Wednesday 31 August 2011

Vengeance v Jaguar

 


The hunt:

So there's this guy that recently moved to Hevrice. He's not a Tusker, but he still feels that setting up in our station is a good idea. Solo. He's probably crazy, but it's the kind of crazy I respect - you simply have to admire the audacity.

I don't know exactly what his deal is, but he certainly does not shy away from the good fights, which is probably part of why he moved to Hev. I had just undocked when I saw his Jaguar on D-scan at the sun; someone was spoiling for a fight, so I warped to zero.

I landed outside of scram range, but he was happy to close the distance for me, and we hurtled towards each other. Activating my launchers and mids, I set my orbit as close as possible. I had no illusions about getting under his guns, but the Jag's speed meant that he could disengage at will, and the closer he started in the fight, the further he had to run.

However, I changed my mind once he started trying to neut me. Instead, I tried to move to a wider orbit so that I was outside the neut's optimal. He used his control of the range to keep me close, though, and he was able to keep neuting.

Now, I vacillate back and forth about putting a capacitor control circuit or a damage rig on my Vengeance. Here, though, the control circuit was golden. While I could not perma-run my repair system, it did allow me to keep up periodic rep cycles, which kept me in the fight. Of course, juggling all my modules still required every ounce of concentration.

I overheated my repair system; if I was only going to get a few reps, I wanted them to repair for as much as possible. Then I overheated my launchers; this looked like it was going to be a straight up race.

My philosophy of frigate fighting is sustainability; I want my ship to be able to keep doing what it's doing indefinitely if I have to. I'm not that great of a pilot, and my reaction time leaves a lot to be desired, but if I can just grind the other guy down or run him out of resources I can still win. This is why I rarely overheat at the beginning of a fight (point excepted, for obvious reasons), and why I don't run on cap boosters and the like.

The Jaguar, however, like most Minmatar pilots, was operating on a "fast & furious" model, which has it's advantages to be sure; there's a reason why nearly everyone flies their frigates that way. However, if you can weather the initial storm, the performance of these ships tends to fall off over time. And so it was here.

In addition to burning out his midslots, he also ran out of cap in his efforts to neut me. This handed me complete control over the range of the fight, and also eliminated his means of escape. Moving into his falloff and beyond the range of his neut, I repaired to full and pounded his ship to dust.

2011.08.24 17:13:00

Victim: toothslayer
Corp: Guild of Assassins
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Jaguar
System: Hevrice
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 4492

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Thorn Rage Rocket
Damage Done: 4492

Destroyed items:

Gyrostabilizer II
Small Core Defence Field Extender I
Tracking Enhancer II
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Small Anti-Explosive Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Shield Extender II
5W Infectious Power System Malfunction
150mm Light AutoCannon II
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
1MN Afterburner II
Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S, Qty: 106
Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S, Qty: 1020 (Cargo)
Republic Fleet Fusion S, Qty: 1000 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Damage Control II
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Qty: 2
Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S, Qty: 212
Republic Fleet EMP S, Qty: 1500 (Cargo)


Afterthoughts:

Although the fight ended on a rather anticlimactic note - I had taken complete control of the fight - it was actually a fairly close call. Only my absurd cap regen and my module management let me outlast his overheat phase. Even then, it was a fairly close call, and there were "gfs" in local on both sides of the fight.

I also thought that we were fairly evenly matched, which probably means that he has his AFs maxed out. I look forward to our next encounter.

Monday 29 August 2011

Vengeance v Ishkur



The hunt:

I had just jumped from Hevrice to Jov, when I saw an Ishkur sitting on the Jov side of the gate. Not a flashy pilot, I could not engage her without triggering the gate guns. Thinking for a moment, I elected to do nothing - I just sat there, unmoving, and let my cloak expire.

Shortly after becoming visible, the Ishkur decided to come over and take a look. She targeted me and launched drones, but did not immediately engage; perhaps she was switching ammo types. After a few seconds of no action, she decided to engage me and opened fire.

I immediately turned on all my mods, including the armor repair system; baiting the Ishkur had essentially required the sacrifice of my shields, as my lack of transversal meant she was hitting for max damage with everything.

Knowing that blasters suffered from short range, I tried to open my orbit, but the Ishkur pilot had the range control, and I struggled to get out of her blaster's optimal. Seeing that we were very evenly matched, I overheated my repair system and my rockets, trying to catch up in the damage race. I briefly considered going after her drones, but killing them efficiently would demand my web, and then the Ishkur could just disengage. Equally, I would need to switch out the Rage rockets I had loaded, which would give her even more of a head start on the damage race.

At some point, the Ishkur decided that things were getting a little too close for comfort, and decided to use her range dictation to try and escape. I did not notice at first, because I had been trying to open my orbit, and I assumed that I had finally succeeded. As the distance between us continued to increase, however, I recognized the escape attempt for what it was.

Hitting "approach", I overheated my scram, web and afterburner. Unfortunately, I needed to kill the overheat on my repair system to stop it burning out, but I was only taking drone damage at the moment, so I had some breathing space. With my afterburners overheated, the Ishkur's speed advantage was reduced to a few m/s. Still, she had managed to put nearly 10km between us - my align time is not that great, so even though I noticed the escape before then, coming about gave her another second or two to run - and she was within striking distance of safety.

Worse, my dps had dropped to zero because she had out ranged my Rage rockets. While the same was true of her blasters, her drones kept me from repping back up to full armor. While her active tank was nowhere near as strong as mine, she had no damage holding her back. She must have been having cap issues, though, because she did not repair as much as I feared she would.

At some point in our slow motion race, the tide turned. Perhaps she needed to kill the overheat on her afterburner to avoid burnout. Perhaps she missed an afterburner cycle when her repair system capped her out. Whatever it was, I began closing the distance again.

As soon as I could, I killed the overheat on my point and web - both were near burnout, and I could not afford to lose them. My launchers had also almost reached critical, despite the break I had given them while the Ishkur was out of range. I could not afford to overheat them again, so I simply opened fire once I thought I could start landing hits.

At this point, the Ishkur was at about 25% shields, 50% armor, and 90% structure. My armor had been holding at about 50%, but I was now taking damage from the blasters again. Having not considered the matter during our chase, I found myself needing to reload, giving the Ishkur further respite.

After an agonizing 10 seconds, I opened fire again, stripping away sheilds and eating into armor. At some point, I had been joined on the gate by Nalanthii in a Rupture, who offered me assistance. We both knew this was simply a gesture; he would have managed to land only a few hits before being forced to warp off by the gate guns.

As the Ishkur hit about 25% armor, the overheat from my afterburners burned out my web; what little range control I had was now gone. Risking everything, I threw my launchers back onto overheat, trying to destroy the Ishkur before she escaped.

Finishing her armor, I started into structure, gritting my teeth at the obscene amount of hull built into Gallente ships. As I chewed away at her last remaining tank, I lost both my afterburner and my point; my mids had burned out completely, and she was now free to warp away.

She kept trying to pull range, though, oblivious to the fact that my point had dropped. Somehow, my launchers kept firing, despite the overheat running up and down my hull. The distance continued to grow, and soon the Ishkur would hit warp range. One last volley sealed her fate, however, and the Ishkur exploded!

2011.08.23 19:03:00

Victim: Zeleka
Corp: The Last Watch
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Ishkur
System: Jovainnon
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 4084

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket
Damage Done: 4084

Destroyed items:

Damage Control II
Warp Disruptor II
Null S, Qty: 126
Small Semiconductor Memory Cell I, Qty: 2
1MN Afterburner II
Light Ion Blaster II, Qty: 2
Nanite Repair Paste, Qty: 21 (Cargo)
Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 59 (Cargo)
Salvager I (Cargo)
Hornet EC-300, Qty: 2 (Drone Bay)
Hobgoblin II, Qty: 2 (Drone Bay)
Warrior II (Drone Bay)

Dropped items:

Small Nosferatu II
Null S, Qty: 63
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
N-Type Reactive Membrane I
Small Armor Repairer II
Light Ion Blaster II
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 877 (Cargo)
Null S, Qty: 1508 (Cargo)
Analyzer I (Cargo)
Hornet EC-300, Qty: 2 (Drone Bay)

Hobgoblin II, Qty: 2 (Drone Bay)

Dropping a weary "gf" in local, I watched her warp her pod out. I couldn't have stopped her even if I had wanted to. Instead, I slow-boated over to her wreck to scoop the loot. Nalanthii then salvaged the wreck for me.


Afterthoughts:

A very, very, intense fight. Absolutely awesome.

Overheat tends not to play a big role in my fights. I largely try and permatank damage while grinding down my opponent. This does not lean heavily on Thermodynamics, which is why I only have it at level III. After this fight, however, I took a break from training Warhead Upgrades V and put Thermodynamics IV in the queue.

I'm largely happy with how this fight went, and my tactics and responses. I obviously missed a trick by not reloading while she was out of range, and I got lucky in the last few seconds of the fight, when the Ishkur could simply have warped away.

The Ishkur's range control also underscores the need for me to max out my nav and range skills soon - they are already all at IV, but that last, final level in each skill will make a huge difference. Warhead Upgrades V is my last dps skill, and that should finish up in a week or two. From there, it's all navigation and range.

I also need to take another look at my fit; I have perfect cap skills now, which means I can drop the Capacitor Control Circuit if I want to. While it did allow me to run my overheat while being cap stable (which is not the case if I drop the CCC) an extra 10% damage would have been a huge help here.

Finally, I should try and sneak Salvaging IV into my training; I made more off the salvage than I did off the dropped mods, and I am currently unable to salvage T2 ships. Food for thought.

Friday 26 August 2011

Vengeance et alia v Hyperion


The hunt:

It was all Tuskers in Hevrice local, so I noticed the newcomer at once. I also noticed his youth, and the shiny Hyperion he was flying, so I decided to see where he was going.

To my delight, he appeared to heading to one of the Hev belts to do some ratting. With visions of Tusker Solo Kill of the Month dancing in my head, I warped in, finding him at zero.

Unfortunately for my dreams of a solo kill, I was simply the fastest Tusker, not the only one. Within 12 seconds of landing, two other frigate flying Tuskers joined me. They asked if they should back off, but I don't like being greedy. And besides, they had clearly been in warp before I landed point, so they had as much right to be here as I did.

We settled into tight orbits to ensure we stayed under the Hyperion's guns. Keeping an eye out for ewar, I ignored the drones as I was quite capable of permatanking them. Smoke, one of our new members, recognised that the other two frigates were more at risk, and so took on the task of destroying the drones.

In the end, the Hyperion exploded, and we go a shiny killmail for our collection.

2011.08.14 17:50

Victim: Jairic Aderon
Corp: The Scope
Alliance: Unknown
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Hyperion
System: Hevrice
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 32787


Involved parties:

Name: nalanthii
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: NONE
Ship: Federation Navy Comet
Weapon: Hobgoblin II
Damage Done: 17101


Name: Taurean Eltanin
Security: -9.9
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Phalanx Rage Rocket
Damage Done: 13275


Name: Smoke XN (laid the final blow)
Security: -4.2
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: NONE
Ship: Wolf
Weapon: 150mm Light AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 2076


Name: Serpentis Chief Spy / Serpentis Corporation
Damage Done: 335


Destroyed items:

Anode Neutron Particle Cannon I
Expanded Probe Launcher I
Heavy Modulated Pulse Energy Beam I
Antimatter Charge M, Qty: 21
Imperial Navy Multifrequency M
Dual 150mm Compressed Coil Gun I
Warp Scrambler I
100mm Reinforced Nanofiber Plates I
Overdrive Injector System II
Inertia Stabilizers II
Antimatter Charge M, Qty: 1405 (Cargo)
Large Hybrid Turret (Cargo)
Small Nosferatu I (Cargo)
Prototype I Freight Sensors (Cargo)
Tracking Speed (Cargo)
EMP M, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Heavy Missiles (Cargo)
Small Energy Neutralizer I (Cargo)
425mm Medium Prototype I Automatic Cannon (Cargo)
Gyrostabilizer I (Cargo)
Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters (Cargo)
Auto Targeting System I (Cargo)


Dropped items:

Multifrequency M
Regulated Neutron Phase Cannon I
Salvager I
Antimatter Charge M, Qty: 134
Heavy Anode Particle Stream I
Combat Scanner Probe I, Qty: 7
250mm Prototype I Gauss Gun
Analyzer I
Medium Shield Booster II
10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Codebreaker I
Damage Control I
Expanded Cargohold II
Tungsten Charge S, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Gyrostabilizer I (Cargo)
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator (Cargo)
ECM - Multispectral Jammer I (Cargo)
Ship Scanner I (Cargo)
Tracking Link I (Cargo)
Civilian Shield Booster I (Cargo)
Contaminated Nanite Compound (Cargo)
Plutonium Charge S, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Small Hull Repairer I (Cargo)
'Langour' Drive Disruptor I (Cargo)
200mm Reinforced Nanofiber Plates I (Cargo)
1MN Afterburner I, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Phased Plasma M, Qty: 1137 (Cargo)
Tracking Computer I (Cargo)
Sisters Core Scanner Probe, Qty: 8 (Cargo)
Survey Scanner I (Cargo)
Medium Graviton Smartbomb I (Cargo)
Medium Shield Booster I (Cargo)
Contaminated Lorentz Fluid (Cargo)
Lead Charge M, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Initiated Harmonic Warp Scrambler I (Cargo)
Cloaking (Cargo)
Stasis Webifier I, Qty: 2 (Cargo)


Battleclinic is down right now, and Evekill does not record capsule kills, so I can't remember if we caught the pod.

Nalanthii arranged the loot split.


Afterthoughts:

This is the first time I've taken on a battleship in a small gang and I really enjoyed it. Granted, the character was young, the fit was poor, and there was little in the way of pvp defences, but I'm pretty pleased with the kill.

I'm also fairly sure I could have solo'd this particular ship, as none of us were ever in any real danger. I'll have to keep my eye out for other likely BC and BS targets, but I don't want to get carried away again and start throwing myself at every Drake that crosses my path.

Wednesday 24 August 2011

Vengeance v Navitas & Navitas


The hunt:

I don't know if they were together. And I don't know what they thought they were doing. All I know is that two new players in Navitas jumped into Hevrice and started bouncing around the asteroid belts.

Not wanting to waste an opportunity (and my play time has been very limited lately), I jumped in on one of them, and quickly reduced his ship to atoms. I snagged the pod, and invited him to the Tusker ransom channel.

Because he was new, all I asked for was a joke. While he hummed and hawed over this, the second Navitas jumped in on top of me! I wondered if he was coming to help his friend, but he mostly seemed to be spectating. I really wanted to pod the capsule and catch the second ship, but I was trying to be nice to a noob. Eventually the Navitas jumped out.

The pilot in the pod finally decides that he does not know any jokes, although he apparently feels that his life is a joke. Perhaps this was a cry for help, but I'm not Dr Phil. I podded him.

To my amazement, the second Navitas is still in system, and I narrowed him down to a belt. Again, I jumped in and quickly turned his ship into scrap. Pointing the capsule, I inviteed him to ransom chat and offered him his freedom for a joke.

For the first time, I actually get taken up on this offer! His joke was as follows:

A blind man walks into a bar. He sits down at the bar and starts up a conversation with the guy on his left. While they are chatting, the blind man offers to tell a blonde joke.

The guy he's talking to says "Buddy, you don't know where you are. The two girls to your right are blonde. The bartender is blonde. I'm blonde. Are you sure you want to tell this joke?"

"Well, no" says the blind man, "Not if I'm going to have to tell it twice."

I lol'd.

We chatted for a little bit; he seemed to be taking his loss much better than the earlier pilot, and I encouraged him to stick with the game, and stay in highsec for a little while longer while he found his feet. Then I let him go.


Afterthoughts:

No real learning points here, just a story that I found amusing, and a ransom joke to share with everyone.

Monday 22 August 2011

Vengeance v Crusader



The hunt:

I was roaming the low sec space ways when I spotted a Crusader on my directional scanner. He seemed to be at a belt; either ratting or looking for a fight. Painfully conscious of how easy I am to kite, I considered whether or not to engage. Assuming he was pulse fit, I could match his range with Javelin rockets, so I thought the risk was worth it.

Jumping into his belt, I landed just as he was warping off. I did not see any wrecks around, soI guessed he was looking for a fight. Staying where I was, I tried to scan him down again; I had not seen the direction he warped off in and I wanted to start moving in that direction to mess with his sense of distance. Crusaders are fast, though, and he had turned right around and jumped back in before I could get a decent fix on his location.

He had jumped in at range, which favoured him. We burned towards each other, and I hoped that our momentum would carry us into web/scram range. My opponent corrected, though, and danced just beyond my overheated range.

I immediately brought my ship about, and began heading back the way I had come. This turned his correction into an over-correction; he was outside of his weapon's range and there was a risk that I would get away.

He spotted this quickly, and counter-corrected, tightening his orbit. As soon as he readjusted, though, I did the same, and once again his correction became an over-correction, this time one that brought him into scram range.

From there, the fight was a foregone conclusion.

2011.08.08 19:03:00

Victim: nOH4Uk
Corp: WAR TEAM
Alliance: Desman Alliance
Faction: Unknown
Destroyed: Crusader
System: Adirain
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 1266

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.9
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket
Damage Done: 1266

Destroyed items:

Nanite Repair Paste, Qty: 3 (Cargo)
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Tracking Enhancer II, Qty: 2
Small Energy Locus Coordinator I
Dual Light Pulse Laser II, Qty: 4
Medium Shield Booster II (Cargo)
Scorch S, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Imperial Navy Multifrequency S, Qty: 2

Dropped items:

Warp Disruptor II
Gistii B-Type 1MN MicroWarpdrive
Warp Scrambler II (Cargo)
Overdrive Injector System II, Qty: 2
Scorch S, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Imperial Navy Multifrequency S, Qty: 2
Light Ion Blaster II (Cargo)


Afterthoughts:

A good fight, although a very different kind of fight from those I usually have. This was all a battle of maneuver, rather than a battle of tank and dps. This really highlights the weakness of the Crusader as a kiting ship; it's operational range is very narrow, and piloting within that range is very demanding.

If I had been the Crusader pilot I would have erred on the side of caution, even if that meant losing dps. I would have started off in a wide, safe, orbit and slowly closed into operational range. Using the "look at" function would have alerted me to changes of course as soon as they happened, and I hopefully have kept me out of trouble. I think the worst thing a kiting ship can do is make a fast approach, because it is so easy for things to go wrong in those first few seconds, which is all it took in this fight.

All in all, I'm very pleased with this 1v1. It's not often that I get a solo fight with an evenly matched ship (ie, a T2 frigate); I think my last one was with a Harpy about a month ago.

Edit: Admittedly, that's partly my fault for not being online much recently because of real life issues and commitments.

Thursday 18 August 2011

Vengeance et alia v Curse


The hunt:

I was wandering around Aeschee and the adjacent systems when I received a convo from Tawa Suyo. You may remember Tawa from this post.

Tawa had intended to take my advice and join Blood Money, but since they closed down he's been bouncing around on his own. He told me that he had wanted to be cunning and track me down from my killmails but "that doesn't work when you don't kill nowt!"

Actually, I'd been sick for the past week. Usually, this would increase my computer time, but fickle fortune had struck me down with an infection that included eye strain as a symptom, and looking at a computer monitor for any length of time caused a great deal of distress.

Still, he'd found me now, so I offered him a fight. He did not fancy his Rifter's chances against my Vengeance (and I can't say that I blame him), so I told him where he could find one of my corpmates in a Rifter. Of course, I also told Kaal to expect company.

Tawa and I made our way to Jov, where Kaal was roaming, and we all joined fleet for ease of communication. Before they could start fighting, though, a juicy target appeared on D-scan; could this wandering Crusader be tempted into a fight?

Kaal and Tawa warped to the sun and started a fake fight, complete with smack talk in local, while I warped to a deep safe. The Crusader was not interested, though, so eventually Kaal and Tawa went at it for real, with predictable results.

We all chatted while Tawa reshipped; he wants to focus on Gallente ships but he thinks that fitting the T1 frigates is too difficult. He's looking forward to the Taranis, though, which seems like a solid ship.

From there, we began to roam. It was not a planned roam, of course, but target after target appeared and disappeared, leading us on like fairy lights. We picked up several other Tuskers along the way, and another guest, who is interested in joining us.

Eventually, our scouts spotted a flashy Curse coming down the pipe towards the main fleet. Kaal had most of us warp off scan while he waited at the gate in his Rifter. When the Curse appeared, he launched a full attack.

Now, there was nothing to stop the Curse simply burning back to the gate and leaving; Kaal's lone Rifter was no threat. However, he might just appear easy enough to kill that the Curse would aggress, stranding him in this system for 60 seconds. We collectively held our breaths.

What the Curse intended is unclear. In the end, he hit Kaal with a neut, but not drones. He must have wanted to warp off, and hoped to make Kaal drop point. It was enough, however, to count as aggression, so all the prealigned frigates hit the "warp to" button, and landed on the unsuspecting Curse.

Kaal ordered an immediate overheat; the Curse would undoubtedly try to deagress and leave, which meant we only had 60 seconds of time on target. It was enough.

2011.08.07 19:16:00

Victim: Jifftoolabahh
Corp: The Nightshift
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Curse
System: Onne
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 12572

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.9
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket
Damage Done: 1861

Name: Skyler Hawk
Security: -8.5
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Curse
Weapon: Hammerhead II
Damage Done: 3127

Name: nalanthii
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Ishkur
Weapon: Warrior II
Damage Done: 2950

Name: Kaal Redrum
Security: -9.9
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Rifter
Weapon: Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket
Damage Done: 2428

Name: Tansyaster
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Rifter
Weapon: Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket
Damage Done: 2067

Name: Tawa Suyo
Security: -0.2
Corp: Ministry of War
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Rifter
Weapon: Rifter
Damage Done: 139

Destroyed items:

Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Photon Scattering Field II
Medium Unstable Power Fluctuator I, Qty: 2
RADAR Backup Array II
Power Diagnostic System II
Medium Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I
Large Shield Extender II
Heat Dissipation Field II

Dropped items:

Invulnerability Field II
Damage Control II
10MN Afterburner II
Medium Unstable Power Fluctuator I, Qty: 3
Power Diagnostic System II
Large Shield Extender II
Hornet EC-300, Qty: 10 (Drone Bay)
Warrior II, Qty: 6 (Drone Bay)
Valkyrie II, Qty: 5 (Drone Bay)

We also managed to capture his capsule, but we ended up destroying it because he had been podded recently and had no implants in his current clone.


Afterthoughts:

A fun little roam, with a nice profit at the end of it; Kaal arranged the loot split and we all came away with 5.5 million ISK and a nice killmail.

It was good to hear from Tawa again, too. I often give new players "the chat" after I turn their ship to vapour, and I rarely find out if it does any good. Tawa seems to have taken things onboard, and has been enjoying some pvp success, with both above class kills and some 1v2's under his belt.

Monday 15 August 2011

Vengeance v Merlin et alia (part 2)



The hunt:

After returning to Hevrice to reship, I slipped into a hunting safe to plan my next roam (unless reshipping, dropping off loot or repairing, I'm almost never in a station; if I'm online, I'm in space).

While I planned my route I noticed a +1 in local, and it was the same pilot I had killed earlier in the day. I hadn't noticed when I first warped in on him, but his name, Endureth, had struck me as amusing, given his role as a bait/tank ship.

D-scan told me that Endureth was back in a Merlin, and he was sitting in a nearby belt. I knew that my fellow Tuskers would begin jumping in on him shortly, so I put out a quick notice on vent that he was probably bait, and that there were at least two other ships in the next system waiting to jump in.

Armed with this knowledge, Naoru Kozan decided to spring the trap in his Drake. Sure enough, once he landed on the Merlin we had a few more pilots from Heretic Army enter the system. Now, my recollection is a little hazy, and I can't recall how many pilots jumped in; this was not a concentrated fight, so I'll focus only on my part in it.

I warped to Naoru, trying to help him finish the Merlin and meet the newcomers - I loaded Firefox Rage, because I knew Endureth liked to boost his EM resists. However, both ships were leaning heavily on their mwd - Endureth presumably to avoid Naoru's damage, and Naoru to keep up with Endureth - so I landed about 70km away from them, and it was clear that I had no chance of catching up.

Still, I began heading towards Naoru; if he was pointed he might need some help in a hurry. It seems that some of the BANE pilots were also having trouble reaching the fast moving fight, though, as a Hawk came out of warp not too far from me. I altered course to intercept.

We both set our orbit's wide so we could minimize the other's damage. I don't recall whether the Hawk had a web or not, but he certainly was in no danger of breaking my tank. Of course, he seemed to have one hell of an active tank himself, and we danced around each other looking for an upper hand.

The Hawk found it first. Naoru had burnt out his launchers trying to take down the Merlin, so he had broken off the fight to repair or reship. That suddenly freed up the Merlin to come to the Hawk's assistance. And, as luck would have it, I had just switched to Gremlin Rage of the back of a reload, so I was back to facing Endureth's boosted resists.

As the Merlin jumped in I had to think quickly. I knew I could kill the Merlin, but I was less certain about the Hawk. I also couldn't be sure that the Merlin and Hawk together would not break my tank. I had to decide between engaging the Merlin, with an eye to killing it, or simply hanging on to the Hawk until Naoru returned.

In the end, I switched my attention to the Merlin; I did not know how long it would take Naoru to reship, and I did not know how long it would take other BANE pilots to join the fight. It was painful, beating against the Merlin's high resists (this is probably how other frigate pilots feel about Vengeances), but at least I was making headway. Eventually, his ship crumbled.


2011.07.28 14:24:00

Victim: Endureth
Corp: Heretic Army
Alliance: B A N E
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Merlin
System: Hevrice
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 7460

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.8
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Gremlin Rage Rocket
Damage Done: 2413

Name: Naoru Kozan
Security: -9.9
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Dramiel
Weapon: Warp Disruptor II
Damage Done: 5047

Destroyed items:

200mm AutoCannon II
Rocket Launcher II
Small Core Defence Field Extender I, Qty: 2
Medium Shield Extender II
Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 22
1MN Afterburner II
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Nanite Repair Paste, Qty: 30 (Cargo)
Republic Fleet Fusion S, Qty: 260 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Republic Fleet Fusion S, Qty: 186
200mm AutoCannon II
Damage Control II
Rocket Launcher II
Stasis Webifier II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Warp Scrambler II
Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 22
Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 432 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 400 (Cargo)
Republic Fleet EMP S, Qty: 422 (Cargo)

The Hawk pilot was no fool, and he began disengaging as the Merlin entered structure. I tried to get a point on him, but our differing vectors carried me beyond point range before I could come about. Warping to respective safes, we then chatted about our fits. Gfs all round.


Afterthoughts:

While I would have liked to come away with a better killmail than a T1 frigate, I'm happy with how this turned out. Unlike our first encounter, I was not afraid to switch targets when the situation changed.

On a balance note, I think it's a bit silly that AB frigs cannot keep pace with MWD battle cruisers. You would think that would be a baseline balance point; all frigates have going for them is their speed, and the choice should be "really fast" or "really, really fast". It makes it difficult for non-interceptor frigates to contribute much to a gang when they can't even keep up.

Finally, this is just one of many odd killmails. Naoru was flying a Drake and then broke of to reship to a Dramiel. That Dram never reached the fight, though, and did not fire a single shot. However, the killmail shows him in the ship he was in when the Merlin was destroyed (the Dram) rather than the ship he was in when he actually fought (the Drake).

Friday 12 August 2011

Vengeance v Merlin et alia (part 1)


The hunt:

Usually, when I'm looking for targets I head south. This takes me through some real hot spots, like Aeschee and OMS. On this particular day, though, I went north to Ouelleta.

Warping to a hunting safe, I scanned the system, which is very small. There was a Merlin sitting in a belt, and a number of Heretic Army pilots in local, either cloaked or docked up. Obvious bait is obvious.

Nevertheless, I decided to warp in on the Merlin; if you avoid everything that looks like bait you miss a lot of good fights. And this was bait I could probably kill, at least.

Preloading Gremlin Rage, I jumped in on the Merlin and found him sitting at zero. I set my orbit to 5km; I wanted to keep my speed up against his rockets and in the falloff of his blasters. I kept him webbed and pointed, and set to work.

However he was fit, his tank was solid! Still, I had him at about half shields before we were joined by a Slicer and the Taranis. Overheating my repair system, I tried to buy enough time to take at least one of them with me.

As the fight continued, I kept an eye on the two dps ships. Both were keeping me at range, but not so much I did not think I could snag one. Still, the Merlin was not going down easy, and I was at about 20% armor when he exploded.

2011.07.28 13:21:00

Victim: Endureth
Corp: Heretic Army
Alliance: B A N E
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Merlin
System: Ouelletta
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 3693

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.8
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Gremlin Rage Rocket
Damage Done: 3046

Name: Serpentis Watchman / Serpentis Corporation
Damage Done: 647

Destroyed items:

Republic Fleet Fusion S, Qty: 194
200mm AutoCannon II
Warp Scrambler II
Rocket Launcher II
Small Core Defence Field Extender I, Qty: 2
Stasis Webifier II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Damage Control II
Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 27
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Nanite Repair Paste, Qty: 30 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 500 (Cargo)
Republic Fleet Fusion S, Qty: 260 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 400 (Cargo)
Republic Fleet EMP S, Qty: 500 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

200mm AutoCannon II
Rocket Launcher II
Medium Shield Extender II
Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 27
1MN Afterburner II

I then turned my attention to the Taranis; he seemed easier to catch than the Slicer, who simply did not need to come as close. Unlike his friend, the Taranis seemed to have very little tank, so after I pointed and webbed him, I began to tear into his ship.

My repair system could not keep up with the incoming dps, despite the destruction of the Merlin. My armor kept dropping, and the Taranis dipped through shields and then armor. Unfortunately, my hull gave out while the Taranis was at about 50% structure.

2011.07.28 13:22:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: Unknown
Faction: Unknown
Destroyed: Vengeance
System: Ouelletta
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 3366


Involved parties:

Name: Heimotz
Security: -9.8
Corp: Heretic Army
Alliance: B A N E
Faction: NONE
Ship: Imperial Navy Slicer
Weapon: Imperial Navy Slicer
Damage Done: 1698


Name: Cactus Juice (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: Heretic Army
Alliance: B A N E
Faction: NONE
Ship: Taranis
Weapon: Light Neutron Blaster II
Damage Done: 1217


Name: Endureth
Security: -10.0
Corp: Heretic Army
Alliance: B A N E
Faction: NONE
Ship: Capsule
Weapon: Stasis Webifier II
Damage Done: 451


Destroyed items:

Damage Control II
Rocket Launcher II
Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)
Small Anti-Thermic Pump I
Thorn Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)
Phalanx Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)
Small Capacitor Control Circuit I
Gremlin Rage Rocket, Qty: 40
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I


Dropped items:

Small Armor Repairer II
Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 3
Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Gremlin Javelin Rocket, Qty: 200 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)
Gremlin Rage Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Gremlin Rage Rocket, Qty: 40
1MN Afterburner II


Warping out my pod, we all wished each other a "gf" in local.


Afterthoughts:

Looking at the killmail, the Merlin was set up to be all tank, including healthy EM resists. Very clever, and clearly why it took me so long to kill him.

Focusing on the Merlin when his friends showed up was a mistake, albeit an understandable one. His dps was negligible, and his tank was ridiculous. If I had switched focus to the Taranis right away, I could have permatanked the remaining damage while I came back to the Slicer and the Merlin.

In other words, if I had prioritised my targets more effectively, I probably would have come out the winner. Instead, I made the same mistake that other people make when they focus on me in a gang, and I wasted much of my effective dps for little benefit. I've got to come to grips with the fact that many fights are more than simply managing your ship and modules; such things are important, but outside of 1v1s they are only a small part of the overall skillset.

Still, I'm pretty pleased that I managed to take someone with me in a 3v1.

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Vengance & Wolf v Navy Slicer et alia


The hunt:

A small gang of frigates was roaming through Hev; a Rifter and two Slicers. Only Tsubutai and I were the only Tuskers around, so we decided to trail them and see if we could divide them.

Okay, in fairness, Tsubutai wanted to divide them. I thought he was nuts, but I really wanted to see how this worked in practice.

Tsubutai was willing to bet that the Rifter was AB fit. He jumped into a MWD fit Wolf, which had fantastic resistances against the Slicer's damage type. He figured that he could lead the Slicers away from their slower companion, and then take them apart with his high dps and resistances.

While he was refitting, I followed the gang into Meutrelle, wanting only to keep an eye on them for Tsubutai. I was at a celestial, scanning them down, when the Rifter warped in on me.

He was some distance off, so I simply aligned to another celestial and told Tsubutai what was happening. I suppose I had some idea that he would be able to use me as a warp in point.

As the Rifter got closer, one of the Slicers jumped in, this time much closer - clearly he had been fed coordinates by the Rifter. I thought I could get out, but I forgot that a MWD slicer would obviously be sporting a long point. He did not need to be very close to me to stop me warping out.

Thinking it unlikely that I would be able to actually catch the Slicer, I turned towards the one opponent I could tear into, the Rifter. Pointing him and overheating everything, I went to work.

Tsubutai jumped in and began engaging one of the Slicers. Unfortunately, the gang maintained discipline and kept the focus on me. My tank failed just as the Rifter entered into structure.

2011.07.28 18:13:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: Unknown
Faction: Unknown
Destroyed: Vengeance
System: Costolle
Security: 0.2
Damage Taken: 3576

Involved parties:

Name: Atropeyando
Security: -10.0
Corp: Lucifer's Hammer
Alliance: Burn Away
Faction: NONE
Ship: Imperial Navy Slicer
Weapon: Imperial Navy Slicer
Damage Done: 1637

Name: Angor Mau (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: Lucifer's Hammer
Alliance: Burn Away
Faction: NONE
Ship: Rifter
Weapon: 150mm Light AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 972

Name: Dism0
Security: -9.7
Corp: Lucifer's Hammer
Alliance: Burn Away
Faction: NONE
Ship: Imperial Navy Slicer
Weapon: Imperial Navy Slicer
Damage Done: 967

Destroyed items:

Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 23
Rocket Launcher II
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Small Anti-Thermic Pump I
Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Phalanx Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Small Capacitor Control Circuit I
Small Armor Repairer II

Dropped items:

Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 69
Damage Control II
Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 3
Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Foxfire Javelin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Gremlin Rage Rocket, Qty: 704 (Cargo)
Thorn Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
1MN Afterburner II

With my point dropped, the Rifter warped out, and the Slicers simply used their superiour speed to leave the Wolf behind.


Afterthoughts:

This fight was absolutely full of fail, and I'm pretty ashamed of my performance. We should have won this fight easily.

First, I got caught when I should not have. There was no reason for me to be at a celestial rather than a hunting safe, and there was no reason for me not to warp out as soon as the Rifter landed. While this mistake was not critical (we still should have pulled an easy win), it's starts my chain of fail.

Next, I did not call the Rifter as primary on vent. I've seen fights lost before where the team divided their fire, and this time I let it happen to us. As the first into the fight, the informal Tusker rules of engagement made me FC. I should have told Tsubutai that I was targeting the Rifter, and he would have gone down fast under our combined fire.

This, in turn, would have freed up my web and scram to possibly force one of the Slicers to stay in the fight.

Finally, my tank failed because it was not turned on. I had hit the hot key, but, as sometimes happens, Eve had dropped the command somewhere along the way. If I had been paying more attention to my modules, rather than the Rifter and my overview, I would have noticed the inactive repper much earlier than I did (about 20% armor). I could have tanked all three of them for a long time with the repair system on - possibly longer than the Slicer's cap would allow. Certainly long enough for Tsubutai and I to kill our individual targets, even without focus fire.

As I say, total fail on my part. I have months of solo training behind me, and I feel I do pretty well in those circumstances. Gang warefare has a whole additional skill set that I really need to get nailed down, though.

Tuesday 9 August 2011

Capacitor Issues

 


I'm going to be looking at a number of high end Vengeance fits in a later post, but before I did that, I wanted to look at capacitor regen in more detail. I want to understand what is, and is not, possible under any number of energy neutralizers.


The tool

First, I tracked down an excel spreadsheet that calculates capacitor regeneration, tick by tick. Winzip or something similar is necessary to decompress the file.

The spreadsheet produces a set of pretty graphs, but what I wanted was the table on the left, which shows capacitor at different units of time. Since medium neuts have a cycle time of 12 seconds, and small neuts have a cycle time of 6 seconds, these are the times I focused on. I also looked at the capacitor at 3 seconds, as this is the relevant interval for two perfectly staggered small neuts.


Vanilla Vengeance

First, I looked at the base capacitor recharge for a Vengeance with perfect skills. I therefore entered the following into the spreadsheet cells:

Capacity = 375*1.25

This value (468.75 GJ) is the max capacitor of a Vengeance with Energy Management V.

Recharge time = 187.5*(1-.25)*(1-.25)

This value (105.47 seconds) is one I am less certain of. It is supposed to be the recharge time of a Vengeance with Assault Ships V and Energy Systems Operation V, but if I've entered the values incorrectly, please say so. The wording on the skills is confusing, and of course their are sometimes stacking penalties.

Based on the above, however, capacitor at any given time, C(t), is as follows:

C(3) = 8.2 GJ
C(6) = 28.7 GJ
C(12) = 88.2 GJ

This tells me that the only module I can't activate under double small neuts (the worst case scenario) is my armor repair system, which has an activation cost of 40 GJ (45 GJ for some faction reppers). In addition to being the most expensive module to activate, it also has no skills that reduce the activation cost.

However, the repair system runs just fine under a single medium neut, although it takes 8 seconds for me to regen the necessary 40GJ, so I may find my rep cycles significantly delayed, depending on the timing of the two modules.


Cap enhanced Vengeance

I also wanted to take a look at how a Vengeance with a single Small Capacitor Control Circuit II fared, so I changed the recharge time as follows:

Recharge time = 187.5*(1-.25)*(1-.25)*(1-.2)

This value (84.38 seconds) yields the following C(t):

C(3) = 12.4 GJ
C(6) = 42.0 GJ
C(12) = 121.4 GJ

So, if I'm prepared to forgo a dps rig, I can run a repair system under a single small or medium neut. Two small neuts still shuts me down, though.

Food for thought, and something for me to keep in mind when I am evaluating fits.

Monday 8 August 2011

Tuskers v Heretic Army




The hunt:

This was a very interesting fight, and my first real run in with Heretic Army (BANE), who are campaigning near us.

I was hanging about in Hev when I (and others) spotted a Rupture on D-scan. A look at local told us the pilot could only be Jones Bones, a member of Heretic Army.

Now, while I wouldn't call BANE blob artists, they tend not to be solo pilots either, preferring small gangs of 3-5 ships. The Tuskers in local, who were all flying frigates, were happy to do battle with a Rupture, but we realised that we had to stay alert for reinforcements.

As sometimes happens, a couple of us missed Jones as he jumped about, presumably trying to jump in on us. Before we caught up with him, though, a Myrmidon piloted by Dust Hunter (Muppet Ninjas) entered system. At this point we backed off; we did not know BANE well enough to know if the two pilots were working together. Even if they were not, we definitely couldn't handle both ships if the second jumped in while we were dealing with the first.

A call went out over vent, and nearby Tuskers started moving towards Hev, joining a hastily thrown up fleet while they did so.

Meanwhile, the Myrmidon and the Rupture decided to tangle. I don't recall who jumped in on who, but their engagement was the spark that triggered everything that followed.

A couple of our Rifter pilots decided to jump in on the fight. We could focus on the battle cruiser and then deal with the Rupture afterwards. While they were mid warp, however, the BANE reinforcements jumped into Hev. The Rifters tried to abort, but the lead elements of the BANE fleet reached the fight about the same time as the Rifters, and they were pointed.

At this stage we were heavily outgunned by the enemy assets in system, but I was damned if I was going to watch my corpmates go down without lending a hand, so I jumped into the dogfight.

I landed in what felt like a sea of red; seven hostiles plus the associated drones. I quickly hunted for a target, and latched on to a Hookbill that I thought I might be able to kill before I went down. Settling into a tight orbit, I overheated my launchers and activated my repair system.

The Rifters went down fast, the poor things. Excellent solo ships, they don't have the tank to last long in a fleet fight. For what felt like an eternity, I was the only Tusker on grid. Fortunately, BANE fire was divided between the Myrmidon and myself, and my tank was up to the challenge, at least for a while.

Rather surprisingly, I was actually giving the Hookbill a good kicking; we both entered half armor about the same time. At that point, Tressin, who had lost his Rifter, reshipped into a Hurricane and jumped into the fight. Suleiman also arrived in at that point, bringing his Harbinger into the fray.

BANE had to respond to the new arrivals, and in the confusion the Myrmidon managed to drop some ECM drones and escape, leaving the fight a Tusker v BANE match up. Tressin threw some alpha at my target, which allowed me to finish burning him down.

2011.07.27 20:52:00

Victim: Heimotz
Corp: Heretic Army
Alliance: B A N E
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Caldari Navy Hookbill
System: Hevrice
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 3054


Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.8
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket
Damage Done: 1867


Name: Tressin Khiyne
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: 720mm Howitzer Artillery II
Damage Done: 1187


Destroyed items:

Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 3
Small Ancillary Current Router I
Thorn Rage Rocket, Qty: 29
Ballistic Control System II
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
1MN Afterburner II
Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I


Dropped items:

Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
Dark Blood Warp Scrambler
Internal Force Field Array I
Thorn Rage Rocket, Qty: 58
Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Thorn Rage Rocket, Qty: 5000 (Cargo)


Now, up until this point I was pretty happy with my performance, but my lack of fleet experience started to show here. Unused to dealing with multiple targets, I had not kept track of where everyone was, or lined up a second target. As a result, I floundered aimlessly for a few seconds after the Hookbill exploded, trying to make sense of my overview. That was all it took for BANE to finish me off.

Somewhere along the line, Jaxley had gone down in his Enyo, which left Tressin and Suleiman on the field against a Vagabond, a Slicer and a Hurricane. Realising that this was a losing fight, BANE retreated from the field, leaving Hevrice to the Tuskers.

"Gfs" were exchanged in local.


Afterthoughts:

Total Tusker losses: 2 Rifters, an Enyo and a Vengeance
Total BANE losses: a Hookbill, a Jaguar and a Rupture

The escalating nature of the fight meant that our fleet was not set up properly for leadership bonuses. Suleiman is certain that the Vagabond would not have escaped if we had been a bit more organised in that regard. Leadership skills are a murky, unknown science for me, so I shall happily defer to Suleiman on this point.

I was disappointed that I lost my ship, of course, but when I returned the field of combat I looted the Hookbill and found the Dark Blood Warp Scrambler! Ecstatic, I offered it up for the obvious loot split, but everyone bowed out. I had lost my ship (and thus the reimbursement would come out of the loot before the split), and the kill had been primarily mine. So I turned a net profit over the course of the fight. Other losses were reimbursed from other loot, and from salvage.

Clearly, I'm a bit of a fleet fight noob. After killing the Hookbill I just floundered, trying to process information that I should have been tracking the whole time. In particular, I was let down by my overview; it is set up to deal with solo hunting, showing me pilot names, but not ship types. When I'm hunting someone, I know what their ship is before I jump in, so I've never needed that particular piece of information before.

Obviously, I'm going to update my overview.

Thursday 4 August 2011

Vengeance v Caracal


The hunt:

I was passing through Hevrice when I saw a Caracal in a FW mission plex. I warped into the plex, only to see the Caracal warp out.

She was clearly warping to the sun, however, so I immediately started trying to warp to the sun at zero. I called the Caracal's position over vent to see if someone could be there waiting for her, but nobody was in a position to intercept.

Despite my align time and the Caracal's head start, I landed within a few km of the cruiser. I (rightly) guessed that the pilot had decided that she fancied her chances against me, and was letting me "catch" her.

As we pointed each other, I settled into a 5km orbit to keep my speed up, and set about destroying her drones. I had loaded Caldari Gremlin, trying to balance damaging her drones with wearing down her shield.

The Caracal also opened fire, and also started hitting me with a neut. The cap hits were large, and the cycle time fairly long, so I guessed that it was a medium neut, which suited me just fine. After destroying her drones, it turned my rockets onto the ship itself.

As I slowly chipped away at her tank, I began devoting myself to managing my modules. I could keep almost everything running unless it happened to coincide with the next neut cycle, and then I needed to reactivate the module as soon as I had some more cap. I also managed to pulse my repair system fairly often, but I had to be careful not to deactivate something else when doing so; I needed my afterburner for tank and my web for dps.

I was walking a very fine line and, frankly, I was losing. I tried increasing my orbit to 7.5km, hoping to out range the neut ( I could not for the life of me remember the optimal of a medium neut, and I did not have time to check). All this achieved was letting the Caracal get out of point range. If she noticed, she chose not to leave, probably because she was winning.

I brought my orbit back in to 5km, resolving to upgrade to a T2 point.

Some offers of assistance started to come in from the other Tuskers in system; they had heard my initial call out over vent and could see us both at the sun. I declined however - this fight was just too close, too awesome to spoil by involving anyone else. Win or lose, it would by mano e mano.

As my launchers approached empty, I ceased fire and ordered a reload to Gremlin Rage. After ten seconds of agonising silence, I reengaged my weapons, and was gratified to see that the additional damage was making a significant difference. At this stage I was nearing the Caracal's peak regen, and I needed all the dps I could muster to break her tank. I set the launchers to overheat.

I had been whittled down to about half armor, but I knew I was only one or two missed cycles away from structure. I had hoped that the Caracal would cap itself out using a medium neut, but the pilot was clearly managaing her modules well; she must have been riding her peak cap regen.

Unfortunately for the Caracal, it was not enough. With Rage loaded and the launchers overheated I finally managed to break her tank. Cutting the overheat, I continued into the Caracal's armor, and then structure, before she finally exploded.

2011.07.25 19:02:00

Victim: JESSKABAL
Corp: State Protectorate
Alliance: NONE
Faction: Caldari State
Destroyed: Caracal
System: Hevrice
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 13923


Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.8
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Gremlin Rage Rocket
Damage Done: 9765


Name: Federation Praktor Harpago / Gallente Federation
Damage Done: 4158


Destroyed items:

Invulnerability Field II
Assault Missile Launcher II, Qty: 2
Bloodclaw Fury Light Missile, Qty: 52
Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I, Qty: 2
Piranha Fury Light Missile, Qty: 500 (Cargo)
Bloodclaw Fury Light Missile, Qty: 1564 (Cargo)


Dropped items:

Warp Scrambler II
Assault Missile Launcher II, Qty: 2
Bloodclaw Fury Light Missile, Qty: 52
Stasis Webifier II
Ballistic Control System II, Qty: 2
Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive
Medium 'Gremlin' Power Core Disruptor I
Large Shield Extender II
Sabretooth Fury Light Missile, Qty: 500 (Cargo)


Afterthoughts:

This was one of the most exciting solo fights I've had in a while, and JESSKABAL apparently agreed; we had an enthusiastic chat about the fight after the fact. JESS had seen my point slip but had been enjoying the fight too much to leave.

She remarked that her cap and shields had not been at full when she warped out of the mission, and that had this not been the case the fight would probably have been hers. With everything being as close as it was, I was not willing to disagree. An excellent fight that pushed us both to our limits.

As for my performance, I'm happy with my module management. It's something that I've needed to work on, and the effort I've put in seems to have paid some dividends here. I'm also grateful to my fellow Tuskers for not just jumping in uninvited; JESS and I would have missed out on an awesome showdown.

Wednesday 3 August 2011

Vengeance v Catalyst & Station Guns


The "hunt":

This whole episode was stupid, really. I saw a noob Catalyst on D-scan at a station, and I wondered if I could take him under the station guns.

The answer was "no", not because he was doing any significant damage to me (he wasn't), but because I could not break his tank in time. I left getting out a little too late, and a wrecking shot from the station guns finished me off as I entered warp.

2011.07.24 09:42:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Vengeance
System: Ouelletta
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 2809

Involved parties:

Name: Fenroc Saissore (laid the final blow)
Security: 0.0
Corp: Center for Advanced Studies
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Catalyst
Weapon: Catalyst
Damage Done: 29

Name: Gallente Sentry Gun / Federal Defence Union
Damage Done: 2780

Destroyed items:

Small Capacitor Control Circuit I
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Small Anti-Thermic Pump I
Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 41
Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
1MN Afterburner II
Phalanx Rage Rocket, Qty: 1000 (Cargo)
Foxfire Javelin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Thorn Rage Rocket, Qty: 1000 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Small Armor Repairer II
Damage Control II
Adaptive Nano Plating II
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 123
Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Gremlin Javelin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Gremlin Rage Rocket, Qty: 1000 (Cargo)
Phalanx Javelin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 776 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)


Afterthoughts:

I've got no excuse for this one; I simply pushed my ship further than it could go, for very little reason. The Catalyst was unlikely to drop decent loot, even if I could have stuck around long enough to collect it. I was simply curious, and that's no way to run a business.

To make matters worse, I stayed in the fight far longer than I should have. It was obviously beyond me, but I kept at it because I assumed that getting out would be easy. I would have been right, too, if not for the wrecking shot.

A stupid move that cost me about 13 million ISK and cut a massive chunk out of my profits for July.

Ugh.

Tuesday 2 August 2011

Vengeance et alia v Drake et alia


The hunt:

This was a small fleet action (as opposed to a gang action); a handful of us had formed up to take on a couple of pvp Drakes.

About four of us jumped in on the Drakes, me in my Vengeance, a couple of battle cruisers and another ship I cannot recall. The others were focusing on the primary Drake, while I burned towards the second Drake and tackled him. The op was running smoothly, but once we were well and truly committed, I heard "Local spike!" over vent.

I hesitated for a fraction of a second - I did not want to abandon colleagues in battle - but I'm getting to the point where I can smell a bug out coming. I began aligning for a warp out, and my instincts were validated when the FC ordered everyone out.

Unfortunately, before I hit warp I found myself tackled my the Drake I had been pointing, and a huge blob was dropped on me. As ever, in these cases, the killmail did not catch everyone involved, probably because some of them did not have time to lock me before I went down.

2011.07.23 18:07:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Vengeance
System: Jovainnon
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 4385

Involved parties:

Name: JerichoSteele (laid the final blow)
Security: 3.6
Corp: The Free Haven Group
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Muninn
Weapon: 720mm Howitzer Artillery II
Damage Done: 212

Name: 2Pac Shakurian
Security: 1.2
Corp: Probe Patrol
Alliance: P R I M E
Faction: NONE
Ship: Drake
Weapon: Hobgoblin II
Damage Done: 1848

Name: Vamun Re
Security: -0.2
Corp: Kagan-Kincaid Enterprises
Alliance: Subspace Exploration Agency
Faction: NONE
Ship: Punisher
Weapon: Hobgoblin II
Damage Done: 1610

Name: Kethen T'val
Security: 1.1
Corp: Rekall Incorporated
Alliance: The Fendahlian Collective
Faction: NONE
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: Hurricane
Damage Done: 574

Name: SureShot001
Security: 5.0
Corp: Colossus Technologies
Alliance: P R I M E
Faction: NONE
Ship: Cerberus
Weapon: Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Damage Done: 141

Name: Keizer Kip
Security: 4.3
Corp: Probe Patrol
Alliance: P R I M E
Faction: NONE
Ship: Drake
Weapon: Heavy Missile Launcher II
Damage Done: 0

Name: Guttzu
Security: 5.0
Corp: Estrale Frontiers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Drake
Weapon: Heavy Missile Launcher II
Damage Done: 0

Name: Gustaphen
Security: 0.1
Corp: Kagan-Kincaid Enterprises
Alliance: Subspace Exploration Agency
Faction: NONE
Ship:
Weapon: XR-3200 Heavy Missile Bay
Damage Done: 0

Name: Kmelx
Security: 2.0
Corp: Applied Creations
Alliance: The Fendahlian Collective
Faction: NONE
Ship: Arazu
Weapon: Warp Scrambler II
Damage Done: 0

Name: JamesWyh
Security: 0.1
Corp: Probe Patrol
Alliance: P R I M E
Faction: NONE
Ship: Drake
Weapon: Parallel Weapon Navigation Transmitter
Damage Done: 0

Name: Xovbor
Security: 4.7
Corp: Colossus Technologies
Alliance: P R I M E
Faction: NONE
Ship: Keres
Weapon: Remote Sensor Dampener II
Damage Done: 0

Destroyed items:

Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Gremlin Rage Rocket, Qty: 126
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Rocket Launcher II
Damage Control II
1MN Afterburner II
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 408 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Foxfire Javelin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Hobgoblin II, Qty: 3 (Cargo)
Gremlin Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 524 (Cargo)
Damage Control II (Cargo)
Thorn Rage Rocket, Qty: 1000 (Cargo)
50W Infectious Power System Malfunction (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Small Armor Repairer II
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Gremlin Rage Rocket, Qty: 42
Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 3
Phalanx Rage Rocket, Qty: 1000 (Cargo)
Gremlin Javelin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
5W Infectious Power System Malfunction (Cargo)
Hobgoblin II, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Phalanx Javelin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 836 (Cargo)
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Medium Capacitor Booster II (Cargo)


Afterthougths:

Warping to a safe, I wished them all a gf for a trap well sprung. I was curious why they had pointed me, rather than one of the battle cruisers, which would presumably have made for a nicer killmail. They agreed, and explained that their point man had been "totally fail". He meant to point a BC, but had ended up targeting me instead.

Bad luck for me, but I can see how it happened. Eve does not handle multiple targets well; I've been thrown by it when trying to split my modules between drones and a ship.

While dying to a blob is never fun, or particularly instructive, I think the fight up to that point had been well executed. I had tackled my target and the fleet was taking down the enemy in good order. When the situation changed, I retreated in a timely manner, and would have survived but for a targeting error on the part of my enemy.

However, I did go into the fight with a hold full of loot from an earlier fight. I consequently lost any profit from that fight. What I should have done instead (given that gcc had prevented me from visiting a station) was drop the loot in a safe. Losing a ship unavoidably is one thing. Losing loot unnecessarily is another.

Monday 1 August 2011

Profit Account for July 2011

Kishin's blog has really changed the way I think about piracy. Rather than "just" being fun, it's also a business, and like any business, you can succeed at it, or you can fail. I can't think of any truer test of a pvper's skill than their ability to actually support themselves from the proceeds of their crimes.

Piracy, as a business, is more than just a series of fights. The wins and losses, individually, don't mean much. It's the profitability that makes or breaks a player's ability to focus exclusively on pvp. This, then, is the first of what will become a monthly report on my financial gains (and losses) as a pirate. I've prepared a set of accounts using the same format that a small business would use, with some modifications to reflect the realities of New Eden.

While I don't see myself changing the basic format (a formal set of accounts), the way the data is organised is very much up in the air. Whereas Kishin has broken the data down by ship type, I have tried to break the actvities into either solo or group actions, with a number of sub categories. If anyone has better ideas for organising the data, please don't hesitate to make suggestions.


Schedule of Income

Solo Income

Dropped modules and other loot
ISK 67,293,620

Ransoms
ISK 1,500,000
Tawa Suyo (ISK 1,500,000)

Total Solo Income
ISK 68,793,620


Group Income

Dropped modules and other loot
ISK 70,716,022
Bounties from Assault Ship roam (ISK 8,216,022)
Vengeance & Dramiel v Tengu & Navy Caracal (ISK 26,500,000)
Tuskers v BANE (ISK 36,000,000)

Ransoms
ISK 28,300,000
Andreas Mennon (ISK 3,300,000)
!!R4MBO!! (ISK 25,000,000)

Total Group Income
ISK 99,016,022


Total Income
ISK 167,809,642


Schedule of Expenses

Solo Expenses

Reasonable losses (see note 1)
ISK 54,349,264
Vengeance (ISK 13,587,316) - Vengeance v Cyclone; better module management would probably have allowed me to survive the fight.
Vengeance (ISK 13,587,316) - Vengeance v Thorax & Pilgrim.
Vengeance (ISK 13,587,316) - Massive gate camp. It happens.
Vengeance (ISK 13,587,316) - Vengeance v Merlin et alli.


Avoidable losses (see note 2)
ISK 40,761,948
Vengeance (ISK 13,587,316) - Wrong turn into high sec; destroyed by npcs.
Vengeance (ISK 13,587,316) - Took on destroyer under station guns; was slow to warp out.
Vengeance (ISK 13,587,316) - Misunderstood gate gun mechanics when fighting Dominix.


Total Solo Expenses
ISK 95,111,212

Group Expenses

Reasonable losses (see note 1)
ISK 37,872,666
Vengeance (ISK 13,587,316) - Vengeance lost on Anamake roam. Totally worth it.
Vengeance (ISK 13,587,316) - Death by blob.
Vengeance (ISK 10,698,034) - Tuskers v BANE. Totally worth it.


Avoidable losses (see note 2)
ISK 13,587,316
Vengeance (ISK 13,587,316) - Vengeance & Wolf v Rifter et alli. I badly mismanaged my modules and died as a result.

Total Group Expenses
ISK 51,459,982 


Total Expenses
ISK 146,571,194


Schedule of Profit (Loss)

Total Income
ISK 167,809,642
Less

Total Expenses
ISK 146,571,194

Net Profit (Loss) (see note 3)
ISK 21,238,448




Appendix 1: Estimated Income Pending


Assault Ship roam loot split
ISK 40,000,000

Unsold solo roam loot
ISK 3,000,000


Total Income Pending 
ISK 65,000,000




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. Additionally, estimates of carried over income will appear in appendix 1.

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. Battle Clinic 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. Loot from previous fights, if any, are excluded from the total costs - no ISK was spent on obtaining these items, so no ISK is lost when they are destroyed.

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. Battle Clinic 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. Loot from previous fights, if any, are excluded from the total costs - no ISK was spent on obtaining these items, so no ISK is lost when they are destroyed.

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




Appendix 3: Comments & Criticism


I am surprised to find myself turning a profit in my first recorded month, but, with the exception of a one week period in the second half of the month, I was profitable throughout.

Of course, profit as a concept is a relative thing. My overall gain, across a whole month, is about what a dedicated pve player will make in an hour. At the moment, at least, piracy is not a road to riches; I'm about 1 T2 frigate richer than I was at the start of the month.


Income

Interestingly, solo roaming generates about 40% of my total income. I was not expecting this, but all those modules add up to a decent profit over the course of the month. The income would be even higher if I had not managed to lose a few modules by getting blown up with loot still on board.

Of course, group roaming generates higher income, as groups are able to take on more lucrative targets. But not so much more lucrative than that it completely outshines the slow-but-steady solo roaming. This means that anyone docked up waiting for a gang to form is missing out on significant income.

Expenses

Solo work is far riskier, and hence far more expensive, than group work. No real surprise here; it's one of the reasons that bad pvpers resort to gate camps so often - it simply makes economic sense.

It's worth noting, however, that my really stupid mistakes (the avoidable losses) occur almost exclusively when I'm flying on my own. In the past I have seen Tuskers remarking that they are making poor engagement decisions, and that a roaming partner who will override their poor decisions would be appreciated. I had assumed these were purely humorous remarks, but there is clearly an element of truth in what was being said.


Improving Profitability

Breaking down the elements of my income like this should, in theory, help me come up with action plans to improve profitability. This month, I hope to do that  in the following ways:

1) Minimizing avoidable losses. This is probably the easiest (and one of the most lucrative) changes I can make to the way I pirate. Cutting out just half of these needless expenses would have more than doubled my profitability for the month, not to mention helped me feel like less of an idiot. Minimizing these losses means staying alert and maintaining target selection discipline.

2) Embrace opportunities for group work. Tuskers have formal roams only infrequently. However, we do like to gang up on above class targets. Keeping alert for these opportunities is likely to improve my profitability. Equally, putting aside a ship purpose fit for group work, (such as a fleet tackler) will improve the likelihood of the groups success, and the chances of snagging the pod. Although my interceptor skills are fairly limited I will put together a dedicated fleet tackler for group work.

While not the only ways of improving profitability, these changes should be easy to implement, and I should see immediate returns.