Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, the 19th Century Prussian military strategist, said that “no plan survives first contact with the enemy.”
Here in New Eden, anyone who has dipped a toe in PvP knows that to be true. The enemy will nearly always do something unexpected. When they do, it usually means you have to adjust and accommodate for the added challenge they throw at you.
For New Eden’s resident professional hi-sec gankers in CODE., on 23 June it meant the opposite: A well-heeled victim who, instead of falling into their thoroughly-planned trap, made so many mistakes that the trap wasn’t even necessary to relieve their target of just under a third of a trillion (with a “T”) ISK.
INN got in touch with the CEO of CODE.’s Gate Tax Collection Agency, Australian Excellence, for more on the story of this colossal killmail.
CODE.’s intended victim was Raya Charles, flying a Nomad Jump Freighter with NPC Corp Perkone.
“We had spies in his alliance telling us he was coming,” Australian Excellence said. “We had a rough idea when.”
“When we actually saw him,” he continued, “we got the fleet in position to follow him wherever he went.”
“The fleet,” in this case, included an entire army (or should I say, “Space Force“) of alts associated with the Jason Kusion “Failganking” twitch stream. Sadly, there’s no video of the gank. According to Australian Excellence, “Live streaming JF ganking is a bad idea. JF pilots are real jumpy and paranoid, with an instant teleport button they can use at any time they are spooked. Streaming would make it that much harder to kill them.”
Additionally, he continued, “We don’t want to show our strategies, and don’t want more thieves, antigankers, etc.” to get involved. “Even if they’re trash, it’s still annoying.”
So CODE. had their plan. But as von Moltke predicted, it failed to survive first contact with the enemy. That’s because, according to Australian Excellence, “All of that wasn’t needed, as he just autopiloted through without any escort into Jita.”
“We thought he would be real sneaky and try to avoid us,” he continued, “Surprisingly he was on autopilot and AFK.”
In short, the victim was piloting a ship and cargo worth more than a Keepstar (including the four irreplaceable Faction Fortizars in the cargohold), while AFK, on autopilot, through a regional gate, without scouts or escorts, in The Citadel. This author is attempting to think of anything else our intrepid Nomad pilot might possibly have done more wrong. This author is failing.
“I’d be curious what he was thinking being so reckless,” Australian Excellence concluded.
In an attempt to answer that question, INN reached out to Raya Charles for comment on this article, but as of press time, has not received a response.
For their part, said Australian Excellence, “CODE., being the number one gankers in highsec, would like the public to know that we have been too kind and lenient to the freighters flying around in our sov space. There will be much more destruction than has ever been seen coming in the next few months.”
If CODE.’s redoubled efforts result in any additional content as entertaining (and expensive) as this, INN will no doubt be there to share it with you.
