Losing Two Ships

Another reminder that it is EVE Online that I am playing, and not the Happy, Happy Elf Game.

Moving back to Caldari space has taken me some time, but it is pretty much done now. Running cargo through the same 16 jumps was dull work. Not being patient enough to drive every run in person, I let most runs fly via autopilot to their destination while I did something else.

I did not give this much thought. Having moved both to Amarr space earlier this year and then back to Caldari space, I must have passed the 50 mark for round trips some time ago, and I have never had a problem.

Last weekend I had a window of opportunity to move some stuff, so I got out the hauler and made the trip on manual to get in a run while I could.

On the first trip back, I noticed a lot of CONCORD ships sitting at one of the gates in Niarja.

That’s a lot of ships!

Later, I made another manual run and noticed that there were still a LOT of CONCORD ships around the gate.

That is enough for a policeman’s ball or some such.

Still, I did not give it much thought, all those NPC enforcers hanging around one gate. After all, there didn’t seem to be many around the gate at the other end of the system.

That last run secured most of the key items for my main. Now I wanted to get my alt, the miner, and his equipment back to Caldari space.

Thankfully, he can fit most of what he needs immediately in a single Badger. So I packed him off and pointed him towards Caldari space. I had some stuff to do, so I put him on autopilot and let him go, keeping and eye on him as I could.

I took a peek at the computer a while later, and there he sat, in his POD.

CRAP! WHAT HAPPENED!?!

Look at the log:

Victim: Selirus Szin
Corp: Twilight Cadre
Alliance: NONE
Faction: Caldari State
Destroyed: Badger
System: Niarja
Security: 0.5
Damage Taken: 1834
Involved parties:Name: Red Dingo (laid the final blow)
Security: 0.0
Corp: Residual Rampage
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Brutix
Weapon: Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Damage Done: 1834

Well damn! Brazen Piracy! Smash and grab! And in a high security system!

Yeah, that CONCORD outing in Niarja, that was a warning sign I guess. It seems that there was a corp sitting at the gate away from all the NPCs, zapping people as they cruised by on autopilot and looting their wrecks.

I pulled Wilhelm out, got him in his hauler, and headed back to see if there was anything left.

Of course, there was nothing. The had a freighter sitting there by the gate to hold all their booty.

Time to assess the loss.

The Badger. Well, that is about 290,000 ISK. Not insubstantial, but some ISK. Plus it was insured, so I got some cash back. Certainly not the first hauler I have lost.

The Badger’s fittings. Two expanded cargohold II modules, worth about 1.5 million ISK each. Well, that is a bit of a pain. ISK starts to have meaning once measured in millions, but I can replace that.

The Badger’s cargo. Oh, what did we have inside?

Destroyed items:
Condensed Scordite, Qty: 5932 (Cargo)
Modulated Strip Miner II, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Pyroxeres Mining Crystal I, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Veldspar Mining Crystal II, Qty: 3 (Cargo)
Scordite Mining Crystal I, Qty: 3 (Cargo)
Crystal Compound (Cargo)
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Inhibitor I (Cargo)
Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters (Cargo)
Bloodclaw Light Missile (Cargo)
Hobgoblin I, Qty: 7 (Cargo)
Medium Hybrid Turret (Cargo)
Dropped items:

Modulated Strip Miner II (Cargo)
Drone Sharpshooting (Cargo)
Pyroxeres Mining Crystal I, Qty: 7 (Cargo)
Veldspar Mining Crystal II, Qty: 12 (Cargo)
Scordite Mining Crystal I, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Mining Laser Upgrade II, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Survey Scanner I (Cargo)
Multifrequency S (Cargo)
Scordite, Qty: 9482 (Cargo)
Gatling Pulse Laser I (Cargo)
Gleaming Alloy (Cargo)
Hulk (Cargo)
Small Shield Extender I (Cargo)
Expanded Cargohold II, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Hornet I, Qty: 9 (Cargo)
Condensed Alloy (Cargo)

A few things of value in there… like my Hulk mining barge!

The Hulk and its fittings… over 100 million ISK.

Oh, and a ship that has be packaged up for hauling… no insurance.

Welcome to EVE Online.

On the bright side, while I was checking out the prices on Hulks, somebody purchased the Rokh I previously built, which boosted my bank account by 127 million ISK, temporarily putting me over the half billion ISK mark.

But now I must go ship shopping.