Saw an NPC today that did something I've never seen before. This was an NPC Viper that interdicted me - since I was planning to pirate hunt anyway, I submitted and began the usual song and dance. Jumping forward a bit, I had his hull down to a few percent, figured one more multicannon salvo would take him, and I thought it did - he started doing the "tumble of doom", and I waited for the explosion and the bounty to roll in.
Then I realized he was still at 1% hull. He was tumbling but must have had a good velocity away from me, since he managed to get beyond my weapons range before I noticed he was still alive. Heard those awful words "Frameshift detected", and I burned after him. Managed to get a few more multicannon hits in at long range, and then he vanishes.
However, this wasn't a normal jump. First, there was no frameshift wake at all. Second, if I looked in the direction he was in, I could see a tiny, tiny little speck in the distance that looked like a ship. I put four pips to engines and spam the afterburner. After about a minute, it becomes clear it's my friend, Mister Viper, still tumbling in the distance. After another minute, I can finally get a target lock; he must be nearly powerless because I had to get to about 1 km just to lock on. I consider leaving him to slowly tumble in space until his oxygen supply runs out, but then I realize at least he didn't force quit during combat, so I give him an honest death.
Anyone else ever seen this? I guess it's possible the FSD was damaged enough that the jump failed. It had to have thrown him about 40-50 klicks out.
Then I realized he was still at 1% hull. He was tumbling but must have had a good velocity away from me, since he managed to get beyond my weapons range before I noticed he was still alive. Heard those awful words "Frameshift detected", and I burned after him. Managed to get a few more multicannon hits in at long range, and then he vanishes.
However, this wasn't a normal jump. First, there was no frameshift wake at all. Second, if I looked in the direction he was in, I could see a tiny, tiny little speck in the distance that looked like a ship. I put four pips to engines and spam the afterburner. After about a minute, it becomes clear it's my friend, Mister Viper, still tumbling in the distance. After another minute, I can finally get a target lock; he must be nearly powerless because I had to get to about 1 km just to lock on. I consider leaving him to slowly tumble in space until his oxygen supply runs out, but then I realize at least he didn't force quit during combat, so I give him an honest death.
Anyone else ever seen this? I guess it's possible the FSD was damaged enough that the jump failed. It had to have thrown him about 40-50 klicks out.
