I Ain’t Givin’ You No Tree-Fifty: AFK Cloakers & Defenses

Welcome to the final (maybe) edition of the AFK Cloaker series.  In the first blog post I did a smallintroduction to the phenomenon of AFK Cloakers.  In the second blog post I discussed types of AFK Cloakers and their “methods of operation.”  In this third blog I will cover ways to protect yourself against AFK Clokers and things to keep in mind when you’re out in Null Sec.

As always, I’ll insert my little disclaimer that I am not the end all, be all of this subject.   I do hope to give some sage advice as well as highlight some points of common sense.  Hopefully after reading the article you will feel a little more enlightened and embowered to venture out… and not loose your ass while doing it.

Vigilance is Your Friend.

Like many things, the best person to count on is yourself.  Then again, sometimes we are our own greatest enemy when it comes to protecting our assets.  Complacency and over confidence play a major part in players getting caught by AFK Cloakers.  The sad reality is that these losses are completely avoidable.  Keep your eyes and ears open and stay aware of your surroundings.  Don’t get lazy or fall in to patterns no matter how safe you feel.  These are the kind of behaviors that AFK Clokers look for and seize opportunity on.  Don’t let yourself become a kill board statistic. 

Use the Tools Available to You.

As a former alliance leader and a current member of a Null Sec alliance, I hear the same complaints all the times.  “Another in-game/ts/mumble/etc channel?  Don’t we have enough yet?”  Yes I understand that having 5 in-game intel channels, 2 TS3’s, 1 mumble, 4 Jabbers, 2 IRCs and a pigeon coup for messenger birds can be incredibly annoying, but… these tools will save your ship, your pod and your ego.  Not only do they offer you intel of surroundings areas as well as your immediate local, but they are also a venue you for you report intel and scream like a nub when you get tackled by an AFK Cloaker.  Vast communication options can be obnoxious, but they are essential to survival.

Here a Scout, There a Scout.

If you have a second account (or third, fourth, fifth) then there is no reason for you not to have a scout.  Scouts are one of the biggest life savers in EVE Online and soooo many people do not use them.  Blind jumping is the most terrible, stupid, brain thing you could ever do.  If you ever have the inclination to blind jump, just send me a convo and I’ll come blow you up myself with the added bonus of me stealing your crap and then mocking you while posting my Hello Kitty ACSII image in local.  Of course there are some situations where all you can do is blind jump… like not having any alts. 

If you do not have an alt, never fear.  There is a second option for you.  Make friends!  3 of 4 EVE Online players have alts.  If you’re nice to your corp and alliance mates, they might be nice enough to do some scouting for you.  Hell, they might even let you know some secret uber pocket where they’re stashed off and already have an alt.  Not being a douche to the people you fly with does have it’s advantages.

Location, Location, Location.

Where you choose to do your operations can either be a blessing or a curse.  Use tools like Dot Lan to find areas of operation that work for you.  I would recommend using the following guidelines:

• Stay near or in friendly space
• Find a single piped pocket where you can easily place a scout
• Avoid systems that connect constellations and regions
• Find systems that have low jump count and rat kills within a 24 hour period
• Avoid staging systems

That’s all I have for you at the moment New Eden.  I hope these few tips and things to remember will help you see a little less red on your killboard.  As an added bonus, a few weeks (maybe months) a go, I did an EVE Online: Question of the Day on Twitter.  The question was:

@Arydanika: So I'm curious #TweetFleet How do you deal with AFK Cloakers when playing #EveOnline? #EOQoTD

Needless to say I got some interesting responses.  So to close out this post, I’m going to leave with you some final thoughts gained from the combined wisdom and trolling of #TweetFleet

@ibrahas
@Arydanika As often as not I am the AFK cloaker. It is passive tear extraction. I smile at work knowing someone is crying at my afk alt.

@stevietopsiders
@Arydanika BattleRorq minmatar.co.uk/killboard/?a=k… #tweetfleet

@SharksInSpace
@Arydanika: Skiff with a point and friends. Transport ships (like the Mastadon) can also work for this bait. #tweetfleet #eveonline

@Ikeo58
@BuckyOhair @arydanika pt a drag bubble up 150 away from what your doing and carry on as normal or afk cloaky falcon #tweetfleet

@Khanhrhh
@Arydanika after living in WH space for a few months, you realise how pathetic AFK cloaker whine is and move on #tweetfleet

@BuckyOhair
I am the AFK cloaker MUHAHAHA RT @Arydanika: So I'm curious #TweetFleet How do you deal with AFK Cloakers when playing #EveOnline? #EOQoTD

@bel_amar
@Arydanika I live in a WH. I find complaints about AFK cloakers amusing. It's like people complaining that EVE is too hard for them #EOQoTD

@eclipticrift
@bel_amar @Arydanika I learned to abuse D-scan living in W-space. So until I see probes, I don't worry about them.

@rulesaremyenemy
@Arydanika Use killboards to find his active times and what he brings to the party (cyno bridging/cap drops), then set up a trap.

AFK Cloaker Series:

I Ain't Givin' You No Tree-Fitty: Intro to AFK Cloakers

I Ain't Givin' You No Tree-Fitty: Meet the Cloakers Pt 1
I Ain't Givin' You No Tree-Fitty: AFK Cloakers & Defenses

I Ain't Givin' You No Tree-Fitty: Meet the Cloakers Pt 1

So after a month of doing everything else I could possibly think of, I’m here to unleash the second installment of the Tree-Fitty: AFK Cloaker Series.  What can I say?  I’ve been a busy lady over the past month, but that’s a different blog post.

In this article I’m going to zero in on three distinct types of AFK Cloakers and their tactics personally observed.  Now this is not the definitive article on AFK Cloakers by any means.  Still I hope that the article will help you, my darling reader, be more aware and knowledgeable on how to deal with these menaces to space society. 

--------------------

Mr. Snipe

The snipe is one of the more dangerous types of AFK Cloakers.  I refer to them snipes because they usually pick off one ship at time and then go back to be dormant.  Their tactics force them to rely on the complacency of system in habitants.  Of course this means that their kills are easily preventable.

Method of Operation:

They are the kind that suddenly appear in the system, go inactive and remain inactive for an undetermined amount of time.  What they are really doing is biding their time and waiting for the system inhabitants to go back to their normal routine of hauling or ratting.  When they find a suitable target; they will strike quickly only going for the one kill and then disengaging before assistance can arrive. 

Primary Ship Type:

T3’s, Cloaky Sabre

Primary Targets:

Single targets, usually hauling or PvE ships.

Where they attack:

Gates, Belts, Anomalies & Signatures

Party Animal

The Party Animal is the jackass of all AFK Cloakers.  As the name suggests, they enjoy the company of others and usually en masse.  In fact, they enjoy the company of others so much that they like to fit cynos and then hot drop the hell out of people.  The truly sad thing is that this tactic works… repeatedly.  How ever they are also usually the easiest to get away from due to the amount of things the AFK Cloaker needs to coordinate in order to achieve “op success.”

Method of Operation:

This AFK Cloaker looks not only for targets of opportunity, but also targets with a large pay off.  This is because they are not the only ones seeking a kill mail and they need to make sure the quarry is worth it for all involved.  These types will usually show themselves and attempt to get the intended target to aggress prior to lighting the cyno and jumping the rest of the fleet in. 

Primary Ship Type:

Anything that can fit a cloak and cyno, usually T3’s & Cov Ops

Primary Targets:

Single Targets of ‘Merit’ (ie ratting carriers/ faction battleships), Small and Medium Gangs

Where they Attack:

Gates, Repair Ops, Anomalies, Signatures, Safe Spots

Can-Can

Out of the three, The Can-Can is the most obnoxious.  This is the one that sits in local, cloaks and then proceeds to never shut the hell up.  At anytime you can find them sperging away with rants, personal taunts, porn links, ASCII code and anything else to cause disruption and gain attention.

Method of Operation:

This type of AFK Cloakers wants you to notice them, but probably not for the reasons you think.  Yes by making their presence known most hauling & PvE will end instantly, but this is not the main goal.  Each time they start ranting in local, they’re actually conditioning the system inhabitants.  They will start up and end around the same time and the pattern will repeat day after day.  That is until at some point in time, a time when they aren’t usually active, they find a nice juicy victim.  It’s usually the guy in TS saying, “Oh, they’re never around at this time” as he undocks his Nightmare.

Primary Ship Type:

T3’s and Cov Ops

Primary Targets:

Anything expensive

Where they Attack:

Anywhere

Hopefully this second installment of the Tree-Fitty: AFK Cloakers has given you a little more insight in to the subject as well as some things to think about.  Keep in mind that this article only covers 3 tactics and I’m positive there are more out there (especially since I thought of a few as I was writing the article).  For the rest of the articles in the series, check the link below.

AFK Cloaker Series:

I Ain't Givin' You No Tree-Fitty: Intro to AFK Cloakers

I Ain't Givin' You No Tree-Fitty: Meet the Cloakers Pt 1
I Ain't Givin' You No Tree-Fitty: AFK Cloakers & Defenses

I Ain't Givin' You No Tree-Fitty: Intro to AFK Cloakers

In a previous blog, The Little Noctis That Could, I touched on the subject of AFK Cloakers.  This is a subject that is every pilot in Null Sec is familiar with in one way or another.  Any pilot that has been in a particular area of space for any extended period time has been on the receiving end of the services of an AFK Cloaker.  Most experienced pilots with an alt, and even some without, have had the pleasure of being on the giving end. 

In this particular installment of the I Ain’t Givin’ You No Tree-Fitty Series, I’m going to discuss AFK Cloakers, Methods of Operation and Solutions which will be presenting in three different blog posts.  I might even throw in some more stories if I catch wind of something interesting.  Now this isn’t suppose to be an end all be all definitive report.  I’m not anyway near BOV status to rightful write those.  However, this blog will be an overview on the topic, a collection of my thoughts on the subject and should anyone leave comment it might even turn into a discussion.  Now before we get in to the heavy stuff, I’d like to lead off with a little humor.

AFK Cloakers are Literally The Herps

No.  I really mean it.  Follow me here.  One day you're minding your own business say scanning down sigs, mining or whatever gets you off.  You're having a good time and everything is going well.  Then all of a sudden, out from nowhere, they appear in local.  You don’t know where they came from.  You don't know how they got there.  To top it all off, it doesn't look like they're leaving and you’re stuck dealing with something you didn’t want in the first place. 

So you go back to your pals.  You ask a couple of hypotheticals.  They respond with how they really aren't qualified to answer, but personally they wouldn't screw around with that sort of thing.  Push comes to shove and you decided to wait it out a little bit putting you in a very comfortable situation. 

Then all of a sudden one day they're gone; poof just like it's freaking magic.  You figure you're in the clear and go back to doing what it you usually do.  Everyone’s having a good time again.  Everything's going well and you're enjoying yourself.  Then right in the middle of something really good... guess who decides to come rearing their fugly little head?

What is an AFK Cloaker?

The simplest definition that I can come up with is this: An AFK Cloaker is a pilot that enters in to a hostile system and stays cloaked up in space for an indefinite period of time in an effort to grief the system inhabitants.

As a whole, I consider AFK Cloakers to be a subset of the Exploration Profession.  While their main tactic and purpose are all the same, some employ different methods to ‘handle their business.’  When it comes to AFK Cloakers I’ve seen Nuisance Cloakers, Hot Drop Cloakers and Bait Cloakers.  There might be others out there, but these are the ones that appear prevalent.

Purpose in Flight

The AFK Cloaker’s purpose is to disrupt the activity in the enemy pocket while observing the activity of the hostiles and creating potential kill mails.  It is important to note that the order of goals. 

Primary: Disrupt activity

Secondary: Observe Enemy Activity

Tertiary: Potential Kills

Most tend to set their base of operations in heavily populated systems that boast a great deal of industrial activity.  It’s pretty easy for them to pick their targets using tools like DOTLAN.  They’ll find their target and research which systems are owned by the target.  Review the number of jumps in system and cross references that with statics for rat kills and mining levels.  Then volia, you can reasonably ascertain the best systems to set up shop.  Setting up in locations like these makes achieving the primary goal incredibly easy for the first few days.  Those inhabiting the system with instantly safe up or dock once they have intel of the hostile coming to the system or once they see the hostile in system with them. 

Once the AFK Cloaker is in system, they are easily able to observe the activity of the system inhabitants.  Most AFK Cloakers use either a T2 or T3 cloaking ship which enables them to warp freely with their cloaks on at all times.  Most will use their time to watch stations and gates and collect intel on POS’s.  They also have the means to gather intel on the system inhabitants activities like; typical roams/op deployment times and who flys what kinds of ships.

After a few days of being continually logged in system, human nature will start to take effect.  The system’s inhabitants will become complacent which is the WORSE thing anyone could do when dealing with an AFK Cloaker.  You’ll see or hear people in corp/alliance comms saying the AFK Cloaker hasn’t been active (but how do they really know since they’re cloaked?) or ‘they’re never on at this time because that player is so-and-so time zone or a plethora of other piss poor excuses why it’s okay to carry on as if it’s business as usual.  Right around this time someone will inevitably get hot dropped/caught in a belt/caught in an anomaly/ [insert other terrible reason to loose ship here]. 

Once a pilot (and those that rush out to help them only to be slaughtered like sausage sliding into a grinder) goes down to the AFK Cloaker, complacency will be replaced with vigilance.  At this point it becomes a wash, rinse and repeat cycle.  The only way the cycle usually ends is if someone mounts an actual offense against the AFK Cloaker to forcibly remove them from system or they just get bored and leave on their on accord.  The system inhabitants will regain solace and activity will pick up… until the next AFK Cloaker comes.

Features Working as Intended

Now there are some that feel this type of game play is unfair or unbalanced.  Like this pilot. Really it’s not.  All pilots have access to cloaking technology.  If a pilot trains the correct skills, anyone in game can have an account with AFK Cloaking ability.  There’s also the fact that cloaks are the solution to dealing with probes, so taking away cloaks would actually cause more imbalance.  There are also ways to combat AFK Cloakers, it just takes a lot of planning, hard work and effort.  These things make AFK Cloaking a viable play style option within Eve Online game mechanics.  If you don’t like it, you’ll probably have to leave Null Sec to get away from it as Null Sec was never meant to be 100% safe.

I should probably throw in a HTFU in here, too.

AFK Cloaker Series:

I Ain't Givin' You No Tree-Fitty: Intro to AFK Cloakers

I Ain't Givin' You No Tree-Fitty: Meet the Cloakers Pt 1
I Ain't Givin' You No Tree-Fitty: AFK Cloakers & Defenses