Tormented

Quote #163.

The kraken stirs. And ten billion sushi dinners cry out for vengeance.

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

A few days ago I was contacted by a long time reader, recently retired from wormhole space and looking to find his way in lowsec, as such he endeavoured to battle me.

Yesterday I spent a fruitless day hunting the Minmatar faction warfare zones, I was met with either overwhelming force or MWD kiters, with only one fight I headed home, rather despondent with only one proper fight the whole trip.

Sitting in Amamake, on what would seem to be yet another fruitless day, when all the Navy Slicers would warp away, Jiffah contacted me and asked if I was still up for the battle, now anyone who knows me will tell you I love 1v1s, have always and will always honour them, so I headed back to Gusandall after a quick shower and dinner to get ready for what I expected to be an interesting fight.

I haven't had a 1v1 in a while, folk are so skittish these days that I've even been laughed at for even offering, saying I would just get my 'friends' to come gank them, didn't know folk were so attached to their frigates to be honest, so to say I'm a little rusty is a slight under statement.

1v1s are a little different than most combat in the universe, for a start, you need to make sure your 1v1 tab is set up properly, not having the person you're fighting show up on your overview does not help your cause.

Jiffah arrived in Gus with a Tormentor, a ship I have not battled yet but one I've heard a great deal about. I had chosen my Battle Probe, a ship that I consider to be pound for pound the best brawler in the game

Tormentor

 



The Tormentor is a Combat Frigate designed for frontline fighting.
Traits 
Amarr Frigate skill bonus per level:
10% bonus to Small Energy Turret capacitor use
5% bonus to Small Energy Turret damage
Development
The Tormentor has been in service for many decades. For most of that time it saw service as a mining ship, its size barring it from making any kind of impact on the battlefield. As with most Amarr ships, however, its strong defenses always made it a tough opponent to crack, and with recent advances in turret capacitor use and damage output, its lasers have now stopped digging into dead ore and are instead focused on boring through the hulls of hapless vessels in combat. 

VS

Probe

 


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

Kane Rizzel > just say when you're ready
Jiffah > I'm
Kane Rizzel > ?
Jiffah > I mean I'm ready and waiting
Kane Rizzel > in warp, gl and hf
Jiffah > you too :)

I land on grid and nothing on overview, quick pan out, lock and engage, I know the Tormentor can have good range but I have a trick up my sleeve to force him in,, we dance around each other at 8km with purple pulses of death slamming into my Probe, I reply with salvos of rockets and autocannon fire, drones from both ships, pass each other on the way to the other.

We're both in armour, I'm pulsing my repper as I start to orbit to mitigate some of the scorch damage, my opponent however seems to have activated Beast Mode tank, I'm starting to get down to my last few remaining explosive rockets (Another thing to remember about 1v1s is to bring enough ammo)

I make the mistake of switching to thermal rage rockets, but after he near reps all his armour back I switch to faction thermal and start to overheat in earnest. I'm slowly dealing damage to his structure before he reps chuncks of armour back, it's starting to look grim as bits of my ship start melting, first to go is my scram, I'm having to nurse my gun and launchers to make sure they don't suffer the same fate. With one last burst of overheating, I punch through his last armour and decimate what structure is left, the Tormentor torments me no more

Kane Rizzel > great fight
Jiffah > gf :)

I scoop the loot and dock up to repair what is left of my Probe, everything is on fire and my deck crew are going to have a hell of a time fixing everything. 

Jiffah > One more round if you don't mind?
Kane Rizzel > sure
Kane Rizzel > mind if I change ship?
Jiffah > sure
Jiffah > fair enough
Kane Rizzel > the probe is a little op
Kane Rizzel > that tomentor tanks like a beast
Jiffah > I burned out my AB, after that it was only matter of time when you finish me
Kane Rizzel > I always end up burning something out

Jiffah returns in another Tormentor but I want to try something a little different, I go for an old Incursus build of mine with one minor upgrade from my old standard

Tormentor

 



The Tormentor is a Combat Frigate designed for frontline fighting.
Traits 
Amarr Frigate skill bonus per level:
10% bonus to Small Energy Turret capacitor use
5% bonus to Small Energy Turret damage
Development
The Tormentor has been in service for many decades. For most of that time it saw service as a mining ship, its size barring it from making any kind of impact on the battlefield. As with most Amarr ships, however, its strong defenses always made it a tough opponent to crack, and with recent advances in turret capacitor use and damage output, its lasers have now stopped digging into dead ore and are instead focused on boring through the hulls of hapless vessels in combat. 


VS

Incursus

 



The Incursus is a Combat Frigate designed for frontline fighting.
Traits
Gallente Frigate skill bonus per level:
7.5% bonus to Armor Repairer effectiveness
5% bonus to Small Hybrid Turret damage

Development
The Incursus may be found both spearheading and bulwarking Gallente military operations. Its speed makes it excellent for skirmishing duties, while its resilience helps it outlast its opponents on the battlefield. Incursus-class ships move together in groups and can quickly and effectively gang up on ships many times their size and overwhelm them. In recent years the Incursus has increasingly found its way into the hands of pirates, who love its aggressive appearance. 

Jiffah > Ok, same spot, i'm here
Kane Rizzel > ok, omw gl and hf

I warp in again, Jiffah is at 18km from me, and he moves rather quickly, but very soon we're in range of each others scrams,but my blasters seem to be doing very little damage to his shields, I'm barely scratching him at this point, so with a web advantage I move closer and reload to void, the Tormentor explodes.

I check the killmail and see why my damage to his shields appeared weak 

Kane Rizzel > gf again
Jiffah > gf
Kane Rizzel > did not expect the switch to shields
Jiffah > hehe
Kane Rizzel > thought my damage was really poor lol
Jiffah > rushing straight to you was clearly a mistake
Kane Rizzel > I switched to void
Kane Rizzel > so yeah
Kane Rizzel > clear punched right through
Jiffah > more important you caught me with scrambler
Jiffah > no chance for MWD
Jiffah > anyway that was fun
Kane Rizzel > yeah, thanks for that, very rare I get 1v1s these days, everyone so paranoid
Jiffah > thank you too for accepting my challenge
Kane Rizzel > you're welcome dude
Kane Rizzel > will do a blog about it :)
Jiffah > That's it for now, fly dangerous o7
Kane Rizzel > o7
 

Thank you again Jiffah, was an honour to battle you.

I did the Faction Warfare loop once again, swinging via Bosena and the only fight I got was a terribly close encounter versus this fellow, good fight sir, I was in structure and on fire :)


Edit: A little closer to home while I sort out my loot hangar to be moved to market a curious fellow in a Worm calls me out

hoogy thekiller > Gusandall IV - Republic Justice Department Tribunal
hoogy thekiller > come out

So I undock in my Tristan, I'm almost convinced it's a trap as he's hugging the station but I intend to see this through as I close and start to circle, he engages and the fight is on, I'm already in armour as my drones and guns start to chew meaningfully into his shields, an overloaded repper is just about dealing with the incoming damage but I have now well and truly got him as his shields vapourise and chunks of armour are shredded away, he explodes violently, lighting up the dark side of Gusandall station.

Kane Rizzel > gf
hoogy thekiller > fuck u
Kane Rizzel > no use get angry about it, you called Gus out
hoogy thekiller > can i see ya fit
hoogy thekiller > and i had lagg

Oh well, sorry for your lag.Other than the guy being an absolute muppet it was a very good fight.

Gusandall IV - Republic Justice Department Tribunal: Courts where judicial matters are judged

And this finally arrived in the mail this afternoon, my favourite ship in the whole wide universe

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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A Game of Frigates

"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)

My day started with a rather extreme workout, for which my muscles aren't thanking me for right now, but to avoid the atrophy of long spells spent in a capsule full of goo, it's a necessary evil.
The 2/10 seems to be picking up again, thanks to the likes of Sard Caid and his stream and Miura Bull's fantastic guide promoting them as bastions of PvP, the one in Gus is seeing a little more attention paid to it, and this is a good thing.

The first fight of the day was against a Jaguar, a ship I am intimately acquainted with, as of late there is a rather nasty dual medium ancillary shield booster fit making the rounds but regardless I chose a fun new ship to play with, The Sentinel.

Sentinel

Name: 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 

It ticks a lot of boxes as a Frigate destroyer for me, particularly a few variations that rely on capacitor and turrets. So I undock and warp to the 2/10
The Jaguar seems to be in two minds as it takes him a little while to come to me, but when he does he warps in nearly on top of me, not ideal as his damage would hurt at such range... That it does, but overloaded  energy neutralisers soon shut his propulsion and tackle mods down, which allows me to gain range and use my tracking disruptor to full effect.

Once at range it is pretty much over as he valiantly tries to swat my drones, but the little critters are tenacious and tear the Jaguar apart, piece by piece.

Kenzo Shimada > gf
Kane Rizzel > gf
Kenzo Shimada > never seen this ship in action before
Kenzo Shimada > nice
Kane Rizzel > I've only been flying it a few days, enjoying it, something different
Kenzo Shimada > I have to confess, that I underestimated it a little
Kenzo Shimada > but then my cap was gone^^
Kane Rizzel > I'm finding most people are
Kane Rizzel > yeah, it caps frigates pretty quickly
Kane Rizzel > you got very close in the beginning and got web on, thought I was done for
Kenzo Shimada > yup, but then within a few secs my cap was gone
Kenzo Shimada > and so were you
Kenzo Shimada > couldn't get any closer to you
Kenzo Shimada > good fight though o7
Kane Rizzel > yeah, gf o7

A few minutes later, a Retribution class assault frigate enters system and I guess he'll be heading to the 2/10. I undock the Sentinel again and DSCAN shows him where I expect, I warp over, overheat everything, I land and the DSCAN shows him inside the plex, probably waiting at zero, which is not ideal for me, but I warp in anyways... Yup, he's waiting for me and I hit him with a full force of neuts, but a single volley from his medium pulse lasers strips my shields, the second volley puts me at half armour, if it carries on like this my Sentinel won't be long for this Verse... I probably forgot to mention this thing has no tank whatsoever :)

I struggle to get range, but an overheated afterburner pulls me out to 15km, my tracking disruptor playing havoc with his laser optimal range, and shortly there-after he stops shooting altogether as his cap runs dry. A tense few seconds for me becomes frustration for the Retribution pilot as my drones are now free to do as they want to the golden ship, and what they want is explosions.

I manage to tackle the escape pod before it warps to safety and offer terms:
Kane Rizzel > 50mil ransom?
Maggistr > yes
Kane Rizzel > ok
Kane Rizzel > gf

He accepts and I disengage my tackle and let him go on his merry, although 50million ISK poorer :)


Operation IVY

A rather large fleet of EVE University rolls through Gus (add to that a Manticore and two further Stilettos)
I shall use this opportunity to promote a rather useful tool for all your FC/Scouting needs, DingoGS's FC Toolbox.
Kane Rizzel > there's an acre of you fellas
Jake Uta > Do you know the way to Rens?
Kane Rizzel > go get some more and I'll take you on
Jake Uta > http://i.imgur.com/AvHwD.gif
Kane Rizzel > what's a rens?
powerfreak evans > a system
powerfreak evans > ;)

Nothing comes of this however as they move on.


Links up: A tale of two Maledictions

The family is back in Gusandall, for the moment, and as such I employed the use of skirmish links for this next fight.

A single Malediction enters Gusandall, naturally assuming it will be going to the 2/10, I board something a little more daring to take on the rocket based interceptor, an Incursus.

Incursus

The Incursus may be found both spearheading and bulwarking Gallente military operations. Its speed makes it excellent for skirmishing duties, while its resilience helps it outlast its opponents on the battlefield. Incursus-class ships move together in groups and can quickly and effectively gang up on ships many times their size and overwhelm them. In recent years the Incursus has increasingly found its way into the hands of pirates, who love its aggressive appearance.

Gallente Frigate Skill Bonus: 10% bonus to Armor Repairer effectiveness and 5% bonus to Small Hybrid Turret damage per skill level.

I undock and warp straight to the 2/10 and sure enough, the Malediction warps in at range... And continues to stay at range whilst holding me tackled.


Alekseyev Karrde > let you go for 3mil
Kane Rizzel > :)

There's no way I'm going to catch him at the rate he's moving, and there's no way in hell I'm going quietly without getting a shot off, so gang is formed and skirmish links go up. I overheat my mods and try to activate them but for some reason the overheat primer has fused my mods and I sit helpless as the Malediction skilfully pilots around me, I bide my time, he's holding me for a reason, which soon becomes apparent as his corpmate jumps into system in another Malediction. 

This is when the fight gets interesting, after what felt like 5 minutes of me trying to slingshot into range, the first Malediction starts to close, I try to tackle it, but my mods are still fused, I toggle overheat a few times, eventually I can activate my mods and the fight begins in earnest. Second Malediction warps in and starts to close, my blasters start playing merry havoc with the firsts armour but he seems to be repping well, but only a matter of seconds till he breaks, and break he does, I turn all attention to the second Malediction, I'm easily repping his damage and he's doing the same to mine... It's about now I remember I have a drone to use...

For fucks sake, this will be the first deployment of this drone since I started using this particular Incursus and he's raring to go, I unleash the wee beastie and he zips across the void to add to my Null damage and the second Malediction explodes. 

Alekseyev Karrde > vgf
Kane Rizzel > gf
Kane Rizzel > gf
Kane Rizzel > very gf
Preestar > gf
Kane Rizzel > my overheating wasn't working for most of that
Kane Rizzel > very weird
Alekseyev Karrde > Rizzel, did you have off grid armor links for that?
Kane Rizzel > just skirmish
Alekseyev Karrde > tank was wicked bro
Kane Rizzel > but my overheat wasn't working
Kane Rizzel > the incursus is mad tank
Kane Rizzel > built in bonus
Alekseyev Karrde > aye
Alekseyev Karrde > havnt actually tried to kill one w just frigates since the patch
Kane Rizzel > it's a nasty little ship and a beast with null
Kane Rizzel > good fight though, wasn't going to catch you even with skirmish if you didn't come in, was just biding my time :)
Alekseyev Karrde > p much the same on our end.  I knew i couldnt take you by myself, but i was surprised the two males couldnt break the local.  Now i know hehe
Alekseyev Karrde > gotta scoot

A good fight from good opponents :)

In other news

Long time friend and Celebrity Death Match founder, Nashh Kadavr is leaving the Capsule behind and retiring to a terran existence, all the best old friend, may your skies always be friendly :)

Edit: I've been asked a few times now, those are my knuckles in the previous blog :)