December 14th, 18:24 EVE Standard Time in the Hirtamon system, The Forge Region: a Viator piloted by the CEO and sole employee of the Hotdroppadipop corporation; Kilksti Kolksti was the victim of a hi-sec gank.
It is not uncommon for blockade runners to be singled out, as their hulls have a very limited threshold for inbound DPS. Their main defense is to remain unseen, with their ability to use tech II covert-ops cloaking devices. As of the time of writing of this article, it remains unclear if the target was singled out due to the high value of its shipment, or if the blockade runner pilot chose to risk using the autopilot feature near a trade hub. One other speculation is that due to the close proximity of the Zainou Biotech Production station, this gank may have occurred on the undock. The sheer value of the cargo inside the Viator is what makes this kill standout from some of the other blockade runners hit the same week.
Click for Killmail
According to zKillboard the assault was perpetrated by a lone Tornado pilot fluffy648, currently a member of the State War Academy. Further investigation of fluffy684 killboard reveals that this pilot is no stranger to targeting cargo vessels in and around the trade hub system of Jita.
EN24 has reached out to both parties, but as of the time of this publication we’ve only been able to get a response from one of the parties involved. Kilksti Kolksti had this to say:
From: Kilksti Kolksti
Sent: 2015.12.18 20:43
To: Radax Glenn,Hi,
What can i say. It was stupid loss. Im not prowd of it 🙂 Still geting ganked is part of eve so what can i do. Im glad that most of the stuff was destroyed and gankes did not got all of it. I have played eve for years so im use to, taht some day yo lose something 🙂
For conclusions. That was no big deal. I will not rage quit or something. Just one bad day and thats it 🙂
Regards,
KK.
While we can still only speculate at this point to the finer details of this event; it is an important reminder to all pilots that complacency is often times the largest contributor of losses, large or small. Stay vigilant!
UPDATE – Fluffy648 got back to us via EVE Mail, providing the following:
Re: EN24 your Viator Gank
From: fluffy648
To: Radax Glenn
Sent: 2015.12.21 22:35
1.) Did you specifically hunt down this target, or was this just the luck of the draw?
My gank style is Tornado ganking and scanning hauler to know who has high value stuffs or not before shot in usual. But when i get bored, i shoot blockade runner to kill time without scan (blockade runner is unscannable). So the kill was just luck.
2.) Where did the kill occur? On Gate? On Undock?
The kill occurred on dock.
3.) Did you have any idea the value of the cargo was going to be so high?
Since blockade runners are unscannable, I had no idea what they have.
4.) Did you get the impression the target was using auto-pilot?
He was not in AP and about to docking manually. He should have made insta dock bookmark.
5.) When you saw the kill mail, what was your initial reaction?
First, I saw my looting alt got about 4B isks. I thought he drops all and felt good. But after i saw the km, it took some time for me to understand i get enormous kill and burned almost all. So I had mixed feelings of sadness and happiness. That was beyond expression.
6.) How long have you been playing EVE?
Fluffy648 is my first character. I’m just a one of under 1 year old rookie and solo ganker. However, I’m not alone because there are a lot of friends who can play with fun. It’s an honor to have been able to become friends with them for me.
7.) Can you describe for me briefly how the events went down?
My method is simple “just kill blockade runners”. We can’t know what they hauling before kill. There are the same chance to get over billion kill even if they are in AP, in cloaking, in manual. This is a lottery that costs 100M isk per one shot. Let’s burn them all!!
