Fool Me Once...

...shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott, USS Enterprise

I was starting the second part of the four-part "Whispers In The Dark" storyline mission. When I entered Egghelende, I noticed several Mutually Assured Distraction (MAD) ships so immediately headed for the nearest starbase and docked. Once docked, I flipped over to Local and saw these guys actually boasting about how they were picking off noobs for fun. I'm proud to say I resisted the temptation to suggest in Local that if they were trying to pick off ships it would probably be best not to discuss it in a public channel, but I decided that another option would be far more satisfying.

It was late and I knew I was going to be packing it in for the night soon anyway, so after watching these MAD guys make comments in Local like "fish meet barrel" etc. for a while, I got bored with it. I'd thought about clone jumping back to my Myrm and avoiding the whole thing, but instead I chose the easier option: I logged. Earlier today, I went back in-game and did the mission. I missed out on the time bonus, but it certainly beat getting my Thorax vaporized.

Yeah, I'm learning. Still, based on what I read in Local last night, a lot of noobs still haven't learned this lesson as yet...and, of course, these MAD guys had no way of knowing that I had fallen for this kind of setup by Veto less than a week ago, and there was just no fucking way I was going to let it happen again. As I've written before, this is the one game I've ever played where just simply turning the game off and doing something else for a while instead can be a valid and effective defense.

I'll admit I was surprised to see them in Egghelende...even though it is low-sec, it seems that almost nothing ever happens there. Still, it was really easy to keep them from attacking. As I always do, when I'm going on a mission I don't carry anything other than the ammo and cap charges I need to complete it. I guess, like Veto, they figured I was there to pick something up so they didn't come after me and probably assumed they'd catch me on my way out. I checked Local when I logged back on to change skills a while later and they were still out there, so I simply started a new skill, logged, and went to bed. If only all pirates were this easy to avoid.

In case you haven't figured it out by now, the lesson of the day is: Always check Local when in low-sec, no matter how unlikely it seems that you're going to run into trouble...you just never know. It's the easiest and most effective way to prevent pirates from taking you out unexpectedly. It won't always work of course, but you up your odds significantly when you do, especially if you're facing pirates who are arrogant enough to assume you don't know better. In addition, set up your overview to let you know when you've got ships in the area from corps with low or horrible standings in general or against your corp. Just having that information handy when you need it can be the difference between life and death.

Hmmm...I wonder if this means I'm officially no longer a noob?