Five and Six, or how Kane can't keep track of significant dates

 "This is a lovely party," said the Bursar to a chair, "I wish I was here."
-- The Bursar is a man under a *lot* of stress
(Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies)

As has happened many times, I completely missed two significant dates in my Life, first and foremost, the sixth anniversary of my first clone activation, and yesterday was my fifth anniversary in NovaKane and solo Piracy.

Still a noob after all these years

One or two small changes will be coming to A Pirates Perspective soon™

An epic engagement

 People who are rather more than six feet tall and nearly as broad across the shoulders often have uneventful journeys. People jump out at them from behind rocks then say things like, "Oh. Sorry. I thought you were someone else."
-- Carrot travels to Ankh-Morpork
(Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!)

I arrived in my hangar in Gusandall station and was greeted by a message from one of the new locals, a challenge, a battle.

CptHaoc > where is megathron?
Kane Rizzel > on Cybetron with the rest of the Decepticons :P
CptHaoc > that answer made me reapproach
Kane Rizzel > lol
CptHaoc > undock. its time

How could I resist, my mighty Megathron war ship versus what I assumed would be a Maelstrom vessel of doom.

And so it was, I took my time, needed to do some stuff around the hangar first, checked and re-checked my ammo, cap boosters, seeing where I could jam a few more into the cargo hold, checked all mods, drones, and drugs.

I made myself a cup of Earl Grey and quietly enjoyed it before boarding Gasplode and undocking.

Battle would take place at Asteroid Belt 1-1, I warped in at a range I felt comfortable with and waited, sure enough, a Maelstrom appears on scan, just as a friend in a Megatrhon of his own jumped into system. I asked Kash to stay out of it and he kindly obliged. The Mael warps in, I drop a flight of Garde II sentries and closed, he drops Hammer IIs and a Berzerker SW-900 Heavy web drone.

I closed, pulsed the smart-bomb in my utility high, engaged web and scram and proceeded to  introduce hot anti matter into the Maelstroms pulsing shields.

His tank was amazing, I took a hit of Exile and started micro managing my reps and boosters, he was boosting a third of his shields with each pulse and doing great damage. It was going to come down to cap boosters.

I had gotten him to about half armour but his impressive tank would hold as long as his cap boosters did but he stopped doing damage as I easily repped back to full armour.

CptHaoc > weapons burned

Well that would make it easier, I turned off tank, stopped cap boosting but continued to harass his shields.

Kane Rizzel > your tank is awesome
CptHaoc > 100 mil to let my mael live
Kane Rizzel > kk
CptHaoc > DONE
Kunibert Grafenwald > ITS A TRAP
Kashmyta > boosh
Kane Rizzel > GF

And just like that, I made 100mil and the Mael lives to War another day. He warps out and I make way to retrieve my sentry drones when suddenly Pilgrim, decloaks off my starboard and engages, neuts firing the last remnants of my cap into oblivion, tracking disrupted and drones swarming me it seems like I'm done for, helpless.

CptHaoc > how many caps u got
Kane Rizzel > not enough for this pilgrim
CptHaoc > he's got a point on u?
Kane Rizzel > yep

I reload my cap booster and start firing off one at a time, pulsing my smartbomb but leaving my reppers off, I close to zero on the Grim and start to batter it, the Maelstrom pilot returns to the field in a Hurricane and helps me mop up.

Sakari Orisi > gf
Kane Rizzel > gf

I had three no charges in my cap booster...

Kane Rizzel > I had six more charges

But six in the medium container in my hold called 'Farjung <3'

Kane Rizzel > :)
Saara Orisi > Bah, so close

Not close enough.

Thanks to CptHaoc for coming back to help, Kash warped his Mega in at the end along with another of Haoc's corp mates in a Drake.

Belt 1-1 saw something epic and witnessed honour, something that is far too rare in this amazing universe.

CptHaoc > ur mega is a beast.
Kane Rizzel > thanks
CptHaoc > dunno what can i do next about that
Kane Rizzel > the tank on that mael was something else tbh
CptHaoc > well, i spent a few isk on a booster
CptHaoc > burning out my guns, is a true fail.
Kane Rizzel > happens tbh
Kane Rizzel > sometimes if you ungroup a few won't be burnt

This makes me wonder how much the booster was worth? :)

The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret

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)

 Arasul > in your opinion
Arasul > starling
Arasul > what went wrong
Thestarling > well there seemed to be a lot of them
Thestarling > and not as many of you
Thestarling > which is always a problem
Arasul > i concur my good man

The Job Offer

- I USHERED SOULS INTO THE NEXT WORLD. I WAS THE GRAVE OF ALL HOPE. I WAS THE ULTIMATE REALITY. I WAS THE ASSASSIN AGAINST WHOM NO LOCK WOULD HOLD.
- "Yes, point taken, but do you have any particular skills?"
-- Death consults a job broker
(Terry Pratchett, Mort)

I have received some tasty job offers and offers to make a quick ISK or two

buissness
From: Davch Jaawa
Sent: 2012.03.31 23:05
To: Kane Rizzel,

Hey i have a suggestion for you let me take that bounty off your head and i will give you 1/3 of the value of it

And more recently

Job Offer
From: Davch Jaawa
Sent: 2012.04.16 17:41
To: Kane Rizzel,

Helllo Mr. Rizzel i have a job offer for you i have two people i would like dead i am willing to pay 10,000,000 a head i will pay 5mill up front and the other 5 mill when you have completed my task this will come to a totall pay out of 20,000,000 for the pair. you may ask why not just put a bounty on their heads well there sec status is to high.

Please msg me if you accept i will forward the cash to you account on acceptance

p.s. you seem like a man that knows how to get shit done show me. the players you will be facing 2 month old accounts im sure you can handle it

What do you guys think? Sounds legit

Edit: My reply
Re: Job Offer
From: Kane Rizzel
Sent: 2012.04.16 21:58
To: Davch Jaawa,

Terribly sorry, but I am a Pirate, not a mercenary and my occupation precludes my availabllity for high security space endeavours

Regards

Kane

The Boom Box

People came to Ankh-Morpork to seek their fortune. Unfortunately, other people sought it too.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Soul Music)

There has been a rise in traffic in Eifer and Gusandall while I was away in Molden Heath, so I brought out a new toy to play with some of them.



It's... Different, but I like the speakers on the front :)

Marauder

And, while it was regarded as pretty good evidence of criminality to be living in a slum, for some reason owning a whole street of them merely got you invited to the very best social occasions.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay)

21:25 I receive a call from Bosena

Dirty Protagonist > hey kane
Dirty Protagonist > got a jc in bos still?
Kane Rizzel > yep
Kane Rizzel > wassup?
frogstomper > want to come gank a vargur in a catalyst?
Kane Rizzel > yes
frogstomper > get down here and on comms then plz

The RANSM crew have been ganking spendy mission ships in Molden Heath highsec for the past week or so and this evening I got an invite to join in the fun.

The mark had already been identified and the trap was being set up, not too subtle this trap, the mark was being bumped off the gate where he had gone AFK, almost 200 clicks of bumping.

With everything in place, ships were handed out and the gang made ready for departure, a well co-ordinated effort swinging into action.



Undock Bosena...
Warp to Teon gate...
Jump...
Hold cloak...
Fleet warp to covops...
All mods overloaded...

Our location announced in local comms, our intentions doubly so, as I said, not too subtle but then sometimes subtlety gets in the way of giggles.

We land...
Lock target...
And open fire...

The Vargur explodes.

CONCORD warps in and destroys each one of our destroyers, justice dispensed, our escape pods, escaping rather sharpish, the Vargur's escape pod not so lucky. We head back to lowsec, GFGF in local, giggling all the way.

Here are some of the more expensive suicide ganks as of late.

I do love Molden Heath.

Active

The consensus seemed to be that if really large numbers of men were sent to storm the mountain, then enough might survive the rocks to take the citadel. This is essentially the basis of all military thinking.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Eric)

A Hurricane is a mighty test for the ship I was flying, but it was a test I was going to take, or as the case was to be, let the test take me.

Cyclone

The Cyclone was created in order to meet the increasing demand for a vessel capable of providing muscle for frigate detachments while remaining more mobile than a battleship. To this end, the Cyclone's eight high-power slots and powerful thrusters have proved ideal.

Battlecruiser Skill Bonus: 5% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret rate of fire and 7.5% bonus to shield boosting per level

99% reduction in the CPU need of Warfare Link modules.

I had been hunting a Tengu running a drone complex in Eifer, but headed back to Gusandall. As I jump through a Hurricane pilot that was reported earlier appears in Gus local, so I warp straight to belt 1-1 and wait...

... Didn't have to wait long as the Hurricane warps in at range. His MWD pulse clearly showing he was quicker than me, getting into range of my scram was paramount, as I started the approach under full MWD speed, I needed to get under 12km for my scram's overloaded range and it wasn't easy as the Hurricane easily outran and out ranged me, pulsing my shield booster as the Hurricane's 425s tore into me.

I pop a strong blue pill, the universe takes on a blue hue, an immediate headache a side effect, reducing my ability to keep my shield capacity at full strength but the massive boost to my neural pathways allowing me to maximize the shield boost from the shield booster.

Massive chunks of my shield being ripped away, massive chunks of my shield being repaired, timing of my cap boosts becomes critical as dual neuts from the Hurricane putting pressure on my capacitor, the time has come, I overload my MWD, a cap boost charge fires, I force the engagement into scram range as I get within 12km, my overloaded scram bites hard and the MWD of the Hurricane is nullified, I close to point blank, second cap booster fires, shields bouncing like crazy, I'm starting to miss timings on cap boosts, the dual neut pressure hurting, the 425s hurting, my shields dipping further, armour hitting red, my drones seemingly off on their own mission to kill an Angel cruiser, double you tea eff guys?
It doesn't take long for me to get my timings right, overloaded shield boosts and cap boosts allowing me to stay ahead of the damage and neut cycles... Just.
My drones, having killed the cruiser, decide to come back and help me.

At this point though, I have broken the shields of the Hurricane and am biting into the soft underbelly of the passive shield, its weak armour being ripped apart by my rockets and 220s, and in no time his structure starts to vaporize under the assault, my weapons near melting point as the Hurricane explodes.

A rather good fight, sentiments shared in local comms.

I'm having fun in active tanked ships of both shield and armour variants and for the first time in a very long time I suffered side effects of the drugs that help boost them to insane levels. Some of the fits might not be conventional but damn if they don't keep you interested :)

Active tanks fell out of favour as of late, replaced by logistics and remote repair chains, but for solo they can be really effective in my not so humble opinion, whilst still vulnerable against neuts and large amounts of deeps, choose your targets and have fun.

Edit: To include the ship I was flying, thanks Trony for pointing that out :)

The Century Club

The students were staring at her in the manner of those who have heard of the species 'female' but have never expected to get this close to one.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Soul Music)

Another Rizzel Centurion

Current Skills: 197 (Skill Points: 100,318,943)

Congrats Keira


New shirt and hair to celebrate

Special Tuesday

"Some people are heroes. And some people jot down notes."
-- (Terry Pratchett, The Truth)

There comes a time, when even I'm at a loss for words, so I leave you with this special snowflake

Having failed to tackle him with a Scram on a Megathron in Eifer, I refitted The Librarian with dual scrams and had another associate probe him out in Gus

EVE System > Channel changed to Local : Gusandall
Kane Rizzel > stabs are bad m'kay
Slick Duoros > lol
Masarama > worked the first time you tried to scram me
Kane Rizzel > should have taken the hint
Masarama > thanks for insurance money
Masarama > :-)
Kane Rizzel > lol

I leave you with this gem:

Crefakis > what do you call it when you dual tank with a rolled tungsten plate and a fs-9 regolith extender
Crefakis > a mixed meta4.

Always outnumbered, quite often outgunned

The class was learning about some revolt in which some peasants had wanted to stop being peasants and, since the nobles had won, had stopped being peasants *really quickly*.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Soul Music)

I've been toying with something old, but kind of new and took it out for a test last night, however it didn't quite work out the way I had hoped, it did show that I can sometimes bite off more than I can chew, I did manage to kill two of the gang with the help of an old friend who has been on-world for far too long, Welcome back to Gusandall CPT NESSAJA


It tanks like a beast, no links, only drugs and a little grit, I probably would have made it out had I not derped and burnt one of the repairers. Matter not, this is the replacement, awaiting a similar situation to be hurled against.

Fighting outnumbered is something I'm used to, more apparent in recent months as the dwindling force that once was M34N not having my confidence to drop everything and help a friend in need. It will be something I will have to rely on even more after the choices I have made. C'est la vie.

This evening there was a Rifter and an Enyo loitering far too long at a safespot in Gusandall and as Kane does, I requested my associate provide me with the co-ordinates of the pair so that I may officially welcome them to Gus in my own special way.

A dangerous pairing, the recent modifications done to the base Enyo hull making it a DPS monster and we all know the Rifter in the right hands to be a dangerous adversary.

With the warp-in set I undocked in a Hawk assault frigate, itself recently modified and better than its previous incarnation, I made warp to the location and had my associate move off.
I land about 20clicks away, not the best warp-in but in my associates defense they were moving. I would have to rely on my charm and good looks to get the pair to hang about, but I didn't need any of that as the two of them must have looked at each other and said "Yeah, we can take him" and took me they did. Both engaged and moved to point blank range, I had primaried the Rifter as it would have the weaker tank of the two, it was going down but the Enyo had closed to within range of its blasters and started to rip my shields apart, Rifter goes down and I can switch tackle to Enyo, being able to gain some range and start to kite.

His tank is strong, my kinetic rockets a poor choice so I reload to thermal but something jams and kinetic are reloaded. I'm spamming scan as local rise and falls a few times, always wary of backup warping in and killing me dead. Slowly his tank breaks, a Crow warps in and engages, but Enyo is going down, my shields easily dealing with the Crow's missiles and the Hob II from the Enyo, its blasters not able to touch me at 9km.

Enyo explodes, the Crow casually saunters into scram range and it's all over except for the crunch of an escape pod.

A good fight, never outclassed :)

Had a few good fights the past week, a Vigilant kill using something a little different again, a lot of fun to fly and taking the old Rupture out for a spin in the black. I do however fail at flying Drakes, I had to warp out of an engagement against a brick tanked Drake as I derped once more, burning out some of my launchers and not being able to break his shields before mine failed.

I will get better however :)