This is the result after downtime:
So. I give you 5-Casa De Mavericks
Our station. In our constellation. In Delve.
That is all.
February 27, 2010
Who Wants a Station?
Two nights ago the officers of Maverick Navy spent all night setting up a station in 5-C (Delve). We used numerous freighters, bridging down from Empire the necessary components to construct our new home. It took several hours but 45 min before downtime our station was all ready to go. Here are some pictures of our egg:
This is the result after downtime:
So. I give you 5-Casa De Mavericks
Our station. In our constellation. In Delve.
That is all.
This is the result after downtime:
So. I give you 5-Casa De Mavericks
Our station. In our constellation. In Delve.
That is all.
February 25, 2010
Why skillpoints don't matter.
Recently Manasi wrote a post about skillpoints, what they mean, what they don't mean and a general guideline for newer players. He did an excellent job explaining why skillpoints mean that you may have a capability to sit in a ship, but it means jack. Support skills are always hugely important.
I run into this many times with my gangs. I always ask what shiptypes they have/ are bringing. Some of my pilots I know their ships and skills. Some I don't. If I'm not sure I ask, how do you have that ship fitted. Every so often I will say "dock that up and get me something you can fit right". Or I will help them fit it correctly. This may be a bit harsh but its very true. If you are in a Falcon with crappy jamming skills you are not an asset. You are an expensive primary that cannot support the gang effectively. If you are in a Zealot with horrible gunnery skills you are an expensive liability. You have no tank to begin with, and your DPS (which should be pro) will suck, assuming your tracking even lets you hit your target. The list goes on and on and on. Manasi summed up this very well.
I am writing about the other aspect that makes a good pilot aside from his skillpoints. This is something that cannot be taught. Sometimes trained but never taught. Its called intelligence. As a newbie pilot to 0.0. less than two weeks into EVE I was in a Drake (which I lost to two Vagabonds in less than a day :/ ) It was T1 fit and barely able to tank rats. In less than a month I was one of the top killers in my corporation. Given, it was not the greatest corporation for PVP, but I was out there making kills with the Alliance more than anyone else. I picked up on information very quickly and learned things that people don't know after years of playing the game. I have an ability to absorb massive amounts of data and sort it and issue orders based on what is happening. This works on the micro level as it pertains to my own ship. This works on a macro level as it pertains to FCing. Some people can handle this, some people cannot. EVE is not a first person shooter. Quick reflexes help, but quick wits win. As I progressed through this first year (I am coming up on my 1 year mark in April, believe it or not) the ships and modules I unlocked merely enhanced my ability to kill you. The mindset of a killer is something that comes naturally to some, and some may find later in their EVE life. I have people in my corp that are new, whether to the game or to PVP. Yet they are extremely promising. Given some good instructions and a shove in the right direction they will become cold and calculated killers. Then there are people, new and old, who you have to watch closely and remind frequently to prevent them from dieing, screwing up, or any number of bad things. They may be flying t1 frigs or command ships, yet I still worry for them. In fact, old players who have no PVP sense worry me the most. They usually are the ones that drop the super expensive faction fitted crap lossmails that I have to yell at them about.
I guess what I am saying is that in addition to sitting in your ship, AND properly fitting your ship, you need to have the wits about you to use it effectively. You need the experience to understand the situation, know when to engage, how to engage, and how to function once engaged. Sometimes you even need to know when to GTFO. So basically I agree that skillpoints can tell you quite a bit, and help you in many different ways. But they also mean absolutely nothing at the same time.
That is all.
I run into this many times with my gangs. I always ask what shiptypes they have/ are bringing. Some of my pilots I know their ships and skills. Some I don't. If I'm not sure I ask, how do you have that ship fitted. Every so often I will say "dock that up and get me something you can fit right". Or I will help them fit it correctly. This may be a bit harsh but its very true. If you are in a Falcon with crappy jamming skills you are not an asset. You are an expensive primary that cannot support the gang effectively. If you are in a Zealot with horrible gunnery skills you are an expensive liability. You have no tank to begin with, and your DPS (which should be pro) will suck, assuming your tracking even lets you hit your target. The list goes on and on and on. Manasi summed up this very well.
I am writing about the other aspect that makes a good pilot aside from his skillpoints. This is something that cannot be taught. Sometimes trained but never taught. Its called intelligence. As a newbie pilot to 0.0. less than two weeks into EVE I was in a Drake (which I lost to two Vagabonds in less than a day :/ ) It was T1 fit and barely able to tank rats. In less than a month I was one of the top killers in my corporation. Given, it was not the greatest corporation for PVP, but I was out there making kills with the Alliance more than anyone else. I picked up on information very quickly and learned things that people don't know after years of playing the game. I have an ability to absorb massive amounts of data and sort it and issue orders based on what is happening. This works on the micro level as it pertains to my own ship. This works on a macro level as it pertains to FCing. Some people can handle this, some people cannot. EVE is not a first person shooter. Quick reflexes help, but quick wits win. As I progressed through this first year (I am coming up on my 1 year mark in April, believe it or not) the ships and modules I unlocked merely enhanced my ability to kill you. The mindset of a killer is something that comes naturally to some, and some may find later in their EVE life. I have people in my corp that are new, whether to the game or to PVP. Yet they are extremely promising. Given some good instructions and a shove in the right direction they will become cold and calculated killers. Then there are people, new and old, who you have to watch closely and remind frequently to prevent them from dieing, screwing up, or any number of bad things. They may be flying t1 frigs or command ships, yet I still worry for them. In fact, old players who have no PVP sense worry me the most. They usually are the ones that drop the super expensive faction fitted crap lossmails that I have to yell at them about.
I guess what I am saying is that in addition to sitting in your ship, AND properly fitting your ship, you need to have the wits about you to use it effectively. You need the experience to understand the situation, know when to engage, how to engage, and how to function once engaged. Sometimes you even need to know when to GTFO. So basically I agree that skillpoints can tell you quite a bit, and help you in many different ways. But they also mean absolutely nothing at the same time.
That is all.
February 24, 2010
Last Day of Vacation (for now)
Last day in low sec today. As many know, Stain Empire reset IT Alliance and we are deploying. My sec status was starting to take a hit anyways, so all is well. After being -10 and getting it back up... don't really want to do that again.
Its funny to read about bitter Atlas folks talking about how -MVN- always hung out in Yong while we were with their alliance. It has and always will be a select few (10-15 pilots) that pirate in low sec. The majority of -MVN- doesn't even like pirating. Lets be honest though, with 1 or 2 exception Atlas FCs sucked for anything but huge cap fights. Half the time they were drunk, and even sober they usually ended up suiciding the fleets. Unfortunately for Atlas caps are rarely used. Di-Tron was notorious for padding killboard stats with low sec kills, yet they whined the most. We're not even mean pirates. Take this poor bloke. He jumped in with a Sigil and we popped him. After that he came back in a noobship and we popped that. At that point he started chatting with Easley:
[03:01:55] Easley Thames > greetings
[03:02:03] USS Monopoly > hey man
[03:02:06] USS Monopoly > good fight
[03:02:17] USS Monopoly > can i make u a deal?
[03:02:18] Easley Thames > well if i'm honest it's just a gank
[03:02:25] Easley Thames > sure go ahead
[03:02:35] USS Monopoly > i know i shouldnt be in low sec. and ive just lost 2 ships
[03:02:50] USS Monopoly > is there any way i can get my stuff without getting pwnd?
[03:03:04] Easley Thames > me and my pals won't shoot you for the next 15 minutes
[03:03:08] Easley Thames > that's the best i can do
[03:03:15] USS Monopoly > ok thank you i appreciate that :)
[03:03:26] USS Monopoly > i might have to jump a few back to buy a new ship
[03:03:30] Easley Thames > you should know something
[03:03:35] USS Monopoly > ?
[03:03:37] Easley Thames > i looted the remaining good stuff
[03:03:45] Easley Thames > so it may not be worth your time
[03:03:57] USS Monopoly > u took my stuff?
[03:04:02] Easley Thames > of course
[03:04:07] Easley Thames > that's the only reason to shoot haulers
[03:04:14] USS Monopoly > can i buy it back from you?
[03:04:30] Easley Thames > yes but
[03:04:36] Easley Thames > as i meantioned not all of it lived in the explosion
[03:04:40] Easley Thames > when you die half blows up
[03:05:02] Easley Thames > you can have what's left on the wreck for free and if you want to buy the other loot that's negotiable
[03:05:17] USS Monopoly > what did u get?
[03:06:02] Easley Thames > 2x Caldari Navy Midshipman Insignia II Caldari Navy Midshipman Insgnia III
[03:06:07] Easley Thames > 3x concord soldier tag
[03:06:11] Easley Thames > 1x imp navy sergeant
[03:06:18] Easley Thames > 2x hardwiring (armor rep)
[03:06:21] Easley Thames > 1x adaptive plate
[03:06:26] Easley Thames > 2x meta 3 pulse
[03:06:35] Easley Thames > --- end ---
[03:06:58] USS Monopoly > did u get the tech 2 nanos?
[03:07:38] Easley Thames > no
[03:07:52] USS Monopoly > well can i buy those pulse lasers back?
[03:08:23] Easley Thames > alright
[03:08:39] Easley Thames > 1 mil each?
[03:08:44] USS Monopoly > sure
[03:09:19] Easley Thames > i can contract them in a few minutes
[03:09:29] USS Monopoly > actually nvm
[03:09:39] USS Monopoly > thx for not being a complete dick
[03:09:42] USS Monopoly > pz
[03:09:46] Easley Thames > cya
So this guy was zipping around when in local he added:
[03:22:53] USS Monopoly > hello again
[03:23:13] Easley Thames > 0/
[03:23:28] USS Monopoly > dammit u guys got me in a tough situation.... 3 more of my turrets are 3 systems past your barricade
[03:23:50] Easley Thames > i'm sympathetic, how about another deal
[03:24:01] USS Monopoly > thank you.
[03:24:24] Easley Thames > imparitors don't help much on the killboards anyway :P
[03:24:34] USS Monopoly > lol
[03:24:37] USS Monopoly > ill bet not
[03:24:45] Easley Thames > no gaurantes for other members of the corp, but i'll leave you alone for a little while, and PK here will try to restrain himself
So, it goes for the record, that we aren't complete jerks. Just semi-jerks. I'm sure Spectre would have continued shooting the noob till he quit EVE.
Today was uneventful in low sec. CVA brought a couple freighters through with a crappy escort, but with only me and one other Maverick active we let it go. Some fool in a stealth bomber aggressed me on gate... pop went his ship. I thanked him for the two bombs and covert ops cloak.
At that point it was time to head home. Fighting to be done and ratting to be done.
That is all.
Its funny to read about bitter Atlas folks talking about how -MVN- always hung out in Yong while we were with their alliance. It has and always will be a select few (10-15 pilots) that pirate in low sec. The majority of -MVN- doesn't even like pirating. Lets be honest though, with 1 or 2 exception Atlas FCs sucked for anything but huge cap fights. Half the time they were drunk, and even sober they usually ended up suiciding the fleets. Unfortunately for Atlas caps are rarely used. Di-Tron was notorious for padding killboard stats with low sec kills, yet they whined the most. We're not even mean pirates. Take this poor bloke. He jumped in with a Sigil and we popped him. After that he came back in a noobship and we popped that. At that point he started chatting with Easley:
[03:01:55] Easley Thames > greetings
[03:02:03] USS Monopoly > hey man
[03:02:06] USS Monopoly > good fight
[03:02:17] USS Monopoly > can i make u a deal?
[03:02:18] Easley Thames > well if i'm honest it's just a gank
[03:02:25] Easley Thames > sure go ahead
[03:02:35] USS Monopoly > i know i shouldnt be in low sec. and ive just lost 2 ships
[03:02:50] USS Monopoly > is there any way i can get my stuff without getting pwnd?
[03:03:04] Easley Thames > me and my pals won't shoot you for the next 15 minutes
[03:03:08] Easley Thames > that's the best i can do
[03:03:15] USS Monopoly > ok thank you i appreciate that :)
[03:03:26] USS Monopoly > i might have to jump a few back to buy a new ship
[03:03:30] Easley Thames > you should know something
[03:03:35] USS Monopoly > ?
[03:03:37] Easley Thames > i looted the remaining good stuff
[03:03:45] Easley Thames > so it may not be worth your time
[03:03:57] USS Monopoly > u took my stuff?
[03:04:02] Easley Thames > of course
[03:04:07] Easley Thames > that's the only reason to shoot haulers
[03:04:14] USS Monopoly > can i buy it back from you?
[03:04:30] Easley Thames > yes but
[03:04:36] Easley Thames > as i meantioned not all of it lived in the explosion
[03:04:40] Easley Thames > when you die half blows up
[03:05:02] Easley Thames > you can have what's left on the wreck for free and if you want to buy the other loot that's negotiable
[03:05:17] USS Monopoly > what did u get?
[03:06:02] Easley Thames > 2x Caldari Navy Midshipman Insignia II Caldari Navy Midshipman Insgnia III
[03:06:07] Easley Thames > 3x concord soldier tag
[03:06:11] Easley Thames > 1x imp navy sergeant
[03:06:18] Easley Thames > 2x hardwiring (armor rep)
[03:06:21] Easley Thames > 1x adaptive plate
[03:06:26] Easley Thames > 2x meta 3 pulse
[03:06:35] Easley Thames > --- end ---
[03:06:58] USS Monopoly > did u get the tech 2 nanos?
[03:07:38] Easley Thames > no
[03:07:52] USS Monopoly > well can i buy those pulse lasers back?
[03:08:23] Easley Thames > alright
[03:08:39] Easley Thames > 1 mil each?
[03:08:44] USS Monopoly > sure
[03:09:19] Easley Thames > i can contract them in a few minutes
[03:09:29] USS Monopoly > actually nvm
[03:09:39] USS Monopoly > thx for not being a complete dick
[03:09:42] USS Monopoly > pz
[03:09:46] Easley Thames > cya
So this guy was zipping around when in local he added:
[03:22:53] USS Monopoly > hello again
[03:23:13] Easley Thames > 0/
[03:23:28] USS Monopoly > dammit u guys got me in a tough situation.... 3 more of my turrets are 3 systems past your barricade
[03:23:50] Easley Thames > i'm sympathetic, how about another deal
[03:24:01] USS Monopoly > thank you.
[03:24:24] Easley Thames > imparitors don't help much on the killboards anyway :P
[03:24:34] USS Monopoly > lol
[03:24:37] USS Monopoly > ill bet not
[03:24:45] Easley Thames > no gaurantes for other members of the corp, but i'll leave you alone for a little while, and PK here will try to restrain himself
So, it goes for the record, that we aren't complete jerks. Just semi-jerks. I'm sure Spectre would have continued shooting the noob till he quit EVE.
Today was uneventful in low sec. CVA brought a couple freighters through with a crappy escort, but with only me and one other Maverick active we let it go. Some fool in a stealth bomber aggressed me on gate... pop went his ship. I thanked him for the two bombs and covert ops cloak.
At that point it was time to head home. Fighting to be done and ratting to be done.
That is all.
February 22, 2010
One last hurrah
As I was writing my last entry last night, I was winding down for the evening. As the two corpmates I had been pirating with signed off, I wrote my entry and got ready to dock up. Then two things happened. One, two other corpmates of mine signed on in system. This is significant because we are not based out of low sec. Most of our corporation is down in Delve. Secondly, some random few day old characters were running around the system in noob ships and shuttles. My senses immediately perked up at that.
Based on experience, when I see multiple noob scouts bouncing in and out of a system like that it means someone wants to get something through but is worried about piwwwwates. I had set up shop on the Biphi gate, Biphi being a nice long pipe. In that pipe system I had cloaky eyes from an alt. The noobship kept bouncing in and out of the system, and everyone time I would decloak my Tengu and lock it up he would warp off. Then a shuttle parked itself 100 off the Biphi gate. I warped to an off grid of the Biphi gate and dropped some combat probes. Narrowing the search parameters I immediately got a 100% hit on the shuttle. I warped straight to it, locked it up, and blew it away. The pod sat there, spinning in space. I called to my corpmate Xollst, who warped to me and popped the pod. I didn't want to take the massive sec status hit for podding in low sec.
The noobship was back at this point, also 100km off the Biphi gate. So I scanned with probes again, got a 100% hit on the noobship and warped to him. Pop! This time the pod warped off. Wide awake and very curious at this point, I surveyed the situation. In Biphi, I had two neutrals that had yet to show themselves after coming in from Mamet. Nothing on scan. They had been in there for a good half hour. I had two noob scouts zipping around Yong and popping in and out of Biphi. Something was going on.
Downtime was rapidly approaching, and we were approaching the five minute server shutdown mark. I decided to get crafty. I had everyone but my eyes in Biphi and my cloaked Tengu log off at the Biphi gate. Then we waited, with my boys sitting at the character selection screen. Sure enough, the five minute timer started. Then one of those UFOs in Biphi showed up at the Yong gate. Punisher. Nothing to get excited about... and he jumped in. I watched him on my main monitor and he just sat there in Yong, not moving. I glanced back at my laptop and... sweet mother. An Orca was landing on gate in Biphi! "ORCA ORCA ORCA... log on log on log on!!!" I yelled. The Orca sat on the Yong gate in Biphi. My finger hovered over the jump button, in case the Orca started aligning off in Biphi. It didn't, and dissapeared in the cosmic swirl of a gate activation.
At this point my boys (in a Drake and Geddon) had logged in and were emergency warping back to the gate. The Orca appeared in space 14km off the Biphi gate, and I immediately pointed and started raining missiles down on him. For those of you who don't know, Orcas have paper thin tanks. Very very easy to take down. But we were racing against the clock; at this point there was about 40 seconds left until downtime. Missiles streaked towards the Orca, blossoming into wonderful explosions on impact. The humming of the pulse lasers accompanied the explosions, flashing across space and into the hull of the Orca. Her shields dissapeared, then her armor. She was at half armor when my screen dissapeared, replaced by the log on screen. I cursed.
My location is MTZ time in the US. Downtime is 4am. At this point I realized I had to stay up, no questions. So I left my headset on and told Xollst to start yelling when the servers came back up. Dozing off with dreams of Orca kills, I was awakened by a drunken Xollst yelling that the server was back up. I logged on, and had him and Anskelmi sit at the character selection screen. I logged on and hovered right underneath the gate, cloaked up. I waited patiently, and sure enough the Punisher logged on. Knowing this was the Orca's eyes I sighed. He would see me in local and remember what I was in, and keep the Orca logged off like any smart pilot would with a hostile in system.
Wrong.
No sooner had I told my boys it was unlikely we would get him when local increased by one as the Orca logged back in. I told myself not to get my hopes up, as he would probably log on and off right away to create a new safe spot.
Wrong.
The Orca landed on gate as I was decloaking. I immediately pointed him, and he launched drones. Wrong move. My corpmates logged in as I started pounding on the Orca. I've heard that as dowtime hits you are still engaged to some degree, and the Orca being in half structure lends proof to this. We must have pounded his hull for quite some time after my screen blanked. I held DPS until Xollst and Anskelmi were there (they were screaming that if I killed him they would kill me). They landed and lit up space with beams of light and streaking missiles. The Orca popped in a glorious ball of fire, leaving the giant husk sitting in space. I logged on a hauler alt, who came and salvaged the wreck and picked up the loot, which was nothing exciting. Xollst was still wide awake and getting drunker by the moment, and I was exhausted. I logged off with a smile on my face despite his protests of more kills to be had. What a way to finish the night.
On a side note, please take the time to visit Crazy Kinux and put in a vote for my blog in the comments of his post. He is reorganzing the blog pak at this time, and I would love to share my PVP tales with all that read the blog pak.
That is all.
Based on experience, when I see multiple noob scouts bouncing in and out of a system like that it means someone wants to get something through but is worried about piwwwwates. I had set up shop on the Biphi gate, Biphi being a nice long pipe. In that pipe system I had cloaky eyes from an alt. The noobship kept bouncing in and out of the system, and everyone time I would decloak my Tengu and lock it up he would warp off. Then a shuttle parked itself 100 off the Biphi gate. I warped to an off grid of the Biphi gate and dropped some combat probes. Narrowing the search parameters I immediately got a 100% hit on the shuttle. I warped straight to it, locked it up, and blew it away. The pod sat there, spinning in space. I called to my corpmate Xollst, who warped to me and popped the pod. I didn't want to take the massive sec status hit for podding in low sec.
The noobship was back at this point, also 100km off the Biphi gate. So I scanned with probes again, got a 100% hit on the noobship and warped to him. Pop! This time the pod warped off. Wide awake and very curious at this point, I surveyed the situation. In Biphi, I had two neutrals that had yet to show themselves after coming in from Mamet. Nothing on scan. They had been in there for a good half hour. I had two noob scouts zipping around Yong and popping in and out of Biphi. Something was going on.
Downtime was rapidly approaching, and we were approaching the five minute server shutdown mark. I decided to get crafty. I had everyone but my eyes in Biphi and my cloaked Tengu log off at the Biphi gate. Then we waited, with my boys sitting at the character selection screen. Sure enough, the five minute timer started. Then one of those UFOs in Biphi showed up at the Yong gate. Punisher. Nothing to get excited about... and he jumped in. I watched him on my main monitor and he just sat there in Yong, not moving. I glanced back at my laptop and... sweet mother. An Orca was landing on gate in Biphi! "ORCA ORCA ORCA... log on log on log on!!!" I yelled. The Orca sat on the Yong gate in Biphi. My finger hovered over the jump button, in case the Orca started aligning off in Biphi. It didn't, and dissapeared in the cosmic swirl of a gate activation.
At this point my boys (in a Drake and Geddon) had logged in and were emergency warping back to the gate. The Orca appeared in space 14km off the Biphi gate, and I immediately pointed and started raining missiles down on him. For those of you who don't know, Orcas have paper thin tanks. Very very easy to take down. But we were racing against the clock; at this point there was about 40 seconds left until downtime. Missiles streaked towards the Orca, blossoming into wonderful explosions on impact. The humming of the pulse lasers accompanied the explosions, flashing across space and into the hull of the Orca. Her shields dissapeared, then her armor. She was at half armor when my screen dissapeared, replaced by the log on screen. I cursed.
My location is MTZ time in the US. Downtime is 4am. At this point I realized I had to stay up, no questions. So I left my headset on and told Xollst to start yelling when the servers came back up. Dozing off with dreams of Orca kills, I was awakened by a drunken Xollst yelling that the server was back up. I logged on, and had him and Anskelmi sit at the character selection screen. I logged on and hovered right underneath the gate, cloaked up. I waited patiently, and sure enough the Punisher logged on. Knowing this was the Orca's eyes I sighed. He would see me in local and remember what I was in, and keep the Orca logged off like any smart pilot would with a hostile in system.
Wrong.
No sooner had I told my boys it was unlikely we would get him when local increased by one as the Orca logged back in. I told myself not to get my hopes up, as he would probably log on and off right away to create a new safe spot.
Wrong.
The Orca landed on gate as I was decloaking. I immediately pointed him, and he launched drones. Wrong move. My corpmates logged in as I started pounding on the Orca. I've heard that as dowtime hits you are still engaged to some degree, and the Orca being in half structure lends proof to this. We must have pounded his hull for quite some time after my screen blanked. I held DPS until Xollst and Anskelmi were there (they were screaming that if I killed him they would kill me). They landed and lit up space with beams of light and streaking missiles. The Orca popped in a glorious ball of fire, leaving the giant husk sitting in space. I logged on a hauler alt, who came and salvaged the wreck and picked up the loot, which was nothing exciting. Xollst was still wide awake and getting drunker by the moment, and I was exhausted. I logged off with a smile on my face despite his protests of more kills to be had. What a way to finish the night.
On a side note, please take the time to visit Crazy Kinux and put in a vote for my blog in the comments of his post. He is reorganzing the blog pak at this time, and I would love to share my PVP tales with all that read the blog pak.
That is all.
Eye Patch FTW
The past couple of nights have been spent in low sec vactioning from the drudgery of post war 0.0 A few of my fellow Mavs and myself have returned to our old stomping grounds in low sec. Kills have been fairly frequent and, at times, extremely fun.
The first was a Drake we caught as he jumped into system right as we were landing on the gate. He didn't try moving, nor did he aggress. He basically sat there while we pummeled his shields to nothing and then pumped him. He did have the semblance to warp his pod out.
We also got a Harbinger. He jumped through into our waiting embrace, and we suffocated him. He tried to burn back to gate but multiple webs slowed his approach and our firepower destroyed him quite quickly.
We roamed a bit as well. In Kheram we found a pirate looking guy who was KOS poking around the system. Our bait Vexor was put in a belt and sure enough, the Cerberus landed and aggressed immediately. We all jumped into system and warped to our Vexor pilot who was killing the Cerberus quickly. Sad. We landed in time to get in on the killmail and watched helplessly as his pod/bounty warped off. It would have been interesting to see our Vexor solo a Cerberus.
We also killed a Thorax. I picked him up on scan while scouting next door in my Tengu. He jumped into the system our force was camping and they all proceeded to aggress him. Being an intelligent pilot he reapproached and jumped back through. Unfortunately for him I was waiting there. Overheating point and engines I kep up with him as he burned away from gate. Our forces trickled through and began engaging him one my one. It was quite a sight, as he burned away with missiles following. Eventually his ship gave in to the bombardment and down he went.
Final kill of tonight was quite fun. We had just killed a Vexor that jumped in, deployed drones and popped within about 5 seconds. I had to overheat to point the guy so I went next door to repair. After repairing I checked a dead end system next door. It was empty, but on my return jump I found a Maelstrom sitting on the gate. Intrigued I called in the rest of the guys, as he jumped into the dead end system. I jumped in after and watched him dock up. Playing the waiting card I left system and sat on gate cloaked, with my two battleships aligned to the gate from the planet above. We waited patiently... and then bam. There he was. "warp warp warp" I yelled as I tackled him. He immediately yellow boxed me, then aggressed. With 1400 howies, he didn't stand a chance. Now webbed and triple pointed he dropped like a sack of potatoes. His pod also stayed around to say goodbye, and we sent him home compliments of -MVN- pod express.
The wonders of low sec piracy. Great vactioning.
That is all.
The first was a Drake we caught as he jumped into system right as we were landing on the gate. He didn't try moving, nor did he aggress. He basically sat there while we pummeled his shields to nothing and then pumped him. He did have the semblance to warp his pod out.
We also got a Harbinger. He jumped through into our waiting embrace, and we suffocated him. He tried to burn back to gate but multiple webs slowed his approach and our firepower destroyed him quite quickly.
We roamed a bit as well. In Kheram we found a pirate looking guy who was KOS poking around the system. Our bait Vexor was put in a belt and sure enough, the Cerberus landed and aggressed immediately. We all jumped into system and warped to our Vexor pilot who was killing the Cerberus quickly. Sad. We landed in time to get in on the killmail and watched helplessly as his pod/bounty warped off. It would have been interesting to see our Vexor solo a Cerberus.
We also killed a Thorax. I picked him up on scan while scouting next door in my Tengu. He jumped into the system our force was camping and they all proceeded to aggress him. Being an intelligent pilot he reapproached and jumped back through. Unfortunately for him I was waiting there. Overheating point and engines I kep up with him as he burned away from gate. Our forces trickled through and began engaging him one my one. It was quite a sight, as he burned away with missiles following. Eventually his ship gave in to the bombardment and down he went.
Final kill of tonight was quite fun. We had just killed a Vexor that jumped in, deployed drones and popped within about 5 seconds. I had to overheat to point the guy so I went next door to repair. After repairing I checked a dead end system next door. It was empty, but on my return jump I found a Maelstrom sitting on the gate. Intrigued I called in the rest of the guys, as he jumped into the dead end system. I jumped in after and watched him dock up. Playing the waiting card I left system and sat on gate cloaked, with my two battleships aligned to the gate from the planet above. We waited patiently... and then bam. There he was. "warp warp warp" I yelled as I tackled him. He immediately yellow boxed me, then aggressed. With 1400 howies, he didn't stand a chance. Now webbed and triple pointed he dropped like a sack of potatoes. His pod also stayed around to say goodbye, and we sent him home compliments of -MVN- pod express.
The wonders of low sec piracy. Great vactioning.
That is all.
February 19, 2010
Recreational Therapy
Finally hit low sec for the first time last night in months. I took a few of the Mavs to a little low sec pipe we have camped on and off for a very long time. Apparently in our absence while fighting SPLOT and Goons things have gotten quite carebearish.
Unfortunately for me the people that went with me were both very new and/or out of practice. Of a possible 5 kills (we're talking juicy kills) we manage one. A Drake. We found him ratting in a dead end low sec system, and we all were waiting on the gate for our Cov ops to get a warp in when he jumped right to us. Bascially he fell in our lap. With webs and points he didn't go anywhere after that.
Needless to say I said some choice words on comms and expressed my displeasure with the situation. One Drake? Time to whip these fools into shape. We should have added a Hulk, Brutix, Navy Geddon and possibly an Abaddon to that kill list for the evening. I plan on farming the area a bit more this evening... with luck I will have some better stories to share than fail tackling.
Thank you to those who particapted in my poll sharing your thoughts on Dominion and lag. A couple votes for Dominions lag favoring the attacker, a few for Dominion not favoring either side and the majority voting for Dominion favoring the defender. I appreciate your votes, and welcome you to comment on why you chose your respective votes.
On another note, CrazyKinux has decided to revamp the EVE Online Blog Pak. You can read his article describing his desired changes here. What I need from all of you who do read my blog is a little love. I got the idea to start an EVE blog from the Capsuleer program. I would love nothing more than to be one of the writers included on that list. Check out the above link and leave your feedback on which blogs should be included, and if you should drop a line about this one so be it :)))
That is all.
Unfortunately for me the people that went with me were both very new and/or out of practice. Of a possible 5 kills (we're talking juicy kills) we manage one. A Drake. We found him ratting in a dead end low sec system, and we all were waiting on the gate for our Cov ops to get a warp in when he jumped right to us. Bascially he fell in our lap. With webs and points he didn't go anywhere after that.
Needless to say I said some choice words on comms and expressed my displeasure with the situation. One Drake? Time to whip these fools into shape. We should have added a Hulk, Brutix, Navy Geddon and possibly an Abaddon to that kill list for the evening. I plan on farming the area a bit more this evening... with luck I will have some better stories to share than fail tackling.
Thank you to those who particapted in my poll sharing your thoughts on Dominion and lag. A couple votes for Dominions lag favoring the attacker, a few for Dominion not favoring either side and the majority voting for Dominion favoring the defender. I appreciate your votes, and welcome you to comment on why you chose your respective votes.
On another note, CrazyKinux has decided to revamp the EVE Online Blog Pak. You can read his article describing his desired changes here. What I need from all of you who do read my blog is a little love. I got the idea to start an EVE blog from the Capsuleer program. I would love nothing more than to be one of the writers included on that list. Check out the above link and leave your feedback on which blogs should be included, and if you should drop a line about this one so be it :)))
That is all.
February 18, 2010
Goon Remnants
Took out a gang last night through Delve core. Thats the only place to find the remains of what was once Goonsarm. A small group of them have formed a corp that lives in the NPC stations there, and had been harassing traffic in NOL and Pr-.
We arrived in NOL and set up a bait ship on the Pr- gate. There were a couple neuts in system and several next door in Pr-. We suspected one of them was in a stealth bomber watching the gate. After a few minutes a Mega was reported on the undock in NOL. This was peculiar because he wouldn't have docking rights and anything could undock at any time. I warped my Tengu in right on top of him, but before I could drop cloak and lock him he warped.
I was a bit agitated at this but hey, he was aligned out. My agitation ended when my bait ship on the gate announced the Mega was landing. I laughed at his stupidity for warping to the gate. "Fleet warp Pr- jump on contact". I had the fleet at a nearby planet full speed aligned to the gate, and it didn't take long for them to arrive.
The Mega had jumped through at that point and my cloaked dictor went through with him and bubbled up. A stealth bomber that had launched a couple volleys at our bait ship warped off, and a Sabre that was with the hostile gang also bailed. We all jumped through and melted that Megathron. The Mega pilot emo trolled in local for a bit, talking about his ship being a bait ship and how he had killed so much more than that. Bottom line is that Mavs came to play, and we won.
On a side note, Atlas has been bringing small gangs through our space. I think it may be time to pay Bobby's Minmitar dump a visit. Not that I like the local scenery or rats... I just want him to emo rage when we gank his carebears.
That is all.
We arrived in NOL and set up a bait ship on the Pr- gate. There were a couple neuts in system and several next door in Pr-. We suspected one of them was in a stealth bomber watching the gate. After a few minutes a Mega was reported on the undock in NOL. This was peculiar because he wouldn't have docking rights and anything could undock at any time. I warped my Tengu in right on top of him, but before I could drop cloak and lock him he warped.
I was a bit agitated at this but hey, he was aligned out. My agitation ended when my bait ship on the gate announced the Mega was landing. I laughed at his stupidity for warping to the gate. "Fleet warp Pr- jump on contact". I had the fleet at a nearby planet full speed aligned to the gate, and it didn't take long for them to arrive.
The Mega had jumped through at that point and my cloaked dictor went through with him and bubbled up. A stealth bomber that had launched a couple volleys at our bait ship warped off, and a Sabre that was with the hostile gang also bailed. We all jumped through and melted that Megathron. The Mega pilot emo trolled in local for a bit, talking about his ship being a bait ship and how he had killed so much more than that. Bottom line is that Mavs came to play, and we won.
On a side note, Atlas has been bringing small gangs through our space. I think it may be time to pay Bobby's Minmitar dump a visit. Not that I like the local scenery or rats... I just want him to emo rage when we gank his carebears.
That is all.
February 16, 2010
The Calm Before the Storm
It's been pretty quiet these days, as our corner of space becomes more and more active with blues. PVP is harder to come by; I mean you can go to Fountain Core and play undocking games with Panda Team or whats left of SOT if you want. What I mean is the good fights are harder to come by.
Thanks to all of you who voted on my "Do you feel bad for Goonswarm" poll. Overwhelming responses to no and heo no. Not a single yes.
Last night I got my first taste of blood in a few days. I was ratting in Delve when one of our pilots who had been scanning in a cov ops 12 jumps away announced he had found a ratter in a Raven. Having no point I told him to follow the ratter, who apparently had no problem going about his business with a neutral in system. There was a friendly ratter in a Tempest in system as well-I told him to get out and stay out.
A few of us started burning towards the destination system praying that the guy wouldn't get wise and leave. He didn't. The order was for everyone to hold one out and I would warp in and get the tackle (as I was in Tengu and could stay cloaked up until landing--too late for him). We had a Sabre and Abbadon buring towards the destination as well. I was 2j out when I heard an oops. The Sabre somehow had his destination incorrect and jumped into the system. Furious, I yelled at him to warp to the cov ops and drop a bubble. Too late. The ratter finally woke up and warped to a safe. Our trap had failed.
I vented for a minute and told everyone to GTFO of system. Dropping probes I scanned him down in about a minute. Warping to his location I sighed in dissapointment as he wasn't there. Smart guy was bouncing safes. I scanned again and got another 100% hit. Warping to the sig you can imagine my surprise when there he was... in the belt again ratting. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. This was less than 5 minutes after we had tried to gank him. At this point he deserved to die for being stupid. I dropped cloak and within 5 seconds had him pointed. I called for everyone to jump in and warp to me. He locked me up and started hitting me with EM cruise. I laughed as he was doing 60 per volley, which barely scratched my shields. We held him until everyone was on the mail and popped that Raven. It was a very... interesting fit. We also got his pod.
Sad when a kill like that satisfies me. As for the rest of the night it was back to ratting and making iskies. Right now we are building up wallets and sov before we deploy for our next campaign. It won't be too long now before we are wading through corpses and amniotic fluids once more. I figure I should enjoy this peaceful time, but all I can think about is getting out there and curb stomping some fools. All in good time.
That is all.
Thanks to all of you who voted on my "Do you feel bad for Goonswarm" poll. Overwhelming responses to no and heo no. Not a single yes.
Last night I got my first taste of blood in a few days. I was ratting in Delve when one of our pilots who had been scanning in a cov ops 12 jumps away announced he had found a ratter in a Raven. Having no point I told him to follow the ratter, who apparently had no problem going about his business with a neutral in system. There was a friendly ratter in a Tempest in system as well-I told him to get out and stay out.
A few of us started burning towards the destination system praying that the guy wouldn't get wise and leave. He didn't. The order was for everyone to hold one out and I would warp in and get the tackle (as I was in Tengu and could stay cloaked up until landing--too late for him). We had a Sabre and Abbadon buring towards the destination as well. I was 2j out when I heard an oops. The Sabre somehow had his destination incorrect and jumped into the system. Furious, I yelled at him to warp to the cov ops and drop a bubble. Too late. The ratter finally woke up and warped to a safe. Our trap had failed.
I vented for a minute and told everyone to GTFO of system. Dropping probes I scanned him down in about a minute. Warping to his location I sighed in dissapointment as he wasn't there. Smart guy was bouncing safes. I scanned again and got another 100% hit. Warping to the sig you can imagine my surprise when there he was... in the belt again ratting. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. This was less than 5 minutes after we had tried to gank him. At this point he deserved to die for being stupid. I dropped cloak and within 5 seconds had him pointed. I called for everyone to jump in and warp to me. He locked me up and started hitting me with EM cruise. I laughed as he was doing 60 per volley, which barely scratched my shields. We held him until everyone was on the mail and popped that Raven. It was a very... interesting fit. We also got his pod.
Sad when a kill like that satisfies me. As for the rest of the night it was back to ratting and making iskies. Right now we are building up wallets and sov before we deploy for our next campaign. It won't be too long now before we are wading through corpses and amniotic fluids once more. I figure I should enjoy this peaceful time, but all I can think about is getting out there and curb stomping some fools. All in good time.
That is all.
February 13, 2010
Fittings. They make or break.
Last night we were chasing a Claymore through Fountain. He was with Zenith Affinity, and we hate ZA. He ended up jumping into a neutral gate camp. They killed him and our tackle Crow.
The neutral gang had 2x Drake, 2x Hurricane, 1x Heretic.
We (the gang) weren't far behind. Tengu, 2x Onyx, Drake, Zealot, Arazu, and Hurricane.
Naturally I jumped one Onyx through to get aggro and bubble their fleet. He did just that. Gang jumped in. 5 seconds later Onyx died. It blew my mind but we continued the fight. Second Onyx jumps in and bubbles up. They, of course, primaried Zealot and then Arazu. They both melted. It was slow going but we turned the tide and took both Drakes and a Hurricane.
Looking at the engagement we lost. We held the field but we lost. Upon further review I realized why it was a failcascade experience.
The Onyx was not fit correctly. Not even close. The DPS that gang was putting out could not break our Drake's tank (he was primaried after Zealot and Arazu went down). That told me there was no way our Onyx should have died. At all. Him going down that fast meant they no longer had to decide whether to change primaries once we jumped in (even deciding that and executing that change of target would have taken time) or they would have continued shooting the Onyx. Either way we could have concentrated DPS and dropped one of them before they had a chance to figure it out.
Hictors are supposed to be bullet sponges. Unfortunately he had no rigs (core defence purgers?) only 2 LSEs and damge mods in the lows instead of shield power relays... Sad day.
So guys. If you are going to fly a ship, make sure to fit it correctly. I understand their are variations to ships but you should know their role. Hictors are supposed to tank. Zealots are for DPS. Falcons are for jamming. Etc etc etc. When you deviate from a hulls intended role you will (generally) be a really expensive killmail.
That is all.
The neutral gang had 2x Drake, 2x Hurricane, 1x Heretic.
We (the gang) weren't far behind. Tengu, 2x Onyx, Drake, Zealot, Arazu, and Hurricane.
Naturally I jumped one Onyx through to get aggro and bubble their fleet. He did just that. Gang jumped in. 5 seconds later Onyx died. It blew my mind but we continued the fight. Second Onyx jumps in and bubbles up. They, of course, primaried Zealot and then Arazu. They both melted. It was slow going but we turned the tide and took both Drakes and a Hurricane.
Looking at the engagement we lost. We held the field but we lost. Upon further review I realized why it was a failcascade experience.
The Onyx was not fit correctly. Not even close. The DPS that gang was putting out could not break our Drake's tank (he was primaried after Zealot and Arazu went down). That told me there was no way our Onyx should have died. At all. Him going down that fast meant they no longer had to decide whether to change primaries once we jumped in (even deciding that and executing that change of target would have taken time) or they would have continued shooting the Onyx. Either way we could have concentrated DPS and dropped one of them before they had a chance to figure it out.
Hictors are supposed to be bullet sponges. Unfortunately he had no rigs (core defence purgers?) only 2 LSEs and damge mods in the lows instead of shield power relays... Sad day.
So guys. If you are going to fly a ship, make sure to fit it correctly. I understand their are variations to ships but you should know their role. Hictors are supposed to tank. Zealots are for DPS. Falcons are for jamming. Etc etc etc. When you deviate from a hulls intended role you will (generally) be a really expensive killmail.
That is all.
February 11, 2010
The Joy (and sorrow) of being an FC
Last night I took out a small gang (10-15 ships depending on the hour) and we roamed Delve and part of Fountain. There were no targets to speak of, except a small ex-Goon gang in NPC Delve. Those guys are like cockroaches and scatter once the light turns on. As soon as we leave they come back out and try to gank idiots. Unfortunately we lost a Damnation last night to that gang. For some reason he was traveling around un scouted with intel reports of that gang and their composition. Idiocracy.
Reflecting back to our roam up to Detroid a few nights ago I can see a change in my mental state when it comes to EVE. Rather than being the biggest whore when it comes to killmails, I am valuing the success of the gang now. Whether I get my crew out alive, and whether the gang is succesful on kills rather than my own individual stats. I often miss out on kills simply because I am planning the next step, scouting, or just not in an appropriate ship for the situation. More often than not I will fly a cloaking ship, whether it be a Tengu, Manticore, Falcon, or in large alliance POS bashes (50+) a Buzzard. This allows you to see the action and continue calling targets whereas if you are in a bc or bs there is the chance you will go down (if the enemy knows you are the FC this will be assured). You don't want to be floating in a station listening on comms as your fleet goes down because there is no head on the body of the fleet anymore.
My own personal fun comes in solo runs or 2-3 man gangs. I am finding the hunt is much more intense then, as the prey is the predator-more often than not he is hunting you at the same time. Blobbing is not on the table, tactics + fits + skills = success in those situations.
I'm finding that many of our pilots in -MVN- are out of practice. Instructions to hold on gates while scout is sniffing around system for targets are being ignored with lemming jumps, scattering the prey. Standard decloaking tactics with ceptors + bubbles are being ignored. Ships like HICs and DICs and ECM are severly undersupplied, whereas Amarr DPS boats are in abundance. One Falcon could ruin our day, and anything smaller than a Cruiser will get away without a bubbler. Its time to get back to the basics and refresh the older guys in corp. For the newer guys its time to slap them into shape.
I'm thinking of taking our next gang to Providence... Perhaps I will see some of you there.
Reflecting back to our roam up to Detroid a few nights ago I can see a change in my mental state when it comes to EVE. Rather than being the biggest whore when it comes to killmails, I am valuing the success of the gang now. Whether I get my crew out alive, and whether the gang is succesful on kills rather than my own individual stats. I often miss out on kills simply because I am planning the next step, scouting, or just not in an appropriate ship for the situation. More often than not I will fly a cloaking ship, whether it be a Tengu, Manticore, Falcon, or in large alliance POS bashes (50+) a Buzzard. This allows you to see the action and continue calling targets whereas if you are in a bc or bs there is the chance you will go down (if the enemy knows you are the FC this will be assured). You don't want to be floating in a station listening on comms as your fleet goes down because there is no head on the body of the fleet anymore.
My own personal fun comes in solo runs or 2-3 man gangs. I am finding the hunt is much more intense then, as the prey is the predator-more often than not he is hunting you at the same time. Blobbing is not on the table, tactics + fits + skills = success in those situations.
I'm finding that many of our pilots in -MVN- are out of practice. Instructions to hold on gates while scout is sniffing around system for targets are being ignored with lemming jumps, scattering the prey. Standard decloaking tactics with ceptors + bubbles are being ignored. Ships like HICs and DICs and ECM are severly undersupplied, whereas Amarr DPS boats are in abundance. One Falcon could ruin our day, and anything smaller than a Cruiser will get away without a bubbler. Its time to get back to the basics and refresh the older guys in corp. For the newer guys its time to slap them into shape.
I'm thinking of taking our next gang to Providence... Perhaps I will see some of you there.
February 10, 2010
Humor for a Change
Many of you have probably seen this picture. With Cov Ops Cloaking they actually can move now... but it still brings a smile to my face.
The Hunt
Last night we had a corp roam up into Detroid. We started off in Delve and worked our way up there. For many it was a breath of fresh air after all the logistics we had been doing over the past few days.
We started in off in Outer ring in the wonderful little NPC pocked of 33FN and NM-OEA. We picked up a couple Drakes and a Merlin kill by baiting one of our Drakes on the gate. Fail tackling/bubbling led to a Drake getting away from that fight (should have been 3) but hey, for some of these guys it had been months since they were in small gang action (we had about 15 people).
We then headed up to 4c-, where we gangked a Drake on station. He had a Crow for support and we lost a Taranis to the Crow, which scrammed the Ranis and the Drake hit it. He should have burned away or popped the Crow... but you live and learn. I talked with him about it and next time the right decision will be made. The neuts actually undocked a Chimera with the Drake in low shield, but the carrier couldn't lock up the Drake in time to save him. I ordered the fleet out of the system as soon as the Drake undocked. My thoughts were that the 20 something neuts in local would mobilize soon enough, and with fighter support I didn't want to chance it. As we were jumping out the neuts from NM- started coming in local as well. Ninja kill executed perfectly.
We burned up through Cloud Ring without much more than a Drake kill. That poor guy jumped right into our gang, as our scout reported him coming down a pipe. He had no chance.
Once we hit Detroid we hit a bit more traffic. We ended up getting a Lachesis and Sacrilege, and lost our Sabre pilot in the process. I consider that a bargain, and the loot we got from our roam more than paid for both losses. We had bubbled up one end of the pipe when we got two neuts in local. They came in through the other end and landed in our bubble. The Lachesis was first and popped. A Curse burned through the bubble and jumped through, and the Sac tried the same but we got webs on the guy and he melted.
At this point it was on to YA0 and 2-4CRW. These were the first station systems I had been in when I came out to 0.0 10 months ago. I still had bookmarks and such, and the memories surfaced of my baptisms by fire. Seems like a lifetime ago (EVE lifetime) that I was the noobish pilot with his first Drake in the big leagues of 0.0.
Well we found no fights in the area, and let me say the guys were playing quite a bit of marco polo in local. I mean it took some of them 2-3 min before they realized there was a neut in local and shut up. Quite entertaining. One of them even said safe up reds inbound etc. after I (I was scouting at this point) was in system.
We set course for home and had a fairly uneventful trip. We hit a Tempest that jumped right into our fleet and the guy just melted. Turns out he wasn't fitted at all. This kill was in Fountain on the edge of a regional gate to Cloud Ring. We tried to come up with ideas on how this guy was traveling in an unfit Tempest and came up empty. Only somewhat feasible idea was he used to have docking rights in one of our stations, and had a Tempest there. With no fitting services and not wanting to travel to Fountain Core which is constantly camped with randoms, he tried to ninja it home. Unfortunately for him my gang was in position to gank him.
The roam lasted almost three hours, and was an obvious success. We lost one Taranis and one Sabre (they saved their pods). We killed 4 Drakes, 2 Noob ships, 5 capsules, Lachesis, Sacrilege, Hound, and Tempest. Feels good to be taking out the corp roams again, after all the huge laggy fleet battles we have been fighting.
Today we ran numerous corp ops, to help pay for upgrades for our new systems. We ended up running into a Black Wings of Kartok in a Vagabond, named Gengis Khan. He likes to chat in local, and was running up through Delve trying to get into Fountain. We ended up trapping him in ZXB, a pipe that leads into fountain. He had shot at our hictor and had aggression, and logged off with the agression. Noob. I had a sisters launcher on my Tengu and probed him out in a few minutes. We then proceeded to all point the Vaga sitting in space, and popped him. He may not talk as much in local with us now. Oh well.
We started in off in Outer ring in the wonderful little NPC pocked of 33FN and NM-OEA. We picked up a couple Drakes and a Merlin kill by baiting one of our Drakes on the gate. Fail tackling/bubbling led to a Drake getting away from that fight (should have been 3) but hey, for some of these guys it had been months since they were in small gang action (we had about 15 people).
We then headed up to 4c-, where we gangked a Drake on station. He had a Crow for support and we lost a Taranis to the Crow, which scrammed the Ranis and the Drake hit it. He should have burned away or popped the Crow... but you live and learn. I talked with him about it and next time the right decision will be made. The neuts actually undocked a Chimera with the Drake in low shield, but the carrier couldn't lock up the Drake in time to save him. I ordered the fleet out of the system as soon as the Drake undocked. My thoughts were that the 20 something neuts in local would mobilize soon enough, and with fighter support I didn't want to chance it. As we were jumping out the neuts from NM- started coming in local as well. Ninja kill executed perfectly.
We burned up through Cloud Ring without much more than a Drake kill. That poor guy jumped right into our gang, as our scout reported him coming down a pipe. He had no chance.
Once we hit Detroid we hit a bit more traffic. We ended up getting a Lachesis and Sacrilege, and lost our Sabre pilot in the process. I consider that a bargain, and the loot we got from our roam more than paid for both losses. We had bubbled up one end of the pipe when we got two neuts in local. They came in through the other end and landed in our bubble. The Lachesis was first and popped. A Curse burned through the bubble and jumped through, and the Sac tried the same but we got webs on the guy and he melted.
At this point it was on to YA0 and 2-4CRW. These were the first station systems I had been in when I came out to 0.0 10 months ago. I still had bookmarks and such, and the memories surfaced of my baptisms by fire. Seems like a lifetime ago (EVE lifetime) that I was the noobish pilot with his first Drake in the big leagues of 0.0.
Well we found no fights in the area, and let me say the guys were playing quite a bit of marco polo in local. I mean it took some of them 2-3 min before they realized there was a neut in local and shut up. Quite entertaining. One of them even said safe up reds inbound etc. after I (I was scouting at this point) was in system.
We set course for home and had a fairly uneventful trip. We hit a Tempest that jumped right into our fleet and the guy just melted. Turns out he wasn't fitted at all. This kill was in Fountain on the edge of a regional gate to Cloud Ring. We tried to come up with ideas on how this guy was traveling in an unfit Tempest and came up empty. Only somewhat feasible idea was he used to have docking rights in one of our stations, and had a Tempest there. With no fitting services and not wanting to travel to Fountain Core which is constantly camped with randoms, he tried to ninja it home. Unfortunately for him my gang was in position to gank him.
The roam lasted almost three hours, and was an obvious success. We lost one Taranis and one Sabre (they saved their pods). We killed 4 Drakes, 2 Noob ships, 5 capsules, Lachesis, Sacrilege, Hound, and Tempest. Feels good to be taking out the corp roams again, after all the huge laggy fleet battles we have been fighting.
Today we ran numerous corp ops, to help pay for upgrades for our new systems. We ended up running into a Black Wings of Kartok in a Vagabond, named Gengis Khan. He likes to chat in local, and was running up through Delve trying to get into Fountain. We ended up trapping him in ZXB, a pipe that leads into fountain. He had shot at our hictor and had aggression, and logged off with the agression. Noob. I had a sisters launcher on my Tengu and probed him out in a few minutes. We then proceeded to all point the Vaga sitting in space, and popped him. He may not talk as much in local with us now. Oh well.
February 8, 2010
Thoughts on Aurelis' Interview
For those who haven't read it...
Aurelis' Interview
The part I like is that he waffles on several points. Especially the part about -A- helping out during the hacking and disbanding. -A- did help. Its a fact. Yet that point is skimmed over and left untouched. The part where he explains CVA's intentions with the invasion is also very ambiguous. All in all it seemed like he was backpedaling.
Whining about spies was hilarious. Everyone uses spies in EVE. High Sec, Low Sec, Null sec. Its part of the game mechanics. As if CVA doesn't have any intelligence in operation.
My personal favorite was the rant about how Dominion favors the attacker. Ridiculous. Ludacris. With the way the timers are set up, the multiple reinforce timers, and the ability to have it come out (+/- a few hours) in your time zone, there is no way it favors the attacker. Without the Goonswarm lack of funds, it would have been a nightmare establishing a foothold in Delve. 49-U was a bloodbath because the attacker had to jump into system that was defended and the grid loading issues led to slaughters. CVA is losing because they are inadequate. Their ships are not standardized. Their tactics are inferior. Their FCs lack experience. It has NOTHING to do with Dominion favoring the attacker. With a smart command, correct shiptypes and numbers that CVA has already shown it can field, they could very well have defended D-GTMI and the failcascade. Fail tactical decisions caused them to lose those battles. Who warps their capital fleet to a gate? Who chooses to jump into the system they need to be defending instead of having a presence there and logging off at POS's? Who brings battlecruisers and HACs to a snipe bs fight? Obviously -A- doesn't.
My rant is over. Feel free to leave comments, I invite contructive criticism. Please take the poll concerning Dominion as well. I have changed the background as many of you requested, with luck it should be much easier to read now.
Aurelis' Interview
The part I like is that he waffles on several points. Especially the part about -A- helping out during the hacking and disbanding. -A- did help. Its a fact. Yet that point is skimmed over and left untouched. The part where he explains CVA's intentions with the invasion is also very ambiguous. All in all it seemed like he was backpedaling.
Whining about spies was hilarious. Everyone uses spies in EVE. High Sec, Low Sec, Null sec. Its part of the game mechanics. As if CVA doesn't have any intelligence in operation.
My personal favorite was the rant about how Dominion favors the attacker. Ridiculous. Ludacris. With the way the timers are set up, the multiple reinforce timers, and the ability to have it come out (+/- a few hours) in your time zone, there is no way it favors the attacker. Without the Goonswarm lack of funds, it would have been a nightmare establishing a foothold in Delve. 49-U was a bloodbath because the attacker had to jump into system that was defended and the grid loading issues led to slaughters. CVA is losing because they are inadequate. Their ships are not standardized. Their tactics are inferior. Their FCs lack experience. It has NOTHING to do with Dominion favoring the attacker. With a smart command, correct shiptypes and numbers that CVA has already shown it can field, they could very well have defended D-GTMI and the failcascade. Fail tactical decisions caused them to lose those battles. Who warps their capital fleet to a gate? Who chooses to jump into the system they need to be defending instead of having a presence there and logging off at POS's? Who brings battlecruisers and HACs to a snipe bs fight? Obviously -A- doesn't.
My rant is over. Feel free to leave comments, I invite contructive criticism. Please take the poll concerning Dominion as well. I have changed the background as many of you requested, with luck it should be much easier to read now.
I hate carebearing
Still doing the carebear thing. Running plexes and the like, getting my ships bought and fit. The Tengu is proving to be most expensive. Hoping to get the corpmates a roam tonight, real life allowing. Shooting NPCs is, for the record, extremely dull and boring. The only excitement is the potential for really expensive loot drops.
Thats is all.
Thats is all.
February 5, 2010
Message to CVA
I recently posted on COAD (which is something I do not do often), in the -A- CVA thread. Its a real shame that a few foolish leaders can destroy a dynasty (full of targets).
The history of Maverick Navy and CVA is not one that is widely known, but the outline is this.
Mavericks used to be the best anti-pirates in the game. We would help CVA hunt down and destroy in Provibloc. When political shifts were mad, Mavericks requested to join CVA and were refused and belittled. Our CEO Avicenna, who still maintains friends within CVA, never forgot what happened. We pirated in Yong and Mamet relentlessly. Recently we have not been in the area due to warfare in Fountain and Delve. What will happen now that our war is ending I cannot say, but we do have extensive experience in the area and great specialization in guerilla tactics (excellent for countering the Proviblob).
For more reading on this conflict I encourage you to read the following:
Kirith Kodachi, who is with Paxton
Brutus Septimius with Ushra'Khan
Wensley with -A- "Rifter Drifter"
EVE Monkey with -A-
Hallan Turrek a Providence Dweller
Those are just a few, I'm sure there are many more out there.
"CVA, you should have listened to old friends (whom you cast out and would not let into your fold), when they told you not to anger -A-. I can say with assurity that we are laughing now. At this point, you reap what you sow.
Delve has fallen, your masters have dwindled into nothing. The gamble in siding with Goons was unwise. The stupidity in refusing an offer of peace will prove to be catastrophic. The sad part is that you have so many inexperienced pilots that are going to pay for your snobbish attitude and ignorant belief in Amarr destiny bullsh**. You have proven to be inadequate in fleet warfare. -A- would grind you down without help. But who says they will stand alone? When you sided with Goons you sided against other powers. Do not expect mercy for your stupidity.
-MVN- once worked for you as guns for hire. You snubbed what could have been. In Atlas we poached on your lands. Now we will come take them from you.
To those who live under the "protection" of CVA, leave now. Your masters have let madness overtake reason. Don't let yourselves be consumed in the firestorm that is surging towards you."
Delve has fallen, your masters have dwindled into nothing. The gamble in siding with Goons was unwise. The stupidity in refusing an offer of peace will prove to be catastrophic. The sad part is that you have so many inexperienced pilots that are going to pay for your snobbish attitude and ignorant belief in Amarr destiny bullsh**. You have proven to be inadequate in fleet warfare. -A- would grind you down without help. But who says they will stand alone? When you sided with Goons you sided against other powers. Do not expect mercy for your stupidity.
-MVN- once worked for you as guns for hire. You snubbed what could have been. In Atlas we poached on your lands. Now we will come take them from you.
To those who live under the "protection" of CVA, leave now. Your masters have let madness overtake reason. Don't let yourselves be consumed in the firestorm that is surging towards you."
The history of Maverick Navy and CVA is not one that is widely known, but the outline is this.
Mavericks used to be the best anti-pirates in the game. We would help CVA hunt down and destroy in Provibloc. When political shifts were mad, Mavericks requested to join CVA and were refused and belittled. Our CEO Avicenna, who still maintains friends within CVA, never forgot what happened. We pirated in Yong and Mamet relentlessly. Recently we have not been in the area due to warfare in Fountain and Delve. What will happen now that our war is ending I cannot say, but we do have extensive experience in the area and great specialization in guerilla tactics (excellent for countering the Proviblob).
For more reading on this conflict I encourage you to read the following:
Kirith Kodachi, who is with Paxton
Brutus Septimius with Ushra'Khan
Wensley with -A- "Rifter Drifter"
EVE Monkey with -A-
Hallan Turrek a Providence Dweller
Those are just a few, I'm sure there are many more out there.
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.
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.
February 4, 2010
Mopping up is a bore.
Not much exciting to write about at the moment. The past couple days have been spent hitting offline/abandoned towers in our corner of Delve. We've also been hitting the occasional TCU and iHub. Goons sudden departure has left a lot of work to do, taking down infrastructure and putting our own up. SoT is being a nuisance, organizing small gangs in Fountain (while most of our combat forces are deployed in Delve). I have consolidated most of my forces into the -MVN- staging area, out of Fountain, which took most of yesterday. With luck we will have more time for fighting as we lockdown our constellation. I encourage you all to take a look at the sov map, located at the bottom of my blog. Delve looks very blue :)
For those of you who have started reading my blog, I hope its been interesting reading. Feel free to leave comments, feedback, or your own view on life. If you are enjoying what you have been reading, please share your experiences with others. It would be greatly appreciated.
PK
For those of you who have started reading my blog, I hope its been interesting reading. Feel free to leave comments, feedback, or your own view on life. If you are enjoying what you have been reading, please share your experiences with others. It would be greatly appreciated.
PK
February 2, 2010
Goonswarm. The End
All corporations except holding corps were let go from Goonswarm approximately 15 min ago.
[06:45:27] *** > karttoon went f**k goons
[06:45:28] *** > our ceo
[06:45:42] ***> all goons with roles been told to drop roles
[06:45:50] ***> we'll be someone new tomorrow night :)
[06:45:58] *** > without a canadian gimmic
[06:46:00] *** > as a ceo
So it ends... for now...
[06:45:27] *** > karttoon went f**k goons
[06:45:28] *** > our ceo
[06:45:42] ***> all goons with roles been told to drop roles
[06:45:50] ***> we'll be someone new tomorrow night :)
[06:45:58] *** > without a canadian gimmic
[06:46:00] *** > as a ceo
So it ends... for now...
When the Hunter becomes the Hunted
Last night was fairly uneventful up until close to downtime. Running a little short on ISK, I decided to dedicate a night to carebearing. Ratting it up in Y-2, I was making 10 mill a tick (not too shabby). This was also getting my security status up (I am now -1.9) so I could go back and gank people in high sec. So here I was, running logistics with my alt and ratting on my main, when Casebolt asked me to scout his new toy to NOL and then to Y-2.
Last week I bought a Sleipnir for Case on firesale for 160 mill. He paid me back and it was now time to get it up and running. I grabbed my Manticore and Case hopped in a shuttle and we flew down to a station 20j out of Y-2. Passing a few reds on the way down, we encountered no problems. Case grabbed the Sleipnir and we started back. Passing through 319- was a little bit of a pucker moment, as Goons have taken up residence in there. We made it through succesfully, however, and he docked up in NOL to fit his new toy. A Goon Buzzard cloaked up off the station, presumably to scout the exit for the two Goons docked up inside. Unfortunately, the bubble anchored at the undock along with the Brutix sitting outside with drones out pretty much screwed our chances of catching a Goon trying to escape. So we started rolling back to Y-2.
Two jumps out I jumped into a system with none other than Kirtan Loor. Kirtan was the Domi toon that worked in tandem with the Legion pilot that we lost 2 Drakes and a Harbinger to a week or so ago. We ended up popping his Domi but the Legion got away during that last pyrrhic victory of sorts. Kirtan was once again in a Domi, which was guaranteed to be nuet fitted with 3 plates in the lows. I yelled at Case to get off the gate, assuming the Legion would arrive shortly. The Dominix was just sitting there, so I smacked him in local a bit with no response. "The Legion pilot is local with me now" Case said. "I'm gonna lob an eff you bomb at this guy" I replied "Maybe he will jump through and you can get through and burn. Align to the gate". All of a sudden I hear Casebolt cursing, and the Dominix jumped through. Turns out he was sitting on the gate, and he didn't have T3 ships on his overview. The Legion was shooting at him before he realized something was wrong. Fail. He was able to burn to the gate and jump through, however, and we rolled to Y-2. I was pissed. He was pissed. These two (which I still think is one guy dual boxing) have been rolling around Fountain, and now Delve, without any hindrance. This was due largely to the fact that most of our combat assets are deployed for the Delve campaign.
So we formed up in Y-2. I grabbed a Scorp and tanked it up. I left 2 Gallente and 2 Amarr T2 jammers on with LSEs in the rest of the mids, and dropped 3 plates in the lows with a DC2. I also dropped the cruise launchers and fitted torp launchers with a couple neuts. Case grabbed a Geddon, Carson grabbed a Blackbird and Altair grabbed an uber tanked Drake with NOS and Neuts in the highs (weird but he wanted to try it). We also had a Blast guy in local who brought his own Dominix to the party.
Casebolt had his alt in a Buzzard looking for the guy and was almost ready to give up when they showed up, presumably on their way back. I had been arguing they would come back through because they had been staging out of Fountain. Sure enough they came into ZXB, which is a pipe that comes to Y-2. We stuck Altair in his uber tanked Drake on the gate and everyone aligned. The Dominix jumped through first and just sat there. Then the Legion jumped through and cloaked up. After a min or so the Dominix aggressed and we warped in. The moment we started landing on grid the Dominix started reapproaching gate, as Altair had him pointed. Despite webs he got back to 0 on the gate but stayed aggressed. Then the Legion decloaked and joined the party. I started getting jams off on the Dominix, finally, and the Legion was permajammed. We started neuting the crap out of the Legion, and Casebolt was assigning fighters from his alt at this point. The Dominix was going down when the Legion started burning away. Casebolt was just a little late on the web, and he got away in half armor. We lost our Blackbird pilot, but in exchange for the Dominix it was well worth it. The Legion pilot dissapeared, but not before I dropped a "Yall come back now ya hear" in local. He promptly responded with "I will". We're gonna get that Legion one of these days.
Last week I bought a Sleipnir for Case on firesale for 160 mill. He paid me back and it was now time to get it up and running. I grabbed my Manticore and Case hopped in a shuttle and we flew down to a station 20j out of Y-2. Passing a few reds on the way down, we encountered no problems. Case grabbed the Sleipnir and we started back. Passing through 319- was a little bit of a pucker moment, as Goons have taken up residence in there. We made it through succesfully, however, and he docked up in NOL to fit his new toy. A Goon Buzzard cloaked up off the station, presumably to scout the exit for the two Goons docked up inside. Unfortunately, the bubble anchored at the undock along with the Brutix sitting outside with drones out pretty much screwed our chances of catching a Goon trying to escape. So we started rolling back to Y-2.
Two jumps out I jumped into a system with none other than Kirtan Loor. Kirtan was the Domi toon that worked in tandem with the Legion pilot that we lost 2 Drakes and a Harbinger to a week or so ago. We ended up popping his Domi but the Legion got away during that last pyrrhic victory of sorts. Kirtan was once again in a Domi, which was guaranteed to be nuet fitted with 3 plates in the lows. I yelled at Case to get off the gate, assuming the Legion would arrive shortly. The Dominix was just sitting there, so I smacked him in local a bit with no response. "The Legion pilot is local with me now" Case said. "I'm gonna lob an eff you bomb at this guy" I replied "Maybe he will jump through and you can get through and burn. Align to the gate". All of a sudden I hear Casebolt cursing, and the Dominix jumped through. Turns out he was sitting on the gate, and he didn't have T3 ships on his overview. The Legion was shooting at him before he realized something was wrong. Fail. He was able to burn to the gate and jump through, however, and we rolled to Y-2. I was pissed. He was pissed. These two (which I still think is one guy dual boxing) have been rolling around Fountain, and now Delve, without any hindrance. This was due largely to the fact that most of our combat assets are deployed for the Delve campaign.
So we formed up in Y-2. I grabbed a Scorp and tanked it up. I left 2 Gallente and 2 Amarr T2 jammers on with LSEs in the rest of the mids, and dropped 3 plates in the lows with a DC2. I also dropped the cruise launchers and fitted torp launchers with a couple neuts. Case grabbed a Geddon, Carson grabbed a Blackbird and Altair grabbed an uber tanked Drake with NOS and Neuts in the highs (weird but he wanted to try it). We also had a Blast guy in local who brought his own Dominix to the party.
Casebolt had his alt in a Buzzard looking for the guy and was almost ready to give up when they showed up, presumably on their way back. I had been arguing they would come back through because they had been staging out of Fountain. Sure enough they came into ZXB, which is a pipe that comes to Y-2. We stuck Altair in his uber tanked Drake on the gate and everyone aligned. The Dominix jumped through first and just sat there. Then the Legion jumped through and cloaked up. After a min or so the Dominix aggressed and we warped in. The moment we started landing on grid the Dominix started reapproaching gate, as Altair had him pointed. Despite webs he got back to 0 on the gate but stayed aggressed. Then the Legion decloaked and joined the party. I started getting jams off on the Dominix, finally, and the Legion was permajammed. We started neuting the crap out of the Legion, and Casebolt was assigning fighters from his alt at this point. The Dominix was going down when the Legion started burning away. Casebolt was just a little late on the web, and he got away in half armor. We lost our Blackbird pilot, but in exchange for the Dominix it was well worth it. The Legion pilot dissapeared, but not before I dropped a "Yall come back now ya hear" in local. He promptly responded with "I will". We're gonna get that Legion one of these days.
February 1, 2010
Why Do I Love EVE Online?
CrazyKinux has asked everyone to write an article on why they love EVE Online. Of course there is a contest involved, but I would love to share the many reasons I love playing this game.
I started playing EVE 9 months ago. Prior to that I was playing RTSs like Company of Heroes and my all time favorite, Homeworld 2. The group I played with was XENO, a clan formed during the original Homeworld. Homeworld was a space based RTS that depended heavily on strategy and microing your ships. Being very much an action based individual, I frowned at what I now know as "carebearing". XENO Corp did lots of mining, manufacturing, etc. I made fun of their EVE adventures constantly. I joined up when the two guys left in XENO that played CoH dropped off the face of the planet. The two week trial was no charge to try, so I gave it a shot. Within a couple days I was hooked.
I started off in Caldari space running missions. I got a feel for the game and the controls, but it wasn't exciting. A week after playing I moved out to 0.0 with my corp. At that point we were in the Fade/Pure Blind region living as a "pet" to Mostly Harmless. A few days after the move I was loaned some isk and bought a Drake, lost it the same day, and bought another. Ratting was huge money for me back then, and I ratted my heart out to make the money to buy more ships and more mods. I was still missing something, however, and kept searching. I started doing as many roams as possible with alliance members, due to the lax PVP nature of my own corporation. I got my first taste of blood and that was that.
Being a PVP based player, I loved the thrill and adrenaline of an engagement. The multi tasking was joyous. I have very bad attention spans. Playing a first person shooter like MW2 keeps only a part of my brain occupied. A game like EVE means watching local, watching intel, doing whatever it is you're doing, talking in corp, talking in chat, talking over vent, talking over teamspeak. You are absorbed into the game on all different levels. You have microing (fleet movements, system to system, moving your ship into optimals, out of optimals of enemy, orbits around targets, as well as managing reppers, cap, etc.). You also have Macro, which includes wars, market fluctuations, corporate espionage, spys, supply lines, funding for conflicts, etc. Its a brutal world that sees very little influence by CCP. When BoB was disbanded, CCP watched. When Goons bounced their sov check, CCP watched. Those had cataclysmic affects on the EVE universe, and are now written into the history of EVE.
Immersion in the EVE verse is fully realized in the storyline. Sure the game has developer storylines built in, but YOU are the storyline. You create the news. Being in IT Alliance but not having been in BoB, I could only read about what happened with the first Delve War. I learned what was expected and what we wanted, and I took on that vendetta and made it personal to take Fountain and Delve. There may be people living under rocks in the EVE verse here and there, but for most people, the war is their daily read in EVE. The giant war in the south, the NC fighting in the north, those are the big events. Those huge battles, I am a part of them. Some of the smaller engagements, I am FC ing. Unlike other games where you follow a choose your adventure book of sorts, there is no limit to what you can do in EVE. Who thought Goons would drop sov in all those systems in Delve? An author could not have created such an ironic twist of fate as what happened last week. Yet who made all this possible? Thousands and thousands of players in the EVE universe involved with IT Alliance, Goonswarm, PL, SoT, -A-, CVA, Triumvirate, Morsus Mihi, Mostly Harmless, Atlas, XXdeathXX, and all the other Nullsec Alliances that make the politics. Don't forget all the industrialists in Empire that make all the ships I blow up and get blown up in, create all the modules and rigs I need to fit the ships, and buy my moon goo. Since Apocrypha you now have the added dimension of wormhole space, which is always a rabbit hole that many can't resist.
Of course you have the RPG portion that all MMORPGs share. By this I mean the knowledge that in a few days or a week you will be able to fly that new ship, or do that task better, or use that new module. It never gets old. I remember how excited I was to fly a Drake. Now I am excited to take my new Tengu out for a spin. Someday I may even vest in a cap ship, although cap warfare isn't quite my thing (right now). There is always something bigger and better you can fly if you just train long enough. You choose your career, whether it be high sec war dec combat, low sec pirating, carebearing, or all of the above joining a null sec alliance. You can fight smart, fight crazy, or not fight at all. You can run missions all day long, or kill people running missions. I love that there is no PVP server. The moment you log in you are in combat, whether or not you know it. Undock in a hauler with 200 mill worth of mods in Jita 4-4 and you will know what I mean. CONCORD will come to your rescue, but they will always be too late to save your loot from my hauler alt. Think you're safe in deadspace? My probes will sniff you out. Trying to make that quick run through null sec? My drag bubble will bring you to me. Think those warp stabs will keep you safe in low sec? The script in my HIC will still point you with a full rack of warp stabs. There is no safety in EVE, except you keeping an eye on local and knowing that people like me will kill you for fun if you don't plan for the worst.
Comparing EVE to other MMORPGs (although I have never tried anything else) the one thing that comes up time and time again is that EVE is one giant server. This sometimes causes issues with lag, but you can always run into someone in game, no matter what their trade or faction or alliance may be. That is crazy. Last night I noticed a guy in intel channel posting. I recognized the name of a player that popped my first battleship 3 hours after I bought it (kill rights lesson learned hard). He was dilly dallying around low sec Gallente space last time I saw him months and months ago. Now he is part of Black Star Alliance, who a smaller ally of IT that holds space in Fountain with us. Who would have thought?
The other large difference is that there is a free market in EVE. Adam Smith's "Invisible Hand" is in full swing. With the exception of a few items including skill books and sov mods, all items in EVE are player created. Players mine the minerals, refine the minerals and gases, and manufacture the ships, mods, and everything else. Then players like me blow them up. There is very little intervention by the "governement" or CCP (which is more than I can say about the US Government these days). Sure there are fluctuations when new game mechanics are introduced, but the system always irons itself out and stabilizes. There is even a professional economist in charge of the game, Eyjo Gudmundsson, who keeps an eye on the economy in EVE. He is EVE's Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and does an outstanding job. Some people whine about the changs in prices, but just like in the real world, things change. Its part of the game. You won't find that with other games out there. Those are rigidly run state controlled economies.
Who would have thought that 9 months after playing one of the most complicated MMORPGs I would be an LT in the biggest (coolest) alliance in the game leading out roams with numbers in fleet ranging from 10-150? With an analytical mind and good leadership skills anything in the EVE verse is possible. I look back on my days early on in EVE and smile now; I have come so far. You can pick up the game and take whatever path you want in EVE. No one will stop you except yourself.
I started playing EVE 9 months ago. Prior to that I was playing RTSs like Company of Heroes and my all time favorite, Homeworld 2. The group I played with was XENO, a clan formed during the original Homeworld. Homeworld was a space based RTS that depended heavily on strategy and microing your ships. Being very much an action based individual, I frowned at what I now know as "carebearing". XENO Corp did lots of mining, manufacturing, etc. I made fun of their EVE adventures constantly. I joined up when the two guys left in XENO that played CoH dropped off the face of the planet. The two week trial was no charge to try, so I gave it a shot. Within a couple days I was hooked.
I started off in Caldari space running missions. I got a feel for the game and the controls, but it wasn't exciting. A week after playing I moved out to 0.0 with my corp. At that point we were in the Fade/Pure Blind region living as a "pet" to Mostly Harmless. A few days after the move I was loaned some isk and bought a Drake, lost it the same day, and bought another. Ratting was huge money for me back then, and I ratted my heart out to make the money to buy more ships and more mods. I was still missing something, however, and kept searching. I started doing as many roams as possible with alliance members, due to the lax PVP nature of my own corporation. I got my first taste of blood and that was that.
Being a PVP based player, I loved the thrill and adrenaline of an engagement. The multi tasking was joyous. I have very bad attention spans. Playing a first person shooter like MW2 keeps only a part of my brain occupied. A game like EVE means watching local, watching intel, doing whatever it is you're doing, talking in corp, talking in chat, talking over vent, talking over teamspeak. You are absorbed into the game on all different levels. You have microing (fleet movements, system to system, moving your ship into optimals, out of optimals of enemy, orbits around targets, as well as managing reppers, cap, etc.). You also have Macro, which includes wars, market fluctuations, corporate espionage, spys, supply lines, funding for conflicts, etc. Its a brutal world that sees very little influence by CCP. When BoB was disbanded, CCP watched. When Goons bounced their sov check, CCP watched. Those had cataclysmic affects on the EVE universe, and are now written into the history of EVE.
Immersion in the EVE verse is fully realized in the storyline. Sure the game has developer storylines built in, but YOU are the storyline. You create the news. Being in IT Alliance but not having been in BoB, I could only read about what happened with the first Delve War. I learned what was expected and what we wanted, and I took on that vendetta and made it personal to take Fountain and Delve. There may be people living under rocks in the EVE verse here and there, but for most people, the war is their daily read in EVE. The giant war in the south, the NC fighting in the north, those are the big events. Those huge battles, I am a part of them. Some of the smaller engagements, I am FC ing. Unlike other games where you follow a choose your adventure book of sorts, there is no limit to what you can do in EVE. Who thought Goons would drop sov in all those systems in Delve? An author could not have created such an ironic twist of fate as what happened last week. Yet who made all this possible? Thousands and thousands of players in the EVE universe involved with IT Alliance, Goonswarm, PL, SoT, -A-, CVA, Triumvirate, Morsus Mihi, Mostly Harmless, Atlas, XXdeathXX, and all the other Nullsec Alliances that make the politics. Don't forget all the industrialists in Empire that make all the ships I blow up and get blown up in, create all the modules and rigs I need to fit the ships, and buy my moon goo. Since Apocrypha you now have the added dimension of wormhole space, which is always a rabbit hole that many can't resist.
Of course you have the RPG portion that all MMORPGs share. By this I mean the knowledge that in a few days or a week you will be able to fly that new ship, or do that task better, or use that new module. It never gets old. I remember how excited I was to fly a Drake. Now I am excited to take my new Tengu out for a spin. Someday I may even vest in a cap ship, although cap warfare isn't quite my thing (right now). There is always something bigger and better you can fly if you just train long enough. You choose your career, whether it be high sec war dec combat, low sec pirating, carebearing, or all of the above joining a null sec alliance. You can fight smart, fight crazy, or not fight at all. You can run missions all day long, or kill people running missions. I love that there is no PVP server. The moment you log in you are in combat, whether or not you know it. Undock in a hauler with 200 mill worth of mods in Jita 4-4 and you will know what I mean. CONCORD will come to your rescue, but they will always be too late to save your loot from my hauler alt. Think you're safe in deadspace? My probes will sniff you out. Trying to make that quick run through null sec? My drag bubble will bring you to me. Think those warp stabs will keep you safe in low sec? The script in my HIC will still point you with a full rack of warp stabs. There is no safety in EVE, except you keeping an eye on local and knowing that people like me will kill you for fun if you don't plan for the worst.
Comparing EVE to other MMORPGs (although I have never tried anything else) the one thing that comes up time and time again is that EVE is one giant server. This sometimes causes issues with lag, but you can always run into someone in game, no matter what their trade or faction or alliance may be. That is crazy. Last night I noticed a guy in intel channel posting. I recognized the name of a player that popped my first battleship 3 hours after I bought it (kill rights lesson learned hard). He was dilly dallying around low sec Gallente space last time I saw him months and months ago. Now he is part of Black Star Alliance, who a smaller ally of IT that holds space in Fountain with us. Who would have thought?
The other large difference is that there is a free market in EVE. Adam Smith's "Invisible Hand" is in full swing. With the exception of a few items including skill books and sov mods, all items in EVE are player created. Players mine the minerals, refine the minerals and gases, and manufacture the ships, mods, and everything else. Then players like me blow them up. There is very little intervention by the "governement" or CCP (which is more than I can say about the US Government these days). Sure there are fluctuations when new game mechanics are introduced, but the system always irons itself out and stabilizes. There is even a professional economist in charge of the game, Eyjo Gudmundsson, who keeps an eye on the economy in EVE. He is EVE's Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and does an outstanding job. Some people whine about the changs in prices, but just like in the real world, things change. Its part of the game. You won't find that with other games out there. Those are rigidly run state controlled economies.
Who would have thought that 9 months after playing one of the most complicated MMORPGs I would be an LT in the biggest (coolest) alliance in the game leading out roams with numbers in fleet ranging from 10-150? With an analytical mind and good leadership skills anything in the EVE verse is possible. I look back on my days early on in EVE and smile now; I have come so far. You can pick up the game and take whatever path you want in EVE. No one will stop you except yourself.
The Snowball Effect
Today I logged on early afternoon hoping to get some ratting in for an hour and make some security status. Didn't happen. Roaming fleet was forming up in NOL, and I couldn't resist. So I grabbed my Falcon and headed down to NOL from Y-2. I caught up with fleet in time for them to hit the ratting pocket, see there were no targets, and turn around. The 4 man ceptor gang had now grown to a mixed fleet about 15 in size.
At this point intel came in of a 25 man RR bs gang coming in from Sakht. They headed up a dead end pipe into ZA9. We formed up in NOL for our own RR bs with logistics and Ewar support. I burned up the pipe to get us intel on the enemy fleet, which had POSed up at this point. We got reports of pods coming out of the pipe, apparently there was some fighting going on in there, but with who? At this point I took over fleet with one of my corpmates, as it was clear we needed to get things rolling. I kept asking for intel but was getting nowhere. Our fleet swelled in size as people jumped onboard for the chance to smash the hostile gang.
Then a conversation window popped open from one of our allies in Quarantine Zone. He proceeded to tell me that ten of his bs and two of his carriers had been hitting an offline Pandemic Legion tower in the system when the PL battleship gang came in. They had fought, and now both parties were safed up. He also told me the gang was NOT rr and didn't seem too coordinated.
This changed things quite a bit. I got my eyes in system and sat 10k off the enemy POS. Watching their fleet, I calculated what would go down in what order. They had 5 dominix, a Scorpion, 4 Raven's, 2 Geddons, a few Apocs, a few Megas, and 2 Tempests. They were just sitting in the POS, waiting for their Rapier scout to work his way up to1-Smeb and tell them it was clear to run back to low sec. We got everyone into Q-H on the 1-Smeb gate. This was important for two reasons:
1. The Q-H gate in 1-Smeb was very short warp to the M5 gate (which is a pipe to the dead end ZA9).
2. PL had scouts in 1-Smeb that would scream the moment local spiked.
3. We were still waiting for stragglers to catch up from NOL.
The fleet was still forming up when the PL fleet started aligning to the gate in ZA9. We had a cloaky dictor in M5 on the 1-Smeb gate, as well as a dictor in 1-Smeb cloaked up off the M5 gate. I watched as the fleet reached full speed... and then they warped. "Alright fleet be at 0 on the 1-Smeb gate, enemy fleet is moving". Local dropped, and I warped to the M5 gate and jumped. Sure enough, their fleet was all around me, and took off right as I loaded grid. I warped to the 1-Smeb gate, on the way there local dropped. "Fleet is entering 1-Smeb" Vampiress announced. "Fleet jump 1-Smeb warp to M5 gate gogogo!' I barked into comms. Vampiress dropped bubbles and ran for his life, while my fleet made the short warp from Q-H gate to M5 gate. I started calling primaries, going for the Scorpion first. Unfortunately, our bubbling wasn't quite what we would have wanted and we only got 6 of their bs. Geddon, Raven, Geddon, Tempest, Raven, and Domi. On a happier note, we took no losses. My Falcon only took 1 volley from one of the Raven's before I jammed him up.
The enemy fleet fled to low sec, so we hit their POS. The POS only had 3 warp disruption batteries on it, with 4 large, 4 med, and 4 small auto cannon batteries. We took out the warp disruptors, then the guns. We left the POS for this week, as it had hardeners on it. Those would have made taking it down an eternity with the 50bs we had. Dreads in siege, maybe ten minutes. Tops.
Took the fleet back to NOL, re shipped and proceeded to camp Pr- for an hour. Got a Rapier, nailed a Rifter and a Cerb, but other than those it was slim pickings. So we went for a roam over to Querious. After 30 min of roaming and no targets (Goons just didn't want to play today), we got word of a Brick Squad gang in the area. We moved to intercept. Holding on the Pr- gate in IDH, with the Brick Squad gang next door on the FW gate, we jumped in to engage. Intelligence had told of a Brick Squad gang 25 strong mainly frigates. Our fleet had 30 in it scattered in Pr-. What happened was not what I had intended when I made the decision to engage.
Landing on the FW gate in Pr- I failed to load grid for 15 seconds. During this time I had to ask someone else to call targets as I could not. Upon loading grid I had damage to my ship (which was a Crow) and immediately died, the only thing I got off a shot on what was an Ares which had me locked. The Ares ended up dying but so did several of our fleet, including my Crow. The order to pull back was given and the fleet re formed. At this point I had to leave (duty called :) I handed over the reigns to another FC and didn't get on till later tonight. As I reflected on why our fleet failed, I narrowed it down to two big reasons. The first was fail intel. "90% frigs" was reported in intel. That was complete bs. As you can see looking at my killmail there was certainly other ships involved, including T3, T2, and larger T1 ships. The second huge reason was my fleet was not 100% active. Many pilots had been joining gang because of the Brick Squad gang in system, but were not ready to fight, not on comms or just afk. We should have re formed before engaging, as our fleet size was not an accurate representation of our active pilots. Those two factors led to a fail engagement. Overall, still a succesful day.
Now I find myself lighting cynos all over Fountain for our logistics guys, to pick up moon goo and fuel towers. Joy. As the title goes, don't ever understimate how rapidly things will grow. Small gangs can become multi alliance fleets in a heartbeat.
At this point intel came in of a 25 man RR bs gang coming in from Sakht. They headed up a dead end pipe into ZA9. We formed up in NOL for our own RR bs with logistics and Ewar support. I burned up the pipe to get us intel on the enemy fleet, which had POSed up at this point. We got reports of pods coming out of the pipe, apparently there was some fighting going on in there, but with who? At this point I took over fleet with one of my corpmates, as it was clear we needed to get things rolling. I kept asking for intel but was getting nowhere. Our fleet swelled in size as people jumped onboard for the chance to smash the hostile gang.
Then a conversation window popped open from one of our allies in Quarantine Zone. He proceeded to tell me that ten of his bs and two of his carriers had been hitting an offline Pandemic Legion tower in the system when the PL battleship gang came in. They had fought, and now both parties were safed up. He also told me the gang was NOT rr and didn't seem too coordinated.
This changed things quite a bit. I got my eyes in system and sat 10k off the enemy POS. Watching their fleet, I calculated what would go down in what order. They had 5 dominix, a Scorpion, 4 Raven's, 2 Geddons, a few Apocs, a few Megas, and 2 Tempests. They were just sitting in the POS, waiting for their Rapier scout to work his way up to1-Smeb and tell them it was clear to run back to low sec. We got everyone into Q-H on the 1-Smeb gate. This was important for two reasons:
1. The Q-H gate in 1-Smeb was very short warp to the M5 gate (which is a pipe to the dead end ZA9).
2. PL had scouts in 1-Smeb that would scream the moment local spiked.
3. We were still waiting for stragglers to catch up from NOL.
The fleet was still forming up when the PL fleet started aligning to the gate in ZA9. We had a cloaky dictor in M5 on the 1-Smeb gate, as well as a dictor in 1-Smeb cloaked up off the M5 gate. I watched as the fleet reached full speed... and then they warped. "Alright fleet be at 0 on the 1-Smeb gate, enemy fleet is moving". Local dropped, and I warped to the M5 gate and jumped. Sure enough, their fleet was all around me, and took off right as I loaded grid. I warped to the 1-Smeb gate, on the way there local dropped. "Fleet is entering 1-Smeb" Vampiress announced. "Fleet jump 1-Smeb warp to M5 gate gogogo!' I barked into comms. Vampiress dropped bubbles and ran for his life, while my fleet made the short warp from Q-H gate to M5 gate. I started calling primaries, going for the Scorpion first. Unfortunately, our bubbling wasn't quite what we would have wanted and we only got 6 of their bs. Geddon, Raven, Geddon, Tempest, Raven, and Domi. On a happier note, we took no losses. My Falcon only took 1 volley from one of the Raven's before I jammed him up.
The enemy fleet fled to low sec, so we hit their POS. The POS only had 3 warp disruption batteries on it, with 4 large, 4 med, and 4 small auto cannon batteries. We took out the warp disruptors, then the guns. We left the POS for this week, as it had hardeners on it. Those would have made taking it down an eternity with the 50bs we had. Dreads in siege, maybe ten minutes. Tops.
Took the fleet back to NOL, re shipped and proceeded to camp Pr- for an hour. Got a Rapier, nailed a Rifter and a Cerb, but other than those it was slim pickings. So we went for a roam over to Querious. After 30 min of roaming and no targets (Goons just didn't want to play today), we got word of a Brick Squad gang in the area. We moved to intercept. Holding on the Pr- gate in IDH, with the Brick Squad gang next door on the FW gate, we jumped in to engage. Intelligence had told of a Brick Squad gang 25 strong mainly frigates. Our fleet had 30 in it scattered in Pr-. What happened was not what I had intended when I made the decision to engage.
Landing on the FW gate in Pr- I failed to load grid for 15 seconds. During this time I had to ask someone else to call targets as I could not. Upon loading grid I had damage to my ship (which was a Crow) and immediately died, the only thing I got off a shot on what was an Ares which had me locked. The Ares ended up dying but so did several of our fleet, including my Crow. The order to pull back was given and the fleet re formed. At this point I had to leave (duty called :) I handed over the reigns to another FC and didn't get on till later tonight. As I reflected on why our fleet failed, I narrowed it down to two big reasons. The first was fail intel. "90% frigs" was reported in intel. That was complete bs. As you can see looking at my killmail there was certainly other ships involved, including T3, T2, and larger T1 ships. The second huge reason was my fleet was not 100% active. Many pilots had been joining gang because of the Brick Squad gang in system, but were not ready to fight, not on comms or just afk. We should have re formed before engaging, as our fleet size was not an accurate representation of our active pilots. Those two factors led to a fail engagement. Overall, still a succesful day.
Now I find myself lighting cynos all over Fountain for our logistics guys, to pick up moon goo and fuel towers. Joy. As the title goes, don't ever understimate how rapidly things will grow. Small gangs can become multi alliance fleets in a heartbeat.
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