A question about RP and fighting

[Stoat]

.......and do you really have to say "Opening Fire" or something similar before you can open fire?


Right, so here we go. Names have been deleted as they are not important here.

The background - I spot two corsairs in Cambridge, so I move to intercept. I get to the Cambridge gate in New London and jump through, expecting to start hunting the two reprobates there. But what do i find? The two aforementioned corsairs, shooting trade and Bretonian police NPCs. There is debris scattered all around.

A few words are thrown around. And I mean a few, I'm sat in my Orca with a Praetorian and a Gladiator buzzing around, still shooting the NPC pilots. During the short exchange I am invited to make them leave and I accept, shooting ensues, the Praet gets a triple razor after a couple of minutes, and the Gladiator takes off.

Here's the chat log. There are time stamps in there so you can get an idea of what happened when. I started shooting at the point that one of the corsairs said "Yeah, that's Gaians". I fairly sure my first shot was across the bows of the Praet, and not a hit on his shields. The Praet was not the one talking at the time, and was not sat still, nor on an undeviating course (ie he was dodging, though probably not in battle mode). I had made a deliberate attacking run directly at the Praet before I opened fire.




Now, considering the situation, am I in the wrong here for not sitting around and talking for however long the other side were hoping for, and taking the initiative? And by initiative I mean moving to an aggressive flight path, and after one pass opening fire on the Praet.

Please note that he did not go boom without any chance. There was a couple of minutes of the fight and he was able to get off more than a few SNAC shots at me.

I really want to know what you all think. The corsairs involved, I already know what you think, this is not about a trial by forum. I just really want to know what the rest of the community really think about this encounter. And do we have to state that we are about to open fire? Seriously? Is that really expected?

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