being angry, but it can also be turned into fun gameplay if one is in the right mood.