Last night, I decided to clean up the heavy traffic in Edras. There were too many traders and it obstructed my lookin'-at-the-stars.

So there I was, running from one ship to another, distributing adequate warnings and, effectively, towing them home, that some UIT auto-trader decided to AGGRESSIVELY avoid me shooting at it. I mean, it was clearly and without a doubt, hostile to the idea of returning home. So, ratter than flash it from afar, I steered closer and then, in a matter of about 1 second, he was home.

However, during that one second, a number of things happened. I rammed the passive agressor, triggered my tripple-Neut3 at his paint job, got a severe faction rating warning if I continued and, actually, got the severe faction rating because by the time I had realized what was on my screen, the trader in question was buying a new ship back in the confines of yellow space.

Huh.

It'd be nice that said warning would pop-up upon selection of a target that might affect standing, ratter than while dispensing of excess battery charge. Because sometimes, batteries discharge too fast for that warning to be of any usefulness.

Now, I have to run back in yellow space and show them my real face. My good faith. And tell their station guards how much I truly love them.

i think the warning appears the firt time you hit them, and it doesn't appear just for targeting them, because simply targetinf somone doesn't nesesarily indicate intent to attack them.

Lag, however, OFTEN causes the warning to mean absolutly dick. Especially annoying is that TGP NPCs, which seem like any gray looking NPC on the screen, trigger the warning and traumatic loss of standing in UIT space. First time I lost massive UIT standing was from killing a UIT dog in Dau. Oops...insta-KOS. I botted my ARSE off to get that standing back up. Then, due to the aformentioned lag and a TGP atlas, I lost my hard earned UIT standing. Since then, they keep putting bounties on my head, and I keep killing every yellow n00b I can find in Dau with a valk, just to make sure I earn that KOS status they so unfairly slapped on me. Great system, it really is.

well, if you shoot at traders in monitered space don't complain when the cops come to enforce their boarders.

common sence says that attacking a characror (npc or pc) in monitered teratory is tredding on thin ice. it shouldn't be up to your targeting computer to tell you that one perticular target is protected by the local government.

as far as i'm concerned killing anyone in monitored space who has better than a -200 reputation should give a faction hit that gets larger as thier standing gets higher. start it at 50 and add 5 points of loss for every 10 reputation points higher.

I agree with Lord Q. If you're gonna be shooting people up (whether players or NPCs) suck it up and accept the risks and consequences.

Jerkerome, it's not about sucking it up. It about knowing what you're about to cleanse before you rinse out.

I'm simply saying that it'd be nice to have a warning *before* you start shooting. Otherwise, there's no way to know. Sometimes, your fist blow is also the last blow.

Anyhow, I have resolved the issue with UIT strike force and government. They're still angry at me, but I'm no longer KOS. It'll just take me time to work it out (and I dont mind paying for the oopsy).

mgl_ its called a test shot. you fire one at the target before you commit to a massive barrage.

Having the warning appear when you target someone would become extremely annoying IMO, because sometimes (especially when mining near a station) you end up targeting someone you dont want to be targeting.

Besides I dont think the game checks for faction standing until a "hit" occurs, this way there is less data being transferred server to client.

You only get the warning every 20 secs or so, so be careful with test shots.