My Hulks are long sold and i pissed all over ma’ Cruise Launchers so they dont work no more!

Ended up leaving AuF after all!
No big drama-well that not 100% true had a run of a few days where i got pounded on by a couple of red gangs in the area and lost 4 boats and the last one really pissed me off as it was a ‘Grey” tackler that pinned one of my Drakes in a Belt-tho’ i managed to knock it down it was too late and 5 or 6 of his red buddies landed on Grid and had me wrapped up-kudos to the Drake tho’-i have it set up as one tough bastard even tho’ it not your Passive-tanked SPR fitted machine-even the gang in local said that that was one tough Drake.
Got to give kudos to a couple of Blues who came to my aid as well despite the obviously tricky situation they were gonna be putting themselves in-1 guy lost a Rook while tryin to help break the locks(i sent him the cost of a new Rook afterwards!).
Anyways-the incident was the decision-maker about leaving AuF.
Im not one for asking for help outside of Corp.-sometimes Alliance but meh!-unless its a sure thing that just 1 more boat would either “save” me or guarantee a kill i tend to keep quiet-but with whole Corp. nowhere near providence atm even thats not been an option-so ratting my Sec. Status down has been pretty perilous-all 4 boats lost have been as a result of being out ratting and no-one nearby.
The AuF Channels also seem to have sprung a fair few new names and they seem to be enjoying the High-Sec life Missioning and Mining away-finding their feet i guess as most all of us did at the start.However-despite the seeming new “vigour”(?) apparent in the Channels it did lead me to query just what i was Grinding away for-to move to High-Sec to Mission and Mine?…..with maybe the odd Corp. run into Unfamiliar NBSI Low-Sec space with somewhat unclear rules of engagement-i.e. not firing on Corps/Alliances that AuF may be trying to gain favor with tho’ they operating on NBSI.Otherwise-it’d be me myself running into this “new space” with a target on my back alone if no-one else on.
Sooo…after a bit of thinking and convoing in-game to various parties both in and out of Alliance i applied to switch Corps in the Alliance to one thats remaining in Provi. for the moment whilst the AoV attempts to continue to grow some more before making a decision about whats next-something ive kinda believed in right from the get-go when the talk of moving/whatever was broached-the Alliance is too small at present to do what it seems to want to do-it sux for sure but thats the facts and wishing “it weren’t so” isnt going to change things
Im now a member of Night Theifs and seems so far to be the right thing to have done.Post-Dominion jitters seem to have settled down somewhat-the influx of unknowns seems to have levelled out and those that were “hostile” are now marked “red” and its been amazing to see and be a part of kicking their butts once their “Grey” status has gone-the potential targets have thus increased a fair bit around the area and tbh….most of them suck pretty badly.
Coupled with the war for Catch that has been rumbling on 10-12 jumps away there been plenty opportunity for action alongside the usual roams deep into Catch and beyond(tho’ i REALLY have been busting my nuts Ratting and not dropping everything at a moments notice if there a report of a red(s) 10 jumps away!).The Catch war has been ok-ive been up to HED-GP and SV5 a couple of times for some big battles-lag pretty bad-not so bad that you cant activate modules or find yourself in a Clone Vat without even being aware you being shot at…but killing stuff is sometimes problematical when theres 100+ of you focusing fire on 1 target!!Most times the boat is popped before you even have a lock on it!…oh yeah…and going up with -5 Sec. Status and a red skull when there a load of Provi Noobs around isnt so advisable neither!….if id been so inclined i coulda killed a Thorax,Caracal and a Ferox one after the other-all Grey “Friendlies” with not really proper overview settings-but that day i was feeling like “not ‘an ‘orrribile cunt” so actually took the time to Convo each one while they firing on me(lolz dps btw) and explained how fckin retarded they were-10 seconds to drop locks or they would die.
As part of a 70+ strong gang we did a warp right onto HED Station and wiped out over 10 Battleships and same number again of Battlecruisers….and i mean these just disappeared in less than 10 seconds-every single one.
All a bit meh! for my taste tbh-much prefer the small gang stuff.
Security Status is climbing steadily back to where i can get back into Amarr 1.0 again-hit -2.45 today so i figure 1 more round of a BS per system from R3 down to H9 and once round the circuit should see me right.
Have started using the Rook for Ratting!!!…and Damn its a great boat for it.3 Multi-Spec Jammers and a LSE2 is its defence(plus a DCU2 ofc!)…and ive had no troubles at all in Dealing with Dual BS/3 Cruiser spawns-keeps you on your toes for sure but that definitely more enjoyable than the Raven or Drake Rat set-up of Target/Fire/Collect Bounty whilst 1/2 asleep.
Also-my thinking is its set up just as i would for PvP-T2 Ham Launchers-MWD and Disrupt so i can join in any action on the fly or stand a waaay better chance of busting out of any tacklers that creep up on me/i jump into.
Its been a struggle with the Rook-its a boat that can be awesome im sure but its just finding that perfect fitting/role for it and i THINK ive cracked it..or at least getting close.Heavys werent right for it-Hams seem perfect-24km Range….Warp Disrupt is 24km Standard and the Multis Optimal is 35km with a damn good Strength of 10 points(for Multis)….EHP touches 18000.
I ve just not had any targets drift across its bows yet to have a go at-Cruisers and other Recons and below ill be going for.Battlecruisers maybe if its one of the Tier 1.
I was getting a bit jaded with the ECM side of things but this has got me going again along with……………………the Kitsune!!!!
This boats been sitting in the hangar for 6 months or more and never been out but i took it deep into Catch and beyond(60 jumps or so) and it performed superbly.Its fast-agile and has respectable Jam strength of almost 11 points at 72km optimal range.Easily jammed a Myrmidon….laughed at a Manticore wanting to get some Torps. off…just missed on getting in Range to jam an Arazu by about a second and managed to snare a Shuttle with jammers and rockets…a shuttle?…meh….yeah but it was carrying a Cynabal BPC!(or was it a Dramiel?-anyway..the Faction Cruiser that all the -AAA- and UK are flying round in).
I shall definitely be taking this little bad-boy out more often in small ship roams from now on.Because of its Optimal Range of 72km i reckon its gonna be pretty safe from anything a small gang is gonna be taking on….read the Forums and youl see tons of posts saying “Use a Blackbird instead”….but i listened to the Noir. Merc groups podcast a few weeks ago and there was some discussion on this…apparently their CEO flies a Kitsune a lot and swears by it…especially in response to all the “use the BB” comments-and i gotta say-he is a guy who seems to know his stuff and even on just taking it out twice i can see where hes coming from-like i said-the Range/Agilty and Speed plus your waaay lower Sig. Radius all seem to more than make up for the 20 mill isk difference in Price between the Kitsune and the BB…after all whats 20 mill?-20 Rat BS’.Not to say the BB sucks-it a great boat-what other T1 Cruiser is more than likely to be called primary or second in a gang fight?In lots of ways i prefer it over the Falcon-i think ive only lost one where ive lost more than a dozen easy Falcons-probably to do with the cloak thing!When you get used to warping around cloaked its way too easy to get over-confident and lazy.With the BB you much more aware of not hanging around too long and making sure you at Optimals/getting set up properly before a fight starts-and gtfo in good time when things get too nasty.
Both ‘toons have Bounties on them now!Kuklinski had a 5000isk which was collected when it got podded but a couple of days later i logged in to find a 1.5 mill slapped on.I think i know who put it on-a Curse Pilot i managed to nail in low-sec who was mighty tearful in Local for some reason…and Ajax now has a measly 5000isk one…probably from someone who got Disco’d.
Itd be dishonest to deny there not some satisfaction gained from knowing that youve narked someone that much that theyve gone to the effort of putting a Bounty on you -i wouldnt even know how to go about it-nor have i ever been arsed enough to consider doing it.

Have REALLY hit a wall with the Kuklinski toon.Evertything for BC flying/fighting is maxed out-except for BC5-Missiles are all maxed-Shields all Maxed-Navigation-maxed enough-Electronic Support Skills/Drone Skills all done.BC to 5 seems like a waste 26 days for i think another 5% increase to resistances-i dont think its worth it.I think ill work backwards and get into Assault Frigs. but even that is only gonna see me again in about 20 days hitting another wall.Caldari HACs are a no-no as far as im concerned-never seen the point of the Cerb….Command Ships-meh!!…lot of training time to become a Gank Magnet(and a pretty crap one at that)….Logistics likewise….im fine having one toon more than likely to be called primary so having 2 is not an option im willing to consider :0…..Onyx…again meh-seems a pretty thankless role tbh flying a HIC….if you trap someone “yeah good job on the bubble….but did you see me alpha strike the sucker!!”…if you dont trap someone in the bubble its “all your fault they got away-your bubble placement sucks!!!”
Anyways ill do the AFs up to L5 and hopefully by then will have thought of what the hell to do with this bloody toon.

Oh aye-managed to get 30 days and a new account/toon for $5 through a promo Steam ran for a week.Im gonna run this toon for the 30 days and then probably pay for another 30 days then let it go.
Setting up as pure Gank Boat Pilot and should be VERY good to go with about 2 weeks remaing on the account-i plan on having some fun with this ‘toon-you do come across some morons and bastards in this game…especially those from “friendly” alliances-before retiring it(with maybe a return every few months?!?!).Ill say no more-needless to say it isnt a Caldari toon

I know i commented on DISCO Bombing last post and how the novelty was starting to wear off a bit-however,whilst now i wont deliberately loiter around the various station undock points and wait,if i get word of a possibile “opportunity” and im nearby ill make best speed towards it.Like i said its very satisfying killing Stealth Bombers and Intys-20-30 mill isk boats+ fittings for the cost of a rack of Bombs that you pick up Ratting but recently i had a real surprise when i popped a Rifter in Mamet-i was getting to the point of not popping anything like T1 frigs and Destroyers unless it was a known ‘orribile Pilot but i popped this Rifter as i had the Pilot marked in my address book-for what reason ive no idea-anyway-according to Battleclinic the kill for this Rifter was 44 million!!!-and the loot i took off it-at Market prices has/will net me 25 million!!-from a Rifter.
Charitable feelings towards poor tiny T1 boats have now gone completely.

More soon.
Once i figure out a way to copy/paste my Skills from EvE Character or EVEMon whatever ill try and highlight the neccesarys for ECM Flying and fits that ive found good for the different boats-with experience you move away from the “cookie-cutter’ fittings and i can truly say im much happier with the way my ECM Boats perform and SURVIVE more with just small changes.

Final words?I hope things start to settle down over the coming weeks and the alliance moves back together wherever that may be.

O7

Heh!!-what did i see today(day after this post)…Ajax now has a 10 Mill Bounty!!!
I have a damn good idea where its come from too-it ties in with my plans for the new Gank Toon.All will be revealed in about…..ohhh say 6 weeks time?!

“Burninate de Peazentz”….(copyright:Varian Knight-AuF Tournament 2009)

Can it be 4 months since last entry?What the hell!

Anyways..i do remember saying then that i was going to concentrate on PvP “for a few weeks”-well the few weeks turned into 4 months-ive done little else but go searching for targets except those times when ive had to fix my see-sawing Security Status.Years to gain a Sec. Status of 5.0-and days to end up an outlaw!
It cant be right that podding someone in a 0.1 system gives you the same penalty as if i’d done it in Amarr or Jita.
“So dont fckin pod in low-sec you moron!”….50% of the time i probably would choose not to but i reckon sometimes its neccesary for tactical reasons-i want the red dead and out of the way so he doesnt dock up again-buy another boat-and then come find and kill me(with a set up to counter exactly what he knows im flying)-rest of the time its unavoidable-most of the Podkills have been Smartbombing at Station undocks.
I dunno how i missed this facet of the game for so long-although the novelty is beginning to wear off now i still find it amusing to lurk in wait and watch for that Red boat to appear on the overview-anything up to a Cruiser/Industrial is dead-Stealth Bombers and Intys are good kills-some of the loots from the Industrials has been sweet too.
Only one time did it go wrong when a Hyperion undocked-”great” thinks i-”another Industrial”…yep i confused a BS with an Indy!
I let off the bombs and waited for the target to melt-nothing happened and i saw that im getting Scrammed,Neuted and Pounded by the Hyp. and the Sentry Guns.As my Cap. disappears so the Bombs turn off…i fire up the Cap Booster and run this for the remainder of the time it takes to die-im spamming the ECM Burst Mod.so i can hopefully get away but i can never get enough Cap. to fire it.
The Hyp. guy must have been thinking it was a kill just dropped into his lap.
That incident aside i been liking the Scorpion more and more-im liking all the subtle changes you can make to it and its cheap(50 mill and insurable)-at the moment i have 4 in the Hangar-the regular Set-up for gang fights and jamming/Neuting anywhere from 20k out to 120k which has a bit of a tank(about 75000ehp)-the long range set up for low sec jamming out of Sentry Range-less tank but 2 more Jammers-the DISCO Bomber which is just all shield and armor tank plus the Smart Bombs(180000+ehp)-and-most important-the ECM Burst so that anyone trying to hold me so the sentrys can kill me gets thwarted and the Anti-Curse Boat….made this because the Amarr Recons really are the ECM Pilots Nemesis-if you have no Cap. then you are dead-anyway this has 4 Heavy Neuts,Cap Booster and a full rack of Amarr Jammers.
I finished the very last ECM Skill to L5 recently so thats it 100% maxed out-nothing left to train.On Ajax ive moved to finish training up T2 HAMs to put on the Rook-after that its time to decide which race im going to Cross-Train into-either Minmatar or Amarr..or do i want to fly a Rapier or a Curse/Pilgrim more?

Either way im putting Ajax into some kind of Hibernation and plan on not flying it as my main for a while.
Two main reasons are-its Kill/Loss ratio is horrendous-im fed-up of either getting called Primary or making a tiny,momentary error(when in the Falcon) and being instapopped! and the other is the Kuklinski toon is at last properly trained to be flying Battlecruisers around(Drake)-after about a year of skilling-no joke!……T2 HAMs and all support skills to L4/5-aye…..Shield and Cap/Fitting skills all at L5-aye….Thermodynamics-aye and i been liking flying this thing around recently…its been racking up the Kills..solo and in Gang and hasnt had a loss in a few months…..these Boats are tough when fitted right and even with Disrupt and Web…..speed?…i couldnt believe it the other day when i had it running at almost 1600m/s with an Overloaded MWD.5 light ECM Drones have never let me down-hell they even jammed an Armageddon BS recently….20 seconds at least of removing incoming DPS from your target-plan on getting the most out of these before the inevitable Nerf-have seen more and more of the “anti-ECM” whines re-appearing on forums of late-Falcon got smashed by the power of the whinging multitude-now its “ecm drones” are overpowered…..one ECCM module on their boats would more than likely render the Drones useless….after all im dropping any Drone DpS for a flight of 5 “maybe theyll work” drones.
Ive found a great niche for the Boat as well which has worked perfectly the two times ive tried it-its a great Falcon Killer!Both times ive set myself up as Bait solo and waited when i knew there was a Red(small!) gang in the area with Falcon support.
Off comes the Web and Scram and a PDU2-on goes 2 ECCM Mods in the free mids and another in the free low-voila..now i have the Sensor Strength greater than a Carrier!!(see earlier post to see why this important ).Out come the HAM launchers and on go the HMLs so i can hit out to 75k and im good to go…..make like a ratter..kill a few sanshas…leave some wrecks lying around or hover around a gate and wait.Two times ive tried this and both its worked great…get engaged by the attack boats(usually Hacs/Intys/AFs-the usual roming red set ups)…soak up the DPS and wait for the Falcon to uncloak.Max. trained and well fitted Falcons Optimal is 74k…go figure…he going to be within range of the Heavies…..boom..2 or 3 Volleys and its dead-by the time the fist volley hits numbers 2+3 are just a couple of seconds behind(Rapid Launch 5 ftw).Then its either gate jumping games while the Drake soaks up the DPS or out go the ECM Drones to break point and warp away.
No doubt ill get caught sometime and wont be able to break point or more Reds will join in and pound me to bits but if i can trade a Drake for a Falcon each time id still be happy.
Still liking the HAMs with Navy Explosive Shells tho’.
Ive tried Dual boxing a couple of times and have given up on it.Way too risky-the last Drake i lost was because of this-and i almost lost the 2 Boats(a Drake and a Torp. Raven) to a solo Curse!!!Shouldnt have lost the Drake either but the alt-tab between the 2 screens was just a disaster and i got the Raven away by a hair but had to sacrifice the Drake.
Having said that have had a bit of success with some slight modification to dual-boxing with the HAM Drake and the Scorp.Ive set up 150km tacs.at all the Gates from Mista to Mamet and fitted a Cloak on the Scorp.Sit the Drake on the gate…and wait.Engage anything Cruiser sized and Up…..give it 30seconds to a minute to draw the target off the gate while fighting(or kill it before it Burns back to gate(Cruisers)….let the Drake take a pounding so he gets confident then uncloak the Scorp.-Jam and win!!-or warp out if its some mega buffered bastard!

Liking the look of the Navy Scorp.-bah! to CCP for NOT making it a better ECM BS(i mean..c’mon wtf!) but its potential Tank is pretty amazing even with a Target Painter and Webber-just scraping 200k Buffer and throws out same DPS as a Torp. Raven but at shorter range(18km compared to 25)-hence Webber.650 mill unrigged!
Was going to go Tengu(after all i can build them now ) but have decided against it and with profits from 1st batch of T3 Hulls ill be picking up my Navy Scorp.
Gate/Station Brawler ftw

Sooo…possibile move afoot for AuF-with or without AoV.Wont say too much on the topic.Can see the reasons for the move especially for majority of the Corp.-have a few concerns-dont want to leave current Alliance……big thing i concerned about is TZ Difference.At start of this year i was able to get on with most of my Corp. pretty often during the U.S. TZ-was lucky with work schedules somehow but more and more of late this has become more difficult and i can maybe manage 1 day a week sometimes 0 when i can be on for a few hours during U.S. TZ and have found myself often only being able to log in during the Evenings here when most others are finishing up or are long logged-off.
Can get by in Providence up to a point where i mostly have to go out solo-move to another area and have to do the same as an unknown or a Red in a NBSI area…..i see problems!
Will see what happens eventually then i guess itll be decision time for me myself.Options are i s’pose-(apart from staying with the Corp.)-join another Blue Provi Corp.(meh)-stay as a Neutral(yeuch)-or try join either -AAA- or UK or the like-any of the Red Corps. that run through Providence.Of the three the last would be most appealing-at least (most) of my old mates will be out of area and would be great fun i think in tearing up the areas(and Boats) i know and have grown to disdain.
Other option is to join an Australian/NZ Corp. or Alliance…..i know that always in back of my mind that ive had a semi-back-up plan in case something like this happened(or Corp. broke-up/whatever)….join our old pals “Assisted Genocide”!!…the offer was there a while ago from these lads(all Australian).
Dont know yet-dont really WANT to know yet!!

Few new pilots in Corp.of late-always a good sign.Maybe the move to a new area will be a great experience for them-depends on what they expect/want.
Hmmm…depressing writing/reading.

What shall i end with?

I know……train to use ECM Drones lads!!!!!You wont regret it…….and…i wantz my Medal!!

More later no doubt-definitely quicker than 4 months-only hope its all good!

Dont judge a “Rook” by its cover…..(groan!).

Well-i have been working a lot these past 10 days and have hardly been able to get online during the same times as the American contingent-its been late evening into the early hours of the morning down here in Sydney-Nlor has been on a couple of times and spent an hour or two flying around with Zee up round the Providence/Catch border area.
Zee has decided to leave Aurelius and ill be sad to see him go-genuinely-even tho’ you mostly communicate through typing away i always thought he a good fella and you’d get a good vibe.On our wee tour he was telling me a little why he was thinking of moving to another Corporation-one that is based closer to the Border area than Aurelius-wholly in 0.0 space(Aurelius’ AoO encompasses a few low-sec systems before you hit 0.0 which can be very frustrating as its not ideal for PvP unless you sitting in well buffered Battleships or Battlecruisers as defence against Sentry guns).Anyways-i think im right in surmising that he is looking for more frequent “Corp/Gang/Fleet Combat Ops.”…..when i was flying with him the day before he left and he explaining it to me he was making a lot of sense about his reasons and i wish him all the best right up in the trenches.

When i have been on its been the very late evenings down here in Australia so there been no-one on from Aurelius except Nlor a couple of times-i tried some plexing-did some ratting….meh!…i spent best part of two years doing that and i cant face it anymore except when i need a fast injection of isk…so i have decided to go all out and commit to PvP for the next few weeks at least.Since joining AuF and moving to 0.0 i have found myself involved in PvP on a fair few occasions-some alliance and Corp. roams but nothing regular..either its the TZ thing working against it or the W space expedition took me out of the area for a good long time…i would take the Falcon on solo roams round the active systems but this was always just Recon. work-making warp points-figuring out how the ship flies..getting used to jumping through Gate Camps…watching other engagements while cloaked to see what was what but it definitely think its something you need to do regular and not just be a dilletante…practice-learn from mistakes-learn what works.
Sooo…how i been doing?
Up until yesterday i thought i was doing GREAT!!….first solo kill!!-well,i didnt get the KM but im treating it as my 1st solo!…in Citadel had a report of a solo red attacking a Ratter in system GN7…the Blue guy lost his Battlecruiser by the time i got there but there was info. that the Red had jumped to the next system F-DTOO a system i know well and knew that it was a dead -end so i set up on the gate to F-DTOO in GN7 and waited.I had no intel on what Boat the Red was flying but was expecting something like a Vagabond.After a couple of minutes i saw the gate flash and the Red appeared on my overview panel….amazingly he had landed about 5000m away from where i was stationed so i hit lock and had him snared and Warp Scrambled in seconds- and amazingly not a Vaga but a Taranis Interceptor..as i realised this guy was gonna be fast i hit the MWD and started moving towards him trying to keep him in my 9000m Scram range…hit my Jammers….sent out the Drones…and started launching Navy Heavies at him……………ehhhhh hold on?….Navy Heavies on a Falcon??!!….you lying scumbag Ajax-now i know you making this up you noob.
Ahhh…did i forget to telll you about my new Boat?-i finally bit the bullet and got myself a ROOK.Anyway-more on that later.

So yeah-the Taranis was heading for the scrapyard..i lost warp scram at one point for a few seconds but the pilot mustnt have realised it and i was able to close again and re-tackle him.He was Scrammed Jammed Droned and Shelled and i hadnt taken a single hit.
Why didnt i get the KM?….when the ‘Ranis was in about 20% structure another Blue appeared on the gate in a Pilgrim-he let loose his drones and got the KM after doing something like 100 damage…same thing with the pod..i had the pod scrammed and the buggers drones took that as well.At the time i dont think he even realised it and i certainly didnt..got a “GJ:)” message from the blue in local but was only after a couple of minutes and an empty combat log box that the penny started to drop.
Anyways-I’M counting it as my first solo so yous can all get stuffed!!
For a few minutes i thought about Convoing the Blue guy and calling him a poaching sonofabitch-he also from LFA which as an Alliance i cant be doing with as a rule-but thought that would show a distinct lack of decorum and on checking out the Blues bio and record i saw that he didnt even have ANY kills at all-not even blobs-so looks like this was his first ever.
As for the Ratter losing a BC to a Taranis?….this Red Pilot was no noob-he has somethin like 700+ kills and 100 losses and the BC guy was exclaiming in local later that his BC “wasnt set up for PvP!”
-I laughed.

Now…the Rook.Its a Blackbird on Steroids.
5 Launcher slots-7 Mid slots and 3 Lows.5 heavy Missile Launchers…a full rack of Racial Jammers(4-one for each race) Large Shield Extender,Invulnerability Field
(or Warp Scrambler),Microwarpdrive,BCU2,Signal Distortion Amp. and a PDS2(bah!!-gonna have to get advanced weapon upgrades to lvl 4 or 5 so i can drop this and get another Amp or BCU in).
I have been resisting getting one of these boats for a few months now-figuring i wanted to focus solely on ECM and the Falcon but as i told in my last post i am getting seriously jaded with Miss Falcon and her delicate ways-so i thought what the hell ill try the Rook.As of today ive had one 4 days and been in on 6 kills with it.
I love this boat!!
Ahem-ok i gotta own up now-i have lost 2 in 4 days too! hahaha.
However,in my defence only one of those losses i feel i can be blamed for-i went to the aid of another Ratter in Ziriert System who was being attacked by a solo Pilgrim-i got to the belt at 50km and immediately slammed a Jam on the Pilgrim,broke his locks and the Ratter was able to warp off to safety….now…defender of the weak and foolish job done i should have just warped off myself buuuut…i was 50km from this guy and feeling Ballsy-after all a Pilgrim isnt a Curse right?!I started hitting him with Heavies and his Shields pretty much melted and then started pounding on his armour which although wasnt melting i could see it was going down at a respectable rate…i had him Jammed but started to think…this guys just gonna warp off…so i hit the MWD and started burning the 50km towards him-BIG Mistake…as i approached i could see he had his drones out-out go mine too but i figure im well enough tanked to survive especially if i keep laying on the damage he not gonna last too long….he doesnt warp off and i get to 9000m and fire up the Warp Scrambler….now 50km MWD eats up your Cap and i noticed i was down to a 1/4 Cap left-not great but hey…this guys perma-jammed and if it goes bad ill just warp off ok…then in an instant i see my Cap disappears completely…huh?….the Jammers all close down and i find myself locked and Scrammed…wtf??!……Neutraliser Drones!!!!….whether ive just fcuked up so bad and handed myself on a plate and this guy cant believe his luck or as soon as he saw me MWD he knew i was giving him a golden opportunity i dont know but whatever-im dead in the water….reaching him with 1/4 Cap left has let his drones drain me out in record breaking time….with no Jam he turns whatever weapons he has on me and just pummels me into scrap.
Needless to say since then i have re-adjusted my overview settings to now show “FFS AJAX ITS THOSE NEUTRALISER DRONES GTFO!!!!!!!!!!”

Fair and square i messed up there-not a bleedin’ word of thanks in Local or Convo. from the neut. ratter whos ass i saved neither…grrrr!!!
The second Rook to go down…hmmmmm….i kinda think i gonna shovel some of the blame onto an unknown blue here(probably an LFA guy lol)…to keep it short engaged a Crusader on a gate in QBL system and i knew there was a blue gang on the other side…a couple of volleys of Heavies knocked the Crusader into 1/2 armour(the Rooks lock times are astounding) but he warped off..i let the aggro timer expire and jumped through the gate to where this blue gang was stationed.A minute later the Crusader jumps through….someone in blue gang lets up a Bubble….everyone is caught inside this bubble as id stayed cloaked after jumping-checking out the Blue gang composition and watching Citadel………….then the system spikes with Reds entering from another gate…in seconds there are at least 8 or 9 Red ships pounding away and im stuck uncloaked in the bubble….i figure that i was called Primary as i know i have 4 boats jammed at one time but the boat lasts maybe 15-20 seconds as i take damage from the rest.
Ah well…C’est La Guerre.

Soo…im seriously liking this Boat when all is said and done-as long as im careful about what targets i go after-to fit the Scram i have had to drop something from a mid-slot which so far has been the Invulnerability Field but a change in my thinking from “this is a Falcon with Launchers” to “this is a Cerberus with ECM” has seen me drop the Inv. Field,Signal Distortion Amp and the 2 Particle Projector Rigs for a small (0.4 something) drop in Jammer strength and around a 10km drop in Optimal and replace them with a DCU2 an EM Shield Rig and a Bay Loading Accelerator Rig to almost double my EHP and ramp up my missile spamming goodness even further …. with anything Cruiser sized and below i will probably have a go at solo-Curses and Pilgrims are a no-no as far as i am concerned for now! but i am desperate to snag me a Rapier..i hate those little fckers so will probably fire up on one of them whenever i see one without thinking things through first!
-and die.
Recon 5 finishes in 4 days time which gives me ANOTHER 30% boost to ECM Jammer strength to take it just under 14.0 then its Thermodynamics for overloading and another 20% bump to the Jammers and then the Advanced Weapon Upgrades for about 15 days so i can drop that PDU2 and get the SDA fitted again.The very last ECM skill i can train to 5 would take me 27 days and give something like a 0.45 increase in Jammer strength-i’d like to go for it just so i can truly say “i AM maxed out” but its not worth it atm.
Im supposing after that i should train T2 Heavy Missiles-its only somethin like 8 days training time-for a Caldari Pilot i suppose not having T2 Heavies sounds like insanity but once id got into a Battleship i just skilled up all the Missile Support and Targetting skills to mostly 5s and left the Heavies on the shelf for Cruises and Torps.
With faction shells i get respectable DPS and i have been reading that in fact Faction shells in practice are better than T2 due to having better “explosion radius” or something(i know what it is and how it works just cant remember the exact term atm)…the T2 launchers ROF bonus is the only reason i can see for training but again in practice my support skills are almost so complete that i can spit these Heavies out at a hell of a rate with a “Limos” Launcher-”Arbies” are just too expensive for the rate at which i go through boats!- and once Recon 5 is done the secondary role bonus is gonna see the Shells ranging out to approx 120km………Anti-Falcon Rook anyone??

There been a few other engagements during the week pre-Rook….Falcon jammed a couple of targets that went bang and amazingly survived!.Took the Scorpion out solo and had a great time…its a great Boat too….tried to save ANOTHER ratter from an Ishkur but was just too late…got a jam on the Ishkur let him come to me..i think he was going to have a serious pop at me with his Drones…let him get to 25km then set all 3 T2 Heavy Neuts on him….he fled.Same thing with a Vagabond-spoke with the Vaga pilot in local and he was liking it a lot….definitely a WTF! moment for him…sucked him dry in seconds.Mind you later on i lost the Scorp. at a gate-because of a Curse and a Rook…kudos to the 2 Pilots tho’…they got me really good….the Curse musta had an ECCM module active as i had 5 jammers on him and not one would fire-my own ECCM was saving me from the Rooks jamming attempts but the Curse was doing a good job of draining my Cap-i fired up my 3 Heavy Neuts on him but as the cycle came to its end i panicked at how low my own cap was getting and turned them off-although they awesome Mods they are very Cap Heavy….if id let them continue another cycle i have a feeling the Curse itself woulda been drained-as it was he drained me…lost my ECCM module-Rook was then able to Jam me out-Cerberus appeared and i was subjected to a lengthy pounding by all 3 and a couple more that were there…prolly a Rapier!!!!!

Lesson for the week?

Stay the fcuk away from Curses and Pilgrims.

WTB-Curse.

Sink the Bismark.

How long ’til Amarr Cruiser 5!!??

Engaged a Carrier for the first time today-a Thanatos whilst in an Alliance fleet led by Varian.Its not something ive often considered being as how havent seen TOO many of them up close or involved in any skirmishes so far-and i have mixed feelings about this engagement.I was in the Falcon again stationed one jump away from the System where engagement took place and after it had started got the ok to jump in and move to engage.Voice comms was pretty frantic so had to take an educated guess at a warp in point and headed for Varian…got lucky as arrived and targetted the Carrier at 68km-6km under my Optimal range of 74km.2 other hostile boats were prominent too-both Battleships,an Amarr Armageddon and a Minmatar Typhoon but i had to focus on the Carrier-the Gallente Thanatos.
Fortuitously i had fitted 2 Gallente ECM jammers on the Falcon-whenever i fit the Boat i always have the full set of Racial Jammers plus one extra which is taken either by the jammer for ships i KNOW i will encounter or failing that i do tend to go with an extra Gallente one.I used to fit an extra Caldari jammer in case i run into another Falcon but nowadays i fit an anti-Falcon ECCM module instead-rather than attempting the battle of lock times and skill level with another Falcon i figure to ramp up my own sensor strength and make him work twice as hard for his jams.
In the back of my mind i was recalling info. i had read about Carriers and was aware that they have a huge Sensor Strength compared to the boats you would normally consider engaging-the Thanatos’ is 76-this number is important as it directly affects your chance of getting a succesful jam-to put it in some kind of perspective the Armageddon Battleship has a Sensor Strength of 17!!
Each ECM module has a specific strength assigned to it based on your ECM support modules(e.g.-Signal Distortion Amplifiers) and Skill level-mine currently stands at just over 12-increased through the above from a base value of 3.6-and trust me that has taken months to jump it those few digits!-now your chance of succesfully jamming a target is based on a few things but in the main these are-Jammer strength(12.0something)…whether you are within Optimal range(74km)…whether you are using the correct “Racial” jammer on the target e.g. a Gallente Jammer(Magnetometric) on a Gallente Boat..the Sensor Strength of the target comes into play-without getting bogged down-if the Sensor Strength of the target is say here 12 or less then i have a 100% chance of negating the effect of the targets Sensor Strength and conversely the % chance decreases the more the targets Sensor Strength is higher than the Jammer Strength(12+).
Pretty straightforward-looking at it so far you would suppose that any boat you target within your optimal that has less Sensor Strength than 12 you would be able to jam them permanently 100% of the time and anything over 12 your % chance diminishes the higher the gap gets-but theres the final factor to consider-on top of all this ECM Jammers have a random chance factor thrown in as well-just for good measure-so its impossibile to say Skill up and fit your boat-then carefully choose targets you know you can “overcome” as there is this random aspect involved too.
Sooo..back to the Thanatos with its whopping 76 Sensor Strength…here it goes as i fire up 4 Jammers-the 2 Gallente and 2 other Racials as well-though these have a way less chance of getting a succesful jam the Thanatos is Primary and luck just might be on my side.
Straight away i get a succesful jam on the Carrier!..i know now that ive broken any locks he had on fleet members and he wont be able to begin re-targetting for 20 seconds at least…i hear a call on voice to jam the Armageddon so i break one jammer off the Carrier(my Amarr RADAR) jammer and am lucky in that i need to wait only a few seconds before i can reactivate it on the ‘Geddon-great,another succesful jam-1 Jammer-1 Battleship out of the engagement.
The ‘Geddons Sensor Strength is only 17 so you can see the odds are stacked with me on getting and maintaining a succesful jam on this guy-the overall % is with me.
So thats 2 targets jammed and the Typhoon is not firing on me and im receiving no calls to jam him-im hoping that no-one is taking enough grief from him to warrant it.

The first 20 second jamming cycle on the Carrier comes to an end..i have 3 jammers on him..the 2 Gallente and my Caldari-ive kept my Minmatar jammer inactive so far in case i get a call to go for the Typhoon too-2nd cycle starts…no jam..the odds are stacked against me here.. the Carriers got 20 seconds respite where he can begin targetting again….the 2nd cycle on the Amarr jammer targetting the ‘Geddon kicks off-hes jammed again!
Now my nerves start to tremble-is that Carrier going to target me or someone else during the next 20 seconds-im not taking any damage as the cycle comes to an end…i need a succesful 3rd cycle on the Carrier but it doesnt happen-the 2 Magnetometric jammers just arent enough to keep this guy jammed-the % doesnt add up in my favor even having a “double” chance-so he’s free again for another 20 seconds.Dammit i throw the inactive Minmatar jammer onto him as well-but to be expected it cant get it done.3rd cycle on the ‘Geddon and he’s jammed again.All 5 jammers are going now but i see my shields start to disappear and see ive been snagged by a Minmatar Rapier thats come into view-on the overview id thought momentarily that it was the Typhoon but no..its this damn Rapier-i hate these boats..if id care to check back my lossmails im sure id find that these things have caused me the biggest amount of grief so far.
Now i get a sense of my mistake in firing up that last Minmatar jammer on the Carrier-i switch it off but theres at least another 15 seconds to go before the cycle ends and i can reactivate it on the Rapier-it turns into a matter of whether my Shields and Armor can last 15 seconds while hes throwing out damage-the other option is to warp out-i momentarily decide i want another go at the Carrier and want to keep that Armageddon jammed up but see sense and hit align to one of the Gates in System-ive hesitated too long though and im Scrambled.Shields disappear and the Armor shrinks VERY fast-just as im into Structure i hit the Minmatar jammer onto the Rapier and it fires-he’s jammed….but im too late-Drones are out and on me-much as i would like it to be so although he cant hit me with his Cannons his Drones are engaged with me independently and they chew through the structure in a second-maybe 2.Just before the Boat goes Bang i look at the Jammers-i THINK i see that the Carrier was jammed again on the 4th Cycle and same with the ‘Geddon but i surmise its moot as dont imagine the jam cycle will last when the Falcon is no longer present.

All done in just over 60 seconds from start to finish.
Wake up in Amarr Emperors-again!-im extremely glad i didnt install any implants after my last podding.

Now-i said i had mixed feelings about this incident but more specifically its about the Falcon.When i started Skilling up ECM warfare it was because thats what Caldari boats are specialized in-support roles,specifically ECM and the Falcon was without peer.Since then its capabilities were smashed with the last Expansion-its optimal range was obliterated from 150km+(more with good skills) to way down around 60km base-with Skilling up ive got the Optimal to 74km and thats a miniscule improvement for each level trained up on various skills as well as fitting 2 Rigs to increase it as well.As it is now-if you want to be at your optimal range-and facing multiple targets you need to be-within a matter of seconds you are within range of aggressors and as you can see from above the process is very much a matter of seconds count.
Of the 3 other ECM Boats i fly-the Kitsune-a T2 Frigate!!- has an optimal Range of 79km…the Blackbird(the T1 Cruiser) has an Optimal of 100km and the Scorpion(T1 Battleship) has an Optimal of 122km-all of them dont have the Jam Strength of the Falcon-Kitsune is around 10.5-Blackbird 9.5 and Scorp 9.9(but has much more flexibility in fitting)-but im starting to get the idea that all the jam strength in the world is no good if you are gone in less than a minute.

When i consider the Rapier that snared me this time-i made a mistake in firing the Minmatar jammer i was keeping in reserve on the Carrier and that gave him time to snare and kill me but another 10-15 seconds breathing space would probably have saved me-whether those seconds bought by being at a greater distance..the extra 25km or so i wouldve had with the Blackbird or by having some Buffer(and distance) with the Scorpion-Its possibile to modify my fitting on the Falcon and drop that extra Racial jammer or maybe the ECCM and stick in some Shields but im loathe to do so and to my mind very much gimping the boat-this a 90million isk specialized boat-and i would sooner go with a 3 million isk Blackbird with approx. same “resists” or a 50 million Scorpion which has Shields/Resists that are actually worth something.
So whats next?

Nothing until ive broken out my Probing gear…sneaked my way down into 0.0 without hitting any Gate Camps…and run a dozen or so decent plexes and made some ISK…there only so many boats and so much loot stashed away that you can go trawling around the universe to pick up and sell before the well runs dry.

And i need to pay for that Curse somehow.

LuftMorder.

Sooo..my planned total hiatus isnt going as smoothly as i figured.The alliance and hence Aurelius Fed. is at war..i think it became active not 3 or 4 days into my holiday…whats a fellow to do?…sit idly by whilst your comrades are slaughtered by the merciless aggressor..stand and watch while they pillage and loot all that you hold dear?….or break out the rusty old armour and ride out to defeat the foe?………actually so far its been a bit of a damp squid..theres less than 10 “targets” and maybe a 1/3rd of them have already left their Corporation!
Be that as it may i have gradually been sucked back in the last two days…yesterday i broke out all my Manufacturing and Invention gear and decided to start up a few jobs..will knock out some Caldari Elite Frigates…a nice little earner if i can run out a couple of dozen or so and sell them on the open market in low-security and today logged in to see if there any war action happening..none…and got roped into two different “roams” around the neighbourhood.First one passed without incident..i was a latecomer to this and really just tagged along for the last 45 minutes…i almost took out the Scorpion for its first “action”(in Empire space anyway) but boated up without checking what the rest of the fellas were flying and took the Falcon as this can do two things…ECM Jamming and Recon work because of its ability to warp while cloaked up…wish id taken the Scorpion tho’ as when i arrived at the System the rest were at i saw that Cmdr GAT had brought a Falcon too and was doing the Recon thing.
The Scorpion is Battleship sized hull but i guess any pretensions at being a mighty death-dealer halt right there.Its a pure Electronics platform with 8 Middle slots for fitting the tools of your trade.All well and good…ECM Jammers..yawn…couple of Shield extenders just for psychological reasons and a Gravimetric ECCM module in case i run into any nasty Falcons with a top-skilled pilot.Its the High slots that im dying to fire up for real…3 T2 Heavy Energy Neutralisers and 3 Large Smart Bombs..i desperate for a couple of Interceptors to burn towards me and try snagging me..if some drones get tossed out too id be a happy fellow.

But, i never took it…and the next “roam” was as part of a “Stealth Bomber” gang…oh my!…i could certainly have done with the Scorp. on this one…….

5 of us set off from our home systems in Stealth Bombers..i took the Manticore..a great little boat that ive had some fun with and has got me out of a couple of tight situations when i have it set up for speed/recon stuff but this was a bombing roam so it was on with the bomb launcher and load up the torpedoes.Its pretty straightforward to set up except when it comes to a couple of the 4 mid-slots..a microwarpdrive for sure..a target painter for the Torpedoes…i go with a Sensor Booster with Res. Script for fast lock times as you dont want to be hanging around in this thing then the 4th..hmmm.I did have a small shield extender fitted but mainly because it was just a not-thinking fitment..someone suggested a Sensor Dampener which is a possibility but then i thought about fitting an ECM Burst module..something ive never considered before being as how they generally suck compared to the regular targetted ECM Jammers range wise.But, on checking out the Info. and “EFTing” it i saw that with my “Splendid” ECM skills i get a very nice increase(50%) in its optimal range and its strength goes up by more than a 1/3rd….what do i want it for?…in case any interceptors burn to me super fast and lock me down..i figure that with range out to 15km or so and strength just under 10.0 im gonna have a decent chance of breaking any lock from a burning overshooting Interceptor and being able to high-tail it..probably with about 10 % structure remaining but i should get away.
A journey of about 11 or 12 jumps took us to the System HED-GP….haha the first time i ever went into this system my bowels nearly opened there and then.You go from the relative emptiness of 0.0 space..maybe pass one or two “Blue” gate camps on the way…and all of a sudden Local is full of “Reds”..10..20…30…40..omg more.
This time it was no different tho’ there was the added bonus of jumping through the gate into a bubble with around 10 red boats(that you could see) sitting round waiting for the unwary or the foolish.One by one we go through..jump..align..cloak…realign..start burning towards the outside of the bubble keeping an eye out for cans,wrecks and the red Vagabonds burning around.With luck all of us made it through unscathed tho’ we had to watch as a friendly pilot came through just after us and was snared..ship destroyed and podded.
A warp over to the only other gate in system and it was 10 minutes to get ourselves all positioned ready for launching a salvo of bombs at whatever juicy targets presented themselves.10 minutes…20…30…40…50…nada…nothing worth opening up on….we were literally seconds from engaging a Taranis that spent 10 minutes orbiting the gate…apparently whilst he Red to us he also Red to the Locals so he was baiting them…..then the bugger jumped through the gate after leaving a cargo can with a message for the natives.
By this point we had been joined by the pilot who had previously got podded in the bubble..Midnight Wyvern rolled him into our fleet and he ended up on station with us in his Stealth Bomber too.
NolDevin went to have a look at the Bubbled gate..the Bubble was down and there only 4 Reds present uncloaked..wrecks and cargo cans were scattered all around but it seemed like there was at least 2 boats we might have a chance of taking down with a bomb volley so it was all warp over and get in position.Unfortunately one of those things happened which..how can i put it….suck.Right on the cusp of engaging i see NolDevins Boat uncloak so im off with the cloak too and let fly an Electron Bomb…but NolDevins uncloaked by default..hes disconnected and his Boats done so automatically..hes not there to launch.Hes just off to my port side(or was) and the 2 Reds are burning to the spot at thousands of m/s..now im in their direction of travel so its easy for them to get a lock on me in seconds..aha i thinks..im gonna be fine as i hit the ECM Burst then start hitting warp..but no..im not going anywhere and the Manticore just melts around me.
I wake up in Amarr Emperor(2nd time this month!) to the sounds and reports one after another of the rest of the Squad getting laid out-tho’ the fellow who joined us shot down someone with a single Scorch Bomb…those who saw it said it was very well done.

Soo..i not too sure about the efficacy of this ECM Burst module..because the boat melted in seconds i couldnt really tell if it was working correctly..whether the Intys were in range or not or because it the first time ive even fitted one whether its “Burst” comes at the beginning or end of activation.

Oh aye..and looking at the Killmail what did i see also involved in my demise…a bloomin’ Falcon pilot.

Someone loses an Eye.

What a time to start!

I figured to start another blog-used to have one ages ago- after reading often 2 others done by 2 fellas in Aurelius Federation both of which id been finding a good read for a few minutes here and there.

Aurelius Federation?-a Player Corporation in the MMORPG EvE Online-heres a link if you somehow came across this and dont have the faintest idea

http://www.eveonline.com/

Anyways…i have 6 days off work-i still have almost a full years leave entitlement to take and the year is drawing to a close so need to “use it or lose it” so a while ago spied an opportunity to string together some days..got my request in before anyone else and “huzzah”-6 days off(unless i get called in-which the way things have been is not unlikely-PLAN:dont answer the ‘phone!

Now; i had it in my mind to spend a few days in EvE due to some big in-game procedures that needed doing-namely the dismantling of a “Station” that was built by and paid for by myself and “Rayth Phaenor” my colleauge in Aurelius and the searching out of another empty system to build a bigger one.Rayth had done the majority of the searching last time around and found exactly what we were looking for-the searching is a long and occasionaly tedious process with sometimes brief periods of danger but this time round,with a  wedge of free time i figured to have a good ol’ crack at it.But…..

“The best laid schemes o mice an’ men

Gang aft agley”

No matter how well or hard we plan for something our plans can often fail to become reality..or worse,they can end up going terribly wrong…(for all you non-scots).

So what happened then?-in a nutshell the Station we had built in a “Wormhole” system was looted by another player from Aurelius and 5 Battleships and tens of dozens of “Ship fitting Modules” were stolen.Rayth,Nlor Rath and Sarah Tuttle each had a Raven class boat stolen along with the fittings and i lost a “Scorpion” class as well as my pride and joy a “Navy Raven” Battleship which is worth more than the the other 4 combined-along with some very expensive fittings which id just recently bought following the first profits from our venture into this “wormhole” project.In some ways the theft of the boats while being a real downer didnt hit as hard as the plundering of the heap of ship fittings which were also taken-these had been brought in so that any visitors to our project and more specifically any newer players perhaps without much “ISK” to spare or inexperienced in fitting their Boats adequately for the rigors of “W-space” could fit appropriately without having to spend huge amounts on fittings.Most of these Modules i had gathered over the past couple of years and was worth at a conservative estimate 150 million ISK..not sooo much in the scheme of things but somehow their value was in more than what they “worth”…..Now,total loss to me-over 1 billion isk and that including my main means to “earn”-the Navy Raven-result?-im broke!True i have several hundred million ISK tied up in the actual “Station” itself but beyond that we had ploughed all our liquid assets into setting up this whole expedition…the aim of which wasnt to “make us rich” but has a surprise purpose(if we get back our investment, cover expenses and tick over in earning as much as we would have by doing “normal” activities we be doing well at the end of it all…or at least that the aim before these events!).

Dismantling the project(Station) and selling it off to go liquid again is not an option-myself and Rayth are too far down the line with too much time and effort(specific skill training) done to close it up-to factor in the lost time/effort in ISK terms would probably triple our losses this week as well as remove the opportunity for Sarah and Nlor to get back on top and replace their Boats-if you looking to make pure ISK then w-space is the place to be for effort/reward-at least for regular guys like us without years invested in Uber-production or claims to the most lucrative plexing/mining areas.Anyhows….what to do now??

Pretty much since the start of the expedition ST and Nlor have been involved daily and say they have been enjoying the whole thing and for sure have been invaluable in the whole project so far..whether it been Gas Mining,Ore Mining, Plexing,Salvaging,Hauling or Scanning.They going to stay involved with the move to a higher class system…and as it turns out i couldnt have wished for anything better(except maybe “Vhero Min” getting hit by a train in RL!!).The whole theft thing has left a very bad taste in my mouth-a mixture of disgust at the guy who did it and probably a dent to my pride too…like i said before the ship thefts i can ALMOST fathom but the looting of other stuff for some reason really gets to me….and it the lameness of the whole episode…a “Corp. theft” from a really tough nut to crack..ok..there maybe some “skill” in that and if succesful some “wow!” factor..infiltrating an “enemy” organisation and doing the same during a “war”…fair enough…but to thieve so much from such an easy target…and our ability to seek “vengeance” is almost 0 as far as i can see…the thief has been spreading disinformation  about who/what he is and his M.O. since the incident.

With ST and Nlor looking like they going to stay involved with the next progression i decided to take a break for a while….i plan to have a little input next week when one of my characters reaches a point where it can run some T3 Reverse Engineering jobs to obtain the specific Blueprints for  T3 ship systems that i responsibile for but beyond that i have two skills to train to Level 5 on both Ajax and Kuklinski which i have been wanting to start for a while but always delay due to other day-to day skill requirements.At the moment i do plan on returning after about a month-months subscription just went through after all…. i be watching Aurelius Forum in case there any War that breaks out in Providence and it becomes all hands on deck..apart from that its..off to the gym again!!…i been wasting away these last few months so much have i neglected it..and summer is just around the corner.

These two should ensure i return from my hiatus!

and lastly…i thought this was hilarious

http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1106502