Darwinism

There was not a lot that could be done to make Morpork a worse place. A direct hit by a meteorite, for example, would count as gentrification.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Pyramids)

Luck... Is a curious thing, sometimes the defining factor in a successful hunt, or embarrassing loss.

I'm sitting in my hangar, trying to figure out a fitting for a Worm frigate when an associate starts yelling on comms

"THANATOS UNDOCKED FROM GUS STATION, FUCKING HELL HE'S WARPED IN THE DIRECTION OF THE STAR"

Excitement almost getting the better of me, I calm myself and ask her nicely to follow him

"WARPING AT 100 CLICKS"

I quickly board a Bhaalgorn named Ghetto, I would need a few of its abilities for this.

"THANATOS OFF SCAN"

Bugger must have cloaked because he still appeared on the local register.

"DROPPING PRO... FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK THAT'S A BIG SHIP"

By chance, my friend in her tiny Cheetah Covops decloaks the monstrous Thanatos.

"GET HERE QUICK"

Alright woman, calm down, stop shouting, I'm... On... The... Way!

Ghetto undocks from the station and I set warp as I enter the black, I land a few clicks off the Thanatos and proceed the basics of tackling.

Lock... Check

Warp Disruptor... Check

Dual Web... Check

Guns... Check

Drones... Check

Energy Neutralisers... Check

Everything now in place and the Thanatos locked down, I start to make arrangements for escalated negotiations.

The Thanatos has me locked up and dispatches a group of fighters in my direction, Keira is busy getting ready to deploy as I start making some calls to like minded individuals who may be interested in a nice sit down with the Thanatos pilot.

I hit armour as Keira undocks the NovaKane Incorporated flagship, an Archon carrier named ArKane and initiates warp to my position. Gang is forming, slowly at first but then invites start flying as the locals come out to party.

Keira lands with my Bhaalgorn almost at 50% armour, she locks me up and sends some remote armour repair love my way, a deployment of ten Fighters spews forth from the ArKane and start multiple attack runs on the now stricken Thanatos.

The tank of the Gallente designed carrier isn't doing very well, but then he probably has zero capacitor left at this point to run it, with a massive explosion, it breaks apart, the escape pod warping out rather sharpish from negotiations as the pilot had logged his critical systems...

...But he didn't get too far as my associate probed it down and punishment for such cowardice was exacted with extreme prejudice.

A lucky kill for my friends and I, an embarrassing loss for the luckless carrier pilot.

The drop... It is hot

Simony's eyes gleamed with the gleam of a man who had seen the future and found it covered with armour plating.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Small Gods)

A lone Proteus burns down on Aiko's Onyx, 160km off the Eifer gate in Gusandall. Never ones to pass up on a shiny kill the locals extend the traditional Gus welcome. My first thought was to board Havelock Vetinari, my Bhaalgorn but something about this had my Admiral Akbar senses tingling, so I boarded something a little less shiny but none the less potent, an Armageddon class battleship.

Armageddon

The mighty Armageddon class is the main warship of the Amarr Empire. Its heavy armaments and strong front are specially designed to crash into any battle like a juggernaut and deliver swift justice in the name of the Emperor.

Amarr Battleship Skill Bonus: 10% bonus to Large Energy Turret capacitor use and 5% Large Energy Turret rate of fire per level.

I undock and warp directly to Aiko's position where the Proteus has him engaged, Aiko, as is his nature of course has the strategic cruiser pointed and is firing back. I land and light the Proteus up with some Mega Pulse II cheer. I'm followed by a few others and things got a little hotter as an Arazu decloaks and pops a cyno. Order is given to align out, it seems the hotdrop is on.

A Thanatos carrier jumps in and I'm like, fuck this shit, primary the Arazu to drop it as quickly as possible so that the cyno field would drop and nothing else could jump through. Thanatos goes straight into triage and easily reps the Arazu and Proteus as we switch targets rapidly. I'm in the fight for the long haul, I'm firmly tackled and primaried by the three ships but AMAHGAHD is made of stern stuff, merely shrugging off the damage of the recon, strategic cruiser and carrier's Ogre IIs. They eventually switch primary as they hit the geddon's massive armour at 95%.

We keep switching targets and the Thanny drops out of its first triage cycle, points on, carrier, all DPS on Arazu.

I say we, yes, we decided to fight even though the danger of escalation stared us right in the face.

Thanatos drops into a second triage cycle and we start to make plans to escalate. Nomi warps his own Thanatos onto the field and we engage the offending carrier with all DPS. The Thanny pilot sends a massive wave of large ECM drones my way as he seems to have taken a personal dislike of my chiselled features. I lose lock but we now have a substantial fleet on the field. Nomi gets some capital remote armour repair love on my battleship, as once again, Kane is primary.

THERE WAS A FIREFIGHT!

Lasers, missiles, projectiles and kitchen sinks were flying everywhere, it was bedlam as the hostile Thanatos came out of its second triage cycle. Again all DPS on the Arazu in case it dropped a second cyno and escalated but it wasn't long for this universe. Proteus was next on the table and it was delicious, crunchy, with a gooey centre.

Hostile Thanatos drops its third triage cycle and a friendly cyno is lit. Our neighbours and friends in Hrondedir, Jovian Enterprises, jump a Nyx super capital into the fray. Keira was on her way to get into ArKane, the NovaKane Inc Archon carrier but had technical difficulties mid warp.

Nyx

The Nyx is a gigantic homage to a figure much loved in Gallente society. The ship’s design is based on the scepter of Doule dos Rouvenor III, the king who, during his peaceful 36-year reign, was credited with laying the foundation for the technologically and socially progressive ideologies which have pervaded Gallente thought in the millennia since. Indeed, the Nyx itself is emblematic of the Gallenteans’ love for progress; packed to the ergonomic brim with the latest in cutting-edge advancements, it is a proud reminder of the things that make the Federation what it is.

Gallente Carrier Skill Bonuses:
50% bonus to Capital Shield and Armor transfer range per level
5% bonus to deployed Fighters’ damage per level
99% reduction in CPU need for Warfare Link modules
Can fit Tactical Logistics Reconfiguration modules
Can fit Clone Vat Bay
Can fit Projected Electronic Counter Measures
Can deploy 3 additional Fighters per level
Can fit 1 additional Warfare Link module per level
200% bonus to Fighter control range Immune to all forms of Electronic Warfare

All fire on the Thanatos, it hits structure as it drops out of its third triage and explodes in a massive bang that I'm sure was felt as far away as Eifer.

Keira had just managed to get the Archon undocked as the Thanatos gave up. Need to keep your wits about you girl, can't live in a Claymore forever.

'Good Fight' was shared in local, as the hostiles returned to wherever they came from. Now, while it ended very one sided, please keep in mind it did not start that way and at any point it could have gone horribly wrong for us, but fortune favours the brave and I'm glad I stayed on the field to the conclusion.

Much love to Nomi for the RR, it seems my alliance mates are getting quite good at keeping me alive.

Unfortunately Aiko would lose his legendary Onyx to a Dominix and Tengu but we avenged our fallen comrade by making the Tengu pilots day just that little bit brighter.

A good day, would have been perfect had I managed to point the Megathron at its safespot that was playing station games with his Drake buddy but you can't kill em all...

Won't stop me trying though ;)

A fool and his Carrier...

I walked into the hangar to see the comms flashing, something about a Thanatos in Eifer. My first thought was "What kind of idiot cynos into a stationless system?"

Kane Rizzel > what's going down?

My answer was a fleet invite and a request to bring DPS to the Eifer gate so I boarded "Karma™" and made my way there. I was paying attention to fleet comms and waiting for the cue to jump in. It came as a covops had probed the mark out and the order to engage was given. Upon bursting out of warp I locked the Gallente carrier and deployed my drones, I had my 425s loaded with EMP rounds to break through the massive shields, the rest of the small gang had landed and all hell broke loose. The carrier had locked me and set his fighters on me, only 5 deployed but I was used to this and used the same old tactic of stringing the fighters out so they didn't damage me, by the time I had gotten 120clicks away the carrier pilot had cottoned on and recalled the fighters so I closed in once again, relocked, loaded Barrage and opened up as he was in armor.

The armor melted and it was curious as I saw no repping, soon he hit structure and the question of ransom was asked with the majority of the eight man gang wanting the kill. By the time we all agreed he had exploded as his structure melted, his escape pod jettisoned into space and warping out as soon as he did. The wreck was looted and to our suprise the fitting was exceptionally poor.

Thanatos down

It's amazing that a pilot would jump into a system with no station and with known pirates about. A lone carrier is like blood in the water and the sharks will zone in on a kill in next to no time.

The carrier pilot stated in a mail to one of our gang that he only had the carrier for thirty minutes and was on his way to fit it, wrong fucking system to make a pitstop

I returned to HQ to have a smoke and a drink, capital kills always make me thirsty

Memories...

CARRIER DOWN

The hangar at home is cold, it's always cold, but I like it that way, keeps you keen, sharpens the senses. I'm sitting on a stack of Republic Fleet EMP shells watching Keira make fun of the deck hands as they load Karma. I should be more specific and say Karma IV . The first Karma had served me well and thinking back on her I'm reminded of her finest moment.

About 3 months ago, a fine Saturday evening, I was hanging around in station talking to some friends when someone got a call, Anti Pirates had been spotted in a system nearby and a fleet was being assembled to go have some fun.

I had a long day at that point checking inventory and making sure Keira didn't get into trouble but the chance for some explosions always makes me happy and woke me up sufficiently to join the party.

I boarded Karma and did a systems check, made sure the deck hands had loaded the correct ammo and undocked. Heading to the gate I was trying to gather as much intel as possible. The anti pirate gang was sizeable, with battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, with an interceptor thrown in for good measure.

Our fleet consisted of two battleships and seven battlecruisers, six of those the mighty Hurricane class.


With some intial trouble trying to connect to voice comms I eventually found the gang next door trying to bait the anti pies into action. From memory the Anti Pies had:
1xTempest
1xMaelstrom
1xMegathron
1xMyrmidon
1xHurricane
1xCyclone
1x Ares

We initially had:
6xHurricanes
1xTyphoon
1xAbbadon
1xBrutix

At this point we had our Abbadon on the station trying to bait their fleet into aggroing, a bit of cat and mouse later and they dropped a Thanatos carrier on us, a quick decision was made and our two Battleship pilots happened to have Archon Carriers in System, a quick dock later they were ready and the decision to engage the enemy carrier came down from the FC.
All hurricanes were ordered to bump the Thanatos , with the carrier now 6km off the station, all guns focused fire, I was duel neuting and shooting with all my drones out, continuosly making bumping runs. The Anti Pie fleet undocked and watched helplessly as we tore the Thanatos apart. We had a decision to make at this point as it entered hull, would we ransom?

FUCK NO, SHINY EXPLOSION

My first lowsec carrier kill

While hanging about popping the vultures around the wreck, a Sleipnir undocks and died quicker than you can say "Who's your daddy" under the firepower amassed.

General revelry ensued and amazement that the Anti Pies never even tried to help their carrier.

Going back home and just chilling we get a call from a Vagabond pilot tackling a Munnin in a system one jump out, off we go and engage, Munnin almost down, Myrmidon warps in and starts neuting and NOSsing our Hurricanes , Munnin goes down and then Myrm dies to some epic firepower.

EPIC DAYS ARE MADE OF THIS

Another of my better days is as follows:

Today was a beautiful day, for the first time in a very long time I had Friday off, so I decided to do a spot of hunting. I undocked a Rifter and immediately saw a Thrasher on scan, appeared to be in a plex. Now plexes don't play nice with MWDs but I needed to move fast, warped to the gate and activated it, warped in and the thrasher was 30km, from me, totally oblivious to my presence I sneaked up on him and activated Disruptor, web and all guns, he died quite quickly and I snapped up his pod for good measure.

Good start I thought as I sat in the plex waiting for my GCC to expire (Rifters don't do well against sentries, don't ask how I know)

Once GCC was up I went next door to Eifer and scanned down a Rifter pilot using the on board scanner, within seconds I was on top of him and made his ship all shiny like and sent him back to the clone vats.

Another GCC wait later and I headed back home to drop off loot and corpses, Sitting in station I receive a report that there is a Megathron camping the station and was asked to join two other pilots in taking him out, I boarded a Gank Hurricane and waited for the signal to undock. It came as the Astarte and Typhoon engaged, I undocked and joined the battle, it was quite intense as the Mega pilot was very experienced, 03 player in a good setup. The Typhoon died mere seconds before the Mega exploded. Unfortunately I missed the pod.

Once more next door I'm in a Rifter and scan out a Thrasher, I warp in and the ship and pod is dispatched without being targeted back o_0 AFK in lowsec, GCC expires and I'm back home

Hanging out in station Keira undocked in her Cheetah covops and warped to a scan spot high above the station, from there she could use the on board scanner to see the whole system, she spied an Enyo and Manticore on the HUD, mmm, in the plex. Knowing they had some good firepower I boarded a Wolf class Assault Frigate and loaded an Afterburner for the Plex, undocked and headed out. I got to the gate and using the on board scanner determined they were still there.
Now or never I said to myself and activated the gate, the Enyo is a good challenge for the Wolf but if the Manticore had range on me it would be over very quickly.
Fortune favors the brave and I had come out of warp right on top of the Manti with Enyo 40km away. Manti was locked and disintegrated under fire, I snapped up the pod for god measure and activated my afterburner towards the Enyo, he had put one Hobgoblin drone on me but I destroyed it without even blinking. Once on top of the Enyo the fight was over in seconds. Missed his pod but you can't have everything. I grabbed the loot, which was very nice and headed home.

Docked up and chatting in over various channels I received intel on a bait ship sitting on a high sec entrance point, said bait ship had been used before by a CVA pilot and the Intel was confirmed that once the bait was taken he would jump in with a Battleship. A hastily assembled gang of myself in a Broadsword, 2 x Hurricanes, a Tempest, an Astarte and a Megathron headed to a gate in the adjacent system, one of our Hurricanes would warp in and spring the trap. Call came over comms and we jumped in and warped in, the trap consisted of a Thorax as bait and a Megathron. We all engaged and the Megathron went down very, very quickly, I had tackled the Thorax too and he went down even quicker with his pod being quickly snagged and popped. Slavers in Heimatar? not on our watch :P

Loot was grabbed as we held the field and those of us with GCC headed to safe spots, the call came in that our Mega pilot had just been engaged on the gate by a Tempest, he was in serious trouble and the gang had separated, urgent “HOLD ON, WE'RE EN ROUTE” went over comm channels as the gang tried to hastily go in and help, all the while I was thinking “This has to be another trap”
most of the gang had come out of warp just as our Megathron popped but revenge was quick and ruthless, the Tempest went down, he was using ECM drones and had our Mega jammed for the entire engagement, I was then next to get the ECM drone loving but they only got one cycle off on me. This time loot was grabbed again and pilots warped to safe spots but unlike last time all stayed in system. Holds were full and the Mega pilot had gone back to his base to grab a Dominix.
Now the hunt peaks, the Domi is grabbing loot and we hear “Guys, Navy Raven on gate, engaging”
Holy shit Faction Battleship, our ships can't enter warp fast enough and the warp to the gate seems to take for fucking ever, finally I come out of warp, 40km away, hit the MWD and headed straight for the Faction ship hoping to get a good bump off, the Domi is doing it's best to bump it from the gate.
I hit the Raven like a fluffy pillow but we are 7km from the gate, I hit the Stasis Web II and open up with all my guns, the rest of the gang joins in and the Raven starts to melt. All this time our gang is under sentry fire but the red mist has descended and nothing but the death of the Faction Raven is on our minds. It pops and a “FUCK YEAH” is heard over comms.
I snap up the pod for good measure and warp out. The gang grabs the loot and decision is made to dock up as we would be getting more attention now that the system is glowing on the map.

Sitting in station Keira shouts out over comms that there's an Incursus and two Kestrels in the plex, so into a Wolf again and off I go, warping in there's a Malediction engaging them, a Pirate I've known for a while and get on well with but he had to warp out as he wasn't able to use his MWD, I targeted the Incursus first and dispatched him quickly, followed by one of the in range Kestrels, while burning towards the last kestrel the pods of the other two hadn't warped out so I locked them and sent them home via clone express. Kestrel flashed into nothingness shortly after followed by his pod.

Later on caught another Rifter in a belt, missed his pod though


I was sitting docked up and watching movies, kinda drained from much carnage when Keira spotted a Claymore sitting 60km off station. I reported this in an Intel channel but there was very little awake. Two other pilots woke up enough to express interest in taking it on, I undocked in my Shield Gank Hurricane and MWD'd towards it, it woke up and started to move at over 2km/s, damn I thought, not going to catch it, just then an Ishtar decloaked just off my port side and started in on me, so I kindly returned the favour and it died oh so quick and even allowed me to pop his pod, I started chasing after the Claymore again and was joined by a Sleipnir and another Hurricane by the time I got him webbed down I was already deep in hull from sentry fire, I had to warp out just as the Claymore popped.

I had docked up to repair when the other Hurricane reported being engaged by a Vagabond, I undocked and saw them on station, MWD goes active and I burn towards the Vaga to bump it off the station, guns go live and dual neuts till I'm in web range, Vaga goes pop.

I'm drained atm but absolutely stoked

So, revised list for the day so far:
2xRifter (Solo)
2xThrasher (Solo)
2xMegathron
1xEnyo (Solo)
1xManticore (Solo)
1xTempest
1xNavy Raven
1xIncursus (Solo)
2xKestrel (Solo)
1xIshtar (Solo)
1xClaymore
1xVagabond
10xPods

Using Rifter, Wolf, Hurricane and Broadsword

The Ishtar left me a nice Domination Warp Disruptor and loads of t2 drones and mods