Ninja 101 (Part 2: The Bait Ship)

In this guide I try to explain how to ninja without failing and hopefully without inspiring too many new ninjas because then I might be out of work =P

Part 2: The Bait Ship

This is probably the most complicated part of being a Ninja, for you will need a ship that can:
a) Invoke the wrath of the unsuspecting carebear
b) Tank said carebear and possible support
c) Point and Web the carebear and possible support
d) Pop the drones of the carebear as they are your biggest threat aside from friends in PvP ships
e) Keep up with the carebear (I've had an MWD Legion nearly escape me because he was 40 m/s faster than me and out of web range when he shot me)  Speed is CRUCIAL

The Popular Ninja Bait Ships and How to Fit Them

That said, your best bet is probably the Jaguar as it has T2 Resists, High Speeds and adequate DPS.  It also looks a good deal like its T1 counterpart the Rifter so it may also be mistaken at first sight.  Your Fit should look something like this:

High Power:
3x 125mm Gatling AutoCannon II
1x Salvager I

Medium Power:
1x Warp Disruptor II
1x Stasis Webifier II
1x 1MN Afterburner II
1x Medium Shield Extender II

Low Power:
1x Damage Control II
2x Power Diagnostic System II

Rig Slot:
2x Small Core Defence Field Extender I

Estimated Cost: 25 Million ISK

This thing will pretty much tank any mission runner(s) that does not have a web.  I have lost 1 Jaguar out of the 100's of people who have shot me and that was to a Rattlesnake with Dramiel support (web + webbing drones).  It is an effective ship, quite fun to fly and an excellent ninja ship.

Now there are alternatives to the Jaguar.  The next most popular bait ship that I have seen is the Ishkur.  It is effective, but a bit more fragile than a Jaguar or Harpy.  Fitting should like this:

High Power:
2x Light Ion Blaster II
1x Small Diminishing Power System Drain I
1x Salvager I

Medium Power:
1x Gistii B-Type 1MN Afterburner
1x x5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
1x Faint Warp Disruptor I

Low Power:
1x Damage Control II
1x Coreli C-Type Small Armor Repairer
1x Armor Explosive Hardener II

Rig Slot:
1x Small Anti-Explosive Pump I
1x Small Anti-EM Pump I

Drones:
5x Warrior II
Xx Logistic Drones For Aiding and Abetting Fellow Ninjas

Estimated Cost: 60 Million ISK

This fit is recommended for those of you who wish to use a Gallente Assault Frigate rather than a minmatar one.

For those of you who have a little more ISK or a little more gumption, the Worm is also an excellent choice of ship.  However, as I said before, its cost can run into the hundreds of millions (I know a ninja who has lost 2 worms, each worth over 600 Million ISK).  Here is my fit:

High Power:
2x Rocket Launcher II
1x Salvager I

Medium Power:
1x Republic Fleet Warp Disruptor
1x Federation Navy Stasis Webifier
1x Medium Shield Extender II
1x 1MN Afterburner II

Low Power:
2x Power Diagnostic System II
1x Damage Control II

Rig Slot:
3x Small Core Defence Field Extender II

Drones:
5x Warrior II
5x Light Shield Maintenance Drone I

Estimated Cost: 340 Million ISK

The Worm is fun to fly and can seriously ruin any carebear's day.  It's cost is also a factor in getting shot, as carebear's may wish to ruin YOUR day by trying to kill you and blow up your 70+ million ISK ship. 

Hianmar's Bait Ship (of choice):

I personally find that the Harpy is the best assault ship and bait ship in my Orca (I also have a Jaguar and a Worm in there).  It's high DPS (184 with my skills) and sturdy tank, coupled with its decent speed capabilities and low volume make it an excellent Orca based baiting ship.  Here is my fit:

High Power:
4x Light Ion Blaster II
1x Salvager I

Medium Power:
1x Warp Disruptor II
1x 'Langour' Drive Disruptor I
1x 1MN Afterburner II
1x Medium Shield Extender II

Low Power:
1x Damage Control II
1x Power Diagnostic System II

Rig Slot:
2x Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I

Estimated Cost: 22 Million ISK

That pretty much covers the topic of baiting ships.  If you have any questions or comments, please add them below and I will get back to them ASAP. 

Part 3: Gank Ships coming soon

Ninja 101 (Part 1: Overview and Scanning)

I'm bored and my internet is being too uncooperative to play EVE so I thought I'd start a guide to everything in EVE that I know how to do, starting with ninjaing.  I know I'm not gonna get called out by my corp-mates because, lets face it, not that many people read this blog at the moment.  Anyway, mylootyourtears.com gets more hits and Khalia, Paul and Aiden give everything away!  So here goes:

Ninja 101 Overview

This guide is going to be a multi-part, mostly complete overview of the art of the Ninja Salvager.  This introduction piece will hopefully tell you which skills you will wish to train so that you are optimized for Hunting, Baiting and Killing your targets.

Part 1: Scanning

Scanning is probably one of the most essential skills for a ninja to have, crucial if they want to operate solo.  Scanning is not just task that requires Skill Points, but it also requires a real finesse and eye for scanning marks as well as knowledge of how to set up, resize and manage probes.  Since the release of Incarna, it has also been exponentially harder to scan in EVE.  This means you need every advantage you can get, so train all your support skills to the recommended level [RL: __] shown below next to the skill name.  You should also look into some implants if you plan on ninja-ing regularly, or at least scanning regularly.

Essential Skills to Train:
Astrometrics [RL:IV] Increases maximum number of probes by 1 per level, max probes 8 at level 5
Astrometric Pinpointing [RL:IV] Reduces Max. Scan Deviation by 10%
Astrometric Acquisition [RL:IV] 10% Reduction in Scan Time per level
Astrometric Rangefinding [RL:IV] 10% Increase in Scan Probe Strength per level
Covert Ops [RL:IV] Skill at using covert ops ships, gives a bonus to scanning
Racial Frigate of Choice to Level V Allows use of a covert ops ship, winmatar is optimal for Orca as it is the smallest covert ops ship.  Also allows easy training to Jaguar assault ship for baiting.

Implants:
[Slots 1-6:] Low-Grade Virtue Set Pros: Greatly increases scan probe strength.  Cons: Cost (1.6 Billion ISK), low attribute enhancement (only +2 points)
[Slot 6:] Hardwiring - Poteque Pharmaceuticals 'Prospector' PPF-1 or PPF-2 Reduces Max Scan Deviation by 6% or 10%
[Slot 7:] Hardwiring - Poteque Pharmaceuticals 'Prospector' PPG-1 or PPG-2 Reduces Scan time by 6% or 10%
[Slot 8:] Hardwiring - Poteque Pharmaceuticals 'Prospector' PPH-1 or PPH-2 Increase Scan strength by 6% or 10% 

Items:
Covert Ops Ship: Cheetah, Helios, Buzzard and Anathema are all covert ops ships, a must have for any ninja.
Combat Probes and Expanded Probe Launcher: Allows you to scan down ships
Sister's Scanner and Combat Probes: Grants additional bonuses to scan strength, not as necessary for the average ninja, especially the probes.  Launcher is always a plus.


Technique:

Your scanning technique will depend a great deal upon your skills and implants.  I currently don't have implants or great skills, but here is the technique taught to me by another ninja who is an excellent scanner (can scan a system at a rate to keep 2-3 active ninja's happy + self).  He has all the recommended skills and the prospectors (cannot afford virtue set) along with a covert ops ship and sisters probes/launcher.

Here is the ideal layout:

Click to Embiggen

From this position, you will probably not get a direct 100% hit on any ship unless it is a marauder or some MWDing battleship.  For the most part you will have to move your probes (press and hold shift while left clicking  and dragging on any of the arrows) along the x, y, and z axis; resize (click a probe in scanning window, hit "control" + "a" and right click to resize); and move your formation inwards or outwards ("alt" and left click on any of the arrows and drag mouse) so that you have an overlap once more in the middle of your formation.

It is fairly straightforward once you get the hang of it, but play around and start to learn the little tags (The boxes on the overview are the same as in scanning) and what size ship the correspond to.  Also, you may wish to adjust your filters so that you can skip over certain ships.  I personally avoid industrials and barges, but that's me.

This same technique can be used to scan down anything else, provided that you change your probes (core probes for looking for things like wormholes and exploration sites).  Learning to scan opens up a whole (hehe... cause you can find wormholes) new dimension to EVE giving you lucrative new careers to pursue.

Part 2: Baiting coming soon


.