We found a fight almost instantly in MHC-R3 when I scanned a Ferox down on our out gate. I warped in for the tackle and called in support. By the time I landed there was also a Stabber Fleet Issue on grid. I burned away from the Stabber and tried to put damage onto him while the guys arrived. Upon landing we did our best to take out the Stabber but in the end had to withdraw from the field after Slotos’ Vexor was destroyed.

Once Slotos had reshipped, this time into a Brutix, we began to head along the pipe again. Our destination was DP34-U where several ships had been killed in the last hour. The journey down was pretty uneventful once we had evaded the camp on the 6E-578 gate. I tackled a travelling Tempest but it had warp core stabilisers fit and was able to warp away.

In XS-XAY I found an Arbitrator on the DP34-U gate. I made the tackle and called in the guys. The Arbitrator was melting so I took the damage off to allow my gang mates to get on the mail. As they arrived a Falcon and Vagabond jumped through. Fifteen minutes of warping in and out to avoid jams while trying to take down the Vagabond followed. At one point I managed to warp in right on top of the Falcon and put my damage and drones on it but he was able to jam me and warp off before I got him through half armour. Meanwhile Slotos was tackled and starting to leak into deep structure. With the Falcon gone Gilad and I were able to chase the Vagabond away from Slotos and he warped just in time. Now the Vagabond was starting to go down and it was time for the Falcon to warp in at long range and jam us again. I was able to warp out but Gilad was tackled by the Arbitrator which, by this time was in low structure. Just as I began to warp in to his aid he was able to destroy the Arbitrator and warp away. Despite landing unsupported I got away before the Vagabond could lock and scramble me.

With the gang sitting in a safe spot it was time to think about getting Slotos’ heavily damaged ship repaired. There is a station in 35-RK9 with a repair facility. I went ahead to scout and found an Astarte guarding the gate. I jumped through and the Astarte followed. In order to make it safe for Slotos to jump in I tried to kite the Astarte away from the gate but I was playing too free and easy with the range and he was able to get a scrambler on me. Local spiked and my Rupture was not long for this world.

The guys were alone now but I was able to help them navigate over Vent while they got docked up, repaired the damage, and got into an empty system to log off. At that point it was time to call it a night.

So, what makes logistics so much fun to fly? Well, just like flying interceptors, there is a lot going on when you’re in a Scimitar. Your primary job is obviously to keep your gang mates alive but in order to do this you need to stay alive yourself. During the heat of battle you have keep up with broadcasts for repairs, maintain your position whilst avoiding tacklers, and follow what’s going on so that you can keep up with the fleet.

For those that don’t know anything about flying logistics there are two logistics cruisers that particular stand out. The Scimitar is a shield repairer that follows the Minmatar design philosophy. It is great for skirmishing where speed and positioning are important and can keep up with fast nano gangs. On the other hand the Guardian follows the Amarrian school and is best fitted for large tank and huge repair potential. It is not very fast and relies upon teamwork to repair the incoming damage.

[Scimitar, Scimitar (MWD)]

Large S95a Partial Shield Transporter
Large S95a Partial Shield Transporter
Large S95a Partial Shield Transporter
Small Remote Armor Repair System I

Large Shield Extender II
Invulnerability Field II
Invulnerability Field II
Conjunctive Ladar ECCM Scanning Array I
10MN MicroWarpdrive II

Capacitor Power Relay II
Capacitor Power Relay II
Capacitor Power Relay II
Reactor Control Unit II

Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I

Light Shield Maintenance Bot I x4
Light Armor Maintenance Bot I x5

The key thing about the Scimitar is that it is fast (2 km/s) and manoeuvrable. It can keep up with fast nano gangs and by flying it like a Vagabond it can use its speed and signature to stay alive. Once a gang’s tacklers have been removed it can operate with relative impunity and leave the field when it is trouble. The biggest weakness of the Scimitar is, like all Minmatar ships, its capacitor. With the MWD active there is enough capacitor for 56s of repair but with the MWD off the ship is cap stable. Scimitars are mostly seen with nano HAC, sniper HAC, and shield battlecruiser gangs.

[Guardian, Guardian]

Large ‘Solace’ I Remote Bulwark Reconstruction
Large ‘Solace’ I Remote Bulwark Reconstruction
Large ‘Solace’ I Remote Bulwark Reconstruction
Large ‘Solace’ I Remote Bulwark Reconstruction
Large ‘Regard’ I Power Projector
Large ‘Regard’ I Power Projector

Y-S8 Hydrocarbon I Afterburners
Conjunctive Radar ECCM Scanning Array I

Reactor Control Unit II
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
N-Type Thermic Hardener I

Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I

Light Armor Maintenance Bot I x5

The Guardian is a very different beast to the Scimitar. It is slow and heavy but has the potential for an enormous tank. Because of its lack of speed it is best used fighting on gates and stations. In a running battle it is easy to outpace the Guardian and leave it unable to repair its gang mates. The Guardian relies on teamwork and needs a capacitor buddy in order to maintain its cap stability. Working in teams Guardians can be very effective and groups like Pandemic Legion and Rooks and Kings use them to great effect. Because it uses an afterburner the Guardian has a very low signature radius and when used in armour HAC gangs combined with a Loki and Legion providing gang bonuses they can provide an absolutely beastly tank.

Like many of the T2 cruisers in Eve, logistics ships on really shine when you have trained Logistics V. There is no reason that you can’t be effective with lower skill levels (dropping the ECCM for a Cap Recharger II for example) but if it is something that you enjoy doing I really recommend maximising your skills.

In this post I haven’t really mentioned the Oneiros (Gallente armour repairer) or Basilisk (Caldari shield repairer). Like the Scimitar the Oneiros is best used in skirmishing armour gangs but due to the speed of armour tankers and the current preference for afterburning HACs it is not seen very often. Cry Havoc use them effectively in small gangs, though. The Basilisk is the shield version of the Guardian. Because most shield tanking gangs rely on speed and range it is not often seen in combat although We Form Voltron use them effectively. The Basilisk is often used to help pump the shields of POSes and stations after they have been sieged.

If you want to try something different in a fight I highly recommend flying logistics. Sure, you don’t get the killmails but when you get a good fight you get a huge adrenaline rush as you try and keep up with all the repair requests coming at you. You are also the first people thanked at the end of a successful battle and you can really feel that the fight would probably not have been won without you.

Another lazy post, I’m afraid. There isn’t a huge amount to report from Catch. Rionnag Alba have our own constellation now and we’ve been working on getting its military index up so we can have juicy anomalies, complexes, and wormholes. I’ve done a bit of unsuccessful solo roaming and some small gang stuff. That’s about it, really.

Now I’m back, though, and we just got word from Manfred that its time to pack our bags and move South. We weren’t prepared for the invasion of the North. Everything had been rushed, we didn’t have objectives, and we lacked the FCs to mount a serious campaign. On top of that we’d also been slowly shedding some of our better PvPers and small gang FCs. So we’re heading back to Catch to lick our wounds, learn our lessons, train some FCs, and reset all but our closest friends. Hopefully the future involves roaming, fun, and far less burnout.

For us the Northern campaign was a failure but then nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Anyway, after a couple of weeks away I’ve logged back in, undocked, got shot at, shot at people, and docked up in the same ship I started in. Maybe soon I’ll have some stories to tell.

At least our allies were able to take advantage of the NC’s home defence effort to relieve them of sovereignty in 6GWE-A, E9KD-N, MI60-6, O-N8XZ, and C8-CHY as well as Ev0ke destroying the infrastructure hub in EC-P8R. So things could be far worse. Let’s see what we do next…

On Saturday morning I logged on and joined a fleet that had formed. We were taking battleships to a fight in KQK1-2 where we had a battle with the North at a POS. As downtime approached we made full speed back to X-7OMU, IT’s staging system in Pure Blind. At this point the weather outside was looking pretty nice and I decided to go and make the most of it while it lasted. We had an important CTA planned for Sunday and I wanted to be around for it if I could.

As it happened I was unable to log in on Sunday so it was Monday morning before I was able to think about getting Wensley home. Imagine my surprise when I logged into TeamSpeak to see Sir Molle leading our fleet and our Jabber channel to be full of IT Alliance. I was even more shocked to learn that instead of the slow drag of opportunistically hitting POSes and fleets where we could there had been a massive change in policy. Just like in Providence it had been decided that we were going to stop messing around and go straight for the jugular. H-W9TY is Morsus Mihi’s capital system. It lies at the heart of their empire and is also the de facto centre of the whole NC’s operations. Personally I think this was an excellent decision. We could have spent months chipping away at the edges of the NC’s territory while they slowly fell back to Tribute. The long, slow process would have drained our will and numbers until eventually the assault would have petered out just like the other invasions before it. This way we cut straight to the heart of the matter and both sides get to battle it out over key systems. The next few weeks should be full of amazing battles for both sides.

Enough of that, though. On to business. Wensley hitched a titan ride from Shrike (Sir Molle’s alt) and moved to 15W-GC where half of the allied fleet was holding. On Sunday the Southern allies had erected SBUs in H-W9TY and moved in a capital and supercapital fleet. The station and infrastructure hub were both reinforced and then the station was locked down to prevent the coalition from mounting a defence. At about 5am on Monday morning the NC had been able to break the station camp and had reinforced several of the South’s staging POSes. Our sub-captial fleet was split between H-W9TY and 15W-GC with a large (150ish) Northern fleet on the MSHD-4 gate keeping us from entering H-W9TY. By downtime on Monday our numbers were growing but we did not have sufficient firepower to attempt to break through the camp.

After downtime our numbers continued to grow as more titans ferried reinforcements from X-7OMU and Aunenen. At 1300 we got word that an NC support fleet was heading from H-W9TY towards 15W-GC. The order was given for our battleship fleet to adopt sniping positions and our tackle prepared itself at the gate. Twenty minutes later the hostile fleet jumped in and, from the safety of our snipe points, we were able to inflict large amounts of damage before they warped off. Some stragglers returned to the gate and we soon despatched them. It was a short but brutal fight and now the way to H-W9TY was clear.

Our fleet in H-W9TY warped to a snipe spot on the MSHD-4 gate and began to engage the Northern fleet. Both sides deployed capital ships and supercapitals. As the fight broke out we moved with best speed to lend a hand and jumped into H-W9TY to find the gate surrounded by large bubbles. The sheer number of people in the fight (about 600 or so in local at this point) meant that it took a long time for us to load grid but at least we got into system without any major mishaps. The hostile fleet was fully engaged and we were able to burn out of the bubbles and warp back in to join the main fleet. By now the numbers were starting to rise and the capital fleet had released its drones. Lag was beginning to really affect things and it took me several minutes to load grid each time I warped in. Both my modules and targeting systems suffered from huge activation delays (as did everyone else’s) and by the time we were able to get reasonable DPS onto a target they warped out more often than not. At one point I was primaried by the hostile fleet but a lack of bubbles and the inability to easily bring fire to bear meant I was able to warp off with more than half my armour still intact. The fight was long and bloody but eventually our capital fleet was able to gain the upper hand. At the same time we were beginning to take control of the battleship and support fights and forced the NC from the field.

With our fleet now united and with control of the system we began to resurrect our station camp and pick off any stragglers in safespots. Once the system was under control I logged off and went to go stretch my legs. When I came back later that evening our main battleship fleet was off killing the sovereignty structures in 4-ABS8. While they were away there was a brief flurry of NC action but our capital fleet warped to the station and kept the situation under control. At this point I logged off with the infrastructure hub due to come out of reinforced in a couple of hours but no way that I could stay awake that long.

This morning I logged into our Jabber channels to discover that the night hadn’t gone as well for us. Not only were the NC able to defend their infrastructure hub and kill our SBUs but they also bumped an Atlas titan out of the safety of its POS. Carriers were sent to aid the stricken Leviathan and with their shield transporters it was able to limp back into the POS shields. No sooner did it look like the titan had been saved than it was bumped out a second time and this time could not be rescued. (On a side note, what on Pator is that titan doing with a Capital Shield Booster?!)

As I write this the server is coming back up on the third day of the battle for H-W9TY. Our killboard suggests that not much is happening and that the allied forces are just repairing the damage of the previous night, establishing system control, and preparing to defend the POSes that come out of reinforced later today. Whatever happens next the battle for H-W9TY is not over and I think it will rage for a long time to come. Fun times ahead!