EVE General Discussion

We've been invaded by WoW refugees with access to mommy's credit card. They don't need to "make ISK." They buy it.
SO, they engage in activities with no financial return, or that make no financial sense at all. As long as mommy says, "Okay," to that all important question: "Mommy, can I buy something online? It's cheap!" we're going to see the rise of promiscuous activity, and the decline of anything requiring time and effort. (I love math!. Don't you?)

1 mil is 200% value for a Venture lol. Should've just activated self-destruct.

To me the greatest motivation to ransom is player agency in applying a principle, and recieving not only ISK but also recognition. Seafaring pirates of the past used to have reputations that precede them. Regardless, it is a mere bonus on top of being able to apply authentic piratical principles.

What caused this archetype to be replaced by unprofessional scum? I'd say the problem lies with killboards, and their tendency to glorify minimal, unimpressive action. The problem lies in people wanting to point out that specific metric publicly, so they can gloat over their own implied statistics.

Those that go for ransoms care very little for their KB efficiency. They tend to promote extreme situational awareness and full control over your singular ship at all times, and enjoy taking down ships bigger then them through fitting choices and staying one step ahead. A killboard efficiency of 99% is effectively something to scoff at, that's not a score suitable for a pilot that is constantly honing his PVP prowess.

So the ransom mechanic would have to be some timed interaction I think, similar to how pirates operate currently.

-The pirate requests a ransom amount for the victim to agree to in a transaction window - think a temporary wallet or whatever, with a timer attached.
-Once the price is agreed the ISK is transferred to the temporary wallet.
-If the victim is aggressed during the timer, or if the timer expires, the ISK returns to him.
-If the victim enters warp or otherwise leaves the system (say via gate/wormhole) while the timer is still ticking, the ISK is transferred to the pirate.

Make it so once the transaction has begun, there is no way to back out of it. Have it hook into the API (or CREST or whatever it is these days) to gather metrics on ransom transactions too maybe?

I dunno, just brainstorming. It would obviously need iteration, and I have no doubt missed a potential exploit or twenty, but I see no reason it couldn't be developed. I'm sure I can't be the first to suggest something like this, but I haven't done my homework at all, just popped into my head.

I can't believe anyone seriously wants to bring up "pirates of yore." The "Golden Age of Piracy..." You really don't want to go that way. The only "legend" from then is found in fiction today. THEN, they were criminals just like "terrorists" today. Governments sent fleets to destroy them. They were hung on sight, and nobody - NOBODY - but them wanted to be them. Get your facts straight in making comparisons here...or not. Yeah, you can talk out your @$$. Somebody said everybody wants to be the lead singer...I was in several bands over the many years as the lead singer, and I guarantee you, the rest of the musicians weren't bum rushing the mic to see who got there first. Again, the fiction...people who have nothing to do with music think the lead singer is everything. People who haven't got a clue about the past think Jack Sparrow is the who to be.

You can't be a pirate in this game simply because that kind of behavior is sanctioned, it's not punished.
You aren't an outlaw. You're an in-law. You suffer no retribution, no ostracization, and you certainly
don't pay a price of any sort for it. In fact, this so-called piracy is so laughable it's hard to imagine anyone
wishing to see themselves as competitive and competent gamers admitting publicly to doing it.
To discuss it like you're putting a fine point to it? How delusional can you GET?

Dunnat make me laff. Pyrates...in EVE. Funny. Drink your cocoa and watch some cartoons.
School starts up in a week...kids.

Regrettably ransomed retriever routed Rancer randomly

Agreed the KB efficiency stat is a bad thing.

It's not a useful metric of anything other than your usual fleet size, but it is posted as the most visible metric on killboards.

I have a lot more respect for someone with 83% efficiency that mostly flies solo than I do for someone with 99% efficiency that flies in large fleets.

Do you guys even have permits? I'm having a hard time understanding the logic of your statements without permits.

Don't ever offer bribes unless the money you'd save by surviving is astronomical and the bribe/ransom is a tiny fraction of that amount. It sounds to me like you've been lucky. Most of the time the pirate will take your bribe, THEN kill you.

People forget that industrialists are pilots too. You really shouldn't be jacking around in low sec and null sec as an industrialist unless you can fly and fit blockade runners and deep space transports well.

Lowsec resource collection is broken. The only thing you should be doing there is planetary interaction. Don't mine there unless you're in a Venture or Prospect and then know your area very well. Don't haul through there if you don't have to. If you are looking to haul around low sec, consider hauling in interceptors and covops frigs for anything of low volume. Also, understand, you're participating in some of the industrialist vs. combat pilot PvP that isn't broken. Compare it to cat and mouse. You're the mouse.

Mining is not a game of cat and mouse balanced industrialist vs. combat pilot interaction. It's just broken. They're asking you to engage in a mechanic that practically begs you to watch TV while doing it, and then in high sec you will either not be ganked if you are lucky and highly tanked, or you will be ganked if you are unlucky or fit for yield. There's no cat and mouse to it.

In low sec and null sec there is no way to mine all by yourself or with a small crew. You must be affiliated with whoever controls the space, whether as a renter or as a line member of a major space holding group. The only people mining in low sec aren't serious about making money, frankly.

Low sec and null sec expect you to have a bit of SP before going there. Train up the T2 haulers before even trying it. And remember, as an industrialist, you are every bit the pilot a PvPer is. Your weapon system will be drones for your ORE ships. You need to train into T2 industrial hulls. You need navigation, engineering, and electronics skills for adequate tank, speed, and module fitting.

I frequent it but don't live there. Its too much of a commute to my job bringing justice to miners and saving highsec.