Punisher 6.4

The fit:

3 Dual Light Pulse 2 (Navy Multifrequency & Scorch)
5W Infectious Power Malfuction

Cold-gas Arcjet Thrusters
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Inhibitor

Small Armor Repair System 1
Adaptive Nano Plating 2
Damage Control 2
200mm Rolled Tungsten

Small Auxiliary Power Relay

Same set-up as before, but I have upgraded my mid slots and my neut. I very much like the additional performance - thanks to FNG for the recommendation.


The hunt:

My failure to engage any miners in the last few days had irked me, and with the locals quickly learning not to use jet-cans, my window of opportunity was drying up. A change of tactics was needed.

I dusted off my trusty Sigil and stuck two warp core stabilisers into the low slots, and a damage control. I wanted to look harmless, so turrets in the top slots were out, but I did put some neuts in. I also installed a couple of shield extenders. My thought was that if I flipped cans in what looked like a mining vessel, the other miners might actually engage, or at least take their ore back.

This being the plan, the stabs should allow me to warp back to a station (even if they had a scram) and grab my Punisher. The DC and extenders would allow me to tank moderate damage while I aligned and warped out. The neuts were an afterthought, in case I did ran into more than one point - I might be able to shut one of them off.

They say that no plan survives contact with the enemy, but this one actually did. I approached a Procurer and flipped his can, which had several tens of thousands of units in it. I dumped it all into my can, loaded up my Sigil, and warped to the station.

Just as I came out of warp, the Procurer gained that little skull icon we all love to see in high sec. Docking, I switched to my Punisher and warped back, hoping that he was still there.

He was.

The battle was very short, and a little disappointing. This was my first fight with a mining ship, and I simply crushed him. His single drone was not even backed up by any significant skill - a T2 drone and a decent tank would have at least made for the possibility that he might win, but as it was, he stood no chance.

Victim: Pavel Burlakov

Corp: RUS zeus inc.

Alliance: Unknown

Faction: Unknown

Destroyed: Procurer

System: Hilaban

Security: 0.9

Damage Taken: 566

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)

Security: 0.3

Corp: Viziam

Alliance: NONE

Faction: NONE

Ship: Punisher

Weapon: Dual Light Pulse Laser II

Damage Done: 566

Dropped items:

Strip Miner I

Expanded Cargohold II, Qty: 2

Survey Scanner II

 

After the battle I looted his wreck and was shocked at just how much money he had plowed into his fittings. And I thought my costs were high!

 

I sent him some mail telling him that he had more guts than most of the local miners, and that he could come and get his stuff - I had left it in a jet-can. 

 

I was about to warp off, when I noticed that the other miners at the belt seemed particularly interested in the stuff I had just dropped. They were not going to do a thing while I was there, of course, but I suspected that they would scoop it the instant I left. And I was damned if I was going to give up good loot just so they could have it.

So I waited for the pilot to get back. And I waited some more. As he did not show, I convo'd him and asked him if he was coming back. I got no answer, so I explained that his stuff was worth a couple of mill, and while I did not want to leave it unattended, I also did not plan on sticking around for long.

That's when I received a notification that I had been added as a contact with negative rating. No other reply. So I took back the loot, and went on my way, feeling far less guilty about attacking a high sec miner.

I'm guessing that miners have a mining channel, because although I did not see anything in local, nobody else dared to flip one of my cans for the rest of the evening, despite my non-threatening little Sigil.

Post battle review:

There is not much to say, here, except that if this pilot was representative of what ORE miners are like in combat, I shall not be afraid to engage one again.

It also strikes me that there is no situation so bad that a poor attitude and bad manners can't make it worse. This guy could have gotten all his fittings back and, assuming he had insured his ship, have lost nothing more than a little time. But poor attitude cost him a couple of million that he did not need to spend.

I actually have another story on that point, but there are plans in motion that I don't want to reveal yet. We'll see how things work out over the next few days.

Lessons for the future:

In Eve (as in life?), being a victim is as much an attitude and state of mind as anything else. This guy did not have to jet-can mine (he is greedy), he did not have to use a ship which is seemingly incapable of combat (he is greedy), and, knowing the previous two points, he did not have to steal back the ore I had taken from him (he is greedy). Finally, he did not need to be there when I got back (he is stupid).

Dead miners. Three parts greed, one part stupid.