Crusader v Hoarder

The hunt:

Sunday morning is a special time for Eve players.

All across New Eden, PI players send their little hauler alts to customs offices deep in low sec to collect their loot, confident that the vast majority of pvpers are still snug in their beds, hung over from the carnage of Saturday night.

And largely, they're right. But occassionally, when my schedule permits, I like to get up early and log on to play with the haulers. This was just such a Sunday.

The big pve pocket in Molden Heath is the Istodard cul de sac. With only one way in, and that being only a single jump from high sec, the pve corps have a pretty easy time keeping tabs on the pirate gangs, and from time to time I have even seen them fleet up to break a gate camp. As carebears go, their low-sec game is pretty decent.

But I don't fly in a gang.

And so it was that I was able sneak into one of these systems and wait patiently. This was before I was flashy, you see, and so my name in local was not the warning light it is today.

All at once, three haulers entered the system, and I gave them a few moments to start warping to their destinations. Scanning one of them down to a particular cluster, I immediately jumped to the customs office at zero.

2011.05.08 07:37:00

Victim: Reginald Nachtewolfe
Corp: Pator Tech School
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Hoarder
System: Half
Security: 0.2
Damage Taken: 1918

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -1.9
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Crusader
Weapon: Gatling Pulse Laser II
Damage Done: 1918

Destroyed items:

Expanded Cargohold II, Qty: 3

As he exploded, I quickly jumped away from the customs office so that a destination scan by one of the other haulers would not give them any warning. Unfortunately, this backfired on me - another hauler landed just as I hit warp.

He saw the Crusader. He saw the wrecked hauler. I saw a system empty so fast you'd think they were all flying interceptors. With the locals on the alert, the morning's fun was over.


Post battle review:

Another fight that did not really stretch the Crusader, although I do have to say that I am loving the increased warp speed and excellent lock time. Being able to virtually insta-lock targets that have no intention of sticking around is very, very nice. And warping to your target before they have time to finish their business is also very useful.


Lessons for the future:

Not much to take away with me here, except perhaps that you can sometimes cover more ground by staying where you are. It irks me that the second hauler got away.