Security Status and Fighting Back

With the continued crying and nashing of teeth over Hulkageddon II, Helicity Bosun, the organizer of the event, has had enough and blew his top in a rather amusing and epic rant (hat tip Kirith). I've gotten to thinking: are miners and other residents really helpless against events like Hulkageddon? Can they really fight back?

Well, I'm not really sure, because it would require that the carebears who huddle in fear or rage in impotence would need to change the way they play. But I can't help but think that the next Hulkageddon or similar event would really offer me an opportunity for some role-play PvP combat.

Okay, I'm what you would call a carebear. I've been playing for 5 months and haven't been on a kill mail or received one. The only time I really go into harm's way is with Eve University fleets during wardecs, that rarely, and haven't managed a kill yet. I'm not really into mindless killing, but give me a situation where rampaging pirates, probably backed by the evil Amarr, attack the Minmatar homeland, and I've got a reason to get involved. I never thought about Hulkageddon in that light until yesterday. D'oh!

So since people on the forums are demanding even more events like Hulkageddon, I've started looking at ways to fight back. I think the security status rules hold one of the keys to a successful strategy. Here is a passage about security status and travel restrictions from the Evelopedia:

How does my security status affect my ability to travel?

Security status, or lack thereof, can have a big impact on your ability to travel through the EVE universe. Players with sufficiently low security status will be attacked by the empire navies if they enter high security systems.

Here is a brief list of your travelling options according to security status:

* Players with -2.0 or worse will be attacked in 1.0 systems
* Players with -2.5 or worse will be attacked in 0.9 systems
* Players with -3.0 or worse will be attacked in 0.8 systems
* Players with -3.5 or worse will be attacked in 0.7 systems
* Players with -4.0 or worse will be attacked in 0.6 systems
* Players with -4.5 or worse will be attacked in 0.5 systems

Once your security status reaches -5 you are considered an outlaw and can be attacked by players anywhere without CONCORD intervention.

Note that players with low security status can freely enter high security systems; They are not attacked by CONCORD, but by the much weaker (but still formidable) empire police forces. This will prevent them from operating effectively within high security space, but outlaw attacks in high security are still possible.

I've got a couple of ideas but I'll save them for now. Back to studying my maps.