Staring At The World Through My Overview

Aaaaaand, I'm back!
I haven't posted for a while due to playing too much and missed the first anniversary of me going rogue, a nice opportunity to look at what I have achieved. Yes, just over a year ago, inspired by Ka Jolo and Wensley's blogs, I bought a few Rifters and some mixed T1 and T2 modules, established a base in the Sujarento solar system and started my pirate career.
On August 31, I spotted a Kestrel in a belt and engaged it. I'll never forget the adrenaline rush of that first fight: my hands were shaking as I typed "gf" into local chat after getting beaten by the Caldari frigate. The loss did not frighten me and less than an hour later I scored my first kill, a Tristan class frigate. Ever since, I knew what my career in Eve would be.
Since that day, according to statistics, I have destroyed 740 ships worth 17.3 billion isk and lost 234 ships worth 4.1 billion isk.
A lot of things have changed within that year. I improved my skills and learned to fly assault ships, cruisers, battlecruisers and heavy assaults. I have moved to Amamake. I have joined and left Starbridge, a corporation where I had learnt a lot about various aspects of Eve. I then joined Pyrotechnics, a once active young pirate corporation which has since become much smaller. I have met and parted with a number of other pirates, joining forces for great kills and fun roams. I have acquired a wingmate skilled at the art of probing out ships in space. My security status has dropped to -10.0.
But some things remain the same. I still enjoy a good fight above anything. I still feel a wave of excitement as my ships comes out of warp next to a target. And I still think piracy is my job in Eve.

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.

I'm cooking BC's like a pound of bacon

EVE System > Channel changed to Hadozeko Local Channel
EIDREICH HUMA > ocatvian
EIDREICH HUMA > help me
EIDREICH HUMA > warp to me
Nursultan > gf

I jumped into Hadozeko solar system in my Wolf and warped to one of my safespots to see if there were any targets. A-ha, looks like there's a Harbinger class battlecruiser in a belt. Making things even better, there were just two of us in that corner of Metropolis and a quick check showed EIDREICH HUMA, the Harbinger pilot, was someone I had a chance of taking on. I jumped to a planet to pin him down in a tight cluster of belts.
With that done I initiated warp and checked if I had the correct ammunition loaded into my 200 mm autocannons. Luck was definitely on my side that night as I came out of warp some 7 kilometres away from the target. Lock, scram, nos, fire. His Vespa II drones were already out dealing with rats, but instead of sending them after me Eidreich recalled the drones. That could be bad news: does he plan to release a pack of ECM drones? Hmm, looks like he doesn't. The same Vespas came out a bit later only to melt under my guns' fire. I was orbiting him at a comfortable tight range, completely evading the Heavy Beam lasers' fire.
The Harbringer's shield and armour dropped steadily despite his attempts to repair. When the battlecruiser's armour was below 50%, a third player, OctavianUK if I recall correctly, appeared in local. I quickly hit the scanner to see if he was a threat, but found out he was flying a Buzzard covert ops ship not designed for combat. It was at that moment when Heidreich started desperately asking Octavian for help. Octavian did not respond and soon disappeared from Hadozeko, although that could mean he'd be coming back in a fighting ship. I overloaded my guns to make things quicker.
When my target was well into structure, I ran out of Republic Fleet Fusion ammo which I prefer to use against armour tankers. I loaded Barrage and continued my assault.
Suddenly, the local channel showed several new arrivals. They did not belong to the same corporation or alliance as my victim, but I began to scan the surrounding area frequently to see if someone could interrupt us. Sure enough, two battleships soon showed first on the scanner and then at our belt. Should I retreat? No way! Heidreich's ship had about 10 percent structure left and I focused my attention on him. A few sloooow seconds later, the Harbinger exploded.
Both battleships were locking me already as I aligned for warp. One lock even resolved before I left the belt, but that did not stop me from warping out. Were they carebears or ratters with no tackling gear? Guess I'll never find out.
I was happy with the kill and didn't mind losing the loot. But while I was still waiting out my global criminal countdown the system became empty again and I was able to check the wreck. Thank you, guys! All the loot, worth about 20 million isk was there! I scooped it up and docked as soon as the red timer disappeared, my hands still shaking slightly from excitement.

One Hundred

Just a small celebration post.
According to Battleclinic, I've scored my 100th kill last night. It took me 97 days to achieve this, meaning I have killed a ship per day on average. All kills have been made in a Rifter.
Looking forward, I think I need to try new ship classes, namely assault frigates and interceptors and take on bigger targets.