• EVE Online player loses ship and cargo valued over $6,400
    136 replies, posted
[quote]Another typical Monday in EVE Online—in a backwater corner of the galaxy, a lone spacer is drowning his sorrows in the strongest alcoholic concoction this side of Jita after losing a frigate full of ultra-valuable cargo budgeted at over [I]213 billion[/I] ISK. Put another way, that’s over $6,400 worth of items vaporized beneath the ruthless energy beams of a pirate squad in low-sec space. [URL="http://eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=14947130"]Eve Kill[/URL] shows the details of the mishap experienced by poor pilot “stewie Zanjoahir” and the destruction of his tiny, ungeared (yet fast) Atron frigate at the hands of attackers “makasoni” and “killorbekilled TBE.” A glance at the included cargo manifest shows a small mountain of rare and precious ship, weapon, and hardpoint blueprints valued in the millions. Total assets lost: 213,083,571,404 ISK. Let’s crunch some numbers. EVE Online players can purchase 30-day game-time extensions called PLEX with the in-game currency, ISK. At the current market exchange rate of around 570 million ISK for a single PLEX, Zanjoahir’s haul equates to 373 PLEX or roughly 30 years of game time—or, for a cold, hard cash slap in the face, over $6,400. Ouch. Zanjoahir’s reasons for venturing into the cutthroat chaos of low-security space with what equated to a harmless loot pinata aren’t known, but the attack certainly constituted the largest loss of any EVE Online player to date. I suppose the old “don’t put your eggs in one basket” warning doesn’t translate well to “don’t store your Inferno Heavy Missile schematics in one cargo hold.”[/quote] [URL="http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/10/22/eve-online-lost-cargo"]PC Gamer[/URL]
All that time wasted.
[QUOTE=IKTM;38145021]All that time wasted.[/QUOTE] [video=youtube;1ytCEuuW2_A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ytCEuuW2_A[/video] all those hamboygahs.....
EVE Online: The game everyone has more fun hearing about than actually playing.
Why the dicks wouldn't you use a guarded jump freighter for that.
I thought that fantasy games were supposed to, I don't know, supply you with rewarding tasks that have a noticeable progression on your character. This game just seems like it forces you to perform endless menial tasks with no actual goal, while you watch other people who somehow made it much higher than you do fun stuff. I mean, I play games to [I]escape[/I] reality, not make it more apparent.
EVE not having an "actual goal" is kind of the entire point of the game.
A game that makes you wait 3 days to upgrade your ship to be able to enjoy yourself? No thanks. I spent a week upgrading my ship, and when I thought I was decent enough and headed out into the vast abyss of space, I got my ass handed to me so easily. Then I cried. I cried long and hard.
This game looks complex as hell.
[QUOTE=Ast_risk;38145279]This game looks complex as hell.[/QUOTE] Understatement of the decade
[QUOTE=A B.A. Survivor;38145077]I thought that fantasy games were supposed to, I don't know, supply you with rewarding tasks that have a noticeable progression on your character. This game just seems like it forces you to perform endless menial tasks with no actual goal, while you watch other people who somehow made it much higher than you do fun stuff. I mean, I play games to [I]escape[/I] reality, not make it more apparent.[/QUOTE] Why play the system? It's a game. Break the system. Fight the workers. Fuck the liberator. Oppress the masses! Be a russian renting overlord, a mercenary CEO with dozens of ships at your beck and call. Be the con man, be that name that is cursed and denounced and marked for death. Why earn your money? Take it from others. This is what EVE is. Do what you want. The game exists not to serve those who want to grind the system - Although it accommodates them. Nor does it exist to serve those who wish only conflict - But it accommodates them. EVE lets you do [i]what you want to do![/i] Join EVE, man. It's a real experience.
[QUOTE=loopoo;38145095]A game that makes you wait 3 days to upgrade your ship to be able to enjoy yourself? No thanks. I spent a week upgrading my ship, and when I thought I was decent enough and headed out into the vast abyss of space, I got my ass handed to me so easily. Then I cried. I cried long and hard.[/QUOTE] That's because in EvE online, the first few times you go venturing out into deep space, you will get your ass handed to you, period. Even if you spent 3 years training skills before ever venturing out of high sec
[QUOTE=loopoo;38145095]A game that makes you wait 3 days to upgrade your ship to be able to enjoy yourself? No thanks. I spent a week upgrading my ship, and when I thought I was decent enough and headed out into the vast abyss of space, I got my ass handed to me so easily. Then I cried. I cried long and hard.[/QUOTE] Why wait for it? These limits you claim... are only guidelines. Although you did serve as fodder for someone else, maybe that was your purpose. EVE does a breed a real sense of elitism in some people, but I have to say. Those that claim the mantle often deserve it. They're the worst, the scum, the backstabbers and thieves and the ones who don't fight fair. And they do it all better than anyone else. You wanna be better? Be better. Fleece somebody, take that money, and buy an account. All this is within EVE's (sparse) rules. Take that account, be your own master. Or maybe you want to avoid conflict? Some say you can't in EVE, but they don't try hard enough. Build a business empire around yourself. Take the markets by strangehold. Turn your dollar into a thousand. It's all possible, and it only takes you. During my time I carved out niches of income earning (which is what I wanted to do to achieve other goals) that I had never seen written about before myself. I adapted others' methods, too. "Pump and dump" it's called for markets. Buy out the stock - raise the price. Let contracts trickle in at the new, higher price. Sell it all, crash the market. A profit for you, and you screw everyone else. Some people do it for shits and giggles. I did it for money. And what did I do with that money? I did other things that I enjoyed. I ran numbers and became a better PVPer than most. I crushed small mining corporations with a cadre of loyal friends, and we extorted them for "money and funny". We'd laugh when they threw their superior finances at us, and we crushed them with skill and daring. Being the underdog was a thrill to me. I enjoyed it, I revelled in it. We'd be outnumbered 3 to 1 in conventional forces... and walk away with one loss. The enemy would lose entire fleets. And sometimes it was boring, yeah. So many hours spent in station, formulating plans over comms. "We could take em now, bring in the logis and bump the faction battleship. Get him and go." But it was the suspense that made it so thrilling. The quiet waiting. The enemy distracted. We struck when we wanted to, when we'd win. And we'd do it fast, and we'd do it with superior force. Hours of planning, waiting, formulating, for two minutes of the best high you've ever had. It's an incredible rush to roll all the dice against a competent enemy and come out on top. Sometimes you lose, yeah. But we were too good to fail forever. [QUOTE=Ast_risk;38145279]This game looks complex as hell.[/QUOTE] I ain't gonna lie, it is very complex. It can also be very simple. The goons have a great program. You one of them? You make a new character, run the tutorials or don't. Send in an application and they'll get you pointed in the right direction. In one day you can be in a frigate running tackle. You're expendable, yeah, but you'll fight, you'll have fun, you'll win. Everybody else brings the guns, but you'll stop them from getting away. And within another day, you too can be the guns if you want. Load up a destroyer, facehug the enemy with MWD burning, melt 'em with T1 guns and a fit worth dirt! People will tell you fights for territory in null are won with battleships and isk ratios, and this just isn't completely true. It's also about will, conviction, leadership. It's real war. As real as you want it to be. Take a fight to the enemy. Run T1 ships with T1 fits, piss cheap things that pay for themselves. Scream through hostile territory at thousands of AU/sec. In five minutes you can be neck deep in reds. Snatch a miner, surprise a ratter! Fuck up a freighter. These limits that exist are only the in technical, specialization bits of gameplay. You can bypass them as fast as you're willing. [editline]23rd October 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=TheTalon;38145431]That's because in EvE online, the first few times you go venturing out into deep space, you will get your ass handed to you, period. Even if you spent 3 years training skills before ever venturing out of high sec[/QUOTE] Pretty much true. There is no experience like combat. Men in training camps don't understand the hell that is bullets flying and artillery shells blowing people into little pieces. You can't understand an EVE fight until you fight one. Ships appearing out of nowhere, a dozen tricks and a metagame beyond belief! You're playing your enemies who are playing you, and there's bait who's playing both of you to lure you into to play you against the russians who are being played for a super drop! It's amazing, it's chaotic. It's glorious. I don't think PVP in any other game has really compared. In shooters, you set team limits, you say "This is how you fight.". In EVE, you fight how you want. You play dirty tricks, you betray people, you shoot the noncombatant. It's dirty, it's unrestrained, and it's a complete contest of wills and skills. Get mad at those who beat you, or don't - Either way, come back the next day ready to fight again. Fight on em on the battlefield, fight em in the markets, fight em through the forums, don't let up. Fight where you want, how you want, or don't! I can't recommend EVE enough.
My god why did he carry around all those blueprints at once jezus christ.
[QUOTE=scratch (nl);38145491]My god why did he carry around all those blueprints at once jezus christ.[/QUOTE] If you check the [URL="http://eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=14947130"] EVE Kill[/URL], he was traveling with no equipment in low-sec as well.
EVE Online is such a fascinating game. I can't even begin to imagine how awful I'd be at actually playing it though.
Holy shit Scout, that post was awesome. Really makin' me froth at the mouth to get back in to the game.
[QUOTE=scout1;38145448]Why wait for it? These limits you claim... are only guidelines. Although you did serve as fodder for someone else, maybe that was your purpose. EVE does a breed a real sense of elitism in some people, but I have to say. Those that claim the mantle often deserve it. They're the worst, the scum, the backstabbers and thieves and the ones who don't fight fair. And they do it all better than anyone else. You wanna be better? Be better. Fleece somebody, take that money, and buy an account. All this is within EVE's (sparse) rules. Take that account, be your own master. Or maybe you want to avoid conflict? Some say you can't in EVE, but they don't try hard enough. Build a business empire around yourself. Take the markets by strangehold. Turn your dollar into a thousand. It's all possible, and it only takes you. During my time I carved out niches of income earning (which is what I wanted to do to achieve other goals) that I had never seen written about before myself. I adapted others' methods, too. "Pump and dump" it's called for markets. Buy out the stock - raise the price. Let contracts trickle in at the new, higher price. Sell it all, crash the market. A profit for you, and you screw everyone else. Some people do it for shits and giggles. I did it for money. And what did I do with that money? I did other things that I enjoyed. I ran numbers and became a better PVPer than most. I crushed small mining corporations with a cadre of loyal friends, and we extorted them for "money and funny". We'd laugh when they threw their superior finances at us, and we crushed them with skill and daring. Being the underdog was a thrill to me. I enjoyed it, I revelled in it. We'd be outnumbered 3 to 1 in conventional forces... and walk away with one loss. The enemy would lose entire fleets. And sometimes it was boring, yeah. So many hours spent in station, formulating plans over comms. "We could take em now, bring in the logis and bump the faction battleship. Get him and go." But it was the suspense that made it so thrilling. The quiet waiting. The enemy distracted. We struck when we wanted to, when we'd win. And we'd do it fast, and we'd do it with superior force. Hours of planning, waiting, formulating, for two minutes of the best high you've ever had. It's an incredible rush to roll all the dice against a competent enemy and come out on top. Sometimes you lose, yeah. But we were too good to fail forever. I ain't gonna lie, it is very complex. It can also be very simple. The goons have a great program. You one of them? You make a new character, run the tutorials or don't. Send in an application and they'll get you pointed in the right direction. In one day you can be in a frigate running tackle. You're expendable, yeah, but you'll fight, you'll have fun, you'll win. Everybody else brings the guns, but you'll stop them from getting away. And within another day, you too can be the guns if you want. Load up a destroyer, facehug the enemy with MWD burning, melt 'em with T1 guns and a fit worth dirt! People will tell you fights for territory in null are won with battleships and isk ratios, and this just isn't completely true. It's also about will, conviction, leadership. It's real war. As real as you want it to be. Take a fight to the enemy. Run T1 ships with T1 fits, piss cheap things that pay for themselves. Scream through hostile territory at thousands of AU/sec. In five minutes you can be neck deep in reds. Snatch a miner, surprise a ratter! Fuck up a freighter. These limits that exist are only the in technical, specialization bits of gameplay. You can bypass them as fast as you're willing. [editline]23rd October 2012[/editline] Pretty much true. There is no experience like combat. Men in training camps don't understand the hell that is bullets flying and artillery shells blowing people into little pieces. You can't understand an EVE fight until you fight one. Ships appearing out of nowhere, a dozen tricks and a metagame beyond belief! You're playing your enemies who are playing you, and there's bait who's playing both of you to lure you into to play you against the russians who are being played for a super drop! It's amazing, it's chaotic. It's glorious. I don't think PVP in any other game has really compared. In shooters, you set team limits, you say "This is how you fight.". In EVE, you fight how you want. You play dirty tricks, you betray people, you shoot the noncombatant. It's dirty, it's unrestrained, and it's a complete contest of wills and skills. Get mad at those who beat you, or don't - Either way, come back the next day ready to fight again. Fight on em on the battlefield, fight em in the markets, fight em through the forums, don't let up. Fight where you want, how you want, or don't! I can't recommend EVE enough.[/QUOTE] Jesus christ. When I get unfiltered internet I am downloading the shit out of the trial version
you know that adage "don't put all your eggs in one basket" yeah
What about those guys who lost that really big ship to a million little ones?
[QUOTE=thedekoykid;38145778]What about those guys who lost that really big ship to a million little ones?[/QUOTE] That's pretty normal in eve, like an interceptor can just fly circles around a battleship forever while jamming its warp drive, since it goes faster than battleship class guns can track 99% of the time, now take like 50 of those interceptors and you've got yourself a fucking wasp nest, and the best thing is that they can keep a big target nice and still while constantly hitting it, and your big ships can just snipe that ship outside of its gun range(Minmatar for example can get some mean ass range on their artillery, Like, 200km+ on a battleship?)
Okay well since I just took a big dump advocating EVE online as a game, let me share a story. Gather 'round newbies and the unplayed. Let me show you how I enjoyed EVE. I'll make this easy to read for anyone without a due understanding of the game. Editor's note: Approximate ratio of $ to ISK (in-game currency) was $15 to 300m as of time of this event. So it was a otherwise normal night for me. I was doing some schoolwork, probably shoulda been working harder at it. But other than that, it was good. I was dualboxing. By that I mean I was playing two games at once. EVE ran minimized, to be checked ocassionally. 'World of Tanks' was keeping most of my attention. A loss, a win. That game is a pretty conventional one. But I got tired of it, so I closed it and focused on EVE. What was I doing in EVE? Well at that time my subscription was running a bit sparse. You know how MMOs are. $15/month. Well, I was poor and still am, but EVE has another option. EVE lets you pay in PLEX. These can be bought by the entrepeneur or the fool for real money, from the company that runs EVE. They can then be sold on the market. And from there they can be resold, traded, transferred. They are a commodity within EVE online. Pay for them in ISK (in-game money), and you can trade your extra money for subscription time. Basically, somebody else willingly pays for your subscription. It's how I financed my accounts, and let me tell about that. I had multiple accounts. Three, actually. Each account allows 3 characters, but one "active" one. I'll spare you the specific details. This is how I made my time. Money I earned went into things I want, but primarily sub time. Sub time let me play more. It was all enjoyable. Of course, sub time in the form of PLEX is expensive. I could spend 40 hours shooting NPCs to make the money for a PLEX. Oh yes, I could do that. But that was not what I was doing that night. Oh no, I was working as a courier. You see, the contract system is infallible. How it's written is how the system will enforce it. Collateral is handed over in exchange for a package. This package must be delivered within time limits, or the collateral will be transferred to the contractor. So what happens when the collateral is worth less than the package? That, my friends, is where I come in. I admit, I was not the most skilled at this art. I knew a man who made BILLIONS more than I ever did. He was a monster. Truly great at it. He had at least 6 accounts, maybe more. He had shell corporations, a whole setup. Me? I had my alt. 'She' was uneventful. I had kept her record clean to that point. She had a minor corp history. Miner corporations, manufacturing posts in the forum. From all utilities available for "background checks", there was no discernible criminality. At least, not to the average Joe. You can see a person's contract history. Hers was riddled with failures. Contract for a packge, 100m^3, Jita ---> Amarr, two large trading hubs in the game. Reward: 20m. Collateral: 5m. Contract failed. 16,000m^3, Ourvelles ---> Jita. Reward: 2m. Collateral: 4m. Contract failed. But people don't check these. It is something I learned. A way to break the system. So I was there on a lonely weekday night, looking for targets. I searched lists of contracts. I filtered those I could not accommodate. My alt had a freighter. It is quite a large ship. Itself it is an investment, worth approximately 900m at that time, the equivalent of almost two and a half PLEXes, or basically 75 days of subscription time ($35-$40 for a IRL comparison). I searched contracts based on where I was at the time, the largest trading hub in the game. At that time, there was 1200 people in "Local", meaning there were 1200 people in that solar system. At any time, you could look outside the premier station of Jita 4-4 and see DOZENS of ships of all types and sizes floating around, flying, warping in and out, arriving and exiting. People were making fortunes. Somebody was cleaning out markets. Maybe a dozen or more were scamming in the Local chat. People fought on the undock, as police and developer-sanctioned wars were being one in one or two masterstrokes, or even mistakes. Amongst this chaotic, seething mass, I was rejecting contracts. I can't take this one, the size is bigger than my cargohold. This one is too far. That one goes into dangerous territory. So I filtered. There was a simple listing of available contracts that fit my specifications. Sort by reward. 200m, 16b collateral. Scam. I could scam the scammer, but that was its own specialty, something I did not care to dabble in. I scrolled down. Nothing catches my eye. I flip back to Local chat to see the usual spammed scams and idiots. I do this because it's entertaining, at least for a bit, and it has opportunities. "can anyone do a quick courier?" Ding. Ding. Ding. This means one of two things: 1) It's a scam. They plan to one-over me. I am experienced in this and can avoid it. 2) They're desperate. Desperation allows for extortion. Minimum contract time for a courier is 24 hours, it CANNOT be set lower. I can PROMISE lower, and then reneg on my promise. He cannot cancel the contract. If he wants it done quicker than 24 hours, I can demand more isk. And more. And more. Of course, desperation tells me another thing. He's got hot, or valuable, goods. This presents opportunities. I convo him up, drumming up his interest. I ask what he needs, gauging him all the time. I ask stupid questions, fake haggle for a bit to see how desperate he is, how ignorant he is. But I don't let him get away. I tell him, I make sure he knows, I can do it. He's just gotta sing the right tune is all. All the time I'm listening for the one that screams "I'm a target." He lays out the deal. It was along a safe, well-traveled route between hubs. That meant it was (probably) legitimate business. The scammer expects and anticipates the scammer. The businessman does not. The terms: The package is going from Amarr (a hub) to Jita (The biggest hub). Size is acceptable. I am able to take it inside my freighter. The collateral is relatively hefty. 200m. However it is not worth killing over, and no one has a legal right to shoot my character on the route. Any suicide attack would not be worth the collateral's value. The reward is decent. 3m. This pays above-average based on the usual m^3/jump, the informal standard to calculate the cost. That means it's worth something, either more than the collat, or he has a premium on time. So, the contract. It's a courier. I pay money to a held account, my collateral. I get a standard package. I must deliver this package within 24 hours, or my money will be taken and I'll have the package but no reward. I tell him everything he wants to hear. Oh yes, I can make the trip to amarr in an hour. I'm at the destination right now, where he was advertising, it is the biggest hub in the game after all. The distance to and back is easily covered in an hour. I remind you that I have 24 hours, no matter what he says. His payment is held, my collateral is held, and as long as I do it, the system pays it out automatically. The contract is signed. Now, what most people don't understand is that you can peek inside those normal, sealed courier packages. It's simply labeled for its destination, with a normal icon, no indication of contents until you fuck with it. You can put it in a cargo hold, run scanners on it. Contract the package itself to someone else, or yourself as someone else, and it'll show a list of its top contents. Now, this fellow was smart. I peeked inside the box without breaking the seal and rendering the package undeliverable. It seemed about right, from what I could see as a distance (9 jumps away, most techniques must be performed "hands on" in system). I calculated the value of the items, and it about corresponded to the face value. I thought maybe he was just looking for a quick sell. He wanted to move his goods to a quicker, bigger market and get the money immediately. He had mentioned he needed the money for a PLEX (gametime subscription). Well that's fine. I undocked in my freighter, set autopilot to head to the system, and left the computer. I had no desire to sit there as my freighter lumbered 9 jumps in the slowest way (manual is quicker than autopilot, but obviously more involved). I came back to a private conversation. "Hello? Dude? Dude I really need that package, are you gonna be able to get it there on time?" He had closed the window by the time I got back. I was really curious now. I was in the system. I warped to the relevant station, and docked. I looked at the box. The contents were what I expected. [img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/EVE0672.png[/img] Caption: EVEmail in the background. Notice message from 'Zoozle' my contractor, asking about status of the delivery. Now, what people REALLY don't know is that you can see the boxes inside the box. Without breaking the seal. I could still deliver and get my money back, and get my reward. So there are 3 boxes there, 3 containers inside the package. I peeked into the boxes. My jaw dropped. [img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/EVE0682.png[/img] Caption: The first container's contents. Tier 2 salvage. Tier 2 blueprint copies. Deadspace items of incredibly quality and rarity. The bulk items alone covered my collateral. Combined with the items "on the surface" I was looking at doubling my "investment" of 200m collateral. Selling of that rare deadspace item might net me two hundred million more, tripling my investment. I checked the other boxes, and screamed like a little girl. [img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/EVE0692.png[/img] Caption: Piles of blueprints found in the second container. [img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/EVE0702.png[/img] [img] http://filesmelt.com/dl/EVE0712.png[/img] [img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/EVE0722.png[/img] Caption: End of second container. Third container was empty. Masses of blueprints. Copies, worth a few pennies each, but in bulk! Originals, worth their weight in gold depending on what they were original blueprints for. Another deadspace item, another hundred million isk! I was swimming in isk. This was a motherload. This was incredible. It was hours and hours worth of hard renter ratting. This is all the items he had accumulated while travelling and toiling for maybe 100 hours in very dangerous territory. And here I was, safe and comforted in a secure zone, about to take it all in five minutes. So I sold stuff. I broke the package wide open. I threw the garbage onto the market for some immediate money. I made back my collateral with just the "surface" items. Screw the reward. The contents of the package were worth so much more. I stuffed the rest of the items in my freighter. Instead of him selling his valuables at the best market in the game, I would be selling them. And I would take all the proceeds. Very carefully, with a watchful eye, I set out for the original destination. I had thought that would be the end of it. An incredible payday. Hundreds of millions earned, maybe a billion. The whole time I was flying back, I was checking markets, calling contacts, arranging deals. Thanks to my previous adventures I knew quite a few people who would deal in bulk. They'd take these precious items off me in less than an hour's time, at slightly below market. I got my money as quick as I wanted it, and they made a healthy profit on the resale. Each of us earned money in different ways. I was in the middle of totaling up my score when a new conversation popped up. "Dude, wtf you doing? You were supposed to get it there in an hour. What's the holdup?" He still thought the package was coming. I had never cancelled the contract. I broke open the package so it couldn't be delivered, but hadn't yet admitted failure for it. It would run until the 24hr time limit wore out, and then the collateral would be handed to him. But here, here was another opportunity. He did not know what I had done. He didn't know I was scamming him, not yet. So I played him. "Oh, you want the package? Well I have 23 more hours. You want it quicker, you pay for it." "wtf! you said you'd get it there in an hour" "I don't have to. The contract says 24 hours." He was mad. He didn't know how fucked he was yet. I got 15 million more, up front, and he got a promise the package would be there in another hour. Of course, you can't deliver a package that doesn't exist. I giddily got back to Jita, the largest hub in the game. I started assigning contracts to my interested parties. Raked in 400m for the first bit of deadspace equipment, 200m for the second. Tripled investment already, plus the 200m for the "surface" stuff means I quadrupled it. I was rolling in money. I was sorting those blueprints, making them look so good to potential buyers. I was writing up a forum post for industrial-minded fellows who wanted a batch deal. They could calculate the individual cost, and I'd just sell them all together for a better price than market. He convo'd me again. I hadn't realized how much time had passed. I let him know he'd been fleeced. His money was mine. I was going to sell all his hard work for my own profit. He cried. He called me the vilest things. Made death threats. All part of the game, well except death threats those are bannable. I take joy in it sometimes, beating someone so thoroughly, but I had an eye for profit. He was pleading so hard. Those goods would have financed his PLEX so he could keep playing. He was plum broke as far as liquid money. All his money was in those assets. And the contract would not pay out my collateral until after his character was unsubbed and incapable of exchanging ISK for gametime. I laughed it off, shared the logs, prepared to report him for his threats. But I had a thought. A wild thought. [b]It did not end there.[/b] A double scam! A wondrous opportunity. Could I do it? Could I pull it off? All my silver-tongued intrigue had not prepared me for this day. But I had to try. He appealed to my human side. "Please, think of me," he would cry. Yes, I was thinking of your wallet the whole time. I pretended to go along with his emotional appeals. I had made so much money - AND I WANTED MORE! I wanted more... a lot more. More money, more power, more everything. Why stop at one? Get two. Why take a billion? Take two. I pretended to hold out for a bit. "I really like the money", I'd say. He cried, pleaded more. Screamed at me, changed between hostility and begging. I saw how desperate he was. Desperation breeds opportunity. "All right." I said. I valued it at 600m. Much less than it was actually worth. I told him I hadn't had a chance to sell it yet (a lie). I didn't want to bother moving such high-risk goods and risk a suicide attack, did I? If he made it worth my while, but less than the total value of the goods, I'd just give it back. Let him deal with it. Find a real courier. So I told him. It was all lies. All lies. He screamed, he cursed my name. I'm a bastard, he said. A monster. I do admit to taking a perverse pleasure from it, very sadistically. I let him haggle me. 200m, the cost of the collat. No thanks. No profit to my time. I'll do 500m. No, he screamed. He has no money. He'll find some, I know. I held firm. We arrived at a price. 400m. 400m for the package that doesn't exist. Well, I have to make such a package if I want the money. All this time I'm screaming along my illicit channels. Calling contacts, scammers, scum and rebels. I got an expert and a fanbase, and they cheered me on the whole time in private. "What a heist!". "Fantastic haul, Treia." "Nice bit of profit." But we needed to fleece him again. How? How do we give him a package, that isn't his package, but looks like it? We exploited the system best we knew how. The packages are contracted by name of their delivery and SURFACE contents in an item exchange contracts. So what did I do? I rebought all the shit I sold from the surface. Less than 200m worth. We needed a package that looked just like the one he'd have it shipped in. It needs to be named after the destination and contain these items. Problem is, we couldn't quickly move these items away and make such a fake contract. I recalled an old trick of making a fake "plastic wrap" (the name for courier packages) which can be renamed and repackaged without contracts, without needing to shuffle things around. But I didn't know how to do it. I ran through my address book, looking for the names of never-do-wells and bastards. I found one online, quickly spilt all the information to him, and within a few minutes we were throwing contracts back and forth to make fake plastic wraps. We got one, broke the seal, emptied of its contents, and then it's basically a collapsible cardboard box. We renamed it just like it would be in the contract, and threw the items into it. A bunch of junk, and 3 containers. It's worth 200m, and it's gonna be sold for 400m. 200m scam profit, in a double pull. It had to be ABSOLUTELY CONVINCING. But the thing is: You cannot see what is inside the "container in a container" normally (the containers inside the courier package), but you can in an item exchange. There is a method often used by scammers. "Freight container full of drakes!". It's just a freight container. People don't understand the item exchange lists EVERY item in the contract. If it's not listed, it's not in the contract. They see "Freight container" and think the freight container has items in it that it doesn't. I re-purposed this track as well. I did all this brainstorming and this preperation for the second scam in approximately 15 minutes, all while stringing this poor fool along. But the scam was not foolproof. A smart and sharp-eyed fellow would see the contract is for a courier package with the surface items and 3 containers only. There are no items in the containers. The containers do not hold his riches. They hold nothing. He questions this. "How do I know that that's my courier package?" I played him so hard. He wanted my humanist appeal, he got it. "Okay, well if you don't want your items back I'll just move em tomorrow and get my full money's worth." He's desperate, doesn't think straight. Outright tells me all the money for this second contract is borrowed from corpmates. Spending money he doesn't have to get money back that he gave away. He trusts my explanation. I don't care about him, right? I don't care if he suffers or not, I just wanted my quick buck. He accepts and understands my appeal to greed. This is EVE. I tell him I'll make him overpay for those items for my own convenience, so he can be happy with his items back at under value, and I got my scam in. In doing so, I scam him a second time. Everybody I had recruited to help was watching tensely. I pasted line after line into group chat, giving my silver tongue the whole way. Subtly and implicitly urging him to take the deal. I played a caring person that doesn't exist. Maybe the female avatar helped me on this day, I do not know. But he took it. He handed over 400m in a contract. I handed over 200m worth of goods, and some empty containers. "Hey, bro. There's nothing in there. You've been had. Twice." [img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/EVE0732.png[/img] Caption: The second scam pulled on him for the rest of his money. Note private chat in the lower left. I was careful not to say anything about it being a scam until after he clicked accept and I got the money. Then I was free to lean back with adrenaline pumping. He cursed my name like few had. He threatened me with actions that I will not repeat here. And I was in such a rush. I earned my fortune in EVE. I earned it with the sweats and tears of others. In half a night, I did months of 'work'. I was ecstatic. I was elated. I had all the money I needed for a long, long while. I would pull off many more heists such as this, but this is my most cherished memory. It may sound odd, cruel, and sadistic to some, but it was a true test of my skills. I played the liar, and I lied through my teeth.
Someone showed me this last night in corp chat, as I read it I convo'd the guy in game to laugh at the dumbass, and he said: [quote]stewie Zanjoahir > i'm not fussed i got all my stuff back from ccp any ways only reason i'm still playing and also my stolen stuff[/quote] He reckons eve kill is displaying it wrong though, and that most of the BPO's were only BPC's. He has a point, if you look here: [url]http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=17749989[/url] it gives a really different loss, 33 billion as opposed to the 200+ eve kill reckons.
[QUOTE=Tony;38145974]Someone showed me this last night in corp chat, as I read it I convo'd the guy in game to laugh at the dumbass, and his only reply was: He reckons eve kill is displaying it wrong though, and that most of the BPO's were only BPC's. He has a point, if you look here: [url]http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=17749989[/url] it gives a really different loss, 33 billion as opposed to the 200+ eve kill reckons.[/QUOTE] That's battleclinic, not eve-kill. It's also not API-verified. Since killmails now generate whether or not a blueprint was a copy, eve-kill lists them as such. EVE-kill operates based on recent market trends (which are static for blueprints, because they're sold by NPCs), whilst battleclinic requires on manually adjusted prices. The problem with the latter is it's rarely updated and isn't touched at all for uncommon items (BLUEPRINTS), so it lists their base price instead. Base price is MUCH LESS than what they're worth, or what NPCs sell them for. Or, as above, not API-verified. Could be copies not marked properly. Killboards gotta check it against the kill generated by API for it to verify. EVE-kill is verified, so I'll go with it any day.
[QUOTE=scout1;38145994]That's battleclinic, not eve-kill. It's also not API-verified. Since killmails now generate whether or not a blueprint was a copy, eve-kill lists them as such. EVE-kill operates based on recent market trends (which are static for blueprints, because they're sold by NPCs), whilst battleclinic requires on manually adjusted prices. The problem with the latter is it's rarely updated and isn't touched at all for uncommon items (BLUEPRINTS), so it lists their base price instead. Base price is MUCH LESS than what they're worth, or what NPCs sell them for. Or, as above, not API-verified. Could be copies not marked properly. Killboards gotta check it against the kill generated by API for it to verify. EVE-kill is verified, so I'll go with it any day.[/QUOTE] Ah yeah didn't notice the BC one was a manual post, it was probably him trying to make it look like he lost less than he really did then
Scout should be CCPs marketing advisor.
[QUOTE=thedekoykid;38145778]What about those guys who lost that really big ship to a million little ones?[/QUOTE] I'm assuming you're talking about this. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRlrFudaEs8[/media] This was somewhat more impressive at the time as titans were harder to kill and much much rarer due to the amount of time it took to make them. Now however there's usually one down every week or so, and Fleets can field [url=http://i.imgur.com/0Lz3F.jpg]loads of them.[/url]
[QUOTE=Averice;38146024]Scout should be CCPs marketing advisor.[/QUOTE] Unfortunately I have no desire to live in Iceland, as I like it here. Although I gotta say I love their support teams. I used to be pissed when they denied my petitions and stuff, but after some really horrible experiences I've been able to compare how great they are. They're not the quickest of the lot, but they're generally helpful and supportive. They're also very fair, which is fantastic. I miss their support.
Scout1 that was fucking incredible.
Scout, your posts are curiously enthralling.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.