Herein is the reasoning behind THP taking the plunge.
The Rules Wrote:11. Any freelancer or BHG individual or group may only collect on a bounty which that person or group has issued, sponsored or funded (fully or partly) so long as it is open to others to collect. All non-generic factions may sponsor internal bounties that are only open to members of the player or NPC faction.
This is the rule that implies "Freelancer ID can post bounties". When the Forlorn| ID existed, it had a specific provision in it that said the character could not post bounties. Therefore, unless stated otherwise, any character can post a bounty.
There have been several POBs bountied, and the bounty paid out, over the years. Only when @Black Widow had the POB in Hudson nuked was there a big fuss raised, and that was over alleged OORP alliances. What does this mean?
It means that there is a precedent for POBs to be bountied. Indeed, in the cases I could observe, POBs were treated as player ships for all intents and purposes.
This brings me to the Freelancer ID.
Freelancer ID Wrote:Pilot carrying this quasi-lawful ID is a Freelancer, who:
Can attack any ship in self-defense or to protect an friendly or allied ship.
Can fulfill any bounty and escort contracts, and may treat transports as combat targets when executing a bounty or escort contract against them.
Cannot use any transports with more than 3,600 cargo, except for the Pirate Train.
Cannot participate in unlawful actions except as described above.
There you have it. Freelancer ID can attack to claim bounties, therefore it can declare a siege to claim a bounty on a POB. If you're going to take one thing away from this, it's...
Any freelancer or BHG individual or group may only collect on a bounty which that person or group has issued, sponsored or funded (fully or partly) so long as it is open to others to collect.
Can fulfill any bounty and escort contracts
Thank you for reading.
In regards to the base in question, it would have taken me thirty seconds to just bring my Ranseur and declare " base spotted, kill". In the case of THP| sieging, I was opening up my faction to diplomatic consequences, good or bad, from Crayter, Natio Octavarium, and everyone else with an interest in the region. This would not happen if it was me and my buds in lolseurs, simply because all RP consequences from that would be staring at the respawn screen at worst. Ask yourself, is stating an interpretation of the rules that says "Oh, the ID you are flying currently cannot do that" really going to matter when every player and their dog can comfortably have access to a Heavy BS and an ID that says "you can shoot everyone who isn't a Transport" with most of Sirius in its ZOI? For bonus "failing to contribute meaningfully to the RP environment" points, the player seeking to do a siege like I have described could hide behind a 2-post alt, post the bare minimum of RP then an attack declaration, then never use that account again.