Surviving in 0.0 space: A few tips

Tip number one:
Microwarp drive aligning
It is really frustrating having a battleship that takes an ice age to turn and align for warp. This can be remedied by using this simple and ingenious trick: Start warping to the destination and switch on immediately the microwarp drive. This module takes 10 seconds for its cycle to complete, by the end of which you will have reached the speed required for the battleship to enter warp. The game mechanics work in such a way that the ship (any ship) doesn't enter warp until it has reached a specific speed (I think it's 90% of the max speed). With the one-cycle activation of the mwd, after you have pressed "warp to", you essentially take away the disadvantage of the slow acceleration curve of large ships (you can even try it on heavy haulers like the occator and watch them align in less than 12 secs).
If you have any questions regarding this tactic, give me a nudge in game and I'll be happy to demonstrate how it works.

Tip number two:
Always be aligned
Whatever you do in 0.0, be that ratting or roaming or just sitting in space, always be aligned towards something (planet, moon, belt, pos, whatever). If an enemy ships warps on you unexpectedly you will be able to warp off in an instant, before he has the chance to lock on to you.

Tip number three:
Ratter's little helper
Ratting is an essential necessity in 0.0 space since it provides a relatively safe way to gain both isk and expensive loot. However, it can lead to your demise if you're not careful. Some simple principles are the following:
1. Don't use drones to do a man's job. Either do it yourself or don't do it at all. If you're a droniac, be prepared to leave your drones behind if an enemy is in the system. The only drones you SHOULD use are light ecm drones, in case a fast scrambler locks on to you and you need to escape. These little beauties save lives and they are very easy to train for, trust me.
2. Always be aligned (see tip number two), especially if you're using a battlecruiser or battleship for ratting. If you're using a cruiser or HAC, it's easier to warp off, but still you need to stay alert.
3. Aim for a 350 dps tank maximum, cause that's the most damage belt rats can do to you. Anything more is a waste of slots.
4. ALWAYS KEEP YOUR EYES IN LOCAL. If you don't want to participate in anything else, that's fine, but never close the local chat window. In fact, you should have it in the middle of your screen. If you see someone in local, immediately open your scanner and see what ship he's in. If he's in a fast tackler (rapier, ceptor, etc.), immediately warp to a safe spot and cloak. If the system is a pipe system, that may cause a lot of frustration, so I suggest don't rat in a pipe system.
5. Leave the loot for later. Unless it's a faction rat or an officer, the rest of the loot isn't that valuable. If a corpmate wants to come after you and collect them with a hauler, that is great, but don't bother with trivial wrecks.
6. There are two kinds of ratting: Chain ratting, in which you kill the battleships but leave an injured cruiser or frigate so that the same type of battleship respawns (especially helpful when the spawn consists of high-bounty battleships), and Faction ratting, in which you kill everything until a faction rat (dread guristas for instance) or even rarely, an officer spawns. Using the first kind you can set up a series of belts so that you get 5 mil from each belt for as long as you want (very profitable). This can net you 100 mil or more in a quiet afternoon, just from the bounties. Using the second kind will most of the times net you reasonable but not exceptional loot, with luck being the driving force in how much you will make.
7. The ratter's code demands that you don't interrupt the ratting of a corpmate or fellow ally when he's in a system, unless the system has more than 20 belts. Generally, ratting should be done in quiet systems, after you've set up a couple of safespots. Alternatively, you can always fit a cloaking device and lay low while hostiles are in the system.

To be continued...

Tip number four:
The overview
Maybe the most important aspect of your gaming, the overview is an often misused window. To be able to lock fast and not search for the target or the stargate between all the other useless icons, you need to have it clear and sorted out. First of all, you should remove all structures from the overview. Then you should remove all allies, fleet members and corpmates. You don't need to see them in the overview window. You will, more often than not, target them instead of the enemy (and that could lead to some hilarious but also very sad killmails). You certainly need the stargates so that you can warp to them more quickly (simply right click on the overview icon and warp to or align). And you also need cynosural fields and stations. That's about it. What is left should be the enemy (neutrals or hostiles). That's who you really want on your overview.

Tip number five:
Gate camping
No, this is not a guide on how to camp gates, but rather on how to avoid them. As of Quantum rise, most of the gates are much larger in diameter, which limits the range of the dictor or HICtor bubbles placed on top of them, thus allowing many ships that are jumping into the system to appear on the bubble's verge, or out of it completely. This has frustrated gate campers who tried to find a new way to efficiently camp gates. Well, they've found it. Actually, this method is quite old and proven, but it requires more planning and is not as cost effective, yet still it can lead to the demise of many a happy and ignorant traveller. Here's how it goes:
What they do is camp pipe systems (that is systems with two gates that connect large areas of the game). They anchor a small or medium warp disruption sphere (not the dictor or HICtor ones) 50 km on the back of each gate, so that the sphere and the two gates are aligned. They do the exact same thing on the other gate. This way they have a line consisting of bubble-gate-gate-bubble. They split their forces (which don't have to be massive, a few pvpers will do) and wait. When you jump into the system you originally feel relieved that the bubble is so far away from you and, feeling particularly blessed, you decide to jump to the next gate to leave the system as soon as possible. That however means that you warp right into the pirates' trap. The bubble behind the destination gate sucks your ship into it, leaving you inside a bubble 40 km from the gate, where the enemy ceptors will place a point at you (scramble you that is) while the rest warp in for the kill.
The only way (apart from using a scout) to escape this ruse is to initially warp to a nearby planet or asteroid belt that is not aligned with the two gates. That way your angle of approach will change and you will not be sucked into the bubble.
Two other hints on that matter: Always use a scout when available (a base alt will do just fine) and check the star map for ship and pod kills in the last 30 minutes. If the system that you're going to be travelling through lights up like a christmas tree, you better leave it for another time. Finally, don't lose your cool. If you're in a small fast ship, simply run out of the bubble and warp out. If you're in a cloaker, do the same, but cloak first. If you're in a fast cruiser, run out of the bubble while trying to kill the scrambler. If you're in a battleship and get caught close to the gate, don't aggro them! Reapproach the gate using your microwarp drive and jump back to the previous system. If you're too far away, ask for help. If no help is available, aggro the slowest ship and take them down with you, spitting vile with your last breath. This would be a good time to chastise yourself for forgetting to load those ecm drones I was talking about.

P.S. When you aggro someone (that is, take offensive action against the target - targeting them is NOT offensive action, anything else IS) you can't jump through stargates for several seconds. Always have that in mind when you're caught in the middle of a battle near a stargate. Weigh the situation and first decide if you're going to jump back or stay.