The story of my first open player kill

[sinkarma]

I want to share a story about my first player kill... so grab a drink with me...
I was playing in open with a new player group I had joined. We were supporting a war, sadly there was no high CZ in space so while the others were racking kills in ground combat I was blasting ships in the only low intensity combat zone.

But then on my radar I spot an unidentified player... he (or she, who knows?) floats at the edge of the conflict zone. And thinking back they had a low combat rank too. In a krait mk2.
He was probably trying to figure out the interface I think. Maybe deciding who to join in the fight? Maybe alt-tabbed asking his wing or player group what he should do?
Or maybe he was waiting on me to get low shields then pounce me and gank me? I don't know.
Either way... after some time he turns red! Yes! He joined the enemy!
So my thought was... "oh here we go... I'm about to get into some pvp and its going to go bad..." after all I used to play a lot of solo and private and didn't do much pvp.
So I slot in behind him and start blasting.
two seconds later his shields popped?
"uuuh?"
next shot took his hull from 98% to 0% and he blew up.
....?
"what?"
Like.... see... I was using engineered guardian plasma chargers, They pack quite the punch, but not that much!
Later I pondered it and realized he must have been a new'ish player! Low combat rank in an un-engineered ship with no added hull reinforcement. Must have been thinking "hey lets go to this LOW intensity conflict and try it out". Probably explains why he hung at the edge of the conflict without joining for a while.
And I blew him to bits...
"that low intensity got high real quick" said one of the people in voice chat on our discord.
and indeed... I feel bad! (Not that bad tbh I actually enjoyed it) wish I kept his name and maybe I should have extended an invite to him to join us and learn how to play the game? I don't know? I forgot his name and he already had a clan tag so I assume he already was in a group.
Never saw them again for the rest of the conflict... didn't see anyone else for the rest of the conflict either... we did lose the war in the end... so obviously someone better was playing in private or solo or maybe hitting more ground conflicts than us. or something...

Either way so ends my tale.

 

[St0rmFury]

You can check his name in one of your tabs in the message panel, should list down a history of players who was detected by your radar.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Perfect illusteation of how deetrimental engineering is to the game. You probably wont find this guy in open anymore - there simply is no point doing so.

 

[LumpTheNoLeggedDog]

I want to share a story about my first player kill... so grab a drink with me...
I was playing in open with a new player group I had joined. We were supporting a war, sadly there was no high CZ in space so while the others were racking kills in ground combat I was blasting ships in the only low intensity combat zone.

But then on my radar I spot an unidentified player... he (or she, who knows?) floats at the edge of the conflict zone. And thinking back they had a low combat rank too. In a krait mk2.
He was probably trying to figure out the interface I think. Maybe deciding who to join in the fight? Maybe alt-tabbed asking his wing or player group what he should do?
Or maybe he was waiting on me to get low shields then pounce me and gank me? I don't know.
Either way... after some time he turns red! Yes! He joined the enemy!
So my thought was... "oh here we go... I'm about to get into some pvp and its going to go bad..." after all I used to play a lot of solo and private and didn't do much pvp.
So I slot in behind him and start blasting.
two seconds later his shields popped?
"uuuh?"
next shot took his hull from 98% to 0% and he blew up.
....?
"what?"
Like.... see... I was using engineered guardian plasma chargers, They pack quite the punch, but not that much!
Later I pondered it and realized he must have been a new'ish player! Low combat rank in an un-engineered ship with no added hull reinforcement. Must have been thinking "hey lets go to this LOW intensity conflict and try it out". Probably explains why he hung at the edge of the conflict without joining for a while.
And I blew him to bits...
"that low intensity got high real quick" said one of the people in voice chat on our discord.
and indeed... I feel bad! (Not that bad tbh I actually enjoyed it) wish I kept his name and maybe I should have extended an invite to him to join us and learn how to play the game? I don't know? I forgot his name and he already had a clan tag so I assume he already was in a group.
Never saw them again for the rest of the conflict... didn't see anyone else for the rest of the conflict either... we did lose the war in the end... so obviously someone better was playing in private or solo or maybe hitting more ground conflicts than us. or something...

Either way so ends my tale.

Good job for waiting until he turned Red, that is how real players are defined from meaningless gankers.

 

[smiths121]

Whilst not being in anengineered ship in open appears to be a sin of soul banishing proportions tosome on this here forum, I cannot help but thinking when entering the the low intensity in open and you see a player, probably wise to join the same side, wing up and share the kills. Particularly if you are inthe aforementioned unengineered ship. Wost case no wing, move to a new CZ or solo.

So for me lack of comms and choosing the opposite side was asking for it.
OP should have communicated after the event, but I can understand adrenaline of 1st kill probavly diminishes social skills.

Simon

 

[Northpin]

Well, op could send some comms and try to lure the player to his side of the war

 

[Frank]

Well, op could send some comms and try to lure the player to his side of the war

It sounds like both pilots were in squadrons so there's a good chance neither had a choice in which side to support. The new player could've called for backup, and then engaged the other pilot in conversation while they were waiting for it to arrive <grin>

 

[d8veh]

I couldn't have done that. My heart would have been bleeding too much long before their hull popped - even if they had shot first. The only players I can kill or grief are gankers.

 

[Brrokk]

I'm not known for being a PvP enthusiast.
But in Open, at a CZ, on opposite sides... Destroy!

 

[Ettanin]

Perfect illusteation of how deetrimental engineering is to the game. You probably wont find this guy in open anymore - there simply is no point doing so.

Either they switched to PG or Solo or they blocked the OP.

 

[CmdrKafka]

I've had the same experience in CZ and waited for the hollow box to turn red only to find out they are often woefully under-engineered. In most cases I've just taken out their shields and let them go, but sometimes they accidently blow up, or they just combat log I really wish there was a way that combat would allow for more disabled ships vs. blowing up right away. It's possible to carefully do this (ie take out their engines), but it was just more the default to become disabled first and then a very long period before blowing up (providing your life support is good), have automatic NPC rescue ships or give other players (ie Hull Seals) to come and give you a hand that would be so much more immersive than just instant death all the time.

 

[Brrokk]

When people say "If you log in to Open you consent to PvP" I'm doubtful. But if you log in to Open, go to a CZ, see another CMDR and join the opposite side, surely that's inviting PvP. I hope the exploded player didn't block or go to Solo after the inevitable happened; surely he intended to get into a fight. Otherwise it's a towering level of cluelessness.

 

[d8veh]

When people say "If you log in to Open you consent to PvP" I'm doubtful. But if you log in to Open, go to a CZ, see another CMDR and join the opposite side, surely that's inviting PvP. I hope the exploded player didn't block or go to Solo after the inevitable happened; surely he intended to get into a fight. Otherwise it's a towering level of cluelessness.

That's if the victim knew what they were doing, and it sounds like they didn't.

 

[Suitret]

Lol... that was fast.
My first pvp kill was a Fed Corvette with an Alliance chieftain as a wingman.
Things didn't go well.... for the Corvette, but I got bullied first, 5 times at least.

 

[CMDR Bao Bao]

That's if the victim knew what they were doing, and it sounds like they didn't.

In that case the OP provided them with some valuable information and experience on what it means to enter a war zone.

If the destroyed ship was as weak as described they probably would have been killed by the NPCs anyways. I’m guessing that guy thought, “I need more practice and a better ship before going to war.”

 

[Felix DiCestria]

I'm not known for being a PvP enthusiast.
But in Open, at a CZ, on opposite sides... Destroy!

It certainly fulfills RoE AFAIC.
As an outside possibility they might have hit the wrong side with their opening volley, however that should have prompted them to leave if that was the case.

 

[[VR] Bulbulunufus]

Whilst not being in anengineered ship in open appears to be a sin of soul banishing proportions tosome on this here forum, I cannot help but thinking when entering the the low intensity in open and you see a player, probably wise to join the same side, wing up and share the kills. Particularly if you are inthe aforementioned unengineered ship. Wost case no wing, move to a new CZ or solo.

So for me lack of comms and choosing the opposite side was asking for it.
OP should have communicated after the event, but I can understand adrenaline of 1st kill probavly diminishes social skills.

Simon

I agree this was more than unengineered, it sounds like they took an explo/cargo ship to a CZ. Lesson learned hopefully.

However, I find your suggestion odd - I've never gone into a CZ without knowing exactly which side I was fighting for and why. Otherwise why would I fight in a war, albeit an imaginary one?

 

[[VR] Bulbulunufus]

Perfect illusteation of how deetrimental engineering is to the game. You probably wont find this guy in open anymore - there simply is no point doing so.

Imagine if you'd spent all these years writing complaints about engineering g5'ing your whole fleet instead... no, this is better.

 

[[VR] Bulbulunufus]

I want to share a story about my first player kill... so grab a drink with me...
I was playing in open with a new player group I had joined. We were supporting a war, sadly there was no high CZ in space so while the others were racking kills in ground combat I was blasting ships in the only low intensity combat zone.

But then on my radar I spot an unidentified player... he (or she, who knows?) floats at the edge of the conflict zone. And thinking back they had a low combat rank too. In a krait mk2.
He was probably trying to figure out the interface I think. Maybe deciding who to join in the fight? Maybe alt-tabbed asking his wing or player group what he should do?
Or maybe he was waiting on me to get low shields then pounce me and gank me? I don't know.
Either way... after some time he turns red! Yes! He joined the enemy!
So my thought was... "oh here we go... I'm about to get into some pvp and its going to go bad..." after all I used to play a lot of solo and private and didn't do much pvp.
So I slot in behind him and start blasting.
two seconds later his shields popped?
"uuuh?"
next shot took his hull from 98% to 0% and he blew up.
....?
"what?"
Like.... see... I was using engineered guardian plasma chargers, They pack quite the punch, but not that much!
Later I pondered it and realized he must have been a new'ish player! Low combat rank in an un-engineered ship with no added hull reinforcement. Must have been thinking "hey lets go to this LOW intensity conflict and try it out". Probably explains why he hung at the edge of the conflict without joining for a while.
And I blew him to bits...
"that low intensity got high real quick" said one of the people in voice chat on our discord.
and indeed... I feel bad! (Not that bad tbh I actually enjoyed it) wish I kept his name and maybe I should have extended an invite to him to join us and learn how to play the game? I don't know? I forgot his name and he already had a clan tag so I assume he already was in a group.
Never saw them again for the rest of the conflict... didn't see anyone else for the rest of the conflict either... we did lose the war in the end... so obviously someone better was playing in private or solo or maybe hitting more ground conflicts than us. or something...

Either way so ends my tale.

You're definitely in the "logical, in-universe" PvP end of the spectrum here. But it's also possible to fire a warning "if you do not desist I will be forced to engage" for some added flavour, maybe even gently coerce them at gunpoint to switch sides .

It's a shame if people switch to solo/PG in these situations instead of coming back mob-handed with their squad - escalation is always more fun! Mashing the iwin button instead is just sad. Times when I've seen people come back after I've given them a rebuy in CG or powerplay CZs I'm always tempted to flip them an o7 out of respect, although holding bonds at a CG is too sweaty for clumsy one-eye one-finger comms from VR...

 

[Phoenix_Dfire]

There was huge debate about opposing players in CZs in the Mobius group. Should there be an exception to the PVE only rule if you have two opposing commanders in a CZ. In the end, it was decided there couldn't be an exception because it was causing too much grief for the admins. So if your in Mobius and see and opposing commander, you are supposed to stay clear of each other and just farm the zone.

Otherwise in Open and in other pvt groups, I'd say a red commander in a CZ is a legitimate target and as they are normally better than your average NPC ship and should be considered your primary threat (to either take out or run away from).