A friend and I were in Ignoitton waiting for something to happen when I noticed a Rattlesnake on my scanner. I couldn't believe my eyes. Rattlesnakes are rare, expensive ships that sell for more than 2 billion isk. I pressed the scan button again. And again the Rattlesnake appeared. Heart racing, I spun my camera around, trying to determine where the Rattlesnake was and what it was doing. After a few moments, I found him guarding a 4-man mining operation.
We warped to a moon near the belt and assessed the situation. I was in a Raven, while my friend was in a Megathron. I also had 4 caldari jammers on my ship. If we engaged the Rattlesnake alone we had a decent chance of winning. On the other hand, we were also against 4 soon-to-be very angry miners who probably had battleships and elite cruisers in the station. But faced with such a rare and expensive prize, we quickly decided that it was worth the risk.
When we arrived at the belt we immediately began positioning ourselves to attack the Rattlesnake. No one seemed to mind, as the Rattlesnake sat still and the miners continued to mine away. Once my friend was within 15km of the Rattlesnake we targeted and engaged with everything we had: blasters, torpedoes, drones, nosferatus, and ecm. His shields dropped a satisfying 25% in the opening volleys. But just as quickly as we depleted his shields, he boosted them back up to 95%. My hands started sweating. This guy had either faction or officer modules fitted. Probably both. Even though my ecm kept us safe from his weapons, this was going to be a very long fight.
As the Rattlesnake's shields slowly depleted. the miners noticed they were under attack and began warping towards the station. I immediately opened up my scanner and began glancing back and forth between the scanner and the local chat channel, watching for any signs of a retaliatory fleet. None ever appeared.
Eight minutes, 300 javelin torpedoes and 1400 antimatter charges later, we finally broke through the Rattlesnake's shields and started attacking his armor. My friend signaled for me to cease fire and opened up a chat with the Rattlesnake's pilot. We asked for 1 billion isk as ransom, half the value of his ship. We got no response, so we started firing again. A few minutes later, the Rattlesnake's armor was gone and was losing structural integrity fast. At 5% structure, the Rattlesnake pilot screamed for us to stop, and offered us not 1 billion, but 2 billion isk. We happily accepted and stopped firing.
As the transfer was going through, I noticed the Rattlesnake's structure was still dropping. I told my friend to stop firing and recall his drones, to which he said he had already done so. Just as the transfer completed, the Rattlesnake exploded into a million pieces. Through the glow of the explosion I saw the cause of its destruction: 2 npc frigates had spawned during the fight and had finished him off. Neither my friend or I had npcs on our overviews and realized they were there. Needless to say, the npcs got the killmail.
The jetcan contained several officer and faction modules, together valued at over 1 billion isk. That, on top of his 2 billion isk ship and the 2 billion isk ransom he paid means this guy lost at least 5 billion isk in assets in less than 15 minutes. Moral of the stoy? I doubt this guy will ever fly a faction-fitted battleship into low-sec nor will he ever pay a ransom again.
Cleared for publication by: Ander
29 Comments
Well, it was probably less than 5 billion if he had insurance on the ship, but he still lost well over 3.
But, that would be 3 billion that you got. You did take the loot, right?
You mean you didnt pay him his ransom back after he died?
wtf? :/
Why didnt you give him his ransom back?!?!? He paid, but he died. Rats or no, you owe him his ransom money back. At least, that would be the honorable thing to do.
Yeah, id give back the ransom. Im not a pirate though, so id actually leave him be. Probably. Droolworthy target. Mmmmm.
But yes, NPC or not the honorable thing is to give back that ransom.
IMO you lived up to your end of the bargain. Too bad so sad.
That kind of aditude is exactly what puts the honorable pirates in bad light. Your just proving the 'All pirates are dishonest, they'll kill you even after you pay the ransom' pirate sterotype carebears think we are right.
But on the other hand, 2 Bil is alot of money.......
Meh
fairness and honesty aside, it's also good business to give the ransom back.
also, nice kill!
That ransom was your earned fair n square, the terms of a ransom are that YOU stop attacking in exchange for money, the fact that he lost the ship comes down to him not paying the first ransom you offered, so shit on him
I must say it seemed a bit fishy, but it was really his own fault.. i mean who would wait until 5% structure?! that's like cancelling your life insurance 5 seconds before you die... his own fault really..
Exactly. You gave the guy his chance and he refused so he panicked later. You did stop firing. It is his problem if he decided to wait so long and left himself open to an NPC attack. You didnt kill him and therefore you honored your terms.
I completely agree it was his own fault. You gave him the chance to pay when it was safe, he chose to wait untill the very last second. His fault, his problem, and very nice kill :)
Thats a great little story, I'm sure all parties involved had their hearts beating like mad!!
I think I'd either keep a few hundred mil and return the rest or let him keep the money and grab the loot! :)
I'm not sure in what world you are living, but 0.5 belt rats will *not* break the passive tank of a rattlesnake, even when it's at 0% shield.
ie: there was at least some drones.
I'm surprised by the amount of effort people put into talking this right, while it's quite clear that after the bargain was struck (he even paid twice what was negotiated at that point int ime), they did not follow up on their part.
Ok, shit happens, but refusing to re-pay is just not the way it works.
nub ebayer rattlesnake pilot.
It seems they had still the scrambler and ecms running, so of course the ship destruction is their responsibility. The ransom should be returned.
But meh, cant argue about taste i guess.
lol, bullshit
I smell.... BULLSHIT
Nope, no BS. Local was buzzing for a day after this happened and there were several witnesses in the system (I was not among them). Dasani has great skills, and some Scorp and variation pilots don't seem to know what their ship is for. (Last night we killed a Scorp with no ECM fitted. Go figure.)
You should of paid him back the 2bil, ive had the same thing happen, you got his loot... real bad show imo
easy money > honour
It's a shame.. Basically by doing this they are killing their own profession, and they know it, but just blatantly ignoring it.
They probably whould have cried moral outrage if some other pirate group did this.. aka they are a hypocrits.
this whole topic is a complete joke, honor your words or just dont bother calling yourself a pirate - likewise in a fight with such a rare ship one would expect atleast a screenshot - i think this is all bull - nothing more than a creative story.
He paid you a ransom to leave safely, you took his ship to a point where it was no longer able to defend itsself
i have had to fend off npc's on my target before to get the ransom, and i have given the ransom back everytime when i have been unsucessful
not only did this guy lose his extremely expensive ship and modules but you stole 2 billion isk of his because he trusted you to keep him safe
its the least you can do to repay him, i would never let isk get in the way of honor, perhaps thats why i die too much and never get ahead financially
...and this would be why I'd never pay a ransom, nor fly any kind of faction/expensive ship in low sec space.
No PK can ever be trusted at their word, regardless of what they say about "honor". Everyone has their price.
Congrats. You truly are playing to win.
This is funny...I love how "pirates" call it an honorable profession! LOLOL! I am a pirate and it ain't "honorable", it's fun. There is no Eve pirate rules and regulations handbook that I am aware of. Good job on the kill!
Would have at *least* traded some cash for that killmail ... hope you thought of that :)
True perhaps, honor is not mandated. Nonetheless, some respect and consideration make a significant difference.
Here is a suggestion for a reasonable compromise: Give back 1 bill isk. Offer it in exchange for the kill mail if it makes you feel better. Then you have been respectful, you have your kill, and the amount of ransom you asked for. In turn the victim has been given consideration for the unintended loss.
I hope the OP takes this suggestion into consideration.
lol. wtf, are you peepz a crybaby wussies or what? pirate's thing's a pirate's thing. mercy's at the hands of the merciful. giving back loot'n ransom to the guy who was obviously too stupid to make any use of it? i mean, who in his right mind would ever wait to 5% structural in a 2bil+ ship? a fart could finish him off. in my opinion dasani simply liberated this guy's poor soul.
"giving back ransom", sheesh. suddenly pirates ought to have a 3rd party insurance policy? dont be ridiculous. get on with it. no one's forcing anyone to be in nullsec.
Intresting... Will you attack the rattlesnake which pilot is in the Red Alliance? You better think twice before that... Or whole Red Alliance will hunt you down until you won't have money for new clone and your sp will be lost =)...
WTF its a game......we all play dif. Pratts only gain respect through there personell reputation. To many f-tards want to say this n that, fact of the matter if he had 2 bil isk to throw away on the ship and fittings its his choice if he had an extra 2 bil to pay a ransome on a ship he did not fit for low sec thats his choice. while i do not condone the pratt life style I condone play it your way. You go low or null sec you take a chance of lose. Heck todays eve with gank squads even high sec at to safe.