Yes, this is why we love EVE

 Anathema didn't only believe in ley-lines, but in seals, whales, bicycles, rainforests, whole grain in loves, recycled paper, white South Africans out of South Africa, and Americans out of practically everywhere down to and including Long Island.

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



In other news I will be departing for a few months in the Antarctic in the next fortnight, unfortunately the ships internet isn't good enough to even log in but at least I have over a years worth of skills queued.

Memory

The hangar is always dark these days, a myriad of vessels powered down, in hibernation, the deck crew has long gone, their employer seemingly nowhere to be found.

It's cold in here, the life of this once vibrant hangar, lost in the void.

A light flickers, a frigate in the far corner, powers up for a second, but in this darkness it feels like a stroke of lightning. The darkness returns, the brief flash making it feel heavier... Darker.

The frigate, a favourite of this particular hangars owner, pulses once more, brighter, making the returning darkness feel... ominous.

a low hum breaks the silence, systems powering up in the darkness, the afterburners fire, the frigate in its cradle held fast, and just as suddenly the darkness returns, a little brighter, warmed by the glow of the cooling back wall.

The Rifter feels a memory, its systems for so long melded with the mind of its pilot.

It misses its pilot...

And I'm offski... Again

Shadwell hated all southerners and, by inference, was standing at the North Pole.

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

I fly to Melbourne Australia for six months on Wednesday, taking my laptop with me this time but doubt I'll have internet access when we go to the Antarctic. But I will try and stay updated with the goings on in EVE and even considering trying my hand at some EVE fiction with me and my family as the characters, develop some back story and just have fun writing again.

I could use a little help if anyone feels inclined to do so. Please share the link on your social media if th fancy takes you :)

Huggs and Kisses

Kane

Back, kind of...

On the fabled hidden continent of Xxxx, somewhere near the rim, there is a lost colony of wizards who wear corks around their pointy hats and live on nothing but prawns.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man) 

I shall be attending EVE Nottingham this weekend and hope to see some of you there, I have just arrived back from four months in the Gulf of Mexico and I shall be around till the middle of October before heading to Australia and spending about five months aboard the Sea Shepherd ship, the Steve Irwin.

So I won't really be back playing EVE for a while yet, I'll try catch up with some of you online as I have my laptop with me, but won't be able to play.

Thank you :)

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 would like to extend my gratitude to those that came all the way to Gusandall to join me on a little roam this evening. Y'all don't know how much I appreciated it and whilst we didn't have the most epic fights, the Titanomancy was ill-fated and we weren't exactly efficient I had an awesome time.
This was by far the largest gang I'd been in for a very long time, all 24 of us :)
Special thanks to Nashh and The Bastards for hooking us up with comms for the evening.

And don't forget EVE Nottingham being organised by Nashh, I shall be in attendance, fresh from my adventure in the Gulf of Mexico, along with a few other big names in internet spaceships :)

I'm not entirely sure when or if I'll be back to playing EVE, I'd like to think I will but you just never know where the universe will take you. Thanks to everyone who has ever read one of my stories and got even the slightest amount of enjoyment out of it.

I shall try post pics of my time on the RV Odyssey on this blog.

Stay strong, never surrender, fly it like you stole it and good hunting.

Hugs and Kisses

Kane

THE RIFTERING

The pre-luncheon drinks were going quite well, Mr Bucket thought. Everyone was making polite conversation and absolutely no one had been killed up to the present moment.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Maskerade)

GUSANDALL
SATURDAY APRIL 19th
1700 EVETIME.
Bring all the Rifters, your friends and a can do attitude, will need one or two Sabres and maybe a few brave armour logistics frigate pilots, but honestly Rifters, all of them. This will more than likely go into nullsec so leave your implants at home
That is all.

Well, not actually, my deployment has come through and it's been freaking me out since I got the mail yesterday. Seems I will be spending the summer on a sailboat in the Caribbean as part of Ocean Alliance and Sea Shepherd's Operation Toxic Gulf, doing research on the effects of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster on marine life. I'll be flying to Key West next week and taking in Florida, Louisiana, Mississipi and Alabama.

Lesson One: Correct Use of Shovel...

"'Chapter Fifteen, Elementary Necromancy'", she read out loud. "'Lesson One: Correct Use of Shovel...'"
-- (Terry Pratchett, Jingo) 

Last night, in the afterglow of an epic bit of Piracy and a billion ISK payday for each of those involved, I decided it a good idea to tangle with a small gang that had set up shop on the Gusandall gate in Eifer, in all my genius I decided on taking a new ship out to play and promptly losing it. The rest of the locals with no co-ordination whatsoever followed suit and it ended up being a little farcical with two battleships and three strategic cruisers lost, but we didn't really care, had a laugh after and carried on with our lives

Here are the lessons learnt

•Intel Intel Intel

For fucks sakes, when you have intel, like the fact that there's at least 3 Caracals, 3 Moa, a Gnosis, 2 Ishtar, 3 Scythes and some tackle, jumping in all gung ho is not the smartest move. 
Sometimes being a solo pirate leads to some communication problems and combining forces doesn't always work out as hastily planned
We had sufficient intel and decided to jump in anyways, believing we were that good that we could clean up a remote shield boosting gang with a mix of ships, no voice comms and no fleet setup.

•Active Tanking 101

I haven't active tanked a battleship in a while and I was rusty, a dual rep AAR tank should have lasted much longer than I did, but I failed, the incoming damage was high and I didn't activate my reppers early enough, thinking I could bait tank a bit, but by the time I got them going it was too late.
I'm not a novice at active tanking, I just went full retard thinking I could just pull it off easily.

Dual Large Armour  Repairer or Single rep and single Ancillary rep?  The jury is still out for me, I'll have to play with it more and see which I orefer. I have dual repped in the past and had much success and I feel the boost rep of the Ancillary might be a bit more useful in the type of fights I would take in my right mind

•To MWD or not to MJD

One of the things I was toying with was the Micro Jump Drive, a new unit and one I had never used in combat. 
I was debating the Micro Jump Drive over the Micro Warp Drive and reasoned that I could just jump away if there were no scrams on me.

Were there any scrams on me? 
No, no there weren't
Did I just activate the MJD and jump away?
No, no I didn't

•Smartbomb over neutralizer

I'm undecided on this, the smartbomb could come in useful, had I had time to make best use of it to kill off drones and in this fight the neutralizer wouldn't have saved me, but what it might have done is break the rep chain of the Scythes a bit.

I did get one Moa before they could set up their reps properly but that was it, once they got going I wasn't going to break them, all that was left was for me to explode, even though I could have tanked better and simply micro jumped away.

All in all an expensive lesson, not as expensive as some I've had this year but not going to deter me, I shall still try this out, and maybe, just maybe, not go full retard and ruin what was an epic day :)

Eggs in one Anshar

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) 

Four words... Well five...

[ 2014.03.22 18:41:11 ] Sasa Basta > Anshar caught in sot
[ 2014.03.22 18:41:14 ] Sasa Basta > SUN
[ 2014.03.22 18:41:20 ] Jonathan Cage > omw
[ 2014.03.22 18:41:25 ] Kane Rizzel > omw
[ 2014.03.22 18:41:25 ] xxx > omw

A mad scramble ensues, I choose something that has a smartbomb to pop the pod, A Hyperion Aliastra Edition and made my way to Sot, the assembled Pirates dropping whatever they were doing for the chance of a juicy kill.

Ransom was offered by the Anshar pilot

[ 2014.03.22 18:43:05 ] EL Brutor > kill , 2 bil offered is too low

I warped to the sun and landed 48km away, I dropped sentries and slowly made my way towards the stricken jump freighter, too far away to effectively apply DPS, will have to look at my choice of Micro Jump Drive for future such endeavours.

It hits hull and the pilot ejects, he is quickly podded because we take this shit seriously. We hold fire as we try to find a jump freighter capable pilot who can help us, with not one of us knowing such a pilot the decision was made for a shiny killmail.

With the wreck of the Anshar glowing brightly so close to the star we find out exactly what happened.

[ 2014.03.22 18:50:30 ] EL Brutor > ibis failed on the cyno, anshar bumped on station, I burned to her, was @ 60 and escaped, but warped to sun
[ 2014.03.22 18:50:46 ] EL Brutor > i just had to burn 100 kms to her

Props to Brutor for the epic tackle and then for his patience splitting all the loot and ISK after

One night in Egmar

"Today Is A Good Day For Someone Else To Die!"

-- (Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay)

I spent the evening roaming the Minmatar Faction Warfare zone looking for the ever illusive 1v1s that I'm convinced the revived Rifter is capable of dominating.

The area was buzzing with activity, numerous small and large gangs all over the place, Amamake hot as hell and Santo "Pod Reaper" Trafficante lurking.

My recent experience with the Rifter has shown me it's a lot better than it was, but is limited to singular engagements but damn it I'm going out there and going to find my Nirvana.

So it was that with one or two random warps to various faction warfare plexes I tripped over two Cheetahs, very unlucky for them that I would exit warp right on top of them and disable their cloaking systems.
Killing cloakers is almost as satisfying as killing warp core stabbers.

After one such kill I warped back to the wreck to loot the cloak, when a Firetail frigate warps in, piloted by the skillful and dangerous Lhorenzho.

A quick look at the Firetail shows me it has artillery fit, with its superior speed this was going to be an interesting fight, it quickly starts to close range as I align out, my afterburner at full throttle, he closes.

50km

40km

30km

My afterburner cycle is about to finish, I overload and pull off a maneuver I haven't done in a while, not since the days of the static 2/10 in Gusandall.
With bits of metal straining all around me, the forces exerted by the Crazy Ivan do almost as much damage to my Rifter as any weapon system, I'm launched in a direct collision course with the Firetail.

20km

10km

Scram and web kick in, the added range my guns now had wouldn't help me in this fight so I had to get close and mitigate some of the incoming damage, weapons systems overloaded I go to work on Lhorenzho's Firetail, his damage is impressive and so is his tank, it's neck and neck, both our repair systems fighting to repair the chunks of armour being torn out of our ships, he's still significantly faster than me and starts to get range where his artillery starts hitting me harder.

With my repper out of nanite paste his armour crumbles, my own is close to evaporating under the massive volleys of his artillery.

I try to orbit, minimising the impact of his salvos, using the greater tracking of my guns to finish him off.
I'm rewarded with a satisfying explosion as Lhorenzho's Firetail illuminates the Egmar system

A great fight and one I thoroughly enjoyed.

I seem to be having an issue with my modules burning out, cost me a Police Comet kill with him at 3% structure, but the pilot was gracious enough to offer a 1v1 against my Rifter, we did so at a deep safe and this time I managed not to melt everything and win. Another good fight.

Also just lost my Astro, took on a Hyperion in an anomoly... Neuted, tackled and dead :(

Tweaking the Rifter and illegal mining

In all, I've had seventeen demands for your badge. Some want parts of your body attached. Why did you have to upset everybody?
-- Lord Vetinari reproves Vimes.

(Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay) 

Mr Sard "I don't need no Bastion" Caid has called me out, a once proud Rifter warrior blogging about ships other than the Rifter, but have no fear, a recent update to the systems of the once mighty frigate have me flying my favourite iconic ship once again, I have however found a slight flaw... It doesn't do well when there are more of them than there are of me.

I am however confident than in a 1v1 situation I may be able to pick off most other frigates

Kane Rizzel > gf
Sarcos > gf
Johnny Twelvebore > apologies for the blob:) << There were only three of them and I almost had the rail Atron
Kane Rizzel > np :)

This is the second loss in Evati, yesterday a Firetail narrowly escaped in 10% hull when his destroyer friend exploded me whilst I was busy violencing his vessel. Seems Faction Warfare has picked up as the numbers flying about would seem to indicate that I will be hard pressed to find the mythical 1v1 the Rifter so desperately craves.

So I headed back to Gusandall to fit another Rifter but a lone miner was reported in Eifer with a broken tail light, so I boarded my Police ship and went to investigate

EVE System > Channel changed to Local : Eifer
Kane Rizzel > good afternoon sir
Kane Rizzel > I am from the space police
Kane Rizzel > do you have a permit to mine this rock?
LETSMINESTUFF > the space police?
LETSMINESTUFF > Let me see your concord badge sir.
Kane Rizzel > look at my space police lights sir
LETSMINESTUFF > oh dude
LETSMINESTUFF > your ship really has police lights on it
LETSMINESTUFF > where did you get that
Kane Rizzel > that is correct sir
hck ruffneck > Police Pursuit Comet Blueprint
Kane Rizzel > now licence and registration
LETSMINESTUFF > Sigh
LETSMINESTUFF > hold on its in my glove box
LETSMINESTUFF > I.. I cant find it
Kane Rizzel > may I remind sir that it is illegal to have open alcoholic beverages in the pod of your mining vessel
LETSMINESTUFF > >_>
LETSMINESTUFF > I have no alcohol in my ship
LETSMINESTUFF > (POUR IT OUT POUR IT OUT)
Kane Rizzel > box of twinkies and a can of gas and I'll let sir off with a warning, or if you tell me a joke that makes me laugh
LETSMINESTUFF > hmmm
LETSMINESTUFF > A man walks into a psychiatrists office naked wrapped in nothing but clingwrap
LETSMINESTUFF > The shrink walks out and says
LETSMINESTUFF > Sir... I can clearly see you
LETSMINESTUFF > you're nuts
Kane Rizzel > HAHA, good day to you sir
Kane Rizzel > o7
LETSMINESTUFF > o/

Sure I didn't make any money or make any explosions but sometimes I just want to see the universe smile.

Back to Rifters, The Riftering is still going to happen, I have a lot of things to deal with at the moment, least of all is working six days a week, so as soon as I can set a date I will do so and make all other arrangements, I'm so looking forward to finally being able to confirm it and actually getting it going.

Bad Boys Bad Boys...

FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC.
-- The motto of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch
(Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!) 

Gusandall Police Department, the GPD motherbitches.

A Fed Navy Ogre, Integrated Ogre, Hammerhead, Hobgoblin and Salvager walk into a bar...

Quote #205.

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!)
 It's been a better month so far, considering last months disaster where for the first time in my long career as a Pirate I operated at a loss, even 5 billion in loot wasn't enough to cover said losses.

With that I return you to your regular update of Piratey goodness.

The Hunting so far today took in the sites of the area, setting up as is my way, the entire area is scanned and bookmarked, and with that it's only a matter of patrolling and seeing if anybody is foolish enough to venture forth to find fame and glory.

Eifer as always proves to be ground zero and my first catch of the day. A lone Cyclone battle cruiser lingers in system and core probes appear on scan, he's actually probing for something, must be a combat site, so I check my bookmarks and there are none, but the Cyclone goes off scan and leaves system, oh well, moving on, I start my patrol once again.

Minutes later, a birdy whispers in my ear that the Cyclone is back, in the direction of a Data site....

"Are you making fun of me, a Cyclone, data running?"

I head back to Eifer and it does seem to be the case, I focus my remote cameras on the Cyclone and see he has missile launchers fit, so I warp away to a safespot, drop a mobile depot and refit for tank, with a neut for added pressure.

I warp back at range, then warp on top of a can he's busy hacking, I engage with scram and web, deploy drones and settle into a neat orbit. He deploys a flight of tech 2 hammerheads and starts shooting at me, I focus my flight of warriors on his drones to eliminate as much incoming DPS as possible.

Nathaniel Belruld > expensive ship to be pirating in isn't it?

With his drones out the way I'm still taking damage, my speed with an afterburner in a relatively tight orbit not enough to mitigate missile damage, so I start using my repper, overloaded, boosted with a cap charge, I keep it running sporadically, every now and again with an extra hit of ancillary repair, I had recalled my warriors and deployed hobgoblins, they chewed through his shields, nommed through his armour and snacked on his hull, all that was left was a violent explosion.

Kane Rizzel > business is good, what can I say :)
Kane Rizzel > gf

I scoop the loot and head back home to refit to my normal hunter/killer load out.

Later on this afternoon, while on patrol I warped past something odd on the scanner in Hrondmund, a Navy Vexor running a site, must be an anomoly as all the scannable sites in system weren't combat, so I started the process of manually scanning the anomolies until I found him, which of course I did, come on, this is me, I warp in, but he's eighty clicks away, next to a mobile tractor unit, he's almost done with the last wave so closing under cloak would take too long, so I quickly bookmark the mobile tractor and warp towards the sun, I engage warp back to my bookmark and drop cloak just before I land.

My prey is right in front of me as I nearly careen straight into him as I land, warp plasma streaming off my Sisters of Destruction frigate, I haven't refit, I'm full hunter/killer mode, dual scram and propulsion, I engage a tight orbit with MWD rocketing me in a dizzying spin. I lock his drones, a mixed bag, Integrated and Fed Navy Ogres, a single tech 1 hammerhead and hobgoblin and a lonely salvage drone. I quickly decide that the threat they pose is negligible and send my warriors out to play.

At no point does the Navy Vexor aggress, he makes a weak move to escape , almost in vain, but my Sisters of Destruction frigate is up to the task, there will be no escape, no quarter, take everything, give nothing back.

The Navy vessel explodes, raining bits of debris across the my Astro.

I hang about to kill the Mobile Tractor as the stupid thing has stolen the loot, and if there's any stealing to be done it will be done by me.

Burn

Death isn't on line. If he was, there would be a sudden drop in the death rate. Although it'd be interesting to see if he'd post things like: DON'T YOU THINK I SOUND LIKE JAMES EARL JONES?

-- (Terry Pratchett, alt.fan.pratchett)
Kane Rizzel > sup
ClintEaststick Sticks > Lol nice but im afraid the 200 thousand isk worth of crap wont help you.
Kane Rizzel > some folk just want to see the universe burn

EVE Pirate Trading Cards by Rixx Javix

Quote #183.

God does not play dice with the universe: He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e. everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex variant of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who *smiles all the time*.
-- (Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, Good Omens) 

Here's something cool from Eveoganda's Rixx Javix.

EVE Pirate Trading cards, rather honoured to be #3

300

- "Have you any last words?"
- YES. I DON'T WANT TO GO.
- "Well. Succinct, anyway."
-- Death at the other end of the scythe, for once
(Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man)

Failed to solo a carrier in my frigate, and now this, loss number 300

Time to dust off the wallet and send someone shopping.

I am Failure

Old Tom was the single cracked bronze bell in the University bell tower. The clapper dropped out shortly after it was cast, but the bell still tolled out some tremendously sonorous silences every hour.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Eric)

[19:44:00] Kane Rizzel > get to bund now, everyone, I have a thanatos tackled :P

And no one came... I had to warp out due to NPC damage.
19:45:31    Combat    130 to Simon Force[SSS-A](Thanatos) - Hobgoblin II - Smashes

Thanatos docked and logged once two other folk showed up.

I can't even solo a Carrier in a Frigate.

The Riftering

Anathema didn't only believe in ley-lines, but in seals, whales, bicycles, rainforests, whole grain in loves, recycled paper, white South Africans out of South Africa, and Americans out of practically everywhere down to and including Long Island.

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



In association with A Pirates Perspective, NovaKane Incorporated and You've got RED you, Kane Rizzel is honoured to present:

As some of my long time readers and friends know I am soon to go on an adventure that will take me away from EVE for a long time, as such I'd like to go out with a bang.

I can think of no better way than to take a swarm of Rifters and go see the sights of EVE, a little blast through lowsex and nullsex with as many of my favourite trademark ship.

EVE Gate, the Monolith, Steve, the Titanomachy?

While I wouldn't turn anyone away who comes in a ship other than a Rifter, I'd like everyone to at least try, they're cheap and cheerful with scoopy bits on the front and the level of entry for the roam is low.
One or two sabres and a covops wouldn't go amiss.

Leave your expensive implants at home, this is going to end violently.

My pub channel "NovaKane" is where I would like everyone to meet, the system is Gusandall, the date is yet to be confirmed but will be in March, definitely March.
If someone has a Teamspeak server I could hijack for the duration of the festivities it would be very much appreciated.

Bring friends, your kids and even your pets if they be so inclined.

There is only one rule of The Riftering, Not Purple Shoot It!

Also just want to say that I will be back.

EVE Online: You can log out any time but you can never leave.

Deadly Sin

Bad spelling can be lethal. For example, the greedy Seriph of Al-Yabi was cursed by a badly-educated deity and for some days everything he touched turned to Glod, which happened to be the name of a small dwarf from a mountain community hundreds of miles away who found himself magically dragged to the kingdom and relentlessly duplicated. Some two thousand Glods later the spell wore off. These days, the people of Al-Yabi are renowned for being remarkably short and bad-tempered.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad) 

Greed.

I started my hunt tonight with a little anger in me, my day had been tiresome, but that should not have affected my abilities. So a hit on a Helios running a site in Sotrenzur should have been business as usual, a casual glance at the local intel didn't show much of anything suspicious.

So I warp into the site, I see the Helios, but I don't look at the Helios, I don't actually see him hacking the site. I close and engage, dual scrams as has become my way, I launch drones and commence the violence.

My greed turns to bemusement as an Astero drops cloak and engages me, scram and web pin me down as I finish off the Helios and then I turn my attention to the Astero. We both have Hongoblins out, 10 drones chewing their way through shields, armour and hull, we're neck and neck but his damage benefits from the application of a web.

I was not fit for a fight, I was purely hunting relic/data runners and this time I messed up, both the pilots are in NPC corps but share a lineage of the same corps, had I actually taken the time to review intel I would have been a bit more cautious.

C'est la vie.

Gladiators

Lancre operated on the feudal system, which was to say, everyone feuded all the time and handed on the fight to their descendants.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum)

A little Singularity action this evening

Stained

"What sort of person," said Salzella patiently, "sits down and *writes* a maniacal laugh? And all those exclamation marks, you notice? Five? A sure sign of someone who wears his underpants on his head. Opera can do that to a man."
-- (Terry Pratchett, Maskerade) 

A nullsec evacuation occurred last night, a somewhat tense affair all be told, I was tired after a long days hunting, a successful day but there's always a chance for one last kill.
It so happened that a wormhole in Ingunn led to the nullsec region of Stain, deep, very deep in nullsec, 60 jumps as the crow flies.
My reason for going in was a Raven appeared on scan and then cloaked, so I was waiting him out. An hour or so passes and the wormhole disappears off my overview.

OH DEAR... Kane has gotten himself into a right old pickle.

The Cloaked Raven reports my whereabouts in the local comms channel but realises his mistake and most likely reports me in his appropriate intel channel, which of course would make things only a little more challenging. So I set about making my way home in my Astero, an uneventful trip, keeping an eye on local, scanning gates for bubble camps, not warping directly to the outbound gate, everything I have learnt in my years of flying through the universe put into practice just to get home.

I remember a good few years back, when still living in Curse with  with my corp Ars Caelestis and Huzzah Federation that I scouted a lot in my Rifter and the childish remarks whenever you'd mention jumping into MY-WIV on a roam.

Some of those systems are big, but being Elite makes it easy

This song encapsulates what being a capsuleer means to me, it perfectly represents a day in my life


Before that little detour through the universe I was treated to this charming conversation after violencing a certain boat doing a mission in Eifer.

At first in the local comms channel:

EVE System > Channel changed to Local : Eifer
Wraithguardstar > AHHHH come on man
Wraithguardstar > just missioning
Kane Rizzel > just pirating
Wraithguardstar > Sadface
Wraithguardstar > really very unnessacery

But soon after a private chat

Kane Rizzel > sup?
Wraithguardstar > so, is threally all that profitable?
Kane Rizzel > yes it is
Wraithguardstar > it can't possibly be as profitable to blow up ships as ransoming
Kane Rizzel > I ransom pods normally
Kane Rizzel > but all loot is worth something
Kane Rizzel > plus it costs me nothing so technically it's all profit
Wraithguardstar > well, how much did you actually just make ruining my day?
Kane Rizzel > I'm ridiculously good at what I do
Kane Rizzel > 28mil in loot
Wraithguardstar > ok, so, you couldn't have just demanded 50mil and left?
Wraithguardstar > i run doofy missions
Wraithguardstar > it's not that deep
Kane Rizzel > dude, this is lowsec
Wraithguardstar > dude, i know.   it's whatever you make it
Kane Rizzel > and I choose to kill doofy mission runners
Wraithguardstar > i'm telling you, you would have made more money, and had less hate in the world, by just jumping in, scrambling, and ransoming
Wraithguardstar > so
Wraithguardstar > you lost about 80 mil right there
Wraithguardstar > i lost more
Wraithguardstar > but you lost about 80 mil
Kane Rizzel > sometimes the killmail and convos like this are worth so much more :)
Wraithguardstar > nah kiddo, they're really not
Wraithguardstar > i'm actually getting my dick sucked while we do this.   what are you doing?  << Oh yes, he went there
Kane Rizzel > ohshit, gotta go, my mom told me to get out the basement
Wraithguardstar > oh no no.  don't misunderstand
Wraithguardstar > i'm saying, we all could have a much better, more profitable time
Wraithguardstar > just think about it.   we could have been pals.  maybe not everybody you've ever jumped.  but some.

 A charming fella :)
  
Another bit of chat colour gifted to me after this little act of Piracy 

Kane Rizzel > sup
Tjundis Laaksonen > Seriously, fuck you
Tjundis Laaksonen > that is all
Kane Rizzel > thanks :)

Michael Harari > i think you should start styling yourself as Saint Kane of Scramblers

Michael Harari > and then tell people to go forth and warp core stab no more

SAINT KANE OF SCRAMBLERS 
February 13 is now St Kane's day, buy your Saint something 

Pit Stop

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) 

Perfect scanning skills has increased my range and the Astero has helped with it's versatility. It is not a solowtfpwnmobile but as a boat of violence it has quickly become one of my favourites.

I was scanning the area for likely honey pots when I found a lowsec wormhole in Ingunn that led to a system in Lonetrek. A quick scan of the system showed one honeypot and a few other wormholes but it was the dscan that piqued my interest, a lone Harpy assault frigate.

My current fit was the relic/data runner hunter with dual scrams and dual propulsion, I would need to refit quickly. I drop cloak, launch a Mobile Depot, wait for it to online, all the while watching the dscan like a hawk... The Harpy was belt ratting.

The depot onlines and my pit stop to refit commences. I drop a scram and the microwarp drive for a tracking disruptor and a stasis webifier. The Harpy disappears off scan, I warp towards the belts out of scan rage and hope for the best. Once in scan rage the Harpy appears again and I land in the belt with him, he warps to the next belt just as lock resolves, I follow.

In the next belt I land on the Harpy at zero, not the best place to be against a ship with neutron blasters, lock resolves and all mods glow green, I quickly gain range but even with a tracking disruptor my armour starts to take a beating, I move a bit further out and start to orbit. His damage eases and my repper claws back my armour, his shields are strong, my hobgoblins are very slowly chewing through them.

The Harpy wakes up and starts to target my drones, I start to draw them in and micro manage, but each time his shields recover as my damage drops. So I just start to deploy a new drone each time one drops. Eventually at half shields he's killed eight hobgoblins so I start to deploy warriors. His sheilds start to dip further, he's tanked against thermal.

My Warriors beat his shields down, they tear through his armour and eviscerate his hull. He warps his escape pod out sharpish.

A great little skirmish. I warp back to the wormhole entrance, refit and scoop my mobile depot, jump back to Ingunn and go home.

Also, Here's a reminder of the Battal Probe's sheer awesomeness. Seems Harpy's are what's for dinner of late.

And the mighty Lady Shaniqua is back. Be afraid... Be very, very afraid!

School of Destruction

This isn't life in the fast lane, it's life in the oncoming traffic.

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

This evening I attacked an Inquisitor sitting on a wormhole in Auren, fight swings my way rather quickly, but he escapes mere seconds from death, deep in hull by jumping into said wormhole.

The relieved Inquisitor pilot calls me via deep space telephone and asks a question:

Kane Rizzel > sup
Kane Rizzel > gf
Tul Breetai > gf
Tul Breetai > I was literally having a convo about how shitty the astero was
Tul Breetai > and an astero lands and fucks me up
Tul Breetai > can I see your fit?
Kane Rizzel > lol, didn't even have my td online
Tul Breetai > my corp is laughin at me on comms

By this point I headed to Eifer as news of a Taranis who had just killed a Rifter reached my ears. School was about to commence.

Kane Rizzel > two seconds, I'm after a taranis in my probe :P
Tul Breetai > kk

Kane Rizzel > Kill: organikspace (Taranis) link your corp that (Battle Probe proves yet again why it the best Brawler in the universe)
Tul Breetai > gawdamn
Tul Breetai > lmao can I get that fit too?
Kane Rizzel > I'll dock up and we can talk about the Astero
Tul Breetai > kk
Kane Rizzel > Daniel Trooper this is my basic hunting fit, the td is offline which I don't normally need as I hunt data/relic runners 

Kane Rizzel > if I'm full combat the probe is dropped for a gatling pulse
Kane Rizzel > I dualprop when hunting bigger things for the get the fuck out ability
Kane Rizzel > but that's dualprop, web and scram
Kane Rizzel > dual scrams mostly because everyone and their mom runs triple stabs (seriously, it's getting to a point I may need to run dual 3 point scrams)
Kane Rizzel > so I carry a mobile depot to refit
Kane Rizzel > Daniel Trooper so like this for full combat

Kane Rizzel >Daniel Trooper  or this for kills like this  Kill: Crimson Jackal (Maelstrom)

Kane Rizzel > it's a lot of fun and very versatile
Tul Breetai > lol nice
Tul Breetai > I'm gonna have to give it a try now
Tul Breetai > lol how in the hell did you get that maelstrom???
Tul Breetai > low health ina  site?
Kane Rizzel > he was running gone berzerk with full room aggro
Tul Breetai > well gonna go buy me an astero
Tul Breetai > thanks!
Tul Breetai > o7
Kane Rizzel > no problem, you're welcome
Kane Rizzel > o7

A good nights hunting to be honest and I'm always up for a chat :)

PS: Someone please design me a Sisters of Destruction Logo a la Sons of Anarchy

Flashback Friday

Sister Mary headed through the night-time hospital with the Adversary, Destroyer of Kings, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Great Beast that is called Dragon, Prince of This World, Father of Lies, Spawn of Satan and Lord of Darkness safely in her arms. She found a bassinet and laid him down in it. He gurgled. She gave him a tickle.
-- The antichrist is born
(Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, Good Omens)

A little over six years ago, six years and fifteen days to be exact, a rather inexperienced writer took it upon himself to regale the world with his tales of bravado, violence and fun in the wonderful verse of New Eden.
Inspired by his good friend, the Master Blogger and at the time solo Pirate, flashfresh, he plunged headlong into the fantastic world of blogging.
This to some may seem as if it was an easy undertaking, but for someone who is dyslexic it was a challenge.
Another good friend, Soup Spoon helped him with grammar and was A Pirates Perspective's de facto editor for many years. 403 blog posts later, here we are :)

Here is the very first post I ever made, in all its noobish glory.

This however made me wonder, what is the oldest active blog about this marvellous game?

The waiting game

Remember when I recently said that Piracy requires preparation and patience?

Well, after scanning him down in his mission, setting up, watching this fella warp out multiple times due to his tank failing... And then waiting two hours for him to come back, only for him to warp in at zero on the mission, he micro jumps right on top of me... Well worth the wait.

Sisters of Destruction

He wondered reflectively what would happen if you asked a nun where the Gents was. Probably the Pope sent you a sharp note or something.

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

The life of a Pirate is a tough yet rewarding game, a lot of cat and mouse. Preparation is key, along with a great deal of patience. With these things in mind, a successful Pirate prepares his day, systems are scanned and traps baited.

The prey seeks riches, and they are to be found in relic and data sites around New Eden.
One of the verses more beneficial organisations recently launched a range of ships suited to exploration, the Sisters of EVE produced in great secrecy a frigate, cruiser and now a battleship, who's main purpose is to exploit exploration sites and plunder their riches.

Astero

 
The Astero is a Frigate designed for both exploration and combat
Traits Amarr Frigate skill bonus per level:
4% bonus to armor resistances
Gallente Frigate skill bonus per level:
20% bonus to drone hitpoints
Role Bonus:
100% reduction in CPU requirement for cloaking devices
37.5% increased strength for scan probes
+10 virus strength for Relic and Data Analyzers
Note: can fit covert ops cloaks and use covert jump portals
Development
This was one of the first vessels the Sisters of EVE made available to capsuleers. It had been under development by the Sanctuary corporation, whose interest in exploration includes not only search & rescue operations but also a constant inquiry into the nature of the EVE Gate. Thanks to the Sisters' efforts and the Sanctuary's particular expertise, the Astero is an agile, tenacious ship that aptly adheres to the mantra of both rescuers and explorers: Stay safe, stay hidden, and use every tool at your disposal.
It is particularly adept at venturing into dangerous territories, not merely in recovering whatever may be of interest but also in being able to safely bring it back. Its engines have alternate power sources that come into play should any of its cargo - for which it has plenty of room - cause serious interference with internal systems. Its carapace is extremely well armored for a ship this agile, and covered in sensors capable of letting its crew track a myriad of different organic signatures. The crew itself is safely protected from any number of transmittable ailments from rescues and other unexpected passengers, thanks to special quarantine bays that are conveniently located near jettisonable openings.
And lastly, an ingenious but cryptic transfer in part of the warp core functionality to an outlying cylindrical structure means the Astero is able to run certain higher-level cloaking functions with very little technical cost, and minimal interference from warp. The Sisters of EVE have refused to comment on this technology, other than to recommend it not be tampered with.

The Astero is the perfect exploration vessel and I was almost expecting to see every relic and data hunter in the universe flying them. Strangely enough that has not been the case, So I took it upon myself to introduce the locals to the grand nature of the Astero, exploit the explorers.

Anatomy of a Hunt

As I mentioned earlier, a hunt requires two key elements, preparation and patience.
In preparation, the systems surrounding my home of Gusandall are regularly scanned, bookmarks are made of all sites.
All my associates have perfect skills for scanning, some with full Virtue and Poteque scanning implants. However with the Astero, my perfect scanning skills and just simple Sisters Core Scanner Probes, I am able to hunt almost independently with further range.

My standard fit is dual propped with a web and laser, but the nature of the hunted necessitates a few minor changes. The introduction of the mobile depot means you can refit on the fly as you wish.

Whether by patrolling your traps, or by using scouts, once a target presents itself it becomes a game of patience.
Scan probes are spotted in Eifer, a likely customer appears on the local comms list. I move in and wait.

As with most things, patience does pay off and my target warps in, ready to hack and analyse his way to fame and fortune.

I engage thrusters under cloak and close the gap... Cloak drops, target resolves and dual scrams kick in, Hobgoblins in space, they race to engage.

The target quite literally melts under a barrage of thermal death rays emanating from the Astero's drone death squad. Not so much an explosion, more like a soap bubble popping, bits of molten metal spraying against my Sisters of Destruction space boat.

The escape pod jettisons but the Astero is a fast locker. Terms are offered...

Terms are declined unceremoniously and negotiations violently end.

All that's left is to scoop the loot, the corpse and remove any evidence
Clean up, leave no footprint, let the trap lie in wait once more.

Once back home, you can now see why dual scrams have become necessary. it seems sales of warp core stabilisers have increased.

This is Piracy, pure and simple, the purest form of my trade, whilst it isn't as lucrative as the days of old, it still makes ISK, take everything, give nothing back.

A little lesson learnt at EVE University

Serenity Talie-Kuo : 2014-01-29 10:06:36 I did see the probes on D-scan and waited cloaked for a couple of minutes to see if anyone showed up, waited for local to clear up a bit. I guess he was more patient than me and caught me we my pants down while i was hacking the 3rd container.

Serenity Talie-Kuo : 2014-01-29 10:24:17 Second analysis : After checking this guy's killboard, i now realise i should have moved on to another system as soon as i saw him in local.
Well i guess it didn't help that local window is currently broken and doesn't show any kind of standing info.
Note to self : Take more time to check intel before engaging in any activity.

Stop... It's Vader Time!

There is no escape. Don't make me destroy you. 
-Darth Vader

New tattoo today.

The good ole days

Quote #664.

"There must be a hundred silver dollars in here," moaned Boggis, waving a purse. "I mean, that's not my league. That's not my class. I can't handle that sort of money. You've got to be in the Guild of Lawyers or something to steal that much."
-- (Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters) 

A class act back in the day. I do miss the old Bounty channel crew

The Snare

Quote #595.

The world is made up of four elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. This is a fact well known even to Corporal Nobbs. It's also wrong. There's a fifth element, and generally it's called Surprise.
-- (Terry Pratchett, The Truth)
Hunting and trapping are the bread and butter of lowsec Piracy, over the years it has become more difficult but none the less still remains one of the most rewarding endeavours in the universe, not so much financially any more but more from the perspective of job satisfaction.4


One of my favourite past times has always been taking on opponents under gunned, by which I mean I take something that is obviously inferior and then school the opponent on the error of their ways.

So when a Manticore is spotted dropping combat probes in the area my interest is piqued. My associates had already probed most the area except Auren. SO when the Manticore is reported jumping there one of my associates quickly heads over and probes the system. Only two data sites but one of them contains a Gallente frigate wreck.

I start to operate under the assumption that the Manticore is lying in wait for some unsuspecting explorer to try hack the site, where he would then uncloak and rain down destruction on the defenceless ship. I quickly look around my hangar for something that would fit the bill.

Enter the:

 Probe

 
The Probe is a Frigate designed for exploring the depths of space.
Traits
Minmatar Frigate skill bonus per level:
7.5% increase to scan strength of probes
5% bonus to Salvager cycle time
Role Bonus:
+5 Virus Strength to Relic and Data Analyzers
Development
The Probe is large compared to most Minmatar frigates and is considered a good scout and cargo-runner. Uncharacteristically for a Minmatar ship, its hard outer coating makes it difficult to destroy, while the limited weapon hardpoints force it to rely on drone assistance if engaged in combat.

A few of you will know the Probe is my favourite brawling ship, and a very effective one it is, but it looks so innocent and it's bonuses make it a perfect explorer.

I warp to the site, but I know just sitting there isn't going to spring the trap, so I gingerly place the bait, I activate an e-war module on the data container to make it look like I'm attempting to hack.

The snare is set, now it's just a matter of time...

It takes no time at all as the Stealth Bomber drops cloak and engages.

I light up my propulsion mod and close the gap, overloaded web and scram glowing green, my usual tactic with this ship won't work here so I go eyeball to eyeball and vaporise the Manticore.

An insignificant fight, but it was the build up that made it worth it.

And now a question:

Is blogging about EVE still relevant?

My thoughts have been veering towards this more often as EVE streaming picks up steam, eve videos have become almost the norm, is it human nature to pick the easier, more bling route of entertainment? All flashy lights and for the most part crappy music.

Is blogging, like solo piracy becoming something of myth and legend?