Just a Little Bit

After putting my criminal activities on hold for some time due to factors that include major female Achura aggro I was able to roam the New Eden once again for a bit.
First, I spotted a missioning Drake in Iges which my wingmate quicly tackled in his Arazu. I warped in a Drake of my own but soon realised I was not going to break his multi-SPR tank. So I docked and got an Ishtar instead which worked much better. As the Drake hit armour, the pilot offered a ransom of 50 million in local chat which I was going to accept -- but it was too late as the Caldari battlecruiser popped. I explained the situation to the pilot as I was checking out his wreck and quickly realised why he was being so generous. There were two low-grade Crystal implants in his cargo hold worth about 90 million in total, both of which dropped.
Later on the same day I spotted a missioning Deimos in Uphallant. Unfortunately, he had finished his mission by the time I got to the site so I killed his salvaging Exequror instead. The pilot, who was very polite and understanding, opened up a private chat and offered a frig duel saying he'd bring a Rifter. Sure enough, soon (but not only after I killed a mining/baiting Blood Money Scythe together with my corpmate xerses0) I was back there in my own Rifter, of the Medium Shield Extender variety. The duel was quick and predictable due to my opponent being inexperienced and having Tech I guns.
I docked in the same system afterwards and soon spotted a Wolf in an asteroid belt. Now that would be a good chance to test my Rifter's power! Warp, load Barrage, change my mind, load RF Fusion, approach, overload, orbit at 500m, outtrack the poor assault frigate, pop him while staying at about 30 percent armour, exchange gf's. FUCK YEAH!
Turns out the pilot was from the same Fendahlian Collective alliance I mentioned in my last log, and belonged to the properly named theL337 Corp.
That's EVE the way I like it!
By the way, to improve your Rifter-fu make sure you read Wensley's awesome Rifter guide.

Your Bark Was Loud, But Your Bite Wasn't Vicious

Yesterday I came across a couple of Brutix class battlecruisers whose pilots had gone offline with aggression timers on. Sure enough, I destroyed both.
The first one was TwiceDAsiZe of the Python Cartel and Spectre asked me in local chat to pop his pod for letting that happen.
The second was DonHel from House of Houses. I couldn't find their killboard so I don't know what his mates' reaction to that was.
But DonHel himself was apparently furious when I met him in Olfeim today:

EVE System > Channel changed to Olfeim Local Channel
DonHel > you lil fucker
DonHel > how the duck did u do it?
DonHel > i must know
DonHel > killing an offline brutix
Nursultan > no need to be rude
Vladimir Nabokov > sup
DonHel > \o
Vladimir Nabokov > so what are you guys up to in this dead end system
Cirridan > where up to no good
DonHel > wondering how nurultan killed an offline ship
Cirridan > i think he used guns :) but that is just a theory
DonHel > want to 1 vs 1 nurs now that i'm online?
Vladimir Nabokov > oh you can probe out an offline player if you get him within 1 minute i think
DonHel > only if they have agression flags
...
DonHel > good question
Nursultan > DonHel, free tip: it's 1 minute WITHOUT aggression flags and 15 MINUTES WITH THEM
DonHel > so 1 vs 1 now?
DonHel > or do i need to log?
Nursultan > what ship class?
DonHel > BC, BS, HAC i dont care
Nursultan > i have none of that here
DonHel > AF?
Nursultan > t1 frig?
...
DonHel > k, i got a rifter nurs
DonHel > where u want to meet?
Nursultan > undocking in a sec
Nursultan > accept fleet and warp to me
Cirridan > may i watch?
Cirridan > or do you feal to threatned
Nursultan > why not
Cirridan > by my awesomeness :P
Nursultan > btw drop the scpa charge
DonHel > who?
Nursultan > cirr
Nursultan > don, you coming?
DonHel > i dont realy have a rifter
Nursultan > drop your current fleet
DonHel > havnt seen your ship on scan yet either
Cirridan > i can lend u 1 donhel
Cirridan > if you lose my baby i will me mad :P
Cirridan > my ships are my children
Nursultan > ugh, why did yoou have to lie to get me undock?
Nursultan > and then come out in a jag?
DonHel > i dont fly crap
Nursultan > and i don't have an af here
Nursultan > so sorry dude
Sen Palpatine > someone loan him a rifter :)
Sen Palpatine > nigh olf
Cirridan > i can sell u nurs an AF
Nursultan > i dont need it here and now, thanks. it's don who wanted a fight

I don't think this needs any comments.

Trigger Hippie

I've podded people too much lately. It has become an instinct to lock a pod after a ship goes boom. But I really should think more about what I do after that.
The first case was a young Drake pilot running a mission in Siseide. Oblivious to scan probes, he let my mate pinpoint is location to which I then jumped in my Hurricane. I landed a bit too far away so the Drake warped out but soon he returned to the mission site and I got him. We were the only pilots in the system at the moment. I destroyed the Drake, managed to catch the pilot's pod and started negotiating a ransom. My victim was a bit slow with his replies, probably contemplating my offer, and finally said something like "bleh k". At that point I noticed local spike and, being a paranoid that I am, decided a rescue mission may be on its way. I one-volleyed the pod just as its pilot was typing, "wait a sec, I'll transfer the money". Argh!
I felt really bad about the whole thing and sent some money to the guy along with apologies.
The second case took place in Olfeim, a lowsec dead-end frequented by carebears. I spotted a Thrasher in a deadspace complex and went after it in my Wolf. As I engaged the destroyer, a Hawk assault frigate jumped in and started locking me. I quickly finished off the Thrasher, podded its pilot and overloaded my midslots to catch the Hawk. It was a long fight as he kept moving away and I was using short-range ammo, but in the end he died too. With adrenaline rush preventing my brains from working properly I quickly podded the Hawk pilot as well. WHY?!!! I should at least have tried to ransom!!!
Finally, I had a fight with Venom Orchid of the notorious Hellcats. I spotted her Rifter in Amamake's III-1 and started approaching in a Rifter of my own. She accepted the implicit duel offer and we were soon circling each other, shooting and repping. I won the fight (Venom said she was a bit slow with overloading her guns and actovating the repper) and again instinctively locked the pod. I didn't really want to pod Venom and started looting her wreck while thinking about my options. I mean, it's not every day that you get to have a sexy pirate chick next to you, scrambled and defenceless... Oooh the perverted fantasies!
"GET OUT!" a warning from my fleetmate, Leeloo Malaquin of Genos Occidere, brought me back to reality as a Pilgrim recon ship showed up next to us, probably after warping to Venom's wreck. I warped to a safespot as he was locking me, saved by the fact that he went after Venom first. Again, I felt like a dumbass for letting some random guy pod Venom, although she didn't seem to be upset with that.
WTB podding management courses.

Hi Kids, Do You Like Violence?

Tuesday brought some good fights but it's only today that I've got time to describe them.

Not so sassy
First I fought Sassy B in a Rifter duel. He used a shield tank setup with a neut while I stuck to the traditional armor tank with a rocket launcher in the fourth high slot. With Barrage loaded, I chose the usual 7.5 km orbit.
Sassy B was hitting me pretty hard but I was ahead in the damage race thanks to having bigger guns - 200mm vs 125mm - and the rockets. I overloaded my midslots as he entered structure to make sure he does not escape but then switched the rack overloading off to avoid burning them out. That was a mistake: burning out his afterburner, Sassy B managed to escape, just like Leeloo Malaquin did in our recent Rifter duel.
We exchanged compliments and discussed pros and cons of different setups. Sassy B said he'd only got one neut cycle on me before our orbits stabilised. It looks like neuts on Rifters are all the rage these days. I might give them a try.

'Nixed
Some time later, I was in Bosboger, a scanner's nightmare due to the myriad of ships parked at numerous player-owned structures. Still, I managed to spot a Dominix in a belt with Ogre I's out, ratting apparently. I was still in a Rifter so I decided to call in guys from the Python Cartel whom I had seen next door.
I convoed Lanissum while warping to the Dominix and tackling it. Unfortunately, the Pythons had moved by that time and were taking a while to get back and change ships. Things were going well with the Dominix at first as his Ogres struggled to track me. But then he recalled them and unleashed a pack of Hobgoblin II's. Cursing, I started targeting, webbing and shooting them but it was a fight I could not win. Maybe Gneeznow's cap booster setup would have worked here but somehow whenever I use that one I don't encounter drone boats.
Surprisingly, after finishing off my Rifter the Dominix did not leave and the Pythons got him in the end.


Rat Tackle
Finally, while scanning around in Amamake a bit later, I spotted a missioning Cyclone owned by a young pilot. My prober mate quickly pinned him down while I was thinking what ship to fly. I knew for sure I'd kill him in my Jaguar so I chose a Rifter to see if I could pull it off in a Tech 1 frigate.
As I landed in his mission site I saw the Cyclone was about 50 kilometres away. Damn, that will give him enough time to spot me and warp out, I thought. But then I saw a message saying the poor guy had been scrambled by a rat! Afterburner overloaded, I quickly approached my target to scram and web it (in case he was speedtanking those battleship rats).
I did not expect him to be able to hit me but my systems were registering some damage. WTF? A smartbomb! Fortunately, there was just one and my armour repairer could deal with it, patching the holes just as quickly as they appeared.
The Cyclone, on the other hand, was slowly going down. I overloaded my weapons to break through its shield regeneration peak and then it was just a matter of time before the ship was blasted into pieces.
I then made a stupid mistake which allowed the pod to leave, but that did not matter much after my first solo battlecruiser kill in a Rifter (hey, rats don't count, ok?).

They Took My Rings, They Took My Rolex

I like to think of myself as a rather competent Rifter pilot. This means I take it very seriously when someone else beats me in a Rifter duel. Fortunately, there haven't been many such cases recently and I can only remember three pilots who did that: my corpmate Arquebie, Amamake resident Drek Grapper and, most recently, Brick0Joe, a member of The Python Cartel.
Our first encounter took place in Amamake, right after I had killed and podded some poor chap in an Incursus. I only suffered shield damage and so decided not to leave when Brick0Joe's Rifter started approaching me. Once in scram range, we both employed the same tactics of staying rather far away and shooting with Barrage ammo. But my armour was dropping alarmingly fast while my opponent was still holding quite well. Also, he was faster than me and I overloaded my afterburner too late to get away.
As my Rifter went down, I typed a sincere "gf" and tried to figure out why I had lost. There could be several reasons why I was overpowered: skills (I haven't yet got some of those lengthy level V gunnery ones), modules (I did find out, for example, that Brick0Joe fits Arbalest rocket launchers whereas I usually prefer cheaper ones) or implants (I only had a cheap one giving +3% to small turrets' damage).
I decided to eliminate the difference in modules and try again, this time also without leftover damage from an earlier fight. I got the modules hauled and requested a duel with Brick0Joe who kindly agreed. I warped to Gulmogorod, chose a safespot and waited for my opponent who soon showed up.
This fight went a little bit better: I got him into structure but then went down. After exchanging gf's I asked Brick about implants and he said he was using some without elaborating. So, I guess, a combined difference in skills (I did not ask but suspect his are maxed out) and implants, made him far more lethal than me.
Fortunately, this means I will be able to catch up eventually. In the meantime, I know which fights to avoid.

...Coming Straight From the Underground

Going purely after mission runners makes your brains soft. I've realised that after failing to kill a Taranis in a belt last week due to my afterburner burning out.
Sure, finding and destroying carebears is fun, especially when you have strong competitors like the Eternal Perseverance. Together with Ashnazg, Nalshee, Jyren's Rage and his corpmates we've had some juicy kills within the last week including a Dominix, an Ishtar, an Apocalypse (I wish we did that without a Falcon) and a number of battlecruisers and smaller ships.
But sometimes, I've decided, I must jump into a Rifter, forget about my probing mate and do things the "old school" way, relying only on my directional scanner.
That was what I did this morning, leaving Egghelende with a short roam on my mind. I didn't need to go further than Siseide, it turned out.
Upon entering this POS-infested system I noticed Mashashige in local chat. I had seen him in a Rifter in Egg a minute earlier and immediately requested a conversation, offering a duel. Mashashige suggested instead that we gang up on a Worm, an expensive Guristas faction frigate which I had just noticed on scan.
In a few seconds I had it narrowed down to a belt and sent my ship in its direction, informing Mashashige. I landed about 30 kilometres away from the Worm and was sure it would warp out. But as I approached the Worm, midslots overheated for maximum speed and tackling range, I was informed that one of the Angel pirates he was shooting started warp scrambling him. I guess that was why I managed to tackle the Guristas ship and quickly destroy it without taking any damage.
Mashashige, who arrived at the belt after me, didn't make it to the Worm in time. Instead, he targeted me, as did the Angel Cartel pirates. I did not return the lock, waiting to see if this was just a misclick or we were going to fight. And then, there it was, a red box and a message informing me of his aggression.
I quickly targeted him back, activated the tackling gear and guns and ordered my ship to settle into a 7.5 kilometre orbit. We entered armour at about the same time and I overloaded my guns to maximise their damage. The fight was close and slow as we stayed in falloff range and used our armour repairers to full effect. Mashashige entered structure a bit earlier than I did and it became clear he would lose. A few rounds later his Rifter gave up and Mashashige quickly evacuated his pod.
With 62 percent structure left, I quickly scooped up the loot from both ships and moved to a safespot, exchanging gf's with Mashashige.
I then asked him why he had attacked. He said that since I hadn't taken any damage from the Worm he considered it fair to accept my earlier duel invitation. I think that was fair play (we weren't even in a fleet) although I personally would have given my opponent a warning.
We chatted a bit more and agreed to blow up stuff together some day.

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 Deadly Duo

Shortly after entering Siseide, a system adjacent to my sweet home Amamake, I saw a Drake on scan, piloted by a relatively inexperienced capsuleer. As I narrowed down my search to a single belt, I saw there were also a Brutix and a Malediction there. I decided to have a look from a safe distance, but the two battlectuisers warped out as I arrived.
Malediction pilot Jyren's Rage, who had negative security status and a bounty on his head, opened a convo and offered to deal with the two battlecruisers together. 'Sure,' I replied and accepted his fleet invitation. I scanned a random couple of belts and there they were, sitting at one of them. I gave the coordinates to Jyren's Rage while warping and quickly tackled the Drake after landing on top of it.
The Brutix disappeared shortly after my partner in crime arrived and together we quickly broke the Drake's shield tank. Its heavy missiles were no good against my Rifter and its neutralizer wasn't much of a problem because I had a capacitor booster equipped - stole the setup from Gneeznow after watching one of his fantastic Getsu Fune videos. As the battlecruiser entered structure, Jyren's Rage left to find the Brutix while I finished off the Drake. He suggested that I grab the loot.
Shortly after, he had the Brutix pointed and helpless with its railguns unable to hit our quick and nimble ships. It didn't last longer than the Drake and this time the final blow and the loot went to Jyren's Rage.
So, within less than ten minutes we destroyed two larger ships worth a total of 75 million isk - way to go for pirate cooperation!
I docked up as we exchaged compliments and agreed to commit more crimes together.

Clickity-clank. Clickity-clank. The money goes into my piggy bank

Amamake's busy as usual with about 50 pilots in the system. Most are concentrated at a couple of spots indicating relatively large gangs. But my attention is drawn to a Typhoon class battleship which is sitting alone at a belt, its inexperienced pilot's name visible on the scanner screen.
I warped to the belt, settled into a tight orbit and opened fire on the huge battleship. It activated a warp disruptor and sent a pack of Tech 1 drones after me which I soon destroyed one by one. But my armour kept dropping, mostly due to missile hits I guess. I overloaded my afterburner, aligned to a random celestial and soon was free to dock up, repair and get some more ammunition.
When I was back in space, a quick scan showed the Typhoon had not gone anywhere, but had been joined by another Rifter. Andrik R was also circling the battleship and spraying it with bullets. Together, we were dealing enough damage to break its tank and when the Typhoon exploded I quickly locked the pod and sent its pilot into the clone vat.
Among the debris, there were a couple of intact Harvester Mining Drones which I scooped up. I sent Andrik R 75 million isk after checking out their market value.
This was my first battleship kill and my biggest loot drop so far. Should help offset later losses of two Rifters, one of which was completely avoidable - I warped to a safespot which had earlier been busted by the Drunk Gang. Oh well, at least they brought a couple Taranises, an Arazu, a Falcon and a Vexor to kill me.

Slice Like a Ninja, Cut Like a Razor Blade

Yesterday morning was great and the evening was just as good.
I scanned down a couple of Rifters ratting at a belt in Siseide and warped to them. Targeting the one that was closer, I settled into the usual 7.5km orbit and activated my tackling gear and guns. The second Rifter reacted slowly but eventually targeted me and started helping his mate.
I could deal with two of them, but then the third one warped in and joined the party. My overheated armour repairer could not catch up with the damage they were dealing and the lack of capacitor charge forced me to start pulsing it instead of running the module nonstop. Fortunately for me, my first target soon exploded, after which I quickly moved the tackle onto another frigate and moved away from it into an orbit where my Barrage ammunition would give me distance advantage.
I kept my guns overloaded and continued pulsing the repper, but was already taking hull damage resulting in the familiar flame and smoke. About halfway into structure, I managed to get rid of the second Rifter.
When I faced the last opponent, I had virtually no armour and no cap left. Suppressing the urge to try and run away, I once again ordered my ship to widen the orbit and, as soon as cap regenerated a little, activated the afterburner, the web and the scrambler. That helped me reduce incoming damage and start repairing my armour bit by bit. The third Rifter turned out to be the weakest one, but just as his armour was giving up, a flashy red Maller showed up at the belt and sped towards us, releasing a pack of Tech 2 drones.
Seeing no chances to survive a fight against the cruiser, I aligned to another belt and overheated my midslots. I did not expect to get away quickly, but suddenly my warp drive was free from disruption and I was in the safety of a warp tunnel. Turned out I finished off the last Rifter while trying to flee. Checking out my ship stats I noticed I had 19 percent structure left.
Extremely satisfied, I docked my own Rifter for the night as soon as my criminal timer expired.

Good Morning!

This morning, before getting my cup of coffee, I decided to see what was going on in Amamake.
I quickly scanned down a Stabber at a faction warfare plex and rushed to it. It was at the acceleration gate entrance and I went through the usual tackling routine. Suddenly, my cap was gone - damn, a neutraliser! Rho Jones made quick work of my cap-drained Rifter and I warped out in a pod. Those Stabbers are a coin toss really: you either beat them easily or die quickly.
As usual, I had another Rifter ready at a station and soon undocked again, looking for targets. Belts were empty, but there were a Thrasher and a Punisher moving between safespots. They lingered for too long at one of those giving my friend in a covert ops ship enough time to define their exact location.
I warped in, but the Thrasher quickly disappeared from the grid. I bookmarked the location and returned to my own observation spot. Soon, the pair were back and I was on my way. By the time I arrived, the Punisher had disappeared, but the Trasher was there and was up for a fight this time.
Despite being a relatively young pilot, Cowardly Sniper was hitting me hard, stripping my shield off in a couple rounds. I overloaded my guns and repair systems, settling into a tight orbit and spitting out EMP shells. When the Thrasher's shield - its primary defence level - was gone, his mate in a Punisher showed up. Will my armour hold under the assault or will it crumble? Read the next paragraph to find out!
I went on shooting the Thrasher and finally it exploded, but not before making several holes in my Rifter's hull which started letting out a trace of grey smoke clearly visible against the pitch black sky. Still, my overheated armour repairer was patching up the broken plates when I focused my attention on the Punisher.
Scram, web, orbit at 7.5km, switch to Barrage, keep pulsing the repper, laugh manically, choke with smoke, overheat guns again to break the armour at its peak regeneration level, job done.
I exchanged compliments with Cowardly Sniper and Cloudnebula while I scooped the loot.
The morning looked much better now, but there was more. I waited out my GCC, docked to repair and unload the loot and rushed back into open space. There was a Claw not far from the station, but it did not respond to my baiting attempts. However, a bit later I saw the same Claw at a belt to which I immediately jumped. Luck was definitely on my side as I landed right on top of the interceptor and had a quick tackle. Marlbor0 Man fought well, but Claw's tank is no match for Rifter's.
Satisfied, I docked up and went for my cup of coffee.

Straight Outta Clone Vat

Kill & loss statistics since the last report:
- killed eight frigates, five destroyers, four cruisers, an interceptor, an assault ship, an industrial ship and five pods;
- lost five Rifters, two Wolves, one Rupture and a pod.

Ah, another week full of good fights. I'll mention just a few that have been the most interesting.
There have been a couple of good Rifter duels -- I lost the one against Arquebie and won against Switch 4. Then there was a great Wolf duel with Pax Sex. I was ahead in the damage race, but my guns were reaching critical heat levels so I toggled rack overloading. Unfortunately, this way I also overloaded my neutralizer which burnt my guns in just one cycle, allowing Pax Sex to finish me.

I also had my first fight in a Rupture last week after taking it to Egghelende. I jumped to a planet after spotting some frigate there, but it quickly warped off while another frigate, a Punisher, showed up, soon joined by a Firetail and a Rifter. I sent my ECM drones after the Firetail while focusing fire on the Punisher which soon exploded, its capacitor emptied by my neutralizer. Just when I switched fire to the Firetail, a Thorax joined the party. I refocused my fire on the cruiser, seeing it as the biggest threat, and sent the drones after him as well. My armour was melting under the combined assault of the three ships, but before going down I managed to kill the Thorax. I then tried to kill the Firetail as well and missed the chance to save my pod. Well, that just meant I made it back to Amamake a bit faster.

Another good fight was against two Ghost Festival pilots: my Rifter was able to tank and kill their Incursus class ships, both in proper PVP setups. Staying at a 7.5 kilometre orbit has helped me dodge blaster fire. Finally, there was a fight with Zombiedeadhead's Claw. He attacked me at a gate from Siseide to Amamake and I was unable to get within scram/web range so I jumped. Of course, then I just burned back towards the gate and jumped again. This time, for some reason (maybe due to bumping into the gate), he allowed me to get in close after which the Claw was doomed.

Somehow, I'm much more efficient with Rifters than with Wolves: lost the second one in a week yesterday after jumping a Harbinger which was quickly joined by a Vexor. Must be more careful with these expensive toys.

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.

To the Forge and Back

Bored with Amamake blobs, I decided to travel a bit last week and set the Forge lowsec as my destination. I chose a Wolf for this journey as it would allow me to take on bigger targets (and of course some Bastards(TM) then caught me cheating on my Rifter).
I was surprised by the number of shuttles, noob ships and industrial ships moving through systems like Ingunn and Gusandall. While they did no interest me as potential targets, it later turned out they were still useful.
My first engagement in the journey wasn't successful: I attacked a Jaguar in a belt in Bogelek but it was soon joined by a Sacrilege and a Zealot and my ship went down. I got a Rifter and a new Wolf hauled to a nearby system and roamed around in a Rifter for a while. I scanned down another Rifter in a plex in Gusandall and warped to it. ManTan LNJ was up for a fight, but my Rifter turned out to be stronger.
I eventually reached Akora where DirgeMon, who was hanging around next to a station in his Kestrel, responded to my lock by opening fire and died quickly.
I then turned back, making a stop in Wiskeber. There was a Ferox class battlecruiser in a belt and a quick background check showed its pilot was unlikely to have neutralisers - the biggest threat to my assault frigate. I warped in and activated my guns keeping a tight orbit. The bigger ship's guns could not hurt me and its destruction was only a matter of time. When the Ferox was about to die, a Stabber cruiser warped in. I was going to tackle it when a Raven also showed up and then my overview was full of ships. I quickly warped out and waited. The blob disappeared soon and I was even able to pick up the loot.
I docked up in Wiskeber to get some sleep and undocked a few hours later to find a Drake on my scanner. I quickly pinned it down to a station, warped in for a check and saw that the battlecruiser was taking sentry fire while killing industrial ships. What could be better? I quickly warped back to the station, tackled the Drake and let my guns spit out EMP rounds. Smith44 sent his drones after me, but I quickly dispatched them with the help of sentry guns. The Drake got popped quickly under heavy fire, leaving some nice loot.
The rest of my journey back was uneventful, save for an encounter with the Bastards' gang that included Hallan Turrek and Flashfresh. I docked up just to be on the safe side and had a good laugh watching Hallan pretend to be a noob. I think he also said they sometimes wear adult diapers while roaming.

Me and My Rifter

Inspired by Hallan Turrek's Karaoke Corner posts.

The song is Me and My Girlfriend

Look for me. Lost in the whirlwind, 2009 Bonnie and Clyde
Me and my Rifter making 'bears cry when we ride,
Trapped in this world of sin
Born for the PVP
Raised in this whirlwind

Our childhood years recall the fears
Used to run missions
Making ISK, training for shieldtank, battleships, missiles
Me and my Rifter
musta fell in love with the struggle
Hands on the steering wheel
Blush, while she bail out bustin
Scram 'em all, watch 'em fall, screaming
Autocannon gunfire, exorcising all demons
Mafia's on my side
My complication high,
ready to die
We bail out to take the jail back, pirates united
Our first date, couldn't wait to see you naked
Touch you in every secret place
I can hardly wait to bust freely
Got you red hot, you so happy to see me
Made the frontpage, primetime live on 'clinic
Hey man, my Rifter,
may be down to hull but she still live
One shot making victims' heartbeats stop

My Rifter, flying under darkest skies
When targets call support she got the heart to fight
Oh yeah, my Rifter
Though we separated at times
I know deep inside baby girl'll always be mine
Picked you up and you was fine
Started out my life of crime with you
Bought you some Barrage when your guns turned "II"
It's true, nothing compares to the satisfaction
that I feel when we out mashing
Me and my Rifter

Chorus:
All I need in this life of sin,
Is me and my Rifter
Down to ride to the bloody end
Just me and my Rifter
(repeat 2X)

I was too immature to understand your ways
Inexperienced back in the days
Caused so many arguments and strays
Now I realize how to treat cha, the secret to keep ya.
Being faithful 'cuz now cheating's lethal
We closer than the hands of time
Deeper than the drive of mankind.
I trust you dearly, I shoot blind
In time I clock figures
Droppin cruisers as we rise
We all soldiers in God's eyes
Now it's time for war
Never leave me baby, I'm paranoid
Sleeping next to you loaded in my hangar, know you're
Jealous when I hang with your fellas
You wait patiently alone, anticipatin'
for the moment I come home
You're the one I call my own, this is true love, I can feel it.
I've had a lot of ships in my career
But you da realest
If you ever need me, call
I'll be there through it all
You're the reason I can stand tall
Me and my Rifter

Chorus

I love overheating you.
All of a sudden I'm hearin thunder
when you bust a nut
Targets be duckin
Or taking numbers
Love to watch you at a 'roid belt beggin for drama
While unleashin on the old timas
That's on my mama
I would trade my life for yours
Behind closed doors, the only girl that I adore
Everything I'm askin for
Talkin to me, beggin me to just take you around
Lowsec space, you just wanna be down
Starting warp when I notice a target,
you moving fast, busting rounds, ducking enemy fire.
That's why I love you so
no control, down to roll
Unleash, after a hit, you break apart,
then back to one piece again
Much love to my one and only Rifter
The world is ours
Just hold me down, baby witness the power
Never leave a pirate alone
I love you in a gang or alone
Turn this house into a happy home
Me and my Rifter

Chorus

Lost in the whirlwind, 2009 Bonnie and Clyde
Me and my Rifter making 'bears cry when we ride,
Trapped in this world of sin
Born for the PVP
Raised in this whirlwind
Look for me
(repeats 4X)
Me and my Rifter!

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.

Strategy-Shmategy

Sometimes, usually after relatively long winning streaks, I put my common sense offline and overheat the part of my brain that seeks violence above anything else.
That was the case the other day when, after killing 10 ships without a single loss, I took my Rifter to Gulmogorod where I stumbled upon a Caracal sitting in a belt. Its pilot, Norst, had a nice track record on Battleclinic and it was obvious he was baiting me.
Well, that was not going to stop me from engaging the Caldari cruiser. I laughed manically in my head as I warped to the belt, tackled the target and unleashed the fury of my overloaded guns. Pretty soon I started pulsing my armour repairer to try and stay alive as his missiles were hitting me hard. His shield broke when I entered structure, but a couple rounds later my Rifter blew up.
I warped out and exchanged "gf"s with Norst. And I meant it: that fight was more fun than the ten previous engagements which I had won. I know for sure that I would have killed him in my Wolf, although I doubt he would have sought a fight in that case.
There were also a couple of interesting engagements that ended without killmails. The first was a Hurricane I attacked at a station in my Wolf: after I killed a few of his drones, he stopped attacking me and docked in 30 seconds. The second was a ratting Rupture which managed to escape from me because it had an Afterburner fit instead of a Microwarp Drive. I actually caught up with it while it was aligning, but failed to notice my scrambler was off by that time.
Anyway, I guess I'm back in cautious mode, looking for more kills to improve my stats.

'Grats to 'Guns and Brutus

Kill & loss statement:
- Killed five frigates;
- Lost one frigate;

This has not been an exciting week. Four of five kills were absolute noobs who barely had time to target me back after I caught them ratting or salvaging in asteroid belts.
One kill, Ryan Pathfinder's Punisher, was a Pyrrhic victory, because shortly after I had tackled him, his friend's Stiletto warped in. It wasn't really doing much damage with its autocannons, staying out of scrambler range, and I started diving between the rocks to throw it off the orbit, but then a "socket was closed" message popped up on my screen. Sure enough, I logged back in just in time to have my pod warp back to the belt to follow my Rifter's fate.

Meanwhile, my fellow pirate BiggerGuns joined the mighty Tuskers - a pirate corporation set up by Ka Jolo. Another mate of ours, long-time Amamake area resident Brutus Severus, scored a 200th kill and reached the coveted -10 security status.
Congratulations and YARR's go to both of them!