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

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Marauder

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

-- (Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay)

21:25 I receive a call from Bosena

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

The Vargur explodes.

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

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

I do love Molden Heath.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it...

"Some people are heroes. And some people jot down notes."

-- (Terry Pratchett, The Truth)

...Is to track down and kill a Raven infesting the Ingunn area.

Well now, who am I to refuse such a mission. A key participant in tonight's hunt was already in place, sitting silent and invisible in a spot carefully chosen to give best coverage for her scan probes.
I had a few things to take care of in station before boarding my Pilgrim and heading out into the black.

Keira had just Clone Jumped back to HQ so she could take care of the paperwork whilst the hangar crew got her Broadsword ready, I would need her help if things went south and I really hoped they did.

Our sneaky friend had reported multiple hits, three Ravens were doing the rounds and I asked her to set up the first warp in, within moments of my request I was told she was ready and I entered warp.

WARP DRIVE ACTIVE

Bursting out of warp under cloak I spotted our mark, a mere 5 clicks away... Perfect.
He was chewing through the mercenary force and would shortly be done, but not before his life got that bit more interesting, a little Kane to spice up his night.

I uncloaked at point blank range, he was aligned to warp out but not up to speed so the slightest nudge would give my targeting systems enough time to recalibrate from cloaking to lock on to him. The seconds ground away, it felt like an age as my systems locked onto his ship. I was relieved to see my lock confirmed and my warp scrambler started its gentle glow. The Raven wasn't going anywhere in a hurry. I took my time now, savouring each second, Two energy neutralisers bridged the gap between us, only moments before he would be without any energy to power his shield booster. He had at this point targeted me and set about introducing volley after volley of cruise missiles to my recon, a flight of medium drones spewed forth from his drone bay and opened up on me.

Don't panic, no need to, things are under control. I pulse my cap booster as it charges my capacitor, the two medium energy neuts are no longer needed, instead a small energy neutraliser kicks in to keep him capped out. I start taking armour damage and pause a moment before my armour repairer goes active, a few seconds pass before it finishes its first cycle and my armour starts to creep back. My capacitor spikes as another round of boosters goes in.

The Raven is no longer boosting its shields, his shield hardeners have turned off without any power to run them, the time to strike has come.

Five Hammerhead IIs are released from my drone bay, like rabid dogs they set upon the Raven and tear his shields away, chewing at his armour and dining on his structure. The explosion is violent, debris raining down on Kumano-San-Zan, a beautiful sound. The flash disipates and I'm kind of disappointed that my scans hadn't picked up reinforcements in the shape of the other Ravens.

While all this was going on my friend in her Cheetah was busy probing out other mission sites and setting up the necesary warpins, unfortunately they all had acceleration gates and the other Ravens had taken to employing scouts. Keira had warped in on one but was just that bit too far away to get the tackle before he warped out and we missed a few others due to said scouts.

A Caracal did warp in to the first site and was duely dispatched.

A bit disappointed I cloaked up and went about having my dinner and a much needed cigarette. I accomplished my mission obejective but would liked to have had more.

I'm back, more or less, depending on how I feel and hopefully I'll start writing a bit more and with a bit more creativity, unfortunately there's only so many ways you can describe a kill/loss and sometimes I just don't know how to make them sound interesting. I may just go back to doing this for my own amusement, to help me analyse my hunts, my success and my failures as I originally intended for this blog, I just hope y'all will find that interesting

The magic 500

It's been a few days and the hangar is a mess, there's stacks of ammo everywhere and boxes of loot that should have been shipped to Rens by now.
It seems my Hangar Crew took a few days off in my absence, oh well, time to crack the whip so to speak.

Tying up some loose ends I head off into the black in my Republic Fleet Firetail, my local haunt is kinda busy with various pilots. I chased a Rifter around the system for a good few minutes but he always managed to be one step ahead of me.
I heard chatter on local comms channels from a Tempest pilot in system, apparently hugging the gate to the nearest high security system so I headed off to investigate, knowing full well I would not be able to engage as sentries would pretty much instapop my fragile frigate.
I headed back home for something a little beefier and settled on undocking "The Fifth Elephant" a Sleipnir class Command Battlecruiser. I headed back to the system and gate just to see the Tempest jump out, the gate was surrounded by other pirates.

A Hurricane jumped through into us and forgetting any differences we might have we killed the hapless pilot in no time at all, I immediately warped out.

Back in my home system I managed to tag a Slasher and Thrasher.

It had been a long day and I retired to the comfort of my bunk.

An new day dawned... well... the lights of my hangar fickered into life as Keira waltzed through to go out in her Cheetah. That woman is a morning person and it's damn annoying.
A few minutes passed and I had just got out the shower when I heard her disticntive voice over comms.

"Get your ass in gear, I have a Farmer Raven entering a plex."

I pulled on my flight suit and sprinted for the nearest ship, The Fifth Elephant was waiting, systems primed, I undocked and initiated warp to Keira's position, there was no time to waste as she had reported a scout on the plex entrance.
I burst out of warp and ignored the scout, activating the plex gate with all haste, I was flung by the arcane structure into the depths of deadspace, hoping to be greeted by the sight of the Raven.
Fortune smiled on me as I burst out of the warp tunnel and there she was. I initiated a lock and primed all systems. The lock resolved and my Warp Disruptor kicked in and in the same moment, so did my guns. The fight was very short and the mighty Raven burst into flames. I snagged the pod for good measure and added his corpse to my collection.
A few minutes later he came back to the plex with a Ferox, which was duly destroyed along with his scout and scout's pod.
A long while later he made another attempt with the same results but this time Keira had snuck a Rapier recon into the plex while I waited at a deep safespot.

This last kill brought my tally to 500 kills and it also saw Keira's first killmail.

I was basking in my glory when comms came alive, flashfresh, an old friend of mine informed me there was a mining op nearby and then left in a hurry so my intel was very slim. Nonetheless I decided to go have some fun and headed out to the system where they were reported.

I jumped into system and activated my onboard scanner, there were three Retriever mining barges, a Vexor and a Malediction. Good odds I thought as I narrowed them down.
I warped to the asteroid belt where my instruments indicated they were and engaged.
The closest ship to me was a Retriever and bore the wrath of my 425mm autocannons first, I had also locked the Vexor and closed the gap to him.
Retriver pops and I open up on the Vexor, the Malediction had me webbed and scrammed when a Chimera class carrier entered the fray.
The Vexor popped and I turned my attention to the Malediction, I needed to pop it to get out of web and scram or the carriers fighters who were on me now would eat me.
My shield tank had broken and I was into armor when the Malediction popped, without second thought I punched the warp drive to bug out, abandoning my drones in the process.

I got out and made my way to my HQ to get some more drones and asses the damage, it wasn't so bad so a short while later I headed back to play some more.
The Carrier was still there, joined by a Pilgrim and Maulus. I decided to primary the Pilgrim and got it deep into armor when the Maulus jammed me. the Pilgrim warped out and I closed on the Maulus, it's jam cycle over it was at the mercy of my EMP rounds as they smashed it to bits.
I was again being chased by fighters and I strung them out behind me as I popped them one by one, in all 10 fighters died before the Carrier pilot recalled them.

The Pilgrim had warped back in and was close to a wreck, tuning my nav systems I warped to the wreck and engaged him, the fight was short. The carrier pilot looking on helplessly.

So a Retriever, Vexor, Malediction, Maulus, Pilgrim and 10 fighters in exchange for my 5 drones, I consider that a fair trade ;)

I headed home with a grin on my face, I needed a cigarette and a stiff drink.

Minutes later my farmer friend from earlier was back in system, Keira was already on the case and had his mission plex scanned out and was waiting patiently for him to come back, he did and he died again.

Good times... good times :D