Punisher 18.1

The hunt:

Undeterred by my recent loss, I was again making my way through Amarr low sec, this time in the Tash-Murkon region. There are a couple of island communities in Tash-Murkon, and they are fairly safe, relaxed places, so I often have good luck when hunting there. I have to be careful not to over-hunt, though, as this would probably force the locals to be more cautious.

While passing through these systems I noticed a sisters scan probe on the overview. Nothing too odd about that, but there was also a Heron on overview, which was odd.

You see, as a semi-professional explorer myself, I know that your typical explorer:

a) scans from a safe spot
b) has a cloak
c) has as many warp stabilizers as they can fit

Now, because not everyone loves redundancy the way I do, some explorers will drop one of the above three, and so I assumed that the Heron had simply not bothered with the cloak because of other protection. Still, lighting could strike, so I very quickly scanned the Heron down - at the Sun.

I know what people say about the top belt in a system, and how it is the most dangerous place to be, but my money is on the Sun every time. It is seductively convenient, being at the center of every system, and it is really easy to warp to, as it is literally the most visible thing on your screen after your ship. I've had far more fights at the sun than I ever have in an asteroid belt.

Not wasting any time, I warped to the Sun at zero; someone foolish enough to scan from the Sun was also probably foolish enough to warp to zero. Landing right on top of the Heron,  I swiftly targeted and pointed the vessel. I immediately opened fire.

Of course, I've been here before. This is typically the bit where the warp stabbed scanning frigate simply warps away, but I hoped that my improved dps skills would help me take down the untanked frigate before the pilot could react. I over heated my guns and waited for his next move.

Apparently, his next move was to explode.

2011.04.10 15:21:00

Victim: sarkoidose00
Corp: In vitam eternam
Alliance: Unknown
Faction: Unknown
Destroyed: Heron
System: Nasesharafa
Security: 0.2
Damage Taken: 874

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: 0.0
Corp: Strategic Conflicts Incorporated
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Punisher
Weapon: Gatling Pulse Laser II
Damage Done: 874

Destroyed items:

Codebreaker I
Sisters Core Probe Launcher
Small Gravity Capacitor Upgrade I, Qty: 2

Dropped items:

Inertia Stabilizers I
Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Prototype Cloaking Device I
Analyzer I
Sisters Core Scanner Probe, Qty: 7

Post battle review:

Looking at the killmail, not only did the pilot ignore the three basic rules of safe exploration, but he also failed to use his equipped cloaking device. What a stroke of luck!

The seven sisters probes and the cloak made this my most profitable kill ever. I wish the sisters launcher had dropped, though!

Other than that, there was not much battle to review. The Heron is a non-combat vessel that relies on evasion to survive. The pilot did a really poor job of that, and I scanned him down quickly enough that he did not get around to activating his cloak.

Lessons for the future:

Sometimes, I'm not the one making mistakes. I can profit from that.