The next steps.

I'd like to thank everyone who left a comment on my last post - they were very heplful, and gave me some much needed perspective on my choices.

In the end, I decided to go with the Arbitrator. I've got a couple of reasons for that.

First, the Arbitrator happens to be one of the most awesome looking ships in the game outside of the frigate class. It looks the way I've always thought a starship (as opposed to a spaceship) would look, right down to the hangar bay in the nose. It's only become more beautiful since the V3 treatment. I'm going to love flying it.

Second, the Arbitrator simply opens more doors in both the long and short term. As fun as hunting frigates in a Caracal sounds, at the end of the day I'm just hunting frigates. In a cruiser. While I won't turn up my nose at below class kills, limiting myself to below class kills exclusively is just not my style

So, my shopping alt has purchased a stack of 20 Arbitrators, and Red Frog Freight will be delivering them to Ranellies. In all likelyhood, I won't be getting into them (or EVE generally) until the end of the summer, but that's just fine - Amarr Cruisers V alone is going to take about 20 days. And then my drone skills could use some love.

In the meantime, I'll probably make the odd post or two about fits for comments and criticisms. EVE FNG's Arbitrator guide has been very helpful, but as ever I'm probably going to mangle his good advice and come up with something suboptimal and "unique".

An update.

Wow, it's been three months since my last post, and it's been a crazy three months. Very, very busy, but very, very productive.

Still, things are easing off a bit. Not enough that I can actually play any EVE, but enough that I can think about playing EVE. And CCP is doing all it can to lure me back. Have you seen the sexy new missile effects? Of course you have! And did you know that UK subscriptions can now be paid in GBP? Which, with the current state of the Euro, that means I'd be getting my subscription at 25% off over the old price.

Soooooo, I've, ahem, resubscribed.

No, I won't be playing EVE, but I will be skill training. I'm maxing out my last Nav skill first (they were mostly maxed out for the Vengeance, but my MWD skills languished), and then I'm going to be doing some more ship training.

And that's where I've got some decisions to make.

You see, I feel like I've "done" the small ship thing. I've had dozens and dozens of kills in T1 frigates, Assault Ships, and Interceptors. I've messed about with Bombers. I've flown Covert Ops to scan down ships. The only thing I haven't really done with frigates is Electronic Warfare, and everyone largely agrees that these ships are a waste of time. So, when I start playing again, I'd like to use a slightly larger hull.

Now, in my ideal world, I'd be flying Khanid ships like the Sacrilege or the Heretic. Sadly, my wallet does not allow me to lose such ships, so I'm going to be flying something T1. I'm no big fan of turrets, though (and I'd have to invest loads of time in just getting my gunnery skills up to par), so I'm left with a few obvious choices: Drake, Caracal, Arbitrator.

I'm going to put the Drake aside for now. I can actually fly one already, and I have one in my hangar for those times that the corp needs to form a BC fleet. But I want to focus on a roaming ship, and the pilots I know that focus on BCs generally roam a very small area, because BCs don't travel well on their own (they get camped fairly easily). I'm not yet ready to give up the 30+ jump roams that I've been used to as a frigate pilot.

And if I'm honest, I like flying a non-standard ship in pvp. Drakes, along with the Hurricane, are about as standard as you get.

That pushes me towards a cruiser hull, and neither the Caracal nor the Arbitrator are turret ships. The Arbitrator is beautiful ship, and the Amarr Cruiser skills would translate VERY well into a Sacrilege or Pilgrim at some point. Being armor tanked, however, it's not got the best ability to navigate gate camps, nor a particularly strong tank. Ewar would be something completely new to me, though, which might make things interesting.

The Caracal, on the other hand, moves in a completely different direction. Accepting that it's purely a frigate hunting ship, it can actually engage on gates and stations because of it's hefty tank and missiles (drones don't do so well under station guns!). That tank also helps me burn back to gates, and those shield skills help boost my Drake.

I'm going to have a think over the next few days, but my Nav skill finishes on Sunday, so I need to make a decision by then. Comments regarding the pros and cons of these cruisers as solo low sec roamers are welcomed.

By the way, it feels good to be back, if only in a small way.

The journey's end.

As some of you will know, I've cancelled my EVE subscription.

My reasons involve real life, rather than any dissatisfaction with New Eden. And for those who worry about that sort of thing, it's not even that anything bad, exactly, has happened in my real life. It's just that my family and I have made some decisions which, although good for us in the long term, mean that I won't be playing EVE in the medium term.

And of course, that means this blog won't be updating any more.

I'm not very good at "goodbyes" (is anyone?), so I'll simply say that it has been an absolute pleasure flying and blogging my way through New Eden, and EVE is easily the greatest MMO I've ever played. I hope, one day, to come back to it.

As people have occasionally found my blog helpful, I shall leave Flight of Dragons running for the time being, but my Starcraft blog will be taken down in due course - there are simply so many other ways to get Starcraft info that nobody is going to miss it.

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened. ~Theodor Seuss Geisel

Oh, the frustration.

Sometimes, my killboard looks a little empty. No wins, no losses.

But that doesn't mean I'm not active. There's a ton of stuff that just doesn't show up on a killboard. The following encounters, for example, all took place over the course of a single evening.


Crow v Hurricane

I logged in for an hour after work and found a Hurricane sitting in a belt in Adirain. I didn't think I was likely to win, but there was a chance that he was artillery fit, so I jumped into the belt.

As it turns out, he had autocannons. I hit about 50% shields on the approach, but then actually managed to get under his guns - he was missing nine out of every ten shots. He also had a flight of light drones, though, and I was fairly certain that I could not clear the drones fast enough to avoid exploding (although I have rockets, it takes a few volleys to down a drone if it isn't webbed), so I bailed.

We both wished each other a "gf", and the pilot confirmed that he did indeed fly artillery fit Canes some times. Luck of the draw, and all that. He also complemented me on my approach, which was nice of him, as I'd been feeling like I really screwed it up. Apparently, just surviving an approach against an auto 'Cane gets you points.


Crow v Jaguar

After waiting out my GCC, I engaged a Jag in Jov. I approached, took control of the fight, and started beating on his shield tank. He tried very hard to close with me, but my speed advantage was enough that he stood no chance at all.

After he hit 50% shields, though, his two buddys show up in a Falcon and a Nemesis (wtf?). I laughed, and left when the first jamming wave hit me.


Malediction v Tengu

After dinner, I log back in and probe down a missioning Tengu in Jov. I come back in a cap boosted, active tanked Malediction (all the other Tuskers were too far from home to participate, so I needed a fit that could tank the Tengu's damage while I solo'd it), and jump into the mission.

The acceleration gate puts me 160 km off the Tengu. I'm fast, but not that fast. He warps out, while I sit in the mission, chatting with Dian. He doesn't come back.


Afterthoughts

I've posted about the less cinematic aspects of solo roaming before. Here, I had three potentially awesome fights, and yet I ended the day with nothing to show for my efforts but some heat damage and a repair bill. Such is a pirate's lot.

This sort of thing happens reasonably often. The Crow (and the Malediction before that) has given me the ability to escape fights that I would otherwise have lost (which is probably all of the above, if I'm honest).

It's a mixed blessing, however. On one hand, I'm able to engage in fights that really push me, without always having to pay the "stupid tax" that comes with trying to solo above class ships. On the other hand, "almost" rarely makes a good story. These fights are the pirate's equivalent of a fisherman's "one that got away".

Low activity warning.

Just letting everyone know that there probably isn't going to be much posting this week. I was working over the weekend, and what little spare time I had went into racking and bottling a large batch of home brew.

I did spend an hour in New Eden (being able to log in only after the Tusker's Titan kill), but the only target I found was -9.9 Ares that resolutely refused to engage me.

Profit Account for January 2012

Evekill statistics for January 2012:

• Kills: 17
• ISK destroyed: 0.48 billion
• Losses: 2
• ISK lost: 0.3 billion
• Efficiency: 93.19%
• Kill/Death ratio: 9/1

Battleclinic Rank: 20,201 (+1,902)

It's been a pretty good month for me. Although I've had higher kill counts, almost all of these kills were solo. My losses were part of my early drive to really push the Crow to the edges of its engagement envelope, and otherwise I've not lost a ship.

I've also been going on longer solo roams as I get back to my nomadic roots. I don't always find something, but it's great to get out and really shake the dust off. Now that Interceptors V has finally finished, I'm hoping to reach some even more distant areas of low sec before T2 Launchers finish and I try and get in on some BC shield gangs at the end of the month.

The December/November figures can be found here.

 

Schedule of Income

Solo Income

Dropped modules and other loot

ISK 24,867,025

Ransoms

Nil. 

Nil.

Total Solo Income

ISK 24,867,025

Group Income

Dropped modules and other loot

ISK 19,400,000

Malediction et alia v Vargur (ISK 19,400,000); the final payment.

 

Ransoms

Nil.

Nil.

Total Group Income

ISK 19,400,000

Total Income

ISK 44,267,025

Schedule of Expenses

Solo Expenses

Reasonable losses (see note 1)

ISK 26,225,764

Crow (ISK 13,112,882) - Crow v Slicer.

Crow (ISK 13,112,882) - Crow v Bellicose.

Avoidable losses (see note 2)

Nil.

Nil.

Other expenses

ISK 352,081

Repairs (ISK 339,131)

Ransom CSPA (ISK 2,950)

Contract fees (ISK 10,000)

Total Solo Expenses

ISK 26,577,845

Group Expenses

Reasonable losses (see note 1)

Nil.

Nil.

Avoidable losses (see note 2)

Nil. 

Nil.

Total Group Expenses

Nil. 

Total Expenses

ISK 26,577,845

Schedule of Profit (Loss)

Total Income

ISK 44,267,025

Less

Total Expenses

ISK 26,577,845

Net Profit (Loss) (see note 3)

ISK 17,689,180

Appendix 1: Comments & Criticism

A modest profit, although if I'm honest, it would have been a small loss if I had not had some delayed payments from last month's Vagur kill come in.

Even so, I would not have been terribly unhappy with the results. If that's what a bad month looks like, I'll take it. In exchange for that small loss, I would have spent hours on roams all over low sec, and generally having a good time.

That's not to say that I'm taking my focus off profitability. Not at all. It's simply that we have to keep these things in perspective. An hour or two of ratting would have put me back into the black. As it is, it's been more than six months since I've had to do any kind of pve at all.

It's a good life.

Income

Income was low, as I was primarily soloing T1 frigates, destroyers and cruisers. None of my T2 attacks resulted in a successful kill, but that's something I hope to keep working on.

I did have a few opportunities for ransoms, but all my potential ransoms got themselves podded for being too slow to pay. I loathe time wasters.

Expenses

My losses are the result of my stress testing a new ship, and while I prefer not to lose ships, I'm fairly relaxed about this month's losses.

Improving Performance

I've (finally) trained Interceptors V, so I hope to take on more ambitious targets. My Drake's T2 weapons should come online mid month, so I may get some BC gang action happening too.

Appendix 2: Explanatory Notes

Accounting basis

This profit account has been prepared on the basis of income received and expenses incurred. That is, income is only recorded when the ISK has actually been deposited in my wallet and the expense of purchasing a ship is recorded only when the ship has been destroyed.

All accounts have to make decisions about when, and how, to record income, and each method has it's own advantages and disadvantages. I prefer the income received basis because it takes the guesswork out of preparation, but I recognize that this means that there will be cases where a profitable month may show a loss, simply because the bulk of the faction loot is still on contract in Jita. The reverse is also true. However, as long as the accounts are consistent, long term trends in profitability can be reliably monitored, especially if we remain alert to the possible biases.

All figures are rounded to the nearest ISK, and are derived from character and alt wallets unless otherwise stated.

Capital & Liquidity

These accounts also do not address issues of liquidity or capital. Although I may be profitable, for example, I may have no ISK in my wallet because I have converted those funds into ships and modules.

I have chosen not to address capital or liquidity for two reasons. First, this adds a great deal of additional work to the accounts, for very little additional gain. Capital and liquidity matter in the real world, where a corporation's ability to offer security for debt (capital) and meet the interest payments on that debt (liquidity) are critical issues. New Eden, mercifully, does not work like that.

Second, it would provide just a little too much information about me. If I ever have to pay a ransom, I'd really prefer that whomever is ransoming me cannot see, to the nearest ISK, how much money I have!

Notes

Note 1: "Reasonable losses" includes all losses where it was reasonable for me to engage the target and no fundamental play error occurred during the fight. Evekill costs, net of insurance, are used for simplicity, and dropped modules count as destroyed for the purpose calculating these costs, unless those modules were recovered after the fight. Manual adjustment sometimes occurs where modules have been overvalued compared to the actual price paid.

Note 2: "Avoidable losses" includes all losses where it was unreasonable for me to engage the enemy or a fundamental play error occurred during combat. Evekill costs, net of insurance, are used for simplicity, and dropped modules count as destroyed for the purpose calculating these costs, unless those modules were recovered after the fight. Manual adjustment sometimes occurs where modules have been overvalued compared to the actual price paid.

Note 3: In this line, a figure in brackets indicates a loss rather than a profit.

Fixing Eve: Assault Ships

Despite the buffs, I've yet to be really thrilled by any Assault Frigates fits that I've seen so far. As I've said in other posts, this is because I don't want to fly an Assault Frigate without an mwd because of the vulnerability to camps and gangs. Saturday evening alone I evaded five camps in ten minutes just roaming around Hev; I would not have been able to do that in an afterburner fit ship.

However, when fitting an mwd, you either need to go dual prop, or kiting fit (which my Interceptor already does). CCP could not give AFs an extra mid for dual prop, because that extra mid could be used for a great many more broken things instead. I completely understand why this would not have been possible.

My solution?


Assault Drives

Create an entirely new prop mod, only usable by Assault Frigates. This "assault drive" functions like an afterburner most of the time, but when you overheat it, it functions like an mwd. Hey presto, problem solved!

Now, most people I suggest this to say something along the lines of "that's horribly broken!", but I beg to differ.

First, it does not do anything that an AF cannot already do. Any AF can strap on two prop mods; it's just that with the limited midslots on frigates, they will probably be unable to include tackle/tank/web or whatever other midslot module the ship is based around. Nobody is screaming that those dual prop ships are overpowered; in fact, I don't think anyone is even bothering to fly them.

Second, this is a really easy way to balance AFs without impacting other ships. Because it's an AF only module, CCP can tweak the assault drive to do exactly what they want it to do. Feel that AFs should only have 60 seconds of mwd speed? Adjust the heat damage accordingly. Feel that full mwd is too slow/fast? Adjust the overheat bonus. And so on.

With an assault drive, AFs would have a decent chance of navigating gate camps and actually finally get into scram range. The initial mwd "charge" would make AFs much like EVEs cavalry, smashing into the enemy for a short, sharp engagement - the kind of fight you envisage from something with the word "assault" in the name, no?

It also prevents AFs from competing directly with Cruisers, giving each a distinct role. AFs might have comparable tank or damage output, but they would lack the longevity in manoeuvre heavy fights, as they would need to constantly break off to repair the heat damage to their assault drives.

Of course, nothing like this is going to happen, but I think that it would make a better fix than what we currently have, while actually giving Assault Frigates a unique role/feature, which they sorely lack right now.