Kane Rizzel - a Pirates Perspective

NOVAK's 5th

2012-01-25T07:33:00.000-08:00

Edit: To celebrate I joined the Molden Heath locals in what was a most enjoyable operation, which included two faction fitted dreadnought kills :)

Pay attention

2012-01-24T05:06:00.000-08:00

Gravity is a habit that is hard to shake off.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Small Gods)

Last night I jump cloned to Bosena to help the locals shake some hornet nests, during the operation I had an associate move some ships to Bosena for future operations.

However, she didn't pay attention and lingered a little too long outside Bosena station and was destroyed by the very people I was out there to help. She at least had the presence of mind to warp her rather expensive pod to safety.

No hard feelings, had a good laugh on voice comms:
Me > bugger, sneaky just popped my friends hauler outside Bos station, she didn't dock 0_o
followed moments later by:
Sneaky > Holy shit, just popped a hauler outside BOS station, it dropped two SFIs!!!!!

Her fault for not paying attention but let this be a lesson to you all not to take things for granted, make sure you dock after setting warp/dock before doing anything else, especially if your friend isn't known or on friendly terms with your other friends

I did get the SFIs back though, they were kind enough not to ransom them to me :D

You'll also note a full copyright notice at the bottom of this blog, A Pirates Perspective is now an official EVE Online fan site \o/

Shiny

2012-01-21T19:25:00.001-08:00

Quote #646.

The Yen Buddhists are the richest religious sect in the universe. They hold that the accumulation of money is a great evil and a burden to the soul. They therefore, regardless of personal hazard, see it as their unpleasant duty to acquire as much as possible in order to reduce the risk to innocent people.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad)

After many long years, I have decided to sell something very precious to me, the proceeds and production have fueled my Piracy. The family no longer have the energy to carry on production.

As such I have started an Auction which ends on Sunday 23rd January 2012 at 2300. Only occurred to me now to advertise said auction to my loyal readers, who knows, one amongst you may have what it takes to own this bit of Piracy history.

I would appreciate any bumps and kind words to my character, but only bid if you are serious about owning this rather precious BPO

Introducing:

2012-01-19T17:28:00.000-08:00

You will have to look a long way before you find a bunch of scum-suckers more greedy, humourless and deserving of death than the suits in the music business.

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

I have been having fun in something slightly different recently, a Cruor class Blood Raider frigate:

Cruor

Thank you

2012-01-15T16:39:00.000-08:00

A Pirates Perspective turns four today and I would just like to take a moment to thank each and every one who has read the words I type, the stories I've woven, shared with me the highs and the lows of what has been an immense journey, this blog would be nothing without someone to read it.

While I'd loved to have had an epic tale for you this evening, things don't always work out as planned. In fact, it almost ended up being a very expensive day for NovaKane Incorporated.

I had joined the Molden Heath pirates to try get a fight from some folk who had knocked a bait POCO into reinforced. They didn't come as we had a very nasty fleet so we decided to knock one of their POCOs into reinforced to see if we could get a fight.

We were bored and the thought of dropping some dreads on the POCO to make the job quicker crossed our minds and before you knew it we had three dread pilots in gang ready to jump, one of them being Keira. We jumped the dreads in, sieged red and went to work, meanwhile a hostile gang, not affiliated to the POCO owners had jumped in and warped to the cyno in a heavy battleship fleet with logistics support.

Our fleet composition was no match for the battleships and before we knew it we had lost an Arazu and the first dread out of siege was tackled. Keira exited siege and spammed warp to the station, the behemoth taking an age to align and it was only a matter of seconds before she was tackled.

WARP DRIVE ACTIVE

"HOLY SHIT!" she screamed as the Moros warped away, having been hit with a Stasis Webifier, accelerating her warp.

Keira Rizzel > thanks for the web
Keira Rizzel > pro move
Sarah Artuaius > only couse we like your blog :)

Thanks guys.

But the fight was not over, our other dread had gotten out leaving just the Naglfar tackled. We were outgunned so we raced two jumps back to Bosena to reship into heavy armour battleships, hoping we could make it back to save the stranded dread.

As we jumped back into Atlar, the Naglfar exploded under heavy fire and cap neutralizing applied by the hostiles. We warped in anyways, with a triage carrier joining us on the field, we started to point and take apart what we could, eventually killing two Guardians and two Abaddons

The battle report shows what were originally in and what we ended up in, good fights shared in local and whilst we lost the ISK war, we held the field.

Quite a few lessons learned from this evening and I think we were lucky to only lose a dread and a recon. But the corp Moros did get a night out, she does love to party :)

Edit: Almost forgot, Crafty flooded his bathroom whilst trying to save a capship, that's got to be worth a medal :)

Numbers, it's always about numbers... Not really

2012-01-12T18:32:00.000-08:00

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to
(a) mate with,
(b) eat,
(c) run away from,and
(d) rocks.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites)

My last six kills have had me flying a Daredevil, a Pilgrim, a Rifter, a Harbinger and the Fleet Stabber. Four were destroyed with the assistance of a covops pilot to find the targets, three with the assistance of a command ship pilot in system.

NovaKane and her associates made 106million ISK from the sale of the loot, zero ISK from offered ransoms (150mil was offered for the Maelstrom but the pilot kept shooting)

We found out that RSS Core Scan Probes are fucking expensive and that people don't pay enough attention to their on board scanners.

A fairly successful day, if not the most profitable but it was fun. I almost forgot about the hunt, the best part about being a pirate, whether using the onboard scanner to narrow a target down when hunting the belts, or the tense moments as your covops associate sets up the warp in without losing cloak. Warping in on unsuspecting plex/mission runners as their day gets more interesting is still one of those moments that makes all the training worth it.

Sure ISK is important as a Pirate and lately I've lost sight of the prime motivation of Piracy, I've thrown away too much ISK taking risks, trying to defy the odds and failing. But I've had a lot of fun and it's trying to find that balance between fun and making ISK as a Pirate that I need to focus on.

This brings me to something else I've been dwelling on as of late. Where have all the old Pirates gone? Sard and RANSM are tearing up Molden Heath, my old friend flashfresh and the Bastards are flying with Los Chupa's out of Evati, but I still believe flash should go independent again and come fly out of Gus, much of old school M34N corp have retired, the newer lot content to camp gates in Metro.

Gusandall and surrounds are emptier than they have been for a very long time, there is no dominant corp, which makes it perfect for independent pilots, more so now than ever in its past.
Sure a large organized group could steam roll in and try take control, but this has happened before, it will happen again, through it all, Gusandall has been a beacon for independents, WE WILL RISE AGAIN.

Kane the Carebear

2012-01-11T13:25:00.000-08:00

"You're not one of us."
"I don't think I'm one of them, either," said Brutha. "I'm one of mine."
-- (Terry Pratchett, Small Gods)

It's been a very quiet day in the Evannater pocket of low security space, as such I busied myself by attacking a Player Owned Customs Office in Eifer. Now this isn't PvP in it's purest form but if anything, running around with the Molden Heath pirates has taught me that POCOs can generate some fun times

I wasn't really paying attention, 10million shield hitpoints make downing a POCO tedious at best, even more so when one is on their own. It seems a Curse is attacking me, how curious, an old M34N corp member. No need to panic, sure his Curse has nuked my capacitor dry but he seems to only be engaging with drones, which is going to take him a while. I start getting family members into place, I would need their support if the Curse pilot is serious about destroying my Armageddon which is set up for POS sieges, as it was, it couldn't fend off the Curse.

At about half armour, ten minutes into commencement of hostilities, I'm ready to bring in the cavalry but spot a friend in Gusandall and ask if he'd be willing to help this old dog out of this predicament. Zonk agrees.

Curse dies.

0Lona 0ltor > cheers for sticking together mean
RealZonk > i helped a friend out, whats problem ?
0Lona 0ltor > bah I was in mean with u
RealZonk > kane is a part of mean
RealZonk > sorry man
RealZonk > but u know
0Lona 0ltor > that's why mean fell apart carebearing after blues bah
0Lona 0ltor > well it seems the carebears are still in it lol

A little later on, while I was finishing a particularly difficult 3D puzzle.

0Lona 0ltor > Kane u ass!
0Lona 0ltor > Calling in MEAN CORP bear protection squad to fight his battles lol

Well, I just had to reply and sent of this mail as the mighty can flipping warlord had departed Gusandall

U MAD BRO?
From: Kane Rizzel
Sent: 2012.01.11 21:13
To: 0Lona 0ltor,

0Lona 0ltor > Kane u ass!
0Lona 0ltor > Calling in MEAN CORP bear protection squad to fight his battles lol

You must really be butthurt you lost your curse.

Sorry if you feel me attacking a player owned POCO is carebearing but then as a can flipper you don't really know what PvP is.

You were going to die, either by an alt of mine or someone who just happened to be next door and a very good friend of mine.

Apparently you were butthurt that because you were ex M34N it would afford you protection but it just goes to show how little you know about M34N and my affiliation with them.

0Lona 0ltor > cheers for sticking together mean

I believe that quote right there says more about you and loyalty than anything.

Anymore QQing can be directed directly to my inbox for future reference

Hugs and Kisses

Kane

It was just a Curse bro.

Big trouble in Molden Heath

2012-01-06T20:13:00.000-08:00

WHO KNOWS WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE HEART OF MEN?
The Death of Rats looked up from the feast of potato.
SQUEAK, he said.
Death waved a hand dismissively. WELL, YES, OBVIOUSLY *ME*, he said.
I JUST WONDERED IF THERE WAS ANYONE ELSE.
-- (Terry Pratchett, The Truth)

I broke 100 million SP this evening, quite a milestone and quite scary considering I haven't trained any capital ships.

But I can drop a cyno like it's hot

Anyways, I did something a little different this evening. I joined the residents of Molden Heath, a rowdy bunch of Pirates who enjoy nothing more than leaving a path of destruction wherever they may roam, on a small operation.

There was a theme to the op, cruisers of death with some rather severe logistic support, we would need it of course as we weren't just going around the block for a joy ride, we were out to look for trouble

However we tried, trouble seemed to be the last thing we were going to cause this evening as our intended targets didn't arrive at the designated time and had us waxing lyrical about various topics.

Eventually we took our merry band of trouble elsewhere but soon our intended targets were moving into the position we wanted them, so we made haste back to the system where we would unleash our trouble only for the Coalition of Anti Pirates to spoil the party. This could not stand, we would not allow the angry haters of freedom and pie to go unpunished so we had a warpin setup and bowled right into the middle of their long range fleet.

THERE WAS A FIREFIGHT

And when the dust settled the surviving COA fleet had burned off and warped out to range. We took zero losses on our side but only managed to kill three battleships and an ecm cruiser.

We would later try an re-engage the initial targets with a with a mixed shield gang but they had dual carrier support on station and we couldn't break their rep.

I headed back to Bosena with the rest of the gang, it was late and I needed some sleep.

Thanks to the Molden Heath massive for a good night out, much enjoyed and I look forward to a few more such outings in the future, hopefully next time we get more exciting trouble.

Towers and Drugs

2011-12-30T21:28:00.000-08:00

The calender of the Theocracy of Muntab counts down, not up. No-one knows why, but it might not be a good idea to hang around and find out.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters)

Looking for a fight in a Scythe I spot a Prowler dropping a tower in Eifer, I start to attack the POS as the tower is onlining, it goes live and I bounce out but head back to Gusandall and grab a POS Shot Geddon.

The ownder of the tower opened negotiations rather rudely and whilst they were ongoing I started making enquiries from a local dealer for some narcotics all the while gathering more souls for the party.

Lucinda Nomadwalker > so how much do you guys want to fuck off
Kane Rizzel > 200mil and you remove your tower (100mil a piecefor the two pilots at the tower at the time due to her unladylike language)
Lucinda Nomadwalker > have fun taking it down
Kane Rizzel > you shouldn't swear, not very becoming of a lady
Lucinda Nomadwalker > you dont seem the type thats easily offended
c4 t > booster sales. free and fast delivery. push pharmaceuticals
Kane Rizzel > no offense taken, but when opening negotiations for cessation of hostilities it's best to be a touch more diplomatic
c4 t > if you blood throw it up
c4 t > \o/
Kane Rizzel > c4
Lucinda Nomadwalker > your right..please go screw yourself...lol
c4 t > yes sir?
Kane Rizzel > when you get strong exile and blue pill in stock again give me a shout
c4 t > yo i got strong exile within 24 hours
c4 t > and blue in 3 days
Kane Rizzel > send me a mail with a quote for 20 strong exile and 20 strong blue please
Elitetrooper1 > wow go screw yourself...hmmmm already did and now its your turn
c4 t > sure. if you find the prices not good enough let me know
c4 t > compared to previous experiences
Kane Rizzel > kk
c4 t > o7
Lucinda Nomadwalker > bring it down yet?

Yes we did.

Shout out to c4 t and Push Pharmaceuticals for the speedy quote, if you need some boosters, their prices are pretty good

Just one of those days

2011-12-30T17:03:00.000-08:00

In fact, the mere act of opening the box will determine the state of the cat, although in this case there were three determinate states the cat could be in: these being Alive, Dead, and Bloody Furious.
-- Schrodinger's Moggy explained
(Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies)

First time in a long time I've been able to hunt properly and it just didn't happen today.
Flew a Drake for the first time, killed an unfitted Apocalypse, went on a solo roam, lost said Drake making the wrong choices trying to split a gang up, lost a very expensive pod to same gang, lost a very expensive Daredevil to a Jaguar and Ishkur duo later on, got chased off by a Proteus and Loki in my Harbinger and lost a very good Rifter fight against Saftsuze, very close.

Let's see what tomorrow brings.

The star of Eifer

2011-12-20T02:56:00.000-08:00

The Battle of Koom Valley is the only one known to history where both sides ambushed each other.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms)

The Jaguar wants to be hunted, it lingers at belts and celestials, allowing me time to narrow it down but moving before I come out of warp. A smart pilot, but it wont be long until he waits for me to arrive.

I check my hold.

Drugs... Check
Cap Boosters... Check
Ammo... Check

I have loaded Phased Plasma, The Jaguars natural resists and the overwhelming tendency to tank against explosive damage meaning it would be my best choice.

The Jaguar is narrowed down at the heart of Eifer and I warp to the star.

I land, he's 30 odd clicks off. Instinct takes control as I close, set orbit to 2.5km, spin up the guns, prime tackle.

He lights me up first, slowing me down with a stasis webifier, a warps scrambler making sure I don't have second thoughts. My afterburner strains against the webifier, pushing me closer and closer.

The battle is on as my scrambler glows, a large chunk of my shields disappears... This is going to be tough, my shield booster claws some back, but another large chunk of red appears on my HUD. I take a hit of some drugs, the universe takes on a blue tinge, I lose some control of my capacitor, coupled with the fact he has a small energy neutralizer would make this fight so much more interesting.

With diminished capacitor but with a massive boost to shield repair the fight goes on. He's doing good damage but my small caliber guns are eating away at his shield buffer, whilst my own bounces up and down like crazy.

My capacitor runs dry, an overloaded cap booster charge fills it but the shield booster is hungry, overloaded to keep up with the incoming damage. My opponent hits half shields, my guns are now set to overload as I wait for another cap booster to load.

I've broken his shields as another overloaded cap booster fills my capacitor. I'm rocking inside my capsule, urging my guns to do more damage, that last bit of hull vanishes and all I hear is the rain of metal against the hull of Greebo, my own Jaguar class assault frigate.

A good fight, a very good fight as I share as much in the local comms channel, not even attempting to lock the pod of a most valiant opponent. Not sure I would have been afforded the same courtesy but an honourable warrior deserves an honourable exit to what was a superb display of frigate piloting.

Zodiac Black, I salute you.

(As a side note, I was in the wrong implant clone for the Jaguar setup I was using, it would have made a massive difference were I with my Crystal set. Also, no command boosts as it was only Zodiac and I in Eifer at the time of battle )

Some lead, others take a break

2011-12-14T18:44:00.001-08:00

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)

The family Rizzel will be taking a break from New Eden for a little while, except for Kane, who is the third member of the clan that is walking the line towards max Leadership skills.

At 0ver 98million SP I felt it was time :) Please note, Kane has no Capital ship skills

An interesting bit of pie.

I hope everyone of my faithful readers has a pleasant festive season both of you ;)

Underneath the RADAR

2011-12-05T12:30:00.000-08:00

Quote #616.

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

It seems I have guests.

Electus Matari, a rather staunch opponent of the fine art of Piracy has decided to make themselves at home in Gusandall. They attacked the local M34N corp POS in force over the weekend, destroying them without much resistance (to be fair, from what I heard, the locals just didn't have the numbers and when we do work together it's more of a flashmob than anything really co-ordinated) and have recently put up two of their own. Now I've never been sure what EM are all about. They claim to be loyal to the Minmatar Republic, they claim to stand for freedom, but then theY live such a cloistered life they might as well go full Amarr.

We advocate the right of all Minmatar to live in freedom and according to the customs of their clan and tribe, including those currently in foreign captivity.

They have very strict rules, much like the Amarr, they don't tolerate the freedom granted the true Minmatar rebels to make their living their own way and as such are no better then the slavers they say they are opposed.

Piracy is true freedom, the freedom they supposedly stand for and as such I shall venture forth to educate them on what it truly feels like to be free. Now I will state that EM have a few very good pilots, as such I should not be complacent.

In my adventure, I imagine I will lose a few ships, but I'll try not to give them easy kills. I will not engage them in fleets, I will not engage blindly and I will try pick them off on my terms, away from their large fleets, ECM and Logistics.

A few days ago I went about my business of Loot Redistribution as they were mindlessly shooting at POS.

This evening I engaged some folk trying to extract riches from Eifer, before returning to Gusandall and spotting a Dramiel in the direction of the 2/10 plex, an old adversary.
I warp in as Benito is 100 odd clicks away, obvious tactic would be to close the gap but not this time, I move in the opposite direction, he shall come to me... I hope.

He starts to close, slowly. Patience Kane, must not go full retard, be smart about this.

He gets about 60 clicks away, my afterburner is set to overload, so is tackle, I close under impulse, at 40 clicks I go green, in range, tackle, overload guns... BOOM.

The Dramiel explodes, violently, recent upgrades to the Blasters making them more volatile at close range. The pod is tackled and one hundred million ransom is offered and declined by Benito. A good fight, his corpse the prize.

Hopefully this is the start of something beautiful, an abundance of new friends to make and many explosions to share.

Join me my brothers, free your minds, free your bodies... Just be free.

Operation Save the Angels

OSE is in full effect:

Kane Rizzel > yo
dagen Askold > wtf was that for
Kane Rizzel > you were attacking my angel brethren
Kane Rizzel > in the interests of their safety you needed to be eliminated
dagen Askold > could ove said stop ass
Kane Rizzel > alas I was too late to save them but I exacted revenge in the name of their families
Kane Rizzel > good day to you sir, and be mindful the next time you attack Angels

What was the point?

2011-11-30T09:07:00.000-08:00

"These people were not only cheering, they were throwing flowers and hats. The hats were made of stone, but the thought was there."
-- Life among the primitive Discworld tribes

(Terry Pratchett, Eric)

What was the point?
From: TvoEx Arran
Sent: 2011.11.30 17:01
To: Kane Rizzel,

Fact: I could have been able to pay you more than you might loot from my ship, and another question, Why do you do it? I just want to know, What was that for?
--------------------------------
Re: What was the point?
From: Kane Rizzel
Sent: 2011.11.30 17:06
To: TvoEx Arran,

I'm a Pirate, I attack and kill things for fun and profit. You asked for terms, I offered terms, you could not or were not willing to accept terms, so I violenced your boat.

Low security space is dangerous, be prepared to die lots and some folk won't be as polite about it as I.

Consider it a learning experience and move on, but should you wish revenge, I live in Gusandall.

Fly safe and be careful out there

hugs and kisses

Kane
--------------------------------
Nah
From: TvoEx Arran
Sent: 2011.11.30 17:08
To: Kane Rizzel,

Insurrance will pay me for a better fitted ship, But also what did you use to completely halt my ship? Webifyer? And the fact that i couldnt warp even with a nice warp core stabilizer.
--------------------------------
Re: Nah
From: Kane Rizzel
Sent: 2011.11.30 17:11
To: TvoEx Arran,

I used a stasis webifier to slow you down and a warp scrambler would nullify at least one warp core stabiliser.

Don't spend all that insurance money in one go now ya hear :)

Kane

In other news, I may be scarce for a while, silly season is upon us and with that I become very busy with work/Real Life™

Big talk

2011-11-23T12:34:00.000-08:00

Quote #651.

Racism was not a problem on the Discworld, because -- what with trolls and dwarfs and so on -- speciesism was more interesting. Black and white lived in perfect harmony and ganged up on green.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad)

A coercer warps to the 2/10 plex.
I undock in a Succubus and go after it.
Keira enters system.
I land at the gate and the Coercer warps away.

Vala Quin > trolol
Vala Quin > havig boosts is pro
Kane Rizzel > so's your mom
Vala Quin > :D
Vala Quin > o/ off to go whore another creo-corp o/
Just want to point out, that he ran from a Succubus, fo real.

A little later, friends of the plex farming alt come to gus in a Dramiel and a Daredevil

Galatica789 > Kane Rizzel better dock that succubus boy
I was in station conducting some business, so didn't see this at the time.

It's no secret that Keira has perfect leadership skills and I've never kept it a secret that she is used in this fashion, I don't see how people pointing out the obvious will make me change the way NovaKane is run. I have my sister in a Claymore, you bring friends cause you're not confident in your abilities even when you outgun me.

Keira trained very hard so that I could catch the chicken shits that would try run the plex, but would run and hide the moment anything scarier than a noobship arrived on grid, hence having the extra range for tackle and speed to get in range of said tackle became paramount. To be very honest, I still use it the very same way, sure the ships have changed over the years and many of the old guard of classy Russian plex farmers are no longer with us, but the pilots who try to farm the plexes are still as cocky as ever.

Also, any person who hasn't the imagination to come up with a decent character name and then spells GALACTICA wrong has not earned the right to call me boy.

VELATOR!

2011-10-29T15:43:00.000-07:00

He moved in a way that suggested he was attempting the world speed record for the nonchalant walk.
-- (Terry Pratchett, The Light Fantastic)

BATTLESTATIONS! BATTLESTATIONS!

Oh sweet jesus, he's shooting at someone again... AND THEY ARE SHOOTING BACK!

I'm too young to die

Shut it, you knew this might happen when you signed on

Well yeah, but I didn't realize it would happen within five minutes of undocking, everything seemed so peaceful.

He's a Pirate, what did you think would happen? Tea and biscuits?

Ooh yes please.

What was that?

What was what?

Was that the armour giving in?

Wait, aren't we armour tanked?

Technically speaking.... No

What do you mean no?

well, this is a Velator, not a lot of room to fit an armour tank, or any tank to be fair.

You're saying we have no tank and this maniac is attacking someone?

Yeah, and to make things more interesting he's attacking a Rifter class frigate.

And that's bad right?

You really have no idea. The Rifter ranks right up there with things you don't attack with a Velator, even a young pilot with a decent fit would make short work of us.

Is he mad?

It has been established on many occasions but he's damn funny and always willing to help.

How about helping us by not committing suicide, some of us aren't immortal.

Live on the edge kid, life is more interesting that way. Besides, looks like we won.

We won? The ship is on fire, in fact, everything is on fire.

One helluva ride kid.

Been an interesting evening with two close calls with Greebo, a mission jack in Eifer and helping some of the M34N corp guys to dispatch a Drake who thought flying through Gusandall a few times wouldn't pique anyone's interest.

The 200

2011-10-19T14:42:00.000-07:00

It is said that whosoever the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. In fact, whosoever the gods wish to destroy, they first hand the equivalent of a stick with a fizzing fuse and Acme Dynamite Company written on the side. It's more interesting, and doesn't take so long.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Soul Music)

Some milestones are best left without fanfare but to be honest, I'm just honest. I'm also not very bright but you don't have to be the smartest to be the best, you just need to be smarter than the other guy. This does not however, always work.

A known plex runner/farmer is in Gusandall, in a Dramiel, in the direction of the 2/10. My normal reaction would be to grab a Daredevil and go ruin his day, however he is wary of me and my Greebo, he has felt the fury before. This time I chose something a little, how shall I put it?

Unconventional.

The Worm class faction frigate has garnered me one or two successful kills, but test like a Dramiel is something she has never encountered, I warped to the 2/10, he had warped out, I waited at the gate, just out of activation range, hoping if he spotted on scan he would investigate.

He did, warped to the gate, but instead of engaging he activated the gate and warped to the first room. I closed till in range of the gates activation range and followed him in, where he was waiting. I engaged, he obliged and started shooting right back. I launched a flight of drones, quite possibly the only way to win this fight would be to use the 'hope and pray' tank afforded by ecm drones, as my Worm was not very strong. However, my luck, much like my intelligence abandoned me to the mercy of the Dramiel's guns and drones. My Worm explodes and I whisk my pod to safety, but not before looking upon the wreck of my latest milestone, loss number two hundred.

The Dramiel then engages a Claw inside the plex and I hope this distraction will allow me the subterfuge to grab my Greebo and to extract revenge. However he warps out as I land, but curiosity gets the better of him.

Is Kane having a bad day?
Would he be able to overcome the might of the Rizzel Daredevil?
Only one way to find out. He warps back at 70km from the plex entrance, I start to close, he's staying still, until I reach 20km, he starts to move but is shortly halted as my web and scrambler stop any thought of escape, we engage at point blank range, the Angel frigates, both fearsome in their own right, locked in mortal combat, only one would warp away intact.

The Dramiel explodes, much as any other before that has danced with Greebo and his kin.

As this happens, another Daredevil enters local, piloted by an ex resident of these parts, devildog215. He lays down the challenge, a 1v1 vs Kane foshizzle Rizzel. The Dramiel pilot indicates to him I would be found at the 2/10, which I confirm, he warps in and we dance the deadly dance, until one stands, victorious, Greebo, the Champion of Gusandall.

A little saddened that one of Greebo's kin has been slain, I warp to a safespot to wait out my GCC timer, the Dramiel pilot has returned in a Rifter and is waiting inside the 2/10 for me, I kindly oblige and once again introduce his pod to the cold, harsh, reality of the Gusandall solar system.

A mixed evening for me, but once again, frigate combat reigns, the truest test of man and machine, even if it only lasts seconds, the euphoria of winning or losing, stands till the end of time.

I dock up, Greebo sitting comfortable over his docking circle, a spin or two before I retire to my quarters for a cup of Earl Grey and a movie.

Indestructible... NOT!

2011-10-06T15:05:00.000-07:00

"Real children don't go hoppity-skip unless they are on drugs."
-- Susan, the ultimate sensible governess
(Terry Pratchett, Hogfather)

I lost two goddamn Rifters today... TWO. These were against a corp who are fast becoming my Nemesis, Black Rebel Rifter Club. The first Rifter was lost to a rather well flown Arty Rifter, the second to a Jaguar and same Arty Rifter.

You win some, you lose some :) But it seems I will need to adjust my tactics. I think I'm going to enjoy RIFTA, like I said before, a good bunch of pilots and finally folk who are going to give as good as they get.

Other than the two devastating losses, it has been a good day for the solo Pirate, a solo kill of a Typhoon Fleet Issue at the Emolgranlan gate, an EVE Uni pilot on his own, running a plex in Eifer (I was surprised as anyone that it wasn't a trap)
A nice Vengeance kill plus 60million ISK Pod ransom and a rather fast Dramiel kill. A Merlin and Rifter rounded off the days activities.

Solo Piracy isn't dead, it never will be as long as folk keep trying, stay strong, never retreat, never surrender.

Old smokey with extra cheese and mushrooms

2011-09-28T11:58:00.000-07:00

Greebo could, in fact, commit sexual harrassment simply by sitting very quietly in the next room.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Maskerade)

These kills brought to you by Dorn Val and Malande, muchos gracias.

My Daredevil has been rebuilt, due to donations received from Dorn and Malande. I was toying with the idea of using the ISK for something else, but what else is more fun than flying a frigate that melts faces.

I have retired the Sgt Angua moniker for the time being, it served me well but it's time for a new breed of Daredevil, something a little more fitting to its devastation, Greebo be thy name.

Flea bitten, with scars all over his face and his partially present ears he is a huge swaggering bully of a cat - renowned for once chasing a bear up a tree. He has one green eye and one which is milky white, he is intelligent for a cat but uses three categories to define the things he sees as "rape, fight or eat." This is the cat that Nanny Ogg refers to as "Mr. Puss-puss," and sees, in her head, as a cute little bundle of fluff - yet everyone else calls "gerroffyerbugger!!!"

Greebo's maiden flight took me to my spiritual home, Eifer, and whilst there he had his maiden kill, a ratting Caracal. Not too difficult a prey, but something to sharpen his claws on.

Greebo is ready for a test, it comes in the shape of the Black Rebel Rifter Club. I like these guys, there are three of them, a Claw interceptor, a Republic Fleet Firetail and a Caldari Navy Hookbill. A fearsome combination and one I'd do well to steer clear of but then steering has never been my strong point.

I warp in at range to belt 1, I would need to split them up as going toe to toe with all three would be too much for even Greebo to handle. Hookbill warps in at zero, loiters for a bit before I try to draw him to the 2/10. They don't follow so I warp back to belt 1, but above zero. Firetail is at 100, then warps to planet three, scanner shows two of the trio there so I warp at fifty. Claw and Hookbill on site, fifty clicks away, a choice needed to be made, the Hookbill carries a tracking disruptor whilst the Claw would probably be the biggest threat damage wise.

In the end the choice was made by the meta level of the ship, the Claw was primaried, everything else is a blur as Claw goes down, Hookbill up next, I close sharply, tracking disruptor means very little when you're climbing right up their tailpipe.

Once the threat of the Hookbill had been vanquished, all attention was turned to the Firetail. I shatter the shields, the fight about to be over but a curious thing happens, it doesn't just explode? Plated? Had to be.

I'm at about 10% armor as the Firetail finally drops, I was starting to get nervous, Greebo is only a few hours old, too soon to lose, but he stands proud over the field of battle, planet 3 Gusandall, RIFTA vs NOVAK, one man standing.

Oh, and my Pizza arrived just as the fight finished :P

Great fight RIFTA, I like your style o7

Went on a roam later with the M34N guys in this:

Repping the reps

DOH!

2011-09-19T15:49:00.001-07:00

In fact, the mere act of opening the box will determine the state of the cat, although in this case there were three determinate states the cat could be in: these being Alive, Dead, and Bloody Furious.
-- Schrodinger's Moggy explained
(Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies)

After soloing a Rail Megathron in my Daredevil, I derped and lost it trying to solo a Loki, I screwed up, lost transversal and exploded.

I'm rather upset with myself :(

I'm also now taking donations to replace her, mods, hull, ISK, whatever you can spare. Be part of the Rizzel legacy, donate today

Ransom ignored, ship destroyed, bad loot drops, good loot drops and capital deployment

2011-09-14T09:44:00.000-07:00

ISK is ISK

2011-09-08T17:06:00.000-07:00

Quote #64.

If it wasn't for the fun and money, I really don't know why I'd bother.

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

A quick hunt in a Thrasher, I track and tackle a Wreathe industrial ship in Eifer, nothing else of note in the area sees me decide to ransom straight away, not really interested in killing an industrial

EVE System > Channel changed to Eifer Local Channel
Kane Rizzel > what's your ship worth to you?
Alexia Serventine > about 400000
Kane Rizzel > 1million isk and you are free to go
Alexia Serventine > cool kill me bitch
Alexia Serventine > ship is worth 450000

So I explode his ship and tackle the escape pod

Kane Rizzel > what about your pod?
Kane Rizzel > 1 meeeelllion isk

At this point he logs all critical systems.

So I explode his pod and scoop the corpse

EVE System > Channel MOTD: BEING IN THIS CHANNEL DOES NOT MAKE YOU SAFE!! NBSI IS USED FOR ALL!!!! fly smart - think hard
XXXX > lol Kane.. 1mil, rather pointless.. no?
Kane Rizzel > he's a noob
Kane Rizzel > was only a wreathe
Kane Rizzel > he's logged too :(
XXXX > lol
Kane Rizzel > million isk is a million isk man
Kane Rizzel > just spent more in ammo than the loot is worth :(

A net loss as a tech 2 miner thingamabob and a survey scannerwhateverthefuck is all that drops.

Why does this concern me, well you'd think being a somewhat notorious Pirate and part-time celebrity, I'd have people throwing ISK at me, but this is not the case and whilst I am space rich, I could always do with more ISK, especially at the misfortune of others and every ISK counts, from the smallest ransoms to useless loot melted for minerals. I am after all, a Pirate.

If anyone feels like donating an Aeon to the NovaKane fleet, I won't say no by the by ;)

Tapping my fingers in frustration.

2011-08-27T12:29:00.000-07:00

On Earth, No-one Can Hear You Say "Um".
-- (Terry Pratchett, Only You Can Save Mankind)

I've been busy, far too busy but it hasn't stopped me thinking about violence and ways I can inflict it on others.

I had the hangar crew build a Thrasher class destroyer, short range, plenty of punch but not much survivability. I was eager to test the setup and undocked even as my crew chief warned me not to go out until the last rig was delivered, but lately my impatience has gotten the better of me.

A Griffin is in the direction of my favourite hunting ground, I initiate warp and soon land with the Griffin just activating the gate. I follow and engage...

...And then I sat for four full ECM cycles and watched, as first my shields, then my armour and finally my hull get destroyed.

Well played sir.

Instinct and the Brain

2011-08-09T07:50:00.000-07:00

I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.

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

Two Cynabals in Gusandall pique my interest, a challenge after a long day of nothing. I undock Flubber and warp one hundred clicks off belt 1-1, after a few minutes both Cyabals warp in at zero, I mention in local that one maybe, two... No.

So I warp to a safespot, onboard scanner shows a legion on scan too but doesn't look to be affiliated. My Brain shuts down and Instinct takes over, I warp to 1-1 at zero. Brain is shouting at Instinct "Are you fucking retarded?"

Instinct doesn't listen as he locks on the closest Cynabal and closes in, webbed and scrammed the Cynabal engages back, along with his friend. Instinct is having an awesome time, he engages with everything, overloads his guns and starts to go deep into armour but the first Cynabal is not having a good day as he explodes.

Intinct now turns his attention to the second Cyna, but his guns have melted cause Instinct doesn't pay attention to the small details, meanwhile, Brain is literally face-palming "You're such an idiot.

Instinct isn't done yet as he gets out of warp disruptor range and warps to the station to repair.

Once repaired he undocks and warps right back to the belt, not paying attention to the scanner that now shows the first Cynabal pilot back in a Loki and a Tempest joining the hostiles.

Brain asks "What are you trying to prove?"
Instinct doesn't answer, he can't really speak, he just does.

Second Cynabal is still in the belt, Instinct engages, and is doing rather well, one Cynabal no match for his mighty Flubber. Without much hassle he takes the Cyna into deep armour but by then the Cynabal's friends have landed, engaged, so Instinct makes moves to bail, Cynabal moves out of range and warps out. Instinct is victorious, a masterful display of piloting... And then he explodes, 60 odd clicks away from any hostiles.

Instinct doesn't understand, Brain just says "ArtyPest you muppet"

Instinct is at least smart enough to warp the pod out to safety.

An associate warps in to try grab some loot but suffers the same fate as Flubber, but at least the MWD died with her Cheetah.

Brain finally gets control again, as Instinct is feeling rather sheepish, Brain just says "You killed one, well fucking done, cookie for you, but did you have to go lose the bloody ship?"

Instinct doesn't reply :(

Do Rifters dream of Titan killmails?

2011-07-18T16:31:00.000-07:00

The Patrician was a pragmatist. He never tried to fix things that worked. Things that didn't work, however, got broken.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Soul Music)

The Garbage Man, a Rifter built from loot, every aspect of him from from his hull and rigs built from the fallen before the guns of his predecessors. I love the Rifter so much, it was the first ship I aimed for as a new Capsuleer all those years ago and the one I always turn to when violence is on the menu.

Now, there's a group of pilots out there, who's very corp name is all about the Rifter, run by Miura Bull over at Brutor Bullfighter, the Black Rebel Rifter Club. I've seen one or two of these pilots running through the area as of late but always just passing through. This evening however a Rifter lingered in system too long and it piqued my interest.

The Garbage Man undocks, scanner looking, hoping for a direction. First call is the 2/10, so often a haven for frigate combat, but I pass the Rifter in warp. I land and warp in regardless, maybe I can be the hunted. I narrow the scan and point it in the direction of the acceleration gate, the Rifter appears, but warps away towards the station.. I warp towards the belt closest to station, at zero I land, fifty clicks away as the Rifter warps to the furthest belt from the gates, I follow at zero and land fifty clicks away again, just to see the Rifter warp out to another belt, I naturally follow but this time at fifty.

I land right on top of the Rifter, lock him up and prime tackle, for some reason The Garbage man loses lock and I re-acquire the target but he is shooting me and opening a sizable gap.

A kiting Rifter...

Tackle overloaded, the Rifter is fast, even webbed and scrammed he's running 600m/s, comfortable outpacing me. I surmise afterburner, overdrive and web, meaning if I get close, he will die as he has no tank.

He's hitting hard though, massive volley damage... ARTILLERY?
Damn son, a challenge, finally.

I'm deep in armour, I overload my afterburner, forcing The Garbage Man closer, collision course set, one of us is going to explode, so might as well take destiny on head first. Meter by meter I edge closer, no use trying to get under tracking, this was a flat footed fist fight, two mighty warships slugging it out to the bitter end and what a glorious end.

The Garbage Man is close to structure as his 150s, almost melting as they furiously spit death across the narrow gap between the two Rifters, one of which buckles under the onslaught.

From bow to stern, fissures open up as the Rifter hull crumples, stripped of armour she is now at the mercy of the very space surrounding her, atmosphere and fuel being vented through the cracks, ignited by sparks and burning, exploding, bits of Rifter raining against Rifter, one standing, the other defeated.

Good Fight is shared on local comms, truly it was and one of the better Rifter vs Rifter fights I've been in for a long ole time. I like his fit, something different and it definitely surprised me.

Yoink again

2011-07-12T06:31:00.000-07:00

No one was avoiding him, it was just that an apparent random Brownian motion was gently moving everyone away.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man)

Sometimes, being me is too good to be true, I mean really, way too good :D

I enter Eifer in The Garbage Man, a Rifter built almost exclusively from loot, I warp to my normal scan spot and hit the onboard scanner...

ORCA...

LOKI...

In the direction of a hidden belt an associate probed out last night.

So I call said associate and ask her where these fellas are, she says she didn't bookmark it as it's a site of little consequence to her, but she knows its general where-abouts and drops core probes as not to alert them that we are looking for them. Meanwhile I head back to Gusandall to refit Flubber, I would need more points if I was going to make the most of this.

Meanwhile, Keira moved into place with her Claymore, I would need support in the shape of her gang bonuses, in case I landed a bit too far out of range of my scramblers. Our associate had scanned the site out and was busy setting up a warpin, but she reported a Covetor and Orca now, no sign of the Loki but the same two pilots, so it's safe to assume the Loki is inside the Orca.

EVE System > Channel changed to Eifer Local Channel

Our associate reports she is five clicks off the Orca and with that I jump in and warp directly to her position. I land well within range and lock both up. Covetor is first target, it goes down and pilot warps its escape pod to safety. I engage the Orca, at half shields I give terms:

Kane Rizzel > eject
Tanisha > ransom?
Kane Rizzel > 1.5bil
Kane Rizzel > you have a loki in there
Tanisha > be reasonable
Kane Rizzel >that was reasonable

The Orca ejects the Loki and and another Covetor, the other pilot warps back in his pod, in the vain hope of salvaging a little from what was quickly becoming a bad day for them. Loki is locked and scrammed, making sure it couldn't be boarded. The Orca explodes and both pods are locked and popped.

A few minutes later while I was waiting for an associate to come deal with the loot they appeared back in Eifer

Kane Rizzel > should have paid
Nimisha > you should have been reasonable, its all replacable
Kane Rizzel > loki and orca plus cargo and clones, 1.5bil was very reasonable
Nimisha > no
Nimisha > 500 mill, woulda happened
Kane Rizzel > nah, it's all good, I got a loki and a covetor, thrasher and a few killmails
Nimisha > enjoy while ya can
Kane Rizzel > ooh, I will
Kane Rizzel >thanks
Nimisha > I do hope so

I... Think... That was a threat :)

Edit: Soloing Drakes in a Rifter is the definition of cool (Sure it's not a great fit but a kill is a kill :P)

Negative Ten

2011-07-12T04:09:00.000-07:00

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

-- (Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay)

Some milestones in Eve are greater than others and the journey to them is what defines many of us as pilots, pirates, capsuleers. I have achieved a fair few in my time and I now celebrate re-achieving another.

Many moons ago I had busted a mission in progress in a nearby system, a Raven battleship was downed by my Pilgrim, using drones and energy neutralisers. However once the Caldari Battleship went down my drones, in their infinite wisdom, decided it wise to destroy one of the rats, thus ruining my pristine, perfect negative ten security status.

It has been a long time coming but I once again proud to be true Negative Ten:
Kane Rizzel -10.00000000000000

The Hawk and the Worm... Or how Kane feels dirty

As is the always the case, intel of a ship trying to run the static plexes reaches me, a Hawk assault frigate is in the 1/10 DED rated complex. Sitting on my new couch, I peruse the ships in my hangar and choose something a touch... Unconventional:

Worm

Korako 'The Rabbit' Kosakami, Gurista leader, has a particular love for stealing the Caldari's ship designs, souping them up, and turning them on their creators. With the Worm, he has taken the Merlin design so familiar to Caldari pilots and turned it into a defensive powerhouse with increased electronic warfare capabilities.

Special Ability: 50% bonus to Rocket and Light Missile velocity

Caldari Frigate Skill Bonus: 5% shield resistance per level
Gallente Frigate Skill Bonus: 5m3 Drone Bay Capacity per level

It is... Very different from what I normally fly and is not exactly fit to the most common specifications but all in all I thought it would be ideal for what I intended and as is my habit, I intended to introduce it to someone in a violent fashion. The most peculiar thing about this particular Worm is the tank, the fact it doesn't fit a conventional tank means I would be relying on things out of my control to win this fight, but you never know your luck until you try it :)

I warp to the 1/10, he's just about to activate the gate into the second room, I follow with all haste as there's only a small window for me to activate the gate on his key. We both exit warp about two clicks away from each other and I engage, point blank range, rockets fizzing all around, I deploy my tank... A flight of EC-300 ecm drones...

He's hitting me hard, I have no shield buffer, or armour for that fact, I'm relying on the ecm drones to get a jam and some fancy flying on my part.

He's hitting me very hard up close, at 10% shields I hit my afterburner, to gain range and possibly decrease the damage from his rockets, at ten clicks I set orbit, dual webs and scram holding him in place as my speed mitigates some of the damage from his launchers.

My thermal rockets aren't doing much but the EC-300s are starting to do their job, allowing me to regenerate some of my shields. I change to EM rockets and the damage increases, along with the jams, I'm starting to turn the fight, so I move in close again, but he relocks and starts to pulverises my shields, Once again I move out to ten clicks to mitigate the damage.

His tank is failing and I'm at about 50% shields, I decide it's time to finish, the EC-300 drones have another jam cycle and I recall the little beauties... Only to deploy a flight of Warrior IIs to help finish off the last of his shields.

He explodes violently, bits of Hawk littering the plex.

A good fight shared in local and an apology from me for using ECM drones.

Sure I felt dirty, but it was a good fight, a fight in which luck, more so than any other fight, played a very big role and for once I was on the other end of EC-300s :D

Unlucky...

2011-07-05T15:30:00.000-07:00

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

Luck is a fickle mistress, still reeling from a serious case of not having any, I decided to run around in The Cunning Man, yet to get used to this new clone, a little stiff and in need of some smiling from the Lady herself.

A Vagabond from Electus Matari had entered Eifer and I would need something a touch more... Potent.

Enter Flubber, born from the ashes of her predecessor, a Fleet Issue Stabber and a ship perfectly suited to duel the Minmatar Heavy Assault Cruiser.

I head on over to Eifer and start moving around system... Waiting... Patiently.

My patience is rewarded, belt 1-1 was to be the place as he warps in on me at 50km. There would be no Lame Kane, no Crazy Ivan's as the Vagabond comes right at me, pauses and moves off at range, overloaded webs reach out and slow him down enough for a overloaded scram, shutting off his MWD, which allow my webs to be more effective.

Flubber moseys on over, right up the Vagabonds nose, drones and ammunition already flying between us, my shields stripped, a race for survival, guns overloaded and his shields start to wane, once stripped his armour and structure become a casualty of Flubber's guns and drones.

Unlucky for the Vagabond pilot but a good fight none the less, as much shared in local

How noob can you go

2011-07-03T15:18:00.000-07:00

"Yes," said the skull. "Quit while you're a head, that's what I say."
-- (Terry Pratchett, Soul Music)

Bombing around Eifer in my Rifter, I had tackled a Drake earlier for the M34N crew and ransomed the pod for a few hundred milllion, so things were looking rosy.

Later on a small gang were camping the Emolgranlan gate and I tried to draw the Wolf off the gate, eventually he started to close the distance so I warp to 100km off the gate, so as his friends couldn't get a warpin to him and spoil the fun...

Can you guess the Facepalm?

... I agress the Wolf, in full sight and range of sentries :FACEPALM:

I warp my pod out and offer a 1v1 to the Wolf with a new Rifter which would take me a minute to fit but nothing in local is uttered, so I warp to Gusandall gate to get another Rifter, land, there's a Hurricane just landed as I jump through the gate...

... And I'm in the station, sans implants and a hefty cloning bill :FACEPALM:

Bugger

Rifter heart and soul

2011-06-29T15:10:00.000-07:00

Death was Nature's way of telling you to slow down. -- (Terry Pratchett, Strata)

I had been patrolling Eifer for most of the day, won some (Using a Rifter to kill Malediction before his Hurricane friend could catch up and a Dramiel most notably), lost some (Lost my Navy Vexor to Harbinger bait) and had a bit of fun on the hunt.

One particular hunt stands out, a young Hurricane pilot was running a mission out of high security space, employing the services of an associate, the Hurricane was probed in his mission site in short order.

Warping to my associate I could feel butterflies, even a half decent Hurricane would be dangerous to The Cunning Man. Feeling the need for some action I went on in, landing not too far away from where the Hurricane pilot was finishing up, I moved in for tackle, in range and active.

A mixed flight of tech one drones is launched and set about trying to dismantle my Rifter, of course I couldn't stand for that, locked them all up and popped them one by one until none stood against me.

The Hurricane Pilot was trying very hard but his guns just couldn't track my Rifter in its tight orbit. Volley after volley of RF Phased Plasma rounds slam into the shields and armour of the Minmatar Battlecruiser, my speed enough to mitigate all damage.

The Hurricane pilot is smarter than I give him credit for as he moves closer to one of the structures in the mission complex, disrupting my orbit and allowing him to get a few good hits on the Cunning Man with his 425s. Manual flying from here on in Kane as I start to throw the Rifter around.

After a good few minutes I chew my way through the Hurricane's shield, armour and structure and it explodes in spectacular fashion, bits of debris raining against the Cunning Man's beautiful hull. The pilot had all but completed the mission by the time I had commenced violence and his mission objective was left only a few hundred metres away. As he was very young and he tried very hard to fight back, I made arrangements to get the mission objective back to him, free of charge.

I've had quite a bit of fun flying the Rifter again and I hope it shall long continue as I shall try very hard to stay away from the bigger ships and concentrate on Rifter Violence™

Return of the Kane

2011-06-23T16:04:00.000-07:00

The hippo of recollection stirred in the muddy waters of the mind.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Soul Music)

It has been a long time, the station has been refurbed and my hangar now has an office, not just a few crates for a desk and a makeshift bed in the corner. Someone has spent a lot of money on this and it all looks very pretty but somehow it's just... Wrong.

The Cunning Man floats above the docking platform, I ease myself into my custom built 'pod' and set about making my way into the black, Gusandall, it has been too long.

There's a few pilots showing up on the local comms net, but mostly in bigger ships and quite obviously together and possibly a little too much for a rusty old pirate.

There were a few frigates with them but soon they all jumped out, destination unknown, but I loitered at the usual haunts. A Malediction from the large group re-enters Gusandall, a scout no doubt, I wait for him in the first room of the 2/10 complex. A tech 2 Interceptor vs my Rifter... Well... I know how this was going to end but you got to let people think they're in it to win it.

As predicted, the Malediction appears on scan in the direction of the 2/10 beacon, soon he would be arriving, all systems primed and set to overheat from the get go.

Malediction comes out of warp only a few hundred meters away from The Cunning Man, targeting systems acquire the target, yellow box, then red as the Malediction pilot gets serious.

My guns spin up and ordinance starts flying, the interceptor at point blank range melting with every volley, it explodes, with my shields barely troubled by the missiles it had launched.

This was not about the hunt, as I was hunted, or the fight itself, as it was wholly unremarkable, but how knowledge of my surroundings and the predictability of others led to victory.

And just like that, Kane is back :)

[OOC] The future is exciting

2011-05-10T13:42:00.000-07:00

YOU HAVE PERHAPS HEARD THE PHRASE THAT HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE?
"Yes. Yes, of course."
Death nodded. IN TIME, he said, YOU WILL LEARN THAT IT IS WRONG.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Small Gods)

Due to massive changes in my Real Life I will be very scarce for the foreseeable future.
I'm moving to London in three weeks to start a new job, same thing I'm doing now but on a larger scale.

I'll see you guys when I see you o7

Four

2011-05-02T15:32:00.000-07:00

I isn't dead...

2011-04-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

...I is just busy.

"You're dead," he said. Keli waited. She couldn't think of any suitable reply. "I'm not" lacked a certain style, while "Is it serious?" seemed somehow too frivolous.
-- Princess Keli in trouble
(Terry Pratchett, Mort)

Apologies to my readers, life is just a touch hectic at the moment. Three accounts have been given the summer off with just Kane remaining active, in case a scratch needs itching.

Work will be dominating any time and energy I have so updates and playtime will be few and far between :)

Killing kittens isn't easy

2011-04-05T14:54:00.000-07:00

"He's muffed it," said Simony. "he could have done *anything* with them. And he just told them the facts. You can't inspire people with facts. They need a cause. They need a symbol."
-- (Terry Pratchett, Small Gods)

Have had a bit of a rough patch of late, a few too many losses for my liking but Kane stays strong, Kane never surrenders. With this in mind I did something different tonight and went out on a quick roam with the M34N Coalition guys.

The M34N alliance has grown considerably recently and our small gang was soon quite sizeable for the locals, thirteen assorted battlecruisers and strategic cruisers. no ECM or logistics in sight, me in a Hurricane.

We got our first fight of sorts as we jumped into Ingunn, an equally sized Electus Matari/Dragoons fleet with a Scimitar logistics and Falcon ECM support. We jump in without hesitating, hold cloak, primary is called...

It's the Falcon :D

Primary goes down hard, Scimi is secondary but escapes, Electus Matari jump out. Some of us follow back into Gusandall, with eventually just me on the gate, Electus Matari/Dragoons find their minimals again and start shooting me on the gate whilst one of their Hurricanes dies next door, I jump through with 15% armour left as the roam is moving and gate games don't interest us.

Everytime a Falcon dies, god kills a kitten...

...Do your part.

The rest of the roam consists of us chasing a large Ivy League gang around but never getting within spitting distance and trying to get a fight out of a large Independence Cruiser gang that was waiting for the Gusandall locals to take the bait in Gusandall but nobody was home.

A Falcon died, GREAT SUCCESS.

Zombie Flubber rises and shall feast on the brains of many, watch this space :)

Quit while you're only losing a little

2011-04-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

Tourist, Rincewind decided, meant "idiot".
-- (Terry Pratchett, The Colour of Magic)

I've lost Flubber :(

Well it all started out by me fitting up a Navy Hookbill and warping to what seemed like a Navy Comet at the 2/10, turns out it was also an Enyo, Ishkur, Sentinel and Jaguar too.

Navy Comet almost goes down but the Navy Hookbill just couldn't cope with everything being thrown at it.

So Kane does what Kane would do in any situation like this, he goes back for revenge, I board Flubber and warp to the 2/10 but they have moved to the Hrondedir gate, I follow and they jump through, again I follow and they warp to the Hrondmund gate.

Instead of cutting my losses I say:

Kane Rizzel > all of you vs me?
Kane Rizzel > I'll be at the sun

:FACEPALM:

There isn't a facepalm picture big enough, even the famed Picard montage facepalm would just not do. Keira is either going to laugh at this or be extremely angry

I have given up range dictation and in essence I just threw Flubber away like she meant nothing, all these years together and I sacrifice her for no gain.

The gang warps in, Sentinel at 40km, would have been my primary but my genius is not only matched but exceeded by my stupidity.

I take the Ishkur into armour but the tracking disruption from the Sentinel is fatal, for all my skillpoints, for all my experience and bravado, this fight was lost the minute I uttered those fateful words.

I'm sorry Flubber :(

I had been looking for a fight all night, but between the residents of Broadside and Independence channels running through the area in their own gangs, I had seen zero that I could take on my own, my impatience got the better of me.

Not been one of my better weeks but I shall persevere, I shall bounce back, for I am Kane Rizzel.

Today marks nine months since I took my first steps down the Straight Edge, stay strong and never surrender :)

AlphaMeridian 1982-01-19 to 2011-03-28, You will forever be remembered

2011-03-28T22:34:00.000-07:00

Just got some tragic news, an old friend and ex corp mate, AlphaMeridian, passed away earlier this evening from a heart attack.

Good Fight James, Good Fight

This fucking sucks.

Friend of a friend

2011-03-22T16:15:00.000-07:00

"'E's fighting in there!" he stuttered, grabbing the captain's arm.
"All by himself?" said the captain.
"No, with everyone!" shouted Nobby, hopping from one foot to the other.
-- Making Friends and Hitting People
(Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!)

It's not often a fight, that has no winner can be as fun as one I had this evening against someone who could be best described as a nemesis of sorts.

Crazy Vania has run the 2/10 in a Dramiel on numerous occasions, he has tormented some of the locals, has died at my hands a fair few and has once or twice actually destroyed my marvelous flying machines.

He has recently left the services of Electus Matari, the local anti pirates and joined Pod Liberation Authority. Over the last few days he has been coming to Gusandall in a Cruor.

Cruor

Mottled, dark red, and shaped like a leech, the Cruor presents a fitting metaphor for the Blood Raiders' philosophy. Designed almost solely to engage in their disturbingly effective tactic of energy draining and stasis webbing, this ship is a cornerstone in any effective Blood Raider fleet - and could play an intriguing role in more standard ones.

Special Ability: 100% bonus to Small Energy Turret damage

Amarr Frigate Skill Bonus: 15% bonus to Energy Vampire and Energy Neutralizer drain amount per level
Minmatar Frigate Skill Bonus: 10% bonus to the velocity factor of stasis webifiers per level

The last few fights I've had against the Sentinel have made me weary of energy neutralisers and said Sentinel pilot was back in local, so being the daring type I am, I grabbed Sgt Angua, the most volatile frigate I own.

Volatile because it possesses devastating firepower, but also because it requires capacitor to function, without cap she was dead in the water so to speak.

Vania seems to have tangled with the Sentinel but had docked up for the moment. A fight against both would not be the smartest choice.

I warp to the plex and enter the first room. Sentinel is 300 clicks off, I start to close but soon decide no, he wants to dictate the engagement, so take that away from him and let him come to Kane.

I moved back towards the plex centre, and soon, as predicted he started to close. 19km and no closer, I could not allow him within his neut range. I am easily faster and maintain range without problem, waiting for him to make the first move.

Vania warps in with his Cruor, the dance with the Sentinel has taken us 300 odd km away.

The Sentinel is not the most patient and warps out, not being able to get close enough to get a neut off. I have the option to move towards Vania or warp out but nothing ventured, nothing gained :)

I close, not too close though, again, those neuts have me a touch shy. We dance for a bit, I overload my web and scram, take a deep breathe and hit approach, this was going to have to be quick.

Exile or X-Intinct, I chose X cause a lower sig might help more than extra rep, can't rep with no cap and as I'd definitely be low on that, I chose not to even bother with the rep.

I inject the X, my vision blurs a bit, my armour drops as I can't really focus, damn side effects, but that's drugs for you.

Web goes green and I close quicker, scram and guns glow green, overloaded as I'm now at point blank. Vania webs back, neuts go to work on my cap. His shields are stripped and I work on his armour as his lasers strip my shields.

He hits about 60% armour as my mods turn off, Sgt ANgua is now dead in the plex. Vania starts on my armour, no way of repping, I see a sliver of cap and get off two salvos, cap dry. my armour keeps disappearing, a sliver of cap, another two salvos, Vania now deep in armour.

This fight could go either way but I didn't have the luxury of warping out, I was here till the end.

Another sliver of cap, another two salvos, Vania closer to structure and I think he chose to rather withdraw than risk a loss.

He warps out, an intense fight and one I think I was very lucky to warp away from.

He offers a round two...

Crazy Vania > wanna try again kane ?
Crazy Vania > I think I figured a mistake I did
DeathStar > you warp'd into kane?
Kane Rizzel > stagger your neuts
DeathStar > prob 1 of the bigger mnistakes in eve tbh
Crazy Vania > I wont tell you which mistake it was
DeathStar > mistakes*
Crazy Vania > yes I know
Crazy Vania > dont need to tel me that
DeathStar > lmao
Crazy Vania > I have experienced, let's say, in the flesh

I don't actually fancy my chances and decline but we start talking in local and eventually on voice comms and he's a decent fella, he is a good friend of a recent M34N recruit and is ok in my book, he's also a fan of Terry Pratchett which is always a good thing.

On to something I mentioned earlier, Anti Pirates, what has happened to the Anti Pirate corps and alliances, Electus Matari are still about but a shadow of the past really? It seems to be something of a dying art.

REVENGE... Two sugars please

2011-03-21T13:07:00.000-07:00

Asking someone to repeat a phrase you'd not only heard very clearly but were also exceedingly angry about was around Defcon II in the lexicon of squabble.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad)

Kane angry, Kane want revenge.

I'd been chasing a Thrasher that had tried to take up residence in our local 2/10, The fella had cloaked when I entered the third room so I hung about and made a general nuisance of myself in a Succubus frigate until he resigned to his fate and warped out.

Then there was a Sentinel

Sentinel

Hull: Crucifier Class
Role: Electronic Attack Ship

Electronic attack ships are mobile, resilient electronic warfare platforms. Although well suited to a variety of situations, they really come into their own in skirmish and fleet encounters, particularly against larger ships. For anyone wanting to decentralize their fleet’s electronic countermeasure capabilities and make them immeasurably harder to counter, few things will serve better than a squadron or two of these little vessels.

Developer: Viziam

Viziam ships are quite possibly the most durable ships money can buy. Their armor is second to none and that, combined with superior shields, makes them hard nuts to crack. Of course this does mean they are rather slow and possess somewhat more limited weapons and electronics options.

Amarr Frigate Skill Bonus: 20% bonus to energy vampire and energy neutralizer transfer amount per level and 5% bonus to effectiveness of tracking disruptors per level

Electronic Attack Ships Skill Bonus: 40% bonus to energy vampire and energy neutralizer range and 5% reduction in capacitor recharge time per level

I have never in all my years fought against a Sentinel and I was well up for this.

The Cunning Man, a Rifter class frigate is chosen to be the blunt instrument to bludgeon the Sentinel into just another wreck.

The first engagement would take place in the 1/10 complex, a strange place for a frigate duel but I made my way there. Entering the plex he was 112 clicks away so I started to close the long distance at full thrust.

I get closer and once within overloaded scram range I lock and engage. Sentinel, casual as you like, engages back.

He dips deep into shields before my cap disappears, tackle mods off, he easily gains range, light tech 2 drones swarm around my Rifter as I try valiantly to swat them away, popping one before The Cunning Man is no more.

I warp my escape pod out sharpish, this will not stand, I fucking loved that Rifter. I dock and requisition a new Rifter assembled immediately, grab some ammo and head on out, this fight is very far from over.

Some of the locals are out to get the Sentinel pilot but I take The Cunning Man to the 1/10 plex gate and wait. It doesn't take the sentinel long to warp to me, I engage immediately, ignoring drones, guns overheated.

My cap is gone but he's deep into armour, he activates the gate, trying to run away...

A single rocket, zig zags its way across the void, slamming into the Sentinel hull as it enters warp.

With nothing to warp, the escape pod sits idle, even as I lock it, tackle it and offer it the terms of its release.

It silently declines.

A good fight and a test for sure, the Sentinel intrigues me and is something I'm going to look into.

I would later lose The Cunning Man to the same Sentinel in the 2/10, not being able to kill off his seemingly endless supply of drones quick enough, but, I think I'm still ahead :P

Just had a great little fight against Raptor and Rifter combo, they warped right on top of me at the gate to the 2/10 complex and needless to say it led to a sticky end, for them at least.

Two Rifters lost but there are always more Rifters.

Shout out to my homeboy Darthimus, without whom I would not be able to achieve the victories I do, his inspiration and guidance over the years have helped me become the Pirate I am today :P

Destruction and Democracy

2011-03-10T15:01:00.000-08:00

I must confess the the activities of the UK governments for the past couple of years have been watched with frank admiration and amazement by Lord Vetinari. Outright theft as a policy had never occured to him.

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

Seems I was able to kill a Dramiel and a Daredevil last night in quick succession, don't remember much about it except I was hunting a Claw I think. It was late, I was tired but the killmails are here and the loot was in my cargo this afternoon when I got in. I apologise to my opponents, I really wish I could remember more about the fight, it looks like it was epic. (I wasn't drunk or high by the by, I've been Straight Edge for almost nine months now \o/)

In other news, voting has opened for the CSM and I cast my vote and got my associates and family to do the same. The votes were split between Prometheus Exenthal and Seleene.

Edit: Dragon Age II is out, I may be missing for a few days ;)

Vex and Vexibility

2011-03-06T16:10:00.000-08:00

He was said to have the body of a twenty-five year old, although no one knew where he kept it.
-- The Life and Times of Corporal Nobbs
(Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms)

Flying a Navy Vexor is something of a novelty for me, relying on drones has never been something I've been totally comfortable with.

It goes very much like this: launch drones, order drones to attack, pray.

After this evenings earlier fun in flying it in a gang, I had an associate relay some intel regarding a Hurricane running the belts in Eifer.

With said Intel, I undocked in Cpl Nobbs and headed on over to my spiritual home.

Reports put the Hurricane's location at 4-3, as I initiate warp the Intel changes as the Hurricane warps to 4-4. Too late, will have to catch him at another belt.

I land in 4-4 and scan him down towards the 5's and head on over.

WARP DRIVE ACTIVE

I land in 5-1 as he warps off to 5-2.

WARP DRIVE ACTIVE

Landing in 5-2 I see him going to 5-3

WARP DRIVE ACTIVE

Finally I arrive and the Hurricane is waiting for me, at zero.

Surprisingly he engages me as I try to sort out this whole targeting malarkey, I seem to be having some issues. I eventually get my act into gear and lock him up, close, scram, web, drones and guns.

My capacitor is drained dry rather quickly, dual neuts, damn, this is not going to be easy, but luckily I have a plan and the plan is this: FINISH HIM!

With no cap to speak of, I'm juggling trying to keep tackle and watching my drones inch their way through his shields all the while taking a hammering from his guns.

My armour was slowly vaporising, all the while my tackle failing before I regained a precious sliver of capacitor to get my scram and web back on target.

COME ON YOU BASTARDS, FUCKING KILL HIM ALREADY!

I'm trying to Jedi my drones into finishing the Hurricane before he finished me, it was going to be close, 25% armour as they broke his shields, a few select prayers were being said between clenched teeth to whatever deity the drones choose to worship along with more than a few choice curses.

He hits hull as I hit 15% armour, it's a race, his guns and drones, versus, well, just my drones, I'm having a difficult time keeping tackle but my cap is not disappearing as fast and I'm able to activate my guns, overheated, every last ounce of damage... His hull evaporates, I punch the air.

FUCKING YES! YOU LITTLE BEAUTIES!

As I recall my little heroes, the Hurricane pilot warps his pod out.

A good fight

I later went on a roam with some of the locals, all the way to Amamake where we killed a Maelstrom afk 300km off a gate and we eventually got the fight we were looking for but got out gunned but still broke about even.

Keira lost a Jaguar to a Dramiel (in the 2/10 of all places :D)and then went toe to toe with said Dramiel in a Dramiel of her own and it was going rather bad till she killed his drones, at which point he never came close again, eventually warping out and leaving system.

All in all a good day, some other kills here and there, should be a good few days

Pride and Absolution

2011-03-06T13:46:00.000-08:00

"Real children don't go hoppity-skip unless they are on drugs."
-- Susan, the ultimate sensible governess
(Terry Pratchett, Hogfather)

It's not often I fly in a sizeable gang and I started the evening off not in any gang whatsoever but when the locals started harassing folk on various gates and in various systems it became evident there may be some fun to be had.

We were picking off lone travellers here and there when a report of Two Absolution, a Drake, a Cynabal and a Sleipnir are reported jumping into Eifer amd then into Gusandall.
"Tackled" is heard on voice comms and I urge all present pilots to move to the Eifer gate ASAP.

The hostile gang had jumped in and engaged a valiant Jonothan Xavier in his Brutix on the gate. We start to land and I call the Sleipnir primary target, Cynabal secondary, spread points and web.

Sleipnir is chosen as primary because it is high DPS but has the most volatile tank and the other two command ships were very likely set up to boost armour, Drake we all know has a massive buffer so that left Cynabal as secondarybecause well, it's faction and we all like to kill faction.

Jon goes down like a hooker in an alley, followed by Xylorn in his Rapier but the Sleipnir folds.

Cynabal has moved well out of range, so I call a switch to the Drake but he de-aggos and jumps out, we start on the closest Abso, one jumps out, other warps away.

Meanwhile, hero Tengu of Asssassin X has followed the Cynabal and has him tackled. The Cynabal's trajectory led him away from our position, eventually leading to us being able to warp to Asssassin X and end the Cynabal's evening.

One of the Absolutions jumps back in, we warp down to the gate, agress but he makes it back within jump range and naturally jumps out, Once again there's a hero tackle on the other side by Asssassin X and there's enough time for us to wait out our timers, jump into Eifer and make violence on the Absolution.

If you're paying attention, I'm flying something a little different, a new ship launched this very evening and one I must say I quite like, it's very... different.

Happy birthday to Ariartus by ze vay :)

Jams and Preserves

2011-03-01T09:58:00.000-08:00

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)

Some folk will go to extra-ordinary lengths to get a kill.

Editors note: The game logs have been edited as there was a lot of frustrated button pushing by Kane which made them pretty much unreadable, the important information has been left intact.

------------------------------------------------------------
Gamelog
Listener: Kane Rizzel
Session started: 2011.03.01 17:48:19
------------------------------------------------------------

One of the Dramiel pilots from last night is spotted entering Eifer in a Republic Fleet Firetail, I board Sgt Angua and head on over the the plex as I'm certain he is back for revenge.

Sure as a bear shits in the woods, he enters Gusandall and warps straight to the plex. He lands, I target and the fight kicks off...

[ 2011.03.01 17:50:40 ] (notify) For initiating combat your security status has been adjusted by -0.1215.
[ 2011.03.01 17:50:41 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II hits DEATH RIGHTS [LOTP](Republic Fleet Firetail), doing 426.3 damage.
[ 2011.03.01 17:50:42 ] (notify) You have started trying to warp scramble DEATH RIGHTS [LOTP](Republic Fleet Firetail).

He engages me, as expected, he came here for this...

[ 2011.03.01 17:50:43 ] (combat) DEATH RIGHTS [LOTP](Republic Fleet Firetail) lightly hits you, doing 129.8 damage.
[ 2011.03.01 17:50:46 ] (combat) DEATH RIGHTS [LOTP](Republic Fleet Firetail) aims well at you, inflicting 215.9 damage.

What happens next though was not expected and to be fucking honest it caught me off guard...

[ 2011.03.01 17:50:46 ] (notify) Domination Warp Scrambler deactivates because its target, the cure, is not locked.
[ 2011.03.01 17:50:46 ] (notify) Federation Navy Stasis Webifier deactivates because its target, the cure, is not locked.

Wait, what? ECM? You have got to be fucking having a bubble*

[ 2011.03.01 17:50:48 ] (notify) You are already managing 0 targets, as many as your ship's electronics are capable of.
[ 2011.03.01 17:50:48 ] (notify) You are already managing 0 targets, as many as your ship's electronics are capable of.

I start furiously mashing the console to lock...

[ 2011.03.01 17:50:49 ] (combat) DEATH RIGHTS [LOTP](Republic Fleet Firetail) hits you, doing 135.6 damage.
[ 2011.03.01 17:50:49 ] (notify) Approaching the cure

He's hitting hard, maybe approach isn't the wisest option, maybe try get some range till you can lock?

[ 2011.03.01 17:50:51 ] (combat) DEATH RIGHTS [LOTP](Republic Fleet Firetail) hits you, doing 148.6 damage.
[ 2011.03.01 17:50:53 ] (notify) DEATH RIGHTS [LOTP](Republic Fleet Firetail) has started trying to warp scramble you!
[ 2011.03.01 17:50:53 ] (notify) You are already managing 0 targets, as many as your ship's electronics are capable of.

Yes, I fucking know I can lock exactly zero and fuckall...

[ 2011.03.01 17:50:54 ] (combat) DEATH RIGHTS [LOTP](Republic Fleet Firetail) aims well at you, inflicting 175.4 damage.

I'm still hitting lock like a crazed monkey on PCP as the Firetail goes about the business of dismantling the newly rebuilt Sgt Angua...

[ 2011.03.01 17:50:57 ] (notify) You are already managing 0 targets, as many as your ship's

...

[ 2011.03.01 17:50:58 ] (notify) You are already managing 0 targets, as many as your ship's electronics are capable of.

I'm starting to get annoyed...

[ 2011.03.01 17:51:00 ] (combat) DEATH RIGHTS [LOTP](Republic Fleet Firetail) aims well at you, inflicting 168.5 damage.
[ 2011.03.01 17:51:00 ] (notify) You are already managing 0 targets, as many as your ship's electronics are capable of.

YES, I FUCKING KNOW!

[ 2011.03.01 17:51:03 ] (combat) DEATH RIGHTS [LOTP](Republic Fleet Firetail) places an excellent hit on you, inflicting 222.5 damage.
[ 2011.03.01 17:51:06 ] (combat) DEATH RIGHTS [LOTP](Republic Fleet Firetail) hits you, doing 136.6 damage.
[ 2011.03.01 17:51:09 ] (combat) DEATH RIGHTS [LOTP](Republic Fleet Firetail) barely scratches you, causing 48.3 damage.
[ 2011.03.01 17:51:11 ] (combat) DEATH RIGHTS [LOTP](Republic Fleet Firetail) places an excellent hit on you, inflicting 309.8 damage.

Still mashing the lock button, I'm pleased to see the countdown to resolution, I close the gap...

[ 2011.03.01 17:51:11 ] (notify) Approaching the cure
[ 2011.03.01 17:51:14 ] (combat) DEATH RIGHTS [LOTP](Republic Fleet Firetail) hits you, doing 153.9 damage.

He's still hitting me, Sgt Angua deep in armour, but the hammer drops

[ 2011.03.01 17:51:15 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II places an excellent hit on DEATH RIGHTS [LOTP](Republic Fleet Firetail), inflicting 617.2 damage.
[ 2011.03.01 17:51:17 ] (combat) DEATH RIGHTS [LOTP](Republic Fleet Firetail) barely scratches you, causing 97.1 damage.
[ 2011.03.01 17:51:17 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II hits DEATH RIGHTS [LOTP](Republic Fleet Firetail), doing 460.1 damage.
[ 2011.03.01 17:51:19 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II hits DEATH RIGHTS [LOTP](Republic Fleet Firetail), doing 418.3 damage.

[ 2011.03.01 17:51:21 ] (notify) Targeting attempt failed as the designated object is no longer present.
[ 2011.03.01 17:51:21 ] (notify) Targeting attempt failed as the designated object is no longer present.

Did he just get another jam? Or did he just fucking warp off?

[ 2011.03.01 17:51:21 ] (notify) Approaching the cure

He still appears on my overview so I try approach and relock...

[ 2011.03.01 17:51:21 ] (notify) Republic Fleet Firetail has just left Gusandall as of ago
[ 2011.03.01 17:51:22 ] (notify) Targeting attempt failed as the designated object is no longer present.

Oh... He exploded, best try and lock that pod Mr Rizzel...

[ 2011.03.01 17:51:25 ] (notify) Approaching DEATH RIGHTS' Capsule

[ 2011.03.01 17:51:29 ] (notify) You have started trying to warp scramble DEATH RIGHTS [LOTP](Capsule).

With the pod tackled, I offer him terms...

Kane Rizzel > 250mil
Kane Rizzel > just for the ecm
DEATH RIGHTS > lol
DEATH RIGHTS > was worth a try

250 was a touch steep and I'm in a good mood (or maybe it's the painkillers)

Kane Rizzel > hehe
Kane Rizzel > 50mil and we call it a day
Kane Rizzel > ?
DEATH RIGHTS > i dont have it sorry

[ 2011.03.01 17:52:33 ] (notify) For participating in the podding of DEATH RIGHTS your security status has been adjusted by -3.0375.
[ 2011.03.01 17:52:33 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II hits DEATH RIGHTS [LOTP](Capsule), doing 444.3 damage.

Pay the man or buy a new brain as I always say.

DeathStar > lol <3> Kane
Kane Rizzel > Bounty payment
From: CONCORD
Sent: 2011.03.01 17:53

For your termination of DEATH RIGHTS we have paid you the bounty that was set to his head: 1,005,000.00 ISK
Kane Rizzel > fucker jammed me twice
DeathStar > =(
DeathStar > bet he wishes his pod had ecm
Kane Rizzel > http://eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=9031210 cheeky bugger

*Having a Bubble means Having a Laugh in Cockney rhyming slang (Bubble bath = Laugh) It is to be noted that Kane is neither Cockney, nor is he British, he just likes to sound like a geezer.

Milestones and Explosions

2011-02-26T16:30:00.000-08:00

Greebo's technique was unscientific and wouldn't have stood a chance against any decent swordmanship, but on his side was the fact that it is almost impossible to develop decent swordmanship when you seem to have run into a food mixer that is biting your ear off. -- (Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad)

A Pirates Perspective now has one hundred followers \o/

To celebrate I share this amazing tune

Sgt Angua has been rebuilt and saw action this fine day against those asleep at the wheel (Ivan was afk playing Starcraft 2) and those bold enough to engage her. On both occasions the victims were in Dramiel class frigates. Whilst some say they are overpowered, I treat them more as a challenge.

Edit: Make that three Dramiels.

On that note, CSM elections are upon us and there are a fair few folk campaigning for buffs, nerfs and whatever else will get them votes. This term, much like last I'm not following who wants to do or say what and as such will not promote any candidate. It is up to you the individual to make your own mind up, it's the only true freedom we have.

What's in a name?

There have been a few queries regarding the names I assign to ships. As many have noted I use the work of Terry Pratchett as my reference and use his books and characters for inspiration, but am also known to use other sources depending on my mood or the role of the ship.

Sometimes a name is used because of the characteristics of a specific person or non person in the Discworld and how it applies to the ship.

One such specific case is Sgt Angua: Delphine Angua von Überwald is the first werewolf in the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, hired under Lord Vetinari's "special hiring procedures", at the same time as Detritus (a troll) and Cuddy (a dwarf)

She is a Werewolf and as such some have asked why I would apply the name to the Daredevil, well, it's mainly because of her tenacity at tracking criminals/prey and the ferociousness and power she possesses.

It's also a note that I use her rank as Sergeant and not her latest rank of Captain, but this is because I will always remember her as a sergeant.

Other names are a play on words or a number of words such as Flubber because that's what I call Fleet Issue Stabbers, get it? I crack myself up sometimes :)

Then there's something like the Amarr Navy Slicer which I call Victorinox, or the Worm named Squishy or a Zealot named 'That's no moon' because I got the fit from a friend called Deathstar.

There's a Stabber called Sho Kosugi, which was used for Ninja Salvaging by an associate and two Pilgrims named after famous Pilgrimage routes, Bodh Gaya and Kumano-san-zan.

I like the names to mean something, even if it is just to make me smile or giggle.

Quotes from the void

Over the years I have collected quotes from various channels, I'll share some of them now as I go through my notepad.

oogs > kane, i think you made a friend for life with that farmer :
oogs > :)
Kane Rizzel > I hope he doesn't get beaten :D
Cletus Cassidy > lol
Cletus Cassidy > just imagine the inspirational poster now.... "The Beatings will continue until Kane goes away"

oogs > wow, heh. i thought i was looking at local, and I saw Kane up there. first thought was "oh shit, dock!"

Tadrith Windblade > what kind of ore is in this belt
Kane Rizzel > it's normally explosive with a load of kinetic and thermal thrown in, sometimes there's even EM
Tadrith Windblade > hey i dont need pvp info, im just a miner trying to earn some money

Snake Boy > when i grow up i wanna be like Kane

OriasV > Welcome into the presence of Kane Rizzel, please kiss his feet before entering
Kane Rizzel > lol
Kane Rizzel > glad I wasn;t drinking anything when I read that
Szeth Kiros > wow, someone has a bitch
Szeth Kiros > =)
OriasV > Nah, he just apparently has a legacy, you cant join without knowing about him
OriasV > its like walking into a church and asking who jesus is
Szeth Kiros > So, you kiss jesus's feet too?
OriasV > That's between me and jesus

Shadowforged > The mission agents in Emolgranlan send folks several jumps the opposite direction because they know Kane waits in low sec just one jump out.
Tor Lann > truth

Mynxee > I wish i had Kane's balls.

Ralph42nd > jesus if I ever see you in local ... I'm going to just self distruct

2008.08.18 18:53
<@AlphaMeridian> LOL
<@AlphaMeridian> Mistake #1) You Undocked
<@AlphaMeridian> Mistake #Fatal) You agressed Kane Rizzel
<@AlphaMeridian> there's got to be some way to put that in a sig or something because goddamn

Miura Bull /emote sometimes has to pinch himself . . . sharing a channel with two Gods like Garmon and Kane Rizzel

Horza Otho > Damn hurricane pilots and their nav skillz of doom
Ryo Jang > could say the same about nosdom pilots and their lack of balls

[quote="Wanna Kill"]speaking of - very, very few of the 'famous' eve players ive seen are anywhere near badass. Kane rizzel is the only one who comes to mind as being badass, not a fucking fatass like that fella

Kane Rizzel > 02:09:59 Combat Your Gatling Pulse Laser II perfectly strikes ecto seven [4-CE](Slasher), wrecking for 140.1 damage.
Kane Rizzel > first blood for the sader
Xaren Keth > I'm sure the locals are thrilled that you no longer need to reload :)

AlphaMeridian> dude
AlphaMeridian> you should have forced him to call you "Mr. Rizzel"
AlphaMeridian> "why kane" "fuck you we're not on a first name basis, you can call me Mr. Rizzel"

And lastly, how to upset a Chinese ISK farmer after they swear at you for killing their Raven, just swear back at them in their own language :D

Lang ren > Kane Rizzil cao ni ma
Kane Rizzel > dude, I would never do that to my mom
Kane Rizzel > cao ni made bi, yi zhi zou, sha bi
Lang ren > vFUCK YOU
Lang ren > ni ge zhu ,chi shi zhangda de

See, they do know English

ISK and Consequence

2011-02-25T17:29:00.000-08:00

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

-- (Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay)

I said this yesterday in a chat channel somewhere in the universe:

[ 2011.02.24 23:36:33 ] Kane Rizzel > again, if you have the isk, spend it, no use hoarding it for a rainy day, when I engage you, it's fucking raining

Some highsec residents have taken up lodgings in a system neighbouring Gusandall with super capital support. They run between lowsec and Emolgranlan on a regular basis and tonight there was a Jaguar loitering in Gusandall but as soon as I got near he would bug out.

It was only a matter of time before they got the requisite numbers to deal with me and I was spoiling for a fight.

Eventually the Jaguar hangs around Gusandall too long, I start hunting, he warps to celestial at different distances and eventually settles on the 2/10 plex. By now there is a cloaked Nemesis in system along with his friends next door in a Wolf, a Dramiel, a Malediction and a Hound.

Tall order, that it was, but, perhaps it was time to die.

I warp to the plex, he's in there as shown by my on-board scanner. I warp in, he's 30 clicks off, but instead of closing I start to widen the gap, Afterburner at max, burn away.
I get to about 60 clicks when his friends jump in and warp to the plex, the fight would be on, I would make my stand, here and now.

They enter the plex and the Malediction is fastest at 4km/s, I wait for him to get close enough, turn around and melt his face, Wolf is close behind, thicker skin than the Malediction but closer than the Dramiel and a more pertinent threat.

All attention on the Wolf, he does have a thick skin, or so it seems as he's taking some time to go down.

By now the Dramiel has caught up and I turn my attention towards him but I have taken too much damage, more so than my armour repairer could deal with, Sgt Angua, the mighty Sgt Angua explodes... Taking most everything with her :D

It was a good fight, one which took probably the better part of two hours to get but boy was it a rush and this why me and those like me do what we do.

Sgt Angua served me well and like very few other ships, impressed me every time she took to the cold of space, even her last fatal voyage was one where she exemplified what Kane Rizzel and NovaKane Incorporated are all about.

The Mistake

2011-02-21T11:00:00.000-08:00

A day ago the future had looked aching and desolate, and now it looked full of surprises and terror and bad things happening to people... If she had anything to do with it anyway.
-- Granny Weatherwax commits optimism
(Terry Pratchett, Maskerade)

There's something to be said for confidence, it either fuels you or will ultimately lead to your downfall.

Me, I'm Kane Rizzel, my confidence and ego have their own Customs Office. I am very good at what I do but I have also been known to make some of the biggest facepalm decisions in the history of the universe.

So when two Russian Dramiels appear on scan in Gusandall, in the direction of the 2/10 plex, I just shrugged my shoulders and said "Hey, what's the worst that can happen?"

I warp to the 2/10 in Sgt Angua, a rather ferocious Daredevil class frigate, not as popular as her more famous Dramiel cousin but more than capable of dealing with at least one of them. Two might have been a tall order but you know me, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I activate the acceleration gate and Sgt Angua is launched into the first room of the plex, where her onboard scanner indicates the two Dramiels are loitering.

I burst out of warp and look at my overview of the plex and see the two Dramiels at different distances, closest about 40 clicks.

I start to close...

[ 2011.02.21 18:37:32 ] (notify) Approaching Andromeda

A bit of Lame Kane™ to get started as the Dramiels decide on what to do...

[ 2011.02.21 18:37:34 ] (notify) Speed changed to 1039 m/s

Dramiels look to have decided as they both start to close the distance, rather sharpish too, this is their first mistake...

[ 2011.02.21 18:37:47 ] (notify) Speed changed to 1518 m/s

100% thrust, I change my tactic and close on the faster of the two as he is now naturally closer...

[ 2011.02.21 18:38:03 ] (notify) Approaching Хэдкраб

Their second mistake was allowing me within 20km as an overloaded Stasis Webifier reaches out and touches the faster of the two Dramiels

[ 2011.02.21 18:38:19 ] (notify) For initiating combat your security status has been adjusted by -0.1295.

It's reduced to a crawl but things go from bad to worse as now I'm in range of an overloaded Warp Scrambler

[ 2011.02.21 18:38:26 ] (notify) You have started trying to warp scramble velsevur <SOLAR>(Dramiel).

Sometimes you just have to sit back and smile at the things you are capable of, I open fire...

[ 2011.02.21 18:38:28 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II lightly hits velsevur <SOLAR>(Dramiel), doing 300.0 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:30 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II is well aimed at velsevur <SOLAR>(Dramiel), inflicting 480.4 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:32 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II barely scratches velsevur <SOLAR>(Dramiel), causing 197.6 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:35 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II misses velsevur <SOLAR>(Dramiel) completely.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:36 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II is well aimed at velsevur <SOLAR>(Dramiel), inflicting 476.9 damage.

Do they have guns on those things?

[ 2011.02.21 18:38:37 ] (combat) 200mm AutoCannon II belonging to velsevur places an excellent hit on you, inflicting 364.9 damage.

Oh, it appears they do, as the fight kicks off in earnest...

[ 2011.02.21 18:38:38 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II places an excellent hit on velsevur <SOLAR>(Dramiel), inflicting 648.8 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:39 ] (notify) velsevur <SOLAR>(Dramiel) has started trying to warp scramble you!
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:39 ] (combat) Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket belonging to velsevur hits you, doing 20.7 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:40 ] (combat) 200mm AutoCannon II belonging to velsevur barely scratches you, causing 147.6 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:40 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II hits velsevur <SOLAR>(Dramiel), doing 442.3 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:42 ] (combat) Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket belonging to velsevur hits you, doing 32.9 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:42 ] (combat) 200mm AutoCannon II belonging to velsevur heavily hits you, inflicting 239.9 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:42 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II barely scratches velsevur <SOLAR>(Dramiel), causing 211.5 damage.

At last, his friend joins in as I start to micro-manage some mods, need to repair some armour damage and keep them in range whilst cycling my afterburner...

[ 2011.02.21 18:38:43 ] (combat) MaianeZ <SOL-W>(Dramiel) barely scratches you, causing 64.1 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:44 ] (combat) Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket belonging to MaianeZ hits you, doing 19.9 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:44 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II is well aimed at velsevur <SOLAR>(Dramiel), inflicting 590.2 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:45 ] (combat) Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket belonging to velsevur hits you, doing 18.2 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:45 ] (combat) 200mm AutoCannon II belonging to velsevur hits you, doing 168.0 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:46 ] (combat) MaianeZ <SOL-W>(Dramiel) hits you, doing 131.9 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:46 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II barely scratches velsevur <SOLAR>(Dramiel), causing 243.1 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:48 ] (combat) Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket belonging to MaianeZ hits you, doing 18.0 damage.

The first Dramiel is not long for this verse as it spasms and explodes

[ 2011.02.21 18:38:48 ] (notify) Light Neutron Blaster II deactivates as Хэдкраб begins to explode.

All attentions now to his friend, with me at half armour...

[ 2011.02.21 18:38:49 ] (notify) Approaching Andromeda
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:49 ] (combat) MaianeZ <SOL-W>(Dramiel) hits you, doing 123.6 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:51 ] (notify) You have started trying to warp scramble MaianeZ <SOL-W>(Dramiel).
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:51 ] (combat) Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket belonging to MaianeZ hits you, doing 14.7 damage.

Now the time has come, the time to drop the hammer, guns overloaded, shit just got real...

[ 2011.02.21 18:38:51 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II hits MaianeZ <SOL-W>(Dramiel), doing 303.6 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:52 ] (combat) MaianeZ <SOL-W>(Dramiel) hits you, doing 121.8 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:53 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II barely scratches MaianeZ <SOL-W>(Dramiel), causing 240.4 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:54 ] (combat) Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket belonging to MaianeZ hits you, doing 14.2 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:55 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II barely scratches MaianeZ <SOL-W>(Dramiel), causing 224.9 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:55 ] (combat) MaianeZ <SOL-W>(Dramiel) hits you, doing 114.9 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:58 ] (combat) Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket belonging to MaianeZ hits you, doing 14.1 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:58 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II misses MaianeZ <SOL-W>(Dramiel) completely.

Somehow my scram turns off, probably me not paying enough attention to my capacitor as I'm cycling repper and propulson...

[ 2011.02.21 18:38:59 ] (notify) You have started trying to warp scramble MaianeZ <SOL-W>(Dramiel).

No worries, he wasn't going anywhere...

[ 2011.02.21 18:38:59 ] (combat) Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket belonging to MaianeZ hits you, doing 10.2 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:59 ] (combat) MaianeZ <SOL-W>(Dramiel) hits you, doing 132.3 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:38:59 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II hits MaianeZ <SOL-W>(Dramiel), doing 452.9 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:39:02 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II is well aimed at MaianeZ <SOL-W>(Dramiel), inflicting 499.7 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:39:02 ] (combat) Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket belonging to MaianeZ hits you, doing 9.2 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:39:02 ] (combat) MaianeZ <SOL-W>(Dramiel) hits you, doing 143.9 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:39:03 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II hits MaianeZ <SOL-W>(Dramiel), doing 365.8 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:39:05 ] (combat) Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket belonging to MaianeZ hits you, doing 18.5 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:39:05 ] (combat) MaianeZ <SOL-W>(Dramiel) aims well at you, inflicting 153.9 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:39:05 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II hits MaianeZ <SOL-W>(Dramiel), doing 508.3 damage.
[ 2011.02.21 18:39:08 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II is well aimed at MaianeZ <SOL-W>(Dramiel), inflicting 746.9 damage.

And just like that, another Dramiel dies...

[ 2011.02.21 18:39:09 ] (notify) Light Neutron Blaster II deactivates as Andromeda begins to explode.

A smile extends from ear to ear as I glance over a field of victory, to the victor the spoils, although it seems the good stuff didn't survive.

Another successful assault on the unscrupulous murderers of my Gistii friends.

In other news, had a Phoenix class dreadnought self destruct on a group of us earlier

The Raptor

2011-02-18T13:35:00.000-08:00

WHO KNOWS WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE HEART OF MEN?
The Death of Rats looked up from the feast of potato.
SQUEAK, he said.
Death waved a hand dismissively. WELL, YES, OBVIOUSLY *ME*, he said.
I JUST WONDERED IF THERE WAS ANYONE ELSE.
-- (Terry Pratchett, The Truth)

It's been a quiet few weeks for me, my time focussed elsewhere but I did get up to mischief last night with my good friend Jonathon Xavier, who is having an awesome time since moving to the area from nullsec.

We won some, we lost some but in the end I think we broke even but what mattered most is we had a laugh.

This evening however, I haven't been up to much until I spotted Syreon 514 flying a Jaguar. Since I was already in Sgt Angua I undocked and warped directly to the 2/10 plex as Syreon likes to try and farm it.

I landed on the gate as he warped into the first room, activated the ancient accelerator gate and followed him in.

As I entered the room I was dismayed to see him warp directly out :(

Kane Rizzel > run isk farmer
Kane Rizzel > run

It was while lamenting his cowardice that I noticed a Raptor class interceptor on scan

Kane Rizzel > Silas, fancy a 1v1, your raptor vs a rifter?

I made warp for the station and entered said warp just as the Raptor entered the first room of the 2/10.

Kane Rizzel > bugger, I just left
Kane Rizzel > wait right there

I docked up and made ready a Rifter class frigate

Silas Hangman > ha ha ha
Silas Hangman > not with rat agro

He said, obviously not wanting to fight inside the plex.

Kane Rizzel > I can bring a rifter if you prefer
Silas Hangman > nah, i wanna test it against a DD

Now this was a surprise to me, I thought by offering a 1v1 against my Rifter he would bite but wanting to go up against my Daredevil is just madness but I'm willing to indulge madness.

Kane Rizzel > ok, form fleet and we do it at a safe

I offer the usual terms to a 1v1 and he accepts, forms fleet, makes a safe spot and tells me when he's ready.

I warp in, he's opened up a 150km gap by the time I land. I Lame Kane™ to close the distance and he starts to do the same at a rapid rate, at about 30 clicks he engages, still too far for me to even lock.

Afterburner to 100%... Overload
Web... Overload
SCRAM... Overload

Once within 10km I hit my guns, they glow a pleasing green and the Raptor explodes.

A short but rewarding fight and props to Silas for taking it.

Just a note, If you see me in a channel and I don't respond, it's nothing personal I promise. I'm busy with other things and may be distracted for extended periods of time.

Stay strong and never surrender.

THE BATTAL

2011-02-04T16:58:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms)

I had a very intense and awesome 1v1 this evening against Lady Shaniqua and I'll let her tell the story of how it went down

Read all about it here.

Probably one of the best 1v1 duels I have ever had :)

The Trap

2011-02-03T14:39:00.000-08:00

WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN?
-- Death appeals to Azrael
(Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man)

Disclaimer: Before I start, I included the entire combat log, it's long but I feel taking bits out is not right

I walk into the NovaKane hangar this evening with a slight headache, some days it's just best not to get out of bed but things need doing and there's always something to do.

An associate reports something curious, Electus Matari Claw and Dramiel in the direction of the 2/10 plex but the Dramiel kept appearing and disappearing off scan and the local comms net.

Eventually it's just the Claw, the Dramiel is now gone.

"It's bait you know?" says Keira
"Of course it's bloody bait" I reply.

Keira can state the obvious in such a mocking tone.

"Guess I'll be going in then" I say as I board Sgt Angua.

The associate reports the Claw, still in the direction of the plex, I enter the black and set warp directly for the gate.

I land, the Claw only 20 clicks away, he engages as I land, quickly trying to control range...

[ 2011.02.03 22:21:54 ] (notify) Benito Arias <-EM->(Claw) has started trying to warp scramble you!

MWD have recently been updated to work in all deadspace complexes, but it is now more important than ever to fit your ship accordingly as I engage back, first webbing and then scrambling the Claw's propulsion...

[ 2011.02.03 22:22:05 ] (notify) You have started trying to warp scramble Benito Arias <-EM->(Claw).

The Dramiel appears on scan, the trap sprung, as the Claw starts to shoot at me...

[ 2011.02.03 22:22:07 ] (combat) 200mm AutoCannon II belonging to Benito Arias lightly hits you, doing 88.9 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:09 ] (combat) 200mm AutoCannon II belonging to Benito Arias hits you, doing 104.0 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:11 ] (combat) 200mm AutoCannon II belonging to Benito Arias heavily hits you, inflicting 127.3 damage.

His range control is poor as I'm now on top of him, I open fire...

[ 2011.02.03 22:22:12 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II barely scratches Benito Arias <-EM->(Claw), causing 191.3 damage.

Dramiel lands from it's warp and engages as it does so...

[ 2011.02.03 22:22:14 ] (notify) Crazy Vania <-EM->(Dramiel) has started trying to warp scramble you!
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:14 ] (combat) 200mm AutoCannon II belonging to Benito Arias misses you completely.

Claw is primary target...

[ 2011.02.03 22:22:14 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II misses Benito Arias <-EM->(Claw) completely.

Swing and a miss, but the fight is far from over...

[ 2011.02.03 22:22:14 ] (combat) 150mm Light AutoCannon II belonging to Crazy Vania misses you completely.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:16 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II hits Benito Arias <-EM->(Claw), doing 354.1 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:16 ] (combat) 200mm AutoCannon II belonging to Benito Arias lightly hits you, doing 99.9 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:16 ] (combat) 150mm Light AutoCannon II belonging to Crazy Vania barely scratches you, causing 37.7 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:18 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II is well aimed at Benito Arias <-EM->(Claw), inflicting 486.8 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:18 ] (combat) 200mm AutoCannon II belonging to Benito Arias hits you, doing 121.1 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:18 ] (combat) 150mm Light AutoCannon II belonging to Crazy Vania barely scratches you, causing 39.0 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:20 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II hits Benito Arias <-EM->(Claw), doing 252.6 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:20 ] (combat) 150mm Light AutoCannon II belonging to Crazy Vania heavily hits you, inflicting 127.2 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:21 ] (combat) 200mm AutoCannon II belonging to Benito Arias misses you completely.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:22 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II misses Benito Arias <-EM->(Claw) completely.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:22 ] (combat) 150mm Light AutoCannon II belonging to Crazy Vania misses you completely.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:23 ] (combat) 200mm AutoCannon II belonging to Benito Arias heavily hits you, inflicting 181.8 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:24 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania barely scratches you, causing 20.6 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:24 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania misses you completely.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:24 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania misses you completely.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:24 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II hits Benito Arias <-EM->(Claw), doing 139.9 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:24 ] (combat) 150mm Light AutoCannon II belonging to Crazy Vania heavily hits you, inflicting 149.2 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:24 ] (notify) Domination Warp Scrambler deactivates as Wasp begins to explode.

The Claw explodes, I turn all my attention on the Dramiel...

[ 2011.02.03 22:22:24 ] (notify) Approaching What Where ?
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:26 ] (combat) 150mm Light AutoCannon II belonging to Crazy Vania lightly hits you, doing 87.4 damage.

Webbed and scrammed but I'm bleeding atmosphere and fuel into space...

[ 2011.02.03 22:22:27 ] (notify) You have started trying to warp scramble Crazy Vania <-EM->(Dramiel).
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:27 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II misses Crazy Vania <-EM->(Dramiel) completely.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:28 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania hits you, doing 29.5 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:28 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania barely scratches you, causing 20.7 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:28 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania hits you, doing 31.5 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:28 ] (combat) 150mm Light AutoCannon II belonging to Crazy Vania misses you completely.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:29 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II hits Crazy Vania <-EM->(Dramiel), doing 365.1 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:30 ] (combat) 150mm Light AutoCannon II belonging to Crazy Vania hits you, doing 123.6 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:31 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II hits Crazy Vania <-EM->(Dramiel), doing 356.4 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:32 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania barely scratches you, causing 18.9 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:32 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania strikes you perfectly, wrecking for 104.4 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:32 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania misses you completely.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:32 ] (combat) 150mm Light AutoCannon II belonging to Crazy Vania lightly hits you, doing 98.5 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:33 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II misses Crazy Vania <-EM->(Dramiel) completely.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:34 ] (combat) 150mm Light AutoCannon II belonging to Crazy Vania heavily hits you, inflicting 161.9 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:35 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II places an excellent hit on Crazy Vania <-EM->(Dramiel), inflicting 586.4 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:36 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania heavily hits you, inflicting 43.3 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:36 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania lightly hits you, doing 25.9 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:36 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania barely scratches you, causing 21.6 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:36 ] (combat) 150mm Light AutoCannon II belonging to Crazy Vania barely scratches you, causing 95.7 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:37 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II barely scratches Crazy Vania <-EM->(Dramiel), causing 257.8 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:38 ] (combat) 150mm Light AutoCannon II belonging to Crazy Vania misses you completely.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:39 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II is well aimed at Crazy Vania <-EM->(Dramiel), inflicting 438.1 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:40 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania misses you completely.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:40 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania places an excellent hit on you, inflicting 45.7 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:40 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania hits you, doing 33.1 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:40 ] (combat) 150mm Light AutoCannon II belonging to Crazy Vania heavily hits you, inflicting 171.0 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:41 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II lightly hits Crazy Vania <-EM->(Dramiel), doing 261.7 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:43 ] (combat) 150mm Light AutoCannon II belonging to Crazy Vania misses you completely.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:43 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II misses Crazy Vania <-EM->(Dramiel) completely.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:44 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania hits you, doing 30.9 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:44 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania hits you, doing 33.8 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:44 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania heavily hits you, inflicting 42.0 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:45 ] (combat) 150mm Light AutoCannon II belonging to Crazy Vania heavily hits you, inflicting 161.4 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:45 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II is well aimed at Crazy Vania <-EM->(Dramiel), inflicting 427.9 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:47 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II places an excellent hit on Crazy Vania <-EM->(Dramiel), inflicting 409.6 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:47 ] (combat) 150mm Light AutoCannon II belonging to Crazy Vania hits you, doing 136.6 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:48 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania places an excellent hit on you, inflicting 39.5 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:48 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania barely scratches you, causing 16.8 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:48 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Crazy Vania barely scratches you, causing 18.6 damage.

The fight is close, but in the end...

[ 2011.02.03 22:22:48 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II is well aimed at Crazy Vania <-EM->(Dramiel), inflicting 195.1 damage.
[ 2011.02.03 22:22:49 ] (notify) True Sansha Stasis Webifier deactivates as What Where ? begins to explode.

Dramiel down, the pilot warping his escape pod out just as I achieved lock.

Kane Rizzel > gf
Crazy Vania > :)
Kane Rizzel > login trap not work
Crazy Vania > I'll keep trying to figure out ways to kill your dare
Crazy Vania > :)
Kane Rizzel > but gf none the less :D

So I was baited, of course I was, it's as easy as that, there could have been a Concord billboard with BAIT in bright shiny letters and I still would have gone in.

Why? you may ask... Hehe, y'all should know by now but mostly I do it cause I love it.

Sgt Angua is fast earning her keep and continues to impress me.

The Devil

2011-02-01T15:36:00.000-08:00

Being a werewolf meant having the dexterity and jaw power to instantly rip out a man's jugular. It was a trick of her father's that had always annoyed her mother, especially when he did it just before meals.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms)

There was a time when the Dramiel was just another faction frigate, but someone took what was an also ran and turned it into the only ran, with upgraded guns, range, speed and a deployment of four drones.

I remember back when flying the Dramiel was like flying a sexier Rifter but now the Dramiel is flown by anyone who thinks they can fight and if they can't fight, they can easily run away.

It is a particular favourite of plex farmers and for obvious reason. I don't blame them, if you want to make ISK, almost risk free, then this is the ship for you.

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

Now y'all know I take great pleasure in making sure the Gusandall 2/10 complex isn't farmed, hell, I hate any ISK farming period and as such have made it my mission in the past to harass and kill any who would try and do such in the area.

There's a fellow who's been trying to run the plex on regular occasion, I caught him a while back when he was using a Succubus, I was in a Worm, he wasn't happy when I ransomed his pod and said some unpleasant things with regards to my character.

He was spotted earlier in the evening running the plex using a Dramiel but had left by the time I got ready, but as with all farmers, they always come back for more.

I wanted something to catch him, and then I wanted something to kill him.

Daredevil

Little hard data is to be had on the Daredevil's exact origin, but it is believed that Guardian Angel engineers created it to serve as a defensive complement to the Cartel's Dramiel frigate. In both flair and utility it closely resembles its counterpart, but it eschews offensive capabilities in favor of greater defensive potential and stronger armor plating. A tough nut to crack.

Special Ability: 200% bonus to Small Hybrid Turret damage

Gallente Frigate Skill Bonus: 10% bonus to Small Hybrid Turret falloff per level
Minmatar Frigate Skill Bonus: 10% bonus to the velocity factor of stasis webifiers per level

Now I remember flying the Daredevil before but never really got the hang of it, back then it had drones, but a lot has changed. My last DD was donated to Prometheus Exenthal for Frigank 6, but it didn't live long enough to feature too heavily.

Back then the Daredevil was ok, but now it's actually pretty damn impressive.

I undocked and warped to the 2/10, checking the scanner all the time during warp, the Dramiel still there. I land on the ancient acceleration gate and activate it, launching into the first room of the complex.

There he was, about 90 clicks away and moving well over 2.5km/s.

I would have to lure him in, a bit of Lame Kane™ to start off with, make him feel the comfort his speed afforded him would win him the fight.

[ 2011.02.01 18:37:30 ] (notify) Approaching Bromiel
[ 2011.02.01 18:37:35 ] (notify) Speed changed to 1441 m/s

He starts to close on me, hovering at about 35km

[ 2011.02.01 18:37:37 ] (notify) Speed changed to 1396 m/s

He slowly tightens his orbit.

[ 2011.02.01 18:37:58 ] (notify) Speed changed to 1795 m/s

The time has come, at about 30 clicks away, afterburner is set to overload...

[ 2011.02.01 18:38:40 ] (notify) Speed changed to 2412 m/s

At 24km a stasis web reaches out to the Dramiel and caresses the sleek hull

[ 2011.02.01 18:38:54 ] (notify) For initiating combat your security status has been adjusted by -0.1217.

He engages back, launches drones...

[ 2011.02.01 18:38:58 ] (notify) Syreon 5I4 <X.I.X>(Dramiel) has started trying to warp scramble you!
[ 2011.02.01 18:38:59 ] (combat) 200mm AutoCannon II belonging to Syreon 5I4 barely scratches you, causing 27.8 damage.

He fires off some Barrage ammuntion in my general direction...

[ 2011.02.01 18:39:00 ] (notify) You have started trying to warp scramble Syreon 5I4 <X.I.X>(Dramiel).
[ 2011.02.01 18:39:02 ] (combat) 200mm AutoCannon II belonging to Syreon 5I4 hits you, doing 83.0 damage.
[ 2011.02.01 18:39:04 ] (combat) 200mm AutoCannon II belonging to Syreon 5I4 barely scratches you, causing 55.9 damage.

I don't think he expected me to be this close, I open fire...

[ 2011.02.01 18:39:06 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II places an excellent hit on Syreon 5I4 <X.I.X>(Dramiel), inflicting 874.6 damage.
[ 2011.02.01 18:39:08 ] (combat) 200mm AutoCannon II belonging to Syreon 5I4 heavily hits you, inflicting 96.2 damage.
[ 2011.02.01 18:39:08 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II lightly hits Syreon 5I4 <X.I.X>(Dramiel), doing 323.3 damage.
[ 2011.02.01 18:39:09 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Syreon 5I4 lightly hits you, doing 21.1 damage.
[ 2011.02.01 18:39:09 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II hits Syreon 5I4 <X.I.X>(Dramiel), doing 522.5 damage.
[ 2011.02.01 18:39:11 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Syreon 5I4 heavily hits you, inflicting 37.0 damage.
[ 2011.02.01 18:39:11 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Syreon 5I4 hits you, doing 28.9 damage.
[ 2011.02.01 18:39:11 ] (combat) 200mm AutoCannon II belonging to Syreon 5I4 heavily hits you, inflicting 100.8 damage.
[ 2011.02.01 18:39:12 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II hits Syreon 5I4 <X.I.X>(Dramiel), doing 526.6 damage.
[ 2011.02.01 18:39:14 ] (combat) 200mm AutoCannon II belonging to Syreon 5I4 hits you, doing 81.4 damage.
[ 2011.02.01 18:39:14 ] (combat) Hobgoblin II belonging to Syreon 5I4 hits you, doing 32.6 damage.
[ 2011.02.01 18:39:14 ] (combat) Your group of Light Neutron Blaster II hits Syreon 5I4 <X.I.X>(Dramiel), doing 618.4 damage.
[ 2011.02.01 18:39:15 ] (notify) True Sansha Stasis Webifier deactivates as Bromiel begins to explode.
[ 2011.02.01 18:39:16 ] (notify) Domination Warp Scrambler deactivates as Bromiel begins to explode.

Twenty two seconds of action and Sgt Angua stands victorious over the wreck of the Dramiel, The pilot quick enough to get his escape pod out this time, he docked immediately and went on vacation.

I'm very happy with her first outing, the sheer animosity of how she tore through the Dramiel impressed me, really impressed me. I expect the Dramiel pilot to be back in some or other faction ship and we'll be ready.

Edit: Shout out to The tHornton from The Hatchery, because he asked :)

The Anniversary

2011-01-30T18:18:00.000-08:00

The people who really run organizations are usually found several levels down, where it is still possible to get things done.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Small Gods)

As is more common these days, I missed something of great significance...

NovaKane Incorporated turned four on the 25th of January 2011.

From humble beginnings four long years ago, it has grown to be respected by its peers and feared by its adversaries.

In four years we have inflicted 110.5 Billion ISK in damage, killed 2026 space ships, ransomed countless pilots and stolen anything that wasn't nailed down. we have also lost 10 Billion ISK, which is quite a scary stat to be honest.

The Rizzels and associates would like to thank all the friends we have flown with, the enemies and sometimes friends we have fought against, the victims, the unlucky and the downright stupid for four great years, we hope to share many more with you all.

The Rattler

2011-01-29T17:49:00.000-08:00

"Taxation, gentlemen, is very much like dairy farming. The task is to extract the maximum amount of milk with the minimum of moo. And I am afraid to say that these days all I get is moo."
-- (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

Rattlesnake baits on Gusundall station, I take the bait and undock an Armageddon, he engages me, I shoot back, taking him to 80% shields with me at about half shields. His friends, a Typhoon, Armageddon and Loki jump in, I de-agress... And dock at 86% armour.

EVE System > Channel changed to Gusandall Local Channel
Kane Rizzel > man, that rattler has poor dps
MMEEEE > says the guy that cant get me past 98% shields
Kane Rizzel > I stopped shooting when your friends jumped in
MMEEEE > and pussy out and dock
MMEEEE > like i said
Kane Rizzel > want to 1v1?
MMEEEE > gf
MMEEEE > mybe nextime
Kane Rizzel > don't be a pussy
MMEEEE > you cant brake my tank and you guys never fly alone for long
Kane Rizzel > 1v1 mate
Kane Rizzel > offer stands
Kane Rizzel > me vs you, no one else
MMEEEE > would love too
MMEEEE > but
Kane Rizzel > but, you're a pussy
MMEEEE > to many of your corp/ friends have played that game before
Kane Rizzel > ok, I'll log my alt out, that make you happy?
MMEEEE > only to get 5 or 8 more peeps
MMEEEE > but always fun
Kane Rizzel > 1v1, at a safe, your safe, your gang, you and me, no one else
MMEEEE > fly safe gents
Kane Rizzel > but if you're not confident in you're abilities
MMEEEE > always fun kane/
MMEEEE > lol
MMEEEE > smak dont bother me bro
Kane Rizzel > man, this will be blogged about, people too afraid to 1v1
MMEEEE > really though fly safe man
Kane Rizzel > you too

Calling me names because I wouldn't fight him and his friends :(

Edit: Re-reading all this, this guy is talking out his ass

MMEEEE > to many of your corp/ friends have played that game before << My corp is me and my family, no-one dishonours 1v1 and Mean are very strict on honouring 1v1s, don't make shit up.

The Scythe

2011-01-22T16:20:00.000-08:00

Although the scythe isn't pre-eminent among the weapons of war, anyone who has been on the wrong end of, say, a peasants' revolt will know that in skilled hands it is fearsome.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Mort)

Earlier this week I was approached by an old corp mate and friend Rex Hargrove for a duel of epic proportions.

We spoke for a bit, he would come slum it in Gusandall, we would battle and then have cookies and tea.

The decision about which class of ship to use was tough, I needed to level the playing field somewhat as I don't have a clone without implants that could massively swing the fight in my favour in a number of ships.

Somehow one ship automatically came up as the choice for this and I proposed Battle Scythes to Rex...

Scythe

The Scythe-class cruiser is the oldest Minmatar ship still in use. It has seen many battles and is an integrated part in Minmatar tales and heritage. Recent firmware upgrades "borrowed" from the Caldari have vastly increased the efficiency of its mining output.

Minmatar Cruiser Skill Bonus: 20% bonus to mining laser yield and 3.5% bonus to tracking links per level.

Role Bonus: 500% bonus to range of tracking links.

Well now, here's a challenge if I ever saw one, how would we turn these into ships suitable for battle. I thought long and hard about this ship and how to fit it. With no weapons bonuses I could choose whichever type of weapon system would suit me best.

My first thoughts though were to undergun and go with smalls. Blasters, while higher DPS, they were short range, autocannons gave me more options damage wise but there was something staring me in the face that I could not ignore... The massive EM hole on the shields of the Scythe. There was only one gun system that would do and that was lasers.

I also thought about going with rocket launchers, but bouncing ideas off another friend, Jonothan Xavier, we decided that heavy assault missiles would fit the purpose of the fit nicely, and also giving me damage options not available to lasers.

Here is the fit I finally decided on:

[Scythe, OOK!]
Damage Control II
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II

Y-S8 Hydrocarbon I Afterburners
Large Shield Extender II
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I

Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
Medium Pulse Laser II, Scorch S
'Malkuth' Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I, Caldari Navy Hellfire Assault Missile
'Malkuth' Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I, Caldari Navy Terror Assault Missile

Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I

Hobgoblin II x1

With OOK! ready for battle and the day of destiny upon us, I would have to wait for Rex to make his way out of zero zero for this epic encounter.

He arrived in Gusandall after a hectic trip from nullsec and went about setting up his BATTLE SCYTHE. I had made arrangements with the locals to mind their own business and stay out of mine as I started to meditate before what was sure to be the battle of my illustrious career.

We formed gang and I made my way to the safespot, Jon came in a Hyperion to make sure we kept it honest.

Rex undocked, an associate reporting his every movement, he made warp for my position and it was time to meet in glorious battle.

Rex landed about 15 clicks away and I hit my afterburner, chosen as it would not be affected by warp scramblers. I closed quite easily as we locked each other up, I launched my single hobgoblin drone and ordered it to attack, attack it did, my lasers tore space apart as they sent cleansing light across the gap, heavy assault missiles spewing forth and assaulting Rex's shields.

Locked in mortal combat, Rex launched that which has been my nemesis for far too long, a single EC-300 drone made it's way towards OOK!...

Rex's shields evaporated, his armour melted and his hull crumpled as the stress of space and my weapons fire was too much, the EC-300 not being able to get a jam on.

One of the more interesting 1v1s I have ever been involved in and a lot of fun.
Thanks to Jon for the advice with regards to fitting and to Rex for making the trip from nullsec for this.

Yoink

2011-01-19T08:20:00.000-08:00

"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)

An associate was doing the rounds of neighbouring systems when she spotted something very curious in an ice belt next door to Eifer in a High security pocket.

"Two Mackinaws mining next to an unpiloted Orca"

You have got be shitting me?

"I'm not shitting on you"

I wake Keira up and start to scheme. Mackinaw's have a very short locking range and a ship cannot be boarded if it is locked, it being in a highsec pocket meant I could not take part in Operation Free Willy but Keira could, along with the help of two associates.

One associate went ahead in a covops to setup a warpin, the other docked her covops so that she could pilot our prize away as she was the only one who could fly it.

Keira would need something with some good speed but also some good weight behind it to bump the Orca away from the two ice miners, Interesting Times, a Machariel class battleship has been rebuilt and it's first duty for NovaKane Incorporated, would be aiding in the liberation of an Orca class Mining command ship.

With all the pieces in place, Keira made her way to the system, warped to our covops friend, and started her first run.

She hit it dead on, accelerating the Orca to over 1km/s and it started to move swiftly away, the Mackinaw pilots must have gotten a fright as the massive Machariel class battlership narrowly missed them. The Orca started to move away from the ice miners, as they responded by trying to move closer, but they are too slow, Keira makes her second run, bumping the Orca further away, our Orca pilot undocks and makes her way to Keira's position, as she lands she's 30km away from the now free-for-all Orca, she makes quick adjustments, warps to an ice block and back to where Keira is, right on top of the Orca, she boards it and immediately sets warp for the station.

Keira Rizzel > thanks guys
Hermodr Thrym > you're welcome : /
Hermodr Thrym > idiots

NovaKane Incorporated and associates would like to thank Hermodr Thrym and Savora for the fine gift of an Orca, now we just need to figure out what to do with the bloody thing.

Hello new Hotness

2011-01-18T12:23:00.001-08:00

Greebo could, in fact, commit sexual harrassment simply by sitting very quietly in the next room.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Maskerade)

I'd rather have kept Kane's tattoos but this is a pretty good effort

Edit:

Here's the rest of the family and friends

Fare thee well my old face

2011-01-17T15:47:00.000-08:00

"I'm vice-president of Throwing Out People Mr Dibbler Doesn't like the Face of."
-- (Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures)

:(

The Drones

2011-01-10T14:48:00.000-08:00

"Well, 'scuse me. I was jus' tryin' to save the world."
-- Gaspode the wonder dog
(Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures)

A Rifter and an Ishkur in Gusandall, one more challenging than the other, I warp The Cunning Man to the 2/10 plex and wait.

The Ishkur warps in and immediately locks me up but doesn't fire as I'm about 25 clicks away from the warp in. A quick look at his weapons leads me to the conclusion he is blaster fit, so the plan is this, stay on the edge of scram and web range and kill his damage drones, then close in and start windmillin*

I start to close, but not too much, 10clicks is all I could allow. He deploys a mix of hobgoblin and warriors, tech 2 variety. With overloaded web and scram keeping him at bay I start to pick off the drones one by one, until the last warrior was left, then some ec-300s appear on overview and that was pretty much it.

I'm jammed till the last moment of the Cunning Man's illustrious service to NovaKane Incorporated, I stayed till the end in the vain hope of getting lucky and the ec-300s were defective or something but as is my luck, I had none.

Kane Rizzel > ecm drones were a bit gay but gf
Doctor Genocide > yep, gf dude
Doctor Genocide > ECM drones are fair on a boat with 2 flights of drones
Doctor Genocide > you killed my damage drones
Kane Rizzel > not when you're fighting a rifter :)
Doctor Genocide > lol
Doctor Genocide > true
Doctor Genocide > but hey; without them you'd have kited & killed me
Kane Rizzel > tbh, I just wanted to kill them so I stood a better chance of going toe to toe
Doctor Genocide > AC Vs Hybrid is leg to toe

So ec-300s once again prove to be the bane of Kane, was frustrating but c'est la vie.

Two losses in a row, things are not looking so good at the moment

*Verb; To whirl one's outstretched arms around in a circular motion, fists clenched, with the intention of hitting something (or someone). This action resembles the spinning blades of a windmill.

EDIT:

I finally killed something. So, there's a Jaguar that undocks from Gusandall station, I casually board Flubber and join him in the black. Jag is tough cookie to crumble and it would be tougher still to do so under sentries.

The jag pilot was hesitant to engage, I nonchalantly dragged him away from the station, a bit of lame Kane at 60% thrust. At over 150 clicks off station it's game time. The jag pilot is from an alliance that is well known for not flying without backup, so it was a race against warp speeds for me to kill the jag and get out with Flubber in one piece.

Jag is trying to keep range but Flubber is tricksy and jag can't keep range, so jag dies just as local comms fill up with his alliance mates, a Tempest, two Myrmidons and a Hurricane warp in to our position just as the jag pilot's escape pod warps to safety.

At full thrust it's time to make tactical advance to the rear, a dangerous counter-attack that is practised by many grand armies, at about 40km the Tempest loses point and I make casual exit from battle ground tipping my hat to the combatants as I leave.

The Loss

2011-01-09T16:34:00.000-08:00

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)

A sad day ladies and gentlemen, Interesting Times is dead, without going into too much detail as the loss is gonna piss off Keira as it was originally hers since about 2007, I bit off more than I could chew as a rather juicy trap was sprung.

To be honest, I should have known better, the baits corp and the fact he was hanging on the station should have had the alarm bells ringing.

Anyways, here it is, a very, very expensive loss for me:

2011.01.10 00:28

Victim: Kane Rizzel
Corp: NovaKane Incorporated
Alliance: Unknown
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Machariel
System: Gusandall
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 43901

Involved parties:

Name: Reck0ner (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.9
Corp: Immortalis Inc.
Alliance: Shadow Cartel
Faction: NONE
Ship: Zealot
Weapon: Heavy Pulse Laser II
Damage Done: 9856

Name: W0wbagger
Security: -10.0
Corp: Immortalis Inc.
Alliance: Shadow Cartel
Faction: NONE
Ship: Loki
Weapon: Loki
Damage Done: 4871

Name: RemyHansen
Security: -9.6
Corp: Immortalis Inc.
Alliance: Shadow Cartel
Faction: NONE
Ship: Zealot
Weapon: Zealot
Damage Done: 4399

Name: Blackblade23
Security: -8.9
Corp: Immortalis Inc.
Alliance: Shadow Cartel
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vigilant
Weapon: Warrior II
Damage Done: 3977

Name: Tankmug
Security: -9.7
Corp: Immortalis Inc.
Alliance: Shadow Cartel
Faction: NONE
Ship: Proteus
Weapon: Proteus
Damage Done: 3630

Name: Rubenson
Security: -9.1
Corp: Immortalis Inc.
Alliance: Shadow Cartel
Faction: NONE
Ship: Deimos
Weapon: Deimos
Damage Done: 3502

Name: cl1de
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: NONE
Ship: Muninn
Weapon: Muninn
Damage Done: 2428

Name: ItsmeHcK1
Security: -9.7
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: NONE
Ship: Ashimmu
Weapon: Ashimmu
Damage Done: 2373

Name: Robert Mason
Security: -9.7
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: NONE
Ship: Proteus
Weapon: Hammerhead II
Damage Done: 2091

Name: mazi leigh
Security: -10.0
Corp: Immortalis Inc.
Alliance: Shadow Cartel
Faction: NONE
Ship: Loki
Weapon: Loki
Damage Done: 1977

Name: Sim Mental
Security: -2.1
Corp: The Executioners
Alliance: BOGLYFT
Faction: NONE
Ship: Drake
Weapon: Hellfire Rage Assault Missile
Damage Done: 1462

Name: Ariartus
Security: -9.9
Corp: Gunpoint Diplomacy
Alliance: None
Faction: NONE
Ship: Zealot
Weapon: Zealot
Damage Done: 1411

Name: Zane Direstorm
Security: -7.4
Corp: Immortalis Inc.
Alliance: Shadow Cartel
Faction: NONE
Ship: Rupture
Weapon: Rupture
Damage Done: 652

Name: lncognito
Security: -9.8
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: NONE
Ship: Rapier
Weapon: Rapier
Damage Done: 632

Name: Kravot
Security: -3.2
Corp: Green Merchants LLP.
Alliance: Shadow Cartel
Faction: NONE
Ship: Blackbird
Weapon: Blackbird
Damage Done: 389

Name: Asakura Manji
Security: -3.2
Corp: Immortalis Inc.
Alliance: Shadow Cartel
Faction: NONE
Ship: Guardian
Weapon: Warrior II
Damage Done: 251

Name: Waveshifter
Security: -0.4
Corp: Immortalis Inc.
Alliance: Shadow Cartel
Faction: NONE
Ship: Zealot
Weapon: Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
Damage Done: 0

Destroyed items:

True Sansha Heavy Energy Neutralizer
Republic Fleet EMP L, Qty: 436
800mm Repeating Artillery II, Qty: 3
Navy Cap Booster 800, Qty: 6
Gist X-Type 100MN MicroWarpdrive
Domination Gyrostabilizer, Qty: 2
Domination Nanofiber Structure
Damage Control II
Barrage L, Qty: 2000 (Cargo)
Republic Fleet EMP L, Qty: 4713 (Cargo)
Large Core Defence Field Extender I, Qty: 3
Warrior II, Qty: 3 (Drone Bay)
Valkyrie II, Qty: 2 (Drone Bay)

Dropped items:

800mm Repeating Artillery II, Qty: 4
Republic Fleet EMP L, Qty: 327
Dread Guristas Invulnerability Field
Heavy Capacitor Booster II
Large Shield Extender II
Republic Fleet Warp Disruptor
Domination Tracking Enhancer, Qty: 2
Domination Nanofiber Structure
Navy Cap Booster 800, Qty: 15 (Cargo)
Republic Fleet Fusion L, Qty: 1084 (Cargo)
Republic Fleet Phased Plasma L, Qty: 2947 (Cargo)
Standard X-Instinct Booster, Qty: 4 (Cargo)
Nanite Repair Paste, Qty: 929 (Cargo)
Warrior II, Qty: 3 (Drone Bay)
Berserker II, Qty: 3 (Drone Bay)

To the victors the spoils, now I just need to figure out how to break the news to Keira

The Gate

2011-01-08T13:05:00.000-08:00

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to
(a) mate with,
(b) eat,
(c) run away from,and
(d) rocks.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites)

The nano age of space combat was for some a golden age, an age where you could shoot at will and run away like a little girl once things went pear shaped. It was an age where I flew a Crusader at 63km/s, nothing could touch me and that speed was exhilarating, a drug like no other.

It was also an age of innovation, where new tactics evolved to deal with the speed and ease with which others could run away. You either were part of the problem or you tried to deal with the problem. I could go very fast, faster than anyone else, but what I really enjoyed was embarrassing fast pilots in their fast interceptors in my lowly tech 1 Rifter, which wasn't so fast but it certainly made some folk think twice about breaking the speed limit.

The nano age never really went away, it changed as technology changed and it evolved, but the tactic remained the same.

Now I've seen a few so called nano Ruptures in my time, not my thing to be quite honest but it's sort of like a poor man's Vagabond.

Now, one such Rupture was running the gates between Eifer and Gusandall and because of his speed, was being more than a little annoying to some of the locals. After they gave up trying to catch him, I waited a few minutes, for him to catch his breath, cause that amount of running isn't healthy.

There's only one ship for someone who is determined to run away when the going gets tough, only one logical choice... Flubber.

As my Stabber Fleet Issue undocks, I take a moment to appreciate the beauty of this harsh universe, the small yellow star at the center of the Gusandall solar system illuminating the sharp lines of this miracle of Minmatar engineering.

I punch the warp button to the Eifer stargate and soon, with trails of hyperspace pouring off Flubbers engines, the Rupture appears on my overview, hugging the gate like a new born baby hugs its mum for security.

I make a few runs, trying to get a good bump off, but the Rupture is steadfast in its resolve not to be budged. I lock him up, again, no reaction, until he jumps through to Eifer, I follow and so begins the gate race. He nanos it back to the gate, I punch my MWD and make it back just as he jumps, I follow.

Now it gets interesting for the Rupture pilot.

Keira is in her Claymore, a ship she hasn't flown for a long while, with her command skills, my tackle is huge, like frikkin humongous, the Rupture breaks cloak about 20clicks off me, I start to close, with webs overheated, I lock him up and they go green, slowing him down, but the best is a 20km warp scrambler, which stops him warping away but also shuts down his MWD.

Not so fast now that I'm quite literally crawling up his tailpipe, a good 12km from the gate and his salvation.

With guns spiiting hot death in his general direction I launch some Warrior IIs, to help take some of the sentry gun heat, he reciprocates by launching some EC-300s...

...

...

...
...

The thing about ships that nano it up, they're rather brittle once you break their shields, the EC-300s, the bane of Kane, did not save him, no sir, they did not.

His shields melted and with not so much as a gesundheit, he exploded, kind enough to be slow on the escape pod and getting tackled by moi.

I offer 100million ISK for the safe extraction of his pod, he counters with 200million, I say 100million sharpish, he says 200million, I pop his pod as I'm under sentry fire and he was obviously stalling.

I scoop the loot and the corpse and head back to the station, Flubber's armour at the brink of melting from the heat from the stargate sentry guns.

It ain't nothing but a noob thang

The fight of the day, nay, the fight of the year came about as I was tinkering with Gaspode, my Reaper class rookie ship.

A rather young Rifter pilot was trying to run the Minmatar Contracted Bio-Farm 1/10 complex in Gusandall. I took it upon myself to extract the usual toll of such visitors to my system and I would do so in Gaspode.

I undock and warp directly to the complex, hammering the primitive onboard scanner as I do so, making sure, the Rifter is where he's supposed to be for when the toll man cometh.

I activate the ancient acceleration gate and Gaspode is launched into the first room of the plex, the Rifter calmly going about his illicit business about 30 clicks away from where Gaspode exits warp.

I start to close... Slowly.

"It would probably help if you got out and pushed" I hear Keira half say, half giggle over the corp comms system.

At about 12km I lock him up and apply my warp scrambler magic, courtesy of Keira's command skills and liberal application of the overheating button.

I set a close orbit, no fancy flying needed, as I'd probably have to concentrate on praying, if I believed in a higher power that is.

The Rifter is easily faster than me and even a semi competent fit would mean that even if I started believing in some higher power, now was probably not the best time to not show up and help.

I launch a Hobgoblin drone, tech 2. My two guns launch hot fusion bullets into space in the general direction of the Rifter. He shoots back, repping his armour handily, I start to shout as Gaspode enters armour, the Rifter hits structure but reps chunks of armour before too much damage is done, guns overheating to the point of melting, I yell at the little drone to shoot for all his worth.

COME OOOOOOOOOON LITTLE BUDDY, WE CAN DO IT.

With Gaspode at 45% structure, the last slivers of the Rifters structure vanish, an explosion the likes of which have never been seen rocks the Gusandall sky, like a supernova, but smaller, a not-so-supernova.

I tackle the pod for good measure, send him on his merry, scoop the loot and warp to a safe spot for a well earned breather.

The mighty Reaper victorious in fierce battle. Props to the Rifter pilot, he stayed and fought, even though he could have just hit his afterburner and warped away once out of range.

The Race

2010-12-26T13:08:00.000-08:00

The Ramkins were more highly bred than a hilltop bakery, whereas Corporal Nobbs had been disqualified from the human race for shoving.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms)

I'm sitting here in my hangar, leaning back in my office chair that I nicked from some station administrators office, watching The men who stare at goats, a rather funny movie about men who stare at goats

"Dramiel, in the 2/10, piloted by DEATH RIGHTS"

The comm so loud I fall out of the chair as I was balancing rather precariously. I get the boys working on firing up Ridcully, a Jaguar class assault frigate which is rather suited to the job at hand.

Undocking can sometimes take an age to accomplish and it's at these times where patience is truly tested.

Once in the black, I set warp directly to the 2/10, hammering the scanner in that direction, making sure the Dram would still be there. Of course it was, it's a Dramiel, piloted by the most fearsome of warriors, scared of nothing and armed to the teeth.

I activate the ancient acceleration gate and warp into the first room, where my scanner says the Dramiel is. This is conformed as I land, the Dram 35km away. I start to close, the Dram, here for a fight, does the same.

He's quick, very quick and soon we are engaged in mortal combat. He deploys a flight of hobgoblins, they start in on me. Shields holding, for now but he is actively tanked and is doing well against my damage. I overload, his shields start to fail, as have mine, he starts to get range, his drones still on me but I make short work of them as he has now gained about 50 clicks on me.

My shields start to recharge, large chunks of my light armour is missing but the fight is far from over. He closes to within warp disruptor range and holds me in place, another drone is sent my way but it meets a sticky end. He's far quicker than I am, so I need to be smarter.

I hit my afterburners and burn away from him, making straight lines, waiting for him to chase, waiting for the right moment to perform an old and trusted maneuver, the Crazy Ivan.

I gain some range and I can see him make to close, I overheat my afterburner, full thrust and turn directly into his trajectory. He almost runs right into me, but is now webbed and scrammed. I can no longer overheat my weapons as they'll burn out leaving me at his mercy, but I'm firing everything, the race is on, his shields break, my shields break, a Sabre interdictor rocks up, makes my life a little more interesting and I explode...

A moment of worry as my systems freeze up as I try to warp my escape pod out of harms way, I panic like someone who really panics but the lag subsides and I whip the escape pod to safety.

Kane Rizzel > great fight
fukitbucket > yeah good fight mate
DEATH RIGHTS > yeh sorry needed a hand lol
Kane Rizzel > no worries
DEATH RIGHTS > 2006 be hard
DEATH RIGHTS > lol
Kane Rizzel > :)

And it was a great fight, what was probably two minutes felt like twenty. I will never know what the outcome of the fight would have been had his friend in the Sabre not shown up but that's life :)

The Duel

2010-12-18T15:57:00.000-08:00

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)

An interesting evening in which no-one would engage in random acts of hostility*, various gangs of varying sizes up and down New Eden being reported in a variety of intel channels.

A few of the Rizzel clan were off doing other ventures, whilst I and an associate made life more interesting for some folks trying to run an anomaly in Eifer, unfortunately I wasn't able to make it at all interesting as I always seemed to be just out of range as they warped in.

One particular gang caught my eye, three Cynabals, a Loki and a Curse. They flew through Gusandall and left just as myself in a Bhaalgorn and a few other of the locals got together to play host. Unfortunately my character was called into question as I had kindly asked them to come to station to fight.

They all left to high sec space and as I was sitting on the gate in my Ghetto Bhaalgorn, the Loki jumped back in and warped to the station.

With nothing to lose, I offer the Loki pilot a duel against my Stabber Fleet Issue.

With slight hesitation he agrees, after the locals agree to stay out of it of course. I offer my usual terms, for him to form gang and choose safespot, but he chooses to fight at Planet V and advertises it in local. This of course got my Admiral Akbar senses tingling but I had plenty of friends in local who would treat a violation of a 1v1 very seriously.

He doesn't have a point fitted as he asks in local if anyone has one. Voodoo is kind enough to give him one, as he's afraid I might try and run, he obviously doesn't know me.

I'm waiting at planet V as he warps in 50 clicks away. I do the usual Lame Kane™ as I hit my MWD but only at 50% thrust to close the distance. At 30km I'm webbed and pointed.

MWD Overheated, 100% thrust.
Webs overheated, go green.
Scram overheated, go green

The gap closes quicker than he expects with him now firmly between my crosshairs.

Guns, go green.
Warriors are a go.

With Flubber now face to face with the Loki, things go downhill for him, he deploys a flight of ec-300 drones, properly shitting himself as his Loki is about to die but they don't get a jam off as he explodes.

THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS EC-300s DID NOT WORK AGAINST ME.

'Good fight' is shared in local as he warps his pod out, the duel honoured by both parties and a smile across my face as I scoop the loot.

*not entirely true as I'm always hostile at random

The Bold and the Beautiful

2010-12-17T17:17:00.000-08:00

He moved in a way that suggested he was attempting the world speed record for the nonchalant walk.
-- (Terry Pratchett, The Light Fantastic)

Yet another vessel of destruction was christened into the NovaKane Incorporated fleet this fine evening, a Machariel class battleship named Interesting Times.

It is a ship of some magnificence, bold lines, sleek, fast and nimble, above all, she is insanely beautiful. If this ship were a woman, she would be Milla Jovovich in the Resident Evils.

A Legion pilot had been loitering between Eifer and Gusandall and General Dogzbody decided to bait the fellow into action. He deployed his Thorax class war vessel to an asteroid belt in Eifer and waited... Patiently.

"POINT" yelled Dogz, after a few minutes "Four-Two, Eifer"

Interesting Times undocked for the first time in anger and warped to the Eifer gate, jumped through and warped to Dogz' position.

"Bloody hell this thing is quick" I said to myself.

I landed about 30 clicks from the action, pulsed the MWD, locked the target, depolyed drones and opened up with some heavy duty ammunition.

I closed the gap at 2km/s, IN A FRICKIN BATTLESHIP.

The Legion wasn't long for the universe, it exploded, illuminating the beautiful lines of Interesting Times, an interesting ship for sure.

I'm also glad to be on the same killmail as long time friend Jonathan Xavier, who made a trip down to Eifer to come see what this Piracy lark is all about.

As a note on the Machariel, I'm not sure I like it.

Why?

Well, it's not a ship suited to my style. It's designed and built to fight at range, on the edge of the action and as such doesn't really suit my 'in your face, bloody nose, in it till you die' style, it will take some getting used to.

Over one thousand theoretical damage per second at 60km is nice on paper to be honest but I prefer the Bhaalgorn.

The Noob

2010-12-16T15:44:00.000-08:00

"Idiot I may be, but tied up I ain't."
-- Gaspode the wonder dog
(Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures)

"Maelstrom class battleship in Eifer, running a mission for Vir Honn"

Good old Vir, always kind enough to throw us some business every now and again.

An associate is immediately asked if she would be so kind as to pinpoint the location of said battleship as I made preperations for negotiations.

Havelock Vetinari, my Bhaalgorn class intrument of destruction is prepped and soon I'm heading towards the Eifer gate, as I land I get a call "Target loacted, warp to me on jump"

I jump in and warp to my associates loaction. I land a mere 19clicks off but no matter, I open negotitions for the contents of the Maelstrom. Tackled, neuted and being hit by Mega Pulse laser fire, the Maelstrom starts to vent fuel and atmosphere into space, soon just a wreck is left as the escape pod warps off.

I examine the contents if the wreck and grab that which is of worth and warp out, content in the knowledge of a job well done.

It's only once I examine the killmail and the that which I looted that I noticed a terrible error...

Seems I grabbed most everything except the most valuable item, a Caldari Navy Shield Boost Amplifier.

Keira is not going to be happy, but hey, I'm Kane Rizzel, even I make mistakes.

Darwinism

2010-11-30T12:57:00.000-08:00

There was not a lot that could be done to make Morpork a worse place. A direct hit by a meteorite, for example, would count as gentrification.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Pyramids)

Luck... Is a curious thing, sometimes the defining factor in a successful hunt, or embarrassing loss.

I'm sitting in my hangar, trying to figure out a fitting for a Worm frigate when an associate starts yelling on comms

"THANATOS UNDOCKED FROM GUS STATION, FUCKING HELL HE'S WARPED IN THE DIRECTION OF THE STAR"

Excitement almost getting the better of me, I calm myself and ask her nicely to follow him

"WARPING AT 100 CLICKS"

I quickly board a Bhaalgorn named Ghetto, I would need a few of its abilities for this.

"THANATOS OFF SCAN"

Bugger must have cloaked because he still appeared on the local register.

"DROPPING PRO... FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK THAT'S A BIG SHIP"

By chance, my friend in her tiny Cheetah Covops decloaks the monstrous Thanatos.

"GET HERE QUICK"

Alright woman, calm down, stop shouting, I'm... On... The... Way!

Ghetto undocks from the station and I set warp as I enter the black, I land a few clicks off the Thanatos and proceed the basics of tackling.

Lock... Check

Warp Disruptor... Check

Dual Web... Check

Guns... Check

Drones... Check

Energy Neutralisers... Check

Everything now in place and the Thanatos locked down, I start to make arrangements for escalated negotiations.

The Thanatos has me locked up and dispatches a group of fighters in my direction, Keira is busy getting ready to deploy as I start making some calls to like minded individuals who may be interested in a nice sit down with the Thanatos pilot.

I hit armour as Keira undocks the NovaKane Incorporated flagship, an Archon carrier named ArKane and initiates warp to my position. Gang is forming, slowly at first but then invites start flying as the locals come out to party.

Keira lands with my Bhaalgorn almost at 50% armour, she locks me up and sends some remote armour repair love my way, a deployment of ten Fighters spews forth from the ArKane and start multiple attack runs on the now stricken Thanatos.

The tank of the Gallente designed carrier isn't doing very well, but then he probably has zero capacitor left at this point to run it, with a massive explosion, it breaks apart, the escape pod warping out rather sharpish from negotiations as the pilot had logged his critical systems...

...But he didn't get too far as my associate probed it down and punishment for such cowardice was exacted with extreme prejudice.

A lucky kill for my friends and I, an embarrassing loss for the luckless carrier pilot.

It's not the size of the man in the fight, but the size of the fight in the man

2010-11-29T13:02:00.000-08:00

"When it's time to stop living, I will certainly make Death my number one choice!"
-- (Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent)

My day started off with two successful hunts, one a Hurricane running an anomaly and another, a Ferox in a belt.

But...

Those were just the hors d'oeuvre*

A Rupture undocks from Gusandall station, an associate reports this and I board a Rupture of my own, hastily undock...

Why does this always seem longer when there's mischief to be done?

After what seemed an age, I undock just to see the Rupture warp to the 4th planet, I hastily engage warp, to zero.

I burst out of warp right on top of my prey and engage, tackle is go, guns are go, drones are go...

JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMEEED!

Motherfucker, ec-300s full cycle and the Ruppie pulls range very quickly, must be one of those fancy shield Ruppies, a Vagabond warps in, a corp-mate of the Ruppie pilot, he engages, I try to close on the Ruppie...

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS, 450m/s? WHO THE FUCK PUT AN AFTERBURNER ON THIS MOTHERFUCKER?

That who would be me, admiral dumbass, as I last used this ship chasing a mission runner and forgot to swap it out.

I'm unable to close on either of my attackers and wait for the inevitable...

TO EXPLODE, SO I CAN GO FETCH ANOTHER SHIP TO EXTRACT DELICIOUS REVENGE!

I warp my pod out sharpish and dock at the station, there's only one thing for this kind of situation, Flubber, y'all know Flubber right? My Stabber Fleet Issue is particularily suited to this kind of fight and I undock as fast as I can, even as I'm being fed intel via an associate that the two are still at the planet.

I warp to zero, they're still there but a good forty to fifty clicks away, I hit my MWD but set it to 50% thrust, Rupture is first to bite, he engages but keeps range nicely, I hit full thrust, overload and soon I'm humping the Ruppie like a pitbull on Viagra.

Rupture isn't long for the universe as he tastes defeat, I turn towards the Vagabond just as I spot my MWD blink out from overheating...

OH BRILLIANT, WELL FUCKING DONE KANE, ARE YOU RETARDED?

Right, stay calm, change of tactic, this Vaga is going to chew you up if you don't redeem yourself.

I make as if I'm trying to run, I'm deep into armour, about to hit structure, no MWD, I overload my scrambler and webs...

Vaga chases, a little too keenly, one web, two webs, Crazy Ivan, scrambler, Flubber licks the Vaga and the race is on.

My structure is evaporating as I burn the Vaga's shields, I lay waste to his armour and with the smallest of margins I win the race, the Vagabond explodes.

EIGHT PERCENT STRUCTURE

Eight percent is all that stood between me and a second loss to these guys, eight percent and Flubber would have said her goodbyes to the universe, perhaps never to see the like of her again.

But Kane Rizzel has sweet revenge...

I also got most my loot back :D

*An appetizer served before a meal

Two Thousand

2010-11-23T16:18:00.000-08:00

Jaime had never realised that trees made a sound when they grew, and no-one else had realised it either, because the sound is made over hundreds of years in waves of twenty-four hours from peak to peak. Speed it up, and the sound a tree makes is *vrooom*.
-- (Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, Good Omens)

I'm sitting here trying to figure out how best to write this up and to be brutally honest, I'm at a loss. The fight was short and violent, like most fights but nothing about it stands out as a defining moment in my EVE career.

There's three frigates in my home system of Gusandall, a Vigil, a Rifter and a Kestrel. The three pilots appear to be unaffiliated but that's not always the case.

I grabbed the Cunning Man, once again rebuilt after his forebear was brutally slain.

I undock from Gusandall station and initiate warp to the first belt, The vigil is there and it locks me up, I return the favour but wait. The vigil engages as the other two frigates warp in.

Primary is the Rifter, everything is overloaded and the Rifter explodes in short order, Kessie is hitting me hard and is next on the block, it too doesn't last long and the Vigil is a wreck in the blink of an eye. The Cunning Man is in structure but only just, standing proud amongst the wrecks.

The Rifter piloted by Ishtarion Greyhawk was my 2000th kill and I'm glad I was flying the same class of ship that I got my very first ever kill.

Masquerade

The more interesting fight of the night came in the shape of a Wolf class assault frigate. It was loitering outside the station and I grabbed one of my favourite ships, an old and proud Stabber Fleet Issue, particularly suited to engaging small ships.

Shortly after undocking, I locked the Wolf up, he returned the favour, I activated my MWD but held back a bit, 0nly 55% thrust applied, I do this for a few reasons, for one it gives the appearance that I'm slow, plated, which gives the aggressor the feeling that they can out run me, and get under my tracking, it also forces the engagement as the aggressor then feels confident enough to engage.

The Wolf did exactly what I wanted him to do, he engaged, but he quickly shot out to around 20 clicks... Arties? Surely not

But he was hitting me nicely from range, so artillery it is. I hit the MWD again, full throttle, I'm faster than him, overloaded stasis webifier reaches out and slows him down further, just as I get in range of an overloadedwarp scrambler which shuts off his MWD. The time had come to hammer the nails in, a flight of Warrior II drones spews forth from my drone bay, my guns had been hitting but not doing a whole lot...

...And then it was all over.

He warps his pod out sharpish as I offer GF in local, to which he doesn't reply.

Service with a smile

2010-11-20T16:07:00.001-08:00

Mustrum Ridcully did a lot for rare species. For one thing, he kept them rare.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies)

Attacking a ship and engaging in Piracy is not as easy as lock and pop, as I've mentioned before there are a lot of little things to consider, but it's not often you think to yourself "Kane, you might not have enough ammo for this"

The Cunning Man, a Rifter class frigate, has been rebuilt and like many of his class before him, he is lean, mean and ready for action. In familiar territory he stalks the black sky, Eifer his hunting ground and a good hunting ground it has been.

A Hurricane appears on scanner, quick and efficient use of the directional scanner concludes it is not in an asteroid belt, but is close to planet V, it appears to be running an anomaly. The onboard system scanner starts a rather long cycle but eventually it reveals a solid hit on a low class Angel anomaly. Again, using the directional scanner, the Hurricane is pinpointed in the direction of said anomaly.

A Hurricane is not the best prey for the Rifter, even a semi competent fit would be enough to chase the Rifter off, but, there is always some idiot who hath not a clue, there is always someone who braves low security space unprepared for what lies beneath. This particular pilot is young, far too young to be flying a battle cruiser into lowsec.

I warp into the anomaly and land about 29 clicks off, need to close the distance sharpish and get under his guns but maybe if I'm sneaky he won't notice me amongst the rats.

Kane can be very sneaky, sneaky as a sneak with a Masters Degree in sneaking from sneaky university if I must and I saunter over to the Hurricane. I lock him up and introduce myself.

"Hi, I'm Kane and I will be your Pirate this fine evening"

I open up and he engages right back, the fight is on but I'm easily orbiting under his tracking and I dispatch the three medium drones he launches with ease.

Suspicions of low skills confirmed, but even then, I still have to kill this thing... And kill I must as he refuses to answer the phone to be ransomed.

Now, there's a twist!

There always is...

I treat my Rifters like disposable razors and as such carry a single load each of Barrage and three flavours of Faction ammo for my autocannons, I also carry two loads of rockets. In most situations this would be enough for any fight I'm involved in...

By the time I'd run out of RF EMP I was starting to get nervous as he was at half shields.

I'd broken his shields and got him to about 75% armour by the time the RF Fusion ran out.

RF Phased Plasma took him to half structure, I'd run out of rockets but don't stop me now.

With Barrage loaded and my guns about to melt he explodes brilliantly.

I had a few offers of help, but I declined, I was riding solo. I had a few offers for ammo to be dropped off, but again I declined because solo is solo.

Yes his fit was a joke but a kill is a kill and you'll never know what's inside the piñata until you give it a whack.

[OOC] Can it be done?

2010-11-19T17:16:00.000-08:00

"Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time."
-- Bursar 1 - Hex 0
(Terry Pratchett, Hogfather)

Someone over at Ars Technica's gaming forum aka Gaming, Extra Strength Caplets' EVE online thread asked this question

What I'm trying to ask is if a mostly solo PVPer can enjoy Eve?

This was my reply:

Solo PvP/Piracy is very viable but you have to be dumb as me to enjoy it

Edit: To expand a bit, solo PvP/Piracy has been the single most challenging and rewarding gaming I have ever taken part in. It takes a lot of skill to be successful and a fuck ton of luck, you also rely on your opponents being dumber than you are (Which is not actually that difficult)

Starting out you are going to spend a lot of ISK, to the point of bankruptcy, you will get frustrated at the lack of targets and the fact when you do find a target, you'll get blobbed, more times than Oprah's been to the buffet table.

You'll roam countless systems for days, sometimes weeks, without nought to show but a pretty light show when you click 'systems visited' on the IG Map.

You'll eventually find someone, go through the mantra "Lock, scram, web and unleash hell" only for him to warp away, get used to it, also get used to screaming "STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABS" like Kirk shouts "KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN"

You'll find a lone frigate in a belt, you'll engage him, he'll engage back, you think you have a fight only for him to decloak his Falcon alt and jam you, till you die, he'll then type GF in local as you warp your pod away.

You'll find a fight, a good fight, where every thing goes perfectly... And it fades to black.

Solo PvP/Piracy whilst frustrating and difficult is the pinnacle of EVE PvP, in my very humble opinion. It's ALL about the hunt, being able to use your scanner effectively, being able to narrow down a target sharply is one of the key skills you'll need to learn and it can't be taught, you need to practice, practice, practice.

The other key skill is patience, patience, patience and just when you thought it was over, more patience.

There's a reason I've been so successful, there's a reason that even though I've been out of game for extended periods this year my BC rank is still under 230.

The reason...

After almost four years of soloing in EVE Online...

I'm still an idiot

Kane Rizzel > you know it's bait, everybody know's it's bait, even the bait knows you know but he still wonders why the fuck you're attacking... and that my friends is when you have the upper hand

Also, it is good sometimes to have friends, just saying

I apologise for my absence recently but I've been out enjoying my hard earned leave with flashes of Real Life™ and Black Ops.

A tale of two Rizzels

2010-10-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

"You like it?" he said to Mort, in pretty much the same tone of voice people used when they said to St George, "You killed a *what*?"
-- Mort tastes scrumble for the first time
(Terry Pratchett, Mort)

There's always a bigger fish

The Cunning Man deftly makes its way through Eifer, with quick and efficient use of its on-board scanner it is able to pinpoint the location of a possible target, a Typhoon class battleship.

The Cunning Man is the latest of Kane Rizzel's Rifter class frigates, a hull he is most comfortable with but one in which he is totally reckless in, some would say suicidal. This particular Rifter is slightly different, but no less deadly.

The Typhoon appears to be on a gate to high security space and it would take Kane every bit of his great negotiating skill to get a fight out of the battleship.

After five minutes of continuous harassment, the Typhoon pilot finally caves and shoots at Kane.

Kane smiles.

The smile turns to a frown as the Cunning Man is out of capacitor... A heavy energy neutralizer of some kind, this is not good... Oh brilliant, now there's a flight of Warrior II drones, best to try kill some off... This is not going to end well.

The wreck of the Cunning Man is left behind as the escape pod of the pilot named Kane leaves the scene. An offer of a battleship duel declined by the Typhoon pilot

Somewhere in the vast nothingness...

...a comm speaker comes to life

"Hey there the best sister in the whole wide universe"

"You lost another Rifter? Didn't you?" says Keira in an almost mocking tone, in fact, it was straight out mocking, no almost about it and she adds "I'm also your only sister"

"Well yeah, but I would of had him were it not for a few small technicalities"

"A few small technicalities? Let me guess, you attacked him?" she says, the tone of her voice that of someone who has had to deal with a lot of torment due to her big brothers actions.

"Of course I bloody attacked him, took me five minutes to get him to shoot first"

In the darkness of her pod, Keira raises her palm to her face

"Where the hell are you? Haven't seen you in Gus for a bit and I know you're not hanging out in highsec with Kenny"

"I'm in Catch" she says, rubbing her temples as her brother had the innate ability to cause headaches, as much for others as for himself.

"What... The... Fuck... Are you doing in Catch?"

"Remember that wormhole you chased a Drake through last week?" she asks and before Kane gets a chance to answer "Well it turns out it's a nice pocket of zerosec, just grinding some security status back"

"What the fuck is security status?"

"That thing that allows you free travel through high security space, the thing that labels you as a delinquent, a ne'er-do-well, a trouble maker... Kane Bloody Rizzel... That's security status and I kind of need it if I'm to move stuff for the corporation and for you" She says, readying herself for the inevitable.

"This might be a dumb question, but why do you, of all people need to grind security status? It's not like you get your hands dirty, I do all the bloody heavy lifting"

"A few days ago you wanted to kill two Ravens running the Eifer Gauntlet, in an effort to catch both of them you asked me for help, I got a Heavy Interdictor and came along" she starts...

"I know, I was there"

...After a moment she continues "As you are well aware, as you were there... The Ravens never bloody well showed up, so you killed a Ferox instead and being one of the faster lockers, I tackled the pod so you could ransom"

"He didn't pay, what an idiot"

"For sending someone home via the clone vats comes with a heavy price and as I was involved my security status dropped below zero"

"He should have bloody paid... Soooooooo, when you coming back?

"Not for a while, I'm liking it out here, it's very... Peaceful" and with that she closed the conversation with the flick of a switch.

The peace and quiet was just what she needed.

The Mighty

2010-10-22T18:05:00.000-07:00

"Yes, bugger all that." said Nanny. "Let's curse somebody."
-- Even Nanny Ogg gets upset occasionally
(Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters)

Two Drakes, Hurricane, Rupture, Rifter, Vagabond and a Probe are reportedly milling about the Emolgranlan gate in Eifer, the intel channel abuzz with chatter about engaging.

I'm not one for debating tactics in a committee, so I grabbed the biggest, meanest ship I own (Mainly because I would need massive buffer because I still had GCC from killing a Hurricane only moments earlier) and made my way over.

Intel was a bit dodgy so an associate was sent ahead to ascertain just how much of a pickle I was about to get myself into.

The bulk of the hostile force were made up of The Hatchery, a good bunch of souls up for a fight. One of the Drakes was from a different corp, the same for the Hurricane and the Vagabond but they were all on the gate and I'm pretty sure they were all up to no good.

I jump in and make warp to Emo gate, saying something in the Intel channel that I'm going in.

Nanny Ogg, my trusted Abaddon class battleship lands at zero and I lock up everything. Primary is a Drake, I'm not too fussy as to name and just start shooting, I put tackle on the rifter and send a flight of warrior IIs after him, he gets out in structure as he was smart enough to move out of tackle range.

Ships jump out or warp off, eventually I snag the Rupture, a Drake jumps back in and I start shooting it once again. Orias V has joined me in his Myrmidon and a Drake and Hurricane primary him. I'm taking sentry fire and deep into armour. Drake jumps out and I change to the Hurricane, it's just about to go down as Nanny Ogg, the Mighty Nanny Ogg says her last goodbye to the universe.

I hurried back to Gusandall and grabbed Daft Wullie, an Armageddon class battleship, I went back and I engaged the hostiles for a bit but the heart had gone out of the fight. They all went their separate ways leaving me alone at the gate rather unsatisfied.

A rather unsatisfying day all round really, need something epic to keep my spirits up :)

Get the kettle on

2010-10-20T17:47:00.000-07:00

"Nac mac Feegle wha hae!"

-- (Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum)

Another slow day in the Evannater constellation of Heimatar. The little pockets of excitement just about enough to keep me entertained.

The Hatchery

Seems these guys have settled in Emolgranlan and are making trips into lowsec. It's always good to have eager neighbours. They were the first to experience Kane Camp™ and today they decided to use a bait Maelstrom outside Gusandall station.

So I grab Nac Mac Feegle, an Armageddon class battleship and proceed to undock. The Maelstrom has started to engage a Pilgrim but the Pilgrim is at good range, he then lights me up and proceeds to shoot at me.

Well, I'm not one to pass up an invitation, I shoot back. Trap is sprung and local fills up. No biggie, two Megathron battleships from Mean Corp undock.

A Maelstrom, Drake, Rupture, Caracal and Merlin all proceed to pick on me. Maelstrom has a good tank, the Merlin who had decided to wander a touch to close to a flight of Warrior IIs I had set on him explodes, my armour has been eaten away but there's no retreat, no surrender, Kane stays till the job is done or he has to warp his pod out.

Maelstrom goes down, an epic tank but then I explode almost simultaneously. I hesitate slightly but manage to get my pod out unscathed. The Rupture gets violenced while the Drake and Caracal turn tail.

A good fight and I like these guys, they're not scared to shoot first and it makes a difference fighting someone who doesn't always rely on sentry fire on their side. I look forward to plenty more fights with them.

Carry on...

I'm just chilling, relaxing, when a channel I frequent lights up with news of a carrier running a mission somewhere in Molding Heap, about 16 jumps away as the crow flies. I grab Daft Wullie, my new Armageddon battleship start making my way over. It's a carrier, we pirates will travel a long distance for a prize such as a capital ship.

About six jumps out, a report from the scout puts a damper on my day as it seems the carrier has left system and there will no longer be coffee and cookies :(

I disconsolately make my way home.

The Assault

A Jaguar assault frigate is spotted in Gus, bouncing safes and belts. I grab Flubber, my Stabber Fleet Issue or as has become common tongue, the SFI.

Assault frigates have become deadly against bigger ships as there small size and exceptional agility makes it hard for bigger calibre guns to track them. In the hands of a skilled pilot they would eat just about anything.

Flubber however is not just anything, it is a very old and proud cruiser which has been with me for the better part of two years, it still sports large rigs. By using her onboard scanner I pinpoint the Jag to be at planet V.

WARP DRIVE ACTIVE

I drop warp at the planet right on top of the Jag and engage, he duly obliges by shooting back. He starts off with a bit of tracking disruption and scramming my MWD, I just navigate to mitigate transversal and hit him hard, it does help that Flubber has a few tricks up her sleeve which nobody bloody expects.

His shields now gone I decide it's time to drop a flight of Warrior IIs to expedite the fireworks, the Jag kindly explodes and he warps his escape pod out just in the nick of time before my lock resolves.

A good fight.

A tale of two frigates

A Taranis interceptor is chilling off the station in Gusandall, the pilot seems somewhat familiar but no matter, I grab Rincewind, my trusty Rifter class frigate. This should be interesting as a Taranis is quite formidable in either of it's popular variants.

As my Rifter exited the undock of the station, she was welcomed by the light of the Gusandall star, the Ranis lit its micro warp drive and closed rather sharply, he wasn't outlaw so I had to wait for him to engage, else my Rifter wouldn't be long for the verse under sentry fire. This of course gave him the lead, damage wise but once he engaged it was game time. With my afterburner lit, warp scrambler and stasis web kick in, with my guns and rockets overloaded for maximum damage and the armour repper doing the same to cope with the incoming damage we danced a merry waltz around each other.

The fight itself was rather short, as are most encounters with a Taranis...

But the Taranis ran out of structure and exploded. To the victor the spoils as I grab the loot and make haste to a safespot.

Good fight Cozmik R5, a fellow blogger and where I recognized his name from :)

I dock up and get the kettle on, could use a cup of tea right now, been an indifferent day but in truth an enjoyable one. Time to sort through the loot :D

Stay strong and never surrender

The gate camp

2010-10-18T16:42:00.000-07:00

It is the fate of all banisters worth sliding down that there is something nasty waiting at the far end.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Maskerade)

I'm reliably informed there's a small gatecamp of seven ships currently presiding over the Gusandall gate in Eifer.

Eifer is my home, people are guests and we can't be having guests taking liberties. So I grab my Geddon undock from Gusandall station and warp over to the Eifer gate.

My associate reports Drake, Harby, Rupture, two Blackbirds (Although one mysteriously disappears) an Atron and two Rifters.

I take a breath and jump on through.

I hold gate cloak for a second and get a better picture of what's about to go down. It's time to introduce The Hatchery to Gate camping, Kane Rizzel style.

I drop cloak and pulse my MWD to get closer to the gate. This accomplishes two things, one, it gets me good range on the single Blackbird now left on the scene and two, it makes it look like I'm trying to run.

The camp engages with all it's might and it is now the time of the hammer. I drop a flight of sentries and light the Blackbird up with some Mega Pulse fire, at close range and with multifreak crystals it melts in two volleys. With the most annoying ship out of the way it's time to work on the DPS. Harbinger is my first port of call.

It's like Guy Fawkes night in Eifer as the fireworks cascade over the Gusandall gate and in hindsight my call of going for the Harby was wrong, it takes forever to go down. Once down I switch to the Drake, which would have been the right call.

I run out of buffer as the Drake hits armour. I warp my pod out and offer good fight in local and a round 2 if they were up for it.

They bailed :(

And thus I initiated The Kane Camp™ whereby you jump into a camp, kick the fire over, swear at the attendees and try beat up as many of them before they beat you up
There are rules to Kane Camp™
•No jumping out
•No logistics
•NO FUCKING ECM!!!!!
•No smack
•Punch em in the face but remember to warp your pod out

Don't be foolish though, if they have too many ECM boats you ain't going to bloody any noses. Intel is important, don't jump blind.

My current Geddon fit is being tweaked for Kane Camp™ and so are my tactics, I learnt quite a bit from the fight.

Been an unproductive day, only a Succubus soloed with a Rifter, a Myrmidon with Mean and Sprouts and the two recounted here.

Stay strong and never surrender o7

The upper hand

2010-10-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

Kane Rizzel > you know it's bait, everybody knows it's bait, even the bait knows you know but he still wonders why the fuck you're attacking... and that my friends is when you have the upper hand

And the winner is...

2010-10-17T15:41:00.000-07:00

- "ALL YOU CAN HOPE FOR IS THE MERCY OF HELL."
- "Yeah?"
- "JUST OUR LITTLE JOKE."
- "Ngk," said Crowley.
-- Crowley in conversation with his superiors
(Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, Good Omens)

Thank you everyone who participated :)

One of my favourites just happened to be posted by Mr Anonymous, a very secretive person who unfortunately is not a Billion ISK richer this evening.

Rockets to be buffed
Carebears say Eifer is safe
Kane: violence boats

It's very important to post your name if you comment :)

Another one that caught my eye was this:

Dranaarus said...
Bottom line, if it's something that will bring you more joy than frustration then I say go for it.

Please contact me at your earliest convenience sir I have a Pirate frigate with your name on it.

Nitor1013Z, Memoocan and Station Container, if you could also please contact me ASAP, I have some Piratey goodness for the three of you for your submissions.

The winner however was a masterful entry by none other than Nashh Kadavr who's entry titled Welcome Back was without peer.

Thanks again for participating and I'll catch y'all in space 07

Kane

Four days left... One Billion ISK to be won

2010-10-13T07:47:00.000-07:00

In the Beginning

It was a nice day.
-- (Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, Good Omens)

I said here that the competition would last until I had some leave, well I found out said leave begins on Sunday night for nine days.

So... Sunday night, 17th October 2010 @ 2300 eve-time will be the deadline for entries. Please post links or the entry itself here. A decision will be made in due time and I will then announce the winner and deliver the prize ASAICBA ;)

There's already a couple of very strong contenders but I encourage you to be creative, original and maybe just downright hilarious.

Hugs and Kisses

Kane

Stay strong and never surrender.

Dun dun dun dun dun dun

2010-10-11T17:05:00.000-07:00

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)

It goes a little something like this:

XXXX > Drake on scan, probes out

Kane Rizzel > I'm warping to Ingunn gate in Hurricane
Keira Rizzel > I'm on my way too for command bonuses with a Claymore

XXXX > Have a hit on the Drake, warping to it now... Landed 15 clicks off, gogogo!

Kane Rizzel > Jumping... In warp, Keira get in here, no time to safe up, just get those command links running.
Keira Rizzel > Roger roger.

XXXX > Moving off warp-in, good hunting o7

Kane Rizzel > Landing... tackled, commencing negotiations.

Crapulo > good show

And so it was, a total of one minute and 30 seconds from the time my rather specialised associate reported the Drake, till it was probed out, violenced and negotiated with for the contents of it's hold and fittings. So very kind of him to get most of the anomolies contents safely secured within the wreck of his ship, a good haul.

Much of my success has been down to these highly skilled associates, whether it was Keira in her Cheetah or this new breed of covert operatives, in ships with equipment and skills that far exceed anything Keira was ever able to achieve. Their knowledge of the area and ability to get into a system and probe out a target and make sure not to spook the target is something that I can not value enough.

Today has been interesting, have been called a noob, by myself, as I jumped a Bhaalgorn into highsec but remained calm enough to get out in one piece (I'm pro at jumping into highsec, enough so that I'm pro at getting out too)

Have been accused of hotdropping. Yes, hotdropping. Two Abaddons disrupting a gang of battleships harassing some POS in the middle of nowhere is now hotdropping. I must be getting old.

It's been a good day.

Stay classy and never surrender

Hold on to your hair... I'm going in

2010-10-10T16:50:00.000-07:00

Death was Nature's way of telling you to slow down.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Strata)

"Arbitrator, Merlin & Wolf... I'm going in."

I'm in a Fleet Stabber... And I want to kill.

Thus far I have failed to catch a stabbed Typhoon running the Eifer gauntlet. I have failed to effectively solo two carriers with my Bhaalgorn (aka playing bait), in fact, I failed to even get them to shoot back.

But back to the here and now, there's three seemingly innocent dudes, in a belt, in Eifer. Time for Kane to get back to work.

"Oh hey Mandaro, long time, want to kill some folk? I have this here Arbitrator tackled, oh look, his friends are shooting me, woe is me. Wait what, I'm being tracking disrupted, spidey senses say tracking speed. Right, change of plan, how about you stay still, see these webs and scram, that's right, you're going nowhere... NOWHERE. I'll just stop orbiting and close distance making your devious ploy of tracking disrupting my guns about as useful as an asshole on my elbow. That's right, not so clever now, see my buddy over there in that Dramiel, he's making sure your buddies don't run away"

This is my Stabber Fleet Issue, there are many like it, but this one is mine.

"Mandy, the Arby is dead, let's dispatch this Wolf and Merlin and go have some cookies"

A good fight.

But wait, there's more, they come back.

"Rupture, Griffin & Crucifier... I'm going in... Again"

"Mandy, what the hell are you flying? And why does it have Police lights, this isn't GTA motherfucker... Nevermind, I have this Rupture tackled. His friends have just come in, I'm still shoo... What?, What the? yep, I seem to be jammed, the frickin Griffin has me jammed. I'm locking... No I'm not, I'm jammed again...

Locking... JAMMED...

Keira, what the hell? Where the hell you come from?"

"Listen you idiot, you can't fight if you can't even target anything so shut up and just be thankful I'm saving you an embarrassing loss, besides, looks like I got here just in time, you don't seem to have been paying attention to your armour at all"

Keira's Guardian, Mandaro's space police ship and Aiko's Onyx cause my three attackers pause for thought and they bail. AN interesting fight and one I may have lost, in fact I'll count it as a loss even though the SFI survived.

I love this Stabber, it still has large rigs on it and tonight was the closest I've come to losing it.

C'est la vie

The competition is still running by the way.

One Beeeellion ISK

2010-10-07T07:04:00.000-07:00

"Not a man to mince words. People, yes. But not words."
-- (Terry Pratchett, Small Gods)

So what's cracking? Fill me in on what's happening in the world of EVE... Please.
Reading various websites about the goings on of CCP and EVE Online is enough to give an aspirin a headache, so I turn to you, the players of EVE to educate me.

Three optional patches to fix a patch? Micro-transactions? Rocket boost? (Rocket Spec IV represent)
Is this all just an elaborate troll?

I miss EVE, I truly do. There's nothing quite like the social aspect of the game to be found anywhere. Sure you can have fun with other games but EVE is about people and while from my point of view, CCP doesn't really care about the people that pay them to play their game, it's the people that make the game what it is.

Kane Rizzel has been running around Battlefield Bad Company 2 stabbing wookies and reviving fallen comrades with shock paddles, but I don't know any of these comrades. He has also been enjoying the Medal of Honor open beta but again doesn't know any of these people.

Now you'll ask yourself why I care? Why a solo pirate who shied away from flying with others in an MMO would seek the company of others?

Well, I like to talk, I never shut up, unless you're an attractive woman then I clam up and can't get a word out. But EVE was probably the best chat client, ever. You got to shoot stuff and talk with other people shooting stuff, fucking brilliant.

Here I am, on the raggedy edge, undecided. I turn to my readers, what's left of them for help, but this help will not go unrewarded.

One Billion ISK to the person who presents the most compelling reason/s for me to return.
It can be anything from art, poetry, threats or fiction. Be creative but also informative, like you're trying to sell the game to the most discerning of Pirates.
Deadline for entries will be when I have some leave in a few weeks time (Can't remember when I booked it for but I know I booked some leave... I think)

Will the Rizzels and associates make a return to New Eden?
Will Kane ever find happiness?
Will Justin Bieber ever hit puberty?

It's up to you :)

Oh, bee tea double you, I've been clean and clear for 16 weeks \o/

Huggs and kisses

Kane

Stay strong and never surrender

Real Life: An MMO without boundaries

2010-08-29T10:36:00.000-07:00

Hello there :)

I... Am... Still... Alive.
And stronger than ever.

Almost two months since CCP gave me the opportunity to kick yet another nasty habit, I thought I'd give an update.

I am now eleven weeks Clean and Clear. I quit smoking, drinking and drugs. At the time I also needed to get rid of other disruptive crutches in my life and EVE had to go. I still miss the game, the friends I had made and especially chatting to the guys from Mean Coalition.

I am however not coming back... Not just yet :) I won't say never but real life has become more interesting to me than games.

In this time away I've started running again, gone on dates, braved nightclubs sober and not punched anybody, failed at the dating :) hung out with friends and watched a ton of movies.
I started playing other games and learnt I really suck at FPS although I giggle like a motherfucker every time I stab a sniper aka wookie in Bad Company 2.
I have in general just enjoyed life.

Y'all stay strong and never surrender :)
Hugs and Kisses

Kane

[OOC] The straw

2010-07-13T06:32:00.001-07:00

It seems CCP is shitting all over its player base and is seemingly going to ignore critical issues for other shiny and useless things that the players of their main cash maker don't give a flying fuck about.

Now, while I have really enjoyed my many years playing their game, I can not and will not continue to give them money while the game I love continues on a downward spiral.

CCP have stated that EVE is, from a technical standpoint, in better shape than it's ever been. Shit, how bad has it been in the past? And how the fuck have we not noticed? Cause it's in a shit shape right now with regards to lag, database issues, connectivity issues etc.

Yes, I'm mad, but not mad enough to continue wasting money. Just a few loose ends to tie up and then I'm offski.

It's been real.

Stay Classy

911 what's your emergency?

2010-07-12T15:58:00.000-07:00

A friend of a friend engaged a Drake, in a belt, in Ingunn, with his Hurricane.

Now the more savvy amongst you are going to say "But Kane, surely it was bait?"

Well... Yeah!

So our friend's friend mentions in a shared friendly intel channel that now there's another Drake, and a wolf and they have commenced hostilities against his Hurricane.

He was fighting back admirably but there was just too much fire-power being dealt to his Hurricane...

"HAVE NO FEAR FRIEND, GUSANDALL 911 IS... ON... THE... WAY!"

With a few of the M34N crew hanging about and some friends from Jovian Enterprises, a blob of some significance descended upon the belt where our friend's friend was being violenced.

Six brave souls ventured forth and outblobbed the three mighty warriors from Everset Dropbears who had by now vanquished our friend's friend's Hurricane.

First order of business was dispatching their Wolf, which we did, then onto the primary Drake, which I had pointed, Laneth had pointed the secondary Drake as our 3 battlecruisers, 1 heavy assault cruiser and two faction cruisers opened hostile negotiations for cessation of hostilities.

Props to the Dropbear Drakes, solid tanks but just not solid enough, as our blob, blobbed out the stars, they went down, like the prom queen at the after party.

The Dropbears were gracious in defeat and even offered "GF" in local, no mention of our massive Blob however :(

All loot went to our friend's friend to help get him back on his feet again.

Stay Classy

Zing

2010-07-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

You never ever volunteered. Not even if a sergant stood there and said, "We need someone to drink alcohol, bottles of, and make love, passionate, to women, for the use of." There was *always* a snag. If a choir of angels asked for volunteers for Paradise to step forward, Nobby knew enough to take one smart pace to the rear.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay)

Sometimes you just get lucky and targets come to you.

I entered my hangar and spotted an intel channel lit up like a xmas tree. The locals were mustering for a fight as a large fleet of Electus Matari were in the area but as soon as we got our shit together the fight had left for highsec.

So we sulked a bit and then things started to kick off.

The majority of our gang were in battleships due to the nature of the Electus Matari fleet but once they had departed we were left with nought to do but wait for targets. They eventually came in the shape of Drakes, Harbingers and Hurricanes, two of each, coming from different directions.

Myself and Uma bear were at the Emol gate in Eifer, the rest of the gang were at the Gus gate, Drake jumps into them from Gusandall. Drake, Harbinger, Harbinger, Hurricane and Hurricane jump into myself and Uma bear. I get tackle on Drake and we engage, whilst the rest of the hostiles warp down to the the Gus gate. Uma and I kill the Drake as a fight kicks off down Gus gate. I warp at zero in Nanny Ogg, my Abbadon, the fight is about 70 clicks away but no matter, scorch gets loaded and boom. Drake and two Harbingers down, two Hurricanes run away. We did lose a friend in a Rifter... Good fight.

Whilst waiting out my GCC, an associate spots an Abbadon, three Stabbers and a Rifter loitering at planet 4 in Gus. I grab the Ghetto Bhaalgorn and warp myself in between them. I lock the Baddon, Stabbers and Rifter up, primary the Baddon and start pew pewing.

I mention on vent that I have a little fight going and before realising I could probably solo the lot, I asked if any of the locals would like a bite. I recognise one of the Stabber pilots as an unlucky fellow whose Scorpion ran afoul of the Ghetto Bhaal last night. They didn't last very long as the sharks went into a feeding frenzy.

Once the dust settled another small gang blew through Gus but only a Dramiel swung by to see what was up and got promptly tackled and webbed from about 50 km and got popped by battleships and a battlecruiser.

Then what seemed like a rematch from earlier was on the cards, but escalated in size. the small battlecruiser gang had turned into a small battleship gang and we hastily reshipped from mainly recons and heavy assault ships to battleships.

I got the Ghetto Bhaalgorn ready for some hot action and I would bait as I volunteered to get the ball rolling.

As I undocked it seemed the hostiles jumped into Eifer but scouts reported them re-approaching the gate. I land at zero, hostiles start to jump in, Kane is Primary...

THERE WAS A FIREFIGHT!

The kitchen sink was well and truly thrown out the door, two Typhoons, two Dominix, two Armageddons, a Hurrican, Brutix and stealth bomber of some sort start engaging little ole me, a Scorpion warps in at range and starts jammin.

Our now rather large fleet warps in with Kurtz calling primaries, secondaries, neut targets & tackle targets. I'm having a ball, the versatility of the Bhaal been shown to full effect as I shoot the primary, web the secondaries, neut the geddons and just generally go mad.

At 50% armour there's a moment when I'm asked if I can de aggress, as the Scorp is making remote repping of my Bhaal a bit difficult, but their DPS is dropping as they encounter what is know in these parts as the Gusandall Initiation. At 32% armour I'm starting to think about de agressing but I just say I'm fine and we deal with the rest of the ships that lie before us, one domi managing to de agress and jump out, the Scorp, Brutix, Hurricane and stealth bomber able to stay out of range of tackle and bug out..

I love MEAN, calm throughout the fight and boy what a fight.

Thanks for coming to Gus, please call again.

Stop, it's Hangar Time

2010-07-06T16:26:00.001-07:00

A while back I read a blog about the contents of somebodies hangar.

Here's mine

There's a lot of stuff and a lot of it is very old, some of it pre dates a few nerfs and will probably never be flown again, a kind of museum to the glory days of ultra fast ships and ludicrous speed.

Click image for better view.

New blog header

2010-07-04T14:49:00.000-07:00

Sassy B of i drawed sum spaceships! fame has designed a new blog header for this here blog and oh... my... god!

The Bhaalgorn, my favourite battleship has replaced the Rifter, my all time favourite ship and icon of most of my forum signatures and blog headers.

Much appreciated and I am in awe of your skill.

Got point?

2010-06-30T16:15:00.000-07:00

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)

Another quiet evening in Eifer passes with nought but a few casual travellers. Intel chanels are dead with nobody around or awake. Commando Jaxx and I standing sentry over our favourite hunting ground.

"JAXX, CYNO IN EIFER!, YOU SEE IT?"

"Yep, up near Emol Gate"

WHAT... THE... FUCK!

I warp to the Cyno and there sits a Nidhoggur, next to a Helios that popped the beacon, RIGHT ON TOP OF THE EMOLGRANLAN GATE!

Nidhoggur

Essentially a pared-down version of its big brother the Hel, the Nidhoggur nonetheless displays the same austerity of vision evident in its sibling. Quite purposefully created for nothing less than all-out warfare, and quite comfortable with that fact, the Nidhoggur will no doubt find itself a mainstay on many a battlefield.

Minmatar Carrier Skill Bonuses:
50% bonus to Capital Shield and Armor transfer range per level
5% bonus to Shield and Armor transfer amount per level
99% reduction in CPU need for Warfare Link modules
Can fit Tactical Logistics Reconfiguration modules
Can deploy 1 additional Fighter or Drone per level
200% bonus to Fighter control range

I lock both up, as is my way, with my Fleet Stabber but don't aggro as I can't tank sentries for too long. A Hound stealth bomber drops cloak and aggros me and is not very long for this verse as I lock and pop him in one volley.

The something miraculous happens, the carrier aggros me.

EXCELLENT, YOU'RE MINE NOW!

I lay down the sweet, sweet tackle while Jaxx warps in, both of us shouting and screaming in any intel channel that would listen that we needed support and DPS.

Keira had docked in Gusandall and took her sweet time deciding which ship to bring but I told her to bring a fucking Broadsword, which she eventually did. Stratego had joined us with Celebra following closely behind in Neut/RR Dominix.

Once we were sure the Niddy wasn't going anywhere I headed back to Gusandall to grab something with a bit more punch, Havelock Vetinari, my Bhaalgorn, my Precious.

With the Niddy's armour tank about to experience major capacitor issues, a few other friends came in to help finish him off, Hoffe in an Abaddon and The SoulCrusher in an Armageddon.

The extra DPS helped and it was a weird engagement as neutrals and reds kept jumping in, watching what was going on and then getting out of dodge.

The carrier eventually went down after what seemed an age.

Ten minutes from initial tackle till support arrived, another half hour or so for us to drop it with a small gang, right next to a highsec entry gate, with neutrals and a few reds just passing by.

Props to those that heard our shouts and came to help, much appreciated guys.

I love my job :D

OH MY GOD, YOU GUYS KILLED KENNY!

2010-06-28T15:39:00.000-07:00

In the Beginning there was nothing, which exploded.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies)

It's not always a pleasure to lose ones hard earned spaceship, although I take great pleasure in relieving others of theirs.

What goes around comes around though and karma has a funny way of paying back whatever misdeeds one may have done.

A quiet afternoon in the Evanatter pocket of Heimatar saw my cousin and associate Kenny Rizzel doing some plex work in neighbouring systems that were probed out by another associate. On his way back to Emolgranlan he reported a Myrmidon battlecruiser sitting on the Gusandall gate in Eifer. Being a PvP novice and in a rather expensive Tengu, he decided we would try and bait the Myrm into action. He locked him up but the Myrm didn't bite.

I undocked in a Harbinger and made best speed to the Eifer gate as Kenny had decided to fire ze missiles at the Myrm.

Myrm was at half armour when I jumped in and instantly engaged and it was then that local filled up with the Myrmidon's support. Kenny was at good range but I was in it till the death. The Myrmidon went down, I switched to one of the Hurricanes, Kenny bails as a Taranis starts in on him. Fair enough, he is not set up for combat. I hit the hurricane hard but a swarm of ECM drones wreak havoc with my sensors and I lose the ability to target my aggressors.

My Harbinger goes down, good fight, if a little one sided, I get the pod out sharpish to the safety of an alliance controlled POS in system.

Kenny has his very first Global Criminal Countdown but has no safespots in system so I tell him to warp to my position.

"Is it safe"

Of course it is, you're a Rizzel, you're all blue to the alliance.

He warps to my position after entering the forcefield password and bounces off the shields.

"Kane?"

Hold on little buddy, I'm just busy...

"KANE! THE FUCKING POS HAS ME LOCKED, SCRAMMED AND NEUTED!"

Double you tea eff mate?

Kenny is not able to get away as the Alliance controlled POS reduces his mighty Tengu to nothing more than some debris in space.

I watch on helplessly as my cousin is obliterated by friendly fire.

OH MY GOD, YOU GUYS KILLED KENNY!

Yes, that was a 2billion ISK Tengu that got evaporated by friendly fire. Kenny took it surprisingly well, just asking that anything that survived be returned to him. Myself? I was a bit more upset, I've only recently given up smoking (5days now \o/) and this wasn't helping my mood. I don't mind losses in combat, whether it being blobbed, baited or ECM'd (OK, y'all now I hate ECM) but this was a very hard pill to swallow.

I headed back to Gusandall and docked up, said sorry to Kenny who had just arrived at his HQ in Emolgranlan and decided to take a rather long walk to clear my mind.

I could really use a cigarette but need to stay strong.

Why? Why indeed

2010-06-21T17:35:00.000-07:00

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 had been a slow night in the Evannater pocket, with only bits and bobs braving the perils of lowsec. We caught a Drake and Moa trying to run the gauntlet and then patiently waited for a Maelstrom to come back, which he did... And then promptly died.

The pick of the litter was a Typhoon that headed to Endrulf after having been spotted by scouts jumping into Eifer. A scout quickly positioned herself in Endrulf and confirmed the target was indeed in system. I, of course positioned myself on the other side in Eifer and was pleased when the scout reported the Phoon landing and jumping into me.

Awesome, I had support on tap next door in Gusandall but decided to go it alone. The Phoon drops jump cloak and makes a bee line back to the Endrulf gate, I engage my micro warp drive as my lock resolves and tackle kicks in, I get a good bump off and stop his return to the safety of highsec.

He doesn't fight back, in the vane hope of getting back to the gate and not getting aggro that would stop him from accessing said gate. He explodes in spectacular fashion as the last of my sentry drones die to the gate sentries.

What follows is the local outburst:

Alaric Stonewood > fuck you
Kane Rizzel > :)
Alaric Stonewood > why ?
Alaric Stonewood > you fucker
Kane Rizzel > why not?
Alaric Stonewood > ill find you kick your fucking ass
Alaric Stonewood > that was my best ship
Kane Rizzel > sweet
Alaric Stonewood > why would you do sush a thing
Kane Rizzel > come back soon now ya hear

Soon after, he opened a private conversation with me:

Kane Rizzel > sup
Alaric Stonewood > dood not cool why do you fuck like this ship was new
Kane Rizzel > so were my drones that died to sentries, you don't see me complaining
Alaric Stonewood > 60million
Alaric Stonewood > dood 60 million
Kane Rizzel > you want to give me 60million?
Alaric Stonewood > no thts what you need to pay me
Kane Rizzel > I don't need to pay you jack
Alaric Stonewood > first time in low sec
Alaric Stonewood > why kane
Alaric Stonewood > why me
Kane Rizzel > because I'm a pirate, it's what I do
Kane Rizzel > and you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, next time be more careful about where you fly
Alaric Stonewood > i could have blown you too bits but i showed compasion
Kane Rizzel > well, you should have exploded me then
Alaric Stonewood > ohhh god my bro is gonna kill me
Alaric Stonewood > that was his ship
Kane Rizzel > like I said, should have been more careful
Alaric Stonewood > you are the new enemy of british federation congrats
Kane Rizzel > awesome, bring friends
Kane Rizzel > we can have a war
Kane Rizzel > I'll bring cookies
Kane Rizzel > just so you know, if you want revenge, I live in Gusandall
Alaric Stonewood > haha well nice way to fuck people ill tell you that
Alaric Stonewood > ive been playing for a month an now this shit
Kane Rizzel > Welcome to the real EVE
Alaric Stonewood > well then nice welcoming party
Kane Rizzel > I do my best
Alaric Stonewood > doooooooooooooooooood
Alaric Stonewood > come on
Alaric Stonewood > i dont even have enouth money too reppay him
Alaric Stonewood > i was on a lvl 2 fuck that agent
Kane Rizzel > yeah, bad agent
Alaric Stonewood > hey just be warned my bro will chase you
Kane Rizzel > lvl 2 in a battleship is a bit overkill though
Kane Rizzel > cool, tell your bro where I live
Alaric Stonewood > yeah i know but i needed something with sufficient cargo
Alaric Stonewood > that was close
Kane Rizzel > a hauler would have attracted less attention tbh
Kane Rizzel > but if it's a warship like say a Typhoon, then, well, the sharks will come
Alaric Stonewood > ohhh dood well no worries
Alaric Stonewood > next time you see me dont pop me
Kane Rizzel > Consider this a lesson, next time you won't make such a mistake
Alaric Stonewood > yeah
Kane Rizzel > mate, I'm a pirate, if there's a chance to make isk from someone else's misery then I'm on it like a fat kid at an all you can eat buffet
Kane Rizzel > it's a good life
Alaric Stonewood > but could you at least pay somethin
Kane Rizzel > that wouldn't be financially prudent for me tbh
Alaric Stonewood > i need like 10million isks more
Alaric Stonewood > just help a bit
Kane Rizzel > you see, when you first swore at me, that was kinda the line that was crossed that made anything you said after mean very little
Alaric Stonewood > pls
Kane Rizzel > it always pays to be polite right from the start
Kane Rizzel > you take care now and fly safe o7

And that was it, I closed the convo. I'll tell the truth and say I considered helping the kid but I felt the life lesson of politeness under duress much better payment than mere ISK for a new ship.

Sure, I violated his brother's ship, but I was smiling.

Thar she blows

2010-06-17T15:51:00.000-07:00

They say the heat and the flies here can drive a man insane. But you don't have to believe that, and nor does that bright mauve elephant that just cycled past.
-- (Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent)

It's a curiosity to me, how sometimes shit just happens. With scouts continuously feeding us information and a general intel network that spans a few regions we are able to move rather sharpish to where the hot action is.

An Orca had landed on the Eifer gate in Emolgranlan. I was busy trying to look innocent in Eifer 1-1 in the hopes two Ruptures would warp in an engage. With them firmly hugging the Emol gate I warped towards the Emol gate to try and intercept the Orca, with the hope I could get the Ruptures to engage me and spare me the sentry fire.

As I landed the Orca was busy aligning and it cloaked shortly after I arrived on the scene. I had vaguely ascertained its position and proceeded to do a few zig zags to try and decloak it. The Ruptures just sat there and watched. I was soon joined by Jaxx, Seren, The Djego and Asssassin X in his Scimitar.

Whilst we tried in vain to decloak the Orca, another landed on the Eifer gate and jumped through.

Well, fuck me sideways and call me Susan. Today was lining up to be a good day. Second Orca decloaks and we get it pointed, First Orca decloaks and warps off :(

Oh well, one is better than nothing. We proceed to pound the stricken Orca and as it hits about 75% structure the pilot ejects.

STOP SHOOTING THE FUCKING ORCA

Eventually everyone gets the message and we stop shooting. Now comes the tricky part, finding someone to come secret our prize away. After much fretting, it actually turns out that an associate of mine is capable of flying the ship and it just so happened she was in Eifer in a covops.

She warped in ejected from her covops, waited patiently for us all to unlock the Orca then casually boarded it, scooped her covops into the ship maintenance hold and warped away.

The Orca held some rather shiny toys, a good haul.

Now of course we are gentlemen of fine moral fibre, so with making mad ISK in mind I fired off this mail to the unfortunate Orca pilot:

Greetings and Salutations
From: Kane Rizzel
Sent: 2010.06.17 22:28
To: John Amrita,

Hello there

We recently became aware that you ejected from an Orca due to being fired upon by some unsavoury types in Eifer.

We are in the fortunate position to offer you the exact same Orca with the Hulk inside and all mods for the bargain price of 600Million ISK.

Should this arrangement please you then please get in contact with me at your soonest convenience and we can arrange for a contract in Emolgranlan highsec.

Regards

Kane Rizzel
Minister of Loot Acquisition

Now we wait for a few hours as he was unreachable via normal methods.

A good few days for myself, some good solo fights with the Succubus, some hilarious gate ganking of a Covetor who was too far to point but died to a single volley from my Armageddon. A decent fight which was ruined by ec-300 drones yet we still managed to kill a Tengu and Daredevil whilst the ec-300 spewing Typhoon managed to get away but it's drones still continued to jam me another 5 cycles.

Don't get me started on fucking ECM :P

Y'all stay classy

The Anshar

2010-06-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

"I'd like to know if I could compare you to a summer's day. Because -- well, June 12th was quite nice, and..."
-- (Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters)

But what is the question?

19:27 Uedama, The Citadel, Security Level 0.5

A small fleet of miscreants assembles outside of the Lai Dai station, battleships the ship of choice and they form a conga line while they wait.

19:45 Uedama, The Citadel, Security Level 0.5

Conga line is in full flow as 29 battleships of mixed shapes blow their vuvuzelas in local.

19:56 Uedama, The Citadel, Security Level 0.5

It's almost go time, The Tempest class battleship that was chosen for this mission eagerly follows an Armageddon in conga.

20:00 Uedama, The Citadel, Security Level 0.5

Order to lign and warp to Sivala gate is given and the fleet bolts, vuvuzelas echoing throughout Uedama.

20:03 Uedama, The Citadel, Security Level 0.5

Order is given to align and warp to Haatamo gate, to look for prey on the Jita <> Rens route.

20:13 Uedama, The Citadel, Security Level 0.5

With a swarm of sentry drones out, an Anshar jump freighter jumps in and aligns to Juunigaishi. It warps off as we're not sure if everyone would get lock in time.

20:15Uedama, The Citadel, Security Level 0.5

Scout reports that Anshar has landed 15 clicks off gate and is on autopilot.

20:16 Uedama, The Citadel, Security Level 0.5

Order to scoop drones and warp to Juun gate given.

20:18 Uedama, The Citadel, Security Level 0.5

Fleet lands and drops a ton of sentry drones, Anshar is given a small nudge as the pilot seems to have woken up and has queried whether he was prey.

20:20 Uedama, The Citadel, Security Level 0.5

Entire fleet is assembled, Anshar is locked and countdown to destruction over voice comms commences

20:22 Uedama, The Citadel, Security Level 0.5

We get blobbed by customs, navy and CONCORD ships.

But we prevail.

Camera crews were at the ready to capture the gank.

This was Keira's first suicide gank and she handled herself exceptionally well.

Thanks go to Ralara for organising this op and to the rest of the participants for a fucking good laugh.

Oh, did I mention I'm back :P New technology has been installed and I'm good to go, Violence is imminent.

[OOC] Please fix it...

2010-05-31T13:47:00.000-07:00

There's a thread in the Assembly Hall of the official EVE Online forums that could use your support, if both my regular readers could do so it would mean an extra two thumbs up.

It may be an exercise in futility but you just never know.

[Proposal] CCP, commit to excellence. No features left behind.

In other news, I have given in and ordered some new parts, to get the gaming rig back up and running, against the express wishes of my financial advisor.

So pretty soon my rig will be sporting:

Intel Core i7-860 Quad @2.8GHz, 8MB cache
Asus P7H55D-M EVO motherboard
16GB RAM
1GB ATI Radeon HD 5850
160GB Intel® X25-M 2.5" SSD
800W Quiet Quad Rail PSU

I decided to upgrade a few other bits as the rig was starting to show its age, over four years old, initially built to play Oblivion but I got hooked on EVE shortly after.

Much of the hardware like the DVD writer, X-fi fatality soundcard and storage drives will survive but the heart so to speak is being replaced wholesale.

Hopefully I'll be back in game soon™

Edit: Also a big congratulations to Colonel Kurtz/Laneth, the CEO of Mean Corp on becoming a father.

[OOC] It's dead Jim...

2010-05-27T14:28:00.000-07:00

++?????++ Out of Cheese Error. Redo From Start.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Interesting Times)

Seems that the Universe is truly out to get me, just as I start to get back into EVE a bit more my Gaming Rig decides to choke on another Graphics card.

So, out of game again for the foreseeable future, well at least no PvP with Kane but I'll probably do some low key stuff on the laptop with other characters so I'll still be around.

The drop... It is hot

2010-05-25T15:53:00.000-07:00

Simony's eyes gleamed with the gleam of a man who had seen the future and found it covered with armour plating.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Small Gods)

A lone Proteus burns down on Aiko's Onyx, 160km off the Eifer gate in Gusandall. Never ones to pass up on a shiny kill the locals extend the traditional Gus welcome. My first thought was to board Havelock Vetinari, my Bhaalgorn but something about this had my Admiral Akbar senses tingling, so I boarded something a little less shiny but none the less potent, an Armageddon class battleship.

Armageddon

The mighty Armageddon class is the main warship of the Amarr Empire. Its heavy armaments and strong front are specially designed to crash into any battle like a juggernaut and deliver swift justice in the name of the Emperor.

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

I undock and warp directly to Aiko's position where the Proteus has him engaged, Aiko, as is his nature of course has the strategic cruiser pointed and is firing back. I land and light the Proteus up with some Mega Pulse II cheer. I'm followed by a few others and things got a little hotter as an Arazu decloaks and pops a cyno. Order is given to align out, it seems the hotdrop is on.

A Thanatos carrier jumps in and I'm like, fuck this shit, primary the Arazu to drop it as quickly as possible so that the cyno field would drop and nothing else could jump through. Thanatos goes straight into triage and easily reps the Arazu and Proteus as we switch targets rapidly. I'm in the fight for the long haul, I'm firmly tackled and primaried by the three ships but AMAHGAHD is made of stern stuff, merely shrugging off the damage of the recon, strategic cruiser and carrier's Ogre IIs. They eventually switch primary as they hit the geddon's massive armour at 95%.

We keep switching targets and the Thanny drops out of its first triage cycle, points on, carrier, all DPS on Arazu.

I say we, yes, we decided to fight even though the danger of escalation stared us right in the face.

Thanatos drops into a second triage cycle and we start to make plans to escalate. Nomi warps his own Thanatos onto the field and we engage the offending carrier with all DPS. The Thanny pilot sends a massive wave of large ECM drones my way as he seems to have taken a personal dislike of my chiselled features. I lose lock but we now have a substantial fleet on the field. Nomi gets some capital remote armour repair love on my battleship, as once again, Kane is primary.

THERE WAS A FIREFIGHT!

Lasers, missiles, projectiles and kitchen sinks were flying everywhere, it was bedlam as the hostile Thanatos came out of its second triage cycle. Again all DPS on the Arazu in case it dropped a second cyno and escalated but it wasn't long for this universe. Proteus was next on the table and it was delicious, crunchy, with a gooey centre.

Hostile Thanatos drops its third triage cycle and a friendly cyno is lit. Our neighbours and friends in Hrondedir, Jovian Enterprises, jump a Nyx super capital into the fray. Keira was on her way to get into ArKane, the NovaKane Inc Archon carrier but had technical difficulties mid warp.

Nyx

The Nyx is a gigantic homage to a figure much loved in Gallente society. The ship’s design is based on the scepter of Doule dos Rouvenor III, the king who, during his peaceful 36-year reign, was credited with laying the foundation for the technologically and socially progressive ideologies which have pervaded Gallente thought in the millennia since. Indeed, the Nyx itself is emblematic of the Gallenteans’ love for progress; packed to the ergonomic brim with the latest in cutting-edge advancements, it is a proud reminder of the things that make the Federation what it is.

Gallente Carrier Skill Bonuses:
50% bonus to Capital Shield and Armor transfer range per level
5% bonus to deployed Fighters’ damage 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

All fire on the Thanatos, it hits structure as it drops out of its third triage and explodes in a massive bang that I'm sure was felt as far away as Eifer.

Keira had just managed to get the Archon undocked as the Thanatos gave up. Need to keep your wits about you girl, can't live in a Claymore forever.

'Good Fight' was shared in local, as the hostiles returned to wherever they came from. Now, while it ended very one sided, please keep in mind it did not start that way and at any point it could have gone horribly wrong for us, but fortune favours the brave and I'm glad I stayed on the field to the conclusion.

Much love to Nomi for the RR, it seems my alliance mates are getting quite good at keeping me alive.

Unfortunately Aiko would lose his legendary Onyx to a Dominix and Tengu but we avenged our fallen comrade by making the Tengu pilots day just that little bit brighter.

A good day, would have been perfect had I managed to point the Megathron at its safespot that was playing station games with his Drake buddy but you can't kill em all...

Won't stop me trying though ;)