Guides for various types of BMs in descending order of importance:

1. instant dock - instadocks are useful for all stations, but especially those in trade hubs (Jita, Amarr, Dodixie, Hek) or in any in low-sec or null-sec system (including Thera)
   • if you don't use such a BM and instead simply click Dock on a station, your ship warps to the edge of the station's docking radius then attempts to dock
     • however, there's a ~50% chance it'll need to move up to 2,500 m closer before docking, during which time it can be instantly destroyed by suicidal profiteers (or the non-suicidal sort in LS/NS)
   • production:
     1. if you're doing this in HS with a pilot in a player corporation, ensure it isn't under a war declaration. this crossed swords icon will appear if the pilot's is subject to a wardec
        • instead of using a wardecced character to make BMs in HS, make an alt which remains in a non-wardeccable corporation (e.g. one of the starting NPC corps)
     2. undock in something cheap & fast like one of the four fast frigates with a microwarpdrive fitted (and maybe overdrive injectors and/or nanofiber internal structures)
     3. double-click in space back toward the station model. if more speed is required, activate the microwarpdrive (you can also set a specific speed)
     4. save a BM that is:
        1. at 0 distance from the station, as per the Overview
        2. not in a place where a ship will be bumping/jostling against the station's model
        3. at least 5 km inside the docking radius
           • after warping to a BM, your ship exits warp with its nearest edge randomly placed ~2,500 m from the BM
             • so you must account for ~5 km of variance in where your ship may land relative to a bookmark (again, by having it at least 5 km inside the radius)
           • Larenon en Marland's Station Cyno Placement Guide has screenshots of good instadock placement locations for most NPC stations (you needn't worry about cynos for this)
             • to save time, if the station isn't a kickout, a BM saved immediately after undocking will be a fine instadock BM for most purposes (but with kickouts, it's best to manually position the BM)
        4. (optional): away from the undock itself
           • click to show/hide this section for more info

             • this is a worthwhile consideration in places where interdiction can be used, because bubbles can stop a ship short of (or pull it beyond) its destination
               • that's Null Security (0.0), Thera, and some Low Security systems with active Insurgencies
               • the ideal instadock BM in such space is as far from the undock as possible & as out-of-line with common warp vectors as possible while still being at least 5 km inside the docking radius
                 • note that while most solar systems' warpable locations are more-or-less horizontally arranged, some have stargates at abnormally-high or low positions
                   • with a decent assortment of tactical bookmarks and an instadock BM that's not on the undock, you can safely avoid most interdiction while docking (undocking's a different story)
                     • you need to have a scout on the grid to confirm this before just blindly warping, and this may not be possible with the tiniest stations, depending on where you warp from
   • usage: warp to the BM instead of the station & dock when you land (activate a nullifier before initiating warp if the situation warrants it)
     • if a station or structure is set as your current Route destination, you can warp to an instadock BM for it then activate Autopilot mid-warp. your ship will auto-dock when it exits warp
2. instant undock - these are also vital for trade hubs, since ships can be destroyed while aligning for warp unless the warp destination is within ~15 degrees of the undock vector:
   • note: insta-undocks are vital even if the station isn't a kickout and the pilot isn't under a war declaration because, again, stations are PvP hotspots! hammering that point home
   • production method 1 (easiest! if it works, use this one):
     1. with a non-wardecced character, undock in a cheap ship that has a probe launcher fitted and which is loaded with 8 probes
     2. launch the probes in Pinpoint formation and get them on-grid with you
        • you can prepare a saved probe formation for this purpose in a vacant area/system if you want, rather than on the busy Jita undock
     3. enable the tactical overlay
     4. check if a probe is on the undock vector of the tactical overlay (one usually is) and save it as your undock BM
        • all non-Amarr NPC station undock vectors are aligned with the forward-facing enumerated vector on the tactical overlay whereas Amarr undocks point straight up or straight down
        • conveniently, there will also be a probe straight up & straight down for you to use on Amarr stations (as well as the one aligned to the horizontal vector)
        • note that my undock vector in the video clip above is canted by ~15 degrees; that probe would still work as an instant-undock even at that angle, but that's the edge of viability
          • anything up to ~15 degrees works; beyond that, and you'll take an extra tick to align, during which time you can be locked & killed
            • I've never had an undock BM right on the vector fail me in over a decade of play, but if you're paranoid:
              1. make several undock BMs (warp out to the first one, center the probes on your ship out there, and make more to each side; perhaps save 3 up & 3 down for a little grid of 9 or whatever)
              2. if you exit a station at an especially oblique angle, you can generally re-dock & try again (but be careful attempting that on kickout stations & in fast-moving ships)
   • production method 2: if a probe isn't reasonably clock to the undock vector:
     1. there will nonetheless be 2 probes on either side of it, so BM & warp between them, saving BMs mid-warp until you get one reasonably-close to the undock vector
   • production method 3 (click to show/hide. this is slower; mostly preserving this as a historical curiosity):

     1. with a non-wardecced character, undock in a fast frigate fitted with Microwarpdrive and maybe overdrive injectors and/or nanofiber internal structures
     2. enable the tactical overlay if it's not already
        • if you are not in an Amarr station:
          1. orient the camera so you're looking at the back of your ship & you have a rear view of the forward-facing numbered through-line which is aligned with the undock
             • the Jita 4-4 CNAP (EVE's main trade hub) has many undocks which point in different directions, not all of which line up with a through-line
               • it therefore annoyingly requires several instant-undock BMs. it's the only station like this; all others only need one insta-undock (though you can of course make several)
          2. double-click the 200 at the end of that through-line to make your ship start moving parallel to the undock, then activate your microwarpdrive
             • short video of steps 3 & 4
          3. once you're at least 175 km away from the station (but preferably quite a bit further), save your undock BM
        • if you are in an Amarr station:
          1. double-click straight down (or straight up, if you're in an Amarr Station Hub) then activate your microwarpdrive and burn
             • you can tell if you're going straight down by rotating the camera so it's above your ship and then spinning it around & looking to see if the trajectory-indicating circle stays fixed
   • usage: after undocking, warp first to the instant undock before warping elsewhere
3. perch - aka ping, tactical, tac, bounce, observation:
   • inline perch (the quickest & easiest to make but least safe & useful):
     • production:
       1. hit Control + B while you're still in warp to something you want to create a perch on
       2. save the BM when the distance to your destination changes from tens of thousands to thousands
          • you want it to be at least 175 km away in HS/LS (200+ preferable), and at least 500 km (700-2000 preferable) in NS/JS/Pochven to avoid interdiction
   • non-inline or unaligned perch (if you have time to make them, these are superior):
     • production:
       1. microwarpdrive around and/or use probes to make BMs at useful positions relative to objects of interest
          • if said object is a stargate, it's best to make the perch perpendicular to the line(s) connecting the gates
            • this will let you bypass "stop" and "drag" interdiction (see #6 below for more on these) and avoid smartbomb camps
            • some gates are not in a shared horizontal plane, i.e. they may be "above" or "below" each other - pay attention when positioning your perches
              • straight up and straight down are better than nothing, but it's best to be off at an angle and perpendicular (or at least oblique) to obvious warp vectors
              • non-gate vectors may also be worth considering: stations/structures, planets/moons, landmarks & other beacons, etc
   • usage: warp to the perch instead of the destination to scope out the joint, avoid interdiction/smartbombers, whatever
4. safespots & deepsafes:
   • separate little guide for these
5. dscan aka offgrid:
   • production:
     1. hit Control + B while you're still in warp to something you want to create a dscan perch on
     2. save the BM when you're between 14.2 AU and ~50,000 km from the destination (closer minimizes warp-to time, farther avoids being one-shot combat probed)
   • usage: warp to the dscan BM instead of the location of interest so you can dscan said location without your ship appearing there
6. specialized BMs:
   • structure deep tether: warping to a BM that's deep inside a structure's docking radius minimizes the risk of being bumped off and killed
     • it's especially nice to use these as an FC returning a fleet home. warp the fleet to a deep tether BM instead of to the structure itself
   • structure interdiction avoidance: spots can be both inside a structure's docking radius and outside common interdiction vectors
   • stops (aka catches) & drags (aka pulls or slings):
     • bubbles at stop BMs interdict ships short of their destinations (i.e. they catch them before they arrive)
     • bubbles at drag BMs interdict ships beyond their destinations (i.e. they pull or sling them behind their destinations)
     • these both allow one to interdict a certain vector while potentially leaving other vectors uninterdicted, which is tactically useful
     • for delaying, it's generally optimal to interdict ships ~90 km from the gate (for standard interdictor bubbles, that's 70 km in front for stops and 110 behind for drags)
       • this calculus changes if you know what you're delaying can microjump and/or is especially fast/slow, but broadly, this forces interdictees to waste as much time as possible. either:
         • they burn ~60 km away at an angle to avoid the bubble then waste additional time changing direction & warping, or
         • they burn ~90 km straight through the bubble to the gate (longer distance to balance out not losing time to direction change & warp)
   • bombing: Apothne's On Bomb Geometry remains a worthwhile treatise on this subject
     • probe bookmarking makes creation of multi-vector setups fast & easy