Vengeance v Taranis

The hunt:

I was cruising around the Hevrice area when I ran into Taranis in Meutrelle. Now, it was a while ago, so my recollection on this point was a little fuzzy, but I think he asked me for a 1v1. I refused, of course, but did mention that I was going to be hanging about at the 2nd cluster for a while. This kind of loose talk gets me into trouble from time to time, and this was no exception; he decided to jump in on me uninvited!

The fight was not the graceful dance you might expect from a frigate fight. We were both close range brawlers, and we went at each other hammer and tongs. I had heard of the Taranis's face melting dps, but I had assumed that it would not, as a mere interceptor, be able to significantly threaten my Vengeance.

I don't think I need to trot out the old cliche about assumptions, do I?

He was AB fit, and he was packing a web, so he was able to dictate the range. Shockingly, he decided to get right up close so that his blasters could do their work.

I counter webbed, of course, but mostly as a dps boost. As he wanted to get in close I decided to oblige as it would (possibly) mess with his tracking, but it would also keep his speed lower than if I tried to pull range. Lower speed is good for my rockets.

It did not take me long to realise that I was going to lose this damage race, so I overheated my launchers (which I had loaded with faction, rather than rage, because of his high speed and low signature) as well as my repair system. I also popped a synth exile, all the while wishing it had been a standard pill. Was it enough to shift the momentum of the fight?

Barely, as it turns out.

Fights like these do not require great piloting skills; you simply set your ship in motion, turn on everything, overheat the important stuff, and then wait to see if it was enough. In this case, it was. But it was a close call.

2011.10.08 17:13:00

Victim: Yuri Zhirkov
Corp: FLA5HY RED
Alliance: The Defenders of Pen Island
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Taranis
System: Muetralle
Security: 0.2
Damage Taken: 1688

Involved parties:

Name: Taurean Eltanin (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket
Damage Done: 1688

Destroyed items:

Small Hybrid Collision Accelerator I
Light Ion Blaster II, Qty: 2
Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Corpse (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 306
Damage Control II
Light Ion Blaster II
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II, Qty: 2
1MN Afterburner II
Void S, Qty: 910 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S, Qty: 538 (Cargo)
Miner II (Cargo)

We wished each other a good fight and went our separate ways.


Afterthoughts:

I know blasters have a bad reputation, and I rarely see blaster boats about. But whenever I run into one they give me a much closer fight, hull for hull, than any other kind of weapon system. If I had not been flying a maxed out, deadspace fit, syth supported ship, I would have been toast. The fact that the Gallente interceptor can pull a trick like that against an assault frigate is very impressive.

In fact, there's a chance he could have turned it around despite my best efforts. Probably out of habit, he seemed to set his orbit to 500m or so. This brought his speed down, which improved my dps. If he had instead set his range to something slightly higher (assuming his blasters could continue to operate in optimal) he would have increased his speed and my damage would have fallen slightly. The fight was so close that this sort of thing could have potentially swung the result.

Change is in the... air?

If you have not seen it already, Azual has done an amazing job of sumarising the leaked ship balance changes. However, whereas Azual is a sophistacated man with wide ranging tastes and diverse experiences, I'm a narrow minded, Amarr focused, rocket slinging, small ship flying pirate.

What can I say? It's a niche.

But with that in mind - and the obvious caveat that the balance changes are in beta - here's a look at the things that jump out at me.


Destroyers are getting buffed!

Destroyers receive increased HP and capacitor, a significantly decreased sig radius and no longer have a rate of fire penalty. It's not clear yet whether this will carry over to the T2 versions (although they have no rate of fire penalty, it will be interesting to see if they also get a slight dps boost), but it would make very little sense not to at least drop the sig radius - it's the same hull, after all.

Now, using some data pulled from Jester's blog, we can see what they are currently testing for the Coercer:

  [-|n] destroyerPenalityTurretROF
  [-] destroyerROFpenality: 1.25
  [*] armorHP: 782.0 => 860.0
  [*] capacitorCapacity: 562.5 => 703.0
  [*] shieldCapacity: 625.0 => 688.0
  [*] signatureRadius: 83.0 => 62.0

So, we have roughly a 10% boost to shield and armor, but also a 25% buff (ie, a reduction) to sig radius! For comparison, the sig radius on a Punisher is 38. This means that the Coercer is going to go from twice as easy to hit as the Punisher to roughly one and a half times as easy to hit. Is this enough of a buff? I don't know - that's something that will need to be tested. But I'm willing to bet that CCP is going to keep buffing until the numbers do work.

This means that destroyers may suddenly become very viable solo ships against a fairly wide range of targets (right now they just try to gank frigates, often without success). With enough tank and firepower to brawl down a frigate, and enough speed and agility to get under the guns of a cruiser or battle cruiser (while still pumping out stupid amounts of dps) the face of small gang pvp might well be changed forever.

Exciting times.


Javelin missiles are being unnerfed.

Javelin missiles have always been stupid. They give you increased range, but slow you down. This is not a "perpendicular" nerf - a nerf to an attribute you are not using - but rather a straight up design flaw.

If you want extra range on your missiles it's either because you are being kited, or because you are kiting someone. In neither case are you helped by moving more slowly. For this reason, I carry only a small load of Javelin rockets and use them to hopefully drive kiters out of point range while I try to escape. It's more of a theory than something that seems to work in practice.

However, it looks like CCP is going to remove the penalties on a huge range of T2 ammo, including Javelins. This is a real game changer for Amarr missile ships, as it suddenly makes kiting a serious option. I've messed about with this on my Malediciton even with the speed penalty, but this opens up the field to non-interceptors.

A kiting Heretic looks like a real possibility as this hull gets a range bonus to rockets. If it also receives a boost similar to T1 destroyers, this will almost certainly become one of my core solo ships.

What about a mwd kiting Vengeance? Can a Sacriledge now keep up with an AC Hurricane gang and still contribute some dps? I can't answer these questions yet, but I'm looking forward to experimenting once this change goes live.


Blasters are being buffed right.

I don't fly turret ships, but I rejoyce for my Gallente and Caldari bretheren. It looks like blasters and rails will become more viable while also keeping their unique flavour - there was a real risk that they would simply become an AC/arty knockoff.

Fitting a Malediction

Well, after being abroad for a week or so, I've finally found a computer that has a keyboard that does not drive me crazy. I'm not getting into New Eden, but at least I can post.

I've been playing around with different Malediction fits acting as fleet tackle, and this is what I have largely settled on:

3 Rocket Launcher II
Salvager (offline)

Catalyzed Cold-Gas Arcjet Thrusters
Warp Disruptor II
Medium Shield Extender II (actually using a meta module until I get Shield Upgrades IV trained)

Damage Control II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core
Co-Processor II

Small Ionic Field Projector I
Small Targeting System Subcontroller I

With perfect skills (which mine are not) this ship has 5518 ehp (albeit with a massive resist hole over EM), does 3994 m/s before overheat, and has peak shield regen of 14 hps.

I enjoy the fact that this interceptor is both fast and solid, and I like flying it in fleet engagements.

However, there have been a number of roams recently where I have been acting as fast tackle for the gang but the target has been very, very fast. What ends up happening is that only Suleiman can actually keep up, so I hold point while Suleiman solos the ship (everyone else is trying to reach the fight).

That works fine when Suleiman is around, but when he's not it's just me and the target, and I either die or have to let them go. So I was thinking about trying to fit a web onto my Malediction as a way of helping the gang catch up. Not something I'd use in most cases because I don't want to get that close. However, being able to actually slow a target when needed could be very handy.

Here's what I'm thinking about:

3 Rocket Launcher II
Salvager (offline)

Catalyzed Cold-Gas Arcjet Thrusters
Warp Disruptor II
Langour Drive Disruptor

Damage Control II
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plate
Adaptive Nano Plating II

Small Ionic Field Projector I
Small Targeting System Subcontroller I

This has 5872 ehp, does 3659 before overheat, and has a negligible shield regen (4hps). However, the resists are very even, with 61% being my lowest resist.

So, does this fit look like an improvement over my current fit? I'm not interested in moving to something with significantly less tank, so I guess what I'm asking is if the addition of a web and 300 ehp is worth the loss of 300 m/s and 10 hps?

An alternative (on the armor tanked Malediction) would be to swap the nano plate for an Overdrive Injector System II, which gives me only 5168 ehp (which I guess is still decent for an interceptor, if a little low for my tastes) but brings my speed up to 4116 before overheat.

***

Since writing the above, I've considered some of the suggested fits that people have shared in the comments to my earlier posts. However, I'm convinced that I NEED a long point (although a scram instead of a web is totally reasonable). 

The reason for this is the way that Tuskers fly. The typical gang that I fly point for is a nano/kiting gang that keeps range while focusing on one target at a time. Life is easiest for a nano gang when all your targets are moving at roughly the same speed. If the primary suddenly grinds to a halt because I've hit him with a scram, the gang is faced with two choices: break speed to keep within weapon range (which lets the rest of the gang catch up to them) or switch to a new target (which means the dps up to that point has been wasted). Neither are good options.

On top of that, though, is the general safety and convenience factor; I don't need anything but a long point against most targets, and that keeps me safely out of neut and scram range. The wider orbit also lets me outrun drones and reduce missile damage. All plusses.

So feel free to comment on the above fits, and recommend changes, but do keep in mind that at the end of the day I'm looking for a rock solid interceptor with the ability to catch and slow a nano ship as well as a long point.

Taurean Eltanin v Darius Carnifex (part 3)

The hunt:

Some hours after my loss to Darius and his Loki, Tawa and I were part of a small gang that had jumped in on a mission runner. The op had been a bust - I don't remember exactly why, but it probably had to do with the distance we needed to cover in order to reach the mission runner - and I was returning to Hevrice in my Malediction to reship.

As I jumped into Hev, I saw Darius in a Vagabond, sitting a little way off the gate. I held cloak and discussed this with the fleet. We agreed that I would try and point the Vagabond, and then the rest of the fleet would jump in. Tawa, in particular, was keen to strike a blow at Darius.

I broke cloak and started speeding towards Darius. He immediately opened fire and began burning away from me to keep my transversal low; I compensated by maneuvering towards him at an angle, but he was fast. Very fast. I'd only seen him fly a Dram before, and Drams are meant to be fast, so I thought nothing of his speed as I have little experience with Drams (although in hindsight I recall that his Dram was faster than Wolf's).

However, I have a little more experience with Vagabonds, and this ship was fast even for a Vaga. I closed the distance slowly, taking fire on the way in. Fortunately, I fly a pretty buff inteceptor, and I was doing pretty well.

As soon as I landed point I summoned the fleet, and they jumped in. I then spent my time trying hard not to let Darius escape. He started burning away from the gate, though, and this meant that my fleetmates couldn't actually catch up!

I realised it was time to bail, but Darius was not going to let me go easily, as he used his speed to keep me in point range; presumably he overheated his point and prop mod. As his tracking seemed good enough to hit me regardless, I aligned to a celestial and started spamming warp. I had nearly escaped his point when I exploded.

2011.10.09 10:03:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Malediction
System: Hevrice
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 2336

Involved parties:

Name: Darius Carnifex (laid the final blow)
Security: -6.2
Corp: Acephalia Inc
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vagabond
Weapon: 220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 2336

Destroyed items:

Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Warp Disruptor II
Small Targeting System Subcontroller I
Co-Processor II
Salvager I
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 150
Small Ionic Field Projector I
Gremlin Javelin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Foxfire Javelin Rocket, Qty: 588 (Cargo)
Thorn Javelin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Damage Control II
Rocket Launcher II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Phalanx Javelin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 426 (Cargo)

As I warped my pod to safety, I prepared to drop a "gf" in local, but Darius got a comment in first that stopped me.

"fail"

He's just all class.


Afterthougths:

This fight was a huge learning experience for me, as I'm still a relative noob at flying an interceptor.

First, this is one of several fights where I've been able to land point to no effect because my backup can't actually catch up to the fight. I'm going to post more on this separately, but one of the weakness of my beloved shield fit Malediction is the lack of a web or scram for slowing down fast ships.

And if I am going to fly a shield tanked Malediction, I should actually skill up for it. I'm about 1000 ehp below max with my current skills; having decent shield skills would have let me escape this fight easily. While on the subject of skills, my mwd skills are also too low; I could get another 2-300 m/s out of this fit if my mwd skills were at max, which again would have let me escape the fight.

I also forgot to overheat my prop mod on the escape again. My excuse here is that overheating the AB on a Vengeance is nearly always pointless, so while I never forget to overheat my point, weapons or repair system, I rarely think to overheat my propulsion modifier. Again, if I had thought to do this, I probably would have survived the fight.

Finally, I found it quite difficult to maintain point on the Vaga (before I decided to bail and he decided to chase me) so I'm going to drop the kiting rigs for targeting and sensor rigs to let me take full advantage of my improved point range. If I get my missile range skills to max (only one more rank to go) I'll still have a 15.2 km range on Javelin rockets, which is more than enough to kite AB fit frigates.

All told, this last fight was a story of a noob in an underskilled ship getting spanked by someone who knew what they were doing - when Darius summed up the fight as "fail" he was quite right. So far I've been able to get by on the fact that few ships are set up to combat interceptors, and that people often have more important things to worry about than targeting me (ie, my backup). Flying against a competent high-speed pilot has underscored my weaknesses.

I'm also left with mixed feelings about Darius himself. He has destroyed me twice, yet I can't help shake the feeling that he's simply not that dangerous. Each time he's beaten me he has relied on a combination of my own lack of skills/experience and a ship that costs 10x more than mine (plus snakes?). That's about as exciting as me jumping my Vengeance in on a month old Rifter; the result is hardly unexpected.

As a comparison, toothslayer has also beaten me twice, but has also died to my launchers on one occasion. Technically, this gives him a worse track record than Darius. However, toothslayer has fearlessly engaged me (and won) in equivalent ships; he's a skilled and aggressive combat pilot that deserves the respect of other combat pilots.

I suppose that, in the end, Darius is a niche pvper. He uses high speed, high investment ships to outmaneuver and destroy low speed, low investment ships (and that's not a criticism, it's a reasonable tactic and he's clearly good at it). Outside of that niche, however, I've not yet seen anything I need to fear.

Still, I look forward to crossing swords with him again some time. He's surprised me before, and may well do so again.

Taurean Eltanin v Darius Carnifex (part 2)

 

The hunt:

The next time I saw Darius, I had just jumped into Vif, looking for targets. Not seeing anything of interest in system, I burned back to the gate to continue my roam.

Just before I hit the gate, two ships landed. The first was Darius in his Dramiel, and the second was a neutral pilot in a Loki. Because they had clearly warped in together, I assumed that the Loki was a boosting alt for Darius.

Darius jumped through the gate, while the neutral Loki engaged me. I had to smile. There was no way I could kill the Loki, but if I engaged then I would be unable to jump out when Darius jumped back in. And if I just jumped through, Darius could try to catch me. Cute.

Of course, I jumped. I knew from past experience that Darius was no real danger in his Dram, and I could either warp away or burn back to the gate before the Loki was able to join him. I also put the word out on vent; perhaps someone nearby would like a shot at the Loki.

However, as I loaded grid I saw that Tawa had landed on the gate in his Jaguar, and had engaged Darius. I moved to assist, but the two ships were much faster than me, and so it was a hopeless act. I turned and started heading back to the gate.

I must have lost track of time, though, because the Loki jumped through much earlier than expected. He immediately pointed and webbed me and opened fire. I overheated my repair system, but exploded about 1km from the jump radius of the gate.

2011.10.08 18:08:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Vengeance
System: Ladistier
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 1994

Involved parties:

Name: F3mm3 F4t4l3 (laid the final blow)
Security: 3.7
Corp: Acephalia Inc
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Loki
Weapon: 220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 1555

Name: Darius Carnifex
Security: -6.2
Corp: Acephalia Inc
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Dramiel
Weapon: Dramiel
Damage Done: 439

Destroyed items:

Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 50
Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
Coreli C-Type Small Armor Repairer
Small Anti-Thermic Pump I
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Small Bay Loading Accelerator II
1MN Afterburner II
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 540 (Cargo)
Phalanx Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 150
Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
Damage Control II
Warp Scrambler II
Thorn Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket, Qty: 548 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 480 (Cargo)
Foxfire Javelin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Gremlin Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)
Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 392 (Cargo)

Unfortunately, Tawa was also unable to escape, as the Dram kept him pointed until the Loki was finished with me (unlike me, he had aggressed, so burning to the gate was not an option).


Afterthoughts:

I messed up pretty badly here, and I'm not afraid to admit it. I was in no danger at all until I burned off the gate (knowing there was a Loki waiting to jump through), and even then I would have been fine if I had remembered to either a) keep better track of time, or b) overheat my freaking afterburner.

So yeah, I earned this lossmail by snatching defeat from the jaws of... warping away.

However, I now understand why Darius was trying to goad Wolf and I into hanging around after my first encounter with him: he had his neutral Loki on the way! When he saw that he could not break my tank he probably powered up the alt and tried to keep me in play until the Loki got their.

Glad I warped away when I did, then.

I have to admit being surprised by the aggressive use of the Loki, though. There are one or two boosting alts in the Tuskers, but they tend to be used primarily to scout, probe, or boost. I don't think I've ever seen them used in actual combat. But then, we're space poor pirates that can't afford to risk massive isk investments like that. That said, the Loki was clearly in no danger engaging a couple of flashy assault ships on a gate.

Still, this loss, which Tawa and I stumbled into, probably explains why we acted the way we did when we encountered Darius again later that day...

Taurean Eltanin v Darius Carnifex (part 1)

 

The hunt:

When I first wrote up this post, I titled it "Vengeance v Dramiel". However, before publishing the post, I had a couple of other fights with the same pilot, and I thought it was worth linking them together as they share some common threads. Hence the unusual title.

I encountered Darius for the first time when I jumped into Jovannion from Aeschee. He was in his Dramiel, and I was in my Vengeance. He was flashy, and I was flashy. You see where this is going, I hope.

So we engaged each other. In truth, he engaged me, as he was kiting fit and he was in no mood to get close. Darius opened fire, and launched his drones.

Being unable to target the Dramiel, I proceeded to target the drones. I destroyed one or two before they were recalled, and at that point the fight developed into a stalemate. He couldn't break my tank (or even my passive shield regen), and I couldn't get a scram on him, no matter how much fancy flying I tried.

I was fairly relaxed about the fight because I knew I could simply de-aggress and leave; had we been at a belt, I would have been stuck until help arrived, but this was not the case. Instead, I used the opportunity to practice my manual piloting. I managed to get an overheated web on him a few times, but never a scram. I could hit him with my Javelin rockets, but he would simply pull range until his shields regenerated.

Eventually, Wolf jumped in with his own Dram, and I invited him to have a go at Darius. Wolf was in a slower build, though, and with no web he could not hold Darius in place. After relaunching his drones Darius started eating away at Wolf's tank, but I quickly put a stop to that with my rockets. Without the drones, Darius could not break Wolf either.

Eventually, Wolf and I got bored and warped off (evading Wolf meant that Darius could not actually keep either of us pointed, so we did not have to use the jump gate).

Now my initial writeup ends here, because I don't usually comment on the character of my opponents unless it is in a positive way. However, what followed has some significance in the light of later events. You see, Darius started talking smack.

Not particularly creative or crude smack, but smack nonetheless. He denigrated the Tuskers and the fighting prowess of our corp, as well as our own moral fortitude for "running away". More bemused than anything else, I simply told him that he could not break our tanks and we could not catch him, so we would all probably enjoy spending our time doing something else.


Afterthoughts:

This was my first real fight against a Dramiel, and I can't say I was too terribly impressed. Sure, the ship was fast, and it was certainly irritating to fight, but from where my Vengeance sits there are plenty of ships that can kite me all day.

At the time, I did not understand what Darius thought he would achieve by acting out in local. In the light of subsequent events, however, I now think I have a pretty good idea...

Things are changing

For the longest time, I've been a huge fan of my little Vengeance. It's a ship with the same strengths and weaknesses as me; slow to react but highly resilient and doggedly determined. It's allowed me to ease into New Eden without pushing myself as a pilot; I can focus on learning how to actually play the game.

More and more, however, I find myself dissatisfied with my Vengeance. I appreciate that my timing is poor - they just decided to buff assault ships - but there it is.

The problem, you see, is that I am losing ships to bad luck, rather than bad piloting. When I screw up, I'm happy  (not really happy, per se, but you know what I mean) to suffer the consequences. But when I just randomly lose ships to "circumstances", it drives me crazy.


The hunt:

Yesterday, I was flying around in a frigate gang, and we had gone roaming up to Anamake and the surrounding area, looking for a fight. We hadn't had much luck, and we were heading up towards where the Sinners live, because we were sure we would find some trouble there.

So, I jumped through the next gate in the sequence and loaded grid. I saw a neutral Curse sitting on the gate with his drones out. The Curse is not the tankiest of ships, so it seems an odd one to camp with, but that did indeed seem to be what the Curse was doing.

After alerting the following gang, I considered my options as I sat in cloak. He was 14 km from me, and I could either burn back to the gate or try and warp off. Being neuted and webbed while I tried to get back to the gate seemed pretty poor, so I decided to try and warp out.

Turns out, though, that the Curse was of the insta-lock variety, and I was pointed as soon as I broke cloak. I tried to burn away, but I was capped out immediately, and  I moved a grand total of about 3km before I went  down.

2011.10.09 14:48:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Vengeance
System: Eszur
Security: 0.2
Damage Taken: 2389

Involved parties:

Name: Zinto Risingsun (laid the final blow)
Security: 5.0
Corp: Tribal Core
Alliance: NONE
Faction: Minmatar Republic
Ship: Curse
Weapon: Caldari Navy Bloodclaw Light Missile
Damage Done: 2389

Destroyed items:

Damage Control II
Coreli C-Type Small Armor Repairer
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 100
Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
Small Bay Loading Accelerator II
Small Anti-Thermic Pump I
1MN Afterburner II
Phalanx Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)
Titanium Sabot S, Qty: 7 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Medium Shield Booster I (Cargo)
Salvager I, Qty: 3 (Cargo)
Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
200mm AutoCannon I (Cargo)
Power Diagnostic System I (Cargo)
4th Tier Overseer's Personal Effects (Cargo)
280mm Howitzer Artillery I (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Warp Scrambler II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 100
Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
Titanium Sabot S, Qty: 1560 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 500 (Cargo)
Small Armor Repairer I (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Foxfire Javelin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Gremlin Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)
200mm AutoCannon I (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Thorn Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
280mm Howitzer Artillery I (Cargo)


Afterthoughts:

Because of the Curse's fit, neither of my options would seen me survive the encounter. And as I warped my pod out, I could not help but think how differently this would have worked out if I were in my Malediction. When I face gate camps in my interceptor, I simply align to a celestial and activate my mwd. I then start spamming the warp button.

Even if I'm instantly capped out, the 10 seconds or so of mwd cycle I get moves me about 40km, which is beyond the range of all but the most insane points. So even when I'm instant locked, I'm typically clear of the camp after a few seconds, and none of the heavy hitters stand any chance of catching me.

Yes, my Malediction is fragile, and I die a lot. But when I die, I die because I screwed up, or because I don't have enough SP invested in my ship. And I'm alright with that.

This loss is not just a "one off"; many of my September losses were due to similar camps, or to being kited, or whatever. Encounters where my only chance was to hope that my enemy screwed up. And I seem to have competent enemies.

For various reasons, October is not going to be a very active month for me, but by the start of November I should have Covert Ops V trained, and a few Purifier hulls to play with. I'll also probably get Interceptors to V, along with some of the nav skills I've been neglecting. I want more control over my encounters, now, and hopefully the Malediction and the Purifier will offer me that.

Tavern Talk

Devblog 1

I saw Hilmar's devblog, and I have to say that I was pretty impressed. Unlike many older players, New Eden still hold plenty of wonder for me, and I am surrounded by new frontiers.

However, that does not stop me from recognizing that a growing number of veteran players have been unhappy with the way things have been going recently. I'm cautiously optimistic that this devblog represents a real sea change; it can't have been easy for Hilmar to write.


Devblog 2

This devblog hits a little closer to home. A buff to assault ships? Awesome!

Now, there is not much in the way of details there, but I'd like to see a per ship speed buff (rather than a flat increase on all assault ships), and some kind of additional bonus. Perhaps something new, like electronic hardening.

Give assault ships a resistance to ewar; this (along with the speed boost) would make them a solid gang choice for heavy tackle, and make them the go-to choice for frigate pilots wanting to take on above class ships.


Other blogs

Being a blogger, I know that blogs come with some default options regarding reader comments. Usually commenters have to log in with one of a couple of different accounts; which accounts varies depending on the blog host.

Trouble is, I often can't log in (because I don't have an account) or don't want to (I'm on a public computer). There is an option to allow anonymous commenting, but it needs to be switched on. I wish more bloggers would do this; I suspect they would be rewarded with more comments!


Boosters

I've wanted to get into boosters for a while, but I've been put off by the cost. Synth, I can just about manage, but Standard costs nearly as much as my ship! (edit: I'm told that people are just trying to rip me off, and that a more reasonable price would be a mere 5 million; 25% of my ship's cost) And the skillbook for mitigating side effects is also going for hundreds of millions. Far too costly for a humble pilot, scraping a living from the proceeds of his crimes.

If I ever get into T2 or T3 cruisers, boosters obviously become more worthwhile, but for now I'll stick with the occasional synth exile.

Vengeance & Rifter v Cyclone

 

The hunt:

This is an older kill that I forgot to post, but as it was a little different from my usual approach I thought I'd post it now.

I had scanned down a missioning Cyclone in Aeschee and made an attack run. Unfortunately, he was a long way from the warp in point, so he simply warped to a station. The pilot did not immediately leave system, however, and did not seem to abandon the mission. I tried waiting at the warp in, but he made no move to return.

Guessing that he was watching local, I reached out for assistance. At that time Cable Udan was not yet a Tusker, but his application to join the corp had been submitted on our forums. Knowing that he was in the region, I convo'd him and asked if he wanted to help catch a Cyclone. He did.

I created a fleet and invited Cable to join. Once he had done so, I asked him to warp to me (in the mission) and sit at the warp in point. After he was settled, I jumped into Jovannion and sat on the other side of the gate.

At this point it was a waiting game. If the Cyclone was keeping his eye on his mission with a narrow beam scan he would see right through our ploy. However, because there were no other Tuskers in system there was a chance that he would simply warp back to the mission once he saw me leave local. Sure enough, only a few minutes had passed before the Cyclone jumped back.

Cable immediately landed point on the Cyclone and I jumped back into Aeschee. Warping to Cable, the only question on our minds was whether or not Cable's Rifter would hold out long enough for me to land and take over point.

Impressively, his tank held out, despite the drones. As soon as I landed I started to clear the drones; a task we had agreed Cable would start as soon as he had locked down the Cyclone - a few extra seconds of dps on the battlecruiser were meaningless compared to mitigating the drone damage. Between the two of us, the drones did not last long.

Switching from Caldari Navy to Rage, I opened fire on the Cyclone. Cable and I whittled away his tank until, finally, his hull gave out.

2011.09.02 19:09:00

Victim: Opzuz
Corp: Novacorp
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Cyclone
System: Aeschee
Security: 0.2
Damage Taken: 24735

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: 15454

Name: Cable Udan
Security: -8.0
Corp: Caldari Provisions
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Rifter
Weapon: Rifter
Damage Done: 9281

Destroyed items:

650mm Artillery Cannon II, Qty: 3
Quake M, Qty: 38
XR-3200 Heavy Missile Bay
Invulnerability Field I

Dropped items:

650mm Artillery Cannon II, Qty: 2
Gyrostabilizer II
Quake M, Qty: 60
Tracking Enhancer II
XR-3200 Heavy Missile Bay, Qty: 2
Reactor Control Unit II
Invulnerability Field I, Qty: 2
Co-Processor II
Widowmaker Heavy Missile, Qty: 105
Large Shield Booster II
Large Shield Extender I
Widowmaker Heavy Missile, Qty: 802 (Cargo)
Quake M, Qty: 500 (Cargo)

We split the loot 50:50, with Cable happy to buy out my share.


Afterthoughts:

It's always nice to see a plan come together. Being flashy, and a member of a notorious pirate corporation, the element of surprise is a rare treat.

As a bonus, the exercise gave me a chance to fly with Cable before he joined the Tuskers; because of my restricted play hours I sometimes find it difficult to fleet up with the new members joining the corp in this current round of recruitment.

Profit Account for September 2011

Evekill statistics for September 2011:

• Kills: 40
• ISK destroyed: 1.6 billion
• Losses: 8
• ISK lost: 0.16 billion
• Efficiency: 91.01%
• Kill/Death ratio: 5/1

Battleclinic Rank: 26,610

Although I don't have nearly as many kills this month as some fellow Tuskers, September has been particularly busy for me; only July had more kills, and my efficiency was far worse. This is particularly surprising when I consider how little time I have actually been able to devote to Eve - there were a couple of week long periods where I was not able to log on at all. Despite the high kill count, though, there has been a shortage of treasure ships; those big kills that make you rich for a short while. Instead, it has been a bit of a grinder, with my losses eating away at what little profit I have been able to scrape together.

I have also made some changes to the way losses are valued. Until recently, I was using Battleclinic cost listings, but Tsubutai suggested that Evekill has more accurate valuations. When I compared the values attributed to my faction repair system (Battleclinic - 12 million ISK; Evekill - 5.45 million ISK) to what I actually paid for it (4.25 million ISK), I decided it was worth making the switch. This will mean a slight inconsistency between loss values when compared to the last few months.

For those interested in a comparison, last month's figures can be found here.

Schedule of Income

Solo Income

Dropped modules and other loot

ISK 106,414,402 

Ransoms

ISK 30,800,000

Bounty on Stoakes (ISK 800,000)

"Ransom" from toothslayer (ISK 30,000,000)

Total Solo Income

ISK 137,214,402

Group Income

Dropped modules and other loot

ISK 14,515,880

Vengeance et alia v Falcon et alia (ISK 8,515,880)

Vengeance & Rifter v Cyclone (ISK 6,000,000)

Ransoms

ISK 10,000,000

Dariaz Taron (ISK 10,000,000)

Total Group Income

ISK 24,515,880

Total Income

ISK 161,730,282

Schedule of Expenses

Solo Expenses

Reasonable losses (see note 1)

ISK 79,589,357

Vengeance (ISK 17,077,984) - Vengeance v Sabre.
Vengeance (ISK 17,510,527) - Vengeance v Gate Camp.
Vengeance (ISK 17,304,505) - Vengeance v FW Gang.
Capsule with four +2 implants (ISK 12,930,000)
Malediction (ISK 14,766,341) - Malediction v Thrasher.

Avoidable losses (see note 2)

Nil

Other expenses

ISK 1,842,018

Repairs (ISK 790,218)

Ransom CSPA (ISK 11,800)

Contract fees (ISK 40,000)

Donation to Joshua Baker (ISK 1,000,000)

Total Solo Expenses

ISK 81,431,375

Group Expenses

Reasonable losses (see note 1)

ISK 17,696,556

Vengeance (ISK 17,696,556) - Vengeance et alia v Cyclone et alia; a gang action.

Avoidable losses (see note 2)

ISK 39,860,493

Malediction (ISK 16,718,436) - Malediction et alia v Vagabond; I was fast tackle, and I tried to hold on too long while the rest of the gang caught up. Should have bailed.
Vengeance (ISK 23,142,057) - Vengeance et alia v Ashimmu; what the hell was I thinking?

Total Group Expenses

ISK 57,557,049

Total Expenses

ISK 138,988,424

Schedule of Profit (Loss)

Total Income

ISK 161,730,282

Less

Total Expenses

ISK 138,988,424

Net Profit (Loss) (see note 3)

ISK 22,741,858

Appendix 1: Estimated Income Pending

Unsold solo roam loot

ISK 5,000,000

Total Income Pending

ISK 5,000,000

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.

ISK, how much money I have!

Notes

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

Somehow, I actually managed to turn a profit again this month. Of course, that profit gets me about one T2 frigate, but I'll take what I can get.

Income

Solo roaming was again my primary source of income for this month, despite the fact that my killboard says I engaged in a fair amount of gang activity. The truth is, some of this activity was pure overkill, with a number of nearby Tuskers getting together to take on a target we could have dealt with solo or in a smaller group. Groups are only profitable when directed at high end kills, and these were not high end kills.

Expenses

My expenses shot up this month, with 8 losses. While my efficiency is over 90%, that's cold comfort to my wallet.

In addition to my usual Vengeance builds, I also lost some experimental Malediction fits, but I have to accept that testing new ships is going to come with some element of expense.

Improving Performance

As I mentioned in this post, a significant number of my recent losses occurred when I was unable to escape a no-win situation; gate camps and the like. I can improve my profitability simply by improving my situational awareness and avoiding those kinds of situations.

I would also like to improve my kills/death ration; my goal would be a 10/1 ratio, and I will be keeping that in mind when I am selecting targets.