I am not as space-rich as some of the nullsec Elite, like eg; Dark Razer etc, who run eve bet. I don't have 80B ISK, or 200B ISK. I have single digit billions.
They say that the upper classes get rich on the toil of others; this is as true in EVE as it is in real life. However, unlike in real life, your betters do not kill you and steal your hours of gist and grind, build out your True Sansha pulse laser BPC and make around 350M ISK.
Today, Bob the Wormhole God gaveth to me and tooketh away from Ivan Pestrov.
I am not sure how long it takes to grind 800M of nullsec sites, but it takes 20 seconds to grind an Astero.
Monday, 5 May 2014
Sunday, 4 May 2014
I like these Prospects
News just in: I am buying another account, slewing my mining alt over to it, and training him Cyno 5 as soon as I join some kind of nullsec mining corp.
Suddenly, BLOPs in the guts of your mining flleet, thanks to the Prospect.
Wow. Very cool. Much ships.
Suddenly, BLOPs in the guts of your mining flleet, thanks to the Prospect.
Wow. Very cool. Much ships.
Nestor - Achievement Unlocked
The Nestor is, to my mind, basically the biggest white elephant ship in EVE right now. I mean, OK, it's nice to buy shinies and not use them, but using the Nestor in any environment for which it is intended is just plain silly. Lets be honest, it's meant for wormholes, but you wouldn't drive a Ferrari down to South Central with "fuck you cunts" written on the side, and for 1.5B ISk you may as well find alternatives.
However, there's nothing in EVE if not an oversupply of ISK and a dearth of commonsense and, perhaps, people who just like to helicopter dick their way around. In some cases, it's even the fact they believe it is embarrassing to die in a cheap ship, so they pimp it up.
I'm looking for a C3/U210 because when BUGRY lived in one, we got the best pew pew and had the most fun we ever had, as a corp. So I found what may be the system - unoccupied, all its moons bar one occupied by a blocking POS (caldari smalls) and an offline Minmatar medium with a bit of candy. Move in, and some other poor shmucks have made it impossible for you to get a siege POS in your system without at least a couple hours extra work.
So, while out baiting in Metropolis with my Nereus, I had my alt AFKing in the C3, ahead of actually bothering to put a POS kit together in Dodixie and get moved in. I tabbed over every now and then to hit d-scan, and then suddenly I had nestor, Domi, Tempest, Abbadon, Coercer and Noctis on scan, and a fresh sig.
It took a few seconds to remember what a Nestor actually was, and then I was off one set of comms and on to another to rustle up a batphone, while I dropped my Nereus in Dammalin and hoofed it to the entry. The only ship i had nearby was an Omen, and our gang numbered seven, with only one logi.
Going up against three RRing battleships with Domi and Nestor drones (~800 DPS each) with a solo Logi was going to be tough. Given we were all in cloaky, proby T3's, half of us were active shield tanked and lacked the DPS we ought to have, the plan was to bump the BS apart and get the cap transfers to drop, thereby nobbling the spider tank. We were then going to hold on with gritted teeth until another guy could bring a 600 DPS Legion in and hopefully crack them. The Oneiros was LASB fitted and technically survivable, but it was going to be hairy.
But for a 1.5B hull to get a killmail on, lord alone knows what pimp was on it, plus maybe 2-3 other BS and any rescue fleet....well, #YOLOSWAGSPACEDOLLAZ.
In the end, the other BS bailed and left the Nestor to its fate. He was very sporting about it, as he had paid 205M ISK to print the hull, and we didn't get welped.
It was, however, theoretically going to be a balls to the wall battle. I kinda wish they had stuck around and tried the RR and sentries.
However, there's nothing in EVE if not an oversupply of ISK and a dearth of commonsense and, perhaps, people who just like to helicopter dick their way around. In some cases, it's even the fact they believe it is embarrassing to die in a cheap ship, so they pimp it up.
I'm looking for a C3/U210 because when BUGRY lived in one, we got the best pew pew and had the most fun we ever had, as a corp. So I found what may be the system - unoccupied, all its moons bar one occupied by a blocking POS (caldari smalls) and an offline Minmatar medium with a bit of candy. Move in, and some other poor shmucks have made it impossible for you to get a siege POS in your system without at least a couple hours extra work.
So, while out baiting in Metropolis with my Nereus, I had my alt AFKing in the C3, ahead of actually bothering to put a POS kit together in Dodixie and get moved in. I tabbed over every now and then to hit d-scan, and then suddenly I had nestor, Domi, Tempest, Abbadon, Coercer and Noctis on scan, and a fresh sig.
It took a few seconds to remember what a Nestor actually was, and then I was off one set of comms and on to another to rustle up a batphone, while I dropped my Nereus in Dammalin and hoofed it to the entry. The only ship i had nearby was an Omen, and our gang numbered seven, with only one logi.
Going up against three RRing battleships with Domi and Nestor drones (~800 DPS each) with a solo Logi was going to be tough. Given we were all in cloaky, proby T3's, half of us were active shield tanked and lacked the DPS we ought to have, the plan was to bump the BS apart and get the cap transfers to drop, thereby nobbling the spider tank. We were then going to hold on with gritted teeth until another guy could bring a 600 DPS Legion in and hopefully crack them. The Oneiros was LASB fitted and technically survivable, but it was going to be hairy.
But for a 1.5B hull to get a killmail on, lord alone knows what pimp was on it, plus maybe 2-3 other BS and any rescue fleet....well, #YOLOSWAGSPACEDOLLAZ.
In the end, the other BS bailed and left the Nestor to its fate. He was very sporting about it, as he had paid 205M ISK to print the hull, and we didn't get welped.
It was, however, theoretically going to be a balls to the wall battle. I kinda wish they had stuck around and tried the RR and sentries.
Friday, 2 May 2014
Flight of the SS Planet Dollaz
Baiting is a skill. The lads at Swift Angels are getting good at it, but if I don't say so myself, I can thread a worm on a hook pretty damn well.
I got a secret Nereus fit off Johnny Twelvebore and tried it out a few days ago, where it pproved successful; it required not one, but two Deimos to break its tank. So when the weekly MATE roam out of Stacmon was scheduled to be shield cruisers, and this means Scythes, I of course offered to be bait. I strapped in to my Nereus, named Planet Dollaz, and went ahead of the fleet.
We started out by heading to Tama. Enroute a flashy Gnosis was sitting on gate as I landed and jumped. I followed and held cloak, just like a shitscared industrial pilot would. When I decloaked I burned for him - he was at zero on the gate, as you would be. Naturally he started shooting, and naturally, Planet Dollaz being how she is, he got me down to 95% shield. I got point and web, and called in the boys. Bazinga, one dead pirate.
We then got hotdropped by a Covops cyno-equipped Falcon and its gang of T3's. Of course, it was our own fault for shoosting the Falcon when he "accidentally" decloaked. However, as far as it goes, the Falcon made a boo-boo, because he died and we only lost 2 Scythes. 180M vs 50M is still a good haul, especially added to the 84M Gnosis. Of course, in all of this, I was not pointed. Not that the anaemic DPS of a small covops gang would really have taken down Planet Dollaz before I jumped.
So, on we went; several more things died on gates, but my pathetic lock time and slugggish maneuverability prevented both my death and whoring abilities.
The fleet got engaged by an armour gang in Heydieles and lost a few ships, so we toook a WH detour to Wicked Creek, and scuttled away from a Talos fleet, ending up in Minnie FW space.
Planet Dollaz was deployed, but people's d-scanning ability is shit, and their plexing alts are so focused on orbiting button that no one took bait at the planets. So I did what you never do in an Industrial.
I had found my way to Kourmonen and cross-jumped a 4 man gang; Omen, Scythe Fleet, Loki and Omen navy. They somehow didn't quite get the idea of Nereus bait, soo when I found them again in Sosala and it was only the Omen and Scythe Fleet on gate, I approached the Omen, locked it up and went suspect. I tanked the gate guns and both cruisers long enough to get the fleet through the gate, and we claimed the scalp of the Omen. We nearly got the Scythe Fleet as well, but no webs.
After losing a fight vs an industrial, those boys were angry. They came back for us and we took the fight on Ossoggur gate, in Amamake. This turned out to be the end-of-night welp; we downed a Vexor and Scythe Fleet for basically everything except a Stabber and the Nereus.
I think the problem here was that the fleet got wing-warped to 20km, and that included our logistic cruisers. The Tempest pilot did very well - he DPS'ed one and neuted the other flat, resulting in a classic split of the logi.
The other problem was that our Scythes were fit shittily. MSE's on a Scythe? Son, I am disappoint. No prop mod? Son, I am disappoint (though, to be fair, this dude's first time flying logi).
The purpose of logistics cruisers is to rep, not to be DPS boats. You need mobility, and to be honest, Scythes are very mobile with a MWD.
This fit is what they should have been flying, and getting out to 50km range ASAP (if not, ideally, warping in 50km from the fleet...just saying). Do it right, and you are an asset to the fleet. Be a propless, gutless punching bag...well.
[Scythe, DDA]
Capacitor Power Relay II
Damage Control II
Power Diagnostic System II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II
Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Cap Recharger II
Large Shield Extender II
Medium S95a Remote Shield Booster
Medium S95a Remote Shield Booster
Medium S95a Remote Shield Booster
Medium Processor Overclocking Unit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Hobgoblin II x1
Hammerhead II x4
I got a secret Nereus fit off Johnny Twelvebore and tried it out a few days ago, where it pproved successful; it required not one, but two Deimos to break its tank. So when the weekly MATE roam out of Stacmon was scheduled to be shield cruisers, and this means Scythes, I of course offered to be bait. I strapped in to my Nereus, named Planet Dollaz, and went ahead of the fleet.
We started out by heading to Tama. Enroute a flashy Gnosis was sitting on gate as I landed and jumped. I followed and held cloak, just like a shitscared industrial pilot would. When I decloaked I burned for him - he was at zero on the gate, as you would be. Naturally he started shooting, and naturally, Planet Dollaz being how she is, he got me down to 95% shield. I got point and web, and called in the boys. Bazinga, one dead pirate.
We then got hotdropped by a Covops cyno-equipped Falcon and its gang of T3's. Of course, it was our own fault for shoosting the Falcon when he "accidentally" decloaked. However, as far as it goes, the Falcon made a boo-boo, because he died and we only lost 2 Scythes. 180M vs 50M is still a good haul, especially added to the 84M Gnosis. Of course, in all of this, I was not pointed. Not that the anaemic DPS of a small covops gang would really have taken down Planet Dollaz before I jumped.
So, on we went; several more things died on gates, but my pathetic lock time and slugggish maneuverability prevented both my death and whoring abilities.
The fleet got engaged by an armour gang in Heydieles and lost a few ships, so we toook a WH detour to Wicked Creek, and scuttled away from a Talos fleet, ending up in Minnie FW space.
Planet Dollaz was deployed, but people's d-scanning ability is shit, and their plexing alts are so focused on orbiting button that no one took bait at the planets. So I did what you never do in an Industrial.
I had found my way to Kourmonen and cross-jumped a 4 man gang; Omen, Scythe Fleet, Loki and Omen navy. They somehow didn't quite get the idea of Nereus bait, soo when I found them again in Sosala and it was only the Omen and Scythe Fleet on gate, I approached the Omen, locked it up and went suspect. I tanked the gate guns and both cruisers long enough to get the fleet through the gate, and we claimed the scalp of the Omen. We nearly got the Scythe Fleet as well, but no webs.
After losing a fight vs an industrial, those boys were angry. They came back for us and we took the fight on Ossoggur gate, in Amamake. This turned out to be the end-of-night welp; we downed a Vexor and Scythe Fleet for basically everything except a Stabber and the Nereus.
I think the problem here was that the fleet got wing-warped to 20km, and that included our logistic cruisers. The Tempest pilot did very well - he DPS'ed one and neuted the other flat, resulting in a classic split of the logi.
The other problem was that our Scythes were fit shittily. MSE's on a Scythe? Son, I am disappoint. No prop mod? Son, I am disappoint (though, to be fair, this dude's first time flying logi).
The purpose of logistics cruisers is to rep, not to be DPS boats. You need mobility, and to be honest, Scythes are very mobile with a MWD.
This fit is what they should have been flying, and getting out to 50km range ASAP (if not, ideally, warping in 50km from the fleet...just saying). Do it right, and you are an asset to the fleet. Be a propless, gutless punching bag...well.
[Scythe, DDA]
Capacitor Power Relay II
Damage Control II
Power Diagnostic System II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II
Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Cap Recharger II
Large Shield Extender II
Medium S95a Remote Shield Booster
Medium S95a Remote Shield Booster
Medium S95a Remote Shield Booster
Medium Processor Overclocking Unit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Hobgoblin II x1
Hammerhead II x4
Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Goat Sects
They say the first step is to admit your problem. In this respect, my problem was that I thought 135M SP's equalled nullsec ready for NCDOT.
Oh no, no, no.
You see, I have spent my training time on things such as, all races BS to 5. Minmatar Carrier to 5. Minmatar Dread to 5 and Capital Projectile 5. All T3's. Etcetera.
In a way, I really ought to have not bothered with NCDot. Not because they were lame (though Poison Kevin is a fucking retard FC who I refused to fly under), or bad, or sucked or any of that stuff. Nor were they failcascading - far from it, it's clear to me the organisation is strong, and focused and loyal and disciplined. In fact, it's the discipline which in many respects is the problem when you are a bit of a chameleon.
Whereas these guys buy and trade toons and capitals and supercapitals on a weekly basis, and just buy a dread alt which can fly the doctrine, I don't. Their solution to not being able to fly a Moros is to buy a pre-minted toon for their 2nd or 3rd character slot which can fly a Moros, and maybe iron out a few imperfetions in it (JDC 5, fuel conservation 5, etc).
In a way, this is efficient, effective and sensible. For me, it's not. I don't want to just have an account stacked with dread or slowcat alts. Faceless, useless slot fillers with just the minimum skills to pad out a place in the line of ships which get pushed around nullsec in giant capital blobs to push timers down, secure in the knowledge that if you meet the Doctrine fit, you get SRP, so...who cares, right?
So, faced with 3 months and 600M in skill books to reconfigure my main (let alone my alt) to Archon and Moros/Revelation, or in the least T2 Siege so i can takee my Nag along and get SRP, I went away.
I'vee decided that I'll get back to what I do best. Running a small corp - badly - and attaching it to allied organisations to force multiply, and thereby provide content for myself, and the poor fools who've shackled themselves to the banner.
This time, it's going to be Goat Sects. It will be based out of lowsec, and it'll be piratical, sorta. Piratical enough, anyway. Maybe when there's a solid core of 6-8 meatbods, we'll move into a C3 with U210 or C2 with A239/D382, because damn BUGRY had some fucking good fun in the U210 we had before.
Alliance wise, I am keeping my options open.
We'll see how it goes.
Oh no, no, no.
You see, I have spent my training time on things such as, all races BS to 5. Minmatar Carrier to 5. Minmatar Dread to 5 and Capital Projectile 5. All T3's. Etcetera.
In a way, I really ought to have not bothered with NCDot. Not because they were lame (though Poison Kevin is a fucking retard FC who I refused to fly under), or bad, or sucked or any of that stuff. Nor were they failcascading - far from it, it's clear to me the organisation is strong, and focused and loyal and disciplined. In fact, it's the discipline which in many respects is the problem when you are a bit of a chameleon.
Whereas these guys buy and trade toons and capitals and supercapitals on a weekly basis, and just buy a dread alt which can fly the doctrine, I don't. Their solution to not being able to fly a Moros is to buy a pre-minted toon for their 2nd or 3rd character slot which can fly a Moros, and maybe iron out a few imperfetions in it (JDC 5, fuel conservation 5, etc).
In a way, this is efficient, effective and sensible. For me, it's not. I don't want to just have an account stacked with dread or slowcat alts. Faceless, useless slot fillers with just the minimum skills to pad out a place in the line of ships which get pushed around nullsec in giant capital blobs to push timers down, secure in the knowledge that if you meet the Doctrine fit, you get SRP, so...who cares, right?
So, faced with 3 months and 600M in skill books to reconfigure my main (let alone my alt) to Archon and Moros/Revelation, or in the least T2 Siege so i can takee my Nag along and get SRP, I went away.
I'vee decided that I'll get back to what I do best. Running a small corp - badly - and attaching it to allied organisations to force multiply, and thereby provide content for myself, and the poor fools who've shackled themselves to the banner.
This time, it's going to be Goat Sects. It will be based out of lowsec, and it'll be piratical, sorta. Piratical enough, anyway. Maybe when there's a solid core of 6-8 meatbods, we'll move into a C3 with U210 or C2 with A239/D382, because damn BUGRY had some fucking good fun in the U210 we had before.
Alliance wise, I am keeping my options open.
We'll see how it goes.
Sunday, 27 April 2014
Enyo Gangs Done Right
First, watch the video.
End Of Line Enyo Ganks
This is the End of Line [.EOL] armour variant of the CFC Harpy-inquisitor gang, and it's nothing particularly new as a concept. However, having reviewed their likely fits (including a discussion on Battleclinic of the EOL fit), this is how you do it right.
Enyo-Exequror has some advantages over Blarpy, as nnezu points out; sig is less (21m Enyo vs 35-44 Harpy, MWD off), DPS is higher (250 with Null / 400 Void for the Enyo vs 151 with Rail or 246 Neutron with Void for a Blarpy).
EHP is lower, at 10,500 EHP for the Enyo vs 13,500 EHP for the Harpy.
The Enyo is slightly slower and slower to align than the Harpy, resulting in a lower orbit velocity, and lower transversal.
However, graphing these up in Pyfa shows that versus a typical Vagabond, the Enyo suffers 320 DPS at 2km and the Harpy 350 DPS (conditions: 15 degrees angle to target, max speed without MWD).Therefore, as nnezu says, the analysis backs up the statement that the structure-tanked Enyo outperforms the Harpy in similar circumstances.
In fact, running the MWD the sweet spot may in fact be to orbit at 2,000m/s at 2.8km; quite achievable with the Enyo.
Similarly, even though the Enyo has a higher align time, the lower sig radius makes it that much harder to lock it in time, so the lower agility doesn't matter in the sense of getting off gates.
I present the fitting for the Enyo, Exequror and Inquisitor below.
I've added some cheap pimp the the Enyo because I cannot fathom metalevel ANP's on AF hulls, and I would suggest that the TD is mostly superfluous and could easily be swapped for res damps to ensure targets never lock you or your logi in time. T2 Hybrid rigs are 4M and do the same job +/- 5 DPS as two T1's, allowing you to add an ambit rig for better Void performance. Cost: 48M ISK.
The only additions you would want with this type of gang would be a dualprop Oneiros for blindingly OTT repping, a Daredevil for awesome webs, or an armour Keres for long-range tackle.
End Of Line Enyo Ganks
This is the End of Line [.EOL] armour variant of the CFC Harpy-inquisitor gang, and it's nothing particularly new as a concept. However, having reviewed their likely fits (including a discussion on Battleclinic of the EOL fit), this is how you do it right.
Enyo-Exequror has some advantages over Blarpy, as nnezu points out; sig is less (21m Enyo vs 35-44 Harpy, MWD off), DPS is higher (250 with Null / 400 Void for the Enyo vs 151 with Rail or 246 Neutron with Void for a Blarpy).
EHP is lower, at 10,500 EHP for the Enyo vs 13,500 EHP for the Harpy.
The Enyo is slightly slower and slower to align than the Harpy, resulting in a lower orbit velocity, and lower transversal.
However, graphing these up in Pyfa shows that versus a typical Vagabond, the Enyo suffers 320 DPS at 2km and the Harpy 350 DPS (conditions: 15 degrees angle to target, max speed without MWD).Therefore, as nnezu says, the analysis backs up the statement that the structure-tanked Enyo outperforms the Harpy in similar circumstances.
In fact, running the MWD the sweet spot may in fact be to orbit at 2,000m/s at 2.8km; quite achievable with the Enyo.
Similarly, even though the Enyo has a higher align time, the lower sig radius makes it that much harder to lock it in time, so the lower agility doesn't matter in the sense of getting off gates.
I present the fitting for the Enyo, Exequror and Inquisitor below.
I've added some cheap pimp the the Enyo because I cannot fathom metalevel ANP's on AF hulls, and I would suggest that the TD is mostly superfluous and could easily be swapped for res damps to ensure targets never lock you or your logi in time. T2 Hybrid rigs are 4M and do the same job +/- 5 DPS as two T1's, allowing you to add an ambit rig for better Void performance. Cost: 48M ISK.
The EOL video shows a dual cap-boosted, dualprop Execquror, and I supply the fit, below, which is how I would do it. The targeting rig is essential, because the Enyo's low sig radius is actually a penalty in the case of logistics, which delays inbound reps.
[Enyo, Sig Tank]
Damage Control II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Dark Blood Adaptive Nano Plating
Centii C-Type Explosive Plating
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Phased Muon Sensor Disruptor I, Scan Resolution Dampening Script
Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I
Light Ion Blaster II, Void S
Light Ion Blaster II, Void S
Light Ion Blaster II, Void S
Light Ion Blaster II, Void S
Small 'Knave' Energy Drain
Small Hybrid Burst Aerator II
Small Hybrid Ambit Extension I
[Exequror, EOL]EOL uses Inquisitor frigates, and although I haven't seen any fits, it's not inappropriate to assume that they will go for an AB sig-tanking version. I've gone for polycarbs to up the speed of the AB somewhat, as well as agility.
Reactor Control Unit II
800mm Reinforced Steel Plates II
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Explosive Membrane II
Medium Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste
Experimental 10MN Afterburner I
Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Small Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 400
Small Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 400
Medium Remote Armor Repairer II
Medium Remote Armor Repairer II
Medium Remote Armor Repairer II
Medium Remote Repair Augmentor I
Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Targeting System Subcontroller I
Hornet EC-300 x5
Warrior II x5
[Inquisitor, RR]Finally, the reason that EOL has gone down this way is that they (at least once) lived in a C5 Wolf Rayet. I've seen videos of C6 WR being done by Guardians and Daredevilss. Under C5 WR conditions, the Enyo (above) pumps out 630 DPS and has a sig radius of 21.
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Adaptive Nano Plating II
400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Limited 1MN Afterburner I
Small Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 400
Small Remote Armor Repairer II
Small Remote Armor Repairer II
Small Remote Armor Repairer II
Small Ancillary Current Router I
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Warrior II x1
The only additions you would want with this type of gang would be a dualprop Oneiros for blindingly OTT repping, a Daredevil for awesome webs, or an armour Keres for long-range tackle.
Wednesday, 29 January 2014
Tent pitched
Well, that was a long hiatus.
First, when we moved house, the phone company fucked up the phone line install. This took 2.5 weeks longer than it ought to have. This delayed moving our ADSL connection, which itself then took 2 weeks to activate. Then, to top this all off, I had a field trip out into the desert to look at opal and gemstone mines, which occurred immediately that I got the internet connected. Result, nearly 5 weeks without EVE.
Nevertheless, I'm back, and it has taken a fair while to get back into the swing of things, let alone keep up to date with the changes in Rubicon 1.1 and form an opinion with which I can spout off about on this blog. Give me a bit of time, it will happen.
Re-acclimatising to EVE is always a feeling of disjointedness. Often people have quit your corp, or new people have joined, or in our case, lost their escalation quad and are down 18 billion ISK and sooking about it. But that's EVE. Similarly, patches and updates and the general creep of the in-game FOTM fleets, metas and concepts has moved on - even in a month you notice suddenly how everyone is flying Ishtars around in huge numbers.
Anyway, it took me a while to get enough time, calm headspace and will to sign on for a good hard trawl through the chains of holes which inevitably crop up when you are connected to the C2 Expressway. The first day I could really devote a good 4 hours to the task was Sunday/Monday. The results have been worthwhile.
Monday I found my way through the static into a C2, thence through an A239 to lowsec. In that system, a K162 to another C2, and there, a C2 within which was a forked pair of D382's. I scouted around and when coming back through, noted a Gnosis on d-scan doing a Relic site. I probed him down and we ganked him with my secret Arazu fit and whoring Proteus / Falcon for gay.
One of the D382's led to a C2 system with a hisec and an O477 to a C3. We stalked the Germans in here for a few hours, before stumbling through the O477 and seeing a POCO under siege. This was due to come out in 6.5 hours, right after downtime and in our prime time (though a late night for some).
As I've said before (I ought to have, at least), research your enemies in w-space, before you commit. The POCO was owned by New Eden Brewing Co., though the residents seemed to be Panhandle Industries. In this case, I'd encountered Panhandle Industries before, and we had bagged a 730M Drake Navy. Looking at the corp's killboard for the past month, they'd lost 9 Raven Navy Issues and a couple of other Caldari ships. It was a fair bet that this was what they would drop on the POCO when it came out of RF. Sure enough, the Raven Navy piloted by Draconian Maas signs in 1 hour before the timer expires, and we get excited.
The problem is that J110226 is a C3 Cataclysmic. In a stand-up brawl between a Raven Navy Issue or 2 and an active tanked Arazu, the odds are that they would have RR and my active tank would fall over. So we opted to reship; I chose a Pilgrim even though it broke one of my rules which is to never fight Caldari ships in a Pilgrim. Falcon hail mary was to be the name of the game.
So we wait, and Draconian Maass signs out 15 minutes before the timer. Just as we get despondent, Calleb Olerie signs in in a Raven Navy, then swaps to a Tengu and warps direct to the POCO. We swiftly deprive him of his ship and some SP's, then log for the night.
The next day, the POCO is in RF again, so I spend the next 24 hours or so just derping about, monitoring traffic and adding the corp to watchlist. No one signs on and leaves the POS, so Tueday rolls around, with my pal and I waking up in the a.m. and reconsidering our next move.
I decide we need to have cloaky RR and gank, which means either an Oneiros cloked at what passes for a deepsafe in the system, with a Depot for a quick refit, or RR Tengu or something else. I did consider RR Panthers, but that could be seriously unweildy. So I settle on a RR Stratios fit, which I'll leave up to a lossmail to reveal. Needless to say, for a Cataclysmic environment, it's pretty beastly.
The day drags on, with Draconian Maass warping his pimp Raven out of the POS every so often. Research suggested they'd usually lost their ships in the GMT 0300-0600 time slot, which meant that was their prime ratting time. As 0450 rolled aroound we had a steady stream of logins, and derping about on the U210 and various K162's, but the Raven Navy never left the POS, so we waited.
Then, finally they start an Oruze Construct, using RR Tengu, 2 RR Drake Navy, the Raven Navy, and a poor shlub in a Ferox. We sneak in, spread points (losing the second Drake Navy and the Ferox due to mis-clicks/stabs/EVE hating us) and set in for a 5 minute brawl, their RR versus our RR.
The final tally was Tengu, Raven Navy, Drake Navy and a Groundhog Day Scorpion (don't drive angry!), total haul 1.6B. That brought their corp losses up close to our corp losses for the month, and helped us regain a modicum of respect after the escalation quad losses.
Moral of the story: well, pick and choose, but always research!
First, when we moved house, the phone company fucked up the phone line install. This took 2.5 weeks longer than it ought to have. This delayed moving our ADSL connection, which itself then took 2 weeks to activate. Then, to top this all off, I had a field trip out into the desert to look at opal and gemstone mines, which occurred immediately that I got the internet connected. Result, nearly 5 weeks without EVE.
Nevertheless, I'm back, and it has taken a fair while to get back into the swing of things, let alone keep up to date with the changes in Rubicon 1.1 and form an opinion with which I can spout off about on this blog. Give me a bit of time, it will happen.
Re-acclimatising to EVE is always a feeling of disjointedness. Often people have quit your corp, or new people have joined, or in our case, lost their escalation quad and are down 18 billion ISK and sooking about it. But that's EVE. Similarly, patches and updates and the general creep of the in-game FOTM fleets, metas and concepts has moved on - even in a month you notice suddenly how everyone is flying Ishtars around in huge numbers.
Anyway, it took me a while to get enough time, calm headspace and will to sign on for a good hard trawl through the chains of holes which inevitably crop up when you are connected to the C2 Expressway. The first day I could really devote a good 4 hours to the task was Sunday/Monday. The results have been worthwhile.
Monday I found my way through the static into a C2, thence through an A239 to lowsec. In that system, a K162 to another C2, and there, a C2 within which was a forked pair of D382's. I scouted around and when coming back through, noted a Gnosis on d-scan doing a Relic site. I probed him down and we ganked him with my secret Arazu fit and whoring Proteus / Falcon for gay.
One of the D382's led to a C2 system with a hisec and an O477 to a C3. We stalked the Germans in here for a few hours, before stumbling through the O477 and seeing a POCO under siege. This was due to come out in 6.5 hours, right after downtime and in our prime time (though a late night for some).
As I've said before (I ought to have, at least), research your enemies in w-space, before you commit. The POCO was owned by New Eden Brewing Co., though the residents seemed to be Panhandle Industries. In this case, I'd encountered Panhandle Industries before, and we had bagged a 730M Drake Navy. Looking at the corp's killboard for the past month, they'd lost 9 Raven Navy Issues and a couple of other Caldari ships. It was a fair bet that this was what they would drop on the POCO when it came out of RF. Sure enough, the Raven Navy piloted by Draconian Maas signs in 1 hour before the timer expires, and we get excited.
The problem is that J110226 is a C3 Cataclysmic. In a stand-up brawl between a Raven Navy Issue or 2 and an active tanked Arazu, the odds are that they would have RR and my active tank would fall over. So we opted to reship; I chose a Pilgrim even though it broke one of my rules which is to never fight Caldari ships in a Pilgrim. Falcon hail mary was to be the name of the game.
So we wait, and Draconian Maass signs out 15 minutes before the timer. Just as we get despondent, Calleb Olerie signs in in a Raven Navy, then swaps to a Tengu and warps direct to the POCO. We swiftly deprive him of his ship and some SP's, then log for the night.
The next day, the POCO is in RF again, so I spend the next 24 hours or so just derping about, monitoring traffic and adding the corp to watchlist. No one signs on and leaves the POS, so Tueday rolls around, with my pal and I waking up in the a.m. and reconsidering our next move.
I decide we need to have cloaky RR and gank, which means either an Oneiros cloked at what passes for a deepsafe in the system, with a Depot for a quick refit, or RR Tengu or something else. I did consider RR Panthers, but that could be seriously unweildy. So I settle on a RR Stratios fit, which I'll leave up to a lossmail to reveal. Needless to say, for a Cataclysmic environment, it's pretty beastly.
The day drags on, with Draconian Maass warping his pimp Raven out of the POS every so often. Research suggested they'd usually lost their ships in the GMT 0300-0600 time slot, which meant that was their prime ratting time. As 0450 rolled aroound we had a steady stream of logins, and derping about on the U210 and various K162's, but the Raven Navy never left the POS, so we waited.
Then, finally they start an Oruze Construct, using RR Tengu, 2 RR Drake Navy, the Raven Navy, and a poor shlub in a Ferox. We sneak in, spread points (losing the second Drake Navy and the Ferox due to mis-clicks/stabs/EVE hating us) and set in for a 5 minute brawl, their RR versus our RR.
The final tally was Tengu, Raven Navy, Drake Navy and a Groundhog Day Scorpion (don't drive angry!), total haul 1.6B. That brought their corp losses up close to our corp losses for the month, and helped us regain a modicum of respect after the escalation quad losses.
Moral of the story: well, pick and choose, but always research!
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