Vengeance v Drake

The hunt:

Another day, another roam. Some times you have to really look for the fights, and other days the opportunities just fall into your lap.

In this case, it was a Drake looking for trouble. He was sitting in a belt, and so I jumped in to say hello.

I kept my orbit wide to reduce his damage, and opened fire with Gremiln Rage. He must have been active tanked, because his sheilds did not seem to drop.

Equally, I was tanking his damage just fine. We were both having a fine old time wasting some ordinance against each other (it was pretty clear that neither of us could break the other) when the blob landed.

Yeah, Eve Uni. About two dozen of them. They had a long point interceptor, and he locked me down while the others jumped in. One ship and one pod later, I'm updating my clone.



Afterthoughts:

I have to admit that this loss bothered me more than any other I can think of. I suppose it's because I have foolishly thought that Eve University was somehow different from other Eve corps. I mean, I expect the Hatchery to blob me. It's what they do and they make do bones about it. Same with SKRUB and TORAH. And when I see those guys enter local I get the hell out.

Eve Uni, though, I have always given a special status to. First, I've never agressesed Eve Uni, ever. They teach newbs how to play, and I don't particularly want to mess with that. I know they run "anti-pirate" roams, but I always thought that this was about clearing gate camps - and let's face it, everyone wins when gate camps are cleared, even the pirates.

So when I saw Eve Uni enter local, I assumed that they would leave two guys having consensual pvp alone. And you know what happens when you assume...

It took me a long while to figure out that I was not mad at Eve Uni; they're just looking for an easy gank, same as 90% of the Molden Heath population. No, I was mad at myself for being stupid enough to buy the PR and let it cost me a ship and a set of implants.

Next time, I'll know better.

Some questions and some answers

A commenter asked some questions about my Greed is Good post, and my reply swiftly ballooned into a full on post. Here is the original comment:

Anonymous said...

> I'm dead set against any real money transactions that result in gameplay advantage

Then why are you still playing? Because anyone can already get advantage with real money.

> Why would I continue to invest time in a game

You shouldn't. I don't know why would you play any game where you feel like you're investing in it, instead of enjoying it.

I love your blog, but all this pointless nerdrage makes me sick.


I'm going to respond in reverse order, because that gets the more manageable points out of the way first.


Nerd-rage

To begin with, I'm glad you are enjoying the blog. I put more time than I should into it, so it's nice to hear that it's appreciated.

I'm not sure why my post came across as nerd-rage, though. I certainly don't feel enraged. I simply see cause for concern and was voicing my views, without, I believe, using any kind of emotive language. It is perfectly possible to be critical without being emotional. In fact, being critical is an integral part of my character and (self) criticsism is the basis for this blog.

That said, I appreciate that there have been any number "nerd-rage" posts elsewhere, so perhaps those posts have caused some of my readers to assume that I, too, am enraged.

I hope I've cleared that up.


Investment

The second point I would make is that life is full of investment, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Investment is simply expenditure of some resource (be it time, money, emotion, etc) in the expectation of some kind of reward at a later date (such as money, love, respect, enjoyment, etc).

Eve is full of investment opportunities. When I PvE, for example, I do so despite the fact that I don't really enjoy it. What I do enjoy is using that money to buy ships for PvP. So I invest my time in one in order to obtain the ISK for the other.

Now, that is a very discrete (ie, measurable) investment. I put in a measurable amount of time and I obtain a measurable sum of ISK. I can decide whether or not this was a good investment by considering the amount of ISK I could have made with some kind of other activity. This is called the opportunity cost; I simply compare my investment to the investments that I could have made instead, and see if a better result could have been obtained. Not all investments are so easy to quantify, however.

I moved to Molden Heath to campaign with my new corp, despite the fact that I knew going in that I did not enjoy Molden Heath. I did this because I wanted to get to know my corp mates and show them that I was willing to support corp goals.

What I gave up is what would have happened if I had not gone to Molden Heath, and I can't possibly know what that was. Equally, my "reward" - having the opportunity to fly with pilots like Valgore and Kishin, for example - is real, but unmeasurable. It is impossible to say objectively whether or not my investment was a good one.

However, I can presume that this investment gets better over time. The "cost" was fixed - the campaign lasted only two months - but the "reward" - being a participating member of the Tuskers - could potentially last far, far longer. The longer I keep playing, the better my investment gets.

And that's the problem. If players fear that an upcoming event will render them unable or unwilling to continue playing then they become loath to invest any further resources into the game; there is every chance that the investment will not have sufficient chance to mature before they stop playing.

Equally, it makes investments that do not have this time restriction (such as other games) more appealing. Even without "rage-quitting", a player is in this position is much easier to lure away from New Eden, wether by other games or real life activities.

This applies to me as much as it does any other player. And this is why my "red line" of P2W is a cause for concern. If CCP is determined to implement P2W then I might as well get out now. I'm simply prepared to invest a little bit more to see whether or not they will change their mind.


P2W

It is perfectly true that I could, right now, buy plex for real money, sell plex for ISK, and then use the ISK to buy a ship, such as a titan. That can happen right now, so some people are asking what he big deal about P2W is.

In my mind the big deal is this: someone, somewhere still had to build that titan. They may not the guy behind the wheel, but that does not mean that they are any less responsible for the ship being there. So if someone attacks me, they are pitting themselves against me and this other unknown player. If it helps, think of him as some kind of weird brand of wingman.

However, when I buy a titan from CCP, they just hit a button and, voila! A titan appears. See the difference? My virtual wingman is not another player but the company itself! Equally, there is no internal game limit placed on the my power (such as the time it takes to produce a titan); only my wallet can hold me back.

It gets worse, though. With a titan, at least, another player can actually obtain parity without spending real money - he can build his own titan. But suppose I bought a "gold titan" - an item exclusive to the CCP shop. I have purchased the favour of "God" - in New Eden CCP weilds ultimate power and can be essentially considered a diety - and my opponent's only hope is to out bid me.

Under P2W there is no way that my opponent can match me without spending money of his own. He is forced to pay CCP in order to remain competetive; which is exactly why CCP is so interested in this kind of arrangement. One P2W player generates other P2W players - until failscade is reached.

Homeward bound

 

The Molden Heath campaign is over.

I've been based in Molden Heath ever since I joined the Tuskers, and I have been active there throught most of the campaign (I took a short break to avoid burnout, and for the last week or so real life has prevented me from logging in for more than a few minutes at a time).

When I joined the Tuskers, I set myself a campaign goal of 25 kills. My actual total is 32, which I am pretty pleased with, given my periods of inactivity. The Tusker killboards keep a "real kill" count - this seems to disregard pods, shuttles, noob ships and any kill even one jump outside the campaign "footprint" - and with 17 kills I am one of the top 10 campaigners (tied for 9th place), based on the number of kills.

Of course, flying a frigate my "tonnage" killed is far lower than some of my corp mates, but as a new member I have been keen to prove my value to the corp, and I hope this goes some way to doing that.

That said, I am really, really glad to be leaving Molden Heath. I didn't like it the first time around, and I didn't like it the second time around, despite being far more successful on this run. The Loop makes roaming a bit of an autopilot experience, and the local style of warfare (battlecruiser fleets & gate camps) does not suit my tastes. Clearly, this suits the locals, and it makes sense given the geography of the system, so I have no criticism for those that play that way; it's just not for me.

Over the next week I will be shifting my clones and gear to Hevrice, which should not be to arduous; I'm broke and virtually shipless. One run on my hauler alt will do it.

This will actually be the first time I will have done more than pass through the place that the Tuskers call home. I'm looking forward to it, and to having regular backup for those Drakes I seem to insist on tackling (there are a couple more fights that will be posted over the next few days that expand on this point).

I have a post on Friday that will look more closely at my future plans, but for right now I'll just finish up this post by saying goodbye to the residents of Molden Heath and the good fights they've given me.

So long, and thanks for all the fights.

(See, I can do Douglas Adams too.)

Greed is Good

In case you missed it, here is a useful summary of the rage that is gripping Eve (it's good to see Jester back in action, btw).

I'm not a veteran Eve player - I've got less than 6 months in this game - so I have no attachment to "the way things were". That said, I'm very concerned about what has happened and wonder how it impacts my long-term prospects in New Eden.

To begin with, I'm dead set against any real money transactions that result in gameplay advantage. It's an absolute red line in any game I play. The day Eve introduces (or even announces) "golden ammunition" is the day I stop my subscription. And while I don't discuss my real life much in this blog, I will say that it's not because I can't afford micro-transactions. If I were so inclined, I could buy myself a titan this evening without batting an eye.

No, I pvp (in Eve and other games) because I enjoy pitting myself against other players - I enjoy the challenge and the conflict, both experiences that are generally (and thankfully) absent in my real life. What I have ZERO interest in is pitting my wallet against their wallet. I'd probably win more than I lost, but frankly, anyone who engages in that kind of behavior loses (edit - I guess that makes them losers, doesn't it?).

I'm also pretty appalled at how badly CCP is handling this. As someone who works in the private sector, I have loads of experience dealing with clients of all kinds, and I'd expect to be out of business in a year if I treated my clients the way CCP does. The fact that they endure is a testament largely to Eve's incredible appeal.

In the absence of further developments, I don't see myself leaving New Eden over this, but they have killed all my interest in World of Darkness, despite the fact that I played WoD (the roleplaying game) when I was younger. I'm also going to be keeping a much closer eye on CCP's plans for the future. Why would I continue to invest time in a game I may not be playing in six months?

A tale of two escapes

 

I had an experience the other day that really underscored both the strengths and the weaknesses of the Vengeance. It started with a hauler entering local in an otherwise empty system.

Being familiar with the area, I knew that there was one particular planet that PI types favoured, and so I immediately warped to that Customs Office at zero. I then began orbiting the customs office at 1000m.

Sure enough, the hauler droped out of warp about 30 seconds later, but he must have warped to 20km, because he was some distance off. Equally, I was at the furthest part of my orbit, so I had about 14km to cover before he was in overheated point range.

Overheating my mids, I burned towards him. About 1000m before I could land point, however, he managed to align and warp off. I had simply been too slow.

If I had been in a Malediction, or even a Crusader, I would have been able to point the hauler, and the kill would have been mine. As it was, I was left empty handed, with nothing to show for my troubles.

Frustrated, I jumped out of the system and immediately found myself in the middle of a very large gate camp; about 20 ships of various classes.

From bitter experience I know that a camp this size always has at least one instant-lock point ship, so warping out was a non-starter. I had to burn back to the gate and hope.

Overheating my afterburner and repair system, I started back for the gate once my session change timer was up. I was instantly pointed, and soon I was the sole target of the entire gate camp. Fortunately, my course meant that I had at least some transversal velocity relative to most of the camp, but the incoming damage was staggering.

My little Vengeance weathered the storm, though, and I jumped back into the previous system with my hull intact. I don't know that I have flown any other ship that could have survived that camp.

And that's the point. That's the tradeoff a Vengeance pilot makes. He's less of a hunter, but more of a survivor than his fellow frigate pilots.

What a fun little ship.

Scram Web

One of the blogs I read is Scram Web. I started reading Scram Web when I started the Punisher Plan because his blog came up with a rather useful post on Punishers.

And Scram Web was the first blog to provide a link to my own blog.

So it is with great sadness that I learn that Scram Web is shutting down, in large part because of frustrations with CCP and the direction Eve has taken. I tried to comment on the blog itself, but for whatever reason my comment just would not go through. So here is what I tried to say.

" Wow. I'm really sorry to hear that you feel that way.

This is something that you have clearly thought about a great deal, so I won't try and change your mind. Looking back, I can see you slowly reaching this point over the last few months, so I doubt it is a decision you have made quickly, and it is unlikely that you will regret this move in the short term. More time with your wife and children can only be a good thing.

That said, I think it is wise that you are keeping your character. There are various hobbies that I have abandoned - with no intention of returning to - that I have come back to years later, grateful that I still have everything that I need.

I have enjoyed Scram Web, and will be sorry to see it go. I wish you all the best in your new pursuits, whatever they may be."

It's traditional to insert a humorous request for the Eve-leaver's stuff, but it just doesn't seem funny right now.

Vengeance v Rupture

The hunt:

I can be a little slow. Having just been blown up by a Rupture, you might think that I would avoid Ruptures for a little while - at least until my skills improved. Apparently not.

I was cruising around the Molden Heath loop, looking for trouble. I found it in the form of a Rupture, who was either ratting or pretending to rat. I warped to zero to find out which it was.

It seems he was looking for a fight too, and he liked his chances. He moved into me before I had even landed, and pointed me immediately. He launched his drones and opened fire.

Turning my repair system on, I moved into a 500m orbit. I overheated my rockets and turned my attention to his drones, determined to be less clumsy than last time.

As I worked through his drones I kept an eye on my capacitor; seeing that it was largely stable I gathered that he did not have a neut. I also seemed to have gotten under his guns, despite the web. The only thing he could hit me with were the drones.

And they were now all dead.

After the initial rush of combat, things settled into a grim routine. Unable to hit me, I simply wore away at the Rupture's tank until he eventually exploded. I can only imagine the frustration the other pilot must have felt, lashing out at his enemy but unable to land a solid hit.

2011.06.05 15:53:00

Victim: Koskica
Corp: Ordo Drakonis
Alliance: Nulli Tertius
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Rupture
System: Osvetur
Security: 0.2
Damage Taken: 5107

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -7.5
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Foxfire Rage Rocket
Damage Done: 5107

Destroyed items:

Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Barrage M, Qty: 340
Damage Control II
Small 'Knave' I Energy Drain
Stasis Webifier II
10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Medium Projectile Collision Accelerator I
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Qty: 3
Medium Projectile Ambit Extension I
Barrage M, Qty: 4200 (Cargo)
Republic Fleet EMP M, Qty: 3000 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Barrage M, Qty: 340
Gyrostabilizer II
Small Energy Neutralizer I
Warp Disruptor II
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II
Warrior II (Drone Bay)

The pilot ejected right before the Rupture exploded. With my point still mid cycle on the Rupture, I was not even able to try and stop him. A useful trick.


Afterthoughts:

Combat is often a one sided affair. There is no trick and counter trick, the numbers simply add up in favour of one person and they win. Despite having been blown up by similar ships, I don't think I was in any real danger during this fight.

Indeed, after destroying his drones, it was rather like fighting a well tanked hauler. Granted, I could have done something stupid, like let my transversal drop, but the fight was mine to lose. So much comes down to how each ship is fit.

Interestingly, I see from the killmail that the Rupture had an mwd. However, he he made no attempt to kite me. I'm not sure how fast this particular fit is, but I suspect that it would have been worth it for him to try, if only to keep my transversal down until his cap ran out.

I also see that he did have a neut. Either he forgot to turn it on or a single small neut just does not make much difference to a cap rigged Vengeance.

Welcome to Flight of Dragons

Hello, and welcome to Flight of Dragons.

This blog started as a training journal, a way of recording my fights and analysing them so that I continue to improve as a pvper. It also helps me stay motivated, both because of the encouragement of others and because I can look back and see how far I have come. I hope to break the Battle Clinic top 10k one day, and (even more difficult) win the Tusker solo kill of the month competition. As of writing I am a long way from either of those goals, but this blog is helping me get there.

However, this blog also has a second (and originally unintended) function; it makes me part of the Eve community.

You don't need to be part of the community to play Eve, and playing Eve does not automatically make you part of the community. But I have come to find that the New Eden community - a real, player driven community, like the real, player driven economy - is part of what sets this mmorpg apart from all the rest. Being part of that community simply makes the game that much more enjoyable.

And so, long after my initial purpose has been satisfied, I continue to blog about my time in New Eden.

Of course, as this blog ages, there are an increasing number of old posts, and it can be difficult for new readers to catch up on where we are, and how we got here. This post, as well as serving as an introduction, is designed to speed that process up by summarising and linking key posts.


The Punisher Plan

It all started with the Punisher Plan. This was my effort to teach myself pvp by buying and losing 20 T1 frigates - in my case, Punishers.

The Punisher Plan is a record, then, of each of my first 20 pvp ships and the lessons I learned from losing them. If you are interested, feel free to read each battle report in turn - I especially recommend this if you are also new to pvp - but you can also read my 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarter reports to get an idea of how I progressed.


The T2 Tour

After the Punisher Plan, I knew I wanted to find a frigate to specialise in by maxing out the relevant skills. This would allow me to effectively close the gap between myself and more veteran players. You can't get better than maxed skills, after all.

So I started on the T2 Tour, a search to find the right frigate. I have not recorded every fight, for reasons I give here, but my entries should give those interested a pretty good idea about how the various ships perform. I started with the Crusader, because so many of the relevant skills matched those I had been building to fly the Punisher, and then moved on to the Malediction.

After enjoying, but not loving, interceptors I then moved on to the Vengeance. I fell in love with this little boat, and for months I flew it almost exclusively.


Building skills

With my ship chosen, I began working on my relevant skills and piloting my little Vengeance around low sec, looking for fights. In my six month review I noted that I had been having some problems with target selection, so I am worked hard to bring back the focus and the discipline of the Punisher Plan.

Over time, however I began to focus more and more on profitable piracy, and I felt the limitations of the Vengeance. Being very slow, I would often fall victim to gate camps or gangs that a faster ship would simply have avoided.

As a result, I started flying Interceptors more often, first the Malediction, and then the Crow. Now, my Assault Frigates and Interceptor related skills are effectively at maximum.


Moving up to Cruisers

Shortly after really maxing out my frigate skills, real life forced me to take a break. I'm back in the command chair now, but my flight time is more limited than it was before. To compensate, I've started trying to record my fights, so the blog now includes video, although this simply supplements the the written portion, rather than replaces it.

I'm now working my way through cruisers, starting with the Arbitrator. At some point I will probably branch out and include the Caracal and Maller, after they have been buffed in the winter expansion.


The Tuskers

I am also a member of the Tuskers; they are part of what inspired me to play Eve. Many of my fellow Tuskers have blogs of their own, and you can find most of them in my blog list. If you are not familiar with their blogs, I would encourage you to give them a read.

Like many Tuskers, I almost exclusively fly solo, occasionally teaming up with my corp-mates to take on larger targets. This is a rather demanding play style, and anyone considering it may want to read my views on the subject here.

Vengeance v Rupture

The hunt:

As with the Crusader and the Malediction, I was keen to put my Vengeance through it's paces and find out what it was made of. When I saw a Rupture ratting in a belt, I checked local for his reinforcements (he was in a local pvp corp) and jumped into the belt. He had called his ship "shieldruppie", which practically guaranteed that it was armor tanked. Still, I went with foxfire, just to be safe. If I got under his guns I could always change ammo later.

I landed right on top of him, and immediately established point. I also turned on my afterburner and moved into a 500m orbit to try and disrupt his tracking.

He turned on at least one neut, a webifier, and launched a wave of Warrior II drones. I started webbing and shooting his drones and he began trying to hit me with his main guns. I knew that the repper would not be much help, so my hope was to clear the drones and then keep under his guns while I wore him down.

I tried to keep up with all the different targets and all the info I was trying to process. It was a lot to take in, though, and I was sloppy. In trying to keep up with all the different targets I accidentally targeted him from time to time rather than his drones, which slowed the rate at which I cleared his Warrior IIs.

While I was able to keep my afterburner going, I was able to make him miss about half the time, and give him poor hits the other half. Once my afterburner dropped, however, he began to consistently land poor hits. I did not turn my afterburner back on, because I was hoping to get off a repper cycle; even with my incomplete skills, my cap regen is pretty good.

Somehow, though, I never managed to get off rep cycle, but I did clear several of his drones before I reached half armor. He recalled his remaining drones, and then relaunched them, along with the additional ones in his drone bay. I clumsily got back to work on clearing them.

I finally managed to clear the drones just as my armor gave out. I turned my attention to the Rupture, but his lowgrade hits were adding up, and fell into structure; I did not last long after that.

2011.06.05 08:47:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Vengeance
System: Hrokkur
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 2645

Involved parties:

Name: Aeth Gemulus (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Hatchery
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Rupture
Weapon: Dual 180mm AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 2645

Destroyed items:
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 60
Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
Small Anti-Thermic Pump I
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Small Capacitor Control Circuit I
1MN Afterburner IICaldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 400 (Cargo)
Foxfire Javelin Rocket, Qty: 400 (Cargo)
Gremlin Rage Rocket, Qty: 688 (Cargo)Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 400 (Cargo)

Dropped items:
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 60
Damage Control II
Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Small Armor Repairer IICaldari Navy Thorn Rocket, Qty: 400 (Cargo)Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 348 (Cargo)
Thorn Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)

I warped out, dropping an enthusiastic "gf" in local.


Afterthoughts:

I really wanted to know about this fight from the other side, so I convo'd the Rupture, who was happy to chat.

It turns out that he was using two small neuts (staggered) which is why I never got a rep cycle off. With only one, my cap regen probably would have pulled me through. Still, I should have reacted better when I saw I was not getting rep cycles off and reengaged my afterburners; it would have cut down on the damage I was taking from his guns. Apparently, with capless weapons and an armor buffer, a Rupture can maintain two small neuts indefinitely, so it's something I'm going to need to take into account when attacking cruisers.

I was very, very clumsy when it came to selecting and executing targets, and that is something that I HAVE to work on, but I suspect it will come with practice. I'm certain I could have cleared all his drones before half armor if I had been less of a mess and actually overheated my guns (I had been saving overheat for the Rupture).

However, targeting the Rupture, even accidentally, did provide me with some more food for thought. I tore through his shields without even trying, and even got about 15% into his armor. With more time, and better skills, the fight was very winnable.

And skills is the issue. With my current fit and all skills at V, my Vengeance is cap stable at 52% (even with only a T1 cap rig), has 9937 ehp, a cruising speed of 818 m/s and a dps of 92. With my skills, it has only 5.75 min of cap, 9165 ehp, a cruising speed of 762 m/s and a dps of 84. So, cap aside, I'm flying my Vengeance at only 92% capacity.

While I won't know until I try it, I suspect that it is very, very difficult to keep a top skilled, cap rigged Vengeance capped out. Assuming I learn from my mistakes and keep my afterburner on, my higher speed will make me even more difficult to hit, and increased dps clears drones faster and kills my opponent more swiftly.

So despite the loss, I'm actually quite encouraged by the whole thing. The Vengeance went up against a pvp fit cruiser and did nauseatingly well, despite my poor skills and atrocious mistakes.

I think I'm going to like Assault Ships.

Fitting a Vengeance

My last post generated a number of very interesting comments, so I thought I would elaborate on the thought process behind my fit, and why I chose it over some of the other excellent fits out there.


Active v Buffer

As Azual points out, the Vengeance is capable of an enormous passive tank. I have not done the EFT work myself, but I can believe 20k+ is possible; my active fit is over 10k.

However, a buffer means plates and armor rigs. The Vengeance is already a slow ship - a very slow ship - and slowing it down even further does not appeal to me. Equally, if I'm going to be kited then I would like to be able to endure the damage until they get bored or my backup arrives. A buffer tank cannot do that the way an active tank can.

If the Vengeance had sufficient range to eliminate the problem of kiting, then the reduced speed would not be much of a problem; it's already too slow to effectively give chase to anything. But because of the range limitations on rockets, I'm just not comfortable with a passive fit.


Single rep v Dual rep (or Web v Booster)

A single rep fit can afford to devote a midslot to ewar, whereas a dual rep fit needs a cap booster. For short, intense fights the dual rep fit is obviously superior. Whereas my single rep fit can tank the gate guns long enough to gank a cyno ship, the dual rep fit can kill the ship, get the pod and loot the wreck without even breaking a sweat.

This fit also overcomes one of a frigates biggest weaknesses: neuts. With a cap boosting fit the repper and point can be maintained for a significant period, which makes fighting large ships with neuts much more feasible. My single rep fit devotes one rig slot to a capacitor control circuit in part so that I can try and keep my modules (sans repper) running under a neut. That's rig slot that is not going towards my tank or dps.

However, as with the buffer fit, the dual rep fit is not as sustainable as the single rep fit, which is cap stable with reasonable skills. And while faster than the buffer fit, it's still slower than many of the ships you are likely to fight. Without a web, many of those ships will simply disengage when they realise that they can't break your tank.

And, for rocket ships, webs do more than simply keep the enemy around; they also improve your dps by reducing your target's speed. This effect is noticeable (albeit less significant) even against large ships, as I discovered first hand in my Rifter & Malediction v Drake fight. So although the dual rep fit gets an extra damage rig, it is losing some part of its potential dps to its target's increased speed.

Dual prop fits

One fit I have not experimented with is the dual prop fit. It would have all the disadvantages of the single rep fit (smaller active tank) and the dual rep fit (trouble keeping ships in point range, losing dps to target speed), and cap would be even more of an issue (because of the mwd).

However, it is also probably immune to kiting. Rockets can hit anything in scram range, and a mwd means that even if you cannot catch the ship kiting you, the chances are you are still fast enough to burn out of disruptor range with a few sharp turns.

Anti-thermic pump v other rigs

This is an issue that I've thought a lot about. Plugging the thermal resist hole is something that greatly improves the EFT tank on any type of Vengeance. In reality, though, many fights will not involve thermal damage, and in those fights the rig is wasted. Is it better to rig for something else, such as dps, which is useful in all fights? Assuming a non-armor rig, you would even see a slight speed boost.

Right now, I'm happy closing the resist hole, but I can see strong arguments for rigging something else as well.


Advanced modules

I completely agree that the Vengeance, and any other assault ship, is worth fitting out properly. Such robust base stats make assault ships fairly forgiving platforms, which is exactly what you want if you are going to spend several million on a single mod.

However, I'm not going to go down that road unless my skills are pretty close to maxed out. Deadspace mods get better with improved skills, and I'm not prepared to risk that kind of money on a single ship unless I know I can fly it to its full potential.

Vengeance v cyno ships (and station guns)

The fit:

4 Rocket Launcher II

Afterburner II
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator

Small Armor Repair System II
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Adaptive Nano Plating II

Small Anti-Thermal  Pump
Small Capacitor Control Circuit I

This is my basic Vengeance fit. Without high Assault Ship skills I need the capacitor control circuit to keep the repper running for a goodly time, but I would be tempted to switch it for a damage rig if I decide to invest heavily in the Vengeance.


The hunt:

One of the first things I wanted to do was test the Vengeance's legendary tank. Granted, I only had Assault Ships III,  but I had heard very good things about what this ship was capable of.

As a frigate pilot, one of the most frustrating things about low sec is the way I am forced to ignore targets that are sitting within range of gate or station guns. Given enough time, I can try and bump them out of range, but this is a very tedious experience, and all that effort can be wasted if the afk pilot returns to his computer (or a larger hunter appears to steal the kill).

The Vengeance, I hoped, could overcome this little problem. I therefore decided, with some trepidation, to run a test attack on a cyno ship.

Essentially, I jumped in on a cyno frigate, immedately pointed them, and overheated my guns. While I was shooting at them, and getting shot at by the station guns, I overheated my repair system and aligned to a celestial. As soon as the cyno ship popped, I warped out.

Actually, this seemed to work very well. I didn't even dip into structure.


Afterthoughts:

I am very impressed by the Vengeance's tank. With maxed skills, I would be willing to try going for the pod as well as the ship, and also trying to grab the cyno beacon. With my skills, that's simply out of the question. Being able to pick up those cyno beacons, though, would be a nice little source of extra income.

The Vengeance also seems to be sitting in a size/tank sweet spot. I can get in, tank the gate guns, and get out before the carrier can even lock me. I wouldn't want to try the same thing in a cruiser.

Malediction: a review

The Malediction is an odd ship, and ill suited for it's intended role. Unlike other fleet interceptors, the Malediction cannot actually target out to the limit of it's point range, which means that part of it's role bonus is  wasted with a T2 warp disruptor.

Equally, it's chosen weapon system, rockets, can't reach further than 15km, or 20km if you are prepared to rig exclusively for range. This means that, alone of the fleet interceptors, it cannot actually engage the enemy at the limit of it's (already curtailed) point range.

It's also rather strange that a ship designed to fly beyond the range of enemy guns would get a tanking bonus.

However, all of that suits me just fine; I like to get up close and personal and the Malediction's bonuses make it a pretty good ship for that job. It's almost as if some designer misfiled the Crusader and the Malediction - each would have been better at the other's role.

Unlike the Crusader, the Malediction can pack a web, which means it retains it's relative speed advantage when webbed. The tradeoff is that the Malediction has a lower base speed than the Crusader, but it is still "fast enough."

With cap independent weapons, the Malediction can also support an active tank better than the Crusader, and has a utility high for a nos. While still fairly fragile - it is an interceptor, after all - it can be surprisingly resilient if you keep your speed and transversal up.

Of course, I can't talk about the Malediction without talking about rockets. The pro's and con's of missiles over turrets are well known, and I won't rehash them here. However, I really enjoyed using rockets for another reason; time management.

When I open fire with turrets I need to be constantly checking to make sure that slight changes in range or tracking have not begun to undermine my damage. Checking this requires me to look at my combat log for several entries; because there is a random factor attached to turret hits any one result could be misleading, so that "miss" might not mean you can't hit, just that you were unlucky with that shot. The opposite is also true, and your "hit" might have been a fluke that will not be repeated at this range and angular velocity.

So every time I want to check my dps I have to spend several seconds focusing on the combat log, seconds I am not spending looking at my armor, cap, modules or opponent. And my dps needs to be checked regularly in a highly mobile fight.

Not so with rockets. A quick glance at the most recent entry will confirm that I am in range and hitting for full damage. If I'm not hitting, I won't see an entry. Simple.

I value this timesaving feature of missiles far more highly than the ability to choose damage, and it makes up for all the shortcomings (carrying ammunition, high reload time, lower damage, etc) because it allows me to actually focus on flying my ship and reacting to my opponent.

The advantages of using rockets, combined with the natuaral qualities of the ship, make the Malediction a hull that I very much enjoy flying. It's not without issues - the damage is pretty anemic (granted, my skills are far from maxed out) and it folds very quickly if it cannot rely on speed/transversal - but I've had suspect they are issues I could learn to live with.

Without having tried assault ships I can't be certain that it's what I want to fly full time, but I certainly see it being my go-to ship whenever I want to fly an interceptor.

Malediction v Exequror

The hunt:

I was roaming around, looking for another fight, when I managed to find an Exequror at a belt. Warping in, I saw that he had (very sensibly) pulled the rats a long way from the warp-in point, so I was nowhere near him.

Unfortunately, he had pulled them too far. By warping to one of the wrecks, I was able to land on top of him, and establish a point. Falling into a tight orbit, I opened fire.

He launched drones, of course. Here, at last, was the drone test I was looking for.

My response was clumsy. I was not used to having so many targets to deal with, and I felt a little overwhelmed. Still, I started webbing and shooting at his drones and I was gratified to see that I could destroy them after a few volleys.

With the damage starting to add up, though, I turned on my nos and started pulsing the repper. If I could kill the drones before they got me, I would win. Otherwise, I would be destroyed; I was in no mood to retreat from this fight.

The damage was too much for my repair system to deal with completely, but it did slow the damage down. My opponent clearly realised that the survival of his drones would be the deciding factor, and he started to put serious effort into micromanaging them. When I targeted one he would recall it before it could be destroyed, and release it (or a fresh one) when I started on another drone.

In the end, my cap gave out. Without the repair system, his drones made short work of me, and I wished him a hearty "gf" as I warped my capsule out.

2011.05.30 14:37

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Malediction
System: Aedald
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 3144

Involved parties:

Name: K'Roa T'Jal (laid the final blow)
Security: 0.61
Corp: Critical Mass Inc.
Alliance: None
Faction: NONE
Ship: Exequror
Weapon: Hobgoblin II
Damage Done: 3144
 
Destroyed items:

Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 25
Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Small Armor Repairer II
Gremlin Rage Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 300 (Cargo)
Small Bay Loading Accelerator I
Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I

Dropped items:

Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 50
E5 Prototype Energy Vampire
Rocket Launcher II
1MN Afterburner II
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Damage Control II
Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket, Qty: 300 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 300 (Cargo)
Thorn Rage Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 300 (Cargo)


Afterthoughts:

I'm going to write a post specifically about rockets, so I won't say too much here. I was pleased that I was able to hit and destroy his drones, though, and if I actually had decent missile skills then the result might have been very different.

Of course, there is a very sensible argument here about not flying ships I'm not properly skilled in, and that's a good argument. However, the whole point of the T2 Tour is to give me an idea of which ship I want to become properly skilled in. This fight had let me see another side of the Malediction, and I now felt ready to move on to the next ship.

Malediction v Stabber

The hunt:

My fight with Valgore against the Drake had been a great deal of fun, but I had yet to really test the Malediction's solo engagement envelope. Clearly, with only three missile points the Malediction was not going to be soloing any decently fit battle cruisers, but what about their smaller brethren?

As luck would have it, I spotted a Stabber jumping around Atlar, and I decided to cautiously give chase. I say cautiously because local was fairly full, and many of them were from a local pirate gang; I did not want to end up jumping into another trap.

So when I managed to get a fix on the Stabber the first time I jumped in at 100km to get a fix on the pilot. Hitting "get info", I immediately jumped out again so as not to cause him alarm.

Taking a look at his vitals while in warp, he was not obviously affiliated with any of the local gangs, and he seemed legit, rather than some one's out of corp alt. Time to try and find the fight.

The Stabber kept on the move. I was not sure exactly what he was doing; sometimes he was at belts, sometimes at planets. Only as I continued to track him did I learn why; I was not the only hunter.

Wherever the Stabber went, there was an assault ship not too far away. Sometimes, when I tried to jump in on the Stabber, I would find myself landing shortly before the assault ship. At first I thought that I might need to defend myself, but the other pilot did not seem to interested in me. I imagine he (probably correctly) assumed that he could not keep me in a fight I did not want, and I (probably correctly) assumed that my half-baked missile skills were not up to taking down a well flown assault ship.

Eventually, though, my higher warp speed and align time began to work to my advantage, the assault ship fell further and further behind, while I kept getting closer and closer to the Stabber.

As I gave chase, I began to notice that there were certain places that the Stabber kept returning to, so when I next saw a scan result in that general direction I took a chance; rather than narrow down the scan, I simply jumped to the recurring destination.

Fortune, as they say, favours the bold; I landed right on top of him.

Immediately pointing and webbing him, I opened fire and waited for the drones. These, however, never materialised, and I soon found myself evading the Stabber's return fire completely.

Still, breaking his tank was going to be a slow process, and somewhere behind me was an assault ship. I opened up a ransom channel.

Now, I had given ransoms a great deal of thought since my last ransom attempt, and I had decided that I did not like the "traditional" ransom structure. Basically, it seemed like a whole lot of work.

On vent, I'd been able to listen to other Tuskers ask advice on ransoms, and hear the responses. People often have formulas based on age, hull cost, etc. Everyone tries to strike a stressful balance between getting a ransom at all (not too high) and getting ripped off (not too low).

This model of ransoming seems like fantastic way to kill all the fun in pvp, so I had decided to do things my own way. I would tell my victim that they could make me one, and only one, offer for their ship/pod, and that I would either accept or reject that offer. This would shift the stress of working out the ransom to them; all I had to do was decide whether I preferred the money or the killmail! It seemed pretty perfect.

So when this chap responds to my convo, I quickly lay down the rules; one offer and one offer only. He suggests 6 million for his ship, and I prefer the killmail. Easy.

He tells me to make a counter offer, but rules are rules. He had had his shot; now I wanted my killmail. It did not take as long as I thought it would.

2011.05.22 20:33:00

Victim: Damien Miles
Corp: Mercenarius Mercded
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Stabber
System: Atlar
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 21467

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -5.6
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Malediction
Weapon: Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket
Damage Done: 5426

Name: Gistii Impaler / Angel Cartel
Damage Done: 16041

Destroyed items:

Sabretooth Light Missile, Qty: 120
Titanium Sabot M, Qty: 160
Stasis Webifier I
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon I, Qty: 4
Assault Missile Launcher I, Qty: 2
Damage Control I
Sabretooth Light Missile, Qty: 630 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Y-S8 Hydrocarbon I Afterburners
Medium Armor Repairer I
Medium Shield Booster II
Titanium Sabot M, Qty: 480
50mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Titanium Sabot M, Qty: 4380 (Cargo)
Hornet I (Drone Bay)

Thanks to the fantastic lock speeds on interceptors, and FNG's sage advice, I was able to snag his pod. Again, I told him that he had one, and only one, opportunity to purchase his implants from me. This time he decided that he could find 90 million ISK, and I decided that I was willing to forgo the killmail.

With the ransom paid, I let his pod go, thankful that we had not been interrupted by the assault ship.


Afterthoughts:

Looking at the killmail, I began to have some regrets - I'm a bit of a softy that way. As ecstatic as I was over the size of the ransom, which would effectively pay for all the ships I had lost so far on the T2 Tour, I remembered, not too long ago, when I had sunk the majority of my assets into my +4's, and I wondered if I shouldn't have accepted less from such a young player.

I decided that I wanted to help him out - he had been polite throughout - so I convo'd him again. I wanted to give him some advice about surviving low sec and give him some of the ransom back. Unfortunately for him, he left the ransom channel before I completed my first block of text.

I convo'd him again, and he said "what do I have to do to get rid of you?" and left the channel. My patience was wearing thin - I had been polite throughout too - so I thought I would send him an in-game mail. That way he could see that I had good intentions.

That's when I found out he had blocked me.

I suspect there is a serious lesson in here for me somewhere. I have been helped hugely by the Eve community, and by my reader's in particular. I have been given advice, support, ships, modules and even ISK. This generosity has made me very keen to give something back to the community, and hence my attempt to return some part of the ransom to a new player.

However, just as my attempted generosity towards the miner I fought during the Punisher Plan did not go as intended, neither did my effort to return some of the ransom. Instead, I just ended up feeling stupid for even trying. I'm not sure what to take away from all this, but perhaps I need to change my approach.

All that aside, I was very happy with how the Malediction performed against an above class vessel. While I was disappointed by the lack of drones - I really wanted to test my rockets out against them - I certainly can't complain about the outcome.

Interestingly, the Tusker reputation apparently reaches even new players. At one point he had second thoughts, fearing that I would take the money and kill him any way. When I pointed out that I was a Tusker, he paid up.

Rifter & Malediction v Drake

The hunt:

I was eating dinner when I heard the call.

Was anyone near Atlar? Well, yes, but I was in the middle of my dinner. Better let someone else get this one.

But there was nobody else, and Valgore Muerte had managed to land point on a Drake in his Rifter. He couldn't break it's tank, and he was running low on ammo.

I hate to see a call for help go unanswered, and I also have a soft spot for people that try to kill Drakes in T1 frigates. So I put my dinner to one side,  told Valgore my Malediction was six jumps out, and that I was on my way.

About three jumps before I reached him, Valgore had to drop point and run. He likes shield buffer fits and the Drake had switched to an alternate ammo (we assumed javlin missiles), which increased his dps against Valgore significantly. With his buffer gone, he had been unable to hold the Drake in place.

However, having seen off the pesky Rifter, the Drake seemed in no mood to leave the system, and it warped to a different belt, presumably to go on ratting.

Arriving at the final gate, I let Valgore know that I was ready, and he jumped back in on the Drake. Jumping through the gate, I immediately warped to Valgore and landed my own point. I settled into as wide an orbit as the range on my rockets and nos would allow, opening fire with gremlin rage rockets. I also put up my web, to maximise my dps.


The fight:

The Drake, quite reasonably, seemed to feel that what had worked once would probably work again, so he targeted Valgore first, aiming to strip away his buffer and drive him off. We all traded blows for awhile, each trying to break our target's tank. As the Drake reached about half shields Valgore's EMP finally gave out and he had to switch to phased plasma. Moments after that, his buffer failed and he was forced to retire from the field again.

Alone with the Drake, I began taking significant damage from his missiles, so I started up my repair system. I was gratified to find that I could permatank his damage, albeit with difficulty. To do so, I was forced to drop my web in order to keep my cap up, which gave the Drake far more freedom to maneuver.

He took advantage of this by making abrupt course changes. I think he might have been hoping I would move beyond scram range (In a Malediction? Good luck with that.), but what it actually did was throw me out of nos range. I could not afford to miss any cycles if I was going to keep pulsing the repair system, so I tightened my orbit to compensate. Of course, this in turn brought my speed down and increased the Drake's dps. I needed to strike the right balance between speed, cap and incoming dps, and that meant constantly adjusting my orbit and range.

Some time shortly before Valgore was able to jump back in, I ran out of gremlin rage. Being completely new to the whole concept of carrying ammunition, I had taken some forum advice and stocked up on two reloads of everything, which gave me a total of 300 gremlin rage rockets. This was very clearly not enough, but it's all I had on board. I switched over to foxfire rage, and continued firing.

With neither of us able to target the Drake's resistance hole, we knew there was no longer any chance that we could handle the Drake on our own. With all the other Tuskers in Hevrice, it was time to reach out to the locals. Gunpoint Diplomacy was the obvious choice.

In addition to being home to several former Tuskers, Gunpoint are generally very good pilots. You don't need to roam Molden Heath very long to realise that the RANSM ticker means a great deal; good fights and good players.

So Valgore contacted the Gunpoint pilots he knew, and I sent a message to Dian Lung; although she had recently left Gunpoint, she was back in the area to roam with her old corpmates for the day.

The responses we got were generally positive, and we were told that help was on the way. Then things got very, very quiet; someone up the chain had taken charge, and plans were being made that did not directly involve us.

As we continued trading blows with the Drake, Valgore got a bit of a break. The Drake was focusing everything he had on me, and his maneuvers became more erratic; if I suspect he knew that at this stage we would have called for backup, and that his days were numbered. Unfortunately for him, I was able to continue tanking his damage. Active tanks for the win.


The flight:

Finally, local spiked. I couldn't tell how many players had entered the system; my chat window only holds about 15 entries. Anything more than that to a low sec player is "way too many".

Everyone knew something was about to happen, but Valgore and I were not quite sure what. And then, all of a sudden, my overview was filled with flashy red; Gunpoint had arrived!

Which of course meant that we were potentially in deep, deep trouble.

Other pirates, I suspect, will instinctively understand what Valgore and I were thinking, but not all of my readers are pirates, so I'll try and explain.

High sec pilots often view low sec pirates as a co-operative block, but this is simply not the case; we fight each other all the time. I've tried (unsuccessfully) to take on Gunpoint pilots in the past, and they have tried (unsuccessfully) to kill me on a number of occasions too.

Admittedly, there is a certain level of mutual respect among some of the (better) pirate corps, but it's more professional courtesy than any kind of alliance. Equally, co-operation is not unheard of when targets too large to be dealt with alone present themselves. However, this co-operation is not to be taken for granted, and whether intentionally or not, we had not been given any reassurance that we were not also targets.

With a massive Gunpoint fleet landing on us, Valgore's orders were simple. "Get out. Get out." Any thought of an orderly handover of point on the Drake went out the window; I simply warped to the sun, and then bounced to a safe spot.

As I warped out, I saw hell being unleashed on he hapless Drake. I've never seen a carrier hotdrop, but I imagine it feels a lot like what I saw. There was no escape for him.

2011.05.22 19:35:00

Victim: Celestis 234
Corp: Empyrean Warriors
Alliance: The Obsidian Front
Faction: Unknown
Destroyed: Drake
System: Wiskeber
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 63753

Involved parties:

Name: Valgore Meurte
Security: -9.7
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Rifter
Weapon: J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Damage Done: 18546

Name: Willem Revolati
Security: -10.0
Corp: Gunpoint Diplomacy
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Deimos
Weapon: Hammerhead II
Damage Done: 9095

Name: Taurean Eltanin
Security: -5.5
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Malediction
Weapon: J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Damage Done: 8078

Name: FeistyOne
Security: -9.9
Corp: Twisted Inc.
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Proteus
Weapon: Proteus
Damage Done: 7304

Name: CraftyCroc
Security: -9.8
Corp: Gunpoint Diplomacy
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Stabber Fleet Issue
Weapon: Stabber Fleet Issue
Damage Done: 5435

Name: Chewlookinat
Security: 3.6
Corp: On The Cloth
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: Hurricane
Damage Done: 3295

Name: Dian Lung
Security: -3.7
Corp: Ikaruga.
Alliance: NONE
Faction: Caldari State
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: Hurricane
Damage Done: 2217

Name: Alex Medvedov
Security: -10.0
Corp: Gunpoint Diplomacy
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Jaguar
Weapon: Jaguar
Damage Done: 2130

Name: Shtang Lord
Security: -10.0
Corp: Gunpoint Diplomacy
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Zealot
Weapon: Zealot
Damage Done: 1893

Name: Vanderie
Security: -9.7
Corp: Gunpoint Diplomacy
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Guardian
Weapon: Warrior II
Damage Done: 1519

Name: Slamby
Security: -0.2
Corp: On The Cloth
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Harbinger
Weapon: Harbinger
Damage Done: 1390

Name: Thorasine (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: Gunpoint Diplomacy
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: 220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 858

Name: masty
Security: -8.3
Corp: The Executioners
Alliance: Capital.Punishment
Faction: NONE
Ship: Lachesis
Weapon: Warrior II
Damage Done: 596

Name: Xulgar
Security: -9.4
Corp: Gunpoint Diplomacy
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: Hurricane
Damage Done: 562

Name: Laktos
Security: -9.4
Corp: Gunpoint Diplomacy
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Harbinger
Weapon: Harbinger
Damage Done: 488

Name: Dirty Protagonist
Security: -10.0
Corp: Gunpoint Diplomacy
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Guardian
Weapon: Warrior I
Damage Done: 347

Name: Angel Impaler / Archangels
Damage Done: 0

Name: Ariartus
Security: -10.0
Corp: Gunpoint Diplomacy
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Sacrilege
Weapon: Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II
Damage Done: 0

Destroyed items:

Invulnerability Field II, Qty: 2
Damage Control II
Scourge Heavy Missile, Qty: 192
'Malkuth' Heavy Missile Launcher I, Qty: 5
Ballistic Control System II, Qty: 2
Large Shield Extender II

Dropped items:

Scourge Heavy Missile, Qty: 1049 (Cargo)
Y-S8 Hydrocarbon I Afterburners
Warp Disruptor II
Scourge Heavy Missile, Qty: 32
Caldari Navy Thunderbolt Heavy Missile, Qty: 192 (Cargo)
'Malkuth' Heavy Missile Launcher I, Qty: 2
Ballistic Control System II
Large Shield Extender II
Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile, Qty: 129 (Cargo)


Afterthoughts:

Giddy with excitement after our narrow escape, (well, I was giddy, Valgore may be made of sterner stuff) Valgore and I waited in my safe until Gunpoint had left the system before heading back to Atlar for fresh ammunition. It had been an awesome fight, with highly technical flying and an exciting finish. Valgore was especially pleased that he had managed to put the most damage on the Drake while flying a Rifter, and I was quite happy with the number three spot.

Ammunition is clearly something I need to carry more of, though. While two reloads might work against frigates, taking on larger targets requires deeper reseverves, so I will probably move up to four reloads of rage rockets.

I am very happy with the Malediction's ablitiy to tank the dps put out by the Drake, although I have to weigh that against the Crusader's ability to go on shooting without reloading for about an hour. In this case the ability to keep a point on the Drake was key, though; my ability to dps was secondary.

I'm also impressed with Gunpoint's ability to muster such a large response at short notice. While obviously overkill (one battle cruiser would have done it, frankly), as displays of power go, it was pretty effective.

Malediction v Griffin et alia

The hunt:

Actually, I wasn't hunting; I was playing musical ships.

My hauler alt had just brought some Maledictions and fittings to Gelfiven for the next stage of the T2 Tour. Rather than risk them all to the perils of lowsec in a defenceless hauler, I had decided to fly them each from Gelfiven to Atlar individually with my main.

Because this was just meant to be a short journey, I had thrown together a buffer fit rather than an active tank - I was more concerned about the npc police than I was about other players.

As I was docking one of my Maledictions, I noticed a cyno going up right next to the station. There is nothing unusual about that; because the Hatchery "owns" Oddelulf, Atlar is used by a number of jump freighters on a regular basis.

However, this cyno was set up by a flashy, which meant I could actually attack him without fear of the gate guns! It was too much to resist and I immediately altered course and engaged.

As pretty much everyone but me would have figured out by this point, it was a trap. Two of his corpmates undocked (uncloaked?) in T3 cruisers as soon I engaged.

Now, there was still a bit of a delay between my attack and them turning my ship into a cloud of vapour. Most Malediction pilots would have used that time to destroy the defenceless Griffin. I, however, had brand new rocket skills, so I did not even have the dubious comfort of taking someone with me.

2011.05.18 19:11:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Malediction
System: Atlar
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 2284

Involved parties:

Name: Tul Kezad (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: Friends Of Harassment
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Legion
Weapon: Heavy Pulse Laser II
Damage Done: 864

Name: Dr Narud
Security: -9.9
Corp: Friends Of Harassment
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Loki
Weapon: Loki
Damage Done: 1420

Destroyed items:

Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Small Bay Loading Accelerator I
Damage Control II
5W Infectious Power System Malfunction
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 44
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I
Thorn Rage Rocket, Qty: 300 (Cargo)
Gremlin Rage Rocket, Qty: 300 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Rocket Launcher II
Adaptive Nano Plating II
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 88
Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Foxfire Javelin Rocket, Qty: 300 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 300 (Cargo)


Afterthoughts:

Clearly, there is a lesson here about not attacking obvious bait and not using weapons you are not properly trained in. Both are valuable lessons, but I think I'll pass on the first one. I admit that this is the second trap I have fallen into in as many days (see my last Crusader fight), but better that than missing out on fights because I'm terrified of what might happen if I engage. Even I, however, will admit that a dash of added caution goes a long way. I should at least have realised it was a trap, even if I engaged anyway.

And I'm totally on board with the whole rocket skills thing. Need to do something about that ASAP.

In an interesting twist, the Griffon that I attacked seems to have annoyed one of his larger corp mates shortly after my attack run, because BC has given me the following killmail.

2011.05.18 19:14:00

Victim: TrustTheDwarf
Corp: Friends Of Harassment
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Griffin
System: Atlar
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 2091

Involved parties:

Name: smartshogu (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.9
Corp: Friends Of Harassment
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Absolution
Weapon: Heavy Pulse Laser II
Damage Done: 1278

Name: Taurean Eltanin
Security: -4.4
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship:
Weapon: X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Damage Done: 813

Destroyed items:

Liquid Ozone, Qty: 50 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Cynosural Field Generator I

How odd.

Crash and Burn

Most of the Tuskers have abandoned the Molden Heath campaign, and this has had serious repercussions for me this weekend.

To begin with, it mean's I'm in the wrong place to take part in corp operations. I've tried to make the effort, though, but the journey (to Hevrice) at peak times is dangerous. I ended up losing more ships/pods trying to reach the fleet than I did in the actual engagements.

It also means that I'm flying around Molden Heath with no backup and no intel. Weekends are a prime time for gate camps and roaming blobs, and I've managed to find some of each.

On top of that, though, I've been quite ambitious in my recent undertakings. While it has certainly given me some good fights to post about, in many cases I simply bit off more than I can chew and I have to accept responsibility for that.

All told, I've lost eight ships and four capsules in the last 48 hours. My savings are decimated, and frankly, I feel a bit low about the whole thing.

I've sold virtually everything I had sitting in my hangar and I've managed to get back on my feet. I've got a new set of learning implants (pretty much the most important investment for a new character) and two fitted hulls sitting in my hangar. That's about as much as any new pirate can ask for.

Still, I'm feeling a bit drained by the experience, so I'm going to take a bit of an Eve break - probably about a week. And when I get back, I suspect that I'll be flying quite conservatively for a while.

I have plenty to post about, so I won't be leaving the blog unattended and updates should continue as usual, but it may mean that I don't respond to my in-game mail for a while.

Crusader: a review

After having flown the Crusader in a variety of situations and in a handful of fights, I'm ready to move on. For any other new pirates, however, here are my thoughts on the Crusader.

In many ways, the Crusader is an unremarkable ship, with middle of the road dps and tank for it's class. What is exceptional, though, is it's high base speed and four low slots.

This pretty much tells you all there is to know about the Crusader, because everything else flows from that point. It has standard interceptor bonuses to mwd and the tracking to actually hit things while moving at speed. And because it packs energy turrets, Scorch allows it to engage targets beyond web and scram range (although range enhancing mods or rigs certainly help). The Crusader was, literally, designed to fill a mwd/kiting role, and by all accounts it fills that role admirably.

Of course, I was flying it all wrong. While I enjoyed the speed, trying to fight at close range meant that I was throwing that advantage away; with only two midslots the Crusader cannot counterweb, and so loses it's relative speed advantage. It's just not a brawler - it should avoid damage, not absorb try to endure it.

When I first finished with the Crusader I was certain that I did not want to end up flying that kind of ship. Further exposure to that way of flying (via the Malediction) has softened my views, though. It's simply not what I am used to, and I suspect I have developed a bit of a comfort zone.

That aside, and while I am reserving judgement until I have some other T2 ships to compare it to, I'm not actually a huge fan of the Crusader. If I want to fly a laser vessel in that fashion, why would I not just fly a Slicer? Sure, the Crusader is faster, but for most thing the Slicer is fast enough, and has much higher dps and range.

Still, the Crusader is an excellent ship, provided you are willing to fly it the way it was designed to be flown.

Crusader v Rifter et alia

The hunt:

It had been a slow day in Molden Heath, and I had wandered beyond my usual stomping grounds in search of a fight.

A few jumps out of Molden Heath I spotted a Rifter sitting in a belt. Outside of my patch, I did not recognize the pilot or his corp, but I did want to try my Crusader against another Rifter.

Now, although the Crusader is a T2 frigate, a well fit and well flown Rifter is more than capable of taking it on and winning. Obviously an experienced pilot, I also had no idea how quickly he might be able to call for assistance. I would have to hit hard and fast.

Warping to the belt, I landed within point range of the Rifter, and immediately settled into a tight orbit. Although I would suffer higher damage, the Rifter would have a relative speed advantage if he was packing a web, and I did not want it to be easy for him to disengage.

Activating my mids and overheating my guns, I tore into the Rifter, but my opponent immediately returned the favour.  No hesitation or delay; he was as fast on the draw as his sec status suggested. I started up my repper, and it was clear that this was going to be a close race.

He seemed to be active armor tanked, and my heart sank as I saw how little progress I was making against his armor. I was not able to dwell on the matter for long, however, as two more Rifters landed in the belt.

The first newcomer landed right on top of me and immediately started to attack. The other pilot was about 40km off; he was out of the fight for the moment.

At this point I overheated my afterburner and tried to burn away, but with two webs on me, it just was not going to happen.

2011.05.17 18:31:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: Unknown
Faction: Unknown
Destroyed: Crusader
System: Aralgrund
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 2516

Involved parties:

Name: WayCharles
Security: -9.9
Corp: Mountain Militia
Alliance: Mountain Sprouts
Faction: NONE
Ship: Rifter
Weapon: Rifter
Damage Done: 2144

Name: xxxAlloxxx (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.8
Corp: Mountain Militia
Alliance: Mountain Sprouts
Faction: NONE
Ship: Rifter
Weapon: 150mm Light AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 372

Destroyed items:

Small Energy Burst Aerator I
Gatling Pulse Laser II, Qty: 2
Small Energy Collision Accelerator I
Small Energy Transfer Array I (Cargo)
1MN Afterburner I (Cargo)
Scorch S (Cargo)
Medium Shield Booster I (Cargo)
Small Armor Repairer II
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Proton S, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Small Shield Transporter I (Cargo)
Imperial Navy Multifrequency S, Qty: 2

Dropped items:

Gatling Pulse Laser II, Qty: 2
Damage Control II
ECM Burst I (Cargo)
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Scorch S, Qty: 3 (Cargo)
Heavy Missile Launcher I (Cargo)
Heat Sink II
Imperial Navy Multifrequency S, Qty: 2
1MN Afterburner II

Warping my pod out, I left a "gf" in local. They had sprung their trap well, and flown their ships perfectly.


Afterthoughts:

My reaction to the two additional Rifters dropping in was all wrong. I was never, ever going to get away with two webs on me, and trying to do so distracted me from doing what I should have been focusing on: taking someone with me.

What I did not notice (until too late) was that I had broken the cap of the first Rifter. Thanks to my Amarrian cap skills, my repper was going strong, but he was deep into armor. I had a real opportunity to kill him, but my attempted flight had taken me out of Multifrequency range, and I did not notice this for several seconds.

I switched to Scorch, but I exploded just before he reached hull. If I had stayed focused, I probably would have killed him, especially as maintaining my transversal would have meant taking slightly less damage from my target.

So, with the same skills, ship and situation, a veteran pilot would probably have come away from this encounter with a killmail. I reacted poorly, and came away with nothing as a result.

Part of the problem is that I have focused so much on what is happening to me that I have not ever really considered what is happening to my opponent. I saw that my opponents tank was holding and assumed that there was nothing I could do. I did not consider his cap situation - largely because my own cap tends not to be an issue.

Some real food for thought here, and if I can properly absorb the lessons of this fight I will be a far better pilot.

Time for some changes

 I have spent some time thinking about a recent comment Benedict made, and my response. To save anyone tracking them down, here they are:

Benedict said...

While targeting non-combat ships makes for safer kills, I have to say it's also making for less interesting stories. The problem is that there's no suspense - as soon as we see the ship type, we know how it's going to end. Your combat writeups are much more exciting, because we don't know who's going to win until we see the killmail!

Taurean Eltanin said...

I totally agree. Of course, I have only a certain amount of control over the opportunities that come my way. Other bloggers deal with that by posting every week or so, picking out the most interesting fights to post about. Because this blog is as much a learning journal for me as it is entertainment for the rest of the community, I have decided to exclude only a narrow range of fights (suicide ganks and lol fights), and so I post pretty much everything, dull periods and all. The upshot (I hope) is frequent posts and a fairly honest view of a beginner pirate's life in New Eden.

On further reflection, however, I do think a change is in order.

When I started the Punisher Plan, every fight was important. I had so much to learn, and even ganking a hauler gave me much needed practice in hunting and fighting. But now? Not so much. A Crusader ganking a T1 hauler is not really worth writing about, and almost certainly not worth reading about.

So from here on out, I'm only going to post battles that actually involved a meaningful fight, or had some interesting feature. This means that my posting rate is almost certainly going to slow, but I shall try to post at least three times a week; Monday, Wednesday & Friday. Hopefully, though, my posts will be more consistently interesting and useful.

Of course, that means my blog will be even less representative of what I'm actually doing, but I suppose that anyone who is really interested can just look at my BC record. Battle Clinic has my API, so all wins and losses are automatically uploaded.

It also means that the numbering convention I started in the Punisher Plan will be redundant; the number is meaningless if there are kills that are excluded, so I will adopt a simple "Myship v Theirship" naming convention for my posts. This prevents my brain from exploding trying to come up with interesting names, and should also make finding particular battle records easier. I will retitle the pre-existing Crusader posts for consistency.

Finally, I will merge my "Post battle review" and "Lessons for the future" sections. During the Punisher Plan these sections deserved their own space as I had so many basic pvp lessons to learn. Now, however, I think they can safely be dealt with together.