Tired, Sloppy and Target Fixated - Recipe for disaster
17 Mar 2016ED_Recluse
So the night started out well enough. I was pretty tired, so eased into things by stacking some simple transport missions more for the Federal rank than the actual credits. Made stops at Orbitals and Surface stations delivering, buying selling, honing my docking skills in the process with no docking computer in the Cobra MkIII outfitted for mining. Had a stop at Liaedin where I turned in the 350,000 or so credits in Imperial Bounties I had sitting around.Next to last stop was Nusslein Volhard in Wolf 865 where I turned in the last bit of Mission related cargo and sold off the remaining Osmium in my hold. Unfortunately not for CRAZY CREDITS. OF COURSE since I decided not to go mining this trip, there were CRAZY CREDITS FOR PLATINUM and PAINITE popping up at every Bulletin Board at every station...and one or 2 for OSMIUM once I had sold all of it off
Saw some interesting Faction missions for taking out 2 ships of one particular faction (Wolf 865 Focus) and one for 3 ships of the opposing Wolf 865 Revolutionary party. I thought it was cool to have missions for and against two factions. That's why I am independent, right?
So I zipped over to the Shipyard at Vernadsky Station at Ngolibardu to swap the Cobra for the Vulture and went back to Wolf 865 to complete the missions and do some Bounty Hunting. I got interdicted entering Wolf 865 and to my pleasure, the Interdictor was not only WANTED but a Mission Target in Wolf 865 Focus. I dispensed with him quickly and was on the way to mission success. Dropped into a High Intensity Conflict Zone, selected the Wolf 865 Focus faction and took a Wolf Revolutionary Party ship...but not before getting beat up by his buddies. Went back to refit and repair and went to one of the Resource Extraction (HIGH) zones. Had a blast killing lots of Pirates and racking up another MISSION KILL in the process, completing the 2 Ship Mission against Wolf 865 Focus.
I was stalking a Wing of 2 (Python and Viper MK IV) but wasn't ready to engage them. Saw a big battle with them involved and targeted the ship they were firing on. An Asp Explorer that lit up for me in Big Red Letters: MISSION TARGET.. and I fired off a Beam Laser... OOOPS!! Mission Target, but CLEAN. THAT was the SLOPPY PART. 400 Credit Bounty on me!! Then before I could do anything else, the Python and Viper took out the ASPX and though I got another kill toward the Revolutionary Party kill mission he was an innocent, and I had an additional 6000 credit bounty and a 6 day banishment from Wolf 865!!
I Boosted out and returned to Ngolibardu for repair and Refit. Turned in my 600,000 credits in Federation Bounties, lamenting the other 250,000 in Wolf 865 specific ones. Went Bounty Hunting in Ngolibardu and racked up another 1.8 million credits. I should have stopped there and just abandoned the remaining mission against Wolf 865 Revolutionary Party, but I couldn't let go!
Back to WOLF 865 with my WANTED Status blazing for all to see. Saw lots of Wanted Mission Targets, but alas, I had no FSD Interdictor to pull them down. Just needed ONE MORE Revolutionary Party ship to complete the mission. Entered the LOW INTENSITY CONFLICT ZONE near the beacon and set my sights on a Revolutionary Party Viper. Should be easy meat!! Well, that guy must have been MADE of top of the line Military composite Hull Reinforcements because I chased him all over trying to wear him down. Meanwhile, one of his buddies was POUNDING my six! Must have been a Fed Dropship or the like as he was blasting me with Plasma Accelerators. I watched my shield going down down down, but was Target Fixated on the Viper, thinking I could take him down, Boost and Frame shift out. I waited way too long and my hull was getting shredded. By the time I gave up, retracted hardpoints and tried to Frame Shift out, my Power Plant was gone, and my ship soon to follow. 1.1 million in Insurance costs, plus another million or so in lost bounties in Wolf 865 and the Alliance.
Back at Vernadsky, back in the Vulture...and a now Dormant Bounty, tired and sick, it was time to quit...but...of course I didn't. BACK to Wolf 865, stealth landing at Nusslein Volhard to avoid a scan re-activating my bounty to collect on the first mission. An inconsequential amount of credits and precious little reputation building. What started out as an interesting diversion turned into a tragic grind.
ONE MORE stop at the Conflict Zone, and this time, I managed to kill the last Wolf 865 Revolutionary Party ship to complete the 3 ship contract, Jumped back to Ngolibardu and called it a night. Will have to return to Wolf 865 to collect on this one if I dare another stealth landing that won't re-activate my bounty.
Hard lessons learned.