So I know that leaving a message like "Badge hunting" is considered kind of rude - not to mention a waste of 5 energy - but if you're just trying to get badges for your shiny new Decryption Quad-Frame (or Counter-Intelligence Nexus), it's inevitable that you'll at some point accidentally hack the same person twice within the same twelve hour period.

If the same names are cropping up day after day, you might forget that you hacked so-and-so already today (rather than two days ago or whenever) and then it starts looking vindictive - especially if you're trying to be careful not to hack them more than once a day/once every twelve hours for a badge. (Research points are all well and good, but I have decent planets, so I just consider them more of a bonus next to my nice little blue badge rewards.)

So, supposing you accidnetally hacked somebody multiple times and you don't want to be perceived as singling them out or bullying them specifically, would leaving a note along the lines of "Crap, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to hack you more than once" be MORE likely to incite retribution or less likely?

Or I may be over-thinking this. Is it simpler just to shrug, ignore it, and repair the damage if they feel like being vindictive?

~Emily
The Miss Manners of Galaxy Legion, Apparently

i always leave a message if i'm after badges...many is the time somebody was spared a disable because i checked their comms and found i had hit them yesterday.
i'm not sure vindictive is the best choice of wording tbh...if i'm blue badged i think that an exchange of badges is fair?...therefore a red to me evens the score.

My mindset tends to be more like "It only took me 5 energy to hack you. Do you really want to blow THAT MUCH disabling me?" but I understand your point of view, since I hadn't thought about it that way. It makes sense, though.

I've had two or three incidents where somebody was clearly pretty peeved with me, since they disabled me multiple times or alerted their legion (over just ONE hack or disable. It wasn't personal!) and that's when one whips out the Calming Amplifiers.

i use more energy, its true...but for me to get a blue back i have to take off guns and put on cloak/scan til i can hit you with a hack.
i'll just blast away thanks (i get more experience too)

A waste, sure. Rude? Who thinks it's rude? I leave messages all the time, and while I understand it might be a waste most of the time, I believe it still has a purpose. It says it's nothing personnal and that you understand if they hit back for a badge. It's to avoid blowing things out of proportion.

As for the apology, I don't think I'd go that far, especially because I also leave the messages to help remind myself that I've hit that person. If they erase it and I hit them twice, then it's not only my fault but also theirs. It's kind of pointless too, much more so than the first message, because some people will overreact on the first hit regardless, so assuming you left a message the first time, sending a second one probably won't matter when they decide wether or not they come after you. To them, you probably look like you didn't hold your word anyway.

I think its rude, anytime someone leaves a message badging I will raid hack and disable them. It cloggs up comm and is annoying just adding insult to injury

when i'm hunting badges, if i see that i've already left a comm msg on a person for a badge, i skip them... it's easier than trying to remember the names of everyone i've hit recently
so unless someone deletes the msg, i won't hit them again for a week

I always put up a message. It does several things:

1) Tells them that it's not a legion based or personal based thing and that more isn't coming.
2) Lets me check if I've recently tagged someone so I don't do it repeatedly.
3) Tells me if someone attacks me whether it was in retaliation or not. I don't generally retaliate if it's just a return-badge attack of about the same level of violence.

I don't care about the 5 energy. I figure it's the cost of showing a bit of respect.

::edit::
In the case of the original poster, I'd just put a comment in saying, "Sorry man, didn't notice I'd badged you earlier." And leave it at that.

A quick solution is to always go for the RED badge in addition to the blue or yellow - that way they fall off your battle tab.

hu I find it funny that you guys think posting on someones comm is rude. for much the same reason as threadbare said.

When I accidentally hack someone for the second time under 12 hours I leave a COMM on their ship apologizing for the repeat hacks and loss of RP. I do feel a little bad when I double hack someone at random, but my main reason for leaving the COMM is to defuse any altercation that may arise. I didn't always leave COMMs after a double hack. I quickly learned spending the measly 5 energy will save you from a disable/raid while you're sleeping.. Peace of mind is cheap!

P.S. When I leave a COMM about this it goes something like: "Sorry! I didn't mean to double hack you. I don't always clear my BT after hacks, so I sometimes double hack. Won't happen again."

P.P.S. The only tool I am aware of when I actively hack for a couple hours is under the enemies action tab. A lot of the time you see Hacks: 5 on people, so if I see a Hacks: 4 I tend to look for another target I can be more certain of.

Tbh, anyone that thinks its rude/unkind/insulting or w/e to get a polite comm message explaining someones actions, i.e badge hit etc. may of got there ship disabled a little too hard.. took a knock to there onboard computer :p

I personally love it when it someone takes the time and effort to post a message on my comm (aslong as its civil), and I nearly always post when I badge, its a great way to communicate ingame and get to know other players and legions. Then theres always the rare message when someone praises your ship.

And as a practical outlook I can see if I've done a action on them in the past 12hours, even if they dont like the message, I know that for me to hack/disable them again just yet will give me nothing.

Its not like were all NPCs, were real people lol abit of respect can go along way, even at just a 5energy cost.

Personally, I couldn't care less either way if you want to waste 5 energy telling me something that common sense already informed me of. You disable me with or without a raid or you hack me, or even do all three, then walk away, I KNOW its a badge hit. You don't need to tell me. Now if you accidentally double hack me because you forgot to bump, then I can understand a quick comm, otherwise I could take it the wrong way and unleash my stock of TMs on you. When I go on a hack run, I guarantee you will not get a comm. Hack at 5e, comm at 5e and a bump at 5e... 15 energy for a blue badge and possibly 2 trap effects? No I'm not wasting the extra 5 I could put into something else. But if by some chance I double hack (forgot to bump, halcyoned, etc.) I leave a quick polite apology comm for the same reason I appreciate one under the same circumstances.

In short, if you can't understand that someone disabled you for a red badge to use for base scanning or dominion cannons or raided you for a yellow because they want a Protean armory or hacked you for a blue so the can up their scan with a quad-frame... You need to find a different game to play.

I wouldn't retaliate to a hack (200 points is barely anything, now.) But a disable i'd go after them. I fthey comm'ed me I'd probably wouldn't go afetr them. I PvP 75% of the time, and I know that very few would have a personal vendetta against someone, particularly someone like me.

If I get badged and they don't leave a comm it's common sense.
If I get double-hacked and they don't comm explaining that it was an accident, by the rules of my legion it IS (as far as I remember) alertable, although I normally will settle for disabling them.
If I get hacked 3 or more times and they don't comm explaining themselves I will alert them.

If I get badged and they DO leave a comm then I will probably retaliate, but it's not a priority (ie. I'm not going to blow any nulls).

When I badge, I do not leave a comm. I personally find it rather rude, as they are stating the obvious as if I wouldn't know.

If, someone leaves a message like "LOL! I disabled you but don't get all sweaty over it it was just a badge." (A message I got a while back) It's time to break out the time manips...

For me, its really simple.

If I'm at level 300, and a level 400 - 450 guy badges me, I alert him to the legion without question or reservations.

If I'm at level 300, and a level 250 - 350 guy badges me, no action unless triple badge. Then alert to legion just so lowbies in the legion can clear that guy's traps (halc, KV, and firewall) for me to get the badges.

If I'm at level 300, and a level 250 (or lower) guy badges me, I take no action or return badges without alerts. These lower guys have balls and should be accorded respect for going after bigger targets than themselves.

Badge messages kind of irritate me sometimes. "Badge" or "Badge, thanks" gets me mad and I take action. If its funny, roleplay, or thought out messages then I'm willing to let that pass and have a good laugh.

I would like to neuter every person that thinks a red badge in return for a blue badge is fair. I had a guy come after me for two days trying to get that red badge after I hacked him. When I kept putting up traps and repairing myself he started whining on my comm that I wasnt being fair. How is a permanent kill mark on your stats the same as a hack? If I get hacked for 400 points thats 7% of ONE HOUR of my production. Red is not blue... unless your color blind... or you happen to live in the US and the president does whatever he wants no matter what party he is from.

Now on the flipside, we are talking about PvPing here. When has that ever been about whats fair or not? If someone shows up on my tab even for a failed red badge attempt, I get all three badges from him and maybe a few extra hacks to see if I can get a planet.

If we all just sat around tit for tatting each other in a circle **** then whats the point? PvP is supposed to be about a challenge. This is a numbers game so big numbers usually float to the top and little numbers sink. You take your lumps but you feel extra good when you stick it to a bigger player that has such crappy tech you have to wonder what level his planet structures are.

If you feel altruistic and feel like being nice to people then good for you. If you want to zero everyone out then good for you. Its a game, so leave the quasi-ethical debates out and just have fun.

What Darth said.