It would be nice if those of us who are attacked might be able to defend ourselves without having to take a karma hit in order to do it. As it stands, we have to either chose death or fighting (running not always being an option). If a hit to karma is required, then it should be minimal for the person defending. The attacker should take the full karma hit.

I couldn't agree more, paedric. I can't count how many times I've had to run when I'm trying to trade in s4 and s12 because I'm trying to keep my standings with a nation on good terms. The only problem with this problem, is implementation... in order for it to work, the game would have to keep track of who fired first, but what if the pirate fires and misses? If you try and defend yourself, fire and hit, then you would be recorded as the agreesor by the game. I would love to see a system that didn't punish someone for defending themselves, but the logistics of it are enough to give me a headache...