Rifter Drifter

All Good Things Must End

wensley — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:25:05 +0000

Dear readers,

It has been a great pleasure to tell you my stories about life in New Eden and discuss fittings and tactics with you. Unfortunately, as you may have noticed, my heart has not been in it for these last few months and posts have been sporadic at best. After a good deal of thought I have decided that it is time for me to move on and this will be my last post here. I’m not going to just delete this blog and instead I’m going to look for somewhere to archive all the posts I’ve made over the years.

Thank you to everyone who has read and commented on this blog. You guys have inspired me to some of my greatest adventures in Eve. Four years ago I began posting here to talk about learning how to be a pirate in a Rifter. Many things have changed in the game for me since then and I’ve been all over the cluster doing many different things. At heart, though, I am still the same curious noob I have always been. If you keep that sense of wonder and adventure then Eve will always be a great game.

Stay curious. Be bold. And fly reckless, everyone.

Wensley

Postscript: I’m not gone completely. You can follow me on Twitter if you don’t already and watch me talk about Eve every other Monday on Sard Caid’s stream.

Finding The Good Fights

wensley — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:51:03 +0000

One of the hardest things about being a solo or small gang PvPer is finding good fights. Too often you either find nothing or jump into a large camp and die. As the size of your ship and gang increases this can become more and more of a problem. So how do we go about finding the fights that you see in videos such as those by Miriam Sasko, Kil2, or Kovorix? Here’s a few of the methods that we use.

The Long Roam

The most basic way of looking for a fight is just to roam. Pick a destination either deep into null sec or on the other side of empire space and set your autopilot. Due to its simplistic nature this is the least reliable way to hunt for action. The likelihood of finding nothing or dying in a fire is pretty high but it is possible to use some of the intel tools that I’ll talk about later to improve the hit and miss nature of this strategy.

Nullsec Entry Systems

My next suggestion for a simplistic way of looking for fights is simply to check out the nullsec entry systems. These systems are pretty regularly camped so you can expect to find a few people kicking around looking to gank the unsuspecting traveller. If you’re feeling sneaky there are often more than one way into a region so you can pick the quieter entrance (usually a low sec route) and go through that way then roam through null sec towards the busier entrance. If you have tactical bookmarks in the main system – You don’t? Why not? Go and make some now! – you can use these to take a look at the camp if there is one and decide how best to proceed. This has the added advantage that it will move you along some reasonably busy pipes where you might meet other roamers on travellers.

NPC Regions and Providence

The NPC regions are usually home to smaller entities, albeit those more focussed on PvP. While you are far less likely to run into disorganised gate camps of bored press-F1-recieve-killmail PvPers you are likely to find people actively hunting for a fight. The most obvious NPC regions for this are Syndicate and Curse, both of which border empire space and both of which are home to a variety of PvP entities. Syndicate in particular is a hot-bed of action and has been the busiest PvP system for several years running according to CCP Diagoras’ numbers.

I’ve included Providence in this section as well because, once again, it is in the hands of CVA who enforce an NRDS policy. This makes Providence a very welcoming region for those willing to live under CVA’s wing and an inviting place for those who want to shoot them. CVA’s red list is impressively long so whether you chose to follow their rules or shoot them in the face you are sure to find lots of action in this busy little region. Four entrances to empire (two highsec and two lowsec) make it an ideal place to travel to regardless of your security status.

Amamake, Tama, Hevrice… The Mos Eisleys of New Eden

There are a handful of low security systems that are notorious either because they are ideal for pirate activity or simply because a group of pirates have called them home. Amamake falls into the former while Hevrice, home of The Tuskers, is a good example of the latter. Depending upon the nature of the residents you might even be able to find good opportunities for duels and other such honourable combat. I’d say that was the exception rather than the rule, though. A particular favourite of Matari Exodus is to go and look for The United in Rancer and neighbouring systems.

Finding these systems is relatively simple. Check out the killboards of notorious pirate organisations and see where they are most active and then go there looking for them.

A simple expansion of this idea is to find out where null sec entities live and go visit thier home systems looking for activity.

Mission Hubs and Static Complexes

If you’re looking for more unwary prey then this might be the route for you to take. A quick look at Eve-Agents or another such site with tell you where you can find low security level 4 and 5 agents. These systems and those around them are good places to hunt for mission runners. Likewise mission hubs with neighbouring low security space can lead to the overeager or unsuspecting mission runner to venture into lowsec. A probe launcher is your friend here but there are rich pickings to be found, especially if you can hold down your target.

For those who like their action fast and furious there are several fixed 2/10 complexes littered throughout low security space. Theses systems are home to frigate PvPers and the ideal places to test out your recently boosted assault frigate. Molden Heath is a good place for this kind of PvP with four 2/10 complexes and the Black Rebel Rifter Club in resisdence. You could always plan an epic roam just by plugging as many of these into your autopilot as you think your sanity can take.

The In-Game Map

This is possibly the most useful intelligence tool at your disposal, especially when combined with the brute-force methods I have described above. By now you should have a mental list of the kinds of places you want to go and look for a fight. The in-game map allows you to do some basic scouting by providing details such as the average number of pilots in space over the last 30 minutes, the number of ship and pod kills, the number of NPC kills, and (often importantly) the number of docked pilots in a system. By looking at the hot spot systems that you have in mind either from the above suggestions or just personal experience you can assess the likelihood of finding a horrible camp (big angry red circles on the map) or just twiddling your thumbs (no sign of activity at all).

Because the data for pilots in space is averaged over time you can learn something about the nature of the people you can see on the map. If there is a single system that looks to be populated then it is probably a static group of people. Flicking to the ship kills and NPC kills statistics should tell you if this is people PvEing or if you have found a small camp. If you see a chain of systems with similar populations then the odds are that this is a roaming gang out looking for fights. Watching the map should give you an idea of their direction and allow you to plan accordingly.

Dotlan Eve Maps

Wollari‘s excellent Dotlan Eve Maps provide an fantastic extension to the in-game map. By pooling data from Eve’s API and the EVE-Kill killboard he allows you to look at the bigger picture. Open up a region and you can quickly get a feel for the local geography. A simple dropdown menu lets you flip between NPC kills, ship kills, and jumps. Areas of PvP and PvE activity are easily found, as are regularly traversed routes. The best thing, though, is that when you find a system with an interesting number of PvP kills you can click on a button and see the EVE-Kill entries for that system. Was the activity a single Kestrel getting ganked by a 40 man nano HAC gang or a battlecruiser-heavy 6 man gatecamp killing a battleship that was foolish enough to jump into it?

If you want to quickly see where the activity is then Dotlan’s most violent systems statistics page is what you want.

A really nice feature of the Dotlan site is that you can interact with the Eve client through the in-game browser. When you’ve found an interesting system you can treat it like an in game link and set destination or avoid as appropriate. By registering you can go a step further and bookmark your favourite systems for future reference.

EVE-Kill

This talk of using the EVE-Kill data in conjuction with Dotlan’s statistics nicely brings me to the EVE-Kill front page. Here you can see the most recently posted killmails on a board that not only has a huge number of APIs to poll but also trawls many other EDK killboards. The majority of ship losses in New Eden will appear here sooner or later and the front page is a nice place to find the most recent ones. Scan through the live feed looking for kills with a suitable number of particpants. A Raven with six people on its mail? A single click will tell you the composition of the gang and where they are. If it looks tempting plug it into your autopilot and off you go.

It is also worth bookmarking the killboards of any groups that you find yourself fighting regularly. That way you can quickly see what they are up to and if they are worth a visit.

By combining all of these intel tools you can get an idea of where the good fights are and get yourself there with minimum risk. Of course it is always beneficial to use a scout if you have one. There’s no substitute for knowing what you are about to jump your Megathron into. At the end of the day if you keep roaming and go through busy places you will find fights. Kil2 and Kovorix talk in more detail about how they roam looking for fights in their Bringing Solo Back podcast.

Do you guys have any tips of your own for finding the good fights and avoiding the bad ones? If so, please post them in the comments.

Roamin’ Roamin’ Roamin’

wensley — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:26:53 +0000

Last week I decided that it was time that I took a gang out myself. I posted a note in the Matari Exodus chat channel asking people to form up in Amarr on Monday night. The plan was to take a small gang of fast battlecruisers and check out Catch and Providence.

When Monday came around I logged in and was pleased to see several corpmates and friends eager to go look for fun. We formed up in three Taloses, a Hurricane, a Drake, and a Torando with a Loki providing skirmish bonuses. This is a pretty nice gang composition with the three tier 3 battlecruisers providing good DPS at range and the Hurricane and Drake filling in the essential anti-support roles.

Our first destination was HED-GP which, unfortunately, was not camped. Scouting around we found a Ferox on the SV5-8N gate with a Cyclone on the other side. Miriam was sent in to bait in his Drake and he caught and destroyed the Ferox without any need for backup. As we waited for a straggler an Oracle warped to the gate and got itself caught in a bubble just as Avan made the same mistake. Point was called and we unleashed our oversized guns on the fragile battlecruiser.

We continued the roam uneventfully until a Stabber and Rifter were sighted in MH9C-S. Once again Miriam was sent in to bait and once again he destroyed both targets without needing our support. These ganks aren’t what we were looking for but there were signs of activity in Providence and we were eager to find a proper fight.

Just a single jump away in 2-TEGJ Yulia Federation kindly obliged us. Our scout reported hostiles jumping into system. A Broadsword, Myrmidon, Rapier, and one or two others were identified and we decided this was the ideal gang composition for us to fight. We moved away from the MH9C-S and prepared for the incoming hostiles, not expecting anything too fast. Suddenly our overviews were flooded as a speedy gang warped in and sent their tackle after us. We burnt away surprised at the numbers we were facing and I gave the order to warp off. Caught up in the confusion, Miriam found his Drake tackled and, despite shaking off one of the frigates, was unable to break free before he was swarmed.

We retreated into AY-24I to regroup and once again set ourselves up on the gate. This time we knew what to expect and when they jumped in we were prepared. A Rapier and Curse were chased off in structure despite people being convinced they were pointed. The Broadsword and a Crusader weren’t so lucky and fell to our guns. As the defence fleet began to warp tackle off to our align point we adjusted our direction, mindfull of them setting up a warp in. Overwhelmed by numbers and with a second gang warping onto grid I made the call to get to safety. We warped to the X6AB-Y gate at 100 km and watched as the hostiles followed, landing at zero and bubbling themselves. Unfortunately for us Ferox2070 also warped at zero and, despite jumping, was devoured by the hostile gang.

Taking advantage of their bubble we changed direction and made best speed for 9UY4-H. Rather than heading for Misaba and the home of CVA I decided that the best option was to check the other entrance systems. In 4B-NQN a Harbinger was sighted and I sent in the remains of our gang to point him, staying behind lest he reapproach and jump. The Harbinger did exactly this and decloaked 17 km from me. I quickly pointed him and began an orbit, calling everyone in when he aggressed me. In the excitement I forgot to hit my MWD and suddenly found the Harbinger bearing down on me with its warp scrambler. At this range the fight was going to go badly for me but thankfully most of the gang had held their aggression and they jumped through to my rescue, killing the Harbinger and a Crusader that had joined in as I hit 41% structure. Good work guys. I obviously meant to bait him like that. Honest.

At this point we decided to dock up in Assah and take a break. When everyone had done whatever they needed to do we still had 45 minutes before people had to head off. Rather than return to Providence we set destination for Doril. The map was showing plenty of people out and about in Curse so we set off to see what we could fight. The journey was uneventful but once we arrived in Doril an assortment of battlecruisers and other ships were seen on scan. The main focus of their activity seemed to be the station at planet V so we warped at range to see if we could get them to fight. After playing cat and mouse for a while we managed to seperate a Hurricane from the pack and kill it but their numbers and logistic support were slowly swelling and it was getting late so we called it a night, making a mental note that there were people here who we could fight with a more organised gang.

All in all I thought it was a pretty decent roam. We got caught out by the numbers in Providence and in the confusion a couple of mistakes were made. I probably played it more cautiously than was necessary but its been a while since I’ve taken responsibility for a gang and the cobwebs needed blowing off. I’ll definitely be doing it again in the near future. Thanks to the guys who flew and died with me.

No related posts.

Rockets Revisited

wensley — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:20:38 +0000

Previously I said that in almost all situations it was better to use Rage rockets over faction. I would like to correct that point right now. Versus webbed MWD-fit frigates and above then, yes, Rage is the correct answer. Faster ships such as those with an afterburner are going to give you problems and you should switch to faction missiles. To illustrate this point here are some plots. For the Vengeance the switchover point is 300 m/s.

Vengenace shooting a frigate moving at 250 m/s.

Vengeance shooting a frigate moving at 300 m/s.

Vengeance shooting a frigate moving at 500 m/s.

Apologies for any confusion that I have caused. Oh, and for anyone interested I am generating these plots using the excellent pyfa fitting utility.

Rocket Man

My Pod Was Equipped With The Following…

wensley — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:03:39 +0000

Whenever I’m feeling pretty flush I start running around with a head full of implants. To some this must seem like madness. After all I am predominantly a null security solo frigate pilot, I must lose implants all the time. To a certain extent this is true, I do lost more pods than gang pilots or low security PvPers but it is not anywhere near as bad as most people imagine. For a start, I view solo interdictors as very good targets. Anyway, digress, the point of this post is to discuss the relative merits of fitting implants.

As always let’s make this discussion about a particular ship. Here is my current Enyo fit, nicely boosted by the blaster changes that Crucible brought us:

[Enyo, MWD Neutrons]


Light Neutron Blaster II, Null S

Light Neutron Blaster II, Null S

Light Neutron Blaster II, Null S

Light Neutron Blaster II, Null S

Small Nosferatu II
Catalyzed Cold-Gas Arcjet Thrusters

J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
Pseudoelectron Containment Field I

Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

Fourier Transform Tracking Program

Small 'Accommodation' Vestment Reconstructer I
Small Ancillary Current Router I

Small Hybrid Burst Aerator II

Hobgoblin II x1

Those of you who’ve seen my previous Enyo post will notice that the improved fitting has allowed me to squeeze on a nosferatu. At Jita sell order prices this fit comes in at a nice round 37 million ISK which is really not bad for a frigate with 7087 EHP that can push 269 DPS out to 4.72 km + 4.84 km range (with Null) and effectively hit a frigate with 500 m/s transversal for full damage between 2.5 and 6 km.

Can we squeeze some more out of this already excellent hull without spending a ridiculous amount of ISK? Why yes, we can. A few implants here and there can make a real performance boost without breaking the bank.

Inherent Implants ‘Noble’ ZET300: No Gallente ship can consider itself complete unless the pilot has a ZET300 implant plugged into his head. For just 100,000 ISK you can give yourself 3% more structure hitpoints. In the case of my Enyo this boosts the EHP from 7087 to 7189, just a 1% increase to overall EHP but enough to potentially mean the difference between life and death on a ship that relies upon its structure buffer (3499 of those EHP are in structure). Its worth noting that in some markets you can pick up a ZET330 for a similar price and get an extra 0.5% structure buffer.
Zainou ‘Deadeye’ ZGS1000: This implant used to be a no-brainer for blaster frigates. It cost peanuts and delivered a 5% increase to blaster DPS. Since the Crucible patch prices have inflated and the current Jita market price is hovering around 20 million ISK. I would expect (hope!) that the price will normalise once speculation over the blaster boost settles down but I would be surprised if it returns to its previous low. Still for your 20 million ISK you get the Enyo’s damage boosted to a very respectable 282 DPS. If this is a bit steep for you then you can grab a ZGS100 for a 3% boost for just 600,000 ISK and get 277 DPS which is an absolute bargain.
Eifyr and Co. ‘Gunslinger’ CX-1: We are no longer in the territory of obvious choices now. This 3% damage implant will set you back a fairly hefty 20 million ISK in Jita. If you decide to splash out on it then (combined with the ZGS1000 above) your DPS will grow to 289. It becomes a decision as to whether you are willing to fork out this much ISK for what seems like just 7 DPS on a ship that already does more than enough. When combined with the cheaper ZGS100 it increases your total damage output to 284 DPS meaning that as long as small blaster implant prices stay high you are probably better spending your ISK on the more flexible ZGS100/CX-1 combination than a single ZGS1000. I say more flexible because the joy of the CX-1 implant is that applies to all turret types so you could combine it with a medium and/or large turret implant or even swap out the small hybrid one for another weapon system.
Zainou ‘Deadeye’ ZGC100: In the case of the Enyo you benefit more from boosting turret falloff than you do from a tracking bonus due to the ship’s native bonuses and the addition of a tracking enhancer on my fit. That makes this 3% falloff implant the best choice for your Slot 8 than the AX-1 in my opinion. Prices are highly variable but you can pick one up from Jita sell orders for 24 million. The actual net benefits of this implant are pretty questionable and I would suggest that you were maybe better off leaving this slot empty. The AX-1 adds no effective DPS to the Enyo at all so I’d steer well clear of it.

Rocket Man

wensley — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:37:56 +0000

In the past I have talked extensively about my experiences flying gunships, especially the Rifter, Enyo, and Ishkur. Lately I’ve been trying something a bit different and having a play in rocket ships, especially the Hawk and Vengeance. So what are the differences? Well, the most obvious one is that rockets don’t take tracking into account. Instead they rely on the speed and signature radius of their target to calculate how much damage they do, like all other missiles in Eve. Also, despite their recent buff, they do lower base damage than turret-based weapons systems. In this post I’m going to look a little at rockets and in later posts I’ll talk about the fits I’ve been flying and my experiences in them.

If we look at a Vengeanace fitted with Rocket Launcher IIs loaded with Caldari Navy missiles and operated by a pilot with all skills at level V then each rocket does 48.125 HP base damage, corresponding to 21.8 DPS. The explosion radius of a rocket is 20 m and the explosion velocity 127.5 m/s. This means that the rockets will do maximum damage against a ship with a signature radius greater than 20 m and travelling slower than 127.5 m/s. At higher speeds the rocket damage will be reduced. The formula for calculating missile damage is:

From this equation we can see that there are a couple of factors that we need to consider. The first thing to take into account is if our target is moving. If it isn’t then we can ignore the half of the equation with a velocity component and just look at the ratio between the ship’s signature radius and the missile’s explosion radius to determine how much damage is done.

If the target is moving then things become a bit more complicated and we have to evaluate a larger expression including the target’s velocity, the missile’s explosion velocity, and the damage reduction factor as well as the radius variables.

Let’s see what this means for an example Vengeance fit:

[Vengeance, Standard]


Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator

1MN Afterburner II
Damage Control II

Ballistic Control System II

Small Armor Repairer II

Adaptive Nano Plating II

Small Bay Loading Accelerator I Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I

What happens if we try and shoot a hypothetical ship with a 40 m signature radius?

The interesting thing about this graph is that it seems best to use Rage rockets in almost all situations. Unfortunately this decision comes with the drawback of a signature radius bloom pushing the Vengeance from 37 m to 49 m.

My biggest concern when flying a rocket ship, though, is that it just doesn’t have the DPS to melt targets like some of my favourite ships do. In solo frigate combat there is a general rule of thumb that you want in excess of 200 DPS in order to kill a target fast enough to do it before his friends arrive. So what happens if we compare the Vengeance posted above to another assault frigate, the Jaguar?

[Jaguar, Standard]


150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion S

150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion S

150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet Fusion S

Small 'Gremlin' Power Core Disruptor I
1MN Afterburner II

X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator

Initiated Harmonic Warp Scrambler I

Medium F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Damage Control II

Gyrostabilizer II

Gyrostabilizer II

Small Projectile Burst Aerator I Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I

This Jaguar fit does 206 DPS with close range faction projectile ammunition loaded and 164 DPS with Barrage.

Unfortunately these plots show us that in most realistic situations the Vengeance (and other rocket ships) are not able to lay down enough DPS to take out targets quickly. This is a shame, because in a straight up fight the Vengeance is an excellent ship but it just doesn’t have the punch that I am looking for in a solo roamer.

Die Hard With A Vengeance

Ransoms and Roams Interview

wensley — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:49:08 +0000

Last week I did an interview with Marc Scaurus for the Ransoms and Roams podcast. They’ve just released their latest episode and it includes our discussion. If you want to hear me talk about my time in Eve, ship fitting, and other odds and sods as well as the guys discussing fittings and the CSM then head to Ransoms and Roams and check it out.

PS – Man, its weird listening to your own voice.

No related posts.

Is It Possible to be Ghetto Fabulous?

wensley — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 08:02:58 +0000

Since joining Matari Exodus I’ve been slowly changing my focus from frigates to heavier ships. I’ve been flying Tempests in gangs for quite a while but now I’ve started to cross-train into other races and fly battleships solo. However, I’m not made of ISK so rather than running around in expensive fits with trimark rigs and everything else, I’ve instead been seeing how cheaply I can put together an effective battleship for. Eventually I settled on the following fit:

[Megathron, Budget]


Modal Mega Ion Particle Accelerator I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge L

Modal Mega Ion Particle Accelerator I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge L

Modal Mega Ion Particle Accelerator I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge L

Modal Mega Ion Particle Accelerator I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge L

Modal Mega Ion Particle Accelerator I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge L

Modal Mega Ion Particle Accelerator I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge L

Modal Mega Ion Particle Accelerator I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge L

[Empty High slot]
Quad LiF Fueled I Booster Rockets

J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

Patterned Stasis Web I

Heavy F-RX Prototype I Capacitor Boost, Cap Booster 800
Damage Control II

Large 'Accommodation' Vestment Reconstructer I

Large 'Accommodation' Vestment Reconstructer I

Radioisotope Explosive Hardener I

Radioisotope Kinetic Hardener I

Radioisotope Thermic Hardener I

Radioisotope Adaptive Nano Membrane I
[Empty Rig slot]

[Empty Rig slot]

[Empty Rig slot]

Ogre II x5

With maximum skills this fit does 799 DPS and tanks 453.9 DPS with 65.1 kEHP. If you get the ship and parts from buy orders she’ll set you back about 92 million ISK and for 24 million ISK you can buy platinum insurance and get 80 million back when she dies. That means that each ship loss is going to set you back around 32 million ISK. That seems like a pretty good deal at first and its certainly a capable enough ship.

However, is it really the best value for money I can get? A triple repair Myrmidon costs a mere 60 million to fit and about 35 million to lose after insurance. That’s just a touch more than the Megathron. It will do 545 DPS and can repair up to 665 DPS so for that you get a little less damage but a lot more tank. You also have something that is more maneuverable, more engageable, and gets better DPS on small ships.

So where does this leave the so-called ghetto battleships? Do they have a purpose? I think they still do as training ships but the more I think about it, the more I think that they are better served by not scrimping so much on the fitting and just flying them as un-rigged T2 fits with T1 guns (at least for the time being).

[Megathron, Budget (T2 tank)]


Modal Mega Electron Particle Accelerator I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge L

Modal Mega Electron Particle Accelerator I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge L

Modal Mega Electron Particle Accelerator I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge L

Modal Mega Electron Particle Accelerator I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge L

Modal Mega Electron Particle Accelerator I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge L

Modal Mega Electron Particle Accelerator I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge L

Modal Mega Electron Particle Accelerator I, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge L

Large YF-12a Smartbomb
Quad LiF Fueled I Booster Rockets

X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator

J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

Heavy F-RX Prototype I Capacitor Boost
Damage Control II

Large Armor Repairer II

Large Armor Repairer II

Armor Explosive Hardener II

Armor Kinetic Hardener II

Armor Thermic Hardener II

Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
[Empty Rig slot]

[Empty Rig slot]

[Empty Rig slot]

Ogre II x5

This fit costs just 5 million ISK more to fit than the previous version I suggested and boasts 582 DPS of tank and 767 DPS from its weapon systems. The reduced DPS is due to the increased fitting requirements of the T2 tank. I’m definitely going to give this fit a chance but I have a feeling Jaster is correct and the Myrmidon is a better choice. It just goes to show quite how powerful the battlecruiser class is in Eve’s current form.

How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Ishkur

wensley — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 15:37:09 +0000

In the past I have written about how I have tried out the Ishkur a couple of times but somehow never quite managed to click with the Gallentean assault frigate. Well, the times they are a-changing and one night in Agil I was twiddling my thumbs and wondering what to take out. A fully-fit Ishkur that had been sitting there for ages caught my eye and I decided to give her another chance to impress me.

Since the Russian invasion of the north I’ve found Catch and the surrounding regions to be the best place to go for solo frigate PvP. Sometimes HED-GP can be a bit heavily camped but usually its pretty easy to pass through. With White Noise and NCdot both lurking a couple of jumps away in Providence, HED-GP currently being in the possession of Red Alliance, and -A- close by in GE-8JV it makes a nice little mixing pot with plenty of people to shoot.

Her first encounter was a Taranis in HED-GP itself. I’m not quite sure what the high damage interceptor thought it was going to do to an assault but I played dumb and let him tackle me. The battle was brief and the outcome fairly predictable. First blood for my Ishkur. A jump later I found an NCdot Dramiel and once again did my best to look stupid (trust me, its very convincing). He took the bait and I opened up with neutron blasters full of Null. With my web applied and an overheated afterburner making sure he couldn’t escape it was another good victory with drones and blasters doing their thing and I warped off before his friends could arrive.

With those two victories under my belt and suddenly starting to feel pretty warm about the Ishkur I decided to head back to Agil and take a break. Despite being considerably slower than a Jaguar I’d been able to pin down and kill a Dramiel and that’s pretty much the whole reason that I fly afterburner assault frigates in null security space.

Which brings me to the question of whether or not it is wise or advisable to fly a frigate without a microwarp drive. The way I see it, a microwarp drive and an afterburner both provide very different things. If you fit a microwarp drive your strength is your ability to burn around the field and pull people apart before swooping in for the kill. They are excellent for when you are fighting outnumbered and want to engage a gang’s tackle. They are not, however, fast enough to stop a Cynabal or Vagabond from getting you so you need to be cautious in that regard. An afterburner instead provides you with the ability to dictate the terms of a fight. If you are expecting to fight only one or two at a time then it gives you much more control over the engagements and allows you to do things like keep Dramiels pinned down long enough to kill them. On top of that people don’t expect them and if you are clever then you can hide the fact that you have one until its too late. The big risk is that you get tackled by an interceptor away from a gate or dockable station and then you will need to pull some stylish piloting off to get out of trouble.

People ask me how I survive gate camps with just an afterburner to burn back with to which my response is “quite nicely, thank you”. As it happens the biggest threat when burning back to a gate is usually that a switched on Dramiel pilot will get a scrambler on you. With your MWD cut you are pretty much dead in the water. The afterburner doesn’t suffer from this problem. On top of that you don’t get the massive signature bloom that an MWD causes so by the time the heavier hitters get a lock on you you are already most of the way back to the gate. With an overloaded afterburner you need about 8 – 10 seconds to jump to safety, more than enough time.

A few hours later I logged back in and set out again to look for more fights. I poked around the usual systems but didn’t find anything exciting. There was either no-one around or camps that were too much for me to take on. Heading back to HED-GP I ran into a gang from The Seventh Day alliance, a PvP training group that is now home to Kil2. Despite buzzing around the edges of their gang I couldn’t persuade their Republic Fleet Firetail to fight me so in the end I just asked for a 1v1 in local and he was soon burning straight for me. Excellent. Approach, web, scram, blasters, drones, it was becoming routine now and proved far too much for the Firetail to take. I didn’t hang around to loot as a Loki had appeared on top of us although it turns out he was just there to try and get on killmails. That’s elite PvP right there, that is. Anyway, good fight to the Firetail.

A bit later on I stumbled into a GoonSwarm Federation Jaguar camping a gate. This should be a good match up and I was relishing the fight. He burnt for me and instinct kicked in. As his shields dropped the inevitable happened and a Falcon decloaked. He got his first jam cycle off on me so I did my best to keep range on the Jaguar and hoped he didn’t have enough common sense to take down my drones. He didn’t an instead concentrated his fire on me. I was winning the initial engagement handily but without my blasters adding to the DPS the fight slowed right down. This was made worse by the fact that I couldn’t get a lock to see how he was holding up. As I passed through 25% armour remaining I was rewarded with the sight of a bright flash as the Jaguar exploded, despite being able to warp out as I still had not managed to get a second lock on him. My drones turned their anger upon the Falcon and I settled into a tight orbit around the hated recon ship. Unfortunately he was firing on me and doing just enough damage to keep my capacitor dangerously low. After about five successive jam cycles I gave up, recalled my drones, and warped to safety. This is one of the good things about drone ships, even if they get a jam on you your drones continue to apply their DPS.

Happy with the day’s kills I logged off and called it a night. The next morning I was back and straight into HED-GP where local was significantly higher than I’d seen it for a while. There was a Dramiel kicking around and I was able to eventually lure him into fighting me. As in the previous fight I used the range of Null and the damage of my drones to lay down the hurt while my web and afterburner worked hard to keep him tackled. During the fight a Stiletto warped to us and rather than keeping range came in close to get a tackle on me. That was a mistake. As soon as the Dramiel exploded I switched my tackle to the Stiletto and began to work on him too. He was fit with a shield buffer and it was taking longer to chew through than I would have liked. Ships were landing on the gate one after another and I aligned away to a celestial hoping to escape as soon as the interceptor exploded. It wasn’t to be, a Raptor came in and got point on me before I could get away so I turned my guns on him too just in time for a Falcon to decloak and jam me. Great. By now their whole gang was upon me and my newly beloved little ships’ run was up. How many Russians does it take to kill a frigate? Twelve including a Falcon and black ops battleship, apparently.

By now I was thoroughly besotted with the Ishkur so I soon fitted up another and set out to look for more mayhem. I dropped into HED-GP and poked around a bit but found nothing much. There was a Sabre around but he seemed completely uninterested in fighting me. A problem that I’d had with several Dramiels over the last 24 hours. Maybe my playing stupid had lost some of its effectiveness. Bouyed by my victories I’d developed a habit of dropping drones a bit too soon and being too obviously aggressive. Anyway, I flirted with the Sabre a bit and eventually ended up hanging up on the station in HED-GP staring at him in a peculiar Mexican standoff. A smallish gang of Abaddons warped to the station and he suddenly gained the confidence to come after me. I made sure that I pulled plenty of range on the fearsome Amarr battleships and waited for his approach. I didn’t have to wait long and once again the well-rehearsed routine kicked in. It was a quick and brutal fight, the only real concern for me being a couple of lucky long shots from the Abaddons that put me into structure before my repair systems kicked in and I burnt away to safety.

So there you go. It turns out that the Ishkur can happily deal with both the major enemies of solo frigate PvP: Sabres and Dramiels. It must be love. But I am not so easily pleased. I wanted more. To compete with my beloved Wolf or the little Enyo that could the Ishkur needs a little something more. Something special. A certain je ne sais quoi.

Roaming into Querious I found exactly the thing. A Rapier was sitting just off a gate, uncloaked, doing nothing much. I had jumped in and my ship appeared just 12 km from the recon ship. Without a second thought I decloaked, overheated all my mid slots, and got myself into a nice tight orbit. Guns and drones began to tear into the Rapier’s shields while my overheated afterburner did its best to keep my speed up. Despite the fact I’d started the fight at point blank and got him scrammed, the Rapier returned my lock and slapped a pair of webs on me. It was do or die time. I turned on the heat and crossed my fingers.

To my delight he dropped Hobgoblins, a drone set that would come up against one of my best resistances and so I concentrated on staying out of trouble from his guns. As he hit half shields a Thrasher landed and began to lob shells at me from its 280mm artillery cannons. They were hurting more than the Rapier was but I kept to the task in hand, committed now. Next to land was a Drake. He too locked me up and slapped a target painter on me but other than the Rapier no-one had pointed me. Excellent. As the reconnaissance ship hit structure I prepared to align out and warp away only to see the Drake finally decide that it was best to point me. The Rapier exploded in a bright flash and my drones shuffled across to the Thrasher who took the opportunity to flee.

This left just the Drake and I tried to coax a little bit more performance from my already stressed afterburner. Slowly but surely I was able to pull range, repairing the incoming damage as and when my heavily depleted capacitor allowed. 20 kilometers. 22… 23… 24… 25… Warp! WARP! COME ON, WARP!! No joy, the Drake had seen my plan and overheated his point just to be sure. My afterburner was in danger of failing on me and I had to allow it to cool down and the Caldari battlecruiser began to close the gap again. Drat. What to do? There was no way I had enough juice to out run him, if I shut the afterburner down to repair it then I’d suffer at the hands of his missiles, and I was 80 km from the safety of the gate. With no other options presenting themselves I decided that my best course of action was to make a run for the gate but sadly I finally ran out of capacitor with 60 km to go and my ship finally succumbed to her aggressors.

An excellent fight and almost certainly that special something to finally cement the Ishkur in my heart. Long live the Ishkur!

NB: Since I wrote this the war for Catch has heated up a bit so be careful if you plan on heading down there looking for PvP. Last night the gates in Querious were pretty hot too but that’s another story and another ship.

I Want To Love The Ishkur…

New Teeth, New Flat, New Life

wensley — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 08:31:48 +0000

I posted a bit back that I was taking a break from Eve to focus on getting some things done in real life. Well, the good news is that I did manage to meet my deadline and as a result I now have a new job and am in the process of moving to a new flat. The bad news is that, while I could barely shake the addiction when I had to, my life is now full of all sorts of bits and pieces and as a result Eve has been suffering.

Its weird how when you need to give something up it is hard to do but then all of a sudden other stuff comes along and you happily toss what you were doing before away.

That’s not to say I’m quitting Eve or packing up this blog. Just that I have noticed that I am barely reading forums any more, haven’t posted here in an age, and have pretty much stopped reading most Eve blogs. Maybe its just the summer. Maybe I’m moving on. Maybe I just need something new. Who knows?

So please, bear with me while this feed is a bit slow. As soon as I have a good story to tell, you will be the first to know.