one answer really covers a lot in this topic and that answer is given by CapnSanta (HO HO HO 8D) ^^
CapnSanta said:
Yeah well, how many times has this been posted? That fact remains this : If you can SEE it (greens or bps) then you had some part in shooting whatever dropped it. Thus you are entitled to it. It's up to the decency of player to let you have an item if you did most of the shooting.
best definition of what belongs to whom. i follow this rule - if i invest energy into shooting some mantis i'll take cryo or rare (if i need it)
now when it comes to "thieves" there are two types:
1. those who only tag mantis with one shot and wait for you to kill it then they steal loot - you can try to counter these by staying close to mantis so you collect loot as soon as mantis is killed.
2. those who shoot at mantis in same amount as you do. these people hardly can be called thieves since they invest a energy to shoot mantis. in this case they have same right to loot as you do so make sure you have best collector you can afford and have finger on number 2 ready.
one thing to elaborate (these 2 facts are my personal opinion which does not make them as law of PG):
There is no such thing as:
*I was here first (all spots with mantis belong to each player equally) - you can occupy a spot, hunt there till another player shows up but you cannot deny him/her to shoot on that location. soviets were in space first yet it didnt mean that americans cannot go second. you can however go to other spot and if he/she still follows you then if you have screen-shots of both locations where it is clearly seen that he/she is following you, you can report that person.
there is no such thing as:
*I shot at the mantis first - so what if you shot it first? noone can forbid other people to shoot at stuff. you cannot claim or label harvester/other mantis as yours - everything in the game is property of SS. once again best collector wins - so install best collector you have on your ship. rare one does pay off cause u'll refill energy faster not only collecting items/cryo faster. invest in collectors - that's my advice.