February 5, 2010

The Importance of Scouts

In consolidating my assets to Y-2, I had to move ratting ships and other large assets over long distances. So I logged on my scout in a cloaky ship and my main in a pod and began the process of transporting my ships to Y-2.

Generally the way out was fairly easy, as a cloaky ship and pod are nothing to get excited about. Bringing back ratting Ravens and fleet battleships, however, can be a hairy journey. I avoided two gate camps, through a combination of changing routes and being patient, waiting out camps or slipping by as they moved to engage something else.

Scouting is the only way to move these assets around, even in "safe" territory. There is no safety. In your backyard you could run into a 3 man gank squad that will ruin your day. I love nothing more than an un escorted fleet bs. Expensive, no tank, and with guns that can't track. Even if you are having your corpmate escort you around I believe its not quite as effective as dual boxing, because it takes too long to relay valuable intel. Obviously any scout is better than no scout, but you are just better able to move fluidly around with your own scout. I find that jumping scout in, warping to outbound gate, then holding while the soft ship jumps in is most effective. You then jump the scout next system, check the all clear, and warp the soft ship to the outbound while the scout cloaks, aligned to the next gate. When the soft ship jumps through the scout then warps outbound gate and continues the cycle. Overextending the scout can be disastrous (unless you're in a pipe), as circumstances can change rapidly and if your scout is too far ahead you may not see the threat until its too late.

On a side note I got my Tengu scouted from NOL to our staging system. The thing had most of the subystems I wanted (except one) and it was not very expensive. The fitting however, was fail. Really fail. It looked more like a Drake than a Tengu. T1 Rigs. Buffer tank. Tech 1 afterburner. A deadspace thermal hardener... for what? No EM hardener. A T2 point. So for the moment its parked in station until I get my faction fittings and and components, and the subsystem module I wanted that wasn't on the ship when I purchased it (20 mill for it in Jita). I don't understand how someone could spend that much money on hull and subsystems and then skip on the fittings. Its ridiculous. It is a beautiful ship, however, and I very much look forward to flying it in our small gangs.

On the note of Goonswarm. Many of them have decided to join the BoB Alliance. Since its the last card they can play at this point, oh well. They can laugh about it in local, but who lives in Delve? Whether or not Kartoon actually was truthful in his statement concerning letting Goons slide into dust, who cares. They have no space, no real structure. Check out Cal at Wild at Heart for more info on the downfall of Goons. Sure they stole the name, but its not the name that makes an alliance. Its the corporations and soldiers that fight that make an alliance what it is. Although the Goons may be in Band of Brothers Alliance, they are just a shadow and a whisper of what once was.

Note: I am getting a lot of people saying my background is hard to read. So I am going to put up a vote as to whether I should change my background to something more legible, or leave the awesome picture of a Tengu. If you do read through RSS I encourage you to log on (just for a min.) and take the survey.

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