It happened again. I was ambitious, but rubbish in EVE Online.
What was supposed to be a simple evening of Orca mining in Highsec turned into a disaster as I lost said Orca to NPC rats of all things. This wasn't even a moment where I was ganked by a cloaked player, or got take out by a group of PKers looking for some sweet loot. Nope, I was taken out by Gurista pirates in my Orca because I didn't anticipate any issues.
I've done this countless times - taking my Orca out of Jita solo to a nearby Highsec system to do some mnindless mining. Normally I'm also running two other Omega accounts, both miners with Drones running a patrol to protect against NPCs warping in to ruin my day. But there are times I just roll with the Orca, especially if I'm planning on doing something else at the same time. Normally I can just sit at an asteroid belt, mining drones doing their dirty work and if something comes up I can warp out as I typically align to an escape vector the minute I warp in. However, this time it wasn't that danger warped in, I instead warped into danger.
I warped into an asteroid belt in Perimeter and waiting for me there were 6 NPCs. Normally I can warp away quickly, but two of the NPCs warp scrambled my Orca from the get go. Stupidly I was not running with any attack drones in my drone bay, instead just full of mining drones to replenish any I had to abandon should danger come. Instead I sat, watching these NPCs that really shouldn't pose much danger, rip apart the hull of my 1.3Billion ISK mining ship.
All the while my nephew and father laughed at my mistfortune as we shuffled for our games of Magic: the Gathering.
I should have learned. I should have just added my other accounts to my laptop and ran with all three - though the small laptop screen would make it hard to keep an eye on all three clients at the same time. I should have just swapped some of those mining drones for combat drones, anticipating a moment like this. Instead, I watched one of my most expensive ships get wiped out by enemies I could have handled in just a few seconds in any other situation.
I limped back to Jita to figure out if I could rebuy this ship and start recouping my loss, but it was a cruel reminder that the old adage in EVE Online rings true regardless of what you're flying: Never undock with what you can't afford to lose.
I've not rebought my Orca yet. I have the ISK to replace the ship, but it would hurt a TON to do so. But I've learned my lesson, again. In fact two lessons: Never mine alone unless Ihave combat drones. And never play EVE at my parents house. This is now the second over billion ISK loss I've incurred while playing EVE Online over there. Maybe the house is cursed. Maybe I'm simply rubbish.
Yea, it's probably that.
