Of combat logging and combat loggers (list inside)

While Elite Dangerous is no doubt a magnificient game, it suffers from this archaic issue which really shouldn't be present in any 2015's game. As it stands now, any player can avoid a PVP encounter (or any other encounter for that matter) by simply pulling the plug (the quick and dirty way) or by invoking the laughable 15 seconds logout timer.

I won't lie here. The problem is very widespread and serious. I regularly meet 2-5 combat loggers per raid and had to even alter my playstyle a bit because of them. So if you are just starting with the whole piracy business, brace yourselves against the never ending waves of cheaters. Sometimes I feel like putting down the game for good but the memorable events I had with people who want to play the game properly as was intented by the devs simply outweight this issue, however serious.

You can't do much against a hard disconnect really. But soft ones via logout timer are easily punishable by massive burst damage output. The irony here is proportionally I had more bounty hunters pulling the plug on me than traders.

The criticals scenarios for soft logout are:

• Target flying in one direction, not moving an inch from the course and not boosting.
• Trader waiting silently with cut engines during the scanning procedure or negotiating.
• "Wait, need to find out how to drop cargo" bullshit situations.
• Interdiction ending abruptly. Trader could have just started logging out.

Always and I mean always give your mark a benefit of doubt. For pirates, combat logging is a tabu and should never be mentioned before a mark until proven guilty. Do not send welcome messages including combat logging warnings etc. It ruins the experience, ruins the whole roleplay thing and the immersion.

Each time you encounter a combat logger, file a report against him (personally, I use other/other for sections and "combat logging" for description). Add him to your KoS list, make it public if possible and just burst him down everytime you see him.

I attach my fresh (oldest record is 1 week max) KoS list of combat loggers. Feel free to use it as you please. I don't provide any other evidence than my word. So either take it or leave it :) Some of them were killed multiple times already. Basically once someone appears on my KoS list I will try to do my best to send them to a free sidey or at least to solo for prolonged period of time.

List of combat log exploiters (28.2. 2015 - 6.3. 2015)
GALIA
CYBORG REAPER
APOLLO FET
MILES_963
BASILIS
MILKAK
ZAPPER_DE_LUX
COLA ZERO
NAMASTEH
LASZLO HORVATH
MOPO
BITNUKL
KHAZSTARRUNNER
FLEX 1978
BUMER_UA
GUSTOVSHIKOV
SINIS
DOCKING COMPUTER
MISTERVALIUM
NERDSHOWANDTELL
THUNDER 950
AIRROX

Remember that combat logging is a serious exploit and FD devs will be taking actions against these cheaters anytime soon. Please help make the open environment better for all of us and report each one of them.

Raid #5 Deadly cruising in Cupis

Since Ra and Gliese 868 started being a little bit too hot for me I decided it's time to return to my favourite system in the ED universe, Cupis. For those of you pirates who don't know Cupis... Well, imagine a pedophile strolling through a nursery school devoid of any personnel, leaving just the innocent kids. Traffic here is extremely heavy, traders are harmless and packed with sweet palladium and what more I can say. It's a gangster's paradise. It wasn't always like that though. This and the surrounding systems belong to the area occupied by a bunch of angry German traders. We have history together. I mugged few of them which resulted in this witch-hunt. Fritz bounty hunters in pythons started hunting me down but to no avail. According to them, dropping out of super cruise to avoid a nasty multipython gangbang is combat logging so I might have been reported few times by them. But of course, this tactic is strictly within the games rules, not an actual exploit and can be used by anyone.

First customer of today was CMDR LORD BLUE SKY. And I quickly realized there might be a problem. I might have left Cupis traders in peace for way too long and their training probably deteriorated a little. This commander was stubborn and rejected any form of cooperation.

So I had to resort to brute force...

And after a little bit of hatch busting, them little palladiums are flying free in a convenient line formation.

I couldn't really scoop everything but I was kinda satisfied with what I got. Not bad for the first today's interdiction.

Shortly after I emerged from normal space the first Fritz appeared. It was a solid German whale flown by CMDR DER STERNENTALER. Also a stubborn one. He ignored all my warnings and as a result his engines got some proper spanking.

Fritz was loaded real good. Them German folks are surely rich.

I deployed my trusty beam shredders and started working on that hatch. Palladium started flowing and the Fritz unfortunately also logging out. Had to settle with mere four pieces and move on.

There was also this pesky little cobra (CMDR ROCKTON) trying to play a bounty hunter. But he realized he was against much bigger fish and scrammed quickly.

And more of unmanageable traders follow. CMDR STREL OK will hopefully stop raping his boost button next time.

And CMDR ROSKELLEY should stop polluting the space with his self-destruction debris.

 Pride over profit. Although to be fair, he simply denied me my spoils after he was done for anyways.

My cargo bay was nearly full. And this little adder of CMDR LKE might have just what I need. Unfortunately not, so I will have to find myself a new mark. Was only like 5t short to max cargo capacity so even a cute hauler or sidey would do.

But of course not. I am retarded and my primal instincts were stronger. I went after this juicy big mama, CMDR PEANUTS. Just to get 5t of cargo... He flashed only some toy turreted weapons that were tickling me a little after each pass. I didn't even have to use chaff.

And then it happened. I got rammed from 1km distance. I heard only the sinister sound of imploding hull. Went from full shields to 8% hull straight away. And the final ram quickly followed which sealed the whole bitter deal. To be fair though, bugs, desyncs and lags have been avoiding me all that time so it was bound to happen one day. Luckily, I was parked at anarchy station so I didn't have to pay for the bounty. This and the yesterday's accident made a solid dent in my budget. I have forbidden myself any other profit but piracy so I'd better stop doing this stupid shit. I am sure CMDR PEANUT'S cr./t./h. ratio skyrocketed for today so as you can see, running into a pirate doesn't have to be always a bad thing ;) My bounty was around 6.5M.

After this sad incident my will to earn millions today was even more reinforced. Traders were dropping their shit left and right. CMDR SAMUWRITER's hatch got jammed so I swiftly offered him a help.

Or this cute little cobra loaded with 60t of palladium. Not that fast anymore, huh?

I didn't even realize I interdicted CMDR ROSKELLEY for the second time.

After my initial lesson this particular trader was trained a bit and it showed.

This trader eventually suffered from the Stockholm syndrome rather quickly. And he dropped nice 30 tons of abandoned palladium. I am sure it won't take long and the Cupis traders will start behaving properly as they should.

Things started looking a bit better. Had like 4 similar cargo runs after.

Another hatch breaking of CMDR RIFFRAFF'S Asp.

And an addition to my KOS list of combat loggers. This time with a very nice name too. I don't really like mentioning these cheaters but this one was kinda cute.

So yeah, I quickly recovered from my death. Unfortunately, also got scanned by pesky cops while scooping loaded quite few times. So my bounty might be even higher next day than it was before. I really don't understand this design where murderers are billion times less wanted than thieves but that's how it is I guess.

It looks like I won't be leaving this bounty hunter free environment anytime soon. Gotta train them traders properly. Look at my boys at Gliese... they can behave and you will soon too ;) And now my homeboy AMEAL is operating here too. Isn't it great?

Raid #4 The Snake pit

Karma is a bitch. And my karma ain't exactly the shiniest. And sometimes I take on more than I can chew. Anyways, the raid started quite peacefully. I was again in Gliese 868 because of the network of traders I have been building there for some time. We know each other. It's easy cash, no guns fired. So I was expecting some steady profit as usual. Traders were hauling their asses to starports like every other day. Some of them were smarter, noticed me and reacted accordingly with evasive maneuvers in super cruise like this dude CMDR MAREK15. I guess he finally learned his lesson and upped his game a bit. And that's what I like to see really. So props to him.

I was also hailed by CMDR PIRATE AMEAL who said he knew me from http://www.reddit.com/r/ElitePirates. To be perfectly honest, I hate other pirates in my system because it means what? It means lesser profit and more scared traders of course. And we can't have that can we. But I had that sixth sense telling me that I should let this guy work with me for this time. So we made a gangsta duo. And boy, was I glad I met him only few minutes later.

I noticed CMDR JAG cruising in his 'conda. A trader apparently but with some decent armaments. And since we pirates don't give a shit, we decided to jump him. I instructed my new wingman to follow me in ASAP so we could share cargo and cover each other just in case the anaconda turned defiant. And like hell she did.

Homeboy started blasting his big guns and a fierce battle erupted.

Things were going to shit real fast. I needed my wingman and I needed him now.

My canopy started looking like it would need some proper regrind real soon.

And then it happened! My wingman to the rescue at long last!

And the 'conda? Zero fucks given ladies and gents. He continued pummeling my wreck like nobody's biz.

This trader decided to hold the ground at all cost. No cargo for filthy pirates apparently.

But my wingman started doing some work here.

And CMDR JAG sleeps with the fishes... I then quickly took my crumbling wreck for much needed repairs.

Various stuff was happening until we ran into CMDR DERATH. This guy has been apparently exposed to cargo scanner rays so many times it might have left him in poor health condition. His bounty was exceeding 36M. It wasn't my first contact with this guy. He has been trying to hunt me down in this area before.

Since again, we pirates don't give a shit and we don't play fair I told AMEAL we could get him and pay for some prostitutes with his juicy bounty. His loadout was triple C3 beams and twin C2 frags. Triple beams are pretty standard for any PVP fitted python. I know twin C2 frags are quite destructive up close and especially in my case because I was running mirrored armor. So I could tank the beams but would have been shredded if I got close enough. The idea was one of us would interdict him and stall him long enough for the other to join. Of course, we were both wanted and with cops flying around there was a very real risk of getting interdicted right before entering the FSD wake.

First attempt went kinda smoothly. AMEAL interdicted him, stalled him and I quickly came in boosting to mass inhibit him just in case AMEAL couldn't tank him anymore. Unfortunately he noticed me quickly enough to hit that FSD which I inhibited only partially. And that 10-15 seconds it bought us wasn't nearly enough to do any damage on a running python.

Second time it was me who was stalling. I tried to keep my distance while occasionally shooting at his general direction not to arouse any suspicion (but of course he knew my wingman was on the way). AMEAL then jumped in but it was a bit late. I lost my shields, relying only on mirrored armor to tank the beams but I bought some nasty frags during one of my maneuvers and I had to run. I kinda needed AMEAL to take some heat now so I could line up some rail shots but he didn't really bother with him and kept chasing me. Canopy breached. Only D rank life support now. Man, I should really stop smoking in that cockpit.

I jumped to nearby anarchy system as usual. Didn't really want to risk landing at fed stations for obvious reasons. The oxygen supply was supposed to be just enough to land at 1000+ ls station. But at that time I didn't realize Frontier beefed up the interdiction rate in anarchy systems. And of course that's what followed. It was a harmless viper with mad interdiction skills (I know the game is cheating here a bit but it's fine with me). So I was fighting for a little and then had to submit.

Hell yeah boiz, this shit is gonna be tight.

Have to boost and do some flight assist crazyness. It's now or never.

And by a millisecond it's the latter :/ I grazed the rails which slowed me a little and yeah...

Luckily the fellow pirate folks quickly recovered my suffocating body, offered me some rum and I was good to go for the next round ;) Since it was technically an accident, my bounty was not claimed by CMDR DERATH. But he should probably count it as a kill anyways ;)

Raid #3 Slavers and stuff

There is this station that attracts filthy slavers like shit attracts flies. I am strongly against importing the fine imperial slaves to the federal space. So I stepped in this nasty biz in hope of releasing some of them. I mean... Releasing them to one very fine station in nearby anarchy space for some measly credit. I am pretty sure I significantly raised their quality of life index anyways. And who was that filthy slaver you ask? CMDR KYBBER of course.

First slaves are boarding in right next to my luxury stuff. My thugs keep an eye on them so they don't steal any of them performance enhancers or luxury cellzors.

Then there was this sexy imperial clipper teasing me with his regular flybyes. I interdicted him once just to discover a sad empty cargo hold. This guy was restless though so I went after him for the second time and forced him to give me a kiss.

After a little bit of perv action I spotted a juicy anaconda of CMDR CHRYSSY. Due to my crazy loadout I knew their drives would be dead sooner than their FSD finished charging even if they only submitted. Luckily this commander was a man of reason and the interdiction played out in civilized manner.

Then another 'conda appeared. This time handled by CMDR MR. CURY. This one looked a bit beefier and her commander more self-confident. So I kinda ditched the whole piracy thing and decided to roleplay a space beggar.

And hey, it worked.

Amongst other robberies I would also like to mention heroic CMDR ROHAGUS HELDEN and his act of defiance. No matter though... he suffocated in horrible agony. Before he did so he left me 30 shiny reactive armors. May he rest in peace.

Today also two bounty hunters were killed (asp and cobra). Couldn't wish for more ;)

Raid #2 The Whalefest

I like them pregnant whales. Since they share the same mass index with my Asp I can mass inhibit them and they are indeed fairly packed with shiny stuff ;) Whenever I meet a whale in super cruise I am very happy since their pilots know they can't run, they are more than willing to share their cargo (they are so loaded it's a mere dent on their profit anyways) and are generally nice people.

This time however it was a disaster :/ First whale of the show was piloted by CMDR NITRO GLYCERINE.

He boosted as soon as he read my welcome message.

And unfortunately since there was no other form of interaction from him but infinite boosting I had to sink 500t of palladium to the void :/

Next whale was CMDR AMY. This whale was leisurely sunbathing and completely oblivious to the world around her.

I wanted to provide her with some sun lotion to prevent a nasty sun burn so I hurried with a friendly interdiction...

The beginning was no different to the previous case. The whale started boosting. Apparently didn't want to get scanned. After I sniped her engines she sent me a message she had no cargo. Previous check of subsystems revealed no AFM unit so I wished the whale good luck in her future travels and left.

Before going after my third whale I noticed a pesky imperial clipper buzzing around me. He had no FSD interdictor but k-warrant scanner and his lusting eyes revealed he was indeed waiting for some approachable FSD wake.

He then hailed me. But that was really it.

And of course, shortly after the third whale (CMDR D34TH973)! Let's hope for the best.

Yep, looking good.

Unfortunately also this whale refused any sort of interaction and went for boosting. So there she was with dead engines floating in the cold space.

Aaaand let's do it the hard way this time.

So yeah I got some. But with cops on my ass I only took like 10 tons and let the whale have some privacy.

Things didn't really go according to plan but hey... I am sure these whales got trained a bit and next time they will gladly comply.