The Lost Legion, Part 3

Previously, on MinerBumping... Aliosis II of the elite nullsec alliance Black Legion. became enraged after I disrupted his highsec ice mining operation. He had an alt declare a war against me that was voided through the ol' dissolve/reopen corp trick. But Aliosis didn't seem to be aware of this problem, even after I told him about it.

After a one-minute crisis, my bumping corp had returned to its natural state--peace. The march of progress could continue unabated.

Aliosis was still making comments that suggested he thought the wardec would begin after 24 hours, so I informed him, point-blank. The other carebears in the system were furious at me for what I had done.

The killboard of nearly every corp and alliance in nullsec is "green", with more kills than losses. This is because they get credit for assisting on their fellow coalition members' kills, but don't similarly share in their losses. Experimental Fun Times Corp, on the other hand, is a truly elite PvP institution. It has won the isk war overwhelmingly in every conflict, without help from any outside party.

Some might say that EFTC's tactics are cheap. But EFTC's e-bushido is supplemented by the philosophy of some dude on the internet who wrote that "Playing to Win" essay. This is the essence of truly hardcore PvP, where only the outcome matters.

Ironically, the very same carebears who had begged CCP for the ability to evade wardecs were now having second thoughts. Rumbleton attempted to redefine the word "hardcore" by saying it sarcastically over and over. To his amazement, the bumping continued.

For the first time, Aliosis began to suspect that something might have gone wrong with his alt's wardec. Dismissing 50 million isk as a pittance, he threatened to file another wardec. Occasionally someone will say something like this, but I've found that the 50 million isk wardec fee is a more than sufficient deterrent.

Aliosis scoffed at my allegedly dishonourable tactics. In his view, proper PvP could only occur in a more structured environment, one that enabled the warrior to demonstrate his prowess at the game. For example, pressing "F1" and orbiting someone else's ship while sharing kill-assists with a couple hundred allies. However, Aliosis wasn't in the mood to show off his skills at that moment, so he mined ice in highsec.

From his remarks, it wasn't entirely clear whether Aliosis was unaware that his alliance was in a war in nullsec, or whether he simply meant that his alliance didn't have an active wardec. One thing was for certain: He gave up counter-bumping in record time. Indeed, he didn't even need to get into a bumping ship and try it before he realized its futility.

As I assisted other clients in the ice anomaly, Aliosis eventually managed to get his Orca and alts back into mining position. I responded by giving him another application of bumping therapy. He didn't take it well. With wardecs no longer a tool in his toolbox, I wondered to what depths his anger might take him.

It was worse than I feared: Aliosis turned to space-lawyering, the last refuge of the carebear. He claimed he had been "told" something by a GM, so no one could doubt his expertise. But would Aliosis succeed where so many other space lawyers failed?

Next time: The most shocking MinerBumping episode yet!