With Friends Like That....
03 Apr 2018Scubadog
While searching out materials to continue upgrading my ships, I picked up a wave about the conflict in Ross 310. I hate Cartels. I always have. So did my parents. I guess I couldn't help myself, so I signed up to help the Ross 310 Natural Services repel the Cartel. I've made some enhancements to my Chieftain, The Ceti Rena, and some modest engineering has been laid in. I jumped in at a nearby combat zone and began lending a hand to the NS folk. And things went well for a spell. Winging up with a fellow commander, we did some good work. Nothing to write home about, since this isn't really my wheelhouse, but progress is progress.
Then things when wonky. I mean, whisky tango foxtrot wonky. Without warning--and completely unprovoked by me--everyone became an enemy. I was putting the finishing touches on a Python flying the Cartel's colors, when I realized my shields were getting spanked from behind....by a Vulture from Natural Services! Then he was joined by an NS Eagle. I wasn't about to walk away from the last 1% left on the Python, so I shove a couple of shield cell banks into place in order to not completely lose shields and took out the Python. However, having spent my SCBs, my two friends-turned-foes made short order of my shields and were on my tail chipping away at my hull as I realigned power distribution to put some distance between us. Down to 5% hull and many of my modules down to 50% (saved only by module reinforcements), I finally reached enough breathing room to jump to supercruise. As I limped to port for repairs, my mind was screaming "what the hell did I do to piss off the NS folk?"
Thinking I must have somehow let some stray shots pepper fellow NS ships, turning them against me, I let the port mechanics complete repairs and I headed back out to give it another go. I turned in some pretty good combat bonds, but I'm not a fan of spending a lot of credits on repairs that should have been avoidable. Minutes later, I dropped unceremoniously into the CZ and quickly aligned myself with the Ross 310 Natural Services. I was greeted by my scope dutifully identifying proper Friend-Or-Enemy signals for ships in the area. I picked a particularly aggressive gunship picking on an NS Asp and began to gang up on him. A relatively easy score, since he apparently was caught off guard. Chalk up a $59k kill. Then hell happened. All ships went red and I was suddenly jumped by an NS Corvette, an NS Python and a Cartel Vulture. I didn't stand a chance. Before I knew it, my shields melted, followed by my hull, and I was left spinning around in my escape pod. Minutes morphed into hours and I was just about to switch on the stasis system when friendly command happened upon my signal and dragged me to port.
A trip to the rebuy for me. Third time's a charm, I thought. Stupid thought, that. The next day I dropped into a combat zone and was able to take out a couple of Cartel ships before, again, all ships turned on me and sent to port to make my insurance company happy. What is happening? I've given up helping out the NS at this point. I can't afford it. The Thargoids have supposedly been silent of late. But have they? What if the Thargoids have figured out a way to screw with our FOE systems so that we start blasting away at each other? It's no secret we've been making great headway with anti-Thargoid weaponry. Maybe their strategy has expanded to getting us to kill each other. Let us do all the heavy lifting and then they can just sweep in to do the cleanup. I don't know. All I do know is that I can't trust FOE systems to consistently identify friends versus enemies.
I wish my Ross 310 Natural Services friends the best of luck. I'm going to focus on safer missions until this mystery is solved. My bank account can't handle being 'helpful' when my good turn is met with attacks from the same side. With friends like that, who needs enemies?