A confession from a remorseful pirate, an open apology to CMDR Ax-xx (obviously not quite his real name, I don't recall exactly what it was... hopefully this isn't shaming, that isn't my intent, quite the contrary). This is a long story about a pirating experience last night... sorry for the long post. I am hoping CMDR AX-XX shows up here to chat.
I need to get something off my chest! I know this is just a game, but man.. i seriously lost some sleep last night over this. Albeit only 20 minutes or so... but still!
So I am a new pirate, imposing my will upon unsuspecting traders system wide. From deep in Empire space at Eotienses, all the way to rares stops in federal space near Leesti. I have been striking fear in many-o-tradingships, night after night, pulling traders out of super cruise and demanding a small percentage of their cargo. I have only been at this for 3 days or so. I am learning as I go, teaching myself the ropes and the skills necessary to pull it off. I gotta say.. it is NOT easy!
My first couple days doing this, the overwhelming majority of my piratees (is that a word?) decided they would be better off A) fighting the interdiction, then B) ignoring my demands to cut their engines or face certain destruction, then C) running away at full speed/boost/charge FSD, then D) still not cut their engines as their hulls pacefully reach 0%. I found this utterly strange. Instead of dropping 10 out of 100 tones of semi-worthless cargo... they would rather take their odds at getting away with all of it. 100% of them failed. This is great! These guys gotta learn (pirates point of view here), that submitting to the pirate, and having a slightly less profitable run is better than losing all your cargo AND a ship re-buy. But none of them went that route.
Then last night, things kind-of-changed. The overwhelming majority of pirates STILL chose to fight the interdiction (and lose), but then heeded my warning to cut their engines and wait for my cargo scan. I would offer up what sounded like a relatively painless demand, like 15 or 20 tones of cargo... they agree, drop their cargo, roll play with a howling "Ok, DAMN YOU SPACE PIRATE!
"... and off they would go. NEVER have I had more fun in this game, than mindlessly scooping up 20 tones of some worthless cargo.
But then this happened.
My last target of the night, mr Ax-xx... Near leesti somewhere (I forget which neighboring system). He's in a T6... I pull him out.. but he fights the interdiction. This guy WINS the interdiction! (my first loss)... "OK!" I thought... "that guy deserves to get away". It was like a TWO MINUTE struggle with the tether. I was tired! But silly CMDR was still there in SC when I finally got back out. I once again, pulled him into an inderdiction battle. This time I won (woot!). We both dropped into normal space, I trigger my script "pirate 1" which gives my first demand to cut his engines, wait for scan, or face death... and he does. He is sitting there, and I am literally nose-to-nose with him doing my cargo scan (i like to sit that way to assert my dominance). While the scan is going, he says "haha.. joke is on you, I don't have any real cargo". The cargo scan reveals he has a single rares ton. I don't even remember what it was. All I was thinking, was that I had to have it, as I earned it as the successful pirate. But the CMDR says no! You can't have it. He said it took him an hour to get it and he would rather self destruct than jettison his single ton. Once again.. I was baffled at his response.
So there I was, nose-to-nose... with my combat loaded wingman right next to me... contemplating what to do. The pirate's code says that you destroy those that don't give up to your seemingly rational request for cargo. CMDR AX-XX says "do your worst, commander... ill even turn off my shields"..... Here is where the last two days of killing all these traders that wouldn't stop got to me... out of habit for what I thought was what you were supposed to do... me and my wingman opened fire. His shields and hull collapsed in less that 3 or 4 seconds. BOOM... there he was, facing the re-buy screen.
Off we went! Back into space. It got late... I logged off... and put my head on my pillow. Then for some reason, I started to really think about this encounter. Was it really a reasonable request to demand he give up his SOLE ton of cargo? No, it wasn't. Was it really the right thing to do to "teach him a lesson" for not dropping his single ton, by blowing up his ship and sending him to the rebuy screen? No.. it wasn't. Was thee most honorable part of the entire encounter when CMDR AX-XX said "i will not drop this single ton cargo...I spent an hour obtaining it... do your worst"... YES, it was.
So there I was, trying to fall asleep.. and I couldn't stop thinking of this guy. Who was he? Some single young guy sitting in his apartment? Some married guy with kids who only gets an hour a night to play? Something in-between? Never in this game have I felt so low. The previous dozen traders that I turned into worm food DID deserve it. And I didn't feel one OUNCE of guilt. It's just part of the game. It's fun, challenging, discouraging, lesson learning. Next time they WILL submit, or they will have an armed friend near-by to make sure they have some backup. Whatever. But THIS guy, certainly did not deserve what he got. Not by a long shot. I made a terrible mistake. And it has actually affected me in real life! It IS just a game... but we ARE only human.
I appologize CMDR AX-XX. I would love to make amends with you. You fly a T-6, I have 100 tones of whatever mineral/metal you want. Just look me up in-game, we can meet near a station that has a high buy-back price, and you can spend an hour scooping (haha.. stupid scooping) and hopefully that will cover your hour+rebuy on your T6.
CMDR Holycow, (remorseful and will be FAR FAR more careful about which commanders he destroys and which he lets go).. signing off.
