EVE Guide Security Status Explained  

Security Status Basics

CONCORD

In EVE, CONCORD acts as the all-powerful police force, and in most cases they are invincible and omnipotent (only exception are CONCORD ships spawned in pirate agent missions, and in events). Every time a player attacks another player in a protected area without sanction (see II.b Sanctioned Aggression), CONCORD will adjust the player's security rating accordingly, or even mobilize and destroy the aggressor, depending on the system's Security Rating.

Note that CONCORD only police players residing in Empire Space, and that attacking an Empire's assets (such as shooting Amarr Convoys) does not affect your own Security Status, or otherwise prompt a response by CONCORD. Also, CONCORD will never shoot your pod.

System Security Rating

Every system in EVE has a visible security rating ranging from 1.0 to 0.0. This rating indicates CONCORD's presence in the system, and dictates what response, if any, unsanctioned aggression in a given system will call for. Systems with a Security Rating between 1.0 and 0.5 are considered "protected", and any unsanctioned aggression will be met with deadly force by CONCORD.

Colloquially, Empire space in EVE is divided into "Highsec" and "Lowsec", or 1.0-0.5 and 0.4-0.0, respectively. The difference between these is that CONCORD is only present in Highsec - below 0.5 systems, the only protection given to pilots are sentry guns on jumpgates and at stations. Note that these sentry guns are not the end-all, be-all that CONCORD is, and that properly set-up battleships can easily tank them.

Also, some Empire systems go down to 0.0 (this is rare). In cases such as these, it's a good idea to check the "Sovereignty" of the system (visible in the upper-left corner of your game screen, just below the Security Rating of the system). If it displays any of the Empires, Amarr/Caldari/Gallente/Minmatar, it's Empire space and thus under CONCORD jurisdiction.

"True" System Security Rating

In EVE, a system's visible security rating may not entirely reflect it's "true" rating. This is because, like many values in the game, the security rating is rounded up. This mainly applies to non-empire space (or simply "0.0", as it's usually referred to), as any negative numbers are rounded up to 0.0. So while all pirate space appears as "0.0", the value and volume of NPC pirates present in the system is actually dictated by the system's "true" security rating, which can go down to -1.0. It's in those systems that pirate faction Commanders and Officers are most likely to appear. You can look up any system's true security rating here [1].

Personal Security Status

In EVE, Personal Security Status (or simply "Security Status") acts as an index and measure of your conduct in the game. Every time you unduly aggress a player in Empire space, this value goes down. Every time you kill an NPC pirate, this value goes up. See II.a Unsanctioned Aggression and II.c Improving your Security Status, respectively. All new pilots start at a security rating of 0, the scale itself ranging from 10 to -10.

Security Status in EVE mostly serves to bar "criminal" players from entry to certain systems. Once a player goes down to -2.0 Security Status, he is barred from entry into systems with the Security Rating of 1.0. At -2.5, he cannot enter 0.9, at -3.0 he cannot enter 0.8, and so forth, until at -4.5 a player is barred from all secure, CONCORD-patrolled space (Highsec). Also, once a player reached -5.0, he is considered an Outlaw, and can be attacked by any player in Empire space without receiving a Security Status reduction or CONCORD intervention. There is no actual benefit to a high (positive) security rating.

Personal Security Status Restrictions

Altering your Security Status

Unsanctioned Aggression

Unsanctioned Aggression is any aggression (or assistance to an aggressor, in the form of remote armour repair, cap transfer, tracking links, etc.) in Empire space on a target that isn't an outlaw, you are not at war with or you have kill rights on (see II.b Sanctioned Aggression), and will always net you a Security Status hit.

The Security Status reduction depends on a few factors. First is your own security status. At 0.0, your Security hits will be unmodified, which means about -1.0 for poddings. This value increases as your own Security Status decreases, and vice versa. Second factor is how the target responds. If you attack a defenceless target, such as a mining barge, you take the full hit. However, if you attack a target that also attacks you back, the Security hit you take is reduced significantly.

Note that if under attack, you can attack the aggressor back without taking a security hit or provoking CONCORD. Also, the aggressor will be flagged, opening him up to attacks by anyone in the vicinity without fear of CONCORD's reaction.

Sanctioned Aggression

There are two types of Sanctioned Aggression in EVE: Empire Wars and Kill Rights.

The first, Empire Wars (or Declared Wars), are diplomatic declarations made by one player corporation/alliance on another player corporation/alliance through CONCORD. To declare war on another player corporation, go into the Corporate Management panel and create a new Vote for war declaration.

Declared wars allow your members to attack the members of the target corp anywhere, no matter what, as long as war stays declared. However, declaring and maintaining Sanctioned wars costs two million ISK base (when attacking another corporation), or fifty million ISK (when attacking another alliance of corporation). This value increases for every war you or the target is already involved in.

Kill Rights are sanctions given to you by CONCORD whenever you have been shot and killed by Unsanctioned Aggression from another player (i.e. he was not at war with you, did not have Kill Rights on you himself, you did not attack him first and you are not an outlaw). These Kill Rights last a month, are non-interchangable and non-transferrable, and allow you to kill said player once (not including podding). If you are in a gang, the people in your gang will not be able to "share" your Kill Right, and will take a Security hit if they aid you in any way. Once you have killed your target's ship once, or the month has passed, the Kill Right drops.

Improving your Security Status

In EVE, the only real way to increase your Security Status (outside of some special Events) is to kill NPC Pirates, both in lowsec/0.0 belts and in Missions. Quite alot of them.

However, you don't get a security rating increase for every NPC you kill. Instead, for every fifteen minutes, only the highest-value NPC will net you an increase. That means if during one 15-minute interval, you kill seven NPC Battleships worth a .04% increase, you will only go up 0.04 Sec Status. If, during another 15-minute interval, you only kill one Battleship worth a .04% increase, you will still get the same increase as before.

Also, the amount of Security Status you receive per kill is modified by your current Security Status; the lower you are, the more you get, and vice versa. In fact, mostly inverse to how you lose Security Status.

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