Loot Sweet Loot, reloaded

I decided to dust off Loot Sweet Loot, my trusty mission runner hunting Incursus. I had a hankering for the red glow of Minmatar space so I slipped into my Halo set and, after repairing my sec status at the DED Office, headed to Lustrevik, that oh-so-bright NPC Kill hotspot on dotlan. Full points for Tags4Sec, CCP. I would certainly not have bothered repairing my sec status manually. Just think, all those mission runners wouldn’t have been persecuted. My goodness. Local in high sec! I announced my much anticipated return with my usual edict: "Hello, I am Zappity the Mostly Fearless. I am here to inspect your wrecks for juicy loot and to destroy any who dare oppose me! No ship can stand against the mighty Incursus!" Nobody responded. They were obviously all too shocked for words. So I probed down some shiny battleships and killed some MTUs, including a nice 'Packrat' one. I eventually came across a Brutix Navy Issue who had just finished what looked like a level 2 mission. I zipped about the grid and emptied every single wreck. I cleaned out the last one just before my shield alert went off and I was surprised to see a nice red box around the Brutix. He was only 20 km away so I quickly turned the reppers on and dived into a tight orbit. I put the few T1 drones that issued from his bay out of their misery and settled in for the grind. He exploded in a most satisfactory manner: Brutix Navy Issue: http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?eid=45071650 And, what's more, he neglected to get his pod away. Pod: http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?eid=45071658 After I finished splattering his pod I convoed him to ask whether he was a new player. You know the drill - I usually give some advice and a chunk of ISK. But this pilot was far too rude for that. "Up yours" was the extent of his communication, although I was also added as a contact with Terrible Standing: “you know l;ll never let u rest bitch” was the ill-typed description. That was disappointing. Perhaps he doesn't have the right stuff for this particular pastime. I began to suspect I was becoming unpopular a few minutes later when I discovered an interesting item in someone else's wreck and asked in local, innocence itself, “What does Zbikoki's Hacker Card do?” I was INSTANTLY bountied for 10m. Great stuff! Highsec, huh? There you go. On a more serious note, I wish neutral reps weren't a thing. I often get called out on this when I ask someone why they are afraid of my 'lil frig in such a large ship. I think the hit rate would be much higher if such blatantly unfair mechanics weren't possible. The other one is the ship switch mechanic, although even this isn't as bad because at least you have to drop point to effect it.

I wondered how the magnificent Incursus would do against an older adversary with better skills. I didn’t have to wonder long because I soon came across an Orthrus and Orca pair in Lustrevik. I lazily wandered from wreck to wreck in the completed room, casually emptying wrecks, when suddenly half my armour was gone! How rude.

I changed my trajectory to increase the angular before spiralling in on the Orthrus and scramming him. I stirred from my daydream, in which an expensive killmail featured prominently, when I realised that I was barely denting his shield. Huh. The regen on these things is pretty good. 

What about the Orca? I went for him and quickly switched the scram to the new target. All the while I was being peppered by Acolytes from both ships and I was kept busy killing them all. Of course, changing targets also allowed the Orthrus to start hitting me better. Still, the reps were holding and I was able to test the command ship's tank. 

It was too tough. Before long, I ran out of charges and had to warp away, tail between my legs. How shameful. I could have tried to ship up, or bring reps on grid but decided not to. I played and lost.