Now the situation in question in the original post didn't have b/b's being passed out by the trader but now that the b/b passing question is on the table; I thought a ship passing b/bs in a fight has chosen to participate in a fight and thus attacking the b/b passer is akin to defending oneself from an attack.
If a Transport passes Bots and Bats to a non-Transport that is engaging a Capital Ship, the passing of bots counts as an engagement, so the Transport might as well be shooting the Capital Ship, this means the Capital Ship can engage it, on the grounds that it has joined the fight by sharing it's regens.
Problem is, prove it...
With the current rules, if that transport reports that capital ship, the capital ship should be sanctioned.
There's not rule regarding passing bots, and even then, it's something really hard to prove (If the transport wants to be a moron that's it).
5.2 All attacks must be the result of some form of role play. "Engaging" is not sufficient. An attack is any hostile action that drains shields to less than 50%. Being hit with a CD is not considered an attack. If a player is attacked he has a right to defend himself regardless of who is attacking.
Problem there is... passing bots is considered participating in a fight, however, it's not listed as a rule, and more important, it's increible hard to prove.
"Hey you passed bots!"
"No, I didn't.... prove it"
To prove such a thing, you should be taking screen shots of everyone's bots/bats in a fight before starting, keep taking while the fight is going on, screen any ship that comes near, etc. (Which is why it's not listed as a rule, I think).
This is what I think should be appliedfor transports as well.
Quote:c) They are at the scene of a battle between yourself and someone else and refuse to leave when told to leave. (Civilians should leave the area when combat takes place or accept the risk of being attacked if remaining. Onlookers are fair targets.)
It will be always a problem, most at all, when there's people always trying to get someone sanctioned.
Right now, the best thing you can do as a transport is... stay away from a fight, even if it's taking place at the base you want to dock... which also makes sense in RP.
And as a capital ship, the best thing you can do, is ask them politely to leave, probably on a PM with a couple of // at the begining.