So, I was killing some time this morning, just wandering about, no real plans for a whole lot. It’s a holiday here in the states and I didn’t want to start up in anything really involved, only going to be on for a short time.
I am warping around, npc ratting when I come across a guy in a Cyclone, mining. He’s just mining away and mining away. I am really just on my through the system and the only person in local was this guy, I was curious why someone would be in a Minmatar battle cruiser, in a belt, in Amarr, a 1.0 sec system. Larger cargo hold perhaps?
Well, as I ponder these things, he locks me. Mind you I just warped into the belt and I was aligning for a warp out. Of course, I ask why he’s locking me. He answers “I can kick you butt.”
Well……I’m game…..let’s go.
I alter course, kick in the mwd and close the distance to his jet can. I swap the can and he warps out.
Hmm…..either he’s got something with bigger guns, he didn’t see me take the can or he’s just a noob in a BC. A few seconds later, he warps in flying a Bestower. Okay….so….it’s a hauler versus an assault ship? Hmm……he’s not going to take the can, is he…..better lock him so I can warp scram him before he gets away……no…..he won’t take the can now……YUP, HE DID!!!
So, I obviously warp scram his hauler and promptly convo him. Ransom time!! He refuses the convo. I attempt to ransom him in local, “I WILL KICK YOUR BUTT!!!” Okay, on go the guns and release the drones!!!
As predicted, he didn’t last very long, blew him up before his auto-destruct kicked in. He kicked in his auto-destruct? Why? Does he want to go get his Cyclone that much faster? He could have ejected. Oh, wait, I would have taken the ship if he had and if I did blow up the ship, I would get a chance for some loot. Self-destruct to ensure that no modules survive and the attacker gets nothing. Yeah, use a game mechanic to stick it to the attacker. It’s supposed to anger pirates who’ve spent the “Yarring” very hard.
So, I figure that he’s not gonna come back, right? Hell no, he said he’d kick my butt. I figure he’s gonna come back with his Cyclone.
So, I orbit his wreck, waiting for his Cyclone to return. He comes in, locks me and warps out. I follow him around the system for a bit and we finally end up back at his Bestower wreck. Then we go at it. He’s hitting me with artillery shells and missiles, I am nosing him, hitting him with my rails and letting my little drones do their thing. We are going at it for several minutes. As he passes into structure, I see the system message that he has activated his auto-destruct. Hmm, two engagements in a row he has done this. Did I fall for the old “taunt the pirate and sefl destruct to frustrate him trap?” Well, if I have, he’ll get his insurance payout. He will loose all those expensive modules too, he should have paid the 50,000 isk ransom I kept offering him in local.
The counter goes down and there is litterally 1 slice of structue left, his ship pops.
As his pod warps away, he’s laughing in local. “Hahaha, no killmail for you, I auto-destructed first!!! Hahahahaha. No loot for you either!!! Hahahaha.”
He’s right, I didn’t get the kill mail.
So, I get nothing for my trouble, or do I? There is loot in the wreck of his Cyclone, a Cargo Expander II, some ammo, an artillery gun and a missile launcher.
Strange. Did a self-destruct happen or did I pop him.
No kill mail would suggest the self-destruct worked, but the loot left behind, more than ammo and/or drones and that would suggest that I popped him first.
I kindly inform him that it was nice of him to leave his extra cargo expander II in his cargo hold as well as a rail gun, missile launcher and some ammo behind when his Cyclone popped.
Needless to say, he starts a massive smack talk session. I let him go off and I eventually leave the system, after relocating all the ore that was in the jet can. So, I walk away with 6 mil in loot and refined ore sales.
Self-destruct, hmm, he seemed to think that he won that fight with that. Why is that? Hmm…., I do what any self-respecting pirate in training would do, check the forums concerning this particular tactic, self-destructing to avoid a kill mail/loss mail. I do some digging, even check the game logs. I see that his ship did self destruct before I could blow it up, even though he had literally 1 slice of structure when he popped. Were my shots in the air as he blew up? There’s no way to know. It’s so close, I decide to petition it, stating I don’t think the self destruct did not work correctly and I in fact did blow up the ship, why else would their be loot in the wreck. Shortly after I file the petition, I received the kill mail, hence the above referenced killboard posting.
So, I guess I did in fact pop his ship. To be nice, I head back to that system and post a copy of the kill mail, in several copy and paste moves, into local for him to see. I even forwarded a copy to the guy, just to let him know again what he lost. He starts smack talking, saying he’s going to petition a hack since he received the loss mail too and that activating a self destruct ensures that I should have gotten nothing from his Bestower or Cyclone.
So, either lag cause the kill / loss mail being sent or my petition worked. Regardless, I made some isk. He was so ticked and is threatening to have BoB war dec my 1 man corp. Funny how smack talkers like to name drop. He may actually be friendly with people in BoB or possibly a BoB alt. I don’t think they will war dec a 1 man corp and if they do, that would be a MAJOR milestone for me. BoB war decs my little 1 man corp, I must be doing something right.
All this because he locked me in a 1.0 sec system and lost two ships because he told me, “I can kick your butt,” as I was warping away, not even planning to swap his ore can. I was going to warp away, dock at a station and log for the day.
I swear, sometimes people only open their mouths to exchange which foot they have inserted in them.
