Malediction v Various

The fit:

3 Rocket Launcher II
Salvager I (offline)

Catalysed Cold-Gas Arcjet Thrusters
Warp Disruptor II
Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction

Damage Control II
Co-Processor II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I

Small Rocket Fuel Cache Partition I
Small Hydraulic Bay Thrusters I

Not quite as fast as my last Malediction fit, but with about 5k ehp and 12 hps peak regen.


The hunt:

I've engaged in some more Malediction goodness over the last week or two; all part of practicing my kiting skills. This time I was trying out a shield tanked Malediction, to see how the extra buffer felt.


Malediction v Hurricane

I started by trying to solo bojangles in his Hurricane. An experienced pvper, I knew that bojangles would be a real test of my Malediction, and my skills. I warped in on him and got into a kiting orbit without a response; I don't think he thought I'd actually engage him.

He woke up when I pointed him, though, and he opened fire. To my surprise, he was hitting me consistently, so I burned out of his point range and warped off in 50% structure. I'm calling it a draw.


Malediciton v Arbitrator

A few days later, I decided to try my luck again, and jumped in on an Arbitrator at a belt. I kited beyond neut range, and so all I had to worry about was his drones. I prepared to destroy them, but to my delight, I simply outran them.

Turning my attention back to the Arbitrator, I decided against loading the Javelin rockets I would have needed to hit him at this range; I did not want the drones to catch me. It was an unnecessary risk, as Kaal had jumped in with his Cyclone. Unable to run, the Arbitrator went down quickly.

2011.09.22 19:38:00

Victim: Lyranni
Corp: Winterdawn
Alliance: Unknown
Faction: Unknown
Destroyed: Arbitrator
System: Costolle
Security: 0.2
Damage Taken: 9502

Involved parties:

Name: Kaal Redrum (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.9
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Cyclone
Weapon: 220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 9502

Name: Taurean Eltanin
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Malediction
Weapon: Rocket Launcher II
Damage Done: 0

Destroyed items:

Microwave S, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Imperial Navy Gamma S (Cargo)
10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Acolyte I, Qty: 5 (Drone Bay)
Tracking Disruptor I
Tracking Speed Disruption (Cargo)
Warp Scrambler I
Hammerhead I (Drone Bay)

Dropped items:

Tracking Disruptor I (Cargo)
Small Nosferatu I
Warp Disruptor I (Cargo)
Damage Control I
Small Energy Neutralizer I
Imperial Navy Gamma S (Cargo)
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane I, Qty: 2
Tracking Speed Disruption, Qty: 2
Optimal Range Disruption, Qty: 3 (Cargo)
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Dual Light Pulse Laser I, Qty: 2
Infiltrator I, Qty: 5 (Drone Bay)
Gamma S, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Tracking Disruptor I
Imperial Navy Gamma S, Qty: 2
Hammerhead I, Qty: 4 (Drone Bay)


Malediction v Celestis

On another occasion I jumped in on a Celestis, pointing him and then opening fire with Javelin rockets. For about 10 seconds I thought I'd managed to solo him, but it turned out that Kirith had simply landed nearby and alpha'd the guy.

2011.09.25 09:24:00

Victim: Mitridat Evpator
Corp: Center for Advanced Studies
Alliance: Unknown
Faction: Unknown
Destroyed: Celestis
System: Hevrice
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 8421

Involved parties:

Name: Kirith Darkblade (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: 425mm AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 5056
Name: Serpentis Soldier / Serpentis Corporation
Damage Done: 3044

Name: Taurean Eltanin

Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Malediction
Weapon: Foxfire Javelin Rocket
Damage Done: 321

Destroyed items:

Inertia Stabilizers I
Medium Shield Extender II, Qty: 4
Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 160 (Cargo)
Overdrive Injector System I
125mm Railgun I, Qty: 2
Battlecruisers (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Auto Targeting System I
Signal Amplifier I
Medium Shield Extender II
Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 2600 (Cargo)
Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 190
125mm Railgun I


Malediction v Vagabond

I was acting as fast tackle for a small fleet; I had the Vaga pointed, and I was taking fire. I tried to hold on until the fleet landed, but the Vaga's speed had taken us 60km from the warp in. By the time it was clear that they would not reach us, it was too late to bail. Scratch one Malediction.

2011.09.25 15:14:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Malediction
System: Jovainnon
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 2583

Involved parties:

Name: Madbuster73 (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: Shadows Of The Federation
Alliance: NONE
Faction: Gallente Federation
Ship: Vagabond
Weapon: 220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 2583

Destroyed items:

Damage Control II
Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Small Hydraulic Bay Thrusters I
Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 50
Small Rocket Fuel Cache Partition I

Dropped items:

Rocket Launcher II
Salvager I
Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Warp Disruptor II
Co-Processor II
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 100
Foxfire Javelin Rocket, Qty: 588 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 381 (Cargo)
Gremlin Javelin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Thorn Javelin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)


Afterthoughts:

Another great set of lessons, here. In particular, I gained more experience in fighting larger ships, and it's clear I have a lot to learn.

Interceptors evade damage; it's just what they do. However, how they evade that damage changes. Against smaller ships they hold point beyond the effective range of the enemy; I seem to have a reasonable handle on this one.

However, that does not work against larger ships, where interceptors have to maximise their angular velocity to avoid fire. Against the Hurricane and the Vagabond I was so wary of scrams and neuts I held a range at which my angular velocity was quite low, despite my high transversal. If I had moved in close from the very beginning, I probably would have done much better.

I've really been enjoying flying the Malediction, and it's something I'm going to try doing more of. Other than some mwd skills, there's nothing about the ship that does not cross over to my Vengeance, so there is no wasted training here. In fact, it gives me an excuse to finaly prioritise my range skills.

Interceptors work well with backup nearby, however. In the past, I've had various pilots in interceptors thanking me for jumping in to assist with my Vengeance because they simply couldn't break the tank on whatever they had caught. Now, I'm seeing that from the other side; I'm not sure I could have broken the passive regen on that Celestis - 5 Medium Shield Extenders!

Next, I'm going to try an armor tanked, cap boosted fit. Shield tanking was fun, but I hate wasting the armor resists, and resistance tanking is what I love. The cap booster should allow me to hold point within neut range for a while, and run the repair system if I need to. I may even consider a nos over the salvager if I can find the spare grid and CPU.

Bounty Hunting: Competing Visions

What should bounty hunting look like?

One of the concerns people have repeatedly expressed about my proposed fix for the bounty system, best articulated by FNG, is that it does not allow for the kind of bounty hunters that we all grew up reading/watching in our scifi, typified quite neatly by Boba Fett from Star Wars.

Well, they're right. As I say in my initial post, I envisage bounty hunters more like Judge Dredd, a futuristic, wild-west style law man. Competing visions; it happens.

However, I think my vision has the edge here. Not because it's "cooler", but because it's more workable. Let's take a closer look at Star Wars.


Star Wars

Finding work: When Boba Fett gets up in the morning, he does not log into some galactic bounty network to find a target. Why? Because he's a bad guy, and what he's doing is illegal. This means that people who want him to do something tell him personally.

The client base: The only people who hire Boba Fett (Jaba the Hutt and Darth Vader) are also bad guys - they are telling him to kidnap or kill people, after all.

How he gets paid: Because of the shady nature of what they are doing, there is no escrow system, no contract, and no guarantees. His employers have to hope Boba Fett does not scam or double cross them, and Boba Fett has to hope that he gets paid at the end of the day. The only "security" they each have is their respective reputations and the knowledge that each party is a dangerous, dangerous individual.

You can conduct this kind of bounty hunting in Eve right now, and I know of some people who do. All it involves is someone promising to pay you some ISK for an API verified killmail or a corpse.

If it sounds risky, like you might not get paid or your bounty hunter might try to scam you, it's because it is. Welcome to the shady world of underground bounty hunting; I hope you enjoy risk, uncertainty, and forging personal relationships.


Marketing Star Wars

Ignoring the fact that the Star Wars model requires no implementation by CCP - this is the sandbox, right? - let's look at the difficulties that CCP would have trying to "sell" the idea to existing players.

Finding work: Unlike Boba Fett, who lives his life 24-7, most Eve players spend a limited amount of time online. A full-time bounty hunter would need to spend much of that time cultivating the contacts he needs to actually find work. This would be a bar to many would be bounty hunters, who would rather spend their time pew-pewing.

The client base: Dangerous men in New Eden don't need bounty hunters. There, I said it. The vast majority of combat pilots have the skills they need to settle their own scores, and many industrialists have sufficient in-corp muscle to do the same. The people who need bounty hunters are new players or socially isolated players. Exceptions will exist, to be sure, but I've never heard a Tusker complain that he can't find a reliable bounty hunter; if he wants something dead, he just advertises a fleet.

Getting paid: Eve is full of scams. Not many people, bounty hunters or potential employers, are going to trust someone they don't know when large sums of ISK are on the line.

In short, I don't see the Star Wars model taking off in actual game play. I'm cheating here, because I can already say it hasn't taken off - CCP does not need to implement a thing to duplicate the Star Wars model.


Marketing Judge Dredd

Finding work: My proposal would have bounty hunters and potential employers linked up by an automated system; bounty hunters fly around looking for fights, and when they kill someone with a bounty, they get paid. This model works; I know because it's based on piracy, which has many adherents.

The client base: Any victim can easily place a bounty, regardless of time in game or social connections.

Getting paid: By ensuring value for money, this is as risk free as it gets in New Eden.

Wow, that looks pretty easy to sell to people!

"But wait!", I hear you say. "Why not just use your system without the high security status requirements? This will allow us to play lowlife bounty hunting scum. Surely the best of both worlds!"

Sadly, I disagree. The first point of disagreement is on principle; if you want to play lowlife bounty hunting scum, then go ahead, nobody is stopping you. Just don't expect all the trappings and advantages of respectability to boot. That would be like me complaining that being -10 comes with disadvantages; it's part of the choices I've made.

However, I actually have a more important reason for disagreeing; I don't think it would work as well.


Perception is everything

My proposed model is very different, largely because I make it respectable. This isn't about vengeance, it's about justice.

Instead of paying some lowlife to kill some other lowlife, and hoping the new lowlife is a little better than the old lowlife, I'm now paying a Concord sanctioned law-man to deal justice to the asshat that ganked me.

This change in perception is, in my view, absolutely critical. The people who want to hire bounty hunters are not pirates like me and FNG. They are not hardened nullsec warriors.  They are carebearscarebears.

As awesome as Boba Fett is, there is very little market for his services. The Lone Ranger, though, is going to be in high demand. I'll bet a good 50%+ of anyone suffering from a suicide gank would happily place a bounty under my proposed system.

For the system to work, it needs to be used, and the people that will actually place bounties are, in my view, far more likely to do so in a system that they feel fits with their "moral code". Argue all you want about bringing real life values to New Eden, the fact is that many people do (including me, incidentally, and anyone following the Tusker Code).


Other comments on the proposed system

Looks good! Only problem I see is determing the values: A fitted rifter can cost anything from 500k to, well, anything, really. My regular Rifters set me back approx 10-15 mill. So who should determine value? And how?

There would need to be some kind of automated system that determines values. I'm not sure how this is done, but I know that most killboards have a program that does this, and CCP clearly has one that determines insurance payouts. Accuracy is not terribly important, only consistency. Undervaluing or overvaluing is fine, as long as everything is overvalued or undervalued in the same proportions.

I guess one question to consider is, are there any ways in which an experienced player could trick a new player into unintentionally giving them kill rights (and thus place a bounty on the newbie which is trivial to them, but is enough to effectively keep that player out of ships and ultimately drive them from the game)?

The noob would have to kill someone, without getting concorded, and without them fighting back or aggressing in any way. That's only going to happen in low sec, and only under some pretty strange circumstances. While possible, I think it unlikely. Perhaps something that could be dealt with via GM petition?

There is still no reason not to have a bounty, you lose a ship and someone else gets paid, doesn't affect me as long as I get my insurance payout.

You are right, having a bounty ought to be a bad thing. This is another reason to limit bounty hunters to high security status pilots. Lowsec dwellers fight each other all the time, and the bounty would be a bonus, not a cause. We want bounties to cause loss that would not have otherwise happened. As for insurance, it's been a very long time since I lost a ship where insurance came close to covering the true cost.

Make it so the bounty is on the clone used at the time of killing somehow? that way they cant change out of expensive clones.

This system does not revolve around killing clones, just quantifiable ship loss.

In terms of who can collect -> registered bounty hunters, the person who placed the bounty (who per the rules you stated must have kill rights), as well as a member of the corporation (at the time of the bounty) of the person who posted the bounty.

An interesting suggestion. However, a person or corp capable of avenging the loss in the first place probably won't place a bounty in any event; they'll just go out and kill the target. In the interests of keeping this simple to implement, I'd probably limit bounties to just the bounty hunter.

Cool idea. Making the sec status requirement high for bounty hunter qualification, means there would potentially be fewer bounty hunters. Too many hunters and not enough prey would really curtail PVP in Empire, unless that is the plan?

There is certainly a balance to be struck, and any qualifications for registration (including security status) would be designed to keep the number of bounty hunters down. The lawbringer model does not encourage casual or opportunistic bounty hunters. This would mean that dedicated bounty hunters should be far better able to support themselves.

Would bounties immediately become active or would they take 24 hours to become active after an evemail to notify the criminal (like an individual war dec)? IE, I could slap a bounty on someone while my alt sits in space right beside the criminal. As soon as I submit the bounty, my alt alphas the criminal before he even knows he has a bounty on him.

War decs are actions against a potentially unknown third party, and thus require notice. In order to receive a bounty, you must have killed someone, so you have already had effective notice of a possible bounty. I have no problem with "surprise" bounties, but in reality bounties would probably become active only after each downtime.

Farming bounties:
I take my alt and derp around where I think I will have a good chance of getting popped. I run, like, quad reppers on my boat or something, hoping to get as many dudes, to come help the criminal pop me, as possible. My ship is insured, and I put full bounties on all the people I have kill rights on. If all goes well, I take my main hunter, go pop them, collect the bounty, salvage/loot the wrecks, and funnel the money back to my main.

You could do that, sure. But at best, you recover the exact amount of money that you put in; ie, you recover the bounties that you placed. There is also a fair amount of risk, here, as you might end up losing the fight with your bounty hunter, or some other bounty hunter gets there first. I don't see this as an exploit. They still needed to decide to kill you, after all.

I like the idea of bounty hunting corps. Maybe integrate this with FW by creating a CONCORD militia, where people can register themselves or their corporations as bounty hunters.

Indeed, I could see this being very popular with pvpers that want to be "good" guys. The more people into pvp, the better for all pvpers. Perhaps registered bounty hunters would HAVE to be in registered bounty hunting corps; this would allow pirate corps to wardec the bounty hunters! Then they would know how it feels to be hunted!

Under your proposal, unless I missed something, a griefer could can flip someone and then lose knowing he'll now be able to post a bounty with no expiration. It also still seems to encourage vengeance-seeking, wealthy carebears who lose their pricey ships and then can unload a walletful of hurt on their aggressors. Please let me know if there is a solution.

My proposal revolves around killrights. These are not awarded if any aggressive action has been taken, so can flippers that get blasted can't then place a bounty.

I'm also a HUGE fan of asymmetric warfare. It's something that I will eventually post about, but in my view the problem with lowsec revolves is that it penalises carebears; they have to invest skillpoints into their industry AND combat skills, whereas the pirates only have to focus on combat skills. Allowing carebears to use their wealth to fight back is going to encourage them to actually venture into low sec. And that's a good thing.

Currently I think you only get killrights if you don't shoot back.

True, and I have no problem with this. You are either a combatant, or you are not.

I can see a way for a criminal to bypass your proposed bounty system. Lets' say a pirate has a $100m bounty placed on them, they can simply purchase a $100m ship, fly to a safe spot and have an alt char kill them. Bounty is paid and the pirate breaks even or close to it. Now there's no more bounty hunters chasing them through space. Does this sound right?

Assuming the alt is a registered bounty hunter, yes, you got it right. There is very, very little you can do to stop collusion between two people, or one person with multiple accounts. Another reason why potential clients need to have confidence in the bounty hunters as well as in the system.

Vengeance et alia v Ashimmu

The hunt:

It started when I encountered a Daredevil flown by a pilot named Vim. Now that I have more experience with being kited, I tend to engage kiters on gates whenever possible; the increased danger of "adds" is worth the ability to just disengage and leave.

Vim had engaged me on the gate, and we had spent some time dancing about. Thanks to my Javelin rockets, I could hit him just fine. In fact, I could easily burn him down. But with a 90% web on me, I couldn't make him stick around long enough to kill him.

Eventually, he either called for backup, or a number of other faction frigates coincidentally showed up to help him out. I popped an exile booster, turned off my weapons, and simply tanked their damage for 60 seconds before jumping out.

I moved on with my roam, and some time later ended up hitting a mission runner with a few other Tuskers. While the frigates were still waiting out their GCC, I spotted Vim again, this time in an Ashimmu.

A quick discussion ensued, and, while none of us had ever fought an Ashimmu before - the Tusker recruitment drive means there are a fair number of newer players in corp right now - we agreed that we could probably take him. 90% webs and bonused neuts meant that he would probably take one or more of us with him, but we should be able burn him down. It was, we decided, a worthwhile sacrifice to take down a pirate faction cruiser.

Well, I probably don't need to tell most of you how this ended. Like lambs to the slaughter, we jumped the Ashimmu at a belt. It turns out, no matter how dangerous 90% webs and bonused neuts seem on paper, it's far, FAR worse in real combat.

Against the Daredevil, 90% web simply meant not being able to hold him or escape. Fine, we thought, we'll kill him quick and accept that we can't escape. Against the Ashimmu, however, it means you take full damage from his cruiser class weapons. Oh, and your tank no longer works.

2011.09.22 19:26:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Vengeance
System: Costolle
Security: 0.2
Damage Taken: 2349

Involved parties:

Name: Vim (laid the final blow)
Security: -3.6
Corp: Spiritus Draconis
Alliance: NONE
Faction: Gallente Federation
Ship: Ashimmu
Weapon: Focused Medium Pulse Laser II
Damage Done: 2349

Name: Serpentis Chief Watchman / Serpentis Corporation
Damage Done: 0

Destroyed items:

Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
Damage Control II
Coreli C-Type Small Armor Repairer
Small Anti-Thermic Pump I
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Warp Scrambler II
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Phalanx Rage Rocket, Qty: 56
1MN Afterburner II
Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I
Thorn Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket, Qty: 288 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 581 (Cargo)
Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 784 (Cargo)
Synth Exile Booster (Cargo)
Phalanx Rage Rocket, Qty: 420 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Phalanx Rage Rocket, Qty: 56
Foxfire Javelin Rocket, Qty: 536 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 484 (Cargo)
Gremlin Rage Rocket, Qty: 560 (Cargo)

Deeply traumatised, I warped my pod out and wished Vim a good fight. While he clearly understood his ship better than we did, he had not batted an eye at being jumped by three assault frigates.


Afterthoughts:

I can't speak for the others, but I felt really, really stupid afterwards. The fight had been so one sided that I couldn't believe we had thought we stood a chance. Lesson (painfully) learned.

My little Vengeance kept on giving, though. In addition to denying Vim my deadspace armor repair, I also received an Intact Armor Plate when I brought my Malediction back to salvage the wreck. In a bizarre twist, I had actually turned a profit on my foolishness.

Fixing Eve: Bounty Hunting

I'm generally pretty optimistic about Eve, and very much enjoy flying in New Eden. That said, I do recognise that certain things could work far better than they do now. I've largely kept my thoughts to myself because I don't have nearly the same level of play experience that many other pilots have, and my own focus is very narrow: small ship pvp in lowsec.

However, people like Jester, FNG, and some members of the CSM, have been very, very constructive, underscoring game flaws and coming up with ideas and fixes that seem (at least to me) to be workable and easy to implement. For what it's worth, I intend to throw my own ideas out there from time to time in the hope that I contribute something useful to New Eden.

This is my first foray into "fixing Eve", and the subject is Bounty Hunting.


The problem:

Bounty hunting (players, not rats) is broken, and everyone knows it. If someone puts a bounty on you, you reship to a noob ship/blank clone and get a buddy to blow you up. You split the proceeds. For this reason few people use the bounty system, and rightly so.

Any fix to the Bounty Hunting system needs to pass a few key tests, though.

1) Is the system secure? In other words, can the proposed target extract a benefit? This is a test the current system easily fails.

2) Does it actually offer the person placing the bounty value for money? Another test the current system fails. Even without collusion, the bounty does not guarantee a commensurate loss to the target.

3) Is the system safe from abuse?

4) Is it easy to implement?

With those questions in mind, I've tried to come up with a solution.


The proposed fix:

Suppose that instead of being able to put a bounty on anyone, you could only put a bounty on someone if you had kill rights for - in fact, placing a bounty would use up your kill rights! This would prevent the much stronger bounty system we are putting in place from being abused by wealthy characters.

When a kill right has been obtained, a bounty can be placed, but only up to the damage inflicted by the target. So if they blow up your Rifter you are going to be limited to a much smaller bounty that if they blew up your Dramiel. In the case of multiple attackers, though, you could place a full bounty on each of them! There is no safety in numbers.

Once the bounty is placed, it persists until it is collected, but it can only be collected by registered bounty hunters! These bounty hunters would need to meet certain requirements before they could become registered with Concord. The exact nature of these requirements would need some looking into, but it should include a fairly high security status, which would prevent pirates from also being bounty hunters.

Bounties can also only be collected in Empire space - high sec or low sec. Concord has no jurisdiction in null sec, and can't/won't pay out bounties for null sec kills. This prevents null sec corporations from abusing the system in the course of their wars for sovereignty.

Now, once the bounty hunter has found a target with a bounty (or more likely, roamed through low sec killing flashies on the assumption that many of them will have bounties), he receives a payout.

However, this payout is limited to the value of the ship the bounty hunter has destroyed. Any unused bounty remains on the target! This means that the target cannot easily escape the bounty by letting himself be destroyed in a cheap ship. Bounty hunters will pursue the target until they have cost him as much as he cost his initial victim!


Applying the test:


1) Is the system secure? In other words, can the proposed target extract a benefit? The system is secure, even if collusion occurs (which will be difficult) because the target must suffer a loss equal to the bounty before any payout occurs. At best, the target is put back into the same position that he was before the loss. As an extra measure, there could be a percentage modifier to the payout; ie, the bounty paid out is only 90% of the damage done.

2) Does it actually offer the person placing the bounty value for money? Absolutely. The payee can be sure that a 100 million bounty will cause at least 100 million in damage to the target, assuming the Bounty Hunters catch up to him - and there is no expiration date on the bounty!

3) Is the system safe from abuse? It seems secure, in that the bounties can only be collected by a group of niche pvpers who are required to confine their pvp to targets that do not affect their sec status. Equally, the conditions under which a bounty can be issued and paid are quite restrictive.

4) Is it easy to implement? I'm not a programmer, but the main programming change seems to be a series of if/then statements relating to a preexisting interface.

Have I missed anything?


Edit:

As originally proposed, the system worked against bounty hunters that wanted to track down targets with a non-outlaw sec status; these targets could only be attacked in low sec without triggering Concord, and they also gave the bounty hunter a sec hit!

Instead, in exchange for meeting the registration requirements, the bounty hunters would become agents of Concord and therefore able to engage ANY target with a bounty without triggering a Concord response (including a security status penalty) or gate aggression. Equally, no killright would be awarded to the target, meaning they could not then turn about and place a bounty on the bounty hunter.

This is why I feel that the registration requirements should be fairly strict, and should include a high sec status. Bounty hunters of the type envisaged are more like Judge Dredd than they are like Boba Fet; they are given the power to break some of New Eden's unbreakable rules, but are accordingly required to uphold the laws they enforce.

I would even go so far as to say that a bounty hunter should be unable to gain sec status while a bounty hunter, to prevent them just grinding their sec status back after a gank. However, having never had a high sec status, I can't know how easy or difficult it is to push your sec status to the upper levels. Hitting -10 certainly takes a fair amount of effort.

And now for something completely different.

The fit (Malediction):

3 Rocket Launcher II
Salvager I (offline)

Catalysed Cold-Gas Arcjet Thrusters
Warp Disruptor II
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator

Damage Control II
Nanofibre Inernal Structure II
Small Armor Repairer II

Small Rocket Fuel Cache Partition I
Small Hydraulic Bay Thrusters I

The idea here was to create a platform that I could practice mwd kiting with. With the range rigs I could theoretically hit out to 17 km with Javelin (20+ if I had my range skills at V), and the extra range on my point gave me lots of room for error.

The web was for those ships I might encounter with an mwd rather than an afterburner; they would be unlikely to have a scram, but would be better able to try and slingshot me. The Armor Repairer was not really intended for heavy use, but rather to top me up after clearing drones, etc.


The hunt:

I started my roam in Hev, of course, and almost immediately I saw a faction warfare plex open up. I warped to the beacon, eager to catch my prey. Landing on the acceleration gate, I activated it and overheated my mwd.

Just as I was hitting warp, I saw my quarry land behind me! I had forgotten about the increased warp speed on an interceptor; I had landed at the plex before him! Needless to say, he did not follow me into the plex. An opportunity wasted.

My next destination was Aeschee, where I saw a Thrasher on scan. I had been hoping to test the waters on something a little less, well, perfect for killing me, but I had wanted to shake things up and this was an opportunity to do so. With faction rockets loaded (NOT Javelin), I jumped in.

I landed just outside of disruptor range, but my mwd quickly made up the distance and I landed point on the Thrasher. I wanted to get a feel for kiting so, I set my orbit at 20km. This would give me a 7km buffer between my orbit and his escape or scramming me. Plenty of time to react. I also set my "keep at range" default to 22km; I could use "approach" to close distance quickly, and I wanted something to open distance quickly.

In the mean time, the Thrasher was also testing the waters. Clearly mwd fit, and equally clearly fit for close range brawling, neither of us bothered to open fire while the range was too great. This was a strong tip off that I was dealing with someone who knew what they were doing; less experienced pilots would have just opened fire regardless.

After getting a feel for the Thrasher's speed, I started closing my orbit, first to 18km, then 16km. At 16 km I switched to Javelin rockets - I had determined that I would be able to control the range even with the loss of speed - and opened fire. Unfortunately, a 17km range is a theoretical maximum, in practice a fast target can add several km to the effective range, and the Thrasher was moving fast. I would need to get closer.

As I closed the distance I ended up with an orbit of between 13 and 14km; I was just outside of overheated scram range and this is where I expected the trouble to start, especially as my rockets were now hitting the Thrasher.

Overheating her mwd, the Thrasher lunged for me several times, but each time I was able to pull range before slowly circling back in, relentlessly chipping away at her tank.

Finally, the Thrasher succumbed.

2011.09.18 08:18:00

Victim: Amanda Shepard
Corp: Republic University
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Thrasher
System: Aeschee
Security: 0.2
Damage Taken: 4333

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Malediction
Weapon: Gremlin Javelin Rocket
Damage Done: 4333

Destroyed items:

200mm AutoCannon II, Qty: 4
Warp Scrambler II
Gyrostabilizer II
Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Small Projectile Ambit Extension I, Qty: 2
Small Projectile Burst Aerator I
Small Energy Neutralizer II
Damage Control II
Barrage S, Qty: 480
Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S, Qty: 979 (Cargo)
Republic Fleet Fusion S, Qty: 1000 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

200mm AutoCannon II, Qty: 3
Medium Azeotropic Ward Salubrity I
Barrage S, Qty: 360
Barrage S, Qty: 160 (Cargo)
Republic Fleet EMP S, Qty: 1000 (Cargo)
It had been an exhausting, but exhilarating, fight - I had been kiting for over 8 minutes. With my hold stuffed with loot, I left a "gf" in local and returned to Hev.

After dropping off my loot and grabbing some more ammunition, I slipped back into space. Almost immediately I saw a Catalyst ratting in a belt; I wasted no time jumping in.

With a better understanding of my effective range, this fight did not take nearly as long as the first, but it very much followed the same pattern; start with a wide orbit and gauge the enemy. Then, circle in for the kill, being ever ready to pull range if they make a lunge. I destroyed the Catalyst, and the pilot's pod.

2011.09.18 08:33:00

Victim: Joshua Baker
Corp: Deep Space Corp
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Catalyst
System: Hevrice
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 4692

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Malediction
Weapon: Thorn Javelin Rocket
Damage Done: 2619

Name: Serpentis Chief Scout / Serpentis Corporation
Damage Done: 2073

Destroyed items:

Overdrive Injector System I
125mm 'Scout' I Accelerator Cannon, Qty: 5
Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 160
100mm Reinforced Nanofiber Plates I (Cargo)
Civilian Shield Booster I (Cargo)
Small Energy Transfer Array I (Cargo)
Small Hull Repairer I (Cargo)
Photon Scattering Field I (Cargo)
Small Shield Booster I (Cargo)
Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive (Cargo)
Medium Inefficient Armor Repair Unit (Cargo)
Tungsten Charge M, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Plutonium Charge S, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Antimatter Charge M, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Warp Scrambler I (Cargo)
Remote Sensor Booster I (Cargo)
400mm Reinforced Steel Plates I (Cargo)
Kapteyn Sensor Array Inhibitor I (Cargo)
Uranium Charge S, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Medium Hull Repairer I (Cargo)
100mm Reinforced Titanium Plates I (Cargo)
Tungsten Charge S, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Medium Remote Armor Repair System I (Cargo)
100mm Reinforced Steel Plates I (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Small I-a Polarized Armor Regenerator
Civilian Shield Booster I
50mm Reinforced Steel Plates I
125mm 'Scout' I Accelerator Cannon
Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 80
Stasis Webifier I
Light Ion Blaster I (Cargo)
Letter of Recommendation (Cargo)
Tracking Link I (Cargo)
Small Nosferatu I (Cargo)
1MN Afterburner I (Cargo)
Antimatter Charge M, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Iridium Charge S, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Small Remote Armor Repair System I (Cargo)
Small Inefficient Armor Repair Unit (Cargo)
Passive Targeter I (Cargo)
100mm Reinforced Titanium Plates I (Cargo)
Acolyte I (Cargo)
Tungsten Charge S, Qty: 200 (Cargo)
Cargo Scanner I (Cargo)
Hobgoblin I (Cargo)
Medium Capacitor Booster I (Cargo)
Hornet I (Cargo)
Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 2291 (Cargo)
Thorium Charge S, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
ECM - Spatial Destabilizer I (Cargo)

The pilot was a new player, and he had fought bravely. He was also polite in the ransom channel, and did not try to make any excuses for his loss, nor make any pleas for mercy. I liked his style, so I sent him a million ISK after I destroyed his pod. With insurance, that ought to be enough to ensure he turned a small profit on his loss.

Returning to Aeschee, I saw Amanda, the Thrasher pilot from my first fight, in another belt, flying another Thrasher. I decided to try my luck a second time, and jumped in.

What followed was one of the most intense duels of maneuver that I have ever experienced. We chased each other across the system, from celestial to celestial. I was trying to jump in 20km off Amanda so that I could immediately point her. She was trying to land right on top of me so she could use her scram. We jumped dozens of times, breathlessly waiting for grid to load so we could find out which of us was the hunter and which was the hunted.

It was intense, and I knew that the winner would be determined as much by luck as by skill, and that I should break off. Sometimes, though, you just have to see something through to the end.

In the end, my luck ran out first, and I landed within a few km of Amanda. I wasn't going down without a fight, though!

I immediately started burning away, and threw my web onto the Thrasher; I needed as much relative speed advantage as I could manage. My launchers were next, going straight to overheat, and spewing death at the destroyer.

My mwd shut down almost immediately, but I had received enough of a speed boost that I was still faster than Amanda was with my overheated web active. She opened fire, and I turned on my repair system, which now had plenty of cap with the mwd shut down. More critically, she saw what I was trying to do, and overheated her own prop mod, making her that little bit faster; I had reached 9.9km before she managed to start closing the distance; she must have overheated her scram.

With escape now impossible, it was a straight damage race. Unfortunately, that's not something the Malediction excells at, and I exploded with the Thrasher at 25% armor.

2011.09.18 09:21:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Malediction
System: Aeschee
Security: 0.2
Damage Taken: 1639

Involved parties:

Name: Amanda Shepard (laid the final blow)
Security: -0.2
Corp: Republic University
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Thrasher
Weapon: 200mm AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 1639

Destroyed items:

Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Damage Control II
Small Hydraulic Bay Thrusters I
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 64
Small Rocket Fuel Cache Partition I
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Foxfire Javelin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Vespa EC-600, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Thorn Javelin Rocket, Qty: 608 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Rocket Launcher II
Warp Disruptor II
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Salvager I
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 32
Small Armor Repairer II
Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Vespa EC-600, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Gremlin Javelin Rocket, Qty: 605 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 450 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
An amazing duel - well worth the loss. I dropped a hearty "gf" in local as I sped my pod to safety.


Afterthoughts:

Well, I certainly feel like I learned a LOT about kiting. I had been put off kiting ships because my manual piloting is so poor, but creative use of the "approach", "orbit", and "keep at range" functions seems to work.

These fights also highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of kiting ships: excellent range control and weak dps. If you maintain control of the range you are unkillable, but if you lose control, for any reason, you are doomed.

Incidentally, I've realised that I could potentially have escaped the Thrasher if I had overheated my mwd; it would not have burned for any longer, but there is a very real chance that the added thrust would have carried me beyond scram range.

Of course, timing was everything, and there was no time to overheat once I landed; my thrust time was measured in fractions of a second. But, if I had pre-overheated my mwd in warp, I could have had the extra thrust without the time cost. Something to keep in mind.

I've now got a stack of Maledictions in my hangar. I'm not going to fly them often, but it helps to have an interceptor available for fast tackle, and I'll mess about with different fits; there's a shield tanked Maledicition that I'm especially interested in trying. Being fast enough to reach wrecks easily, it will also be my go-to salvaging platform.

A common thread.

Recently, I've suffered a series of losses. Although individually unremarkable, I'm fairly alert to trends in the way I fly, and I feel that these losses, as a group, are significant.

I've already posted about this fight. Toothslayer got the jump on my Vengeance in his Sabre. Although I did not try to escape, actually doing so would have been very difficult; I'm not in a fast ship. In hindsight, though, Tsubutai is correct (no surprise there); hitting him with an overheated scram and web while burning for a celestial was my best shot.

On the other hand, this fight was one that simply escalated beyond my control. You can probably guess exactly what happened just by looking at the lossmail. Again, by the time things went bad, and the battlecruisers had landed, I was too committed to escape.

This, on the other hand, was not even a fight; just a massive fleet sitting on the other side of a gate. While I can evade casual camps as well as any frigate, that much manpower means that someone is going to have an instalock, and there is too much dps to be able to burn back to the gate, especially once the webs start landing.

My most frustrating loss is this one. I jumped into a FW plex with a Kestrel in it. He began kiting me, and then a million of his friends jumped in on us. Only a few of them got on the killmail, though, because as soon as local spiked I started burning away from the warp in; most of his friends could not reach me before the fast ones killed me. Lag got my pod, too.

The common thread here is that I was too slow to evade fights I could not win. This is part of flying a Vengeance, and I'm not complaining; all ships have their pros and cons. However, I clearly need to be more cautious, as I've lost over 60 million ISK of ships this month to situations I should have simply avoided.

Part of the problem, if you can call it that, is that I'm winning pretty much every fight that is anything remotely close to "fair". I'm taking down virtually every T1 frigate, destroyer and cruiser I meet, and most T2 frigates as well. As a result, I've grown pretty easy to bait with these ships (see the FW blob), and less alert to danger generally.

I need to do something about that, and part of that process is going to involve breaking out of the slight rut I seem to be in. I'm going to move to my upgraded fit earlier than intended - the extra cost ought to keep me alert! - and I'm also going to start testing the waters with boosters.

Equally, though, I'm going to mess about with some mwd ships. This is something I've avoided, but it's going to be a critical skill for me to master for my bomber and any interceptors that I fly. To begin with, I'll throw together some Maledicton fits and take them out for a spin. I'll also give that mwd Vengeance FNG recommended a try.

So expect the occasional departure from your regular programming.

Vengeance v Rupture

 

The hunt:

Encouraged by my recent above class kill, I decided to jump in on this Rupture when I otherwise might not have. I found him in Jovannion, which is a fairly quiet system, so I thought would have the time to wear him down.

Jumping into the belt where he was ratting, I landed close enough to establish point right away. I then moved in under his guns and waited for the million ISK question to answer itself: did he have a neut? Apparently not.

After killing the drones, I had all the time in the world; he couldn't hit me except with his missiles, and I easily tanked those. Eventually, he went boom.

2011.09.04 16:30:00

Victim: Stoakes
Corp: Starfinger INC
Alliance: OUTER SPACE ASSHOLES
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Rupture
System: Jovainnon
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 12120

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Phalanx Rage Rocket
Damage Done: 11059

Name: Serpentis Safeguard / Serpentis Corporation
Damage Done: 1061

Destroyed items:

Medium Inefficient Armor Repair Unit
Bloodclaw Light Missile, Qty: 58
Phased Plasma M, Qty: 194
800mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I, Qty: 2
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane I, Qty: 2
'Langour' Drive Disruptor I
Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive
Assault Missile Launcher I, Qty: 2
Medium Projectile Ambit Extension I
Warp Scrambler I
Sabretooth Light Missile, Qty: 360 (Cargo)
Phased Plasma M, Qty: 800 (Cargo)
EMP M, Qty: 2603 (Cargo)
Hobgoblin I (Drone Bay)

Dropped items:

Dual 180mm AutoCannon I, Qty: 4
Phased Plasma M, Qty: 194
Damage Control I
Bloodclaw Light Missile, Qty: 174 (Cargo)

I also managed to catch his pod and we had been on the verge of agreeing a 15 million ISK ransom when a Sabre jumped in! It was my old friend toothslayer, and he wasted no time in engaging me.

Well and truly caught by surprise, I did my best to rally. I destroyed the pod, primarily as the fastest way of clearing my targeting, while moving into a tight orbit around the Sabre. I had no idea if that was the right move or not; I knew nothing about fighting T2 destroyers.

Clearly, it was time to overheat everything, and I started chewing into the destroyer. However, I had rat aggro, and in a dps race like this the small delay in getting my guns on target was telling. Ultimately, I was unable to overcome that initial handicap.

2011.09.04 16:32:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: Unknown
Faction: Unknown
Destroyed: Vengeance
System: Jovainnon
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 4711

Involved parties:

Name: toothslayer (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.9
Corp: Guild of Assassins
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Sabre
Weapon: 125mm Gatling AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 2060

Name: Stoakes
Security: -2.8
Corp: Starfinger INC
Alliance: OUTER SPACE ASSHOLES
Faction: NONE
Ship: Unknown
Weapon: Warp Scrambler I
Damage Done: 2037

Name: Guardian Initiate / Serpentis Corporation
Damage Done: 614

Destroyed items:

Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
Phalanx Rage Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Foxfire Javelin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Small Anti-Thermic Pump I
Gremlin Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)
Warp Scrambler II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 776 (Cargo)
Small Capacitor Control Circuit I
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Phalanx Rage Rocket, Qty: 5
1MN Afterburner II

Dropped items:

Thorn Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)
Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Damage Control II
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 432 (Cargo)
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Phalanx Rage Rocket, Qty: 15
Small Armor Repairer II

Still, I managed to get my pod out, this time.


Afterthoughts:

From the safety of, well, a safe spot, I congratulated toothslayer on his ambush. I also told him about the ransom he had cost me, effectively doubling the cost of my loss.

Initially, toothslayer did not feel that the loss of the ransom was significant one way or another, but I pointed out that piracy was my sole source of income - I have no second account. He had, effectively, managed to do the equivalent of gank a pirate while missioning! Surely this was an occasion for lols all round; that kind of irony does not happen every day.

While some people try very hard to shrug off their losses ("meh, I didn't really like that carrier anyway", "I've got five more in the station", etc), I'm generally pretty happy to give the winner his due. Equally, toothslayer has always been a courteous opponent, so I have no problem letting him know the true extent of his victory. I've never seen much mileage in trying to misrepresent my situation - especially as I'm just going to be blogging about it in a week or two anyway.

However, in this case my after battle chatter had an unexpected consequence; toothslayer dropped 30 million ISK into my wallet to reimburse me for the ship and the lost ransom. Apparently he likes blowing me up so much, he wants to make sure I keep undocking!

On a more serious note, though, I think Mara summed it up well in her recent post: "be gracious win or lose; you never know when unexpected random acts of kindness will come your way."

It's as true for carebears as it is for pirates; yesterday I sent a million ISK to a noob I killed because he fought well, made a sensible ransom offer (which I declined), and was courteous throughout. Assuming he insured his ship, he actually turned a profit on our fight.

A question of timing.

The hunt:

I'm breaking the chronology here, and delaying the post that I had originally planned for today. Instead, I'm going to talk about last night, because it was a pretty frustrating night, and sometimes you just have to get something like that out of your system.

It started when I logged on after work. Wherever I went, the systems were empty, but reports of enemy action would pour in from somewhere else. By the time I reached somewhere else, all would be quiet, and the action would be elsewhere.

In particular, I missed out on a 95 million ISK ransom because I was still one jump away when the fight ended. That's when I became certain that I was going to lose my ship that night.

I seriously considered logging off , but decided to see the night through. It's easy to pvp when everything is going right, but pulling through the tough spells is what helps you grow as a pilot.

Not too long after the missed ransom, I ran into a large fleet sitting on the Onne - Aeschee gate; I had wanted to join a fight that had broken out Adirain, but I didn't make it through the camp.

Heading back to Hevrice to reship, I got a report of a missioning Brutix in Melmaniel. By the time I had reshipped, however, the large fleet was moving through Hev and towards Melmaniel. We all sat tight and gave them time to move on. Twenty minutes gone.

Eventually, I reached Costelle and sat on the Melmanial gate with a couple of other Tuskers. Difficulties with our prober lead to more delay. When the Brutix was probed down, we all jumped into the system, but for some reason the "squad warp" command didn't take. That meant our prober ended up warping to the mission alone.

Whe she landed, we all warped to her, but in the intervening time the Brutix had moved 30km off our warpin (there were no rooms in the mission). He simply warped out as we burned towards him.

Demoralised and frustrated, I called it a night, and made my way back to Hev. Just as I was about to dock, however, Suleiman told us he had a ratting Loki in Oulletta, so I turned around and started back the way I had come. The other Tuskers from the Brutix attempt were closer, of course, so they make a go of it before I got there. Unfortunately, the Loki slipped point and escaped.

I reached the Oulletta gate, and sat there with the other Tuskers, waiting for the Loki to venture out again. A flashy Falcon and Hurricane jumped into us, and we engaged.

We assumed that the Falcon would just warp off, so I pointed and attacked the Hurricane first. When the Falcon jammed us all, however, we switched primary to him.

As we battered the Falcon, the Hurricane neuted us out and started trying to pick us off. Bartomeu, flying the largest ship on our side, lost his Rupture to the larger vessel. Struggling to manage our mods through the neuts, and tanking the damage from the Hurricane, we nevertheless managed to down the Falcon just as Suleiman (who had been baiting the Loki) jumped in.

2011.09.15 20:06:00

Victim: Nicoletta Modena
Corp: Fairlight Corp
Alliance: Rooks and Kings
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Falcon
System: Melmaniel
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 8856

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Phalanx Rage Rocket
Damage Done: 1260

Name: Bartomeu Sosimo
Security: -7.1
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Capsule
Weapon: 425mm AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 3543

Name: Khronoin
Security: -9.9
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Jaguar
Weapon: Jaguar
Damage Done: 3277

Name: RedBerret
Security: -9.6
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Jaguar
Weapon: Jaguar
Damage Done: 713

Name: Suleiman Shouaa
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Arazu
Weapon: Arazu
Damage Done: 63

Destroyed items:

Large Particle Dispersion Augmentor I
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Sisters Combat Scanner Probe, Qty: 8
Medium Particle Dispersion Projector I
Covert Ops Cloaking Device II
Cynosural Field Generator I
Expanded Probe Launcher I
Sisters Core Scanner Probe, Qty: 4 (Cargo)
Warp Disruptor II (Cargo)
Liquid Ozone, Qty: 143 (Cargo)
Republic Fleet EMP S, Qty: 480 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

BZ-5 Neutralizing Spatial Destabilizer ECM
'Umbra' I White Noise ECM, Qty: 2
'Hypnos' Ion Field ECM I
Damage Control II
200mm AutoCannon II
Republic Fleet EMP S, Qty: 120
Enfeebling Phase Inversion ECM I, Qty: 2
Nanite Repair Paste, Qty: 50 (Cargo)
Core Scanner Probe I, Qty: 5 (Cargo)
Liquid Ozone, Qty: 207 (Cargo)

We immediately turned our attention to the Hurricane, but the neuts and the damage began to add up. We still would probably have carried the field, though, until the Vagabond jumped in. At that point we lost Khronin's Wolf.

The Hurricane was hurting, though, and we had broken his shield tank. However, when the Vagabond started bumping people, in combination with the Hurricane's constant neuting, they both were able to make good their escape.

Completely burnt out, I returned to Hev to log for the night, while other Tuskers worked on salvaging the wrecks.


Afterthoughts:

Not a great night, really. I lost another Vengeance, which hits my profitability, and I missed several other opportunities for lucrative combat.

In hindsight, I'm still glad I stayed online, though. Even on bad days, I love playing Eve and flying with my fellow Tuskers.

Vengeance & Firetail v Rupture

 

The hunt:

I was roaming around Essense when I spotted a Rupture on Dscan. It's been a while since I tried to solo a Rupture, so I decided to jump in and say hello.

It was a fellow flashy, a pilot around the same age as me, and he was keen to fight too. As we moved towards each other I slipped under his guns, and began working on his drones. Fortunately, he had no neut, so I was able to buffer tank the drones and his guns (which were landing glancing hits) long enough to clear the drones and let my active tank repair the damage.

At this point, the fight was a foregone conclusion if nothing changed. He could not break my tank, and it was only a matter of time before I broke his. However, I was very conscious that we were sitting at a celestial in a busy system. I also knew that next door, in Aeschee, there were about 15 other pirates, and at any moment I might find that I had company.

So, when Valgore wandered by and asked if I wanted a hand, I decided that waiting (and hoping) for a solo killmail was not good business sense. Better safe than sorry, and all that.

Even with our combined firepower, it still took us a long time to break his tank, but we got there in the end.

2011.09.04 12:27:00

Victim: Torrinar
Corp: Lion's Den
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Rupture
System: Adirain
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 20578

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Phalanx Rage Rocket
Damage Done: 14655

Name: Valgore Meurte
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Republic Fleet Firetail
Weapon: Republic Fleet Firetail
Damage Done: 5923

Destroyed items:

200mm AutoCannon II, Qty: 2
Damage Control II
Republic Fleet Fusion S, Qty: 2
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I, Qty: 2
Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Medium Ancillary Current Router I
OE-5200 Rocket Launcher
Barrage S, Qty: 2000 (Cargo)
Republic Fleet EMP S, Qty: 1926 (Cargo)
Hobgoblin II (Drone Bay)

Dropped items:

200mm AutoCannon II, Qty: 2
Republic Fleet Fusion S, Qty: 2
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I, Qty: 2
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Warp Scrambler II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 72
OE-5200 Rocket Launcher
Republic Fleet Fusion S, Qty: 1120 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 436 (Cargo)

We did manage to point his pod, but he declined a ransom.

I handled the loot split, paying Valgore 3.5 mil for his half (and I must remember that for the monthly accounts).

Afterthoughts:

Looking at the killmail, the Rupture's tank was just nuts; TWO 1600mm plates and two Trimarks. Ugh. No wonder he took so long to kill.

Even without a solo killmail, it felt great to be soloing above class ships again. I've been quite conservative with my target selection, but this kill, against a pvp fit Rupture (albeit, one with no neuts), has encouraged me to widen my engagement envelope. Of course, targets are as much chance as anything else, but hopefully I'll have the opportunity to take on some more cruisers solo.

With several alternative fits in my Vengeance's future, I'm also looking at my fights to see which kind of fit would have served me best. Here, the DPS fit was probably the weakest fit; I needed my buffer to tank his dps while I killed the drones, and then some decent remote repair to restore my buffer and tank the remaining damage.

 

Tuskers v Stone Circle & Back to Yarr (part 2)

 

The hunt (continued):

As I said in my last post, trouble was brewing back in Hev. That trouble took the form of Xirad, and a massively tanked Amarr battleship.

Xirad was camping our station. Again. His ship, in itself, was not a problem; despite the massive buffer tank, we had enough firepower to destroy him before he could deagress and dock up. However, Xirad is almost always acting as bait for a larger fleet - sometimes a MUCH larger fleet.

So our fleet held position just inside the first wormhole while another Tusker undocked from the station to act as bait. Once Xirad opened fire on our ship, we jumped into Hevrice, and immediately warped to the station.

When we saw local spike half way through our warp, we knew that Back to Yarr was not planning on disappointing us. We landed slightly ahead of them, but not so early that it made a difference; roughly eight heavy ships - battlecruisers and battleships - landed around their compatriot. Once the drones launched, I felt like I was swimming in a sea of red.

I would love to tell everyone that my masterful tackles turned the tide, but the truth is far more embarassing. I initially pointed Xirad, but our FC - not unnaturally - felt that the bait ship was a poor choice of primary, and named a new target. By coincidence, he happened to name the ONE ship in the enemy fleet that was not an outlaw, and I pointed it without thinking. I was immediately eaten by the station guns.

2011.08.29 22:27:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Malediction
System: Hevrice
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 1317

Involved parties:

Name: Enigma B (laid the final blow)
Security: -3.8
Corp: 4CPO
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: Hornet EC-300
Damage Done: 0

Name: Gallente Sentry Gun / Federal Freight
Damage Done: 1317

Destroyed items:

Core Probe Launcher I
Damage Control II
Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
Small Targeting System Subcontroller I
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 141
Small Ionic Field Projector I
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 829 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Rocket Launcher II
Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Warp Disruptor II
Core Scanner Probe I, Qty: 8
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Micro Capacitor Battery I
Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Some guy with an uncontrolled ECM drone got himself on a killmail.

Mortified at being removed from the battle so quickly, I warped to a safe (I figured that trying to dock to reship was probably a mistake). The remaining fleet drove Yarr off the station, although without destroying the bulk of their force.

Recovering my mods, I logged out for the night. My part in the story was over; my fleet ship had been destroyed, and it was late - I had been returning to Hevrice to log off when I saw the initial cyno go up outside the wormhole.

An anticlimatic way to end a tale with so much promise? Sure. Back to Yarr was still threatening Hev and Stone Circle still promised riches beyond imagining to those who dared to invade their space. But this is New Eden, and a pirate's life is full of anticlimatic moments. I left those adventures to other Tuskers.


Afterthoughts:

This was my first real test of my fleet tackler, and I am generally pretty happy with the results. I felt that I actually played a useful role in and around the wormhole, and if I had not gotten myself blown up at the station, I probably could have added a +1 to Yarr's casualties just by holding one of them in the fight.

For those looking at my fit, I know it's far from ideal. That's because my interceptor fitting skills are far from ideal. General improvements aside, there are some changes that I would like to try with my next interceptor.

I would like to try a sensor booster over the sensor rigs. When I was trying to snag scout ships, I did not need the extra range, I needed the extra locking speed. A sensor booster would allow me to adapt my pointing setup in response to those circumstances - sacrificing some range for boosted lock times.

I had also been talked out of putting an armor repair system on my interceptor, and for good reasons. However, this made me far less useful over the course of a long engagement. Holding the Cynabal while waiting for the fleet nearly put me in structure. I then needed to take a break to go back to the station for repairs - but only after waiting out my GCC. This put me out of action for about 20 min.

If I had an armor repair system, even though I could only pulse it, I would have lasted longer, and I would also have been back to full strength within a minute or two of the fight ending. Much more useful. An alternative would be a MSE, which regenerates naturally. Right now my armor skills are so much higher than my shield skills I think I will go with the repair unit, but as my shield skills improve, I'll probably go with the MSE as it is cap independent and leaves me low slots for speed mods. It does cost me an ewar slot, though.

Tuskers v Stone Circle & Back to Yarr (part 1)

 

The hunt:

It all started when I popped a cyno ship. That's what really kicked it off.

The cyno went up in Hev, and looked just like every other cyno that goes up in Hev. We all saw it, but I got their first, which isn't surprising; station guns deter most frigate pilots, and my little Vengeance warps much faster than the larger predators that roam the space lanes.

What none of us realised, until I landed on the cyno ship, was that this ship wasn't at a station. Instead, I found myself gazing into the angry eye of a wormhole. That didn't stop me opening fire, of course.

2011.08.29 21:00:00

Victim: XBLazeLX
Corp: Stone Circle
Alliance: W-Space
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Probe
System: Hevrice
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 611

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Foxfire Rage Rocket
Damage Done: 611

Destroyed items:

Cynosural Field Generator I
Expanded Cargohold II, Qty: 2
Liquid Ozone, Qty: 1110 (Cargo)
Bookmark, Qty: 3 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Bookmark, Qty: 3 (Cargo)

Look closely at that killmail. Look closely at the "Dropped items." That's right. Bookmarks. Or, to a pirate, a treasure map!

Adding the bookmarks to my own log, I saw that they were all bookmarks from W-space. Hoping against hope, I jumped through the wormhole.

The first bookmark corresponded to my new position just inside the wormhole. The next bookmark took me to a second wormhole that led deeper into W-space. Jumping through that, I found myself on the third bookmark. And there, on Dscan, was their POS.

X marks the spot.

Immediately letting my corp mates know what I had found, I started heading back to K-space while the Tuskers began forming an expeditionary fleet. On my return to Hevrice I passed several cloaked probing ships, presumably the scouts for Stone Circle.

I tried to engage them, but my lock time was too slow. As soon as I reached K-space again I reshipped to my Malediction; I had sensor boosting rigs installed which might give me the edge I needed to lock the probing ships.

Once reshipped, I jumped back to the wormhole entrance, both to keep an eye on it and to try and snag some scouts while the fleet formed up. I was still too slow to lock them before they jumped, but they were not the only traffic. Perhaps in an effort to secure the wormhole, a Cynabal jumped in, followed by a Tengu.

Pointing the Cynabal - he had jumped in first - I called for backup. I was taking a pounding from the Tengu's missiles, and I was not certain I would be able to hold point. However, we managed to get a few Hurricanes to warp in, but Stone Circle managed to slip back into the wormhole; we did not yet have enough dps to burn them down fast.

To ensure no further breakout attempts (and since secrecy was no longer a valid approach) the fleet formed up on the wormhole. When Stone Circle tried again, we were ready, and the Tengu did not escape.

2011.08.29 21:53:00

Victim: Latuuray
Corp: Stone Circle
Alliance: W-Space
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Tengu
System: Hevrice
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 15809

Involved parties:

Name: Tsubutai (laid the final blow)
Security: -9.8
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: 425mm AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 11707

Name: Khronoin
Security: -9.8
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: Hurricane
Damage Done: 3125

Name: Nupe
Security: -9.9
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: Hurricane
Damage Done: 977

Name: Taurean Eltanin
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Malediction
Weapon: Warp Disruptor II
Damage Done: 0

Destroyed items:

Y-S8 Hydrocarbon I Afterburners
Tengu Offensive - Accelerated Ejection Bay
Tengu Defensive - Supplemental Screening
Medium Core Defence Field Extender I, Qty: 3
Tengu Electronics - Dissolution Sequencer
Tengu Propulsion - Fuel Catalyst
Ballistic Control System II, Qty: 2
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Qty: 2
Scourge Fury Heavy Missile, Qty: 63
Tengu Engineering - Augmented Capacitor Reservoir
Nanite Repair Paste, Qty: 458 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile, Qty: 1000 (Cargo)
Ballistic Control System II (Cargo)
Thunderbolt Fury Heavy Missile, Qty: 2064 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Invulnerability Field II, Qty: 2
Damage Control II
Large F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Photon Scattering Field II
Warp Scrambler II
Ballistic Control System II
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Qty: 4
Scourge Fury Heavy Missile, Qty: 63
Scourge Fury Heavy Missile, Qty: 4085 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Thunderbolt Heavy Missile, Qty: 1000 (Cargo)

The Tengu did not jump in alone, however, and I believe we also managed to down a Dramiel, though I was not on the killmail. Instead, I (and most of the fleet) had been focusing on the larger ships, but they were rescued by a Falcon, fleeing back into the wormhole.

Now at fighting strength, the Tusker fleet followed them into W-space. I followed one jump behind to try and point scouts and anyone trying to slip around the fleet. This meant that I was not present at the next engagement, where we again forced Stone Circle back, this time to their home system.

Assembling on the inner wormhole, we prepared for a final assault. At the last minute, however, the fleet was recalled; trouble was brewing in Hevrice.

To be continued.

Fitting a Vengeance: Refining my Fit

As I get closer to maxing out my Vengeance skills, I'm looking more and more at flying a maxed out Vengeance. Alright, perhaps not "maxed out" - I'm still scratching a living off of my piracy - but certainly an upgraded fit.

The fits are all quite similar, so I'll cover the obvious stuff first:

Highs: 4 Rocket Launcher II
Mids: Full Tackle
Lows: Damage Control II, Adaptive Nano Plating II

This leaves me with two "open" low slots, and two rigs.


Standard Vengeance

This is my current fit, and I include it as a baseline. It puts an EANMII and a Small Armor Repairer II in the lows, an a Small Anti-thermic Pump and Small Warehead Calefaction Catylist in the rig slots. Like all my fits, it's cap stable. All DPS figures calculated with Rage rockets.

DPS: 116 (136 overheated)
HPS: 113 (146 overheated  - although not cap stable)
EHP: 9937
Speed: 818 m/s (1064 m/s overheated)


Tank Fit

This fit puts an EANMII and a Centii C-type Small Armor Repairer in the lows, and a Small Anti-thermic Pump and a Small Capacitor Control Circuit II in the rig slots.

DPS: 105 (124 overheated)
HPS: 140 (181 overheated!)
EHP: 9937
Speed: 818 m/s (1064 m/s overheated)

A significant damage reduction in exchange for massive active tank and tremendous capacitor regeneration; having flown with the T1 CCC, I know that it is very difficult to neut me out with a single neut. Moving to a T2 CCC, the it would take two neuts to shut down my armor repairer, and everything else continues to function just fine.


Balanced Fit

This fit copies the Standard Fit, but upgrades the repairer to a Coreli C-type and the Calefaction Catylist to T2. No other changes.

DPS: 121 (143 overheated)
HPS: 124 (161 overheated - not cap stable)
EHP: 9937
Speed: 818 m/s (1064 m/s overheated)

Effectively, a modest dps and hps boost over what I am currently flying.


DPS Fit

A Balistic Control System II and a Coreli C-type Armor Repairer in the Lows, along with a Small Anti-thermic Pump and Small Warhead Calefaction Catylist II in the rig slots.

DPS: 147 (173 overheated!)
HPS: 98 (127 overheated - not cap stable)
EHP: 8594
Speed: 818 m/s (1064 m/s overheated)

This fit trades over 1k EHP and a significant chunk of it's active tank to achieve a level of dps you don't usually find on a Vengeance.


My thoughts

Right now, I'm leaning towards the "Balanced Fit". That's not terribly surprising, because it's very similar to what I'm flying now; it's in my comfort zone.

However, the other two fits have obvious advantages. The Tank Fit wins wherever your own dps is irrelevant, such as when you are burning back to a gate after jumping into an instant-lock camp. It is also excellent for wearing down buffer fit ships, and most T1 and T2 frigates cannot break it's tank.

On the other hand, the Tank Fit invests a great deal in it's tank, and does not hold up as well in situations where the tank is not relevant, such as where multiple neuts are being applied, or you are trying to burn down the enemy before their backup arrives. Here, of course, the DPS Fit shines. It's also the only fit that can reliably break a Drake's passive tank solo - Azual puts the typical Drake's peak recharge at around 150HPS.

Given two extremes, I tend to gravitate towards a middle ground, and so it is with fits. Still, I throw the floor open for comments, as there are almost certainly factors I have not considered.

Vengeance et alia v Jaguar & Ishkur

 

The hunt:

A fellow Tusker had told us that there was a frigate gang in Agoze (that included a Dramiel and two Jags), and that this gang was looking for a fight. Several of us quickly formed a frigate gang of our own, and raced to the scene.

We decided that I would act as bait by sitting at a belt. Subtle, right? Actually, I would be aligned to another celestial, and I would warp as soon as company arrived. This would give me a chance to scope out the other gang. If it were manageable, I could let them "catch" me at the second celestial, and the rest of the Tuskers would jump in.

Warping to the belt, I kept an eye on my D-scan. There were several assault frigates in local, but I could not see the Dram. Perhaps he was docked up? I did not have much time to ponder this before a Jaguar jumped in.

I warped to the second celestial, keeping an eye on my overview for the Jag's backup, but saw nothing. They clearly suspected bait, and wanted to test the waters before committing.

That seemed reasonable, so I decided to let the Jag catch me when I came out of warp. I also reduced my Dscan to short range only, so I would see other ships arriving. The Jaguar actually assumed I was more cunning than I actually am; he warped to the celestial at 100km, whereas I had warped to zero.

Oh, well. I turned towards him and prepared to engage, while the Jaguar did the same. We had not even reached point range when my short range scans showed another assault ship within a couple of AU, so I called in my fellow Tuskers as backup.

The Jaguar and I engaged; I had plenty of time to select ammunition, and he seemed to have trouble breaking my tank. Before we could really test each other, however, my backup arrived, and the Jag was facing a 3v1.

Handling it like a man, the Jag immediately switched fire to something a little softer. He also must have called for backup, because an Ishkur landed shortly thereafter (and it's worth noting that this was NOT the assault ship I had seen on Dscan when I called for backup - he must have just been passing through).

They must have overheated everything, because they burned into our Wolf at an alarming rate. Despite the four Tuskers pouring fire into them, the plucky duo managed to down Grog Drinker!

2011.08.28 16:18:00

Victim: Grog Drinker
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Wolf
System: Agoze
Security: 0.2
Damage Taken: 3636

Involved parties:

Name: Xi 'xar (laid the final blow)
Security: -8.3
Corp: Mise en Abyme
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Jaguar
Weapon: 200mm AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 2200

Name: Aeron Llyr
Security: -6.6
Corp: Mise en Abyme
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Ishkur
Weapon: Warrior II
Damage Done: 1436

Destroyed items:

Damage Control II
Republic Fleet Fusion S, Qty: 360
Tracking Enhancer II
125mm Gatling AutoCannon II, Qty: 2
Small Anti-Explosive Pump I
Small Anti-Kinetic Pump I
Barrage S, Qty: 1512 (Cargo)
Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S, Qty: 800 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Gyrostabilizer II
Republic Fleet Fusion S, Qty: 360
Small Energy Neutralizer II
125mm Gatling AutoCannon II, Qty: 2
400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
1MN Afterburner II
Republic Fleet EMP S, Qty: 1600 (Cargo)

Unfortunately for our opponents, they then made what was probably their first mistake of the fight; they called me as primary. Now, I'm sure that they would have broken my tank in time, but time was not on their side, as the Jaguar pilot soon joined Grog Drinker in Valhalla.

2011.08.28 16:18:00

Victim: Xi 'xar
Corp: Mise en Abyme
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Jaguar
System: Agoze
Security: 0.2
Damage Taken: 4957

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Phalanx Rage Rocket
Damage Done: 3208

Name: Grog Drinker
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Capsule
Weapon: 125mm Gatling AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 1547

Name: IK Thel
Security: -2.9
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Jaguar
Weapon: Foxfire Rocket
Damage Done: 133

Name: Serpentis Chief Watchman / Serpentis Corporation
Damage Done: 69

Destroyed items:

200mm AutoCannon II
Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Small Core Defence Field Extender I, Qty: 2
Tracking Enhancer II
Republic Fleet Fusion S, Qty: 212
1MN Afterburner II
Republic Fleet Phased Plasma S, Qty: 730 (Cargo)
Republic Fleet EMP S, Qty: 360 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

200mm AutoCannon II, Qty: 2
Republic Fleet Fusion S, Qty: 106
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Medium Shield Extender II
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Barrage S, Qty: 460 (Cargo)

That left just the Ishkur, and he was now facing a 3v1, with his primary rapidly repping up to full armor. It worked out about as well as could be expected.

2011.08.28 16:19:00

Victim: Aeron Llyr
Corp: Mise en Abyme
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Ishkur
System: Agoze
Security: 0.2
Damage Taken: 3579

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Phalanx Rage Rocket
Damage Done: 463

Name: Kaal Redrum
Security: -9.8
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Ishkur
Weapon: Warrior II
Damage Done: 2607

Name: IK Thel
Security: -2.9
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Jaguar
Weapon: Jaguar
Damage Done: 509

Name: Grog Drinker
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Capsule
Weapon: J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Damage Done: 0

Destroyed items:

Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I
Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 92
Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I
Energized Reactive Membrane II
Light Ion Blaster II, Qty: 2
Damage Control II
1MN Afterburner II
Optimal Range Disruption
Null S, Qty: 718 (Cargo)
Tracking Speed Disruption (Cargo)
Hobgoblin II, Qty: 4 (Drone Bay)

Dropped items:

Warp Scrambler II
Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 184
Balmer Series Tracking Disruptor I
Light Ion Blaster II
Small Diminishing Power System Drain I
Small Armor Repairer II
Federation Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 938 (Cargo)
Void S, Qty: 500 (Cargo)

Many a "good fight" was dropped in local.

Afterthougths:

These guys really did their corp proud. They jumped into a Tusker ambush outnumbered 2:1 and managed to seriously bloody our nose. If they had moved on to either our Jag or our Ishkur, they might have even taken a second ship with them.

On reflection, I wish we had been able to offer a more even fight; they were quality pilots who would have really put us to the test (or me, at least). Unfortunately, our intitial intel and subsequent movements in local led us to believe that they were part of a larger gang until the fight was well under way.

Because we lost the Wolf, we were not expecting the fight to be profitable; any loot would go to Grog Drinker to reimburse him. However, Lady Luck decided to bestow her favours on us that day, and EACH of the three wrecks dropped an intact armor plate as salvage. We each walked away with about 20million ISK in profit.

Note to self: salvage all T2 wrecks!