Something odd happened the other day. This first part isn’t unusual, I now realise but the last part is, I think. Mining in 0.7 hisec with a Covetor and a Porpoise, some Guristas rats turned up … there were some Guristas industrials too, which soon left. They looked a bit more feisty than the usual Serpentis rats in Sinq Laison, so we legged it. Porpoise pilot reshipped to a Vagabond while I read up on FOBs and such, never having encountered them before. The active shield Vagabond with faction ammo in autos wasn’t making much impact and was into half armour before I ran again, so I tried a Vargur with autos + Barrage, sniping at 100km. The Guristas warped away a bit then came back on top of me. I used MJD to get distance and they did the same trick - first time I have ever run away from rats in a Vargur.
So, the odd part? When I got away in the Vagabond, I warped to a remote safe, several AU from anything … and a Serpentis frigate arrived right next to me. Fearing that somehow this might mean the Guristas arriving soon after, I legged it again. I don’t think I will ever live down the shame of running from a rat frigate in a heavy assault cruiser … I’m still shaking, three days later. I imagine the Vargur could have coped with the situation but the prospect of losing a 1.6 bill ship to a bunch of malicious red things wasn’t worth the risk.
It happened to me once during my EVE career (started in 2017 and happened the past 3 years sometime) in Parchanier, after visiting a belt (the last one in the chain that I’ve checked as they have a chance to drop a special COSMOS mission item in the Algintal constellation) and there was no rat in the belt but when warped to the safe one belt rat popped up there when I’ve arrived.
I think what happened is (pure speculation) is that when the rat spawned (which sometimes happen near you instead of their default location when you are in the belt when they spawn, at least seem to happen sometimes, and these are regular belt rats not the diamond ones) it might have spawned just when entering warp so its location ended up at the destination of the warp instead of inside the belt.
What if CCP gave the ratz the ability to ‘probe’ for folks at safes…?
Beyond the normal ‘Ratz cheat’
Scary prospect!
You’ve encountered this: NPC Mining Operations - EVE University Wiki
Yes, I had to read about it before engaging - but what surprised me was the non-diamond rat showing up in a safe spot. Clarified, I think, by Uriel the Flame’s reply.
I recall posting on an alt, maybe 2 years ago, that I was using MWD to get away from rats in a belt…and the rats still had me locked even when I was 3000 km away. At the time I was told it was normal and rats can do that. I tested how far away I could get without the lock being broken and got to 3000 km…so for all I know this could stretch to AU as well.
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