The pests

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #8

This is my high-sec home. We're missioning, and salvaging and blowing up NPC's. The only problems are the pests. While other places have rats or roids, we have...

NINJAS.

That's right. They come into a mission and grab its loot. Floating junk all over the place, might as well use it, right? Well, you'd have thought that it was all they do. But when you look at their employment history and see a two year old pilot you realize they're usually up to something more. There's a reason why I don't really bother with them. First, let's see what they do and want you to do.

1. Scan down missioning ship. It's easy most of the time, because most missioning ships are battleships or no unscannable objects anyways.
2. Warp to mission area. Usually by the time you get a warpin, the owner had completed or tanked the first room.
3. Start salvaging wrecks. Since salvage won't flag you, the danger of CONCORD being spawned protects the salvager from the mission owner. Not that he could catch a frigate anyways.
4. Steal loot from mission runner. Criminal flag obtained, the ninja practically invites the mission owner to shoot him / her. And, ladies, gentlemen, and capsuleers, that's where the magic happens.
5. Kill mission runner.
6. Drink tears.

Now you may wonder how the fuck can part 5 happen. Easy. When you shoot at someone in low and high security space, they got 15 minutes to take revenge. That's more than enough for a witty capsuleer to jump your slow, undertanked battleship and beat the shit out of it. Not jsut that, but the whole corporation the ninja is in can attack you too, and they probably will if they're nearby. Also, by shooting at the precious loot you tried to protect, they can extend the timer further, so if you get the idea to dock up and wait for things to clear up, don't forget the timer.

So, what can be done to throw the sand of the sandbox back into the face of the 'bully'. Let's go through the list again:
1. Unscannable ship. Like a Tengu. Tradeoff is, it's expensive and gimped. You might just get ganked the other way by suiciders.
2 and 3. Use marauders. Skill-intensive, expensive, but fast in completing missions and also is able to get the loot from 40k away. Until then, you can shave off the frustation by letting go of wrecks. Some missions can be blitzed easily. Some might have bounties worth gunning for. But in overall, you can optimize your cheap insurable T1 battleship to do the job until you train up.
4. Dun shoot at no ninjaz. It's almost certain that they have something up their sleeve. If they realize you don't give a damn, they probably will go away. Or, take the loot. Watch for the mission objective though. Some objective items cannot be stolen, some can (those that can be bought over the market). Always obtain that first or leave the ship it is in alive if possible. Transporters are especially nice in this way because they even save you the trouble of approaching their wrecks.
5. You can build hybrid setups that can live with neuting and tank the other PVP ship (for example,a  hurricane). Fit war distruptor or warp scrambler. Omni-tank and carry various ammunition. Run if there are more than 1 BC's.  Usually can't tank them AND the mission. They will probably bring passive tanks and cheap stuff because of CONCORD. Be aware though that they are living off this, and generally have a better understanding of aggro mechanics. They can, for example bring logistics ships into the fight. High sec consensual, non-war PVP is more like, for example Lineage II than EVE. You have flags you have to watch. We've covered that few lines up.
6. If you got your ass kicked, don't get angry. They'll often convo you and try to piss you off. Disregard, answer with cool head, analyse. If you don't behave like a child whose toy was taken, there's a good chance they'll begin to respect you. It's a rare thing.

I keep telling myself I'm not some carebear. Truth is, I am. I just like to shoot at both red crosses and internet spaceships of pixel people. And yeah, I'm also trigger-happy. Sometimes I find myself cursing like
"Why the hell has highsec to be like this.. I want to shoot people out of the blue if I don't like them."
Then I realize that's jsut not EVE. In EVE, you either take the full risk, or let everything go as it goes.

Sessym out.