Success and Failure

Last night I took an alliance gang out with the prospect of a very boring or very exciting evening. Little did I know both would happen.

Our first order of business was to head through Tribute into Low Sec to help Atlas out. Ironic, isn't it? Despite the Maverick Navy's departure from Atlas and the political ramifications we are once again blue and working together with them. I don't mind this, as I still have many friends in Atlas.

So off we went, with a little over 40 in gang running BC heavy once more. Word on the street was NC had a fleet of around 100 with heavy BS composition... So my senses tingled with anticipation of a fight. We moved along at a quick pace, despite word of a neutral HAC gang behind us. I would have loved to halt and set up an ambush... but alas the timer on the Atlas tower was coming out and we needed to be there. So on we pushed.

Arriving in system we set up shop on the in gates and complemented Atlas' large battleship fleet. After 15 minutes I got word that it was very probable NC would not make an attempt on the tower. As sad as I was we wouldn't get a fight, I was happy that my guys wouldn't take any losses either.

We ended up popping a Sabre that jumped in from P3 (0.0 space) and getting a ratting Raven on our way out. The Sabre jumped in and when we aggressed he just.... sat there. As soon as he popped I was quick to yell at anyone with GCC to get off the gate... I'm sure some had forgotten we were in low sec. The Raven jumped into our last low sec system, and despite 40 in local he warped straight to the out gate. When he landed on gate he jumped straightaway... and so did we. He held cloak as long as possible and then died very quickly. On we went back to X-7 without event.

I took the opportunity to teach the people with no experience in low sec how it works. For those reading who are also noobs in low sec... here are some pointers.

1. If you are on a gate and can't tank gate guns don't shoot anything unless its flashy. If you do you will die very quickly.

2. Once you have engaged in aggression you have a Global Criminal Countdown (GCC). This means you show as flashy to everyone. Gate guns will shoot you. Station guns will shoot you. I will shoot you. You still have the 1 min aggro for gate travel, but after that you can still move from system to system. Remember that every time you get shot by a gate gun or station gun you reset the aggression timer to that faction, be it Amarr Navy or Civic Court or whatever. Your GCC will continue to decline. Remember that if you give reps to a GCC player, you will reset your GCC (or get GCC if you previously had none).

3. If you are in a small ship you can still kill non flashy targets on belts and such, just don't warp to a gate or dock at a station and hope to undock until your 15 minute GCC is gone and your aggression to the faction(s) is gone unless you want to lose your ship.

4. You will take a security status hit. One from aggressive actions, another for destruction or aid in the destruction of the ship. These aren't too bad in and of themselves. Remember, however, if you pod the guy (assuming hes dumb enough to leave his pod in space) the security status hit is much more significant.

0.5% loss per target for initiating aggression ( +-0.1 sec status)

2.0% loss for ship destruction (+-0.2 sec status)
12.5% loss for a pod kill (lose +-1.25 sec status)

5. Don't engage anyone in low sec without intel or a quick way to escape. I can't tell you how many people I've killed with my low sec gangs (YARRRRRR!) because they take the bait and get destroyed by a gang.

6. Usually the best course of action is to hit the target, in this case a Sabre, and then warp off gate to a planet or safe spot. Once there align to the gate and wait out your GCC. The reason for this is that although your GCC will wear off the aggression for the gate (Caldari Navy in last nights case) will continually be fifteen minutes... and trying to engage targets while tanking gate guns (especially another gang) is difficult at best.

7. Remember what your security status is at, and keep a close eye on it. Once you get low enough you will have travel penalties:

Players with -2.0 or worse will be attacked in 1.0 systems

Players with -2.5 or worse will be attacked in 0.9 systems
Players with -3.0 or worse will be attacked in 0.8 systems
Players with -3.5 or worse will be attacked in 0.7 systems
Players with -4.0 or worse will be attacked in 0.6 systems
Players with -4.5 or worse will be attacked in 0.5 systems

By attacked, it means faction police. If you are in a small enough ship you should be able to cruise through no problem. However, if you travel through CONCORD space (space that is CONCORD controlled) they will kick your ass. Remember that.

8. The player you kill will have kill rights on you for 30 days (or until they kill you). This means in high sec they have the right to kill you... I learned that lesson the hard way :)

So, enough of low sec. We returned to X-7 and after a short break head out to EC-. I fitted up an insanely tanked bait Drake to try and pick a fight with the usual cloaky fags in L-T. They didn't bite. So we moved on to EC-.

Once in EC- we all warped to the gate. As we were burning through the bubbles a Damnation warped to an off gate bookmark. As we burned him out, he warped to another. He then warped back to his original bookmark.. and then to the gate!!! We all started shooting at him...

Now I know what you are thinking. A. A great kill. B. Bait. The problem is that many of these NC pets warp command ships to the gates and such... but this time it was option B.

A Rapier decloaked 30km off and popped a cyno. "Deaggress and jump or warp off go go go!" I yelled. I was 12km off the gate and started slowboating it in... no mwd on bait ship. In bridged 70, about 60 battleships a few small ships and 4 carriers. They popped a couple blues not in gang on the gate and one of my Hurricane pilots. While he was going down I was yellow boxed. Knowing I was secondary I gritted my teeth and continued plodding towards the gate. Yellow boxes turned to red and in came the fire. I was doing quite well with my tanked Drake... up until fighters got on me. I ended up popping just under 3,500m from the gate. I was pissed. To add insult the lag was so bad I couldn't jump my pod through the gate... even though I was 2000m off. Second loss due to CCP fail this week. I did get my insurance so it wasn't all loss. I will still attack a command ship caught in bubbles, however. Why? Because there are more idiots than bait ships up where we are.

For those following or in the political situation up north, the spreading out factor is working. That 100 man NC gang decided to go reinforce towers in N-H in Pure Blind rather than engage the Atlas tower coming out. So... we buy a bit more strontium in USTZ and destroy their towers during EUTZ. They just don't have the participation in fleets to counter everywhere. Notice, I say participation and not numbers. This is because the amount of NC still carebearing/ratting/missioning is staggering. I don't believe the reality of the situation has yet sunk in. Only time will tell.

That is all.