[OOC] Bugger

Okeydokey, I may be missing for a few days, seems my main gaming rig has decided to throw a shoe, the Raptor drive with my Windoze and EVE installs is dead.

I don't have the patience to deal with this right now so I'll see you when I see you.

Sorry

Oops

People who used magic without knowing what they were doing usually came to a sticky end. All over the entire room, sometimes.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures)

Remember yesterday when I said:

"The respec has done wonders for this amazing looking vessel and I'm going to fly it to death."

Well, I did.

Fell for bait, got blobbed and exploded, they managed to get my pod and the 150million ISK bounty.

:(

It wasn't a truly remarkable fight, as I didn't get a chance to fight back with the Falcon about. I felt so helpless as more and more people warped into the belt to point and laugh.













But, have no fear my loyal reader, it has been rebuilt, new implants installed, been a while since I was podded and let me tell you it wasn't pretty :P

They even called me a n00b, which almost hurt my feelings.

So with a rather large amount of blobs flying about the area tonight and me unable to contain my eagerness to engage everything I decided it was probably best to just dock up. Three blobs, one loss, I suppose that isn't too bad.

Stay Classy

Halt, it is the time of the hammer

It's a metaphor of human bloody existence, a dragon. And if that wasn't bad enough, it's also a bloody great hot flying thing.
-- Captain Vimes ponders his problems
(Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!)

Its been a good day, quite a lot to shoot, some good loot and some fantastic fun. I wish all days were like this one.

A new business partner has successfully fulfilled her duties in providing me with things to shoot, even at the risk of her own ship at times. Her skills aren't as good as our other partner in crime but she's getting there, she has talent and a lot of potential.

A good 25 kills today, some solo, some in gang with the M34N crew and a quality 1v1 versus a Harpy pilot that has visited Gus in various ships in the past.

The Dramiel is a fantastic ship, better than before it got 'fixed'. I was probably one of the few who flew it before as an armour tanking super Rifter in combat. The respec has done wonders for this amazing looking vessel and I'm going to fly it to death.



This particular specimen has been with me for close to two years now and has and continues to serve me well

Also took the Navy Armageddon out into the black, to introduce a Fenrir freighter pilot to our special brand of violence. He logged his critical systems twice to try and save his ship but the tenacity of the locals knows no bounds and such action bring out a rather nasty vindictiveness. I'm sure when he wakes up in the cloning vats he'll rethink his actions and how they affect others.

Today I caught covops enjoying the wonders of lowsec, ratters in belts, explorers trying their luck, people trying to run the gauntlet that is Gusandall and frigate training ops. The loot hangar is filling up once again.

Piracy is good, it warms my black heart

[OOC] Failure

Perdita thought that not obeying rules was somehow *cool*. Agnes thought that rules like "Don't fall into this huge pit of spikes" were there for a purpose.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum)

I am fucking annoyed right now, annoyed at my failure to kill a Drake.

It seems my ISK farming friends have returned to Ingunn to run combat missions, we spotted three Drakes earlier and probed them out, killed two of them, this made me happy.

Three Drakes appear in Gus again, but different characters. I decide to take the Dramiel for a spin, chance my luck and maybe get something epic out of the deal.

I warp to the mission site, it's still there, with the three Drakes inside. In I go, bursting out of warp a mere 4 clicks off the closest I light it up and attack, drones out, guns spitting hot death. The two that aren't tackled warp out, leaving me with my prize.

I'm fast enough and small enough to evade most incoming damage, that is until the fucking Gistii rats decide to fucking web me down to 300m/s.

FUCK OFF YOU DIRTY FUCKING BASTARDS, THIS IS MY FUCKING KILL AND YOU'RE FUCKING RUINING IT.

I start to take heavy damage, my shields are gone, I'm getting dangerously close to hull damage. I decide to warp out, abandoning three drones and my prize entering structure.

SWEET ZOMBIE FUCKING JESUS.

I was so close to an epic kill, so what if it was a 15 day old character? It was a 15 day old character in a Drake, in a mission, in my lowsec.

Fuck you CCP, why do NPC rats have ewar that never fails, ewar that webs you down to a fraction of your speed, ewar that can damp you from a gazillion miles away?

You keep nerfing us players in an attempt to balance the game but then leave these mindless automatons with the ewar of fucking Chuck Norris.

I'm gonna go sulk some more now, y'all stay classy

In a hole

Brutha tried to nod, and thought: I'm on everyone's side. It'd be nice if, just for once, someone was on mine.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Small Gods)

The last few days have seen me roaming with virtually no targets about. Whatever was in system was either docked or at a POS so I was feeling a little down.

The Dramiel was desperate for blood and I kept moving on to the next system, continually scanning for any sign of life.

I jumped into Todifrauan, hit scan and was pleasantly surprised to spot a Drake in a belt, desperate to shoot at something I warped in knowing I wouldn't be able to break its legendary tank. I just wanted to shoot something, anything. Little did I know it would escalate to an awesome fight.

I was orbiting the Drake at a rapid rate of 7km/s when my overview lit up. Drake, Brutix, Armageddon and Rifter.

Sweet.

A swarm of drones start to chase me around the belt. I decide to call for a little help and I know just the bunch of delinquents who'd be bang up for this.

Kane Rizzel > hole bunch of fuckers here
Marovinchian > how many?
Commando Jaxx > ?
Marovinchian > ships?
Kane Rizzel > 2 drakes, brutix and geddon, rifter
OriasV > I am a hole fucker
Commando Jaxx > omw kane
Marovinchian > i'm in baddon
Commando Jaxx > what are you in?
Takayo > OMW
Kane Rizzel > dramiel
Commando Jaxx > you holding them off?
Kane Rizzel > yeah
Commando Jaxx > we'll be there soon
Marovinchian > vent?

I couldn't get on voice comms as I was busy trying to evade the chasing cloud of drones and as you can see, my typing took a dive. HOLE!

Takayo > were coming mate
Kane Rizzel > geddon pointed
Takayo > like 4 of us
Takayo > woop
Marovinchian > should i jump in?
Kane Rizzel > if you want, two drakes and geddon here

Takayo > here we comeeeeeeeeee
Uma Thurman > bettyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
Commando Jaxx > fuck long warps!!
Kane Rizzel > jammed

Takayo > belt Kane?
Takayo > warp isn't working
Takayo > belt
Marovinchian > which belt
Takayo > ?
Commando Jaxx > what belt!!!??
Marovinchian > warp crap

I'm still flying around like a mad man and trying to kill the Rifter, so not really paying attention to fleet chat

Kane Rizzel > 1-1
Commando Jaxx > belt
Commando Jaxx > what!
Marovinchian > rgr
Commando Jaxx > in warped
Marovinchian > pri?
nominruil > geddon
Kane Rizzel > geddon still tackled
Marovinchian > spread point
Commando Jaxx > aye
Kane Rizzel > brutix back
Commando Jaxx > drake pointed
Kane Rizzel > I killed their rifter tackler too

I was wrong, he warped out at 5% structure as I'm a nub and lost point.

Commando Jaxx > lol
Commando Jaxx > they fail
Commando Jaxx > that drake out of point range

Not for long

Kane Rizzel > tackled

The Geddon and Drake drop, Brutix and other Drake warped out when local spiked

Kane Rizzel > thanks guys
nominruil > kane you're a crazy mofo
Kane Rizzel > I couldn't take em on my own

The M34N crew have my thanks for making all haste to get to Todi. It was about 6 minutes from when I got on the batphone till they arrived and I was in stitches of laughter


Exert from local
Kane Rizzel > gf btw
Ovno ConSyquence > i a fucking idiot
Ovno ConSyquence > gj lads
Ovno ConSyquence > we totaly got suckered
Commando Jaxx > gf
Kane Rizzel > thanks
Uma Thurman > why i am always primary??
Uma Thurman > gf btw
Commando Jaxx > LOL
Kane Rizzel > that was awesome
Gesadt > come back any time
Uma Thurman > ;)
Kane Rizzel > wait, did that rifter survive?
Uma Thurman > you guys live here?
Gesadt > yep
Gesadt > i got away
Ovno ConSyquence > not for long sadly
Ovno ConSyquence > and as you may be able to tell were getting complacent
Kane Rizzel > damn, how low structure?
Gesadt > prolly about 5-10%
Kane Rizzel > that was an epic fight for me, I had to get on the batphone
Ovno ConSyquence > that wasnt even my geddon =/
Ovno ConSyquence > good fucking job tbh
Ovno ConSyquence > gotta love t3h dram
Kane Rizzel > yep

I warped to a safespot, mainly to let the adrenaline subside a bit, not being on voice comms I missed the start of another fight in the same belt in which a Falcon, Maelstrom and Megathron engaged the M34N crew. Late to the party I eventually got my shit together and got in on the Mega and Mael kills after the Falcon was dispatched

An overview of the fight.

The perspective from the M34N killboard.

This... Was... Awesome

I was absolutely buzzed and the adrenaline rush is still coursing through my veins as I type this.

We hurried back to Gusandall as a Carrier had jumped in but as we got close it docked.

The locals were also in a buzz earlier as a Nyx supercarrier had jumped into Eifer but cloaked up before moving on to its next destination so we weren't able to fully welcome him to our corner of the universe.

A great night for me, worth the trip.

Thanks once again to the Gus locals for an epic assist ;)

Time to crash, the adrenaline has burnt me out and it's time to try and sleep.

Roots

"No running with scythes!"

-- (Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time)

The feeling of speed is incredible, it has been far too long since the universe sped by at such a rate. The faster I went, the slower my heart beat became. Once more, one with the universe.

Dramiel

The Dramiel is the most long-standing and often-used ship design in the Angel Cartel's vast repertoire of vessels. A frigate workhorse if ever there was one, this sharp-tusked, dangerous beauty can sting unimaginably hard if one is not prepared for its assault.

Special Ability: 100% bonus to Small Projectile Turret damage
Minmatar Frigate Skill Bonus: 10% bonus to Small Projectile Turret falloff per level
Gallente Frigate Skill Bonus: 7.5% bonus to Small Projectile Turret tracking speed per level

Recently updated, the Dramiel is now the fastest ship in the universe, capable of speeds even Interceptors can't compete with. While not as fast as my record setting Crusader of old, a mindblowing 63km/s, it can get up to 15km/s with Keira in her Claymore and my skills.

I decided to refit an old Dramiel I had gathering dust in the hangar and venture forth. Wandering around lowsec it seemed to be barren of any targets, eerily barren. Jump after jump yielded no opportunity to unleash the speed.

Getting rather irritated by lack of any action I decided one more stop in Eifer before docking up.

Thorax on scan, ratting. Whilst not a challenge, it still represented a target so I tracked it to a belt, warped in and engaged. The superior speed, guns and drones meant the Thorax stood very little chance. It exploded, pod scrambled and ransom offered. Unfortunately a "friend" had warped in with his Wolf and exploded the pod before the pilot had a chance to respond.

:(

C'est la vie. The Thorax pilot was of good age and would have resulted in a nice ransom had he had the chance to accept.

Oh well, I headed back to Gus to drop off the loot I was able to scoop and take a well deserved smoke break.

News of two Crows nearby, reached me and I headed on out to intercept the Interceptors. Apparently the two were hunting in Katagumar, I was just about to jump in when they jumped into me. First Crow drops gate cloak, I close and lock, they weren't outlaw so I had to rely on them engaging me, which they kindly obliged. The speed of the Dramiel takes some getting used to, after so long flying tanked ships this was a breath of fresh air.

I lost scram range on a few occasions but they stuck around long enough for me to drop the first Crow. Seeing his friend explode caused the second to bail. I need to get used to this, I could have easily taken the second, I could also have exploded but managed to win the engagement despite a fair number of mistakes.

This takes me back to my roots, back to the glory days of pure speed and it feels fucking good.

Stay Classy

[OOC] EVE Blog Banter 14: To infinity... and beyond

Welcome to the fourteenth installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

The first banter of 2010 comes to us from the EVE Blogfather, CrazyKinux , who asks the following: As we begin another year in New Eden, ask yourselves "What Now?" What will I attempt next? What haven't I done so far in EVE? Was it out fear, funds, or knowledge? Have I always wanted to start my own corporation, but have never dared doing so? Is there a fledging mercenary waiting to come out of its shell? Or maybe an Industrialist? What steps and objectives will I set myself to accomplish in order to reach my ultimate goal for this year? EVE is what you make of it. So, what is it going to be for you?

Where to for me? This is a question I quite often ask myself.

For a start I'd like to be able to play more, unfortunately as with everything in my life, my playtime is dictated by my work schedule which has over the past 12 months been hectic to say the least. I'm afraid that won't be changing much and I'll play whenever I have the time and energy to expend on this amazing game.

Solo Piracy is still my number one agenda but I am in the very fortunate position of being able to fly amongst friends in the shape of M34N Corp, a corporation of very capable and impressive Pirates and PvPers. I find myself more and more joining them when hostiles decide to pay Gusandall a visit and it is always good for a laugh.

The Mended Drum project is still going. I haven't had too many issues with regards to fuelling and upkeep of the tower. It remains a pet project and is doing important work with regards to researching BPOs.

Industry is a side of EVE I only started dabbling with recently, Kenny is the man with the skill, mainly with the intent to supply Kane with rigs and Rifters. It also helped supply me with Thrashers and mods for the recent Hulkageddon II (Which I failed miserably in my aim to make the Top Ten in kills but that was due to outside factors)

I might look into invention, not as a source of income though as I'm a touch late to that party.

Keira is finally finishing off the last of her Leadership grind, Wing Command V, don't think I'll bother with the Fleet Command skill. After that she is completely maxed in Leadership and is a massive asset to any fleet/gang. To be honest, I don't really know where to go with her after this besides maxing what she already has.

Maybe one of these?

Aeon

Ships like the Aeon have been with the Empire for a long time. They have remained a mainstay of Amarr expansion as, hopeful for a new beginning beyond the blasted horizon, whole cities of settlers sojourn from their time-worn homesteads to try their luck on infant worlds. The Aeon represents the largest ship of its kind in the history of the Empire, capable of functioning as a mobile citadel in addition to fielding powerful armaments.

Amarr Carrier Skill Bonuses:
50% bonus to Capital Energy and Armor transfer range per level
5% bonus to all Armor resistances per level
99% reduction in CPU need for Warfare Link modules
Can fit Tactical Logistics Reconfiguration modules
Can fit Clone Vat Bay
Can fit Projected Electronic Counter Measures
Can deploy 3 additional Fighters per level
Can fit 1 additional Warfare Link module per level
200% bonus to Fighter control range Immune to all forms of Electronic Warfare

As for the rest of the family? Again, I have no idea. I've been stuck in a PvP bubble for so long it feels strange training skills that aren't beneficial in combat to some degree.

I'd like to roam more, but this is tied to playtime for me. I'd like to get out into nullsec and carve myself a new niche. Maybe once I'm able to sit down and sort out the logistics I'll have a better idea of where and when I can go terrorise other parts of New Eden.

What I really want to do is make a video. I've always marvelled at the skills of the likes of Prometheus Exenthal & Garmon with regards to video making, how they manage to PvP and still keep a good camera angle amazes me.

Now, the ideas for my video are different, I don't want to make another "I IZ PVP GENIUZ" video. While fights are important, entertainment is more so. Frame after frame of me killing or being killed just doesn't seem like entertainment. To this end I need to learn how to edit (Getting some editing software would also help)

I want to incorporate sound-clips from various movies and music, I want different angles for shots, I want it to be flashy and above all I want it to be entertaining.

This is an example of a different side of EVE film making and still one of my all time favourite EVE videos:



Will I achieve this lofty goal? Well, it would probably help if I remember to turn FRAPS on when fighting, also, remembering to turn it off after is just as important, a terrabyte of station spinning is not the most engaging footage.

So there it is, my goal for 2010. If I achieve it, you'll see it here first.

Stay Classy

EDIT: Ooh, I just remembered, I also want to finish a short story I started a long time ago, a bit of in character background to the Rizzel's.

List of Participants:

1. CrazyKinux's Musing - A beginning is a very delicate time...
2. The Wandering Druid of Tranquility - Words, words, words…
3. My God It's Full of Stars - What Now?
4. The Elitist - Plans for 112yc
5. Into the unknown with gun and camera - Show me the money
6. Ecliptic Rift - Enabling the future
7. Inanity and Doom - New Year's Resolutions, New Eden Style
8. Break Vol - Blog Banter #14
9. Guns Ablaze - What Now?
10. Adventures in Mission Running - The Way Forward
11. Diary of a Pod Pilot - Things I want to do
12. Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah - The Year That Will Be
13. Roc's Ramblings - WordPress ate my blog
14. Vive Virtual - Frontier Living
15. A Mule in EVE - Next on the chopping block
16. Prano's Journey - I Peer Into My Crystal Pod...
17. Life in Low Sec - Expanding the Franchise
18. The Light of Stars - Testing the claims of CCP
19. A Memoir From Space - A New Direction
20. The Chronofile - Blog Banter 2010
21. FlashFresh - What now for Flash?
22. EVE Opportunist - Fyreite in 112
23. Mike Azariah - Jiorj
24. Yarrbear Tales - Year in Review
25. More to come..

Swampdonkeys

There was a thoughtful pause in the conversation as the assembled Brethren mentally divided the universe into the deserving and the undeserving, and put themselves on the appropriate side.
-- The Elucidated Brethren see the light
(Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!)

Exhumers are starting to thin out all over New Eden. Hulkageddon II is in full swing and while I may not make top spot, my aim is to at the very least make the top ten in kills.

Here's a hilarious clip from youtube:



Keep on mining

Just another day in Heimatar

"All right," said Masklin. "But you're not to fly down low again and try to read the signposts. Every time you do that, humans rush into the streets and we get lots of shouting on the radio."
"That's right." said the Thing. "People are bound to get excited when they see a ten-million-ton starship trying to fly down the street."
-- (Terry Pratchett, Wings)


It's been a while since I got any good hate mail, it makes me feel unloved :(



Exhumers have been popping all over EVE in Hulkageddon II, but I want to take a moment to get back to my roots, belt piracy.

On the way back from one of our recent raids into highsec we spotted a Nighthawk on the Emolgranlan gate. After getting lost in my pod I went through Eifer and spotted the Nighthawk in the central cluster. Racing back to Gus to grab something sturdier than a pod, I decided on the Fleet Stabber

Stabber Fleet Issue

Responding to voices stating that the Stabber needed an upgrade to be viable as a fleet vessel of military standards, the Republic Fleet commissioned the creation of the Fleet Issue Stabber; a slower, hardier version of the original that packs quite a bit more firepower. Being as new as it is on the battlefield, the Fleet Issue Stabber hasn't seen many large engagements yet, but its engineers as well as Fleet command are very optimistic about its performance.

Minmatar Cruiser Skill Bonus: 5% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret firing speed and 10% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret tracking speed per level.

It's rather quick, even with a bulky 1600mm plate but I thought I'd give the guy a fighting chance, especially since the locals were getting ready to come out and give him a warm welcome.

I quickly tracked the Nighthawk down to a belt and warped in but he was 100 clicks away, I started to close and he warped off. I followed and started to track again, warpin at 70 to the belts.

Kane Rizzel > Eifer 1-1, warping at 70

I burst out of warp, 30 clicks off and start to close, he engages me.

Thank you kind sir, that makes it easier.

I get within scrambler and dual web range and engage, launch a flight of light drones to deal with his. I start to take heavy armour damage as the small gang of locals arrive, I hold tackle just long enough for others to get points on and warp out at 31% armour.

I make all haste to get back to the fight and make it back just in time to lay down some more damage. The Nighthawk explodes, to the delight of the assembled Pirates and the best was yet to come. I open the wreck and I giggle with delight as a the loot gods smiled down upon us.

The Gist A-type Large Shield Booster and the Caldari Navy Shield Boost Amplifier dropped. \o/

About 800million ISK made in a few minutes between the five of us.

Not bad, even if I do say so myself.

We went back to raiding highsec for Exhumers but it has been a rather good few nights for me.

I really want to thank the M34N Corp guys for letting me tag along on the Hulkageddon carnage.

Stay Classy.

HULK SMASH

Look, that's why there's rules, understand? So that you *think* before you break 'em.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time)

Hulkageddon II is upon us, organised by Helicity Boson. It's only a few hours old but already the blood is flowing freely.

Myself, along with the Gusandall delinquents have been tearing through Heimatar highsec, giggling all the way.

Personally I stand at 7 Hulks, 1 Mackinaw and 1 pod.