Heart Beating Fast, Time To Die

OK, let's point that Ishkur, done, open up with Barrage rounds, ugh what? He's too close, I'm scrammed! Not to worry, my ECM drones should jam him in no time. Damn, his drones are killing them! Arrgh, a Vengeance has arrived to help him! They've killed my mate's Rifter! My drones are now gone! BEEEEYAAAAAATCH!!!
This is how I lost my first shiny Vagabond, a Tech 2 cruiser that has become my favourite toy lately. I made so many mistakes it makes me cringe: going after an Ishkur with a nos fitted instead of a neut, losing control of range, failing to check intel... I really deserved to be punished for that.
Fortunately, that Vagabond (rigged for speed before the nano nerf) had had a good run before dying, killing a couple of expensive battleships and lots of smaller stuff. And a replacement will probably be cheaper thanks to the introduction of smaller rigs.
I really need to learn a lot of things about flying it properly though: what distances to orbit at, how to manage my cap, how to engage some tougher targets.
Now, please, CCP, let it be a quick server update!!!

We Do Love Them Holes

Egghelende was slow this morning so my prober mate decided to look for wormholes and soon found one leading to w-space. The entrance was clear on both sides so he warped closer to the main cluster of celestials and started scanning. There were a number of mining and industrial ships on scan as well as a few combat ships and several POS towers.
He dropped probes and started looking for ships that were not at towers. Pretty soon he located a couple of hulks and a retriever at a gravimetric site. He warped to them at a safe distance and started approaching while I was making my way to the system. Unfortunately, his covert ops ship got decloaked by an asteroid and the miners quickly left.
They also decided to protect the entrance the intruder had used and sent a Broadsword class heavy interdictor there.
My mate stayed to see if the miners would come back, probing out other signatures in the system in the meantime. The miners did not return, but the Broadsword was replaced by a large bubble and a Navy Issue Raven! Unfortunately, it disappeared before I could figure out how to deal with it -- and potential support -- on my own.
Just about that time Jyren's Rage brought a gang of corpmates to Egghelende and invited me to join. A few minutes later, I saw the CNR pilot's name in the local comms channel and alerted the fleet. He disappeared from he local quickly but only to show up on the other side of the wormhole where my invisible prober mate was still sitting.
I boarded my Jaguar and warped to the wormhole entrance and waited for others. Just when Jyren's and two of his mates landed, the CNR jumped back into Egghelende and fired a round at me before reentering the wormhole. My fleetmates quickly followed him and Jyren's reported a point.
Two cruisers and two assault ships started circling the Raven tearing its shields with drones, blasters and autocannons. I expected him to call for support (saw a Vagabond and a Drake in that system earlier) but there was none. It quickly became clear that the faction battleship was losing this battle and an explosion soon followed.
I was already pretty excited by the juicy kill when Jyren's, who had grabbed the loot, said "He had Caldari Navy Invulnerability Fields. And a Ballistic Control".
ZOMGWTBBQ!!!
While heading back, we calculated that our loot was worth about 900 million, or 225 million for each of us. Gotta make sure it reaches the market safely.

Megagank

After spending the previous week away from New Eden, I have returned to piracy, undocking for about an hour a day to get a quick kill. The first two were a missioning Myrmidon and a Stabber that engaged Mashashige's Rupture in a belt.
But yesterday brought a juicier target.
As usual, I was scanning different areas in Egghelende when I saw a Megathron on scan. A quick directional scanner check showed it was not at any celestial object so my prober mate got to work.
It did not take him long to pinpoint the Gallente battleship and confirm it was running a mission.
Excited, I grabbed my Rupture (forgetting to switch the MWD for an AB and ECM drones for combat ones) and warped to the site. As the gate catapulted me into the deadspace pocket, my heart sank: the Megathron was about 50 kilometres away which meant it would have plenty of time to spot me and warp out. Still, I ordered my Rupture to close distance, which it started to do, painfully slowly of course.
At the same time I checked the Mega pilot's background: a member of University of Caille for 22 days. What? A three-week old pilot in a battleship? In lowsec? Not moving? Not scooping his Tech 1 Wasp-class heavy drones? Even as I'm 37... 34... 32 (start targeting)... 28 (activate overheated disruptor) kilometres away?
He did wake up as I was trying to get closer to my guns' optimal range. The Megathron's railguns quickly destroyed my shields, but as they started to bit into structure I settled into a tight orbit around the target where his tracking was insufficient to hit me.
The Mega pilot then sent his drones, previously scooped, after me. They took out half of my armor by the time I webbed and sho them down one by one, but after that the battleship was completely unable to scratch me.
My guns, on the other hand, were doing quite a good job as the Megathron's defences melted quickly. Finally, its hull integrity was breahed completely and an explosion lit Egghelende's dark sky for a few moments.
I tried catching the escape capsule of the hapless pilot but it, umm, well, escaped, which did not spoil the satisfaction brought by my first solo battleship kill (yes, I know, it was a very poorly set up battleship).

Log2Blog

Corpse Collection Point public comms channel:
[ 2009.06.09 12:15:59 ] Nursultan's assistant > damn, there's a guy ratting in geddon here
[ 2009.06.09 12:16:03 ] Ashnazg's assistant > woot?
[ 2009.06.09 12:16:05 ] Ashnazg's assistant > eggh?
[ 2009.06.09 12:16:09 ] Nursultan's assistant > yeah
[ 2009.06.09 12:16:18 ] Nursultan's assistant > Jifftoolabahh
[ 2009.06.09 12:16:25 ] Ashnazg's assistant > oh
[ 2009.06.09 12:16:35 ] Ashnazg's assistant > ash is loggin in :D
[ 2009.06.09 12:17:01 ] Nursultan's assistant > we tried killing him with jyren's once but his friends came and killed us
[ 2009.06.09 12:17:45 ] Ashnazg > well, we'll have to kill his friends as well then
[ 2009.06.09 12:17:53 ] Ashnazg > underrun the lasers range.
[ 2009.06.09 12:17:56 ] Ashnazg > primary drones
[ 2009.06.09 12:18:09 ] Nursultan's alt > V-2
[ 2009.06.09 12:18:47 ] Ashnazg > warping
[ 2009.06.09 12:19:09 ] Ashnazg > one friend in local
[ 2009.06.09 12:19:16 ] Nursultan > who?
[ 2009.06.09 12:19:24 ] Ashnazg > delarth
[ 2009.06.09 12:19:33 ] Nursultan > k
[ 2009.06.09 12:20:06 ] Ashnazg > topbekt
[ 2009.06.09 12:20:08 ] Ashnazg > *l
[ 2009.06.09 12:20:10 ] Ashnazg > I 1
[ 2009.06.09 12:20:13 ] Nursultan > 3-1
[ 2009.06.09 12:20:27 ] Ashnazg > ^yeah
[ 2009.06.09 12:20:28 ] Ashnazg > ^^
[ 2009.06.09 12:20:57 ] Ashnazg > primary is the rifter if its shooting you
[ 2009.06.09 12:22:07 ] Ashnazg > get him
[ 2009.06.09 12:22:27 ] Nursultan > losing point
[ 2009.06.09 12:22:29 ] Nursultan > neuts
[ 2009.06.09 12:22:46 ] Ashnazg > have him pointed as well
[ 2009.06.09 12:24:13 ] Ashnazg > now go down already ^^
[ 2009.06.09 12:25:02 ] Ashnazg > NICE :D
[ 2009.06.09 12:26:22 ] Nursultan > woot
Solar system-wide comms channel, immediately after:
[ 2009.06.09 12:23:47 ] Jifftoolabahh > lol
[ 2009.06.09 12:25:27 ] Ashnazg > gf.
[ 2009.06.09 12:25:32 ] Nursultan > gf
[ 2009.06.09 12:25:34 ] Jifftoolabahh > lol not really
[ 2009.06.09 12:25:35 ] Jifftoolabahh > :)
[ 2009.06.09 12:25:39 ] Jifftoolabahh > was fun though
[ 2009.06.09 12:26:54 ] Dekarth Manic > lol
[ 2009.06.09 12:27:03 ] Dekarth Manic > next time .. we'll get u lol
[ 2009.06.09 12:27:22 ] Ashnazg > ofc
Concord report.

Click Click Boom, Just As Soon As We Hit the Room

If you are worried about losing ships, don't fly with Jyren's Rage. But if you want to have fun (as in lots of fighting) he's one of the best guys around.
We ganged up yesterday night and started looking for targets in Siseide and Egghelende.
The opportunity soon presented itself when a group of guys from Broski Enterprises, including a Harbinger and an Ishkur, engaged Jaster Arcturus' Myrmidon in Egghelende's top belt. The Myrmidon killed the Ishkur and, as I warped in, was finishing off the Harbinger. I shot a few rounds at it before the Amarr battlecuiser exploded and then warped out.
"The Myrm is almost dead!" Jyren's Rage said, knowing how to provoke me into reckless acts of violence. I warped back but it was gone -- only to reappear soon. I placed the tackle on the battered ship, but it destroyed my Rifter with just a few rounds of medium autocannons - an interesting choice of weapons for a Gallente ship.
But this was just the beginning. Lured by all the loot left at the belt, ships were coming back there.
I undocked my Rupture and headed to the belt as well, to be met by a Thorax. We pointed each other and opened fire. As I tried to get into a wider orbit around my opponent, I realised my first mistake: I had an afterburner equipped due to chasing mission runners earlier. Cursing, I overloaded my weapons and turned my attention to the Ishkur which had also joined us at the belt. I sent my ECM drones after him and turned back to the Thorax. Which was comfortably sitting there in structure, but not taking any more damage from me since my guns had burnt out. AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGH!!!
Jyren's Rage was shooting the Thorax too in his experimental sniper Maller, but it lived to kill me. I warped out and docked up. In the meantime, the Ishkur killed the Thorax.
I jumped into my Jaguar and warped straight to the top belt. The Ishkur was there and I quickly scrammed and webbed it, setting into a 7.5km orbit where his blasters wouldn't reach me. Rage was shooting the guy from distance while his drones tried in vain to dent my passive tank.
The Ishkur, still holding some loot from my Rupture, soon fell to our combined assault.
Satisfied with that, I called it a night. Fortunately, I will be able to buy a new Rupture with the money from ransoms and loot accumulated over the last week.

Don't Mess With Ashnazg

The past weekend has been good. I've killed a few cruisers on my own, then me and my friend caught a couple of Brutix class battlecruisers one by one when they were doing their missions. The pilots paid us a total of 45 million isk in ransom for their pods.
And, on top of it, yesterday I probed out a Dominix battleship at a mission site. I immediately alerted the guys in the Pyrotechnics channel and Ashnazg (who runs his own corporation) said he would be in Egghelende soon. In the meantime, I warped my Jaguar to the spot and put the tackle on the huge ship.
His drones did not bother me at first so I concentrated on the Dominix itself, but all my attempts to breach his defences were futile. Moreover, light drones started denting my passive tank and I switched my attention to them while inviting Ashnazg to join the party.
The Dominix pilot was spamming the local chat, calling me a twat and telling me to leave him alone since I wouldn't be able to destroy his ship. "My capacitor is stable," he boasted.
Things changed when Ash showed up in his Vexor. He quickly picked off the light drones that were bothering me and started working on the battleship. But even our combined assault wasn't enough. That is, until Ash turned on his neutralisers. "Cap stable?" he taunted the pilot in local.
With its cap drained, the Dominix could no longer tank us and soon exploded. The pilot was smart enough to warp out his pod quickly, but we were still happy as the loot drop appeared to be quite generous.
I'm really impressed by how efficiently Ash dealt with that ship and really happy we're on the same side. I must try to do the same with my Rupture but I'm afraid the Vexor is just stronger. And so is Ash.

UPD: Ash has provided a detailed account of the Dominix kill from his perspective here.

Should I move to egghelende.blogspot.com?

Somehow I spend most of my time in Egghelende these days, although I do visit Amamake quite often to resupply or kill a ratter. Egg' seems to have fewer blobs and more carebears, although it's still a tough place for a solo pirate, a fact I've learnt the hard way.
So, for the the last month I've mostly flown in gangs that usually consisted of pilots from Pyrotechnics Inc, Mayhem Brothers (mostly Jyren's Rage) and Corpse Collection Point (namely Ashnazg). This has been a great experience and we've had lots of good fights. But now I'm back home with my family which means less playing time, very limited voice comms usage and going afk quite often.
In the last few days I've done some solo piracy, probing out and killing mission runners in Egg', like these guys in a Thorax and a Celestis. My Rupture seems to be the best ship for such kills as my favourite assault frigates are often not allowed through mission gates.
The problem is that any ship bigger than a cruiser usually draws attention of other pirates, especially the guys from Eternal Perseverance who often use battleships, HACs and other expensive ships. Yesterday, for example, I probed out a Rokh only to find it already warp scrambled by an EP Sleipnir.
I'm wondering if some day we could get together a fleet strong enough to take on those guys.

A 100 million isk Thorax

How do you lose 100 million isk?
Buy a Thorax, equip it with expensive modules, fill in all three rig slots, accept a mission in low security space, go to the deadspace and sit there comfortably tanking the NPCs, completely oblivious to what's going on around you. Don't pay attention to scan probes - they're such a pain to scan for. You can even remove everything but NPCs from your overview - you don't want to be distracted.
But don't complain when pirates probe you out, fly more than 50 kilometres to you in the deadspace, tackle and destroy your ship and then also snatch your pod.
That's the story of the Thorax I mentioned in the previous post. I was really surprised when I finally found the killmail for it yesterday.
Also, yesterday Jyren's Rage, Coco Pennywise and me killed a Harbinger in one of Egghelende's belts. The guys got a quick tackle on him and the battlecruiser's drones weren't enough to deal with us although Coco had to warp his Stiletto out at one point. We then ransomed the pod for 40 million.
Later, we tried to take on a group made up of a Zealot heavy assault ship and two Drake battlecruisers who were running a mission. I tackled the Zealot and flagged it as outp primary target. But Soon my Jag was webbed and started taking heavy damage so I told everyone to get out. Unfortunately, we lost one Celestis that could not escape quickly enough.
Finally, we probed out a group of several T1/T2 frigates and a cruiser at a safespot and tried to take on them, but they managed to escape. One of our fleetmates stayed there cloaked and soon told us the group had returned. We jumped again but only managed to kill a Kestrel and its pilot's pod.
Still, not a bad evening.

The Bloody Saturday

Here's what I've done within the last three days:
- killed 10 frigs, 3 destroyers, 4 cruisers, 1 interceptor, 1 covert ops ship and 7 pods
- lost five Rifters.
I think I've also set my personal record for kills within 24 hours - 19 ships and pods.

It all started on Friday night. I undocked in Amamake and began checking nearby solar systems for targets. It didn't take long: Herbatrix's Caracal was dealing with a battleship rat in a belt in Dal and quickly died under my Rifter's fire. I snatched and killed the pod too. My next target was Axebearer in his Thrasher in Amamake. He also failed to save his pod.
About an hour later I scanned down and destroyed Flash StingeR's Osprey in Egghelende where he apparently planned to mine peacefully. He sent me a funny message in Russian in which he called me a "slit-eyed hydrococksucker". Thanks, man, that totally made my day!
I stayed in Egghelende for a while and soon caught The FaIIen's Rifter in a belt and then destroyed Midla's Catalyst that drifted too far away from a station. Podded him too. I then decided to have some sleep and docked up for the night.
I started the next morning by killing GunRo Chin's Probe in Auga and podding him. Gotta love the new scanning mechanic that makes pilots completely oblivious to what's going on around them. Got a message from him as well, asking if that kill had made me satisfied. Yes, thank you sir.
Back in Amamake, I attacked Omegadeity's Rifter in a belt, but by the time I finished it, a couple of guys from the Drunk Gang arrived and destroyed my ship as well. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. I jumped into another Rifter and went on searching for targets.
I found Aiya Kiko's Crusader in a belt in Siseide and she apparently decided to fight me, closing the distance quickly. Her DPS was good, but my tank was better. She was cool about it, unlike some of my previous opponents.
Half an hour later, I was in Amamake again. VarWar RUS was up for a Rifter duel after I arrived at his belt and we went for it. I ordered my ship to stay at the 7.5 kilometre orbit and shot from afar with Barrage. It turned out VarWar had Hail loaded and was thus unable to hit me from that distance. We chatted for a while after the kill and I explained my tactics to him. VarWar soon came back in a new Rifter and tried it out in a "no killing" fight with me. We then ganged up on Kacmop and destroyed his Rifter. Before that, however, I managed to lose my own Rifter while trying to kill a Maller together with Krrak in his Thorax. Everything went well until Snakefartz arrived in his Rapier and helped the Maller kill both of us.
Another hour later, I was in Egghelende killing Royalhunter's Punisher. This place is truly a gem, bordering on so many high-security systems and always full of targets. Just eight minutes later I scanned down an Incursus and a Punisher in a belt there, both transmitting their novice pilots' names openly. Seeing this as an invitation, I warped to the belt.
It wasn't as easy as one could have expected because the guys seemed to be well prepared: they both tackled me and the Punisher activated his energy neutraliser, quickly draining my cap. I overloaded my high and low slots and focused my fire on the Incursus which I managed to take down. I then turned to the Punisher, my cap at zero by that time, and was gaining the upper hand when he warped out. Stupid me, forgot to activate the scrambler when cap started to regenerate.
After a bit of rest I decided to bring some violence to the Olfeim system - an isolated lowsec pocket not far from Amamake. I got a Rifter hauled there and started scanning the belts. Pretty soon I spotted a Rupture and Thrasher who seemed to be ratting together, once again their rookie pilots' names visible to everyone. I decided to take out the Rupture first and settled into a tight orbit around it. The cruiser sent its Tech I drones afer me which a started to dispatch one by one when suddenly my speed dropped to zero - must have hit a bloody asteroid. The Trasher closed distance by that time and together they made short work of my Rifter.
I decided to raise the stakes and got a Wolf hauled to Olfeim. Immediately after undocking I found a Stabber in the same belt where my Rifter had died. I warped in and landed on top of him which meant quick death to the cruiser that relies on speed and distance. And its pilot's pod.
A bit later I also killed a Merlin in the same system which belonged to the same corporation as the Rupture that had killed me before. Ah, sweet revenge.
That was it for my Saturday killing spree. I spent much less time in space on Sunday, killing Euripades' Stabber and pod in a belt in Dal and Original Me's Cormorant in Egghelende. Lost two Rifters as well - one when trying to kill Euripades' Rifter (got jumped by a Dominix, a Punisher and a Manticore) and another in a duel with Drek Grapper (I always bump into him when he's got the low-grade Slave set).
I continued on Monday night and killed Cpt Kunaaii's Punisher in a belt in Siseide. Just a few minutes later, I scanned down Psykeu's Helios at a planet and destroyed it as well, snatching the pod. I love Apocrypha!
Finally, this morning I took a quick roam around my hunting grounds and Kazaji, seeing my ship, offered a Rifter duel. He employed a tracking disruptor, but still could not hit me from 7.5 kilometres while I ate away at his shield and armour. Gf's were exchanged.
Now, next time I'll probably try employing a prober to get a taste of w-space. I hear it's fun.

Stupid Losses, Juicy Kill

Kills and losses:
- killed six cruisers, three frigates, six pods and one interceptor;
- lost a Wolf, a Jaguar, a Rifter and a pod.

I
It's been an interesting week (eight days to be exact). Last Sunday, I scanned down a ratting Rupture in Bosboger. I warped to the belt, but it warped out in time to avoid my tackle. I returned to my safespot and soon saw it in another belt, to which I immediately sent my Wolf. This time I caught the cruiser and opened fire. When it was halfway into armour, the pilot opened a convo with me and pleaded for mercy. I halted fire and decided to try ransoming him, but then realised the rats would kill him anyway and activated my guns once again.
The Rupture's pilot, apparently new to New Eden and its low-security area laws, complained about spending a lot of money on his ship. Now, that wasn't the first time I saw such complaints, but, unlike many others, the guy did not insult or threaten me. So, in a gesture not typical of me, I gave him the money he said he had spent on his ship and then briefly instructed him about the dangers of lowsec. Please don't expect me to do that again, guys.

II
I did not get much action until Thursday, the day that started rather well with a Stabber kill. I went on roaming the Amamake area and spotted a Thrasher at a gate. I ordered my Wolf to orbit it, awaiting aggression from his side. He started locking me and when I thought I saw him blinking red in my overview, I activated my tackling gear and guns. I made a mistake: I attacked him first and was destroyed by sentry guns. The Thrasher pilot also made it into the killmail and then squished my pod.
Things like this make me mad with myself and also provoke an uncontrollable rush to even out the score, so I quickly got back to Amamake and boarded a Jaguar. I then moved to Siseide and started scanning belts. When I was sure I identified a target in one of them, I hit warp, but landed next to another ship instead. It was a Moa class cruiser and I, keen to get a kill, decided to engage. Sure enough, his corpmate soon showed up in a Thorax and together they blasted my Jag.
Cursing myself for being such a stupid bait-taking idiot, I docked up for the night and decided (for a hundredth time probably) to be more cautious in future, especially when flying relatively expensive ships.

III
So, come Saturday, I was in the mood to kill as many ships as I could while losing as little as possible. This meant, of course, that I would be flying a Rifter.
My first victim was MEIRIYAHHALOM who was ratting in Siseide in her Stabber that could not put up much of a fight against my Rifter. I snatched the pod and blasted it too.
Half an hour later I killed an Imicus in neighbouring Egghelende - not much of a fight either. But then things got more interesting: I spotted a Nemesis stealth bomber in a belt. I warped to it, the bomber cloaked and I sent my ship back to the safespot. Just when I was warping out, a Claw interceptor landed close to me which meant he warped to the belt at zero - a bad habit for an interceptor pilot. I could not stop the warp, but started watching the Claw move between the belts, apparently also chasing the elusive Nemesis.
I tried to catch either of them a few times, but both seemed to be quite fast. Finally, as I was spamming the scan button while approaching a belt, I saw the Claw was still there and overloaded my tackling systems to make sure it does not escape.
Indeed, the Claw was there, less than 4 kilometres away from me. I started locking him and activated the tackling gear while also trying to close distance between us. The Claw must have activated his microwarp drive for a short while before my scrambler kicked in because he managed to get as far as 11 kilometres away. But the overheated web was still holding him and I quickly reapplied the scramble.
After that, the fight was really short since the interceptor's defences were pretty weak and his artillery cannons could not track me. I scooped the loot and docked to have a look at it - the Claw pilot was a criminal, just like me, so attacking him had not caused sentry guns to shoot at me. Mmm, Domination Overdrive...
I guess I was still in a bit of euphoria an hour and a half later when I engaged Dec Apilatour's Rifter in a belt in the same system. I must have clicked on him too early or clicked in the wrong place so he was already shooting me while I was staring at the screen like an idiot. I realised my mistake too late and was punished for it.
Still, that didn't spoil my good mood after the Claw kill annd I quickly assembled a new Rifter to kill another noob frig in Egghelende as well as its pilot's pod.
A bit later my mate joined me in his own Rifter and we roamed the area for a while. We found a Rifter at a belt in Auga who escaped us but then showed up at a planet. We warped there and started chasing him which took quite a long time. I have no idea why he did not run away, but as we got close, he himself initiated the fight which of course he had very little chances to win. We killed the pod too.

IV
Sunday night was about killing cruisers. I killed MEIRIYAHHALOM's Stabbers twice that night, and snatched the pod on both occasions.
My final engagement for the night was with Heavans Soldier in a Caracal who put up a good fight but still died to my Rifter. He was cool about it and I hope to meet him again, maybe in my gang next time.