A Big Cup of Frustration

First off, go to my buddy's blog (Planetary Genocide) and read about his most recent corp theft.  It is truly an epic tale of epic epicness!  That is real piracy boys and girls.

Now back to my story:

I had the most frustrating roam last night.  None of my mates were on the other night so I decided on a nice long solo roam.  I loaded up the trusty Stabber Fleet Issue (my current favorite ship) and headed out from Otou with no particular destination in mind.  I ended up in Hagilur.  This system seems to be home of an alliance called The Space Police.    They remind me of the old Roughnecks in Aeschee in that the system is always full but they are usually afk.

I noticed three ships ratting together in a belt.  It seemed to be a cruiser, destroyer, and a frigate.  Since I incredibly overconfident in my abilities and the Stabber, I decided to take them all on.  I knew I had to be quick so I could kill them before Space Police start undocking to help.  Unfortunately I landed just as they were warping off.  I chased them to another belt but they warped to a high sec gate and waited.  I noticed a couple of battleships showed up on scan so I realized I missed my chance and I left.

The next system (Aradr) had a harbinger running a mission or plex.  I scanned him down but when I warped to the mission, I landed too far off.  Even though the Stabber is wicked fast, he warped off and left system before I could get to him.

I decided to check out a little diamond formation of low-sec systems that connects with  Frerstorn.  My probe ship was able to scan down a Stabber Fleet running a mission.  In my excitement, I meant to fleet warp my main to him but I only warped my prober alt.  I landed next to a wreck and uncloaked.  I quickly warped Buck to the target and unassed my alt from the area.  While I landed quick enough to target him, my alt spooked him enough for him to warp out before I could get a point on him.  Goddamn it.  I left my cloakly alt on that spot for a while while Buck hid in another system hoping the Stabber come back but he never did.

*sigh*

After that I came across a Blackbird running a mission.  I probed him down and warped my main to him but I landed 40km off.  I overheated my MWD and sped towards him while praying to the gods.  Of course he warped off.  This was getting ridiculous.

At this point I vowed that I was not going to leave my PC until I either died from exhaustion or I freaking killed something.  If I had to fly into high-sec and suicide gank a shuttle in my faction ship, someone was going to die.  Hell I was even considering blowing up my alt.

I had left my alt at the mission site and Buck left system.  The Blackbird came back and resumed killing rats.  I bookmarked a wreck right next to him and warped my alt to the gate.  Buck jumped in and I fleet warped him to zero.  This time I was finally able to seal the deal.

While I don't consider this noob cruiser an epic kill, it was enough to let me log off and finally go to bed.  Hopefully next time I will have an easier time of it.  God I wish I had caught that Stabber Fleet Issue.

Time for a change

Well I am leaving The Tuskers.  It isn't something I have decided on easily.  There isn't anything negative about my desire to leave.  I've just been feeling a little restless lately and I recently got an offer to become a director with a new low sec pirate corp that is about to be created.

I've dropped my roles and started shuttling ships to my new home in Otou.  It's a bit like coming home again because that is where I really started exploring low sec.  It's great to be in a new region but still have a bunch of safespots already made. I'm really gonna miss The Tuskers but I hope this will be a great new start.  There will be more details posted about the new corp once we get everything up and running.  I'm well aware of the difficulties in starting from the ground up but you never know until you try.

Low Sec Mining Op = Great fun

Last night it was so dead around Hevrice that I decided to go on a 30+ roam to my old stomping ground in Otou.  I loaded up my Jag and headed out.  While enroute, I got tackled on a gate by a Ruppie.  Now normally I don't like fighting Ruppies in frig ships but I decided to give it a shot.  The fight was going pretty well and I was doing a good job of staying under his guns when a Dramiel showed up and started laying into me.  I decided that was a bad deal and deagressed.  I love my Jag.  The tank on it was more than enough to wait out my aggro timer and jump through.  Actually in looking back on how easily I tanked them, I probably should have continued the fight.

So I continued my roam and noticed a single system low sec pocket that was just two jumps away.  I thought maybe I might catch a ratter off guard so I decided to check it out quickly.  I jumped in system and hit D-scan finding nothing.  However the stargate was far center of system and there were a few people in local. So I warped to the top belt with the intent of doing a quick scan once I got in the middle of the cluster.

This was all done kinda half-hearted because I wanted to get back to my long roam and was only about half-way done.  Imagine my surprise when I landed right smack in the middle of a mining op being put on by the 101st E Company!  My overview showed a Retriever, Mammoth, Ferox, Hurricane, and Prophecy. The shock of it made me freeze up a second.  Then I had to double check to make sure I actually was in low-sec and didn't just mis-read the map.

With that confirmed, I locked the Retriever and started my orbit.  The BCs started targeting me but I was steady beating down the Retriever.  Then suddenly I lost my lock.  Damn they were using ECM drones.  With  my kill being thwarted, there was no reason to stick around so I overheated my AB and started spamming my warp button.  Soon I was safely across system and trying to catch my breath.  It had all happened so fast I was still processing stuff.  I realized that I had very little damage from being shot at by three BCs.  I did a little research on Battleclinic and noticed that all three pilots were about a year old but had horrible kill stats.  Hmm...

I sent my cloaky alt to check on the op and to my surprise they were all still there and were jetcan mining.  I guess they thought that they were safe since I had run out of there like a scalded dog.  My alt bookmarked the jet can and warped me to it.  I was prepared this time and had overheated my guns prior to landing.  I went in a quick orbit and the mining barge died before they could really even react.  Once again I overheated my AB and lit out.

I figured they would call the op at that point but apparently they really need that ore.  The Mammoth bailed along with the Ferox and Prophecy.  They then returned in a Drake, a Keres, and another Retriever.  Hmm....I guess they figured the Keres would jam my pants off and put an end to my silly game.  Unfortunately for them, the Keres has a horrible tank.  My alt watched for a while to find the best warp in point.  When the timing was right, I landed on top of the Keres and shredded it.  I warped back off but my alt noticed that the Retriever, Drake, and Cane didn't leave.  I warped back in and had a sense of deja vu.

That pretty much ended the op.  Thank you 101st E Company for a wonderful night.  There is nothing like picking off ships out from under their escorts and getting away without a scratch.  Makes me love this game.

Death by a Thousand Cuts

I was feeling pretty smug off my recent solo kill of a Navy Raven Issue.  Guess I was getting cocky.  There was a noobish T1 frigate gang roaming around Adirain the other night that consisted of three Rifters, two Punishers, and an Incursus.  My corpmate engaged them his own Rifter at a belt.  I figured my Stabber Fleet Issue would make very short work of them so I warped to the belt and jumped in the fight.

My buddy's Rifter died from all the fired but I fully expected to get a couple of kills out of it until the gang fled from the power of the Stabber Fleet Issue.  Then the ECM ships showed up.  There were two Griffins that pretty much jammed my silly.

What followed next was a slow death at the hands of a bunch of T1 frigs.  I will say that the Stabber's tank was dang good and it took them awhile to wear me down.  Unfortunately I was webbed and couldn't get away.  It was very frustrating because every time one Griffin would miss a jam, the other one was able to pick it up.  I ended up dying without a single kill.

Ah well. It was a very well done trap and I tip my hat at those guys.  I've seen a couple of them flying around the area and I look forward to engaging them again, minus the ECM ships though.

Rich Newbie

I had my most expensive solo kill the other night.  I am very proud of it.

I peeked my head in Kubinen just to see what was going on and I was very surprised to see a Raven Navy Issue on D-Scan.  Surely he would warp out once he saw a flashy -10 sec status pirate in local.  When he stayed on directional, I had my alt drop probes even though I fully expected him to flee as soon as probes showed up on scan.

He stayed put and I quickly got him scanned down.  My heart was pounding as I warped to him.  No way would he still be there.  Imagine my surprise when I landed in the middle of a bunch of wrecks and saw that beautiful Raven Navy Issue sitting there.  I started spamming the approach button and thanked the stars that I had a long point fitted.  Of course with his align time, I probably had plenty of time.

I locked him up and immediately started pounding him with RF EMP while using my dual neuts.  It actually took a couple of cycles before he responded.  I suspect that he was AFK and simply just tanking the rats.

The end was actually very quick (love you dual neuts) and satisfying.  My KB put the loss as 685 million.  Unfortunately the loot drop sucked.  The pilot warped off before I could lock his pod and disappeared from local without a single tear.  I was very surprised when I looked up the toon and saw that he was only about 1 and 1/2 months old.

How the hell does a newbie afford a half billion isk ship and not utter a peep when it goes pop?  His battleclinic page shows zero activity except for this loss.

While I don't have any proof, I suspect isk trading.  When I was a 1 1/2 month old character, I was scrambing to fit my rifter properly.  No way I could afford a faction battleship.  Hell, I can still barely afford it.
If he is earning isk legally, I sure would love to know his secret.

Well at least it gave me an awesome kill.  Thanks.

Greed Kills

One of the best tools for getting kills isn't a warp scram or a cloaking device.  Heck, it isn't even having a shiny ship.  The best tool is something that my opponent brings to the field.  That tool is greed.

I'm not a big fan of fair fights.  I like to choose my targets and attack when I think that the odds are overwhelmingly in my favor.  That means my target of choice is usually mission runners.  Sometimes they are easy to catch and sometimes they are extremely careful.  One thing that usually works in my favor though is the fact once a mission runner starts a mission, he really really hates to abandon it.

Take this guy for example. I warped into his mission as he was almost finished. I was too far from him and he warped off.  I exited the system and waited a couple of minutes.  Then I jumped back in and warped straight to the mission.  Sure enough, he was busy looting the wrecks.  I landed on top of him and it was all over.  In local he told me that he came back because he couldn't resist the loot in the wreck.

Then there is this fella. I stuck my head in this dead-end system and saw two destroyers working a mission together.  I warped in on them and one fled immediately.  The other one was too slow and died.  In local his buddy told me that he warned him that I was probably enroute to kill him but he took too long to kill that last rat.

Finally there is this victim.  I busted this mission in a Hurricane.  The target Drake warped off and docked up. I docked and came back out in my Stabber and warped back to the mission gate.  I figured that the pilot would be checking d-scan for my Hurricane and wouldn't be as suspicious about the cruiser.  Sure enough, he warped to the mission gate at 0km and was quickly pointed and killed.

I love greedy mission runners.

Speed Tanked Thoraxs and Gate Camps

It's been fairly slow for me the last couple of days.  I haven't had any decent kills and my area of space seems to be pretty empty.  Of course that doesn't stop the other Tuskers from racking up some incredible kills.  Lucky bastards.

I did come across a Thorax ratting in the Hevrice the other day.  I locked it and noticed that it was moving at a surprising speed for a Thorax.  Unfortunately for him I was in a Stabber Fleet Issue and he wasn't getting away.  I popped him pretty easily and found out why he was so speedy.  Four overdrives?  I guess this guy was trying to speed tank rats or something.

That is pretty much it for my adventures other than a huge gate camp I ran into the next day.  They popped my cane and then podded me.  I woke up on Costolle and headed back to Hevrice in an Ibis.  I ran into another gate camp in Hevrice and they blew up my Ibis and podded me again.  Two poddings in about 10 minutes.

That is when I rage logged for the night.