A Skiff Is Not a Permit, Part 1

In the beginning, the New Order could field at any given moment only one group of gankers--if that--and could usually hit only a single miner at a time.

These days, there are constantly different groups of Agents patrolling multiple areas of highsec. Reports are always coming in.

Agent Rick Therapist reported on a fleet that chose to target some unruly Skiff pilots, such as this hull-tanking fail-Skiff.

Heavily-tanked Skiffs were also destroyed. Some miners treat a Skiff like an expensive mining permit. But just as permit ownership is only one provision of the Code, flying a Skiff will by no means protect an otherwise non-compliant miner.

If the suspense is getting to you, just remember that the CODE always wins. Always.

You see? Nothing to worry about. Unless you were the unlicensed Orca pilot, that is.

The Orca pilot was AFK, so his 1.2 billion isk pod was easily snatched up. The value of the decadent pod only tells part of the bot-aspirant's story, though:

Incredibly--or perhaps not so incredibly--the miner was willing to spend nearly half a billion isk on an implant that did absolutely nothing. What a Goofus.

Our heroes went on killing Skiffs. Scorpion Queen SMB was known to have a mouthy alt, and her Skiff went next. The Skiff killmail failed to appear on zKillboard, though the 399 million isk pod did.

When the Skiff pilot finally returned to her keyboard, she began shedding tears on her alt. (More of the alt's tears were featured in Highsec Miner Grab Bag #113.)

Why do miners prefer to spend 200 million isk on a Skiff--and the cost of lower yield--rather than buying a 10 million isk mining permit? Because the one thing they hate more than losing isk is dealing with other people. Buying a permit is an admission that EVE is not a single-player game, and that they must adapt to situations created by other players. So they refuse. They are bot-aspirants.

Rick wasn't the only Agent who has been targeting Skiffs lately. Agent Alt 00 led a fleet which went on a rampage across the Metropolis region. Including a sixth Skiff left off the EVEmail, the total damage was over 4 billion isk worth of miners who considered themselves ungankable.

It was an extraordinary victory for the New Order. Our Agents were pleased. But their work had only just begun.

To be continued...