What Are the Odds?

When it comes to elite PvP in EVE, reading MinerBumping can be the difference between victory and defeat. For example, MinerBumping readers have known for a long time that it's illegal to use an ORE Strip Miner in highsec.

Lyra Arji, it's safe to say, was not an avid MinerBumping reader. Agent Nicolas Dupre spotted her using an untanked Retriever worth half a billion isk. The inevitable gank followed.

Lyra was chastened by the loss. She wanted to speak with an Agent of the New Order. Encouragingly, it was so she could buy a permit, not yell at him.

Alas, Lyra's flirtation with Code compliance only lasted about an hour. She was caught in another half-billion isk Retriever. This time, she was autopiloting! Lyra was promptly destroyed. Scratch another pair of ORE Strip Miners.

Lyra was unnerved by the experience.

Enraged beyond reason, she threw away an additional 50 million isk. At least she didn't buy another ORE Strip Miner.

Lyra categorically denied that she'd been autopiloting. But Nicolas had her dead to rights.

Then Lyra concocted an extraordinary excuse, based on an actual game mechanic: If a ship doesn't have enough capacitor to warp all the way to its intended destination, it will go as far as its capacitor allows. The ship will then fall out of warp and land at what is essentially an unplanned safe spot. According to Lyra, that's what happened to her Retriever.

Nicolas was amazed. What are the chances of a Retriever running out of capacitor exactly 15km from its destination?

Lyra's story was certainly creative, but not enough to overcome Nicolas' suspicions. She was guilty of bot-aspirancy. It was a good kill.

Though the miner maintained her innocence, she knew it was useless. The only way to ensure her safety in highsec was to get another permit.

Nicolas was willing to give Lyra another chance, so he graciously accepted more of her money.

...But less than 40 minutes later, Lyra lost yet another Retriever worth half a billion isk. She still couldn't resist the temptation of using ORE Strip Miners. Nicolas Dupre followed a simple rule: If it's a decadent fit, you mustn't acquit.

Lyra was one unlucky miner, and that's not even counting her alleged unintentional 15km warp exit. In the space of a few hours, she lost three Retrievers with a total of six ORE Strip Miners, and she'd had two New Order mining permits revoked. What a jinx! But the truth is, anyone who opposes the New Order has no better odds than Lyra Arji. As the saying goes, fortune favors the Code.