Malediction v Griffin et alia

The hunt:

Actually, I wasn't hunting; I was playing musical ships.

My hauler alt had just brought some Maledictions and fittings to Gelfiven for the next stage of the T2 Tour. Rather than risk them all to the perils of lowsec in a defenceless hauler, I had decided to fly them each from Gelfiven to Atlar individually with my main.

Because this was just meant to be a short journey, I had thrown together a buffer fit rather than an active tank - I was more concerned about the npc police than I was about other players.

As I was docking one of my Maledictions, I noticed a cyno going up right next to the station. There is nothing unusual about that; because the Hatchery "owns" Oddelulf, Atlar is used by a number of jump freighters on a regular basis.

However, this cyno was set up by a flashy, which meant I could actually attack him without fear of the gate guns! It was too much to resist and I immediately altered course and engaged.

As pretty much everyone but me would have figured out by this point, it was a trap. Two of his corpmates undocked (uncloaked?) in T3 cruisers as soon I engaged.

Now, there was still a bit of a delay between my attack and them turning my ship into a cloud of vapour. Most Malediction pilots would have used that time to destroy the defenceless Griffin. I, however, had brand new rocket skills, so I did not even have the dubious comfort of taking someone with me.

2011.05.18 19:11:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Malediction
System: Atlar
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 2284

Involved parties:

Name: Tul Kezad (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: Friends Of Harassment
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Legion
Weapon: Heavy Pulse Laser II
Damage Done: 864

Name: Dr Narud
Security: -9.9
Corp: Friends Of Harassment
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Loki
Weapon: Loki
Damage Done: 1420

Destroyed items:

Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Small Bay Loading Accelerator I
Damage Control II
5W Infectious Power System Malfunction
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 44
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I
Thorn Rage Rocket, Qty: 300 (Cargo)
Gremlin Rage Rocket, Qty: 300 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Rocket Launcher II
Adaptive Nano Plating II
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 88
Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Foxfire Javelin Rocket, Qty: 300 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 300 (Cargo)


Afterthoughts:

Clearly, there is a lesson here about not attacking obvious bait and not using weapons you are not properly trained in. Both are valuable lessons, but I think I'll pass on the first one. I admit that this is the second trap I have fallen into in as many days (see my last Crusader fight), but better that than missing out on fights because I'm terrified of what might happen if I engage. Even I, however, will admit that a dash of added caution goes a long way. I should at least have realised it was a trap, even if I engaged anyway.

And I'm totally on board with the whole rocket skills thing. Need to do something about that ASAP.

In an interesting twist, the Griffon that I attacked seems to have annoyed one of his larger corp mates shortly after my attack run, because BC has given me the following killmail.

2011.05.18 19:14:00

Victim: TrustTheDwarf
Corp: Friends Of Harassment
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Griffin
System: Atlar
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 2091

Involved parties:

Name: smartshogu (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.9
Corp: Friends Of Harassment
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Absolution
Weapon: Heavy Pulse Laser II
Damage Done: 1278

Name: Taurean Eltanin
Security: -4.4
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship:
Weapon: X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Damage Done: 813

Destroyed items:

Liquid Ozone, Qty: 50 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Cynosural Field Generator I

How odd.