We're looking for true stories where all hope seemed lost and yet by the skin of your teeth and seat of your pants, you lived to tell the tale (to us, right now). So cast your mind back to your near misses and narrow escapes, and tell us your greatest getaway story.
We're looking for well-written stories of at least 200 words for this bounty. We love video submissions too (minimum one minute). Bonus points for storytelling flair!
already paid
$56 / 56
Reward details
This reward closed to entries at 12:28pm on March 14, 2024 but you can still reply, react, and join the conversation below! If you’d like to enter other rewards which are still open, click here.
Definitely needed this topic, I'll take the liberty to recount the recent story of a friend and corporation mate, for us it was simply a stroke of genius.
Moving ships from one system to another is quite common, however, moving an Orca is a slightly more complex ritual, as it's a command ship for mining operations support, so it usually doesn't pose much danger, or so the poor victims thought.
The ship was in warp, in the middle of a fairly large system, everything was going as expected, listening to the sweet hum of warp travel, there were only a few seconds left to finish the journey when suddenly a small fleet of 10 T2 Frigates appeared at the gate where the Orca was arriving, and those small ships had enough firepower to destroy it.
Upon reaching the gate, there were only a few seconds to react, so he decided to wait until at least half of the enemies aggressed him, which would prevent them from crossing the gate for 1 minute, thus reducing the DPS he would receive. When his attackers started firing and he saw the opportunity, he crossed the gate and started aligning with the hope of being able to escape before the rest of the aggressors followed, however, the enemies were much more agile and faster so they caught up with him in less than 2 seconds, and here, my dear readers, is where the Orca shows its more aggressive side.
The enemies did not expect the Orca to have more aggressive equipment than usual (let's remember that it's usually a support ship, not for PvP), so without hesitation, he activated his shields and started targeting his aggressors, deployed his first drone and his best card: a Gekko, and coupled with his stasis module and his neutralizers, he slowly began to inflict damage on his aggressors. The combat was at its peak, he quickly managed to kill two of the five frigates, however, his aggressors identified very quickly the drone that was punishing them so hard and went to destroy it, however, this managed to give the advantage to the Orca, which by reducing the DPS it was receiving and while they were killing his drone, managed to shut down two frigates leaving them floating in space unable to do anything, so when he released his new set of drones they were an easy prey, at this point, he had already managed to kill 4 of his 5 aggressors, the last one simply surrendered and asked to be killed, the rest of the fleet crossed and left, not without losing one more frigate that got too close, all the enemy pilots praised his response and how he had managed to escape alone in a situation where he clearly had a numerical disadvantage, while they retreated another player from our corporation approached to care for and escort the mighty war Orca, which managed to escape and give us this incredible story.
The combat was too fast, the mental response of our protagonist was simply spot on, and I consider that I probably wouldn't have thought at that level in just a few seconds.
I also share a screenshot of how the Orca ended up and a link to zkill as evidence of such a magnificent feat.
To find the following video, I crawled deep into my archive, where the very, very old HDDs are stored. After chasing away some big and ugly spiders, I finally found this record of an occasion that happened in deep Omist. It was a warm day in August 2017, and a heatwave was about
to roll in…
The best is when you get away from somebody on a heated MWD cycle that burns it out just as you escape.
Today I would have just scram-webbed that Tengu chasing me off the gate and made a safe escape.
But back then, C02 was still an entity to be reckoned with; Gates didn’t look as pretty and citadels just had been introduced. And I was in a corporation that consisted of a handful of renters in some dead-end pocket too.
In the video, you can see how I check where my ship is “aligned” to. Little did I know that this doesn’t matter where your ship is facing to when your velocity is 0 before you initiate warp to. The only thing that will influence how fast you warp is the attributes of your ship. Everything else is cosmetic.
This is why big ships often “drift” and their models keep turning while entering warp. The numbers are already done calculating, but the looks need to follow suit.
I suspect I may have linked this one before.... but here goes!
We were out on a roam - not just any roam - my signature fleet ShrinkWrapped - it's one of the most deadly NPSI content fleets out there. ShrinkWrapped kills many billions of isk with each roam - i think the most we destroyed in one night was i believe around 35BN isk. We regularly destroy more than 5BN isk per night.
Now this night was no different. I believe we yeeted to behind enemy lines into Delve and destroyed a Rorqual, and the Goons were mad.
I mean M.A.D.
They chased us, and they chased us hard, but just couldnt quite catch us. We were deploying defensive bubbles on out gates, adn warping super quickly, so eventually we managed to leave nullsec to the relative safety of losec to get safe for a break.
Anyhow, we took a short comfort break to stretch legs, refresh beers and so on, with the intention of losing our aggression to take another filament to head out again into null and harass the locals.
After the break, we regrouped and undocked and warped to the sun with the intent of firing a filament.
We piecemeal landed at the sun, and local started changing slightly - the Goonies were watching my stream!
Anyhow, one massive spike later, a quick regroup on the sun for the filament, and click.
Someone wasnt with fleet. Kick.
Click. Click.
Someone didnt have their safety set correctly.
Click.
BUGGER.
Fleet Landed. Click.
Filament up.
Far too close for comfort!
There is a moral to this story - always check your fleet is with you and active after a bio if you intend to take a filament near to hostile space! :D
As someone who typically leans towards PVE, my forays into PVP are rare but intense.
When I undock for a hunt, I go 'full throttle', deploying the most expensive sub-capital ships in the game for a form of combat many disrespect and regarded as dishonest. Yes, I'm a Black Ops-dropper. I always hide my kills to keep off zkillboard’s radar, as its intel could jeopardize my hunts. Constantly changing locations and sometimes even switching characters are necessary to dull the alertness of my prey.
I operate alone, managing several accounts as a small, migrant fleet deep in enemy territory (low and null). Each ship in my fleet, including tacklers, bait, damage dealers, and even the hauler (carrying supplies), is fitted with stealth technology and capable of utilizing Covert Jump Portal Generators or light cyno.
My usual strategy involves hiding in abandoned systems or wormholes. I use scouts to find targets, observing them to understand their patterns before striking. Once everything is set, I seize the unguarded target, light the beacon, and bring my DPS ships right on top of them. The goal is always to strike hard and fast, then disappear before anyone can respond. And as you can imagine, despite my caution and detailed intel, I sometimes fall prey to the mind games of others who try to bait me. One such instance nearly cost me my entire fleet.
The target seemed like a typical carebear pilot, routinely running anomalies and DED complexes in a T3 Loki. After several days of observation, everything seemed routine and safe. But it was a trap. His ship, unexpectedly equipped with XLASB and high EM resistance (unusual for someone hunting Angel Cartel), proved too resilient for my Redeemers. As local filled up and enemy ships swarmed, my main Black Ops began to go down.
In that moment of crisis, I revealed my ace: a magnificent Widow with an apt name 'Plan B.' This ship, equipped with an ECM Burst capable of momentarily disrupting enemy locks, was my last hope. I activated the ECM, broke the warp scramblers, and managed to escape with my entire fleet.
Landing at a safe spot, my hands were shaking. The d-scan was swarming with combat probes, but I cloaked all ships, needing time to calm down. That day's combat report was unimpressive – no kills, one bomber lost. Yet, I considered it a victory, as my prized black ops survived, on the brink of destruction with only 3% structure remaining.
It's moments like these – adrenaline-pumping, sweat-inducing – that remind me why I love EVE Online. It's a game that truly brings such unforgettable experiences.
When hauling 5 billion isk worth of cargo (equivalent to around 50 USD) in a Bustard DST ship through dangerous LowSec systems it is usually a good idea to send a scout in front of you to check that the route is clear
Out of laziness I did not do that for today's hauling trip. A dear mistake I was going to inmediately regret.
The large pirate gatecamp in Tama was like nothing I had ever seen before. Ships of all sizes and configurations were mercilessly camping the gates, scanning every passing vessel for potential targets. My heart pounded in my chest as I realized I had stumbled into a trap.
But I wasn't going down without trying my best. I quickly assessed my options and decided that my best chance of survival lay in making a run back for the gate I had just crossed. I gunned the engines of my ship and plotted a course that would take me through the heart of the gatecamp.
As I approached the gate, my heart sank as I was inmediately stopped to a crawl by warp scramblers and webs. But I gritted my teeth and pushed forward, overheating my abterburner to the maximum of its capacity.
Bullets and missiles whizzed past me as I dodged and ducked. My shields were gone. Armor was about to fail too and damage was breaching the hull, but I refused to give up.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, I burst through the the gate and into the relative security of HiSec. I let out a sigh of relief as I checked my surroundings, making sure my ship and its precious cargo were finally safe.
As I made my way to the nearest station to repair my battered ship, I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride in my escape. I had faced down the pirate gatecamp in Tama and come out the other side, a little worse for wear but alive and victorious.
My submission would be the one time only where my skills as a pilot, escaped certain death from a group of Frigates Vs Thrasher.
I left our HQ Usi on a solo roam, most of my time was spent as fleet commander, I often went out on my own, and although I'd get a few kills I always bit off more than I could chew.
I was in my Arty fit Thrasher, I jumped into Kedama and for those who know, Kedama is quite a large system, I jumped to the Novice at 100KM and landed exactly 40KM from 2 x Comets, 1 x Firetail, and 2 x Punisher - The immediately targetted me and began to try and "get on me".
One of them typed in local "lol you made a mistake" - So I hit my MWD and moved away from them, targeting the Firetail first, as he got to 19km I slammed my Disruptor on him and overloaded my guns and quickly put him down, to my left a Comet was attempting to slingshot me so I adjusted my orbit and targetted the Comet, I slowed down ever so slightly to let it catch up a bit and then again, put my Disruptor on him and lit him up, he managed to adjust his orbit and warped out in low structure. The other comet was around 15km from so I had to manually pilot away from hit, Disrupt him, and that one I killed.
At this point, I went for the Punishers, as I approached, one warped off and I Disrupted the other one before he could warp, he wasn't tank fit so that was an easy kill. At this point, the two I had killed came back in Slicers, Now it became a ranged fight, I was quickly able to make one warp out but not before I hit half armor, at this point, I knew I was done, my weapons could not be overloaded anymore, so I decided to run, I quickly adjusted my orbit to move away from the slicer, I was not at 3/4 armor.
As predicted the Slicer changed his orbit and started coming after me, So I slammed my brakes on, turned the ship around, and went straight at him, he realized at 25km what I'd done and he ran, knowing if I got within 18km, I'd have him dead to rights, he was also very low armor.
I warped to a safe, my hands shaking and I put "GF" in local, what was funny was the pilot who had made the comment was the Firetail pilot, he then said, "Next time ill keep my mouth shut".
So yeah, one of the closest and most intense fights I have ever had. I honestly thought I was done but for my skill and their lack of experience in fighting a pilot who knew how to kite.
I spotted the Condor on d-scan in a small navy plex when I entered the system. I was in my infamous rail Comet and immediately warped in at range. The system was full of ships, but I knew this wouldn't take long. Surprisingly the Condor was outside and barely moving. I quickly pointed it and began firing. As he crept towards annihilation the Firetail that had been on scan also landed. And then the Slasher. And then the rest of the gang. I made a quick decision and my mind flicked across the controls. With only milli-seconds to spare I warped off...
Directly to another small navy plex with a Comet inside. Still stinging from having to leave the Condor in low structure - I slid into the plex to engage the Comet. As always I over-heated certain modules and decreased my d-scan to close scan only. That's when I saw the three Imperial Navy Slicers on scan outside. In a few seconds they would slide in behind me and make quick work of my ship. I quickly webbed the Comet and burned away towards the Sun. As the Slicers landed I hit 10k and his scram dropped. I shut down my AB and entered warp under four yellow boxes. I yelled "YARRR!" in local.
And landed 50k from the Sun within 5k of a Hookbill. He was as startled as I was, as the original Slasher, Firetail gang from the first encounter landed about 40k from us. We both pulled range, and sadly the Hookbill pilot burned away at the wrong angle and was quickly caught by the gang - which gave me the chance I needed to warp off to the nearest gate. This system was too busy for a solo Comet - time for a change of scenery.
I jumped into a gate camp of four Thrasher Fleet Issues and a Keres. I held my cloak for a moment, over-heated my prop, and made the 12k dive back to the gate. As expected the Keres got me and the Thrashers all started firing. They all had aggression timers now. I hit the gate with my armor repper screaming at me and jumped back into the frying pan. Safe and sound I warped off to a safe spot to catch my breath.
The use of scout alts is common in Eve. You send a cheap ship ahead in something hard to catch, check the way is clear, and proceed with your more expensive ship. But scouting is also important for pvp, especially when you’re setting traps.
Frequently, I have a scout alt sitting in the system next door to the one I’m camping. This gives me advanced warning of what is inbound. My ship of choice is the Buzzard, a covert ops frigate that I can sit cloaked at a perch overlooking a gate or wormhole.
On one occasion however, I forgot to actually cloak the scout. I must have been distracted, but I left him sitting a few hundred kilometers away from a wormhole. Hours must have passed. A neutral frigate appeared on my scout’s overview. Excellent, another target on his way to my trap. That’s strange, he’s getting closer to my scout, wonder what’s caught his attention? My uncloaked scout, duh.
My scout was swiftly tackled, and I’d resigned him to his fate. Another neutral suddenly appeared on the overview, a tech3 cruiser. Well now I’m definitely screwed. The seconds passed, but I was receiving no damage. It was then that I realised the cruiser had aggressed the frigate. The frigate was quickly destroyed, allowing my scout to warp away.
Speaking to the cruiser pilot afterwards, he’d sat cloaked next to my scout, using him as bait. Eve can be wild sometimes, and there’s always a bigger fish.
Was but a lowly Bustard (Caldari DST/Hauler) transporting cargo from High-Security space to HS but had 1 Low-Security system on the way, I am a lazy pilot and auto-piloted my way along (don't do that people).
I was making a cup of tea until I heard loud explosions and noises so ran back to my PC to find I was in the Low-Security system caught in a gate camp by a carrier, lachesis and others. Immediately activated my shield hardeners and modules aligning out and thinking what can I do for a second or two......then realized "oh god, well, that's it, me done, F**k it" and began firing my festival launcher at the enemies, I always add my favorite fireworks to my ships because reasons :P I oddly tried to ensure I fired a firework at every enemy ship as if I was chaining some attack.
After I lost my shields the enemies ceased fire on me, but kept me scrambled, I was a tad confused until I saw in local chat ; "nice try" said by the carrier pilot. I simply replied with a smiley face, and the warp scramble was taken off me, and they let me through =)
[The screenshot is from the moment, I jokingly asked my corporation if they can help (they're wormholers) who simply laughed when i stated I was autopiloting]
Hey Celltear thanks for entering the bounty. We're looking for a minimum of 200 words for this one, so we'd love it if you edited your submission to add some more detail.
