Since I'm painfully grinding my security status back from below -5 to a level that allows me to PVP properly, I thought it would be a good time to talk a little about Security Status. (Even if it is broken)
Security Status is what you get for killing NPC's and what you lose for killing Players. Thus creating a system that punishes PVP with restrictions and disadvantages.
What Disadvantages?
- Players with -2.0 or below can't enter 1.0 systems
- Players with -2.5 or below can't enter 0.9 systems
- Players with -3.0 or below can't enter 0.8 systems
- Players with -3.5 or below can't enter 0.7 systems
- Players with -4.0 or below can't enter 0.6 systems
- Players with -4.5 or below can't enter 0.5 systems
Entering these systems when your sec is too low will result in you being chased and potentially killed by the Navy (not Concord).
It's still possible to get most ships through these systems but only if you move quickly.
Go below -5.0 and you are a permanent Criminal, which means you can be shot by anyone anywhere. You are Flashy and PVP + Travel just got very very annoying.
The solution? Get a hauling alt and live in low sec while you watch your Sec Status drop to -10.
But that's all very very annoying and in my opinion a very BIG mistake on CCP's part.
Low Sec is dead for two reasons... First, there's nothing there worth getting and second, PVP is punished severely in low sec. Having to Rat for 1 to 2 hours in Null Sec to rebuild enough Sec Status to cancel out one low sec kill is TOO MUCH.
Let's get back to mechanics...
How do you get Security Status Penalties?
By Attacking a player ship, Killing a Player Ship, Killing a POD (Big Drop in Sec there), or even killing a player owned item or structure (jet can, POS) while in a system besides Null Sec.
Further the severity of the sec hit is based on the security of the system you are in when you commit a criminal offense. Killing a Player Ship in a 0.1 has a MUCH lower penalty than in a 1.0 system (which will get you concorded on top of the sec hit).
Basically if you like to PVP and you don't keep ALL your PVP in Null Sec, you are punished with hours and hours of ratting to repair it.
But what's the fastest way to repair your Security Status?
In a very early article I did for this website I teach the secret for gaining security status at a faster speed by using the games mechanics to your favor. Usually people try to sit in one system and mission or rat for hours on end to raise their security status, but this is a very slow way to do it. In the end these people end up only getting one security status increase every 15 minutes, and that increase is only based on the highest bounty NPC the player has killed in that 15 minutes. It is NOT a combination of all rats killed over the 15 minutes.
So the Mechanics are:
- You can only get one security status increase per system per 15 minutes (each system has it's own 15 minute timer)
- You only get an increase for the highest bounty NPC you kill in that 15 minutes
Based on this the fastest way to increase your security status is to get a ship with high DPS output, that can easily navigate Null Sec safely, does the proper damage types for the resident NPC rats, and then find a "loop" in null sec.
By loop I mean a stretch of 5 or more systems that form a circle (Dot-Lan is great for this). Next jump system to system, killing one NPC battleship in each system, and repeat. Then repeat again and again and again, until you want to start crushing your mouse into your head.
For more information on this see my How to raise your security status article
Also... For good Ninja Ratting ship information check out: Stealth Bombers: The Ultimate Ninja Ratters
Finally, keep in mind this will all change a little in the upcoming Retribution expansion. CCP has decided to front load security status hits, AND remove the distinction between "attacking a player" and "killing a player" meaning that you will get the full sec hit for killing a player even if you just Jam him or Web him to escape. (hopefully they back away from this before release)
My advice is to get your security up before this patch because as you will see in my next article, PVPers may have something new to do in high sec after Retribution is released.
Totally agree, Low-sec Security Status is stupid, at best. Getting sec status hits and GCC for blowing up wreaks, gotta love CCP.
Do you think making sec status increases a combination of all the rats killed in a 15 minute period would help to alleviate some of the problem?
Yes, it would because you could rack up a lot in that time by doing missions, plexes, or anomalies.
That’s what I was thinking. It makes sense to me (keeping in mind I’m relatively new) that one act of aggression on a ship should be equal to NO MORE than 15 minutes of repairing sec status, especially with this front-loading idea. Of course podding should still be heavily penalized, and I could see it being more reasonable to have to rat for an hour or so to negate that action.
I was thinking about Low-sec and sec status hits in the context of FW. While I agree low sec isn’t just for FW players I do think the majority of players are in FW. With that in mind it seems reasonable that if you are part of the Militia and you destroy a non-FW vessel in low sec then this could be seen as defending the area and so you should receive a smaller (or none?) hit on sec status. This does a few things, 1) Increases the recruitment rate into the Militia. 2) Plays nicely into the FW idea of defending space. 3) Reduces the number of “accidental pirates”. This could be balanced based on who currently holds the system, i.e. as a Matari FW pilot defending Matari space the sec status hit is reduced, where as destroying a non-FW vessel in the opposing sides space gives the full sec status hit. Just a though (may post this on eveo!).
Awesome post. makes coming back from suicide ganks with my corp a lot easier.