Let's face it, no matter who you are in-game, you are going to spend a lot of time on Gates. Either running, holding, waiting, dreading, anticipatin', or otherwise wondering what horrible blob is on the other side. So basic understanding of gates might be nice.
So let's take a quick tour of some of the basic things you might be doing on a Gate, with the primary focus being on:
Tackling something with the intent to explode them dead.
No matter how many of you there are on the Gate, there is only one of you in your ship. Your job is to tackle the incoming gate fire thingie, get point, and hold it, kill it, or otherwise stop it from escaping.
The first thing to remember is that those idiot's in your gang that are orbiting the gate are idiots. Orbiting the gate is the first sign that the people doing so have no idea what they are doing, they've never been to zero space and have certainly never successfully tackled anything on a Gate before. There is only ONE situation when orbiting the Gate makes any sense (and even that is a bit of a stretch in my opinion) and that is when you know a cloaky ship is jumping into you. In that case, every one orbits at different ranges, drones out and hopes the enemy just happens to land near someone.
So why is orbiting bad? It isn't that it is bad per se, it just doesn't make sense. There is this huge thing called a Gate. The enemy jumping into you is going to land randomly about 12k from that Gate. So yes, there is a slight chance you will be on the right side of the Gate when that happens, but it is also just as likely you'll be going in the wrong direction! More likely he'll land on the OTHER SIDE of the Gate or at an angle that puts the Gate between you and him. You'll never catch anything.
If you have at least two tacklers in your gang one of you is above the Gate and one of you is below the Gate, each about 10k off. Sitting still. When the gate fire comes turn on your prop mod. There is an honest argument about what to do next, there are two ways of doing this and I have my own method. I have an overview setting that only shows bad guys and nothing else, so when that ship appears on that overview I immediately double click it. This has the effect of shooting my ship off like a bullet towards the enemy. Now here is the tricky part if he cloaks. Once you start off in his direction, swing your view towards him in space and DOUBLE CLICK right next to him. ( Not right on him! ) This is critical, because when he disappears your ship will stop moving and you'll lose him, but not if you've clicked in space next to him.
The other way is to double click in space next to him first. I don't like this method because it assumes you are looking at that place in space already. The overview double click doesn't need that, he could be anywhere.
Believe me, I've done this hundreds of times and it works like a charm. You won't get them all, especially the cloakers, but you'll get more of them than will get away.
What's the Point?
Disrupters, Scrams and Webs. In that order. On a gate.
Stop them from warping first, turn off their prop mod second, and then slow them down so they can't get back to the gate. Depending on what you have, depends on where on that list you start. Except for webs of course, starting there will only allow the enemy to warp away faster.
From an FC standpoint the important thing is to immediately determine and let your gang know, if you can kill the ship BEFORE it gets back to the gate. If you don't believe you can, you have to tell some of your gang not to shoot. They need to get back to the Gate and be prepared to jump after him. To tackle him on the other side and hold him.
Once caught, the enemy really only has two choices. Burn back to the gate or stand and fight, but they can't do both. Burning back requires that they not aggro anyone, so you'll know pretty much right away what they intend on doing. Once they aggro everyone can join in on killing them before help arrives.
Gate Guns
Gate guns in High/Low-Sec reach out to 150k from the gate. The number of guns on a gate is directly related to the sec status of the system you are in. Each gun can only shoot at one ship at a time. Typically anything less than a Cruiser cannot stand Gate fire for more than one shot.
Now, if the ship you've tackled is of low sec status, say a Pirate, then the gate guns will not fire on you. Nice huh? That's because these people are criminals and of low moral fibre.
There is a whole other guide on how to survive gate guns and this isn't it. Just know that they will explode you unless you are tough, or have Logi on the gate with you.
So there ya go, the three most important bits about being on Gate. Be prepared to tackle, get point and watch out for Gate guns. You should also be keeping an eye on your d-scan, have a scout in the system on the other side, and generally be prepared to get blobbed if you stay there much longer.
Fly safe.
Other Idiot's Guides:
Idiot's Guide to the D-Scanner
Idiot's Guide to Bombing
Idiot's Guide to Bookmarks
Idiot's Guide to Flying in Zero Space
Thanks to Eve News 24 for picking up this story, if you don't read Eve News who knows what you are missing!