Ninjering 101: Fearless

Ninjering 101 covers basic techniques that all ninjas should master. Stuff like using scan probes, fitting a salvage ship and rudimentary combat. And not talking in local. Please. Never talk in local. This one is about not being afraid of getting your ship blown up.

Baby's first kill

When I took my first steps on the path to hilarity, I started asking for fitting advice on kill ships in the Ninja Dojo public chat channel. I got some fits linked to me and noticed a lot of T2 modules. It would take me months to train for all that. Wide-eyed, I asked: "Can I fit it with T1 mods instead?" The response: "LOL nothing works with T1." I, however, was undaunted. Well OK, I was a little daunted, but I spent my hard-stolen ISK on a Harbinger anyway, threw the best T1 gear on it I could afford, and lo and behold – I killed my first Battlecruiser the next day.

Baby ninjas are kinda cute, no?

Not long after that, I lost that firstHarbinger. It hurt. 60 million ISK represented pretty much my entire liquid capital at the time and I was decidedly space-poor once I had replaced the ship. But I had learned some important lessons about this silly profession of ours which convinced me that carrying on was the right thing to do. And from the dizzying heights of mediocrity where I now dwell, I'd like to pass those lessons on to you.

Being on top

What you want to keep in mind is that nine times out of ten, the mission runner you're baiting is not prepared for a fight. His ship is not equipped for it. His mindset is not suited to it. He has no friends to back him up and, frankly, doesn't really understand what's happening to him in the first place. By taking advantage of your prey's shortcomings you can punch well above your weight. And I mean well above. If you have a couple of months of skills in the right places, you can go toe-to-toe with 2004-born characters in faction battleships and come out victoriously.

It's all about getting your kill ship set up for the task. Suddenly Ninjas alumni Solomar Espersei once wrote a fine (and still valid) guide on the Hurricane, which remains the go-to ninja kill ship today. 9/19/2012 NINJA EDIT: CCP Fozzy has just announced a significant nerf to the Hurricane's powergrid which will make Solomar's fit impossible. Click here for MN's thoughts. But any Battlecruiser hull fit properly can do the trick because your advantage over most mission runners is just unbelievably huge. Here are the things you'll need:

• Tackle. This includes first and foremost a warp jammer. Most ninjas favor the Warp Disruptor for its extended range, but a Warp Scrambler can work too and has the added advantage of shutting down a target's Microwarp Drive. You'll probably want to bring a Stasis Webifier as well to prevent the target from outrunning you, especially if you're in a slow ship like the 'Cane or the Harbinger.
• Propulsion. You can't tackle very well if you can't get close to your enemy, so make sure you throw at least a 10mn Afterburner on your ship. If you can fit it, a 10mn Microwarp Drive is even better.
• Neuts. Most mission runners have active tanks (ie. Armor Repairers, Shield Boosters, or – in some hilarious cases – Hull Repairers.) These are very cap-hungry and a pair of Medium Energy Neutralizers can effectively shut down their ability to absorb damage. Notice that neuts are cap-hungry devices too, so getting your Energy Emission Systems skill up to IV should be a priority.
• DPS. Damage Per Second, that is, the amount of hurt your weapon systems throw out measured over time. This is actually not as important as you may think. A fairly modest amount of DPS will kill a passive tank given enough time, and an active tank should already be down because of the aforementioned neuts.
• Passive Tank. Given that you'll often be fighting bigger, heavier-hitting ships than your own, a solid buffer tank (ie. Shield Extenders or a big Armor Plate, supported by a Damage Control Unit and relevant resistance enhancers and rigs) is needed to give you the time you need to burn your opponent down.
• Cap Booster. Running tackle, neuts, weapons and probably a propulsion mod (afterburner or MWD) is going to drain your capacitor in a hurry. Don't compromise too much on your own tank or firepower by trying to fit a lot of capacitor mods: just drop a Capacitor Booster a mid slot and be done with it.

And that's it. Don't fit anything on your ship that does not aid one of the roles above. Don't try to be cute with ECM or Nanofiber Hull Upgrades or Sensor Boosters. They have their place in more advanced or experimental ship fittings, but for a basic kill ship, the above set will be fine. You can, however, add drones to taste. Getting your drone skills up to the point where you can operate Tech 2 scout and medium drones is a surprisingly short train for a surprisingly large improvement in DPS.

Pew pew! Zap!

Be fearless

The final thing to do is to take the fear of loss out of your mind, and to focus on getting your kill ship fitted out as soon as possible. Don't fret over T2 mods, run with T1s where you need to. You'll do fine. If things do go south in a fight, just warp off! Proper mission runners never fit a warp jammer of any kind so you're free to leave whenever you want. And if you get caught by a PVP ship? Well, that's your one out of ten. It happens. Re-ship and carry on.

To make things a little more interesting I would like to announce the following competition to all new Suddenly Ninjas members: the first one's on the house. That is, the first one of you who's been in corp for less than three months and gets his kill ship, fitted to this article's specifications, blown up by a mission runner will have it replaced by me. All I require is your lossmail and a little write-up of the incidet sent to my EVE-mailbox.

Now get out there and get shot at!