One night in Egmar

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

-- (Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay)

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

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

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

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

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

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

50km

40km

30km

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

20km

10km

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

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

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

A great fight and one I thoroughly enjoyed.

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

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

Tweaking the Rifter and illegal mining

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

(Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay) 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Riftering

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

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



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

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

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

EVE Gate, the Monolith, Steve, the Titanomachy?

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

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

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

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

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

Also just want to say that I will be back.

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

FWZ and the cost of combat

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)

I'm quite enjoying hunting in the Minmatar Faction Warfare Zone, whilst it is frustrating it can be rewarding. I'm now on to Tristan number six after a less than stellar night.

Last night I warped in on a Firetail that was waiting on the beacon inside a plex, his neut and superior speed made short work of me. Not an auspicious start to my evening. I caught a rather young Condor pilot a bit later, seemingly asleep at the controls.

Things started to get interesting when I warped in a plex just in front of a Maller, there was a Navy Slicer and Malediction on scan too, I was kinda hoping for one of them to come in, but when they all landed the fight was on and a race for survival was on. I aligned to the sun at full speed, clawing range from the Maller but the Slicer and Malediction had me tackled, easily weaving in and out of long point range, I set drones on the Malediction to try force him off, my overloaded repper just about keeping up with the long range damage, every now and again I would Crazy Ivan towards the Slicer but it's superior speed and agility meant I was just not able to get into web range, the Maller at this point was no longer a threat, I either needed to get out of point range o both o them or kill one of these fuckers. my repper was out of paste and as the long reload cycle started I had managed to force the Malediction off, still pointed by the Slicer, but the damage wasn't too overwhelming, I was however in deep structure but it was just me and the Slicer now, painful seconds ticking by as I waited in hope of the reload cycle finishing.

5% structure now and the reload cycle finishes, overload and activate, the rep cycle starts, my structure implodes.

A really good fight and one that lasted far longer than I expected.

The night was seemingly a wash, no much about other than a few larger groups of faction warriors, nothing I could realistically pick off on my own and due to the previous two losses I was feeling a little disappointed, a quick Rifter snack perked me up a little and refreshed my appetite, but it was getting late so I decided to head to Bosena to dock for the night, on the way, passing through Evati I spied another Rifter on scan, I warped to the plex and made my way inside, I land pretty much on top o the Rifter and engage, moving out to Null range and launching my drones.

My shields are stripped and massive holes are being shot out of my armour.

Goddamn Arty Rifter, being flown rather well.

I can not stress to you how important a skill thermodynamics is, the overloaded nanite fuelled repper had kept me alive just barely, now it was out of paste and I had to resort to some smart flying but the Rifter was by this point in trouble, I had hit structure but so had he and fortunately for me, I had more structure, an explosion of satisfaction as debris of the Rifter rains against my Tristan.

A great fight and after looking at the killmail, I saw the pilot was vastly experienced with a very high rank on Battle Clinic, the dude could fly.

This got me looking at my stats at Battle Clinic (I mainly use BC because it's probably the most comprehensive of all the options available and has most of my early kills)

Over the years the way killmails are generated has changed, instead of just showing what was destroyed it now shows everything, a great deal of information can now be harvested from them.

One thing that really stood out for me was the ISK damage I have inflicted over my career... 1.1 Trillion ISK worth of damage to the pilots of New Eden
Average cost per kill is just under 355million ISK
Average cost per loss is just over 85million ISK

Edit: It just ended up being a very, very expensive day

Links and Stats

"Why do you bother with him? He's had thousands of people killed!"
"Yes, but perhaps he thought that you wanted it."
-- (Terry Pratchett, Small Gods)

According to Battleclinic, I have inflicted over one trillion ISK in damage over my many years of piracy. A staggering figure and one which quite frankly blows my mind. In the process I have lost 21.75billion ISK in ships and modules... 

An expensive past time this ole Piracy lark.

So what makes an effective Pirate? A question asked on the forums many times with various and very verbose explanations given, but the one thing I believe, is that a Pirate makes money from the violence he inflicts, minimising losses to increase profit.

Pirates are just businessmen... with guns, we redistribute the wealth, from your wallet, into ours, much like any businessman with any savvy. 

So the question I now ask is this, would you do anything with in your power to make your business more profitable?

So this brings me on to the second part of this blog, and the part where I make a statement and then tell a story

Statement: I will no longer debate my use of links or entertain discourse with regards to their use with anonymous posters, comments by anonymous users or users not using their main in-game name will be deleted. 

What I will do is give a little background as to why links made me the effective Pirate I am today. The key word here is Pirate, cause that is what I am. 

I have never claimed to be the best solo PVPer in the game, nor have I ever claimed to be the best PVPer in my area, but what I will say, is that I'm one of the best pirates in the game and the numbers above give credence to my claim

The links were a remedy to my hunting of ISK farmers who would farm the 2/10 in nigh untouchable super frigates, who used a combination of the powerful gistii afterburners (which at the time gave better speed boosts than ordinary afterburners) and long range tackle to try and hold me in place whilst their friends would come and try kill me. Quite often elaborate traps were set to try and dissuade me from engaging them but I had built a powerful Jaguar that was perfect for hunting these pilots, but as time went on, they got faster and used ever more elaborate traps or just simply, warped away.

I got a little frustrated with these guys getting away, running the plex with impunity, them and their buddies laughing at me as I couldn't catch them or fell into their traps. Things had to change and in the NovaKane hangar, Keira was industriously studying leadership, she even went out of her way to purchase a mindlink that would be implanted once she had acquired sufficient knowledge to not have it fry her brain.

I'm not a vindictive person... Well... Actually I am and when the time came the plex farmers reaped what they sowed. Here is the story of the day Links went up for the first time, and here is the first kill using links.

Now tell me they weren't worth it? 

The trap was for the Rifter to orbit me at range and hold me down while his Manticore friend obliterated me (back then stealth bombers were very good at killing frigates)

Links helped me achieve some other notable milestones, I was at one time the holder of the Interceptor speed record of 63km/s, a record which stands to this day, even though the universe has changed.

Skirmish links also allowed me to catch ISK farmers that plagued Ingunn, the extra range and speed afforded by said links meant I was able to catch the gun shy farmers no matter the distance, despite their over reliance on warp core stabilizers.

Links have made me a better Pirate, just as some use ECM or sheer numbers, with the help of their own links, I use the tools at my disposal and make no apologies for it.

And then there are the fights, where no links are needed, or used, a fight where all involved are there to shoot and be shot at, such as one which occurred only minutes ago in Eifer, a Rifter and Incursus, seemingly together, but not sure as a friend had watched the Rifter pilot dispatch a rather speedy and cocky IVY pilot back to highsec. I bring my own Incursus and this time I remembered to deploy my drone as I mark the Rifter as the primary threat and make with dispatching him as fast as possible but I fail key tackle and let him get out of range, so I switch to the Incursus as the Rifter goes out to about 20km to claw back some armour, the Incursus is rocked from top to bottom as lethal Null rounds slam into his hull, and he evaporates so fast after the armour disintegrated I almost double checked I didn't let the bugger slip away with some fail tackle, but the fight was not over, the Rifter barrels back in and I overheat everything... EVERYTHING.

The Rifter is mighty but not mighty enough as it violently spasms before exploding, a quick non fail tackle scrambles the escape pods warp drive and I offer terms. 

Kane Rizzel > gf

Kane Rizzel > 50mil?

Damay Aprionati > gf

Brock Dallocort > gf

The Rifter pilot had a little system failure which is why I was able to lock his pod before he warped.

Damay Aprionati > teaching my buddy to pvp

Kane Rizzel > so fancy paying?

Damay Aprionati > i actually have no implants

Kane Rizzel > fly safe o7

A wicked little fight.

As a side note, I am now the most skilled leadership pilot amongst my family

Reply to: Reply to Marc Rosenberg

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Never safe

As castles went, this one looked as though it could be taken by a small squad of not very efficient soldiers. For defence, putting a blanket over your head might be marginally safer.
-- (Terry Pratchett, The Fifth Elephant)

The one constant in the EVE universe is, you are never safe. It is something I like to remind folk of from time to time and when some plex farmer decides to set up shop in Gusandall, you just know summer is over and school is about to commence.

The Thrasher appears on d-scan in the third room and the Rifter I'm in doesn't have the tools needed to get there. So a quick warp back to the station, grab something that had said tools, undocked and warped to the plex entrance.

The Rifter hulled Wolf class assault frigate, with warp trailing off its sleek hull, immediately activates the gate as it lands, going through the motions as it reaches the next gate, and again in the next room.

Finally in the third room of the complex, the Thrasher doesn't appear on my overview, so using the d-scanner, I start trying to pinpoint his location.

Station and sun? ... Not there.
Various stargates? ... Not there.
Belts and moons? ... Not there.

Very curious... I narrow down to 90 degrees and start a quick sweep of system.
Strangely enough, he appears directly above me, so I start to narrow the search and eventually have him on a 5 degree sweep, I hit my MWD and head in the direction of the scan, as it appears Mr Thrasher is trying to hide off of Mr Grid.

It doesn't take long, only a few hundred kilometres, as I have a rough idea how big the grid in the last room is, before he appears on my overview, 150 clicks away. I sneak up on him as best I can, he seemingly oblivious to my presence, doing his nails as he lets me get right within disruptor range.

From here on in it's pretty much over as I settle into optimal range and open fire, he eventually wakes up, but it's too late as he explodes. He mumbles something in Russian as he warps his escape pod out, leaving me with the delicious loot.

Not much else happening of note recently, unless you count me trying to take on a Hawk in my Rifter and losing, but I did give it a good old whack :)

The Rifter of Kane

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

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

Over my many years of Piracy, there has been one constant... The Rifter.
No ship embodies freedom and aggression quite like it. From my first days as an immortal I always loved her lines, her class unequaled for many years. However, things have changed since I went away, no longer the King of the proverbial hill, the Rifter is just another frigate... But that doesn't mean I like her any less, and with this in mind the Kane Class Rifter that you see in my new banner was born. Her layout is a secret but for many of you, a quick glance at my losses, you will see my standard Rifter has not changed much at all over the years.

I undock the Cunning Man, feeling like a stranger in my own system, all the new faces and not a friend amongst them, but this doesn't stop me, nothing does. The family will not be involved in any of my future fights, unless for scouting and probing in the acquisition of others wealth, tech 1 frigates my toys, the Rifter my choice.

I head over to my spiritual home and home to many a great tale from yours truly, Eifer.
My lucky pounce has been set up very carefully, able to scan all the belts quickly and efficiently...

A quick scan shows another Rifter in the direction of the V cluster, I warp to the central belt of the cluster, which makes scanning the others easier and start to track him. He's moving very fast, only a matter of time as I start to follow his warps to belts...

I warp to belt 4, where he seems to linger a fraction too long and as warped space streams off my Rifter hull I see him engaging an Angel frigate. I start to close, The Angels and I don't see eye to eye, no honour amongst thieves it seems as they quite often attack me even as I try to save their dumb asses, but this Angel frigate doesn't stand much chance against my targets Rifter, but he does serve as a needed distraction and lasts just long enough for me to close within range of warp scramblers and webs. Both kick in simultaneously and I open fire, my target returns the favour and the dance is on as he tanks me rather handily whilst trying to neutralize my capacitor but he runs out of cap first, his repairer and neutralizer shutting down in unison, I'm not even in armour yet as I punch round after round of auto-cannon ammunition into his hull. Great big holes being torn into the Rifter's structure and it violently explodes. As I try to lock the pod and offer ransom, he warps out, 'good fight' shared over local comms.

Whilst waiting out my aggression timer, with my guns and tackle nearly at melting point, an Incursus class frigate appears. this gallente ship quite formidable in the right hands, so I warp to where he appears to be, only to see him aligning towards the Emolgranlan gate. I align towards the sun and assess the situation, a quick close up of his ship revealing blasters. This meant I would have to try and fight well into my falloff with Barrage if I were to stand a chance, and even then it would require some skill to pull it off as the pilot seemed familiar to me.

He slows and I take this as my cue to start closing by spiraling into range, not wanting to head directly at him, making it easier for him to slingshot on top of me, he turns and starts his own maneuvers to close the gap, both of us lighting our afterburners, mine only at 75% thrust. I can't afford to overheat my tackle or weapons as the heat would melt them, rendering them useless and ending this fight before it really gets started.
Incursus is getting closer, I turn away, lower my speed and let hem get close enough before turning ninety degrees as he gets into scram and web range, tackle glows green and we start shooting at each other, my Barrage rounds landing at 9km, whilst my shields start taking damage. He starts to close as the damage increases so I set full thrust and overload my afterburner as I imagine that's what he's doing to close under a stasis webifier effect.

He's tanking my damage well, this fight not going my way, I needed a little luck and I received it as his tank broke, seemingly out of cap, overloading his afterburner and cap hungry guns along with his obviously overheated repper doing to his capacitor what I was trying to do to his armour. He enters hull as my overheated afterburner, burns out the mod next to it, my warp scrambler, does he notice before it's too late?




No, he explodes and warp his escape pod out sharpish.

Again, 'good fight' shared in local and I decide to call it a night, it's hot and I could use a refreshing beverage.

[OOC UPDATE]
It has now been 26 months since I gave up alcohol, cigarettes and drugs, recently decided to go full vegetarian as I have been eating less meat and doing bits of research for a future project with my career. I also gave up sugar four months ago and have lost close to 22kg as a result, to celebrate this latest milestone I decided on another tattoo and started this:



Two hours under the needle on the first session before I gave up, very uncomfortable over the ribs but will look awesome once done :)



Stay strong and never surrender

Always outnumbered, quite often outgunned

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A good fight, never outclassed :)

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

I will get better however :)

Revenge and Cookies

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

EVE System > Channel changed to Local : Eifer
Shetao Jerhamorr > ill will have my revenge!
Kane Rizzel > cool
Kane Rizzel > bring cookies



Welcome to Eifer bro.

PS, It's the Minmatar Republic, no purple kool-aid for you

Just one of those days

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.

Indestructible... NOT!

"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.

Do Rifters dream of Titan killmails?

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.

Rifter heart and soul

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

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 :)

REVENGE... Two sugars please

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

The Drones

"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.

Two Thousand

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

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.

Get the kettle on

"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

Rifter Power

He didn't look mad, but they never did.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Strata)

Y'all know what my favourite ship is right?

Rifter

The Rifter is a very powerful combat frigate and can easily tackle the best frigates out there. It has gone through many radical design phases since its inauguration during the Minmatar Rebellion. The Rifter has a wide variety of offensive capabilities, making it an unpredictable and deadly adversary.

Minmatar Frigate Skill Bonus: 5% bonus to Small Projectile Turret damage and 7.5% bonus to tracking per level.

Y'all know what my favourite system is right?

So I'm bumming around in Eifer after roaming around in a Harbinger to no avail. I'm in Rincewind the Rifter, trying my best to look innocent and let me tell you that this is no easy task. There's not much about until a Magnate astrometric frigate catches my attention and I quickly narrow it down to a planet where it has some Sisters' combat probes out. Was it looking for me? Well, whatever the case it had found me and then conveniently exploded.

I scoop the loot and check my scanner, there's a Myrmidon class battlecruiser in a belt, again, quick and professional use of the scanner allows me to pinpoint its location and in I barrel.

I land just as the Myrm warps out, with a cheeky mail saying "close", well son, it's going to be close as I've seen where you warped to. I follow as is my nature. I land on top of him and engage with everything my little Rifter can dish out, up to and including the kitchen sink. He deploys drones and I start to kill them one by one, wave by wave, until it's just me and the Myrm

Alliance comms is quiet, everyone seemingly asleep on this fine Sunday evening. I decide to try and solo him but his tank easily deals with my Rifters damage output. Eventually Dogz offers a hand and I except as I'm starting to run out of ammo.

Kane Rizzel > You gonna die anytime soon or what?

Dogz warps in with his Typhoon class battleship

Kane Rizzel > OHSNAP

The Myrmidon was in for a beating and I for one welcomed my Dogz overlord. The myrm goes down hard and I scramble the pod, offer 25 million ISK ransom which he accepts. We let go of tackle and he warps out, I scoop the loot and do the same. A good 15 minutes from initial tackle till Dogz came in to help finish him off.

I send Dogz his share of the ransom and spot a Thrasher on scan, greedy Kane is greedy and warps to where the scanner indicates he would be, I engage and so does he, Thrasher hits 20% hull as my mighty Rifter expires and it is only then I notice the Thrasher pilot is in the same corporation as the Myrmidon pilot.

Oh well, back to Gusandall to get another Rifter being put together by the hangar crew.

Back in Eifer I spot a Jaguar on scan, too much for my Rifter but I'm going in regardless. The outcome was certain the moment I warped in and another Rifter expires, I head back to Gusandall to get something Rifter shaped but a lot more sturdy and sharp. I take Maurice the Jaguar back to Eifer and offer the jag pilot a 1v1.

He agrees, I offer for him to form gang and make a safe for the fight as is my custom, he does so and soon it's game time. I had a simple strategy, with barrage loaded I would skirt at about 10km keeping him webbed and scrammed whilst raining sweat death down upon him.

My strategy take s a turn for the worse as my 'Warp to 10km' lands me right on top of him. Oh well, overload and try gain some distance, my shields take a pounding but soon I'm moving out of his range and into mine. My shields recover but his are fairing rather badly as I'm now in the sweet spot. My opponent goes down and we share 'good fight' in local. I scoop the loot, it will help offset the loss of the second Rifter to some rather reckless flying, but then you never know what you can kill until you try.

Eifer, the system of good times.

Until next time, y'all stay classy