Monday, 28 December 2009

Titan bridges , epic tackles and sweet revenge

Basically, there were two sides to the world. There was the entire computer games software industry engaged in a tremendous effort to stamp out piracy, and there was Wobbler. Currently, Wobbler was in front.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Only You Can Save Mankind)

Legion of xXDEATHXx have set up shop next door in Sotrenzur, quite a few of the sneaky bastards with a Titan at a POS. They dropped a Remote Rep battleship gang on us yesterday in which Nanny Ogg went out in a blaze of glory.

So when one of their pilots appears in local in a Megathron, the Admiral Akbar senses started tingling. Laneth really wanted to engage but the rest of us were just expecting to get dropped again but a plan was devised to deal with the impending danger and a rather ingenious plan it was.

A rather crazy pilot would tackle the Megathron, who had quite conveniently warped to a belt, more evidence suggesting a trap, while tackled the suport in battleships and commandships would warp in at range and BBQ the Mega.

The tackler would be flying a Rifter, get in close with afterburner glowing whilst making sure the Mega stayed put.

So it was that I warped in, fortunately for me the Mega had warped in at zero and made my life very easy. I locked him up, set a tight 500metre orbit and proceeded to lay the tackle down. Webbed and scrammed he was now staying put, till he or I died. He locked me up and started to fire, his blasters not able to track my rather fabulous Rifter, he launched a flight of Ogre IIs, but they too had trouble hitting me, being rather the cautious fella that I am, I started to shoot the Ogres, which he duly scooped.

Dogz, Laneth, Kurtz and Nomi warped in at range and engage, the Mega starts to drop into armour. Another xXDEATHXx pilot enters local, in a Tempest and warps in at range, close to my support, again, the threat of Titan Bridge means my support warps out, all the while I'm buzzing around the Mega like a mad fat kid at an all you can eat candy buffet.

Tempest deploys Valkyrie IIs, a more direct threat to my Rifter, so I lock them up and start popping them one by one. Support decides they're not letting me have this kill alone and warp back in at range, this is made easier by the fact the Tempest is right on top of me now and has me webbed.

The Mega starts to vent atmosphere and gas into space and the Tempest takes this as its cue to bail. The Mega decides it has had enough of this harrasment from my Rifter and explodes in a bright flash which illuminates my grin even further.

Keeper ofDungeonSquad > died to rifter ))
Keeper ofDungeonSquad > epic )
Kane Rizzel > good fight mate

And it was a good fight, for me at least. I have avenged Nanny Ogg in the best way I know how.

Sunday, 27 December 2009

RIP Nanny Ogg

I'm slightly gutted to be honest, I really loved her. She went down to the now fast becoming tiring Titan jump bridge.

Fair play to the Legion of xXDEATHXx pilots.

:(

Long live Nanny Ogg

:)

Saturday, 26 December 2009

T'is the season

"*Veni, vici*...Vetinari."
-- (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

Piracy, as with everything in New Eden, doesn't just happen overnight, sometimes there is a lot of waiting.

There has been a peculiar visitor in recent weeks to Gusandall, a pilot who seemingly never undocked. No one knows when or how he arrived, what he was flying or what his intentions were.

So when another member of the visitors corp appeared in local I was much intrigued. The visitors corp mate had warped to the station in his pod, curious, but my curiosity turned into the assumption that the corp mate was scouting and when I saw the visitor disappear off the station registry I knew it was time, I raced to my Bhaalgorn, appropriately christened Havelock Vetinari.

The visitor had undocked in an Abaddon, a most formidable battleship but one I'm very familiar with myself. It is very hungry for capacitor to fuel its mighty Mega Pulse lasers and my choice of the Bhaalgorn was perfect. I undocked and immediately started to lock the visitor but just before it resolved he warped off in the direction of the Eifer gate, I followed, along with a few of the Gus locals who were quite keen to make the acquaintance of our mysterious visitor.

The massive Bhaalgorn exits warp on the Eifer gate, just in time to watch the visitor jump out. How rude, leaving without saying word one to us... I follow, ready to tackle and engage.

I enter Eifer and the visitor no longer keen on our hospitality drops gate cloak and hastily tries to get into warp, 27km away I start to lock, it resolves and my warp disruptor kicks in, dual webs reach out and slow him to a crawl, energy neutralisers bridge the gap and drain him dry, mega pulse lasers scorch the very space around them, a flight of combat drones stream out from my drone bay and head in for the kill.

I'm joined by some of the Gusandall locals, most upset that our visitor didn't take the time to get to know us, the Abaddon is no longer shooting, it's lasers hungry for cap it no longer has, it starts to break up, gas and fuel venting into space, it violently explodes amidst the onslaught.
I'd say good fight but to be fair he stood very little chance. Unlucky.

Next time, say hi, get to know us, we're really friendly folk :)

AYAYAYAYAYAY

Piracy is not just perpetuated in low security space, it can happen anywhere, even where you think you're safe. With this in mind, Nomi had decided a little trip to highsec would cheer the locals up. I grabbed a Thrasher from the corp hangar, fitted it with loot from some unfortunate victim, insured it and joined the small gang of trouble makers in Eifer.

Our mark was being lined up by a friend of Nomi, a Hulk peacefully mining in an ice belt. Once in place we warped to the gate, jumped in, held cloak till Nomi gang warped us to the Hulk's demise. guns set to overload, I'd be lucky to get a second volley off on this kamikaze run.

We land, lock and pop the hulk, CONCORD police ships warp in and punish us for our dastardly deed even as we giggle like little children. Nomi's friend scoops the loot, which is poor and we head back to the safety of lowsec in our pods.

Good times.

Havelock was used last night to bring Hogswatch cheer to a lucky Rattlesnake pilot who was fortunate to enough to join us in Gus for the festivities. A curious fit to say the least.

I hope everyone has had a good festive season and I for one look forward to the new year.

Stay classy.

Monday, 21 December 2009

Gusandall 1-1

The gods of the Disc have never bothered much about judging the souls of the dead, and so people only go to hell if that's where they believe, in their deepest heart, that they deserve to go. Which they won't do if they don't know about it. This explains why it is so important to shoot missionaries on sight.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Eric)

Gusandall... A small system in Heimatar low security space, one station, 5 stargates, 8 planets, 8 asteroid belts and home to a bunch of delinquents.

A small Cult of War gang was spotted in Ingunn: Megathron, Typhoon and two Guardians. A nice compact gang. A few of the locals were spoiling for a fight, unsure of our numbers it was decided that we didn't want to fight on a gate or the station.

So what was the plan? The plan was to drop some bait in belt 1-1.

Who would be the bait?

Moi :D

Nanny Ogg drops out of warp in belt 1-1 and starts to align back to the station. The Megathron warps to the station to see what's stirring but warps to the Ingunn gate as it seems the locals are seemingly asleep.

Kashmyta > 1-1 for fightz

Well, if that doesn't get their attention, nothing will :)

Nanny Ogg is slow boating in the direction of the station when the Megathron bursts out of warp at zero in the belt, 23 km away. I make sure I have the right bits of glass loaded and lock the Mega up, he starts to close as his friends jump in, my friends start their warp in.

Nanny Ogg's Mega Pulse lasers start to chew into the Mega as he desperately tries to close the distance, he launches a flight of Ogre IIs, I launch a flight of Warrior IIs to kill them. The Mega inches closer, webbed from about 13km away it's slow going for him trying to catch the slow Nanny Ogg.

Typhoon drops out of warp, as does the rest of the locals, the two logistics ships the last to get to the belt, but it's already too late for the Mega pilot, he's venting gas and fuel into space and is not long for this universe. A massive explosion shakes the Megathron to its very hull and focus shifts to the Typhoon, light attack drones and ecm drones zoom off to deal with the logistics ships.

The Phoon folds and all that is left is to deal with the two Guardians which we are very successful in doing.

By the time the dust settles it seems we had rather more fire power than first anticipated but it was a very well executed fight on our part.

Good fight and respect to the Bovines.

Good times in Gusandall :P

Wednesday, 16 December 2009

Eifer 1

When you can flatten entire cities at a whim, a tendency towards quiet reflection and seeing-things-from-the-other-fellow's-point- of-view is seldom necessary.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Small Gods)

I was lounging around Eifer in my Rifter when I spotted a Rifter pilot from earlier in the evening.

"BX, 1v1?"

He said no as he wasn't in a Rifter but would go get one and be right back \o/

I waited in my usual spot and was pleased to see him enter local again, he asked where and I said planet 1 if it suited him. I warped to planet 1 after he confirmed that was good and was greeted by a beautiful red and black magma planet, a nice backdrop for our little duel.

He warped in at 70km and started to close, I did the same and soon we were locked in deadly battle, we matched each other blow for blow until we hit structure and then I was in my Pod, I warped out and said "good fight" in local before heading home for some much needed sleep.

Now there's a few things I could have done better:

• When closing his speed was only 800 odd m/s, it took him a while to get up to speed too, so I should have surmised he had armour rigs, trimarks being the most likely, with this in mind I should have been able to dictate range better and should have switched to Barrage and kept a good 7km between us.

• I was too close in, settling for a 3km engagement range instead of my usual 5-7km.

• Don't be over confident, complacency is your worst enemy and is a mistake I'm making far too often for my liking.

Fitting wise I'm still happy with my loadout, BX was running Trimarks and most likely a damage control because up until about 75% structure we were neck and neck. I prefer my lows as this fight is proof that at point blank there's litterally very little between the two. Smarter flying on my part would have probably helped but props to BXDRED, he fought well and earned the win.

Tuesday, 15 December 2009

[OOC] The Rocket Witchcraft

I'm a big fan of EVE PvP videos and as such have quite a large collection of various pilots doing there thing. I've always wanted to do one of my own but lack the the brains to remember to hit record and the kung fu of editing.

However there are plenty of quality videos out there and I thought I'd take the time to promote a fantastic video by Fon Revedhort called The Rocket Witchcraft which I discovered last night.

It showcases some amazing piloting and a certain bravado which is lacking recently in EVE and is well worth the download.

The eve-o thread is here.

Sunday, 13 December 2009

Grand Theft POS

"No running with scythes!"
-- (Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time)

It goes a little something like this:

FMR POS is being unanchored, Covenant warp in and fry the hauler, they camp while the tower unanchors, Exalted warp in and chase Covenant off, we jump in cause two Proteus and a bunch of stuff to kill plus tower to shibby make us happy in pants, Exalted fuck off as we land but try to jack the tower with Prorator. Prorator is popped which is kind of fortunate as it drops the cargo expander our hauler needs to secret away the tower. Tower unanchors but hauler is still too small (yes, we fail at hauling) so another hauler is dispatched to grab the tower while we chill in space.

Eventually we shibby the tower and go home laughing.

Later in the evening we would try and fail to engage a rather decent Faction Warfare gang, we managed two kills but over-zealous points on the two we got means the rest got away, c'est la vie

Stay Classy

Tuesday, 8 December 2009

Stirring the hornets nest

Above the hearth was a huge pokerwork sign saying "Mother". No tyrant in the whole history of the world had ever achieved a domination so complete.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters)

Keira lost an Ishtar to Angel Annex, silly girl. Other than that been a lazy day, been busy doing other things.

However when my covops friend reported a Cynabal engaging some of the Gusandall crew outside the station I just had to undock. I grabbed a Harbinger and joined in. Sorry Rai, too juicy a kill to refuse.

The highlight of the night for me was when a Typhoon decided to plant itself on the Gus station and antagonise the locals. Scouts had already reported he had an Armageddon, a Hyperion and a Loki waiting in nearby systems.

Zephirz > cmon you pussies be active!
nominruil > lol failbait?
Zephirz > lol failpirates?
Zephirz > disgrace to the proffesion

So a small fleet was hastily gathered of the local gentry, the affront to our Piratiness not to be forgiven lightly. Nomi undocked a carrier to keep their attention.

nominruil > ok
nominruil > lets rumble?
Zephirz > obviiously the carrier >.>
nominruil > ok send in the fleet
nominruil > we are ready
Zephirz > arent you a tough guy now..
Zephirz > its fucking sad tbh..
Kane Rizzel > get the hyp and loki to jump in
Zephirz > and what? watch you undock anotehr 2 carriers? or watch you dockup?>
nominruil > nah we gonna get the erebus instead
Zephirz > yea really tough..
Zephirz > and than call me out for baiting >.>
nominruil > I know i am
Zephirz > rather dissapointed now
Zephirz > so yea, you gonna keep wasting my time or are you going to dockup again?
Kane Rizzel > depeends on when you call all your buddies
nominruil > hrm.. you don't have a 40 man blob like we expected
Zephirz > no
Zephirz > i dont need that shit
Kane Rizzel > hyp, loki, geddon and one cloaky
Zephirz > i dont have carriers on standby either
Zephirz > lol
Zephirz > wanna see my cloaky?\
Zephirz > there he is

I undocked in Nanny Ogg, the Abaddon, locked up the Phoon and waited to see if he'd engage.

Kane Rizzel > so you want sents on your side too or you want to make this a more interesting fight
Zephirz > id love to make this a more interesting fight
general dogzbody > p1
Zephirz > rgr
Zephirz > so undock than
Zephirz > not waiting for you to warp yout carrier to the planet
general dogzbody > im in pos 1 sec
general dogzbody > lol like were that stupid
cheesyhead > the general stupidity of a low sec persona is pretty infinate

I warped to Planet 1, where the rest of the gang were waiting

nominruil > well we ready?
general dogzbody > pussies : -))
Zephirz > ah yeah our 3 bs vs yout 4 bs, possibly eos and a another guy docked up
Zephirz > fucking sad man
Zephirz > interesting fight my ass
moliboi > u forgot ur loki
Kane Rizzel > well, you wanted us active, no use crying now
nominruil > actualy we are all here...
Zephirz > yea
general dogzbody > there is only 2 of us were both tripple accounting

Unfortunately their bravado, now drained meant they were making a dash for it.

The Hyp, Geddon and Loki jumped in and went towards Sotrenzur, the Typhoon warped to Ingunn, They were trying to outflank us in an area we are infinitely familiar with. So we warped to the Ingunn gate, scouts reporting the Hyp, Geddon and Loki waiting on the other side, one of us engaged the Phoon to force him through, he jumped and we followed.

It was game time, Hyperion was our primary, we uncloaked and engaged, I was primaried, We switched to the Phoon and just before it went down they switched target to moliboi in a Geddon as Nanny Ogg's skirt was a bit too much for them. Phoon explodes, moliboi's Geddon exlodes, we drop the Hyp rather sharpish and pick on the Loki as it's scrammed, webbed and about to lose some SP. As it explodes the Geddon jumps out rather wisely and we are left victorious over the field of battle.

nominruil > gf
Kane Rizzel > gf
Kashmyta > gf

Not a word from our antagonizers. Careful what you wish for
.

I returned to Gus where Keira repped Nanny Ogg's armour at The Mended Drum and I docked up, glad for the chance to have a nice cup of Earl Grey and a cigarette.

Stay Classy

Sunday, 6 December 2009

Big BADA BOOM

I AM DEATH, NOT TAXES. *I* TURN UP ONLY ONCE.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay)

Been watching the Mean Corp killboard and was a little impressed and a lot jealous of a Rorqual kill in a belt and later a Nidhoggur kill, been a while since I was involved in any Capital kills.

It's always good to use a new ship, especially if it's a little on the bling side. It is with this in mind I christened two new battleships into the NovaKane fleet.

The first is the Armageddon Navy Issue, a new vessel in the EVE universe, an absolute beast of a ship, massive DPS and a fair bit of armour. As I mentioned before I'm rather enjoying flying battleships, as slow as they are they just seem more... FUCKING BOOM.

Armageddon Navy Issue Armageddon Navy Issue An improved version of the feared Armageddon-class battleship, this vessel is probably one of the deadliest war machines ever built by the hand of man. Commanding one is among the greatest honors one can attain in the Amarr Empire, and suffering the fury of its turret batteries is surely the fastest way to reunite with the void.

Amarr Battleship Skill Bonus: 10% bonus to Large Energy Turret capacitor use and 5% Large Energy Turret rate of fire per level.


First blood for Good Omens came the way of a bit of Ninja on my part, the Mean crew had tackled a Myrmidon in Eifer, with a Typhoon in warp to help it out., I undocked and headed over, news that the Myrm had already gone down greeted me as I entered Eifer, I landed with the Typhoon tackled and managed to steal my way on to the killmail.

Not the most auspicious start to its career in the fleet but blood is blood.

"Chimera docked in Bundidnus, it's a kickout station"

Oh hell yeah, time to bring some more Shiny to the universe. A few days ago I pulled the trigger on something a little special, a treat to myself.

Bhaalgorn Bhaalgorn Named after a child-devouring demon of Amarrian legend, the Bhaalgorn is the pride and joy of the Blood Raider cabal. Though it is known to be based on an Armageddon blueprint, the design's origin remains shrouded in mystery. Those of a superstitious persuasion whisper in the dark of eldritch ceremonies and arcane rituals, but for most people, the practical aspect of the matter will more than suffice: you see one of these blood-red horrors looming on the horizon, it's time to make yourself scarce.

Special Ability: 100% bonus to Large Energy Turret damage

Amarr Battleship Skill Bonus: 15% bonus to Energy Vampire and Energy Neutralizer drain amount per level
Minmatar Battleship Skill Bonus: 20% bonus to Stasis Webifier activation range per level

Thud undocks gracefully from the Gusandall station and makes her way to join up with a hastily formed fleet, we meet up one jump outside of Bund, with a tackler waiting for the Chimera to undock.

"Chimera undocked"

"Tackled and webbed"

"Jump in and warp to tackler"

Thud lumbers into warp, the massive ship seemingly taking an age to get to where the action is but when she lands it's party time. The Chimera is locked, dual webs slow it down further as the rest of the gang engages. Heavy Energy Neutralisers reach out and start to eat away at the carriers capacitor, Mega Pulse lasers start to tear into the shields.

The Carrier is comfortable repping but soon its rep cycles start to wane as the combined neut power of the assembled fleet start to take their toll. The Chimera tries to inch its way back to the docking zone at 7m/s but an epic bump from one of the Abaddons spells the end.

The carrier is venting fuel and atmosphere into space and a massive flash illuminates the beatiful hull of Thud as the Chimera finally gives in.

A rather nice maiden kill for the Bhaalgorn.

Later Good Omens would participate in the destruction of an Abaddon in Eifer and then give me a heart attack as I jumped into highsec on the way home. I'd like to thank the Minmatar fleet for webbing me into warp on the way to a planet and back to the lowsec gate, damn sporting of them.

She'd also catch a Megathron seemingly on autopilot into Eifer.

A rather fun night out.

Stay Classy

Monday, 30 November 2009

The long dark

I think that sick people in Ankh-Morpork generally go to a vet. It's generally a better bet. There's more pressure on a vet to get it right. People say "it was god's will" when granny dies, but they get *angry* when they lose a cow.

-- (Terry Pratchett, alt.fan.pratchett)

Upgrades to services cause a black out, when no pod pilot dare venture outside, it's these times when we reflect on what has gone before and live in hope for what is to come.



Much has changed, I've taken to flying the Abaddon a lot recently and I'm really enjoying it, sure it's slow but damn, it packs one helluva punch. I've started to fly with the Gusandall mob a lot more too and it's always a good laugh.

I've lost touch with friends in the Bastards but through no fault of theirs, their home in Evati not on my places to visit regularly. I don't roam as far as I used to, with limited time it is far easier to stay close to home.

It has been too long since I flew Interceptors and I desperately need to get back to them, same goes for the Rupture.

Keira can fly Carriers and Dreadnoughts, can shoot lasers, hybrids and projectiles but really needs to put her skills to use in combat.

Kenny, over a year as a pod pilot has become a devastating Tengu pilot and is responsible for running the Mended Drum, as well as production of rigs for me and vital research projects.

Our Covops friend is still doing her thing but has taken to doing some exploration on the side to fund her activities.

The Rizzel family is still going strong.

There have been times I've considered throwing the towel in but then the universe has so much to offer and there's so much to still do.

Where to from here, I don't know, all I know is, as Tessa Vaako would say, the future is exciting.

A sliver between me and the black

Had a close call in Nanny Ogg earlier this evening, news of a Maelstrom and Hyperion in Ingunn tiring the hornet's nest, the Gusandall locals all a buzz for a kill or two.

A small gang descends upon the Ingunn gate, all eager to engage either ship, Maelstrom had already jumped in and warped to the Eifer gate, Asss and I had landed on the Ingunn gate, a scout reports the Hyperion on the other side, we jump through as the Hyperion warps away to a planet, some follow but Nanny Ogg as I have mentioned is slow, just as I am about to enter warp it is reported the Hyperion has warped back to the gate, I cancel warp and approach the gate.

Hyperion lands, shortly followed by Assassin X in his Armageddon, Asss engages and forces the Hyperion through, I follow, once on the other side the Hyperion uncloaks almost instantly, as do I, engaging the instant the gate cloak wears off. The Maelstrom has entered Gusandall and warps in to help his friend, both decide Nanny Ogg to be the best choice of target.

Hyperion is primary, it goes down rather quickly, my armour creeping deep into the red, we all switch to the Maelstrom and it melts, just in time, only 4% armour between me and the cold embrace of space. Nanny Ogg stood firm as only she can, imperious.

A good if one sided fight, props to both pilots for engaging and especially to the Maelstrom pilot who came back to help his buddy even with the odds stacked against them.

Much thanks to Asssassin X who jumped into a Guardian to repair Nanny Ogg, saving me a whole bunch of ISK in station repair costs.

Stay Classy and catch you when the lights come back on.

Wednesday, 25 November 2009

[OOC] New personal killboard

Not having the patience or energy to revive my own killboard on my hosting I went with the free board supplied by EVE Service Corp as suggested by an anonymous comment on this blog.

It seems to have some kills on it already, obviously posted by people who use their service already. It's a shame I lost all my old kills but them's the breaks.

So here it is.

Sunday, 22 November 2009

Unlucky

"Luck is my middle name," said Rincewind, indistinctly. "Mind you, my first name is Bad."
-- (Terry Pratchett, Interesting Times)

Been a lazy day, spent most of it watching movies, drinking tea and relaxing. Went out for a spin in Flubber™ to help the Mean crew Hunt for Red October in Eifer but other than that, it was quiet.

Keira was chilling at The Mended Drum when she spotted an Apocalypse running an exploration complex on her scanner, she quickly docked, grabbed her Cheetah and proceeded to probe it out. She hasn't flown the Cheetah in a very, very long time but she quickly narrowed the Amarr battleship down and proceeded to set up a warp in.

I was spoilt for choice, not quite sure which ship to use but settled on my trusty mission jack Pilgrim, a ship I have used to great effect jacking Ravens in Ingunn. Time to dust the old lady off and take her for a spin in the black. As soon as I had undocked Keira reported the Apoc was done with the Angel pirates and had cloaked, I cursed but warped over anyway.

Once out of warp I started to move towards where Keira had last spotted the Apoc, a Helios uncloaked and started hacking the various bits and bobs in the complex, not to allow him the opportunity I uncloaked my Pigrim, at the site of which he bailed.

Back to trying to find that Apoc then. I started to run patterns around the site, initially with drones out but I soon recalled them and cloaked. Back and forth I went, moving to obvious align spots, I moved faster under cloak than the Apoc would so it was only a matter of time and a lot of luck.

After about half an hour the Apoc's luck ran out as he appeared on my overview, two clicks away, I had run right into him.

Lock and load.

My lock resolves, warp scrambler glows green, stasis web and tracking disruptor go live, Neuts set to overload as I settle into an easy 1km orbit. A flight of Hammerhead II drones spew forth and engage the Apoc.

A delicate game of cat and mouse ensued as he would drop drones to try and kill mine, thus eliminating my damage, but eventually I was able to kill the bulk of them, after a few would die he would withdraw his flight, as mine resumed on his ship. He was tanking quite well, even though I had all my energy neutralisers running, must have had a cap booster fitted. My own cap booster was chewing through my 400s just to feed my neuts.

I gave a shout on voice comms, to see if anyone was awake, Dogz, Apothica and Aiko responded, I quickly invited them to fleet and just in time too.

00:00:25 Notify grafs has initiated self-destruct of their Apocalypse, it will explode in 120 seconds.

It was now a race against time, but the Apoc rocked as it started to vent fuel and air into the vacuum, eventually lighting it all up in a massive explosion.

A fine kill, Unlucky for the Apocalypse.

Great teamwork in the end, a pity I was unable to solo him but he was setup quite nicely and his tactics of trying to kill my drones was a good one.

I docked up, a nice cup of Earl Grey my reward for patience and some fortune on my part


What are you going to do with that?

In my previous report I spoke of a new addition to the NovaKane fleet, Keira has been skilling for a new ship and I've been looking closely at auctions and contracts to see what was available.
Last night I pulled the trigger and with Keira's permission we bought a Dreadnought.

What prompted this acquisition? Well, the POS bash we attended a few weeks ago in which Keira's Archon was out-damaged by my Armageddon had her in a strop.

So without further procrastination here she is:


Have not christened her yet, need to come up with an appropriate moniker, any suggestions?

Saturday, 21 November 2009

My business is violence and business is good

The kraken stirs. And ten billion sushi dinners cry out for vengeance.

-- (Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, Good Omens)


Back in Black

Quite an eventful return from my leave, which is always good.

The Gusandall pocket has been quiet as of late with regards to solo hunting and with this in mind I've spent a bit of time hanging out with the Mean Corp crew. Not to say I'm not trying to solo hunt but I've found hanging out with the delinquents of Gusandall is always a good laugh.

Over the years the friendships I've struck with many of the Mean pilots has grown and whilst it has been rocky at times I enjoy flying with them and it can be extremely rewarding.

This evening I was just hanging about the hangar, checking up on some stuff, taking care of business and looking at prices for a new addition to the NovaKane fleet, which Keira will pilot. More news on that in coming weeks. Laneth was about in the black and mentioned there was a Maelstrom class battleship docked up. Fortunately I was all set to jump into a Pod and get plugged into a ship, Nanny Ogg would do nicely and when Laneth spotted the Maelstrom undock it was time.

Nanny Ogg slid effortlessly out into space, just in time to see the Maelstrom warp towards the Eifer gate, At speed from the undock I entered warp immediately, hot in pursuit. Bursting out of warp on the Eifer gate my Abaddon joined Laneth in a Megathron and Colonel Kurtz in a Tempest. Not wanting to engage and watch the Maelstrom jump through to Eifer, we locked and waited, he warped back to the station. We followed, of course we followed.

The Maelstrom pilot now made a mistake, he warped back to the Eifer Gate where Kurtz was waiting, his Tempest ready to engage and force the pilot through to Eifer, which he did but as Laneth and I landed we jumped through immediately, the trap sprung. Laneth and I engaged, Kurtz waiting out his timer so he could jump in and join, pvp god in an Ishtar joining the merriment. The Maelstrom's strong tank gave in, explosions rocking it from bow to stern as it expired.

Nicely executed.

Minutes later it all kicked off, a small gang had been spotted. Laneth, Kurtz, pvp god and myself were ready, myself waiting at the Mended Drum whilst Intel was gathered. They were all waiting on the Gus gate in Eifer, plan was to send bait in and get them to engage. It didn't quite work out as we had planned. Bait went in just as they jumped into Gus, me in warp to the gate where the incoming hostiles were coming from. I landed as the first few started uncloaking, Nanny Ogg now the bait. My overview lit up like the eyes of a fat kid at an all you can eat buffet. Primaries called by Laneth as they all joined, my armour now dipping into the red. Nanny Ogg stood firm as the hostiles decided to change tactics and primary. GOD's Ishtar now taking the bulk of the fire. My drones were chewing through whatever too their fancy as the Blackbird successfully jammed my locking systems for a good four cycles. Meanwhile god was going down, we could not stand for this as one by one the primaries fell, other ships exploding due to drone aggro. With the fight firmly in our favour the remaining hostiles fled, leaving wrecks and abandoned drones in their wake. All in alll a good fight, one loss in the Shape of god's Ishtar but we had inflicted on them two battlecruiser, three cruiser, one frigate and one destroyer in losses.

Good fight.

We would later catch a Drake and Harbinger in two seperate engagements in Gusandall and Eifer, the second with me in a Zealot heavy assault cruiser.

Still in the Zealot we decided to take a trip through a wormhole which dropped us in Kor-Azor lowsec, 85 lowsec jumps through conventional travel away from home. we tried in vain to get an engagement out of the locals before heading home. Luckily for us the wormhole was stable enough to let us get back, saving us a very long trip.

As we trickled through a small gang of assault frigates jumped into Gus, they headed straight for the Angel 2/10 complex, we followed hoping to catch them before they entered, only managing to get the Ishkur as the other two were launched deep into the dead-space complex. Not detered by this, Zonk and I docked up to grab ships that could enter the complex. We gave chase and were rewarded with two further kills as the Hawk and Wolf both hung around too long. Some nice loot off the Wolf.

It was getting late as only god and I were up, we chased a Maller into Eifer, god in an Eos and me in a Rupture, the Maller obvious bait but what the hell, you only live once (As a Capsuleer this can be quite annoying as it's a bloody long time being immortal) Trap srpung, Setries doing heavy damage t god and myself when a Drake joined in. I managed to get out, but god was far off the gate, tackled and losing drones and armour to the combined fire of sentries, the Drake and Maller. I decided to go back in, see if we could at least drop the Maller, with 25% hull left this was going to be a short trip, it was, my Rupture not lasting much longer, god was going down and I hurried back to Gus to grab Nanny Ogg, but it was too late, god's Eos expiring just as I undocked from the station. I hurried back to Eifer as quickly as possible but as I jumoed in the Drake had scampered back to the safety of highsec.

A Typhoon presented quite a nice snack before god in a Phobos and me in Nanny Ogg called it a night. I headed back home, rather drained from a good evening.

Thanks guys, really enjoyed myself.

I slump into a couch just off the main hangar, a nice cup of Earl Grey and a cigarette my reward.

[OOC] Killboard still dead and other news

I've been away for the past few weeks in South Africa on some well deserved R&R, depending on how I feel this week before I go back to work on Friday I'll be setting up a new personal killboard. I'll be starting from scratch and hope to fill it with many, many explosions. Apologies to Mean Corp and Hellequin for linking their boards in this post but it gives the best information with regards to this evenings happenings.

The silly season is almost upon us and with that my schedule at work goes mental, December will be quiet on the EVE front as Real Life™ once again take over every aspect of my life.

January however promises to be very interesting as various NovaKane and Rizzel projects take off with me hopefully being able to dedicate more time to this wonderful game.

Stay Classy

Thursday, 29 October 2009

ArKane™

Genua had once controlled the river mouth and taxed its traffic in a way that couldn't be called piracy because it was done by the city government.
-- Local-body politics explained
(Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad)
A curious afternoon, I was busy scouting a Freighter run into lowsec with POS fuel whilst keeping an eye on the local Intel channels, news of a POS coming out of reinforced soon got my attention.

I started trying to get as much Intel from the small group already assembled, they were going to drop dreadnoughts on the POS when it came out of reinforced and asked if I'd like to come and play, it was lightly armed with the majority of defences already downed.

Freighter safely in and out of Gusandall I decided to give it a shot, gave Keira a call, told her to get into the Archon and I got into a POS shooting Armageddon.

Turns out all attempts to contact the POS holding corp to offer terms of a ransom were met with silence so "Grand Theft Mobile Lab" was the order of the day. Three dreadnoughts were assembled, a Moros, a Naglfar and a Revelation, together with the NovaKane flagship Archon, the ArKane™, it was quite a site for someone who spends most of their time in a Rifter.

A cyno was lit just off a station and the caps jumped in with little fanfare, we docked up and waited the fifteen or so minutes before the POS was shootable again. I had in this time gotten into system with the Geddon and waited patiently.

The time came, we all undocked, my Geddon warping in first, closely followed by Keira's carrier.
The two remaining sentry guns took a liking to my Geddon and I had to warp out as Keira couldn't get the remote repairer on me quick enough, the Geddon sporting only a Damage Control as its tank not up to the task of tanking sentry fire on its own. By this time the three dreads had arrived and gone into siege. I warped back in, Keira dropped a large flight of Bouncer IIs and I took place just beneath her, dropped a flight of Bouncer Is and set my Mega Pulse IIs to work.

Keira's perspective:



The view from my Geddon:




The shot itself was very uneventful, no defence fleet and only the two online sentries taking a fancy to my Geddon. It went down without much fanfare and the labs and assorted mods were unanchored and scooped.

The CONCORD generated killmail was curious in that the third Dreadnought didn't appear on it, so here is the correct killmail as it should have been:

2009.10.29 16:21:00
Corp: The Society of Intergalactic Gangsters
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Minmatar Control Tower Medium
Moon: Sotrenzur VII - Moon 1
System: Sotrenzur
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 9105721

Involved parties:

Name: ASSSASSIN X
Security: -10
Corp: Mean Corp
Alliance: Mean Coalition
Faction: NONE
Ship: Revelation
Weapon: PURE AWESOME
Damage Done: OVER 9000

Name: Galgor Thale
Security: -9.4
Corp: Hellequin Inc.
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Naglfar
Weapon: Naglfar
Damage Done: 3917629

Name: nominruil
Security: -10.0
Corp: Mean Corp
Alliance: Mean Coalition
Faction: NONE
Ship: Moros
Weapon: Moros
Damage Done: 3618592

Name: Kane Rizzel (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: NovaKane Incorporated
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Armageddon
Weapon: Mega Pulse Laser II
Damage Done: 940290

Name: Keira Rizzel
Security: 4.9
Corp: NovaKane Incorporated
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Archon
Weapon: Bouncer II
Damage Done: 629210

Thanks to the Mean and Hellequin guys for letting us tag along, I think Keira was very happy to finally use a ship she had trained so very long for. Thanks too for the cyno back home guys.

Back home for a smoke and a cup of tea before heading out, hopefully Kenny remembers to fuel his POS later.

Wednesday, 28 October 2009

[OOC] The Kane Rizzel approach...

Look, that's why there's rules, understand? So that you think before you break 'em.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time)

Wensley of Rifter Drifter fame made an interesting Blog post in which my name was mentioned. So I thought I'd take the time and expand on what is a very simple yet effective approach to PvP in the EVE universe.

Wensley said:
The Kane Rizzel approach: Fit to win. Pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, really. Fit your ship to make it perform as well as possible. Buy the absolute best that you can. There are lots of videos of people flying like this for example Mezzik’s -10 and Alex Mevedov’s Flight of the Jaguar.
Yes, it is exactly what it says on the tin. Fitting your ship correctly to your style is one of the key things in any PvP engagement, there are a fair few others but I won't expand on them just yet.

We'll concentrate on the Rifter for this article, as it's the most versatile frigate with regards to fitting and can be run in any number of ways depending on your style and won't cost you an arm and a leg.

Now I'll be using my skill set as the base. No Implants. I'll be using images from EVE Fitting Tool aka EFT. (Disclaimer: EFT is a great tool but don't believe the DPS numbers, they only give you the absolute best you could achieve in optimal conditions but as with everything, theory is not the same as the real thing and very rarely if ever will a target be sitting dead still with zero resists, I use EFT mainly to see if what I have in mind will fit)

Here's Wensley's favourite Rifter:



Now it's a very Tanky version of the Rifter and also relies on range, something the Rifter is more than capable of dictating. Being able to deal damage at 10km is awesome and takes quite a bit of flying to pull it off.

Now there's my favourite, I'll take this against any other Rifter, I'm supremely comfortable with it, having flown it without the rigs for the better part of 3 years.



You''ll notice the lows are similar except for one mod, a Damage Control. Wensley's fit is what I would consider to be the current cookie cutter fit for the Rifter and it is very good but it doesn't suit my style, so I stick a Gyrostabiliser in for that extra bit of damage.

The mids are exactly the same except Wensley uses named mods, I prefer T2 mods just because they are cheaper than best named but give me a slight performance edge over lower meta named items (and I have massive stockpile of the bloody stuff).

Now I will say one thing, t2 guns are probably the most important aspect of a Rifter for two reasons, #1 Barrage, oh how I love thee, you give me sexy range and #2 the extra damage bonus even when using t1 or faction ammo. T1 and named guns will do you for a spell but get the skills for t2 guns as soon as you can, they make such a difference.

The NOS/Neut/Rocket utility high is a question of style and also dependent on the rest of your fit. In my humble opinion: NOS if you're relying on out tanking your opponent with an active tank, Neut if you're looking to mess with overtanked setups and Rockets if like me you just like as much ordinance flying out towards your opponent as possible.

You'll notice by the ammo the different styles with regards to fitting and this is another important aspect of PvP, know your ship, know your ammo and above all know your opponents ship and capabilities (knowing cookie cutter set-ups is a good way to determine this as many people rely on tried and tested fittings, they'll also tend to try and engage at their ideal range which makes your own ammo choice important)

Experiment, try different things, the Rifter as Wensley said in his Blog runs between 6million ISK and 13million ISK, now that is not a lot of ISK (It was when I started playing mind you) but you need to be comfortable with your fit, you need to know its capabilities and you only learn this by actually flying the ship.

This is true for any ship in the game and my philosophy with regards to the Rifter extends to everything else I do and fly, that includes my implants.

A great Blog post by Wensley and definitely gives one pause for thought, also, I'm very flattered to have been mentioned like that :P

In other news

Last night saw the first ever NovaKane EVE meet in London. Walter Tull, my corpmate was over from the States and we got together for drinks and dinner, a good night. (Walter is pretty much inactive as he's an alt of a friend from my old corp but I keep the character in NovaKane as a tribute)

I have been scarce as of late due to Real Life™ commitments, work has been hectic. I will however be taking an extended break next month as I go to South Africa to visit family. Apologies to my regular readers, both of you ;) for the lack of updates and fantastic stories of Piracy.

I will be back however, here and there, December will see very little of me as the silly season gets under way, work will be flat out but the new year will bring some new things for me and NovaKane in EVE.

Stay Classy

Saturday, 17 October 2009

Ego: The fallacy whereby a goose thinks he's a swan

Until an unfortunate axe incident, Gloria had been captain of the school basketball team.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Soul Music)

Sometimes ego is a good thing and others it's a downward spiral.

Last night Kenny was doing some stuff with the POS when he reported a Stabber Fleet Issue on scan in Gusandall, I quickly boarded what I thought would be appropriate for such prey, an Ishkur.

This particular Ishkur has been with me for a very long time, a veteran of some truly spectacular fights such as this and this. I was confident in my abilities and quickly warped to the Eifer gate, where Kenny had just reported the Stabber jumping through. I activated the gate and was launched into Eifer.

Once there, I spotted the Stabber decloaking, I broke my own jump cloak and moved towards it, initiated targeting systems and watched the Fleet Stabber warp to a cluster of belts. I followed to the planet at the centre of the cluster and quickly narrowed the Stabber down, I warped into belt 4-4.

The Stabber was a good 40 clicks off the centre of the belt, I had quite a distance to close and this was my downfall. I hit the afterburners, they glowed bright, the distance slowly closing, I activated targeting systems and the Stabber did the same, he deployed a flight of Warrior IIs, the Stabber's guns hitting me quite hard. My little Ishkur was not up to this and my ego landed me in my escape pod. I warped out rather quickly and shared a "good fight" in local but in truth it wasn't a good fight, I bit off more than I could chew and choked.

C'est la vie

An expensive loss and maybe the humility will temper my ego somewhat... We can only hope :D

I should know better, piloting the Stabber Fleet Issue myself to great effect and know full well its capabilities.

Tuesday, 13 October 2009

[OOC] My killboard is dead

My personal killboard is dead until further notice. In trying to update it it seems I totally FUBARed the database.

I was trying to update it so I could post my first T3 kill :(

This is what happens when you let a Chef mess around with technical shit.

I'll be posting to BattleClinic until I can sort it out, if I even can

C'est la vie

Sunday, 11 October 2009

The four horseman

Nanny could get a statue to cry on her shoulder and say what it really thought about pigeons.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Maskerade)

"Battlecruiser heavy gang in Eifer"

"I see them, looks like the Brutix is baiting in belt 1-1"

With these words was sprung in motion a very fun fight. Sarvic was in Eifer in his Myrmidon, I was in a Rifter, I had warped above belt 1-1 for a little looksie and got on voice comms with the Mean crew.

"I'm heading back to Gus for something more robust" I said as I whipped the Rifter around towards the Gus gate. Sarvic had decided to do the same.

Back in Eifer in Nanny Ogg, it looked like we had missed the opportunity for a fight as we lost track of the gang when they jumped out. xastrosrulex in his Pilgrim went first to Ingunn and then to Sotrenzur trying to get eyes on them.

"They're in Sot"

"Everyone get on the Sot gate" said Sarvic.

Everyone included me in Nanny Ogg, Sarvic in a Typhoon, Emil Obi in a Dominix and Evil's Fink in a Harbinger.

The hostiles were ten strong, two Brutix, two Drake, a Hurricane, a Harbinger, two Tristan, a Punisher and a Manticore.

Astros had eyes on them waiting on the Gus gate in Sot, his Pilgrim would not be able to withstand a fight under sentry fire and we needed to decide if we would take the chance. Sarvic just grinned and said "Fuckit, jump and engage"

Primary was a Brutix, it dropped rather quickly, secondary Brutix started getting eaten as I set my Warrior IIs to work on the frigates.

"Sarvic going down"

Not exactly what you want to hear when outnumbered.

"Sarvic down, I'll be right back"

Emil, Fink and me carried on regardless, I took over target calling, this was a fight to the death, no retreat, no surrender.

Second Brutix down, I call the Hurricane primary, Harbinger secondary, we needed to clear the DPS. Hurricane down, I switch to the Harbinger, Mega Pulse II lasers sending hot laser love into its armor, it warps out. I change to short range crystals and focus fire on the closest Drake, Its shields hardly bothered by me, Harbinger comes back in, Fink goes down. The first Drake takes a while to go down and it pops as Sarvic rejoins us in a Maelstrom. Second Drake goes from Primary to secondary as I switch target to the Harbinger, not much left of the Harbinger when it warped back in. Second Drake is now Primary, it goes down hard, much quicker than the first. The Punisher and two Tristans were downed by drones and it was only the Manticore who managed to survive by staying out of disruptor range and warping out when drones were set on him.

I'm out of cap boosters, my Mega Pulse IIs are hungry beasts, overheated almost to the point of melting but Nanny Ogg stands imperiously over the battlefield, littered with wrecks.

An intense 9 minute fight, 4 against 10, 2 losses, 9 kills. Great fight.

Nanny Ogg's armour is deep in the red, 33% left, 12 of my 15 drones fell to sentry fire, but damn what a rush.

I head back to Gus to inspect the damage as the loot is collected.

"That'll be 15million ISK for repairs"

"HOW MUCH?"

My guns are damaged, almost beyond repair, the armour is almost stripped away but luckily Sarvic and Emil offer to repair my ship for no charge, the station prices too criminal to even think about paying. Thanks guys.

Props to our opponents for a stand up fight. Props to Sarv, Emil and Fink for going along with this seemingly suicidal engagement and props to Nanny Ogg for topping all the killmails.

Monday, 5 October 2009

The Mended Drum

He nodded to the troll which was employed by the Drum as a splatter [footnote: Like a bouncer, but trolls use more force].

-- Nobby takes Carrot for a drink in The Mended Drum (Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!)

A little side project of the Rizzel family went online in the early hours of this morning. The Mended Drum took a little over 6 hours to get set up with mods and guns but I can finally scratch POS setup and management off my list of things to do. It took forever and I'm not even sure if the load out is right but damn if it wasn't a little bit exciting and nerve racking.

Keira brought the NovaKane flagship out for the christening. Of course I had to be there in a Rifter :D



This may or may not be a permanent fixture, depending on the cost and time involved with running it, however I like a challenge and this sure is one.

Friday, 2 October 2009

Mining

[...] Vimes's grin was as funny as the one that moves very fast towards drowning men. And has a fin on top.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

Imagine you're a Covetor, serenely mining away, the gentle hum of the mining lasers gently soothing your mind as you do whatever it is you do.

It's a nice system, the star is bright, there's plenty of belts and the asteroids are fat and juicy, just waiting to be ravaged by your mighty mining vessel. It's kind of like Prom night, sheer excitement coursing through your veins.

But you are not alone, you have a friend, in a hauler, waiting in anticipation of filling his hold with space rocks. You chat and laugh as you go about your business.

Life is good.

Or is it?

Local spikes, it seems you have visitors.

You start to align the mining barge to the safety of a high security system jump gate, you are no fool, it takes a while as you are not the most nimble of starships. Flashy red ships appear on your overview but it's going to be ok, you are in warp.

Your buddy however in the hauler is not so lucky.

"Rifter is attacking me, I can't warp.... AAAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHH"

"I'm coming back in a combat ship, hold on buddy"

"Hurry dude, he's killing me"

"I'm. On. The. Way"

Your hauler buddy ejects, the Rifter pilot is slightly too slow to react and your friend bails to high security space.

Kane Rizzel > danke

Rifter pilot is pleased with himself, a hauler for free with whatever treasure it holds, unfortunately for him he does not have the skills to fly it so he enlists the help of a friend to help secret the treasure away.

You have returned to the system, the Rifter still there, you'll show him, he'll learn not to pick on the seemingly defenceless. You uncloak in a shiny Nemesis stealth bomber, the Rifter is going to get an ass-kicking he'll not soon forget.

The Rifter however, instead of turning tail and bailing at the sight of your mighty stealth bomber, heads directly at you, seemingly on a suicide mission. Does he not realise this is a tech 2 vessel? Fitted with some very dangerous sharp bits to cause destruction. Is he mad? He must be mad.

Why are my shields gone, he's only in a tech 1 frigate, oh god no, my armour, what the fuck happened to my armour? There's a bright flash as your escape pod automagically ejects into space.

You now sit in your escape pod, the Rifter quick on the draw and he has you firmly tackled.

Kane Rizzel > 50 mil and pod goes free

21:47:24 Notify Largeo has initiated self-destruct of their Capsule, it will explode in 120 seconds.

Largeo > just kill me will be quicker
Kane Rizzel > dunno, you self destructing your pod is amusing to me
Largeo > i gotta wait 2 mins :
Largeo > bored already

You log your critical systems, there's no point treating with such a savage, maybe tomorrow will bring happier days.

Damn that Rifter pilot, damn him to Jita.

Thanks to hcf ruffneck for the intel and his help in appropriating the Iteron III and it's hold full of Kernite

Wednesday, 30 September 2009

The POS, The Punsher and the Fail-fit Maesltrom

It was a puzzle why things were always dragged kicking and screaming. No one ever seemed to want to, for example, lead them gently by the hand.

-- (Terry Pratchett, The Truth)

It's been very quiet, too quiet. Gusandall and Eifer, normally a buzz with traffic is silent, so much so that the locals spent a lot of time drinking and chatting down the local.

I did a few roams far and wide in the Rifter but there was nothing around worthy of a fight. My friend in her Cheetah also did a few trips looking for potential violence. All for nought.

There was a brief glimmer of some hot action as a mixed fleet of battlecruiser and cruiser hulls entered Eifer but by the time we got a mixed fleet of blood thirsty Pirates together they had bugged back to highsec, apparently the sight of so many flashing red ships on the overview of their scout was enough to send the fleet packing. Amusing thing is they all hail from a corp that claims to be "Anti Pirate"

I had been doing some paperwork when news of an undefended POS in a neighbouring system appeared to interest the locals, shortly after a mixed fleet went to cause some damage, we were that bored. After an hour or so the small POS was put into reinforced, I lost 5 million ISK on a bet whether the POS had Strontium :(

It had a three hour timer and we went back home till the appropriate time came around.

Thanks to DeathStar for the loaner of a Cap stable Apocolypse for the POS Shot.

Whilst shooting the POS, Mandaro and myself were chatting about frigates, he really rates his Punisher, and while talking setups and crunching numbers he suggested a 1v1, now, you know me, I would so be up for that.

Once our Global Criminal Countdowns were up we made ready for the fight. Now I'll admit right now I cheated, well, not really cheated but knowing frigates inside out and knowing full well that Mandaro runs a version of the infamous Bleeder Punisher and that he would be using Barrage ammo, I had already won the fight. I was already at a safespot when Mandaro warped in, a few others came to watch the fight and there was some betting on the outcome, those who have known me for a long time favouring me heavily. A countdown was given in the fleet channel and it was on.

My afterburner flares into life, launching my Rifter forward, the first few seconds were key. I got in close, 1000 metres between us and settled into a tight orbit, my web and scram active, afterburner keeping my momentum going. Guns and Rockets spilled forth. Mandaro had locked and opened fire, but the larger calibre guns and high-tech Barrage ammo struggled to track my Rifter in such a tight orbit and this allowed me to chew through the absolute epic tank of Mandaro's Punisher. And it was epic, 6,141 points of damage when he finally popped.

A good fight, if a little one sided, he never broke through my shields. I'm sure a rematch is in the works and he'll be better prepared next time.

A lot of Frigate combat comes down to knowing every variable of a given engagement, what potential damage and tank a target has, what kinds of ammo to use, what kinds of ammo your opponent is likely to use, engagement ranges, transverse and tracking and being able to dictate range. Being able to adjust on the fly as it were to any changes is also key. All this I have learnt over years of flying frigates and is not something easily taught. Basically you have to go out and learn through trial and error, learn from mistakes and expand on success.

There was a little action on the gates as a lone Dominix jumped into Gusandall and was quickly dispatched and his pod ransomed, he took it all very well, followed almost two hours later by a lone Drake who managed to make it all the way to Gusandall before returning home via Clone Vat Express™.

As the time ticked down to when the POS came out of reinforced, Keira had moved an Armageddon battleship down for me for the shot, half an hour to go and RedBad came in and asked why we were shooting his POS... Holy shit, you have got to be kidding me :D

Lucky for him and for us he came in when he did.

Anyway, there was much laughter amongst us, however I was aching to shoot something and without the POS to unleash hellish lasers upon I was kind of down. Luckily there was news of a Maelstrom in Ingunn, a very old pod pilot in a very big ship. Scouts were tracking his movements as a small fleet moved into place to engage on the Gusandall side.

Serenetor jumped his Megathron in to push the Maelstrom into us, which went exactly to plan. It was very suspicious that such an experienced pilot would be solo on a gate and the Admiral Akbar senses were tingling, if it were a trap we were going to spring it regardless, we were itchy for a fight.

Maelstrom jumped in and broke gate cloak trying to align out but was very quickly tackled and webbed. Lasers spat hot death at the Maelstrom and the famous shield tank of the massive Minmatar ship was non existent, his armour melted and so did his structure even as Serenetor tried to get back to join in the merriment. I hastily shut the mega Pulse lasers of my Abaddon down but one last salvo and the Maelstrom was no more.

Sorry Seren, I just don't know the power of this Abby yet :P

The stricken pilots pod was tackled and ransom offered, no response and when he logged his critical systems all that was left was to pop the egg.

The fit is curious to say the least, not something you expect from a pilot who has been in the same corp for over 5 years.

Oh well.

Too damn quiet, I need more action but was fun to fly with the Mean crew again, always a good laugh on voice comms.

In other news I have been approached on more than one occasion to be a mentor to hopeful Pirates, while extremely flattering I always tend to decline, due to time and mostly due to me being rather selfish with the knowledge I have acquired over the years. This is not to say I'm not open to questions via evemail or convo but I do prefer to keep to myself and if I do fly with others, it is people I know and trust.

My lecture for the Black Rabbits Academy fell through, mostly my fault due to my extended absence and it's a real shame, not sure what kind of learning I could have provided though. Apologies to everyone who was involved with the project.

I'm also in the process of acquiring a rather special item, more for nostalgia and the novelty of it than anything else but if I get it y'all will be the first to know.

Stay Classy

Monday, 21 September 2009

There was a FIREFIGHT!

Chain-mail isn't much defence against an arrow. It certainly isn't when the arrow is being aimed between your eyes.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies)

Five Rifters and a Kestrel prowling around Eifer, this can not stand, this is my home, my hunting ground and interlopers are not tolerated. Well this may be a bit of an exaggeration as I rather like visitors but you know me, delusions of grandeur et al.

I started tracking the raiding party and soon I got a bead on them, warping in I was greeted by all five of them, Asssassin X bowling in with his Thorax, they bailed like skittles but one got stuck on the end of Asss' and my guns, I quickly started tracking the survivors of the initial attack, soon to find them at a planet, in I went, heavily outnumbered but up for a fight. I landed right on top of them and proceeded to lock them all up, one , two , three Rifters exploded and it was only the Kestrel left as the most experienced Rifter pilot threw valour into the wind and bolted. The Kestrel explodes, the grin on my face expands. Good fight lads.

...

There is a new shiny in my hangar and she was unveiled much to the chagrin of a Hurricane pilot who had the misfortune of being spotted travelling towards Ingunn, he was caught and roasted on the Gultraten gate. In all honesty he deserved to die for the sacrilege he carried out on that poor Hurricane.

So without further adue, I give you "Nanny Ogg"




Nanny Ogg would later see action in the BBQing of a Raven who was spotted by Mean Corp pilots on its way through Eifer, caught on the Eifer gate in Gusandall it melted under the fire of Nanny's Mega Pulse IIs. Props to Sarvic for the tackle and Jorge for the assist.

An old friend of mine was brought out of the corp hangar for a rather tasty treat, Keira was doing some business runs between Gusandall and highsec when she spotted a Hulk exhumer on it's way to Gus, my Broadsword would be ideal for this task as it's beastly tank and infinite interdiction point meaning the prey would not be long for this universe. HULK SMASHED.

...

Then it was back to some hot Rifter action. My covops friend spotted a Rifter in Gus, in the direction of the 2/10 plex, I quickly boarded the latest iteration of my favourite ship, new and improved, even deadlier than before and made my way over. As I burst out of warp the other Rifter was over 100 clicks away and I started to try and close the massive gulf. He did me the favour of warping to the 1/10 plex. Knowing how these things work is key to successful hunting, I knew he would land right on the gate and launched my Rifter after him. As I landed he had started to try and make some distance between us, I started to close and he swung around to engage, soon we were locked in deadly battle. My shields were stripped rather too quickly, impressive damage from my opponent, my armour started taking the brunt of the fire but I had caught up and soon overtook in the deadly race. His armour repairer was working overtime, I didn't even bother to activate mine, such was my confidence in how this dance would end.
Bits of Rifter rain against mine as he violently explodes, he warps his pod out too quickly for my targeting systems. Good fight L Kahn, good fight.

...

There's been a Dramiel pilot trying to farm the 2/10 plex recently, it seems my absence from Gus has been taken advantage of. I decided on something different for this pilot, my Taranis interceptor, absolutely beastly damage but rather like a paper bag when it comes to defence.
Never mind, nothing ventured nothing gained. I knew he came around more or less when the complex re spawned and added him to my buddy list, as soon as he logged into the comms net I was alerted and made my way over to the gate to wait for him. Sure enough in he came and the fight was on. The damage of the Taranis is scary and soon I had broken through his impressive tank but he managed to pull range on me and had started working on my drones. His tank recovered but I was deep into structure, ship on fire and in no way capable of breaking his tank before I expired. I warped out and shared "good fight" in local comms. This is not over by a long shot.

It's 0615 as I write this, Insomnia has gotten the better of me, I have a splitting migraine and it's rather fresh in the hangar but all in all I've really enjoyed myself.

Stay Classy

Friday, 18 September 2009

I'll take those two and... oh bugger... I'm exploded

"It's going to look pretty good, then, isn't it," said War testily, "the One Horseman and Three Pedestrians of the Apocralypse."
-- The Four Horsemen of the Apocralypse encounter unexpected difficulties
(Terry Pratchett, Sourcery)

It's a curious thing, space, for all it's darkness and danger, it's unpredictable nature, it's just so comforting. The cold embrace, the stars, the planets, the auroras and flares... Home.

My Rifter, like a second skin, eases into the dark, systems primed, my senses honed through years of training and experience and every inch of the Minmatar starship an extension of my body. It's been too long my friend, far too long.

Moments earlier I was sitting in my hangar when word of fresh meat reached me via an intel channel, two Crow interceptors and a Retribution assault frigate somewhere in Gusandall.
The undock was long, it seems to get longer each time, a trick of the mind as it prepares for what is to come... Sweet violence.

My years as a Pirate make the task of scanning my prey intuitive, within seconds I have their location, moments after undocking I'm in warp to where my onboard scanner shows them to be.
I burst out of warp at the 1/10 DED Rated complex, hoping the targets would be there, new sensor recalibration meaning scanning is slightly more tedious than it should be and it adds even more suspense to an already dangerous situation.

As the warp bubble collapses the targets are exactly where they should be, in my crosshairs and about to be introduced to one Kane Rizzel. Two Crows, one Retribution, a tall order but I have my game face on, a massive grin. I close on the first Crow, all systems primed and overloaded, lock scramble, web and sweet death spits out of my guns. The first Crow goes down hard, his friend closing in to help, he's already locked, bits of Crow are raining against my Rifter as she opens up on the second, the Retribution closing, not much time but it doesn't take long and the second Crow is but a memory. I focus on the Retribution but it's not going well, it has a strong tank and I've taken too much damage, my beautiful Rifter no longer capable of containing the awesomeness that lies inside and my escape pod is jettisoned as she explodes. I warp the pod out rather sharpish, a good fight.

And it was thus I announced my return to Gusandall, my return to Piracy.

I docked at the station and grabbed the first ship I could, an Ishkur assault ship, I wanted another go at the Retri but he left in a hurry. I scanned a Wolf assault frigate in the 2/10 complex and made my way there. Warping in, right on top of him, the fight was on, however I was never able to close the distance sufficiently and as such my blasters were largely ineffective. I was taking massive amounts of damage and I decided to bail, not something I'm accustomed to but Keira would be most displeased were I to lose a rather expensive ship in a brash manner. As I entered warp I thought to myself "Kane you fucking idiot, this thing has drones"

Yes, I'm rusty, yes I'm an idiot.

Still, good wake up call.

I clone jumped to a combat clone, something better suited to the task at hand.

I would later fly a Taranis to kill a few Rifters and a Cyclone and narrowly missed out on a missioning Drake in Ingunn but all in all, I think I rather enjoyed myself and this is a good thing.

I'm still in space as I write this, all sneaky like in my Pilgrim, in desperate need of a cigarette and sleep but there's a Skiff that needs killing.

Edit: I got the Drake, he came back, they always come back.

Monday, 31 August 2009

Screw Dust514, Rust is here and now

Slab: Jus' say "AarrghaarrghpleeassennononoUGH"

-- Detritus' war on drugs
(Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay)

The hangar is cold, too long have I been away. Tonight however I had a date, a date with explosions.

A few weeks back I was challenged to a duel by one Lau Wensink asking if I would be so kind to grant him a 1v1 duel. I agreed at the time but was unavoidably detained with other activities.

Yes I've been away and yes I'm rusty but there's nothing like violence to shake the rust off. The duel was to take place in Eifer, at a safe spot of Lau's choice, I always allow my opponent to choose the safe and form the fleet as it gives them peace of mind that no one will interrupt our little party. We had decided to use Battlecruiser class ships and looking over the assembled hardware in my hangar I was torn between my trusty Hurricanes, two different setups but both rather efficient, and the Harbinger, a brick of a ship but capable of a rather beautiful light show.

Well, Lau was on his way and I chose that age old method of choosing something when undecided, I tossed a coin, Heads it would be the Hurricane, tails, the Harbinger.

The coin spun in the air and took its sweet time to fall, reminds me I need to make sure the artificial gravity is reset in the hangar. I caught the coin and placed it on the desk, a certain unease came over me as I slowly lifted my hand.... Tails

I walked over to the Harbinger, named Sgt, Detritus, an absolute slab, massive armour plates and pretty lasers. My pod was set up nearby and I made preparations to be plugged in. Once inside the pod it was inserted into the Harbinger, systems coming online as soon as I was set. I ran through the installed modules, making sure everything was in order, that I had the correct crystals for the pulse lasers and everything was five by five.

Lau had opened comms with me and said he was in Eifer, I told him to set up a safe and we'll form fleet when I get there.

The long undock of Gusandall station is dark but it helps one focus on the task at hand. I started running through my mental checklists, wondering what I would face, what my tactics would be, finally the night sky of Gusandall greeted me, a fantastic site.

I warped to the Eifer gate and jumped through, automatically aligning and warping to a central safespot where I could scan most the system. Once there I was greeted by a Drake on scan. Interesting, a most formidable battlecruiser with a legendary shield tank. We formed fleet and waited a bit for Lau's capacitor to regen before I would warp in.

Once ready Lau gave the signal, we agreed beforehand the fight was to the wreck of the ship, no podding, suited me fine. I warped to zero, landing about 5 clicks off the Drake, warp trails still streaming off the Harbinger's golden hull as I swung her around and made a direct line for the Drake. Warp scrambler set to overload, stasis web set to overload, I locked the Drake and opened fire.

A flight of light ECM drones spewed out of the Drake's drone bay and it was then I deployed my own drones, a flight of Warrior IIs, chosen specifically to deal with the prospect of ECM. I locked each drone and set my own to deal with them.

The PvP rust was showing as I was neuting drones, webbing and scramming them and Lau got away from me for a moment, until of course I dusted the cobwebs from between my ears and got my act into gear. All the ECM drones were dealt with, but I had more pressing problems, Lau had stripped my shields and was slowly eating away at my massive armour buffer, I had closed the distance and had him firmly tackled, a medium energy neutraliser sucking the lifesblood of the Drake away, my lasers eating at his shields. I had started to overheat everything but neglected to turn off my MWD, my sig radius that of a small moon meaning Lau's Scourge Fury missiles had a whale of a time with my armour. Schoolboy error Kane.

I shut the MWD off, Lau wasn't going anywhere as he was firmly pinned down. My lasers and neut were overheating, climbing into the red, I stopped overheating the lasers as I broke through the Drakes imperious shields, not long now, his armour stripped away, hull venting gas and fuel into space and then my guns winked out, overheated beyond repair. Sweet zombie jesus Kane? What the fuck is wrong with you? I had left the neut running overheated and it did collateral damage to my lasers, burning them out. Lau, at most had 5% structure left and it was down to my flight of Warriors to finish the job and they did a fine job, heroes, each and every one of them.

Lau's Drake exploded, illuminating the expanding cloud of gas and fuel. A fantastic fight, really enjoyed it, burnt out lasers and all. I was at 27% armour when Lau popped, nice and close, just the way I like it.

We spoke for a bit after and then Lau went on his merry, slightly disappointed I think but he did very well and respect to him. This duel is only a small part of this pilots adventures and it appears he has taken it upon himself to challenge celebrities from around the EVE universe to duels, a fantastic idea and one I'm honoured to say I've been part of.

Take a look at Lau's blog for further adventures and you never know if or when he'll challenge your celebrity :P

I docked up in Gusandall, set the crews to knock the dents out of Sgt Detritus' armour and lit a cigarette... I'm back... Sort of.

Sunday, 30 August 2009

[OOC] Winds of change

"Just because someone's a member of an ethnic minority doesn't mean they're not a nasty small-minded little jerk [...]"

-- (Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay)

Needless to say, thinking about a lot of the stuff in my previous posts, I'm pretty much wrong about most all of it. I need a change to re invigorate my love of EVE, don't know when and if I'll find it but I have some Ideas.

The Ideas are just that at the moment and there's nothing concrete, I might fly in different parts of the universe, might join a corp and maybe, just maybe, do something so different it scares me.

I made a recruitment post on Scrapheap Challenge and there are one or two corps that interest me and as soon as my work schedule eases slightly I'll take the time to try and fly with one or two of them before making any decisions on that Idea. It is just an Idea and if one or two others come about I may just stay in NovaKane.

One Idea that intrigues me is one that will take quite some time and a whole lot of planning but it will be epic if I can pull it off. I will probably need one or more wingmen/women to actually make it work but I'm still toying with it.

That's all for now folks, just thought I'd update and write some stuff down to see how it looks.

Stay Classy

Thursday, 13 August 2009

[OOC] The Zombie that is Solo Piracy

"Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time."

-- Bursar 1 - Hex 0 (Terry Pratchett, Hogfather)
I'd like to take a moment to respond to a comment on my last blog post. In the post I said:

I've become a dinosaur in EVE, the last of my kind. Solo Piracy may well and truly finally be dead.

It's been bothering me ever since I said it. Now I should probably explain what solo Piracy means to me.

Solo Piracy is one man against the universe, keep what you kill and have the freedom to do anything. Now I have been doing this for over two and a half years, in that time I have made a fuck load of ISK. I scoop every bit of loot, very rarely does anything really shiny drop but it does really add up, I estimate in this time I have made over 4 billion ISK purely off Piracy (Including Ransoms, ship hijacking and the rare shiny faction/deadspace drops)

At the end of the day it's just me. I have had the opportunity to fly with many other pilots, the like of flashfresh, Lucius Caine and Nozarro. I have flown in gangs with Mean Corp, The Bastards and others but when flying with them I have always declined any share of the loot as I'm a guest. Through all this I have remained in NovaKane, in this time I have turned down many offers to join other corps, for one reason, I would lose my freedom. "But you'll be ale to still fly solo" While true I'm going to say something now that will probably make me unpopular. If you're in a corp/alliance with other players, no matter how much you solo, YOU ARE NOT A SOLO PIRATE.

Now that is my opinion and I'm fucking entitled to it.

Sard Caid said...

Solo piracy doesn't die with Kane's dwindling interest in it, ha.

Hope your vacation from solo lowsec PvP works out for you.


Well, there aren't many like me, I suppose it's vain of me but I've done this a very long time, very few EVE players can make that claim. Two and a half years out of three and a half years in EVE I've been in NovaKane, causing havoc around Heimatar, a fucking long time in a game. I've done some awesome things but also made some stupendous mistakes, all without the luxury of calling for backup, Three members of NovaKane: Kane, Keira and an honorary spot for my friend Walter Tull (Who hasn't logged in for almost a year) that's it. Now people may say solo Piracy isn't dead, well, it's fucking close.

Solo PvP is still viable, I will always defend that. It's a hard road to travel but it can be done. Solo Piracy is still viable but don't fool yourself by thinking you're a solo Pirate if you're in a corp/alliance with other players. There is a difference between solo PvP and being a solo Pirate, I just hope people can understand this.

I probably should have clarified my statement in the previous blog to add that it's my opinion.

My previous blog was a ramble, just putting thoughts into text, but Sard did raise an interesting point and thank you for your well wishes, I do hope to find what I'm looking for and you never know, I may just yet drag the zombie corpse of solo Piracy around with me yet.

Wednesday, 12 August 2009

[OOC] Crossroads

PEOPLE'S WHOLE LIVES DO PASS IN FRONT OF THEIR EYES BEFORE THEY DIE. THE PROCESS IS CALLED 'LIVING'.

-- (Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent)
Yes, I'm still alive, no, I'm not fully back to EVE.

Yet again I'm at a crossroads in this marvellous universe, not really sure what I want to do. I've accomplished much in my time, much of which I've written about at one point or another, but you need goals to really keep you interested and to be brutally honest, I have none.

I set out two and a half years ago to forge a name for myself as a solo PvPer/Pirate and to a degree I have. Sure I've stuck to mainly flying small ships but that's my style, I'd much rather fly a Rifter than any other ship in the game.

The game has changed.

Two and a half years ago being a solo pilot in lowsec/nullsec was nigh impossible, yet I managed to do it. I made friends and enemies as I went about my business but there's only so much casual friendships can help you achieve in the game.

Many times I've found myself in situations where I was outnumbered many times over, the mighty Rifter no match for the assorted fire power and ECM availed against it. It was times like that I wish I had a gang of my own, a gang of like-minded individuals out for a suicidal attack, win or lose, good times.

Now I'm pretty gung ho about going into fights, but my suicidal nature has been tempered with the painfull reality that whilst I may be enjoying the moment, it's still a loss. Again, the reality of losses to a solo Pirate matter more than anything else, they affect the bottom line, profit.

I have many investments, enough ISK to last me a lifetime but one thing I've always maintained is that my lifestyle as a Pirate should fund itself and as such I'm loathe to dip into the corporate wallet. My time in EVE has seen me invest in Capital ship building projects, T2 invention & high end market manipulation. I own a T2 BPO, one particularly suited to my favourite class of ships, through this BPO I've been able to fund many of my interests over the years and with my investments in Capital programmes I have friends who have researched and manufactured for me. In the end it's not what you know but who you know.

I'm particularly interested in each of my characters being able to fund themselves, Keira has R&D as a major source of income, of course to get the R&D she had to grind missions, which was painful but paid off. A year or so ago I started her towards an Archon carrier, not touching any corp ISK, she ground out mission after mission to make the 2 Billion ISK for the skillbooks, hull and fittings. Again, missions are boring as all hell but they take very little effort and as such after a long day at work I can mindlessly grind them out. Skill wise, Keira is proficient in flying every ship Kane can although she is specced more towards larger ships. She has Battleship V in three races, maxed in Commandships, exceptional probing skills, all in all a very rounded character, not as focussed towards PvP as Kane but still very, very capable.

The special friend in her covops is absolutely maxed for probing, started specifically for that role but has branched out into transport ships. She flies a mean Prowler. Exploration in lowsec has interested me and this character has been pivotal in this role. She can salvage, hack, analyse and harvest gas, with that in mind she has been known to partake in Ninja Salvaging operations. She is also skilled for PvP and is just a few days away from Interdictors V with Assault Ships V thrown in for good measure. At 30million SP she's a useful character with very good base skills.

There are a few other characters floating around but they will for very obvious reasons remain unknown to anyone but myself.

The latest member of the family was started to be a bait Drake pilot but has evolved into his own. Kenny @ 15million SP is focussed towards flying a max skilled Drake and with that you just know he's being used to grind missions, not for ISK but for Loyalty Points. His latest project is what is taking much of my EVE time when I can be bothered to log in, but the pay-off in the end is huge. Thus far on this little project he has been able to fund a Tengu strategic cruiser which I must say is a very interesting ship.

Now you're probably thinking, Kane, what the fuck? Missions?

Well, uhm yeah, my work schedule has been severe, I have just finished a 22 day straight stint at work, I'm physically and mentally burnt out and as such I have found missions to be rather relaxing. I get to log in, chat with old friends and still play internet spaceships.
I love PvP but it takes a lot of energy, physical and mental to really be successful.

Work though is unrelenting and as such my Piracy and PvP will be virtually nil for the foreseeable future.

So what now?

I've debated a few times closing this blog, but then I've started writing a fictional short story involving some of my characters (I do actually hope to get this done and published on here but I only really write when I'm inspired)

I'm unsure what my future in EVE is. Solo Piracy has always been difficult, taking the most selfish, mentally unstable attitude to being successful but like I said before, the game has changed. Very few people are confident in their skills to take someone like me on solo, they always bring friends (more friends than I can handle), or just happen to be with a boatload of friends whilst I attempt to explode them.

I've become a dinosaur in EVE, the last of my kind. Solo Piracy may well and truly finally be dead.

Nullsec? I really enjoyed my trip to nullsec and my old corps HQ for the Frigate Thunderdome but their membership in Goonswarm doesn't endear that choice to me, they did however recently reveal their first Titan, an Erebus that was involved in a rather successful dual doomsday and with that a massive congratulations from me. Which brings me to another problem I have with nullsec, the blobs are bigger and have bigger toys. The option to join another corp or nullsec alliance does nothing for me, I'm just not going to be another cog in the machine.

Wormhole exploration? An option but a one man operation, even with multiple characters is going to be time consuming. Wormhole Piracy? Again, a time commitment I'm not too keen on.

Faction Warfare? Heh

Open recruitment to NovaKane? An option I've thought about on numerous occasions but one ultimately destined to fail. I just don't have the time and I already run a busy Kitchen, in which I have no time for drama, doing so in a game just doesn't seem to be a productive use of my time off.

Join a small corp of like minded individuals? Shit, I just don't know. Two corps who I have friends in are red to each other, seems like I'll always have mixed loyalties. Again, being a small part of a corp is not for me, my ego wouldn't be able to take it down a notch and I fear I may never fit in. I wouldn't be able to offer much to any corp that would make the corp stronger as a unit, I've been solo too long, preferring to do my own thing, at my own pace in my own time.

It might be that I need to change my perspective on things to find the next challenge, the next big step, to finally achieve something after having done so much in this game to little or no consequence.

So what does the future hold? Well, to be honest I don't know, what I can tell you is I'll still be around, on different characters, but still around. I may actually do some writing from Kenny's perspective as a change of pace cause let me tell you, PvE needs a kick in its ass.

So that's it, an update from me.

Edit: Blogger seems to have been the victim of further DOS attacks and as such I've only just been able to correct some of the many spelling mistakes made, probably more to get but I will try and rectify them ASAP