During the assassination of Julius Caesar, he was stabbed 23 times. However, the autopsy concluded that only two of those stabs would have been fatal. This means that the other 21 stabs failed to achieve anything and could be considered just whoring on the kill. So, 21 people could falsely brag that they had something to do with the death of Julius Caesar. Fast forward a couple of millennia, and we see this same principle at work with the destruction of the NC Keepstar, and indeed the majority of keepstars in the game. Only a handful of people deliver a fatal blow, while other people join in as an attempt to show that they were vital and important to its death.
For those unaware of the events of November 19, Northern Coalition. (NC) attempted to online a Keepstar in the region of Vale of the Silent, in H-5GUI. This move was something the Imperium had issue with, and they dispatched many subcap fleets to neutralize the threat. After the dust had settled it was clear who delivered the killing blow. The fatal stab that destroyed the Keepstar was that of the Initiative’s Ravens, who used long ranged tactics, keeping away from an enemy whose defensive tactics were largely sending in supercarrier fighters to counter-attack. However, the Ravens chipped away at the Keepstar at range, micro-jumping every few moments to maintain their distance. The NC capital fleet sat on the KS, but was countered by subcap fleets which suppressed the enemy fighters – fleets of Imperium Cerberus, Ishtars, and Jackdaws. This maneuver kept chipping away at the Keepstar, to the point where its destruction threatened the capital fleet protecting it. The supercapital fleet then evacuated, leaving the Keepstar to its demise.
As the Keepstar entered its last moments, the majority of the fleet commanders, both on Imperial and NC sides, warped to the Keepstar and fired on it, simply get on the killmail—to be the 23rd dagger which stabbed Caesar. Most just wanted to to claim they were there and contributed to its death, when in reality, the damage they did was probably the equivalent of giving Caesar a manicure.
So what does this all mean? The way I see it, people feel they are entitled to be on a killmail now. They feel entitled to say that they helped destroy something when in reality they did not achieve anything. Even NC players shot the Keepstar so it would be on their killboards.
Going over the battle, I feel that INIT should have been given the sole responsibility for the destruction of the Keepstar, but only the Keepstar. Support was provided to them by other Imperial members who protected INIT battleships from waves of fighters—the carriers and the Jackdaws. These kills were handed out to the Imperial fleets. INIT didn’t care about getting on all of the fighters’ killmails, or even most of the hostile Muninns that harassed them. They were too busy applying the damage to destroy the enemy Keepstar. I feel, then, that there should be a minimum amount of damage you need to apply to be appear on a killmail. This change would help make sure that people are focused on a specific task, not just trying to get on the killmails by shooting as many targets as possible and hoping some of them die. This change should make players more focused when it comes to shooting and make players feel more responsible when they are rewarded by being part of a killmail.
