' Wrote:Yeah I guess you are right, but I saw it as metagaming at the current situation where I the pirate/unlawful commits something bad in their space and they wait for us to come to them.
Well, the way I see it, it's a bit more complicated than that (as in there are numerous issues involved).
For a long time (back when the RM had a very solid PvP reputation in the server), we used to get jumped left, right and center by people who wished to prove themselves in those terms. It felt like we were the "rite of passage" in the server, "You think you are worthy? Then go to Rheinland and take on an RM flight group."
I remember this one time I was flying alone in my Wrath when suddenly I saw myself surrounded by two Praefects, three gunboats, two Praetorians and three Titans. Avoiding fire from pretty much everyone I've managed to kill the first Titan when people from all around (mostly indie bounty hunters that were around and a couple of guys from the old Black Talon) pitied me and came to assist.
For a long time, meaningful attacks in Rheinland were a rare thing (those came mostly either from the RHA or the now extinct [W] faction). What really happened was people coming by aiming us (the [RM] guys) directly. They didn't really pose a threat to civilians or the territory in itself, but us directly. Also, these attacks mostly involved bringing down capital ships because hardly managed to get a kill from us, unless it was from an inexperienced pilot. Sometimes we simply didn't have enough firepower to finish the fight, we didn't die, but we didn't have the punch to drive it away. So we started using the NPCs to our advantage in those fights. The cruiser and battleship patrols started figuring in our tactics as much as everything else in the book. That is one aspect of the issue.
On a second note, it's not an uncommon thing to have "bad guys" cause a stir and try to attract us to a trap or to have us leave the Planet so a smuggler can slip by our watch. Don't expect us to respond to taunts, because we don't. We're more calculating than that. Also, threatening the Sigma-13 jumphole isn't really supposed to attract much attention since the government itself and us, for that matter, advise civilians (namely traders) to avoid the place altogether because of the Wild infestation and the overall presence of pirates in the area. If someone chooses to use that route, they're intently jumping into trouble, so they can't claim helplessness. Don't expect us to run so fast there and risk our necks for people who are dumb enough to put themselves in the line of fire of both Wild and Hessians in the first place. Also, I won't remember where it is, but there's even a story in a bar in Rheinland (probably in New Berlin), that says the military try and veer away all traffic from the Sigma-13 jumphole precisely because of that.
Rest assured though, that our patrols (at the least the ones I'm leading) have been behaving quite differently from our usual. We're still in the process of changing a great deal of things in pretty much every level. From our structure, to the RP, to the regulations, to the equipment, to the relations and so on. So we may be a bit slow on some things. Still, please keep the suggestions and feedback coming, I promise you they are being taken into consideration and are more useful than we may be demonstrating right now. Just cope with us a little, we're working on a lot of things right now and some old procedures may linger as we deal with everything. As people say, "Old habits die hard."