This is great!
Hey all, I just got done reading through this magical thread and I thought I would share my story as well. I'll post a more formal intro in the appropriate place a bit later, but for now this will have to suffice.
My SC story begins in May of 2016. I joined ADI initially because it was huge, organized, and had goals I was on board with. However, I stopped playing for quite a while, and when I did play, it was rarely with ADI members for various reasons. I finally started playing again a few weeks ago because I could actually do so without crashing constantly. I had bought myself a fancy new Hornet Ghost, and thought I was pretty hot stuff with my 3xS3+1xS4 laser cannons on this reasonably durable ship (at least a lot more durable than my Bucc that I CCU'd).
As I was booping around the verse, I got jumped at ICC probe by some scoundrels that seemed to know what they were doing. I managed to kill one before I was dispatched to the cold abyss. I made my snarky comments about how I managed to take one with me, even though I was outnumbered and unprepared. Well, their story was that I rammed him, but that's neither here nor there. We fought again, 1v1 this time, I put up a bit more of a fight before going down again, we bantered back and forth for a period of time, and he, the player formerly known as Grimraper, formerly Known as Goatchaps, invited me to join them in the Lucky 13 Discord. I did, and we all fell madly in love with each other. I left ADI and joined Lucky 13 because I knew I could explore more aspects of the game with a Merc org than I could with a strict military org.
After a few days with Lucky 13, I decided my M/KB just wasn't cutting it for me anymore, and I got myself a fancy new T16000m HOTAS. This was maybe 2 or so weeks ago now. I've been playing a lot trying to get better with this new stick thing. On day 2 of owning the HOTAS, Lucky 13 gets into it with VAss and his AA goon squad. I'm still utter trash with the HOTAS at this point, but I was at least enough of a distraction that we beat their guys up enough to get them to jump out of the fight several times to lick their wounds. Every time one of them killed one of ours, they would type in chat "[playername] dead". So I started doing the same when they jumped, becasue to me, jumping away from a fight is the same thing as forfeiting the fight. That was the extent of my trash talk for the most part, because Rin, being the standup org leader he is, asked us not to feed into VA's attempts to start drama. We decided the fight was no longer worth our time since all they were doing was pretty much just distracting us while VA launched torps, then all jumping out to respawn new ships. We began doing ICC missions, ignoring them at ICC when they attacked us between missions. The whole while VA was poking and prodding, gloating about how AA totally dominated us, trying to get a response. He got none.
Then a few days ago (still learning the HOTAS, btw), I stopped at Cryastro to restock my Avenger between ICC missions. I notice ScaredPotato in a Sabre sitting on one of the pads. I knew the name was familiar, but didn't put much thought into it. I get my fresh bullets, some gas, and I start to take off to head to the next mission. Next thing I know, I'm getting lit the fuck up. I take evasive action and turn to put a few holes into my attacker, but am promptly ended, as expected. I comment on his pad camping tactics, and he replies with, "VirtualAce sends his regards." Ah, I get it now.
I go grab my own Sabre that I just the day before so I can get some gudfites. He seemingly has a magic ability to appear out of nowhere, moments after I arrive somewhere. He handily beat me all but once out of the 5 or 6 times we fought. He goes on to tell me that he is going to hunt me over and over again until I leave Lucky 13, the "Troll Org" I'm in. He continues on his white knight tirade, boasting about how holy and amazing his org is. I let him know that I'm perfectly fine with him killing me over and over because I need the practice. I also fill him in on Lucky 13's policy against unprovoked attacks against starter ships and pad camping.
I tell him I'm headed to SPK for another go, and he replies, "I know, but you're still at Oli." That's when I remember something someone said about AA using some sort of tracking method. I jump to 275, and he appears a mere seconds later. I attempt to jump to SPK because a pirate Gladius spawned in, and I'm sure as hell not fighting him AND one of those murderous pirates. My jump attempt fails and I'm sent back to Oli. I start debating with myself whether or not I think he was just camping at Oli, which would explain how he knew where I was and how he jumped in right behind me. So this time I made sure to cycle through all the targets at Oli, then jump the other way toward Covalex (whichever array that is near it). I had a fresh ship, so I also knew he wasn't tracking me by distance. Sure as shit, he lands within 2km of me no more than 3 seconds later. After I die, I comment, "So the rumors are true. That's interesting." Suddenly, he was less talkative, and was no longer jumping in right behind me everywhere I went.
A short while later in the same server, I got jumped unprovoked by another player at SPK. Didn't think much of it since it was SPK and all. Anyway, it was Groggys, whom I later discover is another one of VA's lovers. Same deal, he beats me down for most of the fights, but I manage to stuff a missile up his ass once. Meh, if I were butthurt about losing, I wouldn't be fighting skilled pilots with a new controller setup.
So that's the majority of my interactions with AA, and I have to say, I'm not impressed.
I deeply regret not recording these encounters. At least I'm learning these names so I can be more prepared in the future (assuming AA doesn't crumble now that their bread and butter hacks are getting more attention, and VA isn't gone for good).
L13 o7