For all my experience, sometimes it means nothing. There are times I just shouldn't undock and earlier today was such a time. I've been struggling with a Migraine for the past couple of days and I should have been trying to sort it but when Keira reported 4 hostiles engaging two friends outside the station I decided to board "The Fifth Elephant™" and see what the fuss was all about.
The hostiles comprised of two Zealots, a Rapier and a Curse. A nice compact and efficient loadout. The Curse did my cap in, the Rapier held me still and the two Zealots exploded my beloved Sleipnir. My friends had docked up and there was no support around.
Congrats to the PAK pilots on a good kill, your setup is very good and one I shall avoid in future
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Oh no you didn't...
I've been very lazy recently, in fact I haven't left my home system in a week but that hasn't stopped the targets from coming to me. I've primarily been camping the local 2/10 Angel complex, greifing two particular pilots who have been running it without consequence for a long while.
Keira however wanted to see what all the fuss was about, why people were so willing to die in it. So she had the hangar crew assemble a Jaguar and went on her merry. She decided she would kill the Gistii frigates that were defending it and on her first run she was jumped by an Ishkur pilot.
"Oh no you didn't"
Keira is experienced and quickly started to move away from the Gallente assault frigate with her Afterburner, there was no way the Ishkur could keep up and Keira happily tanked the damage from his drones. All the while this was going on, I was en route in my Jaguar plex hunter named "Maurice" Keira then moved into an easy orbit as to keep the Ishkur in place for me, she had no tackling gear and needed to keep him interested and she did it perfectly, I warped in right on top of him and the carnage ensued. My lock resolved and dsiruptor came on line, guns went hot and at the same time, so did Keira's. He had an impressive little tank but to the combined firepower of the two Jaguars his hull gave way and a shiny explosion brought giggles from Keira.
I locked the pod and returned the pilot to the clone vats via express.
Keira's first final blow
I would later go on to lose my Jaguar to sentries after popping a Rifter outside the station and hanging around to pod him, an expensive lesson and one well learned, get out while the going is good.
An 8 man Rifter gang was doing the rounds, all pilots from the local Republic Military School and reports stated that they had just warped to the station so I boarded my Broadsword Heavy Interdiction Cruiser named "Guards! Guards!" and undocked. The reason for the choice of ship is that it easily tanks under sentry fire and I would need that whilst engaging 8 Rifters which if setup right can cause a lot of damage.
I locked 4 Rifters and they in kind replied, I opened up and one by one they fell, 4 had died when an old friend undocked his Armageddon battleship and joined the turkey shoot, another 4 ships down and a Rupture undocks and opens a Cyno to allow 2 Dreadnoughts to jump in. The party was over as we didn't have anything available to take on capitals but was fun while it lasted. Got to respect new pilots who come to lowsec looking for fun, it's very rare.
Hours later Keira's giggle broke up the monotony of the hangar as she announced over comms that she had scanned out a Raven in a mission, so I boarded "The Fifth Elephant" a Sleipnir class command battlecruiser and made my way to the plex gate, as I came out of warp so did the Raven's scout and the gig was up but Keira had gone back to HQ and boarded a Rapier recon ship, she would come back and wait cloaked inside the plex, simply negating the scout that would be placed on the plex entrance when the Raven came back.
As always, the Raven did come back, hesitant at first as I was in system and his scout did numerous runs into the plex to see if it was clear, the tension building and you could hear Keira grinding her teeth in anticipation. The Raven came out of warp and whilst under cloak Keira settled into an easy orbit, she uncloaked and primed her tackling gear, lock resolved and the warp disruptor went active, now the Raven was trapped I undocked and made all haste to the complex. Keira was taking damage from the Ravens cruise missiles but nothing to worry about, I even had time to pop the scout's shuttle on the way in. Once I got in and had the Raven locked and tackled, Keira departed, her shield systems having taken a battering.
The mission fit Raven is no match for my Sleipnir and soon its hull explodes in a brilliant light, Keira giggling as it does, she had returned specifically to see it.
Farmer Raven 1
An eventful day and quite satisfying, I slept with one eye open, Keira still in the plex, cloaked in case he decided to come back. He never did and the mission was failed.
A new day dawned and with it the death of another Farmer Raven, with the help of DeathStar, CPT NESSAJA and Keira's superb probing skills we crashed a Raven duo, one was busy looting and ended up on the wrong end of a Sleipnir, Astarte and Drake, the other in the next room of the complex was able to escape.
Farmer Raven 2
It's still early and more carnage is likely to ensue, Keira is busy salvaging the wrecks in the latest complex and will return in her Rapier to camp it
Keira however wanted to see what all the fuss was about, why people were so willing to die in it. So she had the hangar crew assemble a Jaguar and went on her merry. She decided she would kill the Gistii frigates that were defending it and on her first run she was jumped by an Ishkur pilot.
"Oh no you didn't"
Keira is experienced and quickly started to move away from the Gallente assault frigate with her Afterburner, there was no way the Ishkur could keep up and Keira happily tanked the damage from his drones. All the while this was going on, I was en route in my Jaguar plex hunter named "Maurice" Keira then moved into an easy orbit as to keep the Ishkur in place for me, she had no tackling gear and needed to keep him interested and she did it perfectly, I warped in right on top of him and the carnage ensued. My lock resolved and dsiruptor came on line, guns went hot and at the same time, so did Keira's. He had an impressive little tank but to the combined firepower of the two Jaguars his hull gave way and a shiny explosion brought giggles from Keira.
I locked the pod and returned the pilot to the clone vats via express.
Keira's first final blow
I would later go on to lose my Jaguar to sentries after popping a Rifter outside the station and hanging around to pod him, an expensive lesson and one well learned, get out while the going is good.
An 8 man Rifter gang was doing the rounds, all pilots from the local Republic Military School and reports stated that they had just warped to the station so I boarded my Broadsword Heavy Interdiction Cruiser named "Guards! Guards!" and undocked. The reason for the choice of ship is that it easily tanks under sentry fire and I would need that whilst engaging 8 Rifters which if setup right can cause a lot of damage.
I locked 4 Rifters and they in kind replied, I opened up and one by one they fell, 4 had died when an old friend undocked his Armageddon battleship and joined the turkey shoot, another 4 ships down and a Rupture undocks and opens a Cyno to allow 2 Dreadnoughts to jump in. The party was over as we didn't have anything available to take on capitals but was fun while it lasted. Got to respect new pilots who come to lowsec looking for fun, it's very rare.
Hours later Keira's giggle broke up the monotony of the hangar as she announced over comms that she had scanned out a Raven in a mission, so I boarded "The Fifth Elephant" a Sleipnir class command battlecruiser and made my way to the plex gate, as I came out of warp so did the Raven's scout and the gig was up but Keira had gone back to HQ and boarded a Rapier recon ship, she would come back and wait cloaked inside the plex, simply negating the scout that would be placed on the plex entrance when the Raven came back.
As always, the Raven did come back, hesitant at first as I was in system and his scout did numerous runs into the plex to see if it was clear, the tension building and you could hear Keira grinding her teeth in anticipation. The Raven came out of warp and whilst under cloak Keira settled into an easy orbit, she uncloaked and primed her tackling gear, lock resolved and the warp disruptor went active, now the Raven was trapped I undocked and made all haste to the complex. Keira was taking damage from the Ravens cruise missiles but nothing to worry about, I even had time to pop the scout's shuttle on the way in. Once I got in and had the Raven locked and tackled, Keira departed, her shield systems having taken a battering.
The mission fit Raven is no match for my Sleipnir and soon its hull explodes in a brilliant light, Keira giggling as it does, she had returned specifically to see it.
Farmer Raven 1
An eventful day and quite satisfying, I slept with one eye open, Keira still in the plex, cloaked in case he decided to come back. He never did and the mission was failed.
A new day dawned and with it the death of another Farmer Raven, with the help of DeathStar, CPT NESSAJA and Keira's superb probing skills we crashed a Raven duo, one was busy looting and ended up on the wrong end of a Sleipnir, Astarte and Drake, the other in the next room of the complex was able to escape.
Farmer Raven 2
It's still early and more carnage is likely to ensue, Keira is busy salvaging the wrecks in the latest complex and will return in her Rapier to camp it
Sunday, 16 March 2008
A prized kill...
There's few things a pirate hates more than a mark fitting warp core stabilizers, it's so infuriating when you track the prey down, using all your skill to locate his position, you warp in, prime your systems and poof, they just warp out. No skill, just push button and warp.
One such pilot has been annoying me for a while now, flying a Hawk class Assault Frigate and using the plex in my home system without a care in the universe. Today was to be different, or so I thought. I had a 2 point warp scrambler fitted and was waiting for him but first off I had another slippery target present itself, a crafty Rifter pilot who had up till today managed to evade me at every turn.
O0 O0 had been flying around Gus with a Rifter for a while now fitted with an accursed warp core stabiliser and it was today that I would finally tag him, I have recently setup a new plex hunting assault frigate using the Jaguar hull, slightly quicker than the Wolf, lighter and with two extra midslots which make adding additional tackling gear a blessing. I undocked after receiving word that O0 O0 was in the Angel complex, I made my way there and activated the gate. Bursting out of warp I was greeted by the rifter on my overview and I activated all tackling systems, pulsed the after burner to get in range and went to work, the Rifter is no match for the power of the Jaguar and it flashed into nothingness.
My targetting systems were quick to respond and I locked and vapourised the pod for good measure. I was not going to be messing around today, I'm in a strange mood.
Minutes Later he returned in another Rifter and met the same fate, the corpse now residing with it's clone in "The Morgue"
A long while later my mark entered sytem and Keira spotted his Hawk on scanner in the direction of the plex, with all speed I undocked and raced over there, it now becoming second nature. Coming out of warp in the deepspace my targeting systems lit up and locked the Hawk, quite an impressive tank, it was breaking and then my lock broke as he was warping out.
Double You Tea Effffff
Kane Rizzel > lol, two stabs now
romaan > always was =)
Kicking something in my pod in frustration I was woken out of my anger by a new target on my overview, a Rifter had just warped in and paid the price, it was dispatched quite quickly but unlike the Hawk, it fought back and stayed to the end, respect to that pilot, moreso when he returned for another round but met the same fate.
I wasn't done yet and knew the Hawk pilot wanted back in so that he could finish the complex, I docked up and fitted another warp disruptor for a total of 3 points, I wanted that Hawk dead.
Patience was required and soon I was rewarded by Keira reporting he was back, I was out at a safespot and aligned and as Keira reported him warping to the complex gate I warped in, I came out of warp and locked him but before my systems could get a lock the ancient warp gate flung him into the deadspace but I was ready for this and activated the gate a fraction of second later.
I burst out of warp a second after he did and targeted my mark, it resolved and a Warp Disruptor and Warp Scrambler both kicked in... it's on now.
The Hawks tank was impressive for a frigate sized ship but it succumbed to the Republic Fleet EMP rounds and Caldari Navy Gremlin Rockets.
Don't fit stabs, they make pirates angry
The escape pod was targetted and scrambled and I took a moment to reflect before vapourising it and scooping my prize, the corpse making a nice addition to "The Morgue"
Later on I offered a 1v1 Rupture fight to the Rifter pilot who died due to circumstance in the plex and I was suprised to come up against a nano fit and much respect to kerjin
That's my first 1v1 loss in a very long time and first loss in over a week and I'm glad it was in a fight such as this and not blobbed.
One such pilot has been annoying me for a while now, flying a Hawk class Assault Frigate and using the plex in my home system without a care in the universe. Today was to be different, or so I thought. I had a 2 point warp scrambler fitted and was waiting for him but first off I had another slippery target present itself, a crafty Rifter pilot who had up till today managed to evade me at every turn.
O0 O0 had been flying around Gus with a Rifter for a while now fitted with an accursed warp core stabiliser and it was today that I would finally tag him, I have recently setup a new plex hunting assault frigate using the Jaguar hull, slightly quicker than the Wolf, lighter and with two extra midslots which make adding additional tackling gear a blessing. I undocked after receiving word that O0 O0 was in the Angel complex, I made my way there and activated the gate. Bursting out of warp I was greeted by the rifter on my overview and I activated all tackling systems, pulsed the after burner to get in range and went to work, the Rifter is no match for the power of the Jaguar and it flashed into nothingness.
My targetting systems were quick to respond and I locked and vapourised the pod for good measure. I was not going to be messing around today, I'm in a strange mood.
Minutes Later he returned in another Rifter and met the same fate, the corpse now residing with it's clone in "The Morgue"
A long while later my mark entered sytem and Keira spotted his Hawk on scanner in the direction of the plex, with all speed I undocked and raced over there, it now becoming second nature. Coming out of warp in the deepspace my targeting systems lit up and locked the Hawk, quite an impressive tank, it was breaking and then my lock broke as he was warping out.
Double You Tea Effffff
Kane Rizzel > lol, two stabs now
romaan > always was =)
Kicking something in my pod in frustration I was woken out of my anger by a new target on my overview, a Rifter had just warped in and paid the price, it was dispatched quite quickly but unlike the Hawk, it fought back and stayed to the end, respect to that pilot, moreso when he returned for another round but met the same fate.
I wasn't done yet and knew the Hawk pilot wanted back in so that he could finish the complex, I docked up and fitted another warp disruptor for a total of 3 points, I wanted that Hawk dead.
Patience was required and soon I was rewarded by Keira reporting he was back, I was out at a safespot and aligned and as Keira reported him warping to the complex gate I warped in, I came out of warp and locked him but before my systems could get a lock the ancient warp gate flung him into the deadspace but I was ready for this and activated the gate a fraction of second later.
I burst out of warp a second after he did and targeted my mark, it resolved and a Warp Disruptor and Warp Scrambler both kicked in... it's on now.
The Hawks tank was impressive for a frigate sized ship but it succumbed to the Republic Fleet EMP rounds and Caldari Navy Gremlin Rockets.
Don't fit stabs, they make pirates angry
The escape pod was targetted and scrambled and I took a moment to reflect before vapourising it and scooping my prize, the corpse making a nice addition to "The Morgue"
Later on I offered a 1v1 Rupture fight to the Rifter pilot who died due to circumstance in the plex and I was suprised to come up against a nano fit and much respect to kerjin
That's my first 1v1 loss in a very long time and first loss in over a week and I'm glad it was in a fight such as this and not blobbed.
Saturday, 15 March 2008
Back to basics...
The last few days have been fun, I have had my fill of gang combat and was looking to get back into frigates and their variants for some good old fashioned anarchy. I have used the Rifter and Plex Wolf to great effect these past few days and only ventured out of my home system once, granted I was drunk and undocked a Rapier but I managed two kills, an Ishkur and Cormorant and had a good fight with two Ruptures before they managed to warp out, the alcohol effecting my reflexes. (I'm sticking by that story)
My numbers for the two days look decent, 28 kills including 13 pods, their corpses now residing in "The Morgue" 7 Rifters, 2 Ishkur, Cormorant, Scythe, Merlin, Catalyst, Slasher and Manticore all going down for zero losses on my part.
Looking at my Killboard it appears that these kills brought another milestone, 600 kills with no end in sight. Of course numbers don't mean much, the fight is what matters and I had a few good 1v1 Rifter fights particularily with an up and coming Pirate called Izzy Lizzy, an Eve University graduate and recent convert to the dark side.
Some good loot, a mixture of Tech 2 and Complex which should fetch much ISK in the trade hub of Rens when it gets moved there and put on the market.
I sit on my bunk, head still dazed from last nights excess, I take some more painkillers and prepare for the numb
My numbers for the two days look decent, 28 kills including 13 pods, their corpses now residing in "The Morgue" 7 Rifters, 2 Ishkur, Cormorant, Scythe, Merlin, Catalyst, Slasher and Manticore all going down for zero losses on my part.
Looking at my Killboard it appears that these kills brought another milestone, 600 kills with no end in sight. Of course numbers don't mean much, the fight is what matters and I had a few good 1v1 Rifter fights particularily with an up and coming Pirate called Izzy Lizzy, an Eve University graduate and recent convert to the dark side.
Some good loot, a mixture of Tech 2 and Complex which should fetch much ISK in the trade hub of Rens when it gets moved there and put on the market.
I sit on my bunk, head still dazed from last nights excess, I take some more painkillers and prepare for the numb
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Memories...
CARRIER DOWN
The hangar at home is cold, it's always cold, but I like it that way, keeps you keen, sharpens the senses. I'm sitting on a stack of Republic Fleet EMP shells watching Keira make fun of the deck hands as they load Karma. I should be more specific and say Karma IV . The first Karma had served me well and thinking back on her I'm reminded of her finest moment.
About 3 months ago, a fine Saturday evening, I was hanging around in station talking to some friends when someone got a call, Anti Pirates had been spotted in a system nearby and a fleet was being assembled to go have some fun.
I had a long day at that point checking inventory and making sure Keira didn't get into trouble but the chance for some explosions always makes me happy and woke me up sufficiently to join the party.
I boarded Karma and did a systems check, made sure the deck hands had loaded the correct ammo and undocked. Heading to the gate I was trying to gather as much intel as possible. The anti pirate gang was sizeable, with battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, with an interceptor thrown in for good measure.
Our fleet consisted of two battleships and seven battlecruisers, six of those the mighty Hurricane class.
With some intial trouble trying to connect to voice comms I eventually found the gang next door trying to bait the anti pies into action. From memory the Anti Pies had:
1xTempest
1xMaelstrom
1xMegathron
1xMyrmidon
1xHurricane
1xCyclone
1x Ares
We initially had:
6xHurricanes
1xTyphoon
1xAbbadon
1xBrutix
At this point we had our Abbadon on the station trying to bait their fleet into aggroing, a bit of cat and mouse later and they dropped a Thanatos carrier on us, a quick decision was made and our two Battleship pilots happened to have Archon Carriers in System, a quick dock later they were ready and the decision to engage the enemy carrier came down from the FC.
All hurricanes were ordered to bump the Thanatos , with the carrier now 6km off the station, all guns focused fire, I was duel neuting and shooting with all my drones out, continuosly making bumping runs. The Anti Pie fleet undocked and watched helplessly as we tore the Thanatos apart. We had a decision to make at this point as it entered hull, would we ransom?
FUCK NO, SHINY EXPLOSION
My first lowsec carrier kill
While hanging about popping the vultures around the wreck, a Sleipnir undocks and died quicker than you can say "Who's your daddy" under the firepower amassed.
General revelry ensued and amazement that the Anti Pies never even tried to help their carrier.
Going back home and just chilling we get a call from a Vagabond pilot tackling a Munnin in a system one jump out, off we go and engage, Munnin almost down, Myrmidon warps in and starts neuting and NOSsing our Hurricanes , Munnin goes down and then Myrm dies to some epic firepower.
EPIC DAYS ARE MADE OF THIS
Another of my better days is as follows:
Today was a beautiful day, for the first time in a very long time I had Friday off, so I decided to do a spot of hunting. I undocked a Rifter and immediately saw a Thrasher on scan, appeared to be in a plex. Now plexes don't play nice with MWDs but I needed to move fast, warped to the gate and activated it, warped in and the thrasher was 30km, from me, totally oblivious to my presence I sneaked up on him and activated Disruptor, web and all guns, he died quite quickly and I snapped up his pod for good measure.
Good start I thought as I sat in the plex waiting for my GCC to expire (Rifters don't do well against sentries, don't ask how I know)
Once GCC was up I went next door to Eifer and scanned down a Rifter pilot using the on board scanner, within seconds I was on top of him and made his ship all shiny like and sent him back to the clone vats.
Another GCC wait later and I headed back home to drop off loot and corpses, Sitting in station I receive a report that there is a Megathron camping the station and was asked to join two other pilots in taking him out, I boarded a Gank Hurricane and waited for the signal to undock. It came as the Astarte and Typhoon engaged, I undocked and joined the battle, it was quite intense as the Mega pilot was very experienced, 03 player in a good setup. The Typhoon died mere seconds before the Mega exploded. Unfortunately I missed the pod.
Once more next door I'm in a Rifter and scan out a Thrasher, I warp in and the ship and pod is dispatched without being targeted back o_0 AFK in lowsec, GCC expires and I'm back home
Hanging out in station Keira undocked in her Cheetah covops and warped to a scan spot high above the station, from there she could use the on board scanner to see the whole system, she spied an Enyo and Manticore on the HUD, mmm, in the plex. Knowing they had some good firepower I boarded a Wolf class Assault Frigate and loaded an Afterburner for the Plex, undocked and headed out. I got to the gate and using the on board scanner determined they were still there.
Now or never I said to myself and activated the gate, the Enyo is a good challenge for the Wolf but if the Manticore had range on me it would be over very quickly.
Fortune favors the brave and I had come out of warp right on top of the Manti with Enyo 40km away. Manti was locked and disintegrated under fire, I snapped up the pod for god measure and activated my afterburner towards the Enyo, he had put one Hobgoblin drone on me but I destroyed it without even blinking. Once on top of the Enyo the fight was over in seconds. Missed his pod but you can't have everything. I grabbed the loot, which was very nice and headed home.
Docked up and chatting in over various channels I received intel on a bait ship sitting on a high sec entrance point, said bait ship had been used before by a CVA pilot and the Intel was confirmed that once the bait was taken he would jump in with a Battleship. A hastily assembled gang of myself in a Broadsword, 2 x Hurricanes, a Tempest, an Astarte and a Megathron headed to a gate in the adjacent system, one of our Hurricanes would warp in and spring the trap. Call came over comms and we jumped in and warped in, the trap consisted of a Thorax as bait and a Megathron. We all engaged and the Megathron went down very, very quickly, I had tackled the Thorax too and he went down even quicker with his pod being quickly snagged and popped. Slavers in Heimatar? not on our watch :P
Loot was grabbed as we held the field and those of us with GCC headed to safe spots, the call came in that our Mega pilot had just been engaged on the gate by a Tempest, he was in serious trouble and the gang had separated, urgent “HOLD ON, WE'RE EN ROUTE” went over comm channels as the gang tried to hastily go in and help, all the while I was thinking “This has to be another trap”
most of the gang had come out of warp just as our Megathron popped but revenge was quick and ruthless, the Tempest went down, he was using ECM drones and had our Mega jammed for the entire engagement, I was then next to get the ECM drone loving but they only got one cycle off on me. This time loot was grabbed again and pilots warped to safe spots but unlike last time all stayed in system. Holds were full and the Mega pilot had gone back to his base to grab a Dominix.
Now the hunt peaks, the Domi is grabbing loot and we hear “Guys, Navy Raven on gate, engaging”
Holy shit Faction Battleship, our ships can't enter warp fast enough and the warp to the gate seems to take for fucking ever, finally I come out of warp, 40km away, hit the MWD and headed straight for the Faction ship hoping to get a good bump off, the Domi is doing it's best to bump it from the gate.
I hit the Raven like a fluffy pillow but we are 7km from the gate, I hit the Stasis Web II and open up with all my guns, the rest of the gang joins in and the Raven starts to melt. All this time our gang is under sentry fire but the red mist has descended and nothing but the death of the Faction Raven is on our minds. It pops and a “FUCK YEAH” is heard over comms.
I snap up the pod for good measure and warp out. The gang grabs the loot and decision is made to dock up as we would be getting more attention now that the system is glowing on the map.
Sitting in station Keira shouts out over comms that there's an Incursus and two Kestrels in the plex, so into a Wolf again and off I go, warping in there's a Malediction engaging them, a Pirate I've known for a while and get on well with but he had to warp out as he wasn't able to use his MWD, I targeted the Incursus first and dispatched him quickly, followed by one of the in range Kestrels, while burning towards the last kestrel the pods of the other two hadn't warped out so I locked them and sent them home via clone express. Kestrel flashed into nothingness shortly after followed by his pod.
Later on caught another Rifter in a belt, missed his pod though
I was sitting docked up and watching movies, kinda drained from much carnage when Keira spotted a Claymore sitting 60km off station. I reported this in an Intel channel but there was very little awake. Two other pilots woke up enough to express interest in taking it on, I undocked in my Shield Gank Hurricane and MWD'd towards it, it woke up and started to move at over 2km/s, damn I thought, not going to catch it, just then an Ishtar decloaked just off my port side and started in on me, so I kindly returned the favour and it died oh so quick and even allowed me to pop his pod, I started chasing after the Claymore again and was joined by a Sleipnir and another Hurricane by the time I got him webbed down I was already deep in hull from sentry fire, I had to warp out just as the Claymore popped.
I had docked up to repair when the other Hurricane reported being engaged by a Vagabond, I undocked and saw them on station, MWD goes active and I burn towards the Vaga to bump it off the station, guns go live and dual neuts till I'm in web range, Vaga goes pop.
I'm drained atm but absolutely stoked
So, revised list for the day so far:
2xRifter (Solo)
2xThrasher (Solo)
2xMegathron
1xEnyo (Solo)
1xManticore (Solo)
1xTempest
1xNavy Raven
1xIncursus (Solo)
2xKestrel (Solo)
1xIshtar (Solo)
1xClaymore
1xVagabond
10xPods
Using Rifter, Wolf, Hurricane and Broadsword
The Ishtar left me a nice Domination Warp Disruptor and loads of t2 drones and mods
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
Complexity of Complexes
What a day, I sit in my hangar and try to run the events through my head, I have a slight headache but nothing I'm not used to.
I take a sip of the tea sitting on the table and light a cigarette, where do I start?
Well as usual, Keira was up bright and early, that woman is really annoying, most morning people are. I have never been good at mornings, one of my many failings but Keira was insistant that I get my ass into something that could go into one of our local Angel Complexes, I boarded a Wolf class assualt frigate and undocked. Keira had spotted two targets, a Rifter in one plex and a Slasher in another. I decided to target the Rifter pilot first as he was the most experienced from the reports we were able to gather, I warped to the plex entrance and activated the ancient warp gate, it slung me into warp and after a few moments I re-entered normal space and the Rifter was sitting dead still as my systems adjusted after the warp, target lock resolved and the Rifter melted, I locked and warp disrupted the pod and opened convo to offer ransom "10million ISK and the pod goes free" a reasonable request considering the age and experience of the pilot, the answer? "Fuck Off"
Now that wasn't nice, so I relieved the pilot of his pod after terminating the conversation, scooping his corpse into my hold to add to the collection, his loot was also scooped and I warped out.
My next target was in a Slasher in the other plex and I caught him just as he finished off the last Angel frigate, his fragile frigate no match for the power of the Wolf, his pod was locked, and scrambled, kinda like breakfast this morning.
I docked up and placed the two corpses in "The Morgue" and boarded a Jaguar class assault frigate, there was a Rifter ratting in the asteroid belts and I wanted to introduce him to my 150mm autocannons, I caught the pilot napping and soon his corpse was floating in space, scooped and addd to the collection.
Keira came over comms again and said she had spotted a Flycatcher class Interdiction destroyer in the first complex and I made all haste back to the station to grab the Wolf, the Jaguar I was in was not setup for plex hunting.
I undocked and made my way to the plex once again, activating the gate and being shot through to the deadspace where the afterburner fitted to the Wolf would prove invaluable. I burst out of warp and my systems resolved to show the Flycatcher over 50km away fighting Gistii frigates, I flicked the afterburner into life and started to close the distance, every second would count and it seemed like an eternity till I had closed to within 24km and could activate my warp disruptor, lock resolved and the disruptor did its job and the Interdictor was now trapped, I loaded Republic Fleet EMP shells into my guns and closed to within firing range and opened up, the Flycatcher returned lock and opened fire itself but was deep in structure and barely denting my shields, a flash and his escape pod was jettisoned, the wreck of the elite destroyer smoldering in space, I locked his pod and opened convo "10million and the pod goes free", he countered with "9Million" Now I really hate when someone tries to negotiate when they are in no position to do so, don't waste time, so I said "11million, don't try to negotiate" again he countered with "9million"
I closed convo and vapourised his pod, scooping his corpse to my hold.
Now you might say I lost out on 9million ISK but it's the principle for me, I don't negotiate, I'm a Pirate not a salesman.
I docked up and had a much needed cigarette and tea when Keira shouted over comms that she had probed out 3 Vexors in a mission, I raced to "The Fifth Elephant" my Slepnir class Commandship and undocked, set warp towards Keira's position and primed my weapons and tackling systems, I burst out of warp on top of the acceleration gate and activated it, being flung into the mission deadspace. Coming out of warp I was greeted by three targets, three Vexor cruisers to be exact. 3 on 1 would have been an epic fight, my lock resolved on all 3, I primaried the closest and set my disruptor on him, the other 2 warped out and left their friend to die, his corpse joining those already collected today.
I warped out to a safespot and waited, the other 2 returned onto scan but they had a scout on the gate now, the Vexor pilot who died in the plex had recloned and boarded a rookie ship to act as an early warning, I warped in and dispatched him again, grabbing the corpse in the process, I hastily returned to base to Grab a recon ship with a cloaking system that would allow me to enter the complex and wait for them to return, bypassing the scout entirely.
With a bit of patience they did return, the scout first, and then the two Vexors, I uncloaked the Rapier and targeted both, setting tackling systems on one whilst the other warped out, another Vexor down but he managed to warp his pod out.
I recloaked and waited, the scout came into the plex twice to see if I was about and soon the 3rd and last Vexor would return to his death.
I spent the rest of the day cloaked in the plex with the Rapier waiting for them to return, they popped into local numerous times but I suspect that seeing me there scared them off, I did grab a Thrasher in a belt later using the Rapier and another Rifter in one of the plexes using my trusty Wolf, both corpses now residing amongst the collection.
All in all 18 kills including 8 pods using 4 different ships, no losses for me, a good day but kind of unsatisfying. I'm drained and sitting here in my hangar I hope for better days.
I turn on the soundsystem and slump back into my bunk, the music soothing me further.
Darkness envelopes me and a good nights sleep should help ease my unease.
I take a sip of the tea sitting on the table and light a cigarette, where do I start?
Well as usual, Keira was up bright and early, that woman is really annoying, most morning people are. I have never been good at mornings, one of my many failings but Keira was insistant that I get my ass into something that could go into one of our local Angel Complexes, I boarded a Wolf class assualt frigate and undocked. Keira had spotted two targets, a Rifter in one plex and a Slasher in another. I decided to target the Rifter pilot first as he was the most experienced from the reports we were able to gather, I warped to the plex entrance and activated the ancient warp gate, it slung me into warp and after a few moments I re-entered normal space and the Rifter was sitting dead still as my systems adjusted after the warp, target lock resolved and the Rifter melted, I locked and warp disrupted the pod and opened convo to offer ransom "10million ISK and the pod goes free" a reasonable request considering the age and experience of the pilot, the answer? "Fuck Off"
Now that wasn't nice, so I relieved the pilot of his pod after terminating the conversation, scooping his corpse into my hold to add to the collection, his loot was also scooped and I warped out.
My next target was in a Slasher in the other plex and I caught him just as he finished off the last Angel frigate, his fragile frigate no match for the power of the Wolf, his pod was locked, and scrambled, kinda like breakfast this morning.
I docked up and placed the two corpses in "The Morgue" and boarded a Jaguar class assault frigate, there was a Rifter ratting in the asteroid belts and I wanted to introduce him to my 150mm autocannons, I caught the pilot napping and soon his corpse was floating in space, scooped and addd to the collection.
Keira came over comms again and said she had spotted a Flycatcher class Interdiction destroyer in the first complex and I made all haste back to the station to grab the Wolf, the Jaguar I was in was not setup for plex hunting.
I undocked and made my way to the plex once again, activating the gate and being shot through to the deadspace where the afterburner fitted to the Wolf would prove invaluable. I burst out of warp and my systems resolved to show the Flycatcher over 50km away fighting Gistii frigates, I flicked the afterburner into life and started to close the distance, every second would count and it seemed like an eternity till I had closed to within 24km and could activate my warp disruptor, lock resolved and the disruptor did its job and the Interdictor was now trapped, I loaded Republic Fleet EMP shells into my guns and closed to within firing range and opened up, the Flycatcher returned lock and opened fire itself but was deep in structure and barely denting my shields, a flash and his escape pod was jettisoned, the wreck of the elite destroyer smoldering in space, I locked his pod and opened convo "10million and the pod goes free", he countered with "9Million" Now I really hate when someone tries to negotiate when they are in no position to do so, don't waste time, so I said "11million, don't try to negotiate" again he countered with "9million"
I closed convo and vapourised his pod, scooping his corpse to my hold.
Now you might say I lost out on 9million ISK but it's the principle for me, I don't negotiate, I'm a Pirate not a salesman.
I docked up and had a much needed cigarette and tea when Keira shouted over comms that she had probed out 3 Vexors in a mission, I raced to "The Fifth Elephant" my Slepnir class Commandship and undocked, set warp towards Keira's position and primed my weapons and tackling systems, I burst out of warp on top of the acceleration gate and activated it, being flung into the mission deadspace. Coming out of warp I was greeted by three targets, three Vexor cruisers to be exact. 3 on 1 would have been an epic fight, my lock resolved on all 3, I primaried the closest and set my disruptor on him, the other 2 warped out and left their friend to die, his corpse joining those already collected today.
I warped out to a safespot and waited, the other 2 returned onto scan but they had a scout on the gate now, the Vexor pilot who died in the plex had recloned and boarded a rookie ship to act as an early warning, I warped in and dispatched him again, grabbing the corpse in the process, I hastily returned to base to Grab a recon ship with a cloaking system that would allow me to enter the complex and wait for them to return, bypassing the scout entirely.
With a bit of patience they did return, the scout first, and then the two Vexors, I uncloaked the Rapier and targeted both, setting tackling systems on one whilst the other warped out, another Vexor down but he managed to warp his pod out.
I recloaked and waited, the scout came into the plex twice to see if I was about and soon the 3rd and last Vexor would return to his death.
I spent the rest of the day cloaked in the plex with the Rapier waiting for them to return, they popped into local numerous times but I suspect that seeing me there scared them off, I did grab a Thrasher in a belt later using the Rapier and another Rifter in one of the plexes using my trusty Wolf, both corpses now residing amongst the collection.
All in all 18 kills including 8 pods using 4 different ships, no losses for me, a good day but kind of unsatisfying. I'm drained and sitting here in my hangar I hope for better days.
I turn on the soundsystem and slump back into my bunk, the music soothing me further.
Darkness envelopes me and a good nights sleep should help ease my unease.
Monday, 10 March 2008
AAAAAAARRRRRGGGGZOOOOOOOOM
Been a mixed day for me, I boarded my favourite ship, a Rifter and headed out into the black to see what was about. Heading to my favourite haunt I was hopeful of a good day.
Sitting at a safespot in a central spot as to scan all the belts I spotted a Stilleto interceptor hanging about, I decided I was going to take it on and warped to where the scanner indicated he would be.
Coming out of warp my overview adjusted to the re-emergance into normal space and showed the Interceptor about 80km out. Now I know from experience that the Stilleto is fast and I would need to web it to do any damage but I also knew that it would need to come into web range to do any damage to me.
I rolled the dice and started to close the distance, my overview showed the Stilleto pilot activated his MWD and accelerated to over 5km/s, he closed very quickly and settled into a 15km orbit, I started to move in straight lines, activating my own mwd and hitting over 2km/s which started to elipse the orbit of the fast interceptor, he was going in and out of web range but too fast for me to catch a hold of him.
I did have an ace in the hole though and I was going to use it but my overview started to light up as the Interceptors friends dropped out of warp, a Vexor, a Rifter and a Punisher. Damn, this was going to be tricky but I laid my cards on the table and overheated my web, snaring the nimble interceptor and my guns started doing massive damage to the fragile craft, however his friends were on top of me now and under sustained fire I lost my rifter, one more salvo from me would have ended the Stilleto's evening but the Vexor's Hobgoblin IIs and combined firepower from two frigates and the Stilleto changed those plans.
I warped my pod out and exchanged a bitter GF in local, I wasn't happy but wasn't going to resort to smack. An epic fight that traversed over 100km was ended by party crashers.
Was the Stilleto pilot wrong to call in his friends? No, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. That fight was stolen from me, I had done everything right, tactical choices were spot on, overloading the web at the critical moment, everything, perfect until I died. Well not really perfect.
I returned home and had my crew setup another Rifter, I headed on out again and saw the little gang leave Eifer back to highsec. A bit later I convoed a Metafarmers pilot in local and asked if he wanted a 1v1, he took it and was a good fight but I will back myself in any Rifter v Rifter fight. He did suprise me in using a NOS but my guns did the job for me. Had a very good convo with him after on tactics/fitting and eventually left back to HQ.
Later on in Gusandall I spotted another Rifter pilot and again offered a 1v1, he accepted and we took the fight to a planet, not the safest spot but I wasn't expecting the fight to last too long. It didn't but again had a good convo with the pilot after and allowed him to collect his belongings from his wreck. I'm not a heartless bastard, especially when pilots show an interest in 1v1 honourable PvP.
Respect to both Rhak Amharr from Metafarmers and Akkrillo from Dread Lords
Later on in the day I contacted my friend Soup Spoon and asked him if he'd like to help me set some new speed records, he obliged and we set three new class records.
Interdictor
Heavy Interdictor
Electronic Attack Ship
Thanks again Soup, your Leadership skills are epic.
I then started chatting to a local called Snake Boy, an up and coming pirate who has been soloing it up in the area, flying in mixed gangs and trying to learn as much as he can. We had a small duel and the outcome was quite predictable but we agreed not to destroy ships and I managed to deactivate my weapons just in time before he popped, we talked for a long while on fittings and tactics before I decided to call it a night. I really enjoy chatting to players who want to learn and am always willing to dispense any advice or knowledge I can. Being a solo pirate is tough and speaking to interesting and interested people always makes the loneliness of space bearable.
Ching Ching
Almost forgot, I tracked a Catalyst to a belt in Gusandall earlier in the day, spotted a Thrasher too and they both seemed experienced pilots so I boarded a Rupture cruiser and zeroed in on his location, he was dispatched with ease and the Thrasher never arrived. The Catalyst did do me the favour of destroying a Domination spawn and left the loot for me to collect. Some faction ammo, some tags, the usual but also a Domination Medium Proton Smartbomb, approximately 10million ISK worth.
Not bad for a few seconds work.
I did get to pop the Thrasher pilot outside the station but I cheated and used a Broadsword for that one :P
Also got a Rifter outside the station later whilst in a Jaguar, was expecting the pilot to undock in a Stilleto but he changed ships, too bad but a kill is a kill
Sitting at a safespot in a central spot as to scan all the belts I spotted a Stilleto interceptor hanging about, I decided I was going to take it on and warped to where the scanner indicated he would be.
Coming out of warp my overview adjusted to the re-emergance into normal space and showed the Interceptor about 80km out. Now I know from experience that the Stilleto is fast and I would need to web it to do any damage but I also knew that it would need to come into web range to do any damage to me.
I rolled the dice and started to close the distance, my overview showed the Stilleto pilot activated his MWD and accelerated to over 5km/s, he closed very quickly and settled into a 15km orbit, I started to move in straight lines, activating my own mwd and hitting over 2km/s which started to elipse the orbit of the fast interceptor, he was going in and out of web range but too fast for me to catch a hold of him.
I did have an ace in the hole though and I was going to use it but my overview started to light up as the Interceptors friends dropped out of warp, a Vexor, a Rifter and a Punisher. Damn, this was going to be tricky but I laid my cards on the table and overheated my web, snaring the nimble interceptor and my guns started doing massive damage to the fragile craft, however his friends were on top of me now and under sustained fire I lost my rifter, one more salvo from me would have ended the Stilleto's evening but the Vexor's Hobgoblin IIs and combined firepower from two frigates and the Stilleto changed those plans.
I warped my pod out and exchanged a bitter GF in local, I wasn't happy but wasn't going to resort to smack. An epic fight that traversed over 100km was ended by party crashers.
Was the Stilleto pilot wrong to call in his friends? No, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. That fight was stolen from me, I had done everything right, tactical choices were spot on, overloading the web at the critical moment, everything, perfect until I died. Well not really perfect.
I returned home and had my crew setup another Rifter, I headed on out again and saw the little gang leave Eifer back to highsec. A bit later I convoed a Metafarmers pilot in local and asked if he wanted a 1v1, he took it and was a good fight but I will back myself in any Rifter v Rifter fight. He did suprise me in using a NOS but my guns did the job for me. Had a very good convo with him after on tactics/fitting and eventually left back to HQ.
Later on in Gusandall I spotted another Rifter pilot and again offered a 1v1, he accepted and we took the fight to a planet, not the safest spot but I wasn't expecting the fight to last too long. It didn't but again had a good convo with the pilot after and allowed him to collect his belongings from his wreck. I'm not a heartless bastard, especially when pilots show an interest in 1v1 honourable PvP.
Respect to both Rhak Amharr from Metafarmers and Akkrillo from Dread Lords
Later on in the day I contacted my friend Soup Spoon and asked him if he'd like to help me set some new speed records, he obliged and we set three new class records.
Interdictor
Heavy Interdictor
Electronic Attack Ship
Thanks again Soup, your Leadership skills are epic.
I then started chatting to a local called Snake Boy, an up and coming pirate who has been soloing it up in the area, flying in mixed gangs and trying to learn as much as he can. We had a small duel and the outcome was quite predictable but we agreed not to destroy ships and I managed to deactivate my weapons just in time before he popped, we talked for a long while on fittings and tactics before I decided to call it a night. I really enjoy chatting to players who want to learn and am always willing to dispense any advice or knowledge I can. Being a solo pirate is tough and speaking to interesting and interested people always makes the loneliness of space bearable.
Ching Ching
Almost forgot, I tracked a Catalyst to a belt in Gusandall earlier in the day, spotted a Thrasher too and they both seemed experienced pilots so I boarded a Rupture cruiser and zeroed in on his location, he was dispatched with ease and the Thrasher never arrived. The Catalyst did do me the favour of destroying a Domination spawn and left the loot for me to collect. Some faction ammo, some tags, the usual but also a Domination Medium Proton Smartbomb, approximately 10million ISK worth.
Not bad for a few seconds work.
I did get to pop the Thrasher pilot outside the station but I cheated and used a Broadsword for that one :P
Also got a Rifter outside the station later whilst in a Jaguar, was expecting the pilot to undock in a Stilleto but he changed ships, too bad but a kill is a kill
Thursday, 6 March 2008
Put a little zoom in your life
Ever since the first time I fitted a Microwarp Drive to a Rifter and broke 1km/s I wanted to go fast, faster than anyone else. This has been the driving force behind much of what I have done in the EVE universe up until I turned to the dark side.
I saved and I trained to get the modules and skills needed to break the Interceptor record, held by such pilots as Angelus X and Spartac0 from the Band of Brothers Alliance, I was always in awe at there speed when we encountered them when my old corp was in Huzzah Federation and later the Ascendant Frontier Alliance and it was at this point where I set my first milestone. I had just finished training for Interceptors and had bought a shiny Claw, the Minmatar equivelant of the Roadrunner from those goofy cartoon holoreels. With the help of some corpmates I was lent a Gistii A-type 1MN Microwarp Drive, the top of the line if you absolutely need to go fast as possible Microwarp Drive available. Now my skills weren't very good at the time and I had no implants but a corpmate and very good friend, Soup Spoon, offered his skills in Skirmish Warfare to help boost my speed. Orbiting a Deathstar POS in our home system at over 7km/s was awesome, another corpmate was firing heavy missiles at me and they formed a conga line behind as they struggled to keep up.
I was hooked, I wanted more, it was like a drug.
Every ISK I earned was being set aside to buy implants, pirate implants, Snakes to be more exact. I ratted for many hours and would run security on corp mining ops to earn the isk, spending hours orbiting a gate whilst chatting in corp channels, I also helped corp members with hauling for mining and industry to scrape together what I could. At this time the corp was also saving to build an outpost so a lot of donations went that way and then the First Great War broke out, Band of Brothers invaded ASCN territory with the sole purpose of eradicating us. All ISK making was put aside and I joined my corpmates in battle but as a small corp who wasn't capable of fielding capital ships or many t2 snipers we were asigned with the task of harrasing BoB in Delve, a campaign in which I achieved another milestone, my first solo kill but that's for another time.
ASCN fell and we went looking for a new home and that happened to be in The Great Wildlands, I won't go into how we got there but it was all good until our then CEO went crazy and decided not only to steal everything we had worked towards but to also kick us all from the corp and take away our identity. Instead of collapsing it drew the affected pilots closer together and within 24 hours we were all flying under a new banner. Ars ex Discordia was born and has gone from strength to strength. It was under this banner that I broke my old record, again with Soup Spoon's help, a full set of Snake implants and better skills I achieved a speed just under 24km/s.
This record was set in Rens of all places, a spiritual home for me and a place I was spending a lot of time in, as we were part of Goonswarm and war targets were everywhere, PvP on tap.
My most noteable kill at the time was The CEO of Beyond Divinity's Munnin in my very first outing with the Vagabond heavy assault cruiser.
Shortly after all this I became disillusioned at alliance life and making a hard choice I dropped roles and left ARSED to become a Pirate, I did however stay in touch with many of my old corpmates and this allowed me to break the record again but this time Soup's skills were maxed out, along with my own. Overheating and boosters were also available and all these together were going to make this special.
The ship choice was difficult, I spent long hours comparing the different ships that could be used, the Caldari Crow, light, agile, fast but restricted by only three lowslots for speed modules, the Minmatar Claw, four lowslots but heavier and the Ammar Crusader, same lowslots as the Claw but lighter and more agile making it the ship of choice for this attempt.
The modules were all in place, the addition of a Shaqil's Speed Enhancer implant boosting me even further.
In a secret 0.0 location Soup and I started our attempt, hitting the MWD I accelerated to 28km/s, wow, new personal best, Soup hit his Gang mods, I consumed a Strong X-Instinct booster and overheated the Gistii MWD, I had to blink twice to make sure I wasn't dreaming, but my HUD read 63,762m/s. I had just smashed Spartac0's interceptor record and achieved the second fastest recorded speed in the universe, the fastest being held by Spartac0 in a Vagabond with Officer fittings and oversized MWD but I was happy in the knowledge that in my class I was the fastest and was also combat capable at the same time.
The speed was achieved using the optimal setup and the best possible modules for the job and can only ever be equalled until something new comes out and you can bet ISK on it I will be there to make sure I hold on to this particular record
All the ship class records can be seen here
I'd like to thank Soup Spoon personally for helping me every step of the way, from forcing me to finish my learning skills back in PMV to providing the command bonus needed to push it past the edge.
He's also responsible for me becoming a Pod Pilot, along with Estar Thorongil. So any hatemail in future should be forwarded to them please :D
I saved and I trained to get the modules and skills needed to break the Interceptor record, held by such pilots as Angelus X and Spartac0 from the Band of Brothers Alliance, I was always in awe at there speed when we encountered them when my old corp was in Huzzah Federation and later the Ascendant Frontier Alliance and it was at this point where I set my first milestone. I had just finished training for Interceptors and had bought a shiny Claw, the Minmatar equivelant of the Roadrunner from those goofy cartoon holoreels. With the help of some corpmates I was lent a Gistii A-type 1MN Microwarp Drive, the top of the line if you absolutely need to go fast as possible Microwarp Drive available. Now my skills weren't very good at the time and I had no implants but a corpmate and very good friend, Soup Spoon, offered his skills in Skirmish Warfare to help boost my speed. Orbiting a Deathstar POS in our home system at over 7km/s was awesome, another corpmate was firing heavy missiles at me and they formed a conga line behind as they struggled to keep up.
I was hooked, I wanted more, it was like a drug.
Every ISK I earned was being set aside to buy implants, pirate implants, Snakes to be more exact. I ratted for many hours and would run security on corp mining ops to earn the isk, spending hours orbiting a gate whilst chatting in corp channels, I also helped corp members with hauling for mining and industry to scrape together what I could. At this time the corp was also saving to build an outpost so a lot of donations went that way and then the First Great War broke out, Band of Brothers invaded ASCN territory with the sole purpose of eradicating us. All ISK making was put aside and I joined my corpmates in battle but as a small corp who wasn't capable of fielding capital ships or many t2 snipers we were asigned with the task of harrasing BoB in Delve, a campaign in which I achieved another milestone, my first solo kill but that's for another time.
ASCN fell and we went looking for a new home and that happened to be in The Great Wildlands, I won't go into how we got there but it was all good until our then CEO went crazy and decided not only to steal everything we had worked towards but to also kick us all from the corp and take away our identity. Instead of collapsing it drew the affected pilots closer together and within 24 hours we were all flying under a new banner. Ars ex Discordia was born and has gone from strength to strength. It was under this banner that I broke my old record, again with Soup Spoon's help, a full set of Snake implants and better skills I achieved a speed just under 24km/s.
This record was set in Rens of all places, a spiritual home for me and a place I was spending a lot of time in, as we were part of Goonswarm and war targets were everywhere, PvP on tap.
My most noteable kill at the time was The CEO of Beyond Divinity's Munnin in my very first outing with the Vagabond heavy assault cruiser.
Shortly after all this I became disillusioned at alliance life and making a hard choice I dropped roles and left ARSED to become a Pirate, I did however stay in touch with many of my old corpmates and this allowed me to break the record again but this time Soup's skills were maxed out, along with my own. Overheating and boosters were also available and all these together were going to make this special.
The ship choice was difficult, I spent long hours comparing the different ships that could be used, the Caldari Crow, light, agile, fast but restricted by only three lowslots for speed modules, the Minmatar Claw, four lowslots but heavier and the Ammar Crusader, same lowslots as the Claw but lighter and more agile making it the ship of choice for this attempt.
The modules were all in place, the addition of a Shaqil's Speed Enhancer implant boosting me even further.
In a secret 0.0 location Soup and I started our attempt, hitting the MWD I accelerated to 28km/s, wow, new personal best, Soup hit his Gang mods, I consumed a Strong X-Instinct booster and overheated the Gistii MWD, I had to blink twice to make sure I wasn't dreaming, but my HUD read 63,762m/s. I had just smashed Spartac0's interceptor record and achieved the second fastest recorded speed in the universe, the fastest being held by Spartac0 in a Vagabond with Officer fittings and oversized MWD but I was happy in the knowledge that in my class I was the fastest and was also combat capable at the same time.
The speed was achieved using the optimal setup and the best possible modules for the job and can only ever be equalled until something new comes out and you can bet ISK on it I will be there to make sure I hold on to this particular record
All the ship class records can be seen here
I'd like to thank Soup Spoon personally for helping me every step of the way, from forcing me to finish my learning skills back in PMV to providing the command bonus needed to push it past the edge.
He's also responsible for me becoming a Pod Pilot, along with Estar Thorongil. So any hatemail in future should be forwarded to them please :D
Tuesday, 4 March 2008
Things that go bump in the Dark
I take a long deep draw on the cigarette and breathe in, exhaling I sigh, a sigh of contentment. It's been a fun day.
Started off by setting up a Jaguar class assualt frigate, a ship I've never flown before but always meant to. It is based on the Rifter hull, my favourite and one I'm intimiately familiar with.
Thing is the Jaguar is a shield tank, a skill set I only recently became comfortable with so this would be interesting.
I undocked into the black and headed to my favourite haunt, a bit quiet with one or two aquaintances hanging about but very little in the way of targets.
After a few minutes one did enter system, a Slasher class frigate and I quickly narrowed it down to a belt and went in, engines roaring. The fight itself was unremarkable, the young pilot being no match for the firepower brought to bare.
Another Slasher was dancing around the belts and I gave chase but he was smart, warping in at different ranges and always managing to elude me. Oh well, I thought I'd go check out some other systems. I arrived at the gate out and was greeted by a Drake and Hurricane, both battlecruisers locked me and opened fire but I merely activated the jumpgate and was thrown into the next system.
Excellent, I thought to myself as I hastily headed to HQ to grab something a bit beefier than the Jag. A new Hurricane class battlecruiser awaitied me and I quickly switched ships and headed back to the gate, I was going to have me a fight, win or lose.
My systems resolved the system I had just jumped into and whilst under gate cloak I saw the marks were still there and flashing red, a sign that they aggressed me first and I would be able to fight without having to tank the Republic gate sentries. I broke cloak and decided to go for the hurricane first, the Drake has a legendary tank and would take me too long to break under the combined firepower of the two hostiles.
It proved to be a wrong choice and engaging more so but you know I just had to give it a go. The combined firepower of the Drake and Hurricane tore Karma to pieces, I warped my escape pod out and quickly returned home to grab another Hurricane, I had called ahead to my hangar crew to have one prepped and ready to roll.
I boarded the new ship quickly and made all haste back, fuzzy intel had come through that the Hurricane had left system, possibly a trap but I wanted a fight again and the Drake was a tasty target. Once again I jumped in, the Hurricane nowhere to be seen and I headed straight for the Drake, my mighty 425s spitting out EMP rounds. The Drakes tank was solid and his DPS impressive, I started overloading my autocannons to get the most out of them and his tank started to break. His friend in the Hurricane had returned and soon I was under fire from him too, my shields and armour had failed and I was venting atmosphere and fuel into the dark.
A last overload of my guns and the Drakes fragile hull gave way.
My guns had overheated and had all offlined leaving me no response to the Hurricane, his drones and guns working on my hull, I overloaded my MWD to get out of range of his web and warp disruptor and with one final burst made it into warp, 10% structure flashing on my overview. Damn that was close.
I immediately set destination to base to repair and as soon as I did I returned but the Hurricane now on it's own decided that discretion was the better form of valour and left the scene, jumping into another system and safespotting.
A good fight by my opponents and well played.
Two versus One is always tricky but are sometimes the best fights out there.
I headed home and joined a small group of locals chasing a pair of destroyers out of the local Angel Complex, they got out but I had gone back to HQ and boarded a Broadsword, I caught both pilots outside the station and dispatched them under sentry fire, popped another Destroyer whilst it was trying to loot the wrecks.
Intel filtered through that the Drake and Hurricane had returned and some locals had given chase, no news on whether they were caught.
A good day, I exhale another plume of smoke, the flickering lights of the ships systems make it dance in the dark of the hangar
Started off by setting up a Jaguar class assualt frigate, a ship I've never flown before but always meant to. It is based on the Rifter hull, my favourite and one I'm intimiately familiar with.
Thing is the Jaguar is a shield tank, a skill set I only recently became comfortable with so this would be interesting.
I undocked into the black and headed to my favourite haunt, a bit quiet with one or two aquaintances hanging about but very little in the way of targets.
After a few minutes one did enter system, a Slasher class frigate and I quickly narrowed it down to a belt and went in, engines roaring. The fight itself was unremarkable, the young pilot being no match for the firepower brought to bare.
Another Slasher was dancing around the belts and I gave chase but he was smart, warping in at different ranges and always managing to elude me. Oh well, I thought I'd go check out some other systems. I arrived at the gate out and was greeted by a Drake and Hurricane, both battlecruisers locked me and opened fire but I merely activated the jumpgate and was thrown into the next system.
Excellent, I thought to myself as I hastily headed to HQ to grab something a bit beefier than the Jag. A new Hurricane class battlecruiser awaitied me and I quickly switched ships and headed back to the gate, I was going to have me a fight, win or lose.
My systems resolved the system I had just jumped into and whilst under gate cloak I saw the marks were still there and flashing red, a sign that they aggressed me first and I would be able to fight without having to tank the Republic gate sentries. I broke cloak and decided to go for the hurricane first, the Drake has a legendary tank and would take me too long to break under the combined firepower of the two hostiles.
It proved to be a wrong choice and engaging more so but you know I just had to give it a go. The combined firepower of the Drake and Hurricane tore Karma to pieces, I warped my escape pod out and quickly returned home to grab another Hurricane, I had called ahead to my hangar crew to have one prepped and ready to roll.
I boarded the new ship quickly and made all haste back, fuzzy intel had come through that the Hurricane had left system, possibly a trap but I wanted a fight again and the Drake was a tasty target. Once again I jumped in, the Hurricane nowhere to be seen and I headed straight for the Drake, my mighty 425s spitting out EMP rounds. The Drakes tank was solid and his DPS impressive, I started overloading my autocannons to get the most out of them and his tank started to break. His friend in the Hurricane had returned and soon I was under fire from him too, my shields and armour had failed and I was venting atmosphere and fuel into the dark.
A last overload of my guns and the Drakes fragile hull gave way.
My guns had overheated and had all offlined leaving me no response to the Hurricane, his drones and guns working on my hull, I overloaded my MWD to get out of range of his web and warp disruptor and with one final burst made it into warp, 10% structure flashing on my overview. Damn that was close.
I immediately set destination to base to repair and as soon as I did I returned but the Hurricane now on it's own decided that discretion was the better form of valour and left the scene, jumping into another system and safespotting.
A good fight by my opponents and well played.
Two versus One is always tricky but are sometimes the best fights out there.
I headed home and joined a small group of locals chasing a pair of destroyers out of the local Angel Complex, they got out but I had gone back to HQ and boarded a Broadsword, I caught both pilots outside the station and dispatched them under sentry fire, popped another Destroyer whilst it was trying to loot the wrecks.
Intel filtered through that the Drake and Hurricane had returned and some locals had given chase, no news on whether they were caught.
A good day, I exhale another plume of smoke, the flickering lights of the ships systems make it dance in the dark of the hangar
Monday, 3 March 2008
Bang, Bang, Duck
I was sitting in my hangar watching recordings from the big Alliance tournament going on in Jove space when the vid phone started buzzing, pausing the feed I walked over to where it was flashing and pushed button, Viper Sam's face appeared on the small monitor:
Viper Sam > kane you around
Kane Rizzel > sort of, what's up?
Viper Sam > well we have hostiles in gus
Kane Rizzel > engaging?
Viper Sam > possibly
Viper Sam > trying to coordinate that now
I boarded a Hurricane class battlecruiser named "Keira says DON'T" it should also say "Try and solo a Moros" but I ran out of paint.
A small gang was hastily being assembled when these words were broadcast over fleet channel:
Viper Sam > warp to 50free
Kane Rizzel > omw
I warped into a small melee and spotted a Blackbird, the small ewar cruiser could be a pain and I was close enough to set some drones on it, lock resolved and my little friends made there way over, I started to move towards him activating my microwarp drive to make the trip quicker.
My overview started to light up as more ships from the hostile gang joined the fray.
Hostile ships included:
Keres
Blackbird
Basilisk
Nighthawk
Hurricane
2 x Megathron
Armageddon
Thorax
As far as I could tell we had myself in a Hurricane plus:
Hurricane
Myrmidon
Arazu
Maelstrom
It's all a bit fuzzy but I wasn't going down without a fight, I popped the Blackbird and made my way towards the Keres, an Electronic Attack frigate that can pack a good ewar punch, I started to dent it but the remote repping abilities of the Basilisk kept it alive. I switched targets to the Basilisk but got too close to the rest of the hostiles and was webbed, my engines straining to get speed but failing, I was trapped with nowhere to go, the DPS of the hostiles overwhelmed my shields and I overloaded everything to allow me to live long enough to pop the Basilisk, I didn't but warped out in my escape pod as my Hurricane exploded.
2008.03.03 23:24:00
Victim: Kane Rizzel
Alliance: Derek Knows Us
Corp: NovaKane Incorporated
Destroyed: Hurricane
System: Gusandall
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 24024
Involved parties:
Name: Aquae
Security: 4.9
Alliance: Roids'Are'Us
Corp: Smoke and Fly Academy
Ship: Megathron
Weapon: Megathron
Damage Done: 9104
Name: Mudachong Gu
Security: 4.0
Alliance: Roids'Are'Us
Corp: Pandora Requiem
Ship: Nighthawk
Weapon: Hobgoblin II
Damage Done: 4969
Name: fleau one
Security: 0.8
Alliance: Roids'Are'Us
Corp: Antiloncker
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: Caldari Navy Havoc Heavy Missile
Damage Done: 4188
Name: Tonkaar
Security: 4.4
Alliance: Roids'Are'Us
Corp: Smoke and Fly Academy
Ship: Armageddon
Weapon: Armageddon
Damage Done: 3631
Name: Eos Vagaldi (laid the final blow)
Security: -1.4
Alliance: Roids'Are'Us
Corp: Pandora Requiem
Ship: Megathron
Weapon: Ion Blaster Cannon II
Damage Done: 1784
Name: Calligann01
Security: 1.3
Alliance: Roids'Are'Us
Corp: Smoke and Fly Academy
Ship: Capsule
Weapon: Induced Multispectral ECM I
Damage Done: 348
Name: Frodon
Security: -1.5
Alliance: Roids'Are'Us
Corp: Antiloncker
Ship: Keres
Weapon: Indirect Scanning Dampening Unit I
Damage Done: 0
Destroyed items:
Nanite Repair Paste, Qty: 400 (Cargo)
Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Warp Disruptor II
Core Defence Field Extender I, Qty: 2
Overdrive Injector System II, Qty: 2
Barrage M, Qty: 240
Hobgoblin II, Qty: 2 (Drone Bay)
425mm AutoCannon II
Hammerhead II (Drone Bay)
Republic Fleet EMP M, Qty: 3174 (Cargo)
Large Shield Extender II
Projectile Ambit Extension I
Dropped items:
Gyrostabilizer II, Qty: 2
Barrage M, Qty: 2395 (Cargo)
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Barrage M, Qty: 48
Medium Unstable Power Fluctuator I, Qty: 2
Hobgoblin II, Qty: 2 (Drone Bay)
425mm AutoCannon II, Qty: 5
Large Shield Extender II
We had managed to kill a Blackbird (Which I soloed) and the Basilisk which popped just after I did for the loss of my Hurricane, Sam's Maelstrom and Blade3D's Myrmidon. Not a good outcome for us but the gang was hastily assembled and communication was non existant until after the fight. Probably would have helped had I been able to use voice comms but my systems were working overtime and little time was available to get it all sorted.
Our intel was also very poor, the hostile force was very strong and we should not have engaged with what we had at such short notice but then I wasn't privy to the buildup and had no idea what was truly available. The politics in Gus are all topsy turvy again as some grievances seem to have been ironed out between some of the residents, I of course as a solo operator just do my own thing and try and help out my friends in Black Flag as I can and when Viper and co ask if I want to fight I will go in with everything I have.
Kane Rizzel > oh well, suppose I should have waited for more intel before jumping in like that
flashfresh > ...but, but - your KANE RIZZEL!!!
Respect to the Roids guys for a well executed trap, a good fight and no smack.
I returned to base and got my hangar crew to prep the systems on a new Hurricane, "Karma" is back and hopefully she lives up to the name.
I light a cigarette and make a cup of Earl Grey, tea soothes me and I'm on edge a bit, don't know why, been a very relaxing day for me, I press play to resume the feed from the tournament, pretty explosions are pretty.
Viper Sam > kane you around
Kane Rizzel > sort of, what's up?
Viper Sam > well we have hostiles in gus
Kane Rizzel > engaging?
Viper Sam > possibly
Viper Sam > trying to coordinate that now
I boarded a Hurricane class battlecruiser named "Keira says DON'T" it should also say "Try and solo a Moros" but I ran out of paint.
A small gang was hastily being assembled when these words were broadcast over fleet channel:
Viper Sam > warp to 50free
Kane Rizzel > omw
I warped into a small melee and spotted a Blackbird, the small ewar cruiser could be a pain and I was close enough to set some drones on it, lock resolved and my little friends made there way over, I started to move towards him activating my microwarp drive to make the trip quicker.
My overview started to light up as more ships from the hostile gang joined the fray.
Hostile ships included:
Keres
Blackbird
Basilisk
Nighthawk
Hurricane
2 x Megathron
Armageddon
Thorax
As far as I could tell we had myself in a Hurricane plus:
Hurricane
Myrmidon
Arazu
Maelstrom
It's all a bit fuzzy but I wasn't going down without a fight, I popped the Blackbird and made my way towards the Keres, an Electronic Attack frigate that can pack a good ewar punch, I started to dent it but the remote repping abilities of the Basilisk kept it alive. I switched targets to the Basilisk but got too close to the rest of the hostiles and was webbed, my engines straining to get speed but failing, I was trapped with nowhere to go, the DPS of the hostiles overwhelmed my shields and I overloaded everything to allow me to live long enough to pop the Basilisk, I didn't but warped out in my escape pod as my Hurricane exploded.
2008.03.03 23:24:00
Victim: Kane Rizzel
Alliance: Derek Knows Us
Corp: NovaKane Incorporated
Destroyed: Hurricane
System: Gusandall
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 24024
Involved parties:
Name: Aquae
Security: 4.9
Alliance: Roids'Are'Us
Corp: Smoke and Fly Academy
Ship: Megathron
Weapon: Megathron
Damage Done: 9104
Name: Mudachong Gu
Security: 4.0
Alliance: Roids'Are'Us
Corp: Pandora Requiem
Ship: Nighthawk
Weapon: Hobgoblin II
Damage Done: 4969
Name: fleau one
Security: 0.8
Alliance: Roids'Are'Us
Corp: Antiloncker
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: Caldari Navy Havoc Heavy Missile
Damage Done: 4188
Name: Tonkaar
Security: 4.4
Alliance: Roids'Are'Us
Corp: Smoke and Fly Academy
Ship: Armageddon
Weapon: Armageddon
Damage Done: 3631
Name: Eos Vagaldi (laid the final blow)
Security: -1.4
Alliance: Roids'Are'Us
Corp: Pandora Requiem
Ship: Megathron
Weapon: Ion Blaster Cannon II
Damage Done: 1784
Name: Calligann01
Security: 1.3
Alliance: Roids'Are'Us
Corp: Smoke and Fly Academy
Ship: Capsule
Weapon: Induced Multispectral ECM I
Damage Done: 348
Name: Frodon
Security: -1.5
Alliance: Roids'Are'Us
Corp: Antiloncker
Ship: Keres
Weapon: Indirect Scanning Dampening Unit I
Damage Done: 0
Destroyed items:
Nanite Repair Paste, Qty: 400 (Cargo)
Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Warp Disruptor II
Core Defence Field Extender I, Qty: 2
Overdrive Injector System II, Qty: 2
Barrage M, Qty: 240
Hobgoblin II, Qty: 2 (Drone Bay)
425mm AutoCannon II
Hammerhead II (Drone Bay)
Republic Fleet EMP M, Qty: 3174 (Cargo)
Large Shield Extender II
Projectile Ambit Extension I
Dropped items:
Gyrostabilizer II, Qty: 2
Barrage M, Qty: 2395 (Cargo)
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Barrage M, Qty: 48
Medium Unstable Power Fluctuator I, Qty: 2
Hobgoblin II, Qty: 2 (Drone Bay)
425mm AutoCannon II, Qty: 5
Large Shield Extender II
We had managed to kill a Blackbird (Which I soloed) and the Basilisk which popped just after I did for the loss of my Hurricane, Sam's Maelstrom and Blade3D's Myrmidon. Not a good outcome for us but the gang was hastily assembled and communication was non existant until after the fight. Probably would have helped had I been able to use voice comms but my systems were working overtime and little time was available to get it all sorted.
Our intel was also very poor, the hostile force was very strong and we should not have engaged with what we had at such short notice but then I wasn't privy to the buildup and had no idea what was truly available. The politics in Gus are all topsy turvy again as some grievances seem to have been ironed out between some of the residents, I of course as a solo operator just do my own thing and try and help out my friends in Black Flag as I can and when Viper and co ask if I want to fight I will go in with everything I have.
Kane Rizzel > oh well, suppose I should have waited for more intel before jumping in like that
flashfresh > ...but, but - your KANE RIZZEL!!!
Respect to the Roids guys for a well executed trap, a good fight and no smack.
I returned to base and got my hangar crew to prep the systems on a new Hurricane, "Karma" is back and hopefully she lives up to the name.
I light a cigarette and make a cup of Earl Grey, tea soothes me and I'm on edge a bit, don't know why, been a very relaxing day for me, I press play to resume the feed from the tournament, pretty explosions are pretty.
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