End It With A Bang

The New Year is upon us! And before we begin another year in New Eden, I had to hop in my Rifter and get some end of the year fights!

Ishomilken
Ishomilken has proven fruitful in fights. This was one of those nights. Right off the undock, d-scan showed two Firetails at the same novice plex. Gonna grab something with a bit more oomph! I docked up, hopped into my Comet and warped off to the plex. The pair of Firetails were still there. It was weird not flying a Rifter; when I fly something else to shake things up, I have a tendency to think throughout the fight "Oh if I had a Rifter I'd do this!" so adjusting is a bit difficult. I'm just set in my ways I guess!

I land on grid and was greeted by the sounds of battle. I lock up the closest Firetail, scram web and fire the blasters! Oh yea I have drones! I let the little guys loose as my blasters tear apart the Firetail. Man these things pack a punch! The other Firetail had broke off and warped away, leaving me and the faction frigate alone to our dance. My blasters were ripping into his armor as the drones followed up with their guns. The Firetail was in deep armor already taking damage into his hull when his reps kicked in. The neut hit me and his autocannons were hitting my armor but I was tanking it comfortably. It was too little too late for this pilot. The blasters fired a few more volleys to explode the ship. Man this Comet! I was impressed with the amount of damage these blasters could do! I looted 'n scooted and docked up to repair. The other Firetail was still in space, so I switched into a Firetail of my own and met him at the novice.

I landed my webs and point on him and went in for my close orbit, but I was moving at a snails pace. I looked at my speed and saw I was dual webbed as well just as my frigate was rocked by a huge volley. Arty. Ah man! I began my evasive maneuvers as another round of artillery blasted through my shields and sent me into half armor. My plan at this point was to rely on my reps long enough to get me outside scram range and warp off, he had range on me and although I was hitting him with my autocannons, I was outgunned in this fight. 8,000 meters, 8,500 ... c'mon! At around 9,500 meters I spammed warp. I was choking out enough reps to keep my smoking and flaming Firetail together, and to my dismay I saw him closing in. You fought well my dear Firetail. You fought well. I threw a gf in local and docked up to hop into my Comet. It's a fight in Isho gentlemen! A couple minutes passed and I saw his Firetail back on d-scan. I waited outside the novice as he landed on grid. I spammed target lock and just as I was about to point him he warped off to a different plex. I chased him and he warped back to the novice as I landed on grid. Damn! The battle was now in his favor as he would be inside the plex at a favorable range for his arty's, meaning I'd have to work a bit harder to get my blasters on his ship. I took the gate and he was about 2,000 meters away. I land my scram, web and fire away. The dual webs hold me down nice and steady as he glides to a comfortable range outside my blasters. Now remember when I mentioned I have a tendency to revert to my Rifter skills/knowledge when I fly a different ship? Well I did exactly that, except times ten and with a dose of panic. I activated my reps when I was at half shields, wasting a precious amount of cycles. I continued to fire at him with anti-matter ammo, forgetting I had null in my cargo hold. I aligned to the sun and immediately began to evade, not even attempting to launch my drones. I lost my shit!

The Comet was tanking his arty volleys for a good while. When I broke out of my funk, I loaded Null and launched my drones but continued to align towards the sun. My SAAR was pumping out empty reps, but my hull was tanking very well to my surprise. The Null ammo switch had worked and my blasters were reaching out far enough to blast his ship and bring him into hull as well. Oh shit! The life in my hull was keeping me in the fight as his reppers patched up his armor. He was doing the hull/armor dance and my structure was holding strong. My blasters landed a solid blow and he joined me in deep hull. Oh man! OH MAN!! I was staying in the fight by a sliver of hull left, but me losing my shit early on cost me dearly in the later rounds. Gf!! I warped off in my pod as we chatted a bit in local:

[ 2015.12.31 07:15:51 ] Sem Skord > wow gf
[ 2015.12.31 07:16:05 ] Cosmoseal > very gf
[ 2015.12.31 07:16:23 ] Sem Skord > i burnt out all my mods
[ 2015.12.31 07:16:26 ] Sem Skord > wasted my reps
[ 2015.12.31 07:16:32 ] Sem Skord > didnt switch to null till late in the fight
[ 2015.12.31 07:16:51 ] Cosmoseal > was close
[ 2015.12.31 07:17:00 ] Sem Skord > yea
[ 2015.12.31 07:17:04 ] Cosmoseal > befor i forgot to reload my reper ^^
[ 2015.12.31 07:17:40 ] Sem Skord > haha
[ 2015.12.31 07:17:43 ] Sem Skord > well
[ 2015.12.31 07:17:46 ] Sem Skord > gf anyway man
[ 2015.12.31 07:17:54 ] Cosmoseal > u to
[ 2015.12.31 07:21:03 ] Cosmoseal > ^^

I learned a lot from that fight, and that's the key! Gotta learn something from each loss and victory to improve. Thank you Cosmoseal. I had no more faction frigs and hopped into a Rifter to see if I could do something against his Firetail, but I met the same fate even faster. Alright! Time to head outside of Isho and get some kills to end the night on a good note!

On the road again!

Uuna
One system over in Uuna, d-scan showed a Tormentor and an Executioner at a novice plex. It's been a while since I had a nice 2v1, so I overheated everything, loaded my Fusion bullets and Nova rockets, and warped to the plex. I began to go over a plan of attack in my head. Tormentor has drones, Executioner doesn't. Shoot Torm first, then Executioner. Sounds good! Both frigates were waiting for me right on the beacon as I locked up the Tormentor and charged straight at it firing everything. As my guns broke his shields, I was locked and scrammed and webbed by both parties. Lasers and drones began to redecorate my hull as I zig zagged towards the Tormentor to give my autocannons a chance to do their holy work. The Torm was in half armor as my shields broke. I activated my reps and continued my attack. The Tormentor pilot was gaining range on me but he was in deep armor! My tank was keeping me in the fight but the lasers and drones had me at half armor. The Tormentor continued to gain range as my autocannons brought him into structure. I was now into structure with a couple nanite reps left, so I made up my mind to take this Tormentor down with me! I cut my zig zag and went into a straight approach towards the Torm bringing him into a sliver of hull left as he choked out his last rep! I coughed out my last rep in hull as his Torm exploded! Oh shit! The Executioner was still nearby shooting at me, and I wasn't out of the fight yet. All my modules were close to burning out, I switched my fire to the last Amarr frigate and within a few volleys he was in half armor! I had about 1/4 of my hull left as my afterburner burnt out. Keep firing! Keep FIRING! Another volley sent him into deep armor, and Saint Wensley of Rifters was with me this day, as another volley exploded the Executioner. Oh man! Oh man! Gf! GF! I was psyched! During the fight I was calm and my nerves were steady, after the fight the shakes took a hold of me and my heart was racing! My heart's beating, my hearts beating MY HANDS ARE SHAKING!

I looted the field, returned a system over to Isho to rearm and repair. I went back over to Uuna and saw a Tristan on scan. My autocannons were spinning and my rocket launchers were ready to fly. Forgive me because I didn't record this fight and I don't recall much detail except he got outside my scram range in the beginning and pulled range forcing me to align to sun and take out his drones. As I was working on the last couple drones, with a couple nanite reps left and my Rifter in half armor, the Tristan went in for his kamikazee charge and began to neut me. I said screw the drones and focused everything on the Tristan! With some hull life left, and the help of Saint Wensley (blessed be thy name), I exploded the Tristan. Gf! Loot 'n scoot, to Isho rep and rearm, head back out!

Manjonakko
At one point in the night, an old friend returned from the abyss.

Darth Terona. The Blood Red Wolf.

Former CEO Darth Terona was back! Him and I go way back as Black Dragons, earning our Black Jackets and climbing up the ranks to run the corp. Darth did a lot for R1FTA to keep us alive in our dark days.

The Executioner and Tormentor pilots I encountered earlier were flying a Coercer and Tormentor. I asked Darth if he wanted to join and I followed them as he caught up. The duo met up with some friends, a Thrasher and a Catalyst. Ehhh .. gonna need a bigger boat. That's when R1FTA Vice Prez Amand graced us with his pretty mug!

And another Black Jacket logged in as well.

The Astero Pirate.

Nyar Darkfire, Amand, and Darth! A nice four on four! We were in different parts of Black Rise but were burning to my system to take down this gang. After some chasing and baiting up and down the Isho pipe, the Destroyer gang went back to Manjo to a novice plex. Darth and Amand had entered system as I landed on grid and took the gate, so we could gather ourselves. I checked short scan, and the gang had got Amand's Rifter. Damn! Darth made it inside as we waited for Nyar to arrive with his Jackdaw a couple jumps out. Amand went back to Isho to reship. The Destroyers were still outside, and that's when a Stay Frosty, Ciba Lexlulu, landed with his Svipul. Darkfire had just entered system and warped to our position. It's about to be a fight. The destroyer gang had warped off all save for one who got caught. Darth and I warped to a nearby celestial to get on grid with the fight outside the plex. I landed on grid just as the Nyar and the Svipul were duking it out in their T3 Destroyers. Alright, we got this. I fired away and began to work on his shields, that's when Nyar exploded. What the!! He had mentioned it wasn't a pvp fit but we weren't expecting a Svipul to show up. I held point waiting for Darth to arrive with his Rifter. I aligned towards the sun as my armor began to take damage and the Svipul's shielding were at half strength. Darth's Rifter landed on grid. My Rifter was about to go boom as I got outside scram range and warped towards the sun with Ciba at low shields. Hold on Darth! I'm coming back! I landed at the sun and immediately warped back towards the novice plex where Darth was holding down the Svipul. I landed on grid and fired away. In those seconds I was warping back and forth, Darth's Rifter had taken a lot of damage. His Rifter exploded valiantly. I held point and kept shooting, we were almost through his shields! I activated my reps to time his guns breaking through my armor, tightened down the strap on my helmet, and braced for impact. The Svipul's autocannons were peppering my hull but I was holding. My guns returned the fire as he was in the very last slivers of his shield.  Cmon baby! Cmon! I saw another Rifter on short scan. It was Amand. The Cavalry was coming! My last two nanite reps patched up my armor as the Frostian's shields fell! Amand landed on grid and I began to pull range to get outside the autocannon's falloff. I got out to 15km, projectiles zooming past my Rifter as Amand's Rifter tore up the Svipul's armor. I circled back around to help Amand finish off Ciba. His armor was falling apart and shortly he entered hull. In one glorious explosion, the Svipul was a smoking wreck in Manjo. Oh man! GF! We've encountered Stay Frosty from time to time and they always give a good fight. Be on your stuff when you fight them!

[ 2015.12.31 08:31:09 ] Ciba Lexlulu > gf

[ 2015.12.31 08:31:12 ] Sem Skord > gf

[ 2015.12.31 08:31:13 ] Darth Terona > gf gf

[ 2015.12.31 08:31:21 ] Amand Caldurik > gf

[ 2015.12.31 08:31:36 ] Ciba Lexlulu > very nice guys

[ 2015.12.31 08:31:48 ] Darth Terona > that was some tank :)

[ 2015.12.31 08:32:05 ] Ciba Lexlulu > actually i burned one of my extender

[ 2015.12.31 08:32:52 ] Sem Skord > took two of us with ya man

[ 2015.12.31 08:32:58 ] Ciba Lexlulu > Kill: Ciba Lexlulu (Svipul)

[ 2015.12.31 08:32:59 ] Sem Skord > thumbs up :)

[ 2015.12.31 08:33:04 ] Ciba Lexlulu > i jackdaw with you?

[ 2015.12.31 08:33:07 ] Sem Skord > aye :)

[ 2015.12.31 08:33:12 ] Ciba Lexlulu > ah

[ 2015.12.31 08:33:23 ] Ciba Lexlulu > gf gf

[ 2015.12.31 08:34:03 ] Nyar DarkFire > gf

BAH GAWD! High octane adrenaline pumping action tonight! We looted the field and handed back the loot to my fellow Black Jackets as I headed back to Isho for the night. Most fun I had in a good while :) Looking forward to 2016 for more explosions, more adrenaline, and of course, more good fights.

CONCORD is on! 

R1FTA Roam

R1FTA Roam!

Every now and then our trigger happy merry band of solo frigate pilots get together in the name of comradery and explosions, to spread our special flavor of love throughout low sec! Sometimes our roams end in a blaze of glory with wrecks left in our wake. Other times we wade through our own wrecks as we push on looking for another thing to shoot. Either way, we have fun shooting shit and hanging out. Our most recent roam proved to be VERY fruitful!


On the Hunt
Three of us were in Rifters, and our scout was in a Firetail. It was a good bunch! Our newest Black Jacket:                                                                                                                                   

Phontis Uta was in a Rifter ready to roll! 

Veteran Black Jacket ThunderaceNL, always a blast to fly with him!

And R1FTA's very own Vice Prez, Amand Caldurik!

And the fourth Black Jacket was myself, also FC'in this small band of outlaws. Target? Anything we deemed worthy of the Holy R1FTA's 200mm Autocannon Blessing! 

Since it was the weekend, and from prior roams in the area, we expected many gate camps and many big gangs to be out for blood as well. We undocked into the cold embrace of space and began our roam. We burned straight through Heydeiles because that system was always crowded. Full of Russians and links. We leap frogged our way along the route, scout enters first while the gang holds on the gate as he searches for targets. If we don't find anything, scout pushes on into the next system as we enter and hold on THAT gate. Twenty minutes in and no fights. We begin to chit chat on comms as we continue our leap froggin', when Amand reports a lone Catalyst in system sitting at a plex. Let's do it! We lay down a plan of attack (point it, scream, and we'll come to the rescue), eagerly gather around the gate as we wait for the word from our scout. Point! Go! Go! Go! Like a pack of hungry wolves we enter the system and warp to Amand to help him bring down the destroyer (or big moose for the purpose of the analogy). We circle the Catalyst and unleash our beautiful barrage of projectiles and rockets as the prey succumbs to its wounds. Amand reports he's real low so I tell him we got this bad boy and to warp out if he needs to. The Catalyst will not take one down with him as he exploded. Woot!! Gf! Good catch! Off to a good start! We hold his pod and hold back the blood lust just in time to make sure our brave tackle and scout gets in on the pod kill. The Catalyst pilot wanted to be sent on his way.

[ 2015.12.12 19:21:43 ] Sem Skord > gf
[ 2015.12.12 19:21:47 ] shwing shwing > gf
[ 2015.12.12 19:21:51 ] Phontis Uta > gf
[ 2015.12.12 19:21:55 ] ThunderaceNL > gf
[ 2015.12.12 19:22:12 ] shwing shwing > express?
[ 2015.12.12 19:22:15 ] Sem Skord > waiting for a friend
[ 2015.12.12 19:22:16 ] Sem Skord > 1 moment

Shwing shwing took the express home. I collected his corpse and gathered the loot, dropped it off in a station and repaired. The rest of the gang repaired and shortly after we were ready to rock 'n roll. We continued our leap frog along our route. Sam Sobati met up with us on the move as a fellow Black Jacket had something to share with us about the Catalyst we just exploded.

[ 2015.12.12 19:35:46 ] Vincent II > Kill: shwing shwing (Catalyst)  saw you guys kill him on twitch <3
[ 2015.12.12 19:36:10 ] ThunderaceNL > nice
[ 2015.12.12 19:36:14 ] Sem Skord > <3
[ 2015.12.12 19:36:31 ] Sem Skord > did he rage??
[ 2015.12.12 19:36:34 ] Sem Skord > what did he say!?
[ 2015.12.12 19:36:36 ] Sem Skord > DETAILS!
[ 2015.12.12 19:36:40 ] Sam Sobati > NOW
[ 2015.12.12 19:36:53 ] Vincent II > little bit when you were all whoring on the pod :)
[ 2015.12.12 19:37:07 ] Vincent II > and whne the RFF warped out :)
[ 2015.12.12 19:37:14 ] Sam Sobati > HAHAHA
[ 2015.12.12 19:37:16 ] Sem Skord > lol
[ 2015.12.12 19:37:20 ] Sem Skord > thats awesome
[ 2015.12.12 19:37:55 ] Vincent II > i wouldnt have even noticed untill he was like "devils tatoo hmmm"
[ 2015.12.12 19:38:06 ] Sem Skord > <3

We were having a good laugh about the ordeal, not a bad way for a bunch of frigate junkies to get a bit of free public advertisement *smile* We continued our roam as Vincent came up with a brilliant idea.

[ 2015.12.12 19:40:48 ] Vincent II > time to stream snipe his vexor i think
[ 2015.12.12 19:41:10 ] Sem Skord > lol
[ 2015.12.12 19:41:24 ] Sem Skord > wheres his vexor?
[ 2015.12.12 19:41:26 ] Sem Skord > whats his fit?
[ 2015.12.12 19:41:42 ] Vincent II > standard dual rep blaster fit
[ 2015.12.12 19:41:54 ] Vincent II > in vey just now
[ 2015.12.12 19:42:35 ] Sem Skord > beautiful we're en route

Oh EVE! You just continue to provide! Five Black Jackets, one Vexor. His drones would have to go first, and as long as he wasn't dual webbed or had a neut fitted, our frigs can circle him and get under his guns as we take out the drones. Simple plan. We did a hard U-Turn as Vey was the opposite direction we were heading.

Leap frogging went out the window as we roared through systems discussing a plan of attack and the .. ahem .. intel our agents in the field reported. Vincent was keeping us posted on the whereabouts of our Vexor friend. We passed through Vey and into Frarie, and we saw Schwing schwing in local. We spread out to look for him, shortly after Amand reported the Vexor on the Moclimund gate. With the expanded grid we could see the Vexor on the nearby gate 12,000 something km away. The gang warped to catch him, but schwing schwing had the same idea and warped to us! Fortunately Sam Sobati in his Punisher stayed behind in an attempt to get him to aggress and hold him down for us. From the distance we heard the guns rumbling and Sam inform us over comms that he returned fire. No jumping the gate for this guy now! He's ours! Immediately we warped to Sam and swarmed the Vexor. Our guns focused on the hull since there was no enemy drones out on grid and his shields were falling fast. Finally the drones came out on grid and we switched fire to it. As we began working on the drones, we noticed his armor was taking huge hits. Someone suggested we switch back to the Vexor since he was crumbling under the combined might of our 200mm's. Primary Vexor! The switch worked as the Vexor was in deep armor without a single rep. Our frigates were too fast and too accurate for his cruiser as we riddled the hull with bullets, rockets, and lasers. The Vexor began to choke out reps, but our guns were overwhelming its tank. In one glorious explosion, the cruiser became a smoldering wreck in space. R1FTA VICTOR! We whooped and cheered on comms, congratulating each other and thanking Sam for being alone and unafraid with his Punisher to hold him down. We pointed his pod, made sure everyone was on it, and sent him on his way.


[ 2015.12.12 19:49:43 ] Sem Skord > vincent
[ 2015.12.12 19:49:45 ] Sem Skord > the tears
[ 2015.12.12 19:49:48 ] Sem Skord > report the tears! :)
[ 2015.12.12 19:51:25 ] Amand Caldurik > Vincent II is he saying anything?
[ 2015.12.12 19:51:51 ] Sam Sobati > http://www.twitch.tv/shwing_shwing
[ 2015.12.12 19:52:08 ] Vincent II > ah fuck i ran afk i dunno hes gone offline
[ 2015.12.12 19:52:18 ] Sam Sobati > \o/
[ 2015.12.12 19:52:25 ] Sam Sobati > Kill: shwing shwing (Capsule)
[ 2015.12.12 19:52:34 ] Phontis Uta > Kill: shwing shwing (Vexor)
[ 2015.12.12 19:52:59 ] Vincent II > <3
[ 2015.12.12 19:53:05 ] Sem Skord > we got 'em lol
[ 2015.12.12 19:53:49 ] Vincent II > I'll keep an eye on twitch and see if it uploads the highlights
[ 2015.12.12 19:55:37 ] Vincent II > how the fuck didnt he kill any of you?
[ 2015.12.12 19:55:49 ] Sem Skord > his tank didnt hold up at a ll

I don't know if one of us should've died, or all of us, but I know we all survived and took him down R1FTA style. We docked up to repair the heat damage, reload our weapons and drop off loot. We returned to our leap frog method and our scout reported nothing but a cyno. Oh yes! Gotta do the Lord's work! We entered the system and warped to the cyno. As we got into position I informed Phontis on the art of the bounce and what to do in order to avoid death via sentry guns. Once we were in position, we counted down from three. Two. One. Fire! The cyno was blapped as we left another smoldering wreck in our wake. Love doing these drive-by's!

The gang set off to our next system, and we parked our frigates on the gate as our scout entered to take a look around. Algos at a plex. Let's do it! Algos are a tough mofo to fight, but I felt confident with the five of us we'll be fine. Amand gave the word and we jumped into system and burned towards him, knowing he didn't have much time. We landed on grid and were greeted by the sounds of battle. Our band of Black Jackets fired away as we swarmed the Algos. This moose was putting up a fight! Short scan revealed another Algos outside the gate. Uh oh. To make matters worse, Nuke Cave entered system, flashy. Oh man! Slicer on short now. We punched through the destroyer's armor as Amand called out he was going down. I told him if he needed to get out go for it since we had multiple points on the Algos. The moose was in deep hull as our barrage of guns slowly but surely punched through. Slivers of structure were left on the Algos as Amand's Firetail exploded, but the Algos followed suit moments after. Woot! We got him! We held position around the beacon waiting for the Algos and Nuke's Slicer to enter. Seconds ticked away as we waited, guns at the ready. A few more seconds. Short scan clear. Phew! I gathered the loot from Amand's Firetail and the Algos, docked up to where he was and gave him all the loot. I congratulated him for the hero tackle.

Alas I had to leave my comrades in arms! RL duties were calling! It was a very successful roam and one I was proud to FC and be a part of. Amand agreed to take over as FC and continue fighting the good fight. Later in the day, I was delighted to see that more explosions were caused. Two Thorax's!! And their pods! Bah GAWD! I love these guys!

We found the twitch stream with footage of the Catalyst and Vexor's fight from the receiving end!

http://www.twitch.tv/shwing_shwing/v/29566561
2:48:55 - 2:51:15 is the Catalyst
3:14:48 - 3:17:10 is the Vexor fight.

Till next time! Happy Hunting o7

Dance with the Devils

Ishomilken! For a few months now Black Rebel Rifter Club has called this place home. We wasted no time in ... introducing ourselves throughout the neighborhood. Now we're all settled in and making the most out of what this region has to offer. I had some time to kill before I had to pickup my kid from school, so I hopped in my Rifter and undocked.


Mushikegi

When we first arrived, it took a while for me to get familiar with the region. Which systems led where, where the gate camps usually sit, which systems had the most potential for finding fights, all that good stuff. Basically I had to know the new neighborhood.



My usual route for a quick hunt is the pipe from Isho to Manjo, which led to the constellation of Kunala. That small cluster of systems allowed for a circular route back to Isho that usually yielded a couple fights. A fellow Black Jacket, kage Huren  was looking for trouble as well. It's been a while since we've seen each other so I was excited as we exchanged greetings. One of our Prospects, Samadhi Amarata also logged on and we chatted as I roamed around. A couple jumps in I entered Mushikegi and saw a Tristan and an Incursus at a novice.


Sem Skord > hey
Sem Skord > trist and incursus at a nov in  Mushikegi
Samadhi Amarata > sorry, was reshipping - no I lost to a Tristan and ... I think a Kestrel and something else
Sem Skord > anyone nearby?
kage Huren > 1j

I aligned to the novice, loaded my nice shiny Republic Fleet Fusion ammo and Caldari Navy Rockets, and overheated everything.

I started listing the possible ways that Tristan would be fit. Long range, MWD, with rail guns? Long range with no rails? Brawling with neuts? Shield? Armor? Tristans are very versatile, but like the 'ol saying goes, "If it bleeds .. We can kill it.".

kage Huren > incursus dual rep, try to burn it?
Sem Skord > if trist is close range go for that first
kage Huren > iw
Sem Skord > if its kiting, hold the incursus and blap drones of trist

My though process behind this was the Tristan would be the most threatening and lethal since it can project its firepower from long range or close range. The Incursus is a slow frigate and a single web would allow us to operate outside its blaster range as we dealt with whatever the Tristan threw at us. Here we go!

[ 2015.12.02 22:13:44 ] kage Huren > incursus alone
[ 2015.12.02 22:13:46 ] kage Huren > 60k off
[ 2015.12.02 22:13:49 ] Sem Skord > damn

Kage hauled ass towards the Incursus. Moments later the sounds of lasers and blasters greeted my ears as my slow Rifter hobbled over to catch up and join the fight. I checked D-Scan to see if the Tristan would return.

[ 2015.12.02 22:14:05 ] Sem Skord > dd on short
[ 2015.12.02 22:14:07 ] Sem Skord > come to beacon
[ 2015.12.02 22:14:19 ] kage Huren > omw

I was 20km from the beacon when I slammed Ctrl+Space to stop my Rifter and burn back towards the warp in to catch that Daredevil. Kage made it before me with his speedy Tormentor. The Daredevil warped in and the shakes punched me in the stomach. He was about 5,000 meters from me as I landed my point and web and let loose with my barrage of bullets and rockets. I orbited him outside blaster range to give me some breathing room as his shields fell. Kage was zooming around the Daredevil firing away with his lasers as the pirate frig yellow boxed me. His blasters missed my Rifter as a Black Jacket assault of projectiles, rockets and lasers blasted him into half armor. The Incursus was 38km away closing in. Oh shit! My heart beat was up, my hands were trembling and I think I wasn't breathing for a bit. Another devastating volley ripped through his armor as his hull began to take damage. The Daredevil choked out a shield and armor rep as his structure was being redecorated. The Incursus was 27km away and began to lock me up. Some desperate shots from the DD's blasters landed but my shields were holding up. Almost there! Almost there! The Daredevil continued to rep, but our fury and relentlessness was too much. Wooo!!  I scrambled to target his pod as the Incursus drew closer at 18km but he managed to escape. I locked up the Incursus at 13km and burned towards him as Kage blasted through his shields with a volley. Before I could get my guns on him Kage's lasers were landing big hits putting our target into half armor. When my guns finally began firing the Incursus was already into structure and falling apart. My Rifter was being hit with some solid shots but my tank held comfortably. All of a sudden the smoking and flaming Incursus repped its armor back to full with 1/4 of its structure left! The gunfire continued and it overwhelmed the frigate in a satisfying explosion. Oh my goodness! The shakes! 2v2 Frigate action! R1FTA Victor!

The celebration was short lived as short scan showed some visitors outside the plex.

Sem Skord > dramiel on scan
Sem Skord > on short
Sem Skord > beacon
kage Huren > heres hoping
Sem Skord > beacon
Sem Skord > dram

The fights had moved us away from the beacon a bit. After Kage collected the loot off the battlefield we burned back towards the warp in and waited. The autocannons were still smokin' but spinning with bad intentions. Our Tristan from earlier appeared on short too. I began to think about evading as the Dramiel and Tristan might be a bit too much, but Kage .. the Crazy Englishmen settled my nerves with one command.

Keep calm, and stay!

kage Huren > stay

I stayed. Moments turned into seconds, and the duo still hadn't warped in. I checked short scan again.

Sem Skord > get out
Sem Skord > daredevil on scan too
Sem Skord > Daredevil, DD and trist on short

Needless to say we got out of there as local went up by three or four people. But something had possessed the Englishman. The lust for explosions and twisted metal? The thrill of emerging victorious after a 2v2?

Sem Skord > you out?
kage Huren > yeah
Sem Skord > nice
Sem Skord > local went up a bit as well
kage Huren > we can do this

I'm not gonna let a fellow Black Jacket fight alone!

Sem Skord > let me reload my SAAR
kage Huren > warp novice at 100km
kage Huren > when ready
Sem Skord > kk
kage Huren > hopefully drag them out some
Sem Skord > alright

My SAAR was loaded and ready to go, and we warped to the novice. The three from earlier weren't there but were still on long scan. A few moments went by and the group was replaced by a couple of Firetails in system. We sat and watched 100km away as a Firetail landed on the gate. I was unable to eye ball the guns on his ship as he warped into the plex. Shortly after a Daredevil landed at the same distance. He warped off to a large which was empty. We gave chase, but he warped back to the Novice. We turned around and went back but he escaped our grasps. Kage and I entered the novice, and we didn't have to wait long when a Firetail appeared on short.

Sem Skord > firetail short
kage Huren > sliding in

I still had Fusion loaded as the Firetail entered the plex. I figured with Kage's lasers, his shields wouldn't put up much of a fight and in case the Tristan or other pair of pirate frigs show up I'll have the proper ammo loaded and ready to rock. Kage and I locked up the Firetail and fired away. Our volleys penetrated his shield and tore apart his armor, but his shield reps kicked in as his structure began to take damage. His fire focused on me, but my shields were holding. Our gunfire was overwhelming his shield tank.

Sem Skord > DD short
kage Huren > dd short

The Firetail was putting up a stubborn fight, but it exploded just as the Daredevil warped in. The shakes came back again as we turned our fury to the pirate frig. Within two or three volleys the Daredevil had lost its shields AND its armor. It was melting under the barrage of bullets and lasers. The Daredevil wasn't able to get a single rep off as it sat there and exploded. What!!? The shakes continued to hold me as we sat there in Mushi victorious. The smoldering wrecks of our enemies hovered around us. Corp chat was something like this:

Sem Skord > kage, good shit bro :)
kage Huren > my cargos full loot
Sem Skord > lets go drop it off in isho
kage Huren > I didnt even need to rep once, you got all the abuse
Sem Skord > My tank held :)
Sem Skord > haha
kage Huren > im glad
Sem Skord > still shaking btw
kage Huren > yeah i cant breath properly
Sem Skord > lol

Good fun! We dropped gf's in local as we headed home with the spoils of war. We encountered a big gate camp, with logi cruisers and a Gnosis on both sides of the Isho gate but were able to get away no problems. The gods favored us this day! I docked up in our home station still collecting myself, thinking about what just transpired in a manner of ten minutes. Man! That was intense! RL began to knock at the door as I thanked Kage for the fun.

kage Huren > shall we go?
kage Huren > or you wanting your own thing
Sem Skord > i have to pickup my kid from school in a few
kage Huren > ahh fair enough, its like 11pm here
kage Huren > forget about timezones
Sem Skord > alright guys i gotta run. kage thanks for that intense pew pew man <3
kage Huren > <3
Samadhi Amarata > o7 Sem
Sem Skord > later guys o7

Holiday Update

Hello to the readers of this blog!

The last month and a half or so have been real busy, with school work (plus finals coming up), family and the holidays arriving I haven't had the time to share my stories with New Eden. On top of all that, Fallout 4 was recently released and I've been playing the shit out of it!

I've been neglecting EVE (forgive me baby), but I do find time to squeeze in a quick roam and look for some fights to get the autocannons spinning and the rockets flying!

Smoking Rifter, best Rifter :)

 Among the ratters, miners, farmers, and other folks I've encountered recently, I have had a couple good 'ol nail biting fights :)

So after this semester ends and the frenzy dies down, the stories of frigate action and gun fights will return.

Happy Holidays! Be safe! And Fly Dangerous!

- Sem

War Party

War! Recently R1FTA declared war on Rifterlings for two reasons.

1) Content!
2) And we felt Rifterlings doesn't kill enough stuff with Rifters, so we dec'd 'em in the good name of the Rifter and Wensley!

A manifesto listing our grievances was sent to the CEO, and the response was a manifesto from their CEO Fintarue. The war wasn't the Rifter action packed slug fest I had hoped. One of our Prospects fired the first shots in a Rifter against a Rifterling Comet, signaling the beginning of the conflict. Not to be deterred by a mere faction frig, he reshipped into a Merlin and charged right back into the fray. Uncertain Fate's gung ho blaze of glory was the last engagement between us. For a few days R1FTA roamed searching for Rifterlings. One was spotted nearby Isho, but he was docked in station and remained there for a couple days. A few of us ventured into Metropolis to their home system Sirekur, but no luck. I got into the war by heading over there myself and saw a couple of them in system.

I offered in local 1v1's inside the novice, and Vincent Caerbannog accepted my request. The first fight I suffered a defeat due to poor management of my SAAR (damn shakes!) and beginning the 60 second reload of death mid fight. I returned in another Rifter and asked if he was willing to go again, and he agreed. This time I was ready! We orbited each other close and danced as we rained the holy fire of projectiles at one another. I noticed I was dual webbed, so I overheated my afterburner to stay close. He was also firing away with 150mm's, so I worked to stay on him to deliver the full punch of my 200mm's. I was able to manage my reps properly and still have some left over after his Rifter exploded. We were one for one so I offered a rematch since he gave me one. The final battle went the same way as our Rifters orbited close and exchanged volleys. That's when he hit me with the neut! I immediately overheated my afterburner and began to pull range, but he managed to cap me out and all I could do was keep firing and spam my repper hoping to get a rep or two off as we tore each other's Rifters apart. Although my cap was empty, the extra damage my rockets were doing put him in hull early in the fight as my Rifter was approaching deep armor. The gunfire was too much and overwhelmed his tank as he exploded. Good fights!

The war ended a day or two afterwards, and unsatisfied with the lack of fights between the two of us, R1FTA renewed the war. Hopefully more of them come out to play this time :)

The War Party

The following took place a few hours before the war officially ended.

It was late (for me at least) when I logged in. I was back in Minmatar Space with the hope and intent of killing more Rifterlings. The Rifter duels earlier from one of them was badass and was hoping to get some more good fights. A friend of mine and fellow Black Jacket Amand Caldurik recently returned to New Eden from a long break, and was also online. We celebrated the occasion by taking our Rifters together to hunt some war targets. Early in our roam we spotted a lone Slasher in a plex, with only myself, Amand and Priestess Melisandre.

The Priest warped off as we landed on the gate.

Amand Caldurik > ahh, this chick is cool
Amand Caldurik > i spoke to her a while

I don't know if it was because we were in a good mood, if it was because it was only us three, or if it was because we had a main target we were after, but we extended an olive branch in local,

Sem Skord > Priestess Melisandre o/
Sem Skord > Wanna roam with us?
Amand Caldurik > 0/
Priestess Melisandre > hi




A while went by. I switched to corp chat,

Sem Skord > think shes wary of us
Amand Caldurik > she should

I tried again.

Sem Skord > Wanna shoot stuff with us?

Amand Caldurik > it will be worth you time

Priestess Melisandre > really? as long as that stuff ain't me

Sem Skord > haha deal

Nice! We continued on our hunting party with our new pal. We searched the local constellation but no targets presented themselves. When we entered Frerstorn, d-scan detected a Merlin. I narrowed it down to a novice plex and warped off while I informed the gang.

Sem Skord > xxx
Sem Skord > Frerstorn
Sem Skord > novice outpost

The Merlin had just landed on the gate moments before me, I set a 5,000 meter orbit as I mashed ctrl+click to lock him up. The Merlin was pointed and I let loose with a barrage of bullets and rockets.

[ 2015.10.27 06:49:29 ] Sem Skord > point
[ 2015.10.27 06:49:32 ] Amand Caldurik > good
[ 2015.10.27 06:49:39 ] Sem Skord > shoot him :)
[ 2015.10.27 06:49:52 ] Sem Skord > priest
[ 2015.10.27 06:49:53 ] Sem Skord > come shoot him
[ 2015.10.27 06:49:56 ] Sem Skord > warp to one of us
[ 2015.10.27 06:49:58 ] Priestess Melisandre > omw

Amand's Rifter landed on grid and joined the fun with his trio of 200mm's but Priest was no where to be seen. Cmon Priest! Finally a Slasher warped in as Priest arrived just as we put the Merlin in hull. Moments later the Merlin exploded.

[ 2015.10.27 06:50:49 ] Sem Skord > chasing pod to sun
[ 2015.10.27 06:50:49 ] Amand Caldurik > gj

I chased the pod to the sun but no luck.

[ 2015.10.27 06:50:53 ] Sem Skord > grab loot someone
[ 2015.10.27 06:50:56 ] Sem Skord > Kill: Peter Shvec (Merlin)

I checked out the killmail and noticed Priest wasn't on it. Before I can ask why she didn't fire,

[ 2015.10.27 06:51:17 ] Amand Caldurik > getting loot
[ 2015.10.27 06:51:24 ] Priestess Melisandre > had safety on
[ 2015.10.27 06:51:30 ] Sem Skord > lol
[ 2015.10.27 06:51:30 ] Amand Caldurik > lol

I laughed as I remembered I did the exact same thing in my early days of spreading the pew pew! We told her to set it to red, docked, repped and continued on our way to Sirekur.

We hit Sirekur, and no Rifterlings in system. Ah well, we could investigate the rest of Metropolis on the way to Heimatar. System after system we went through looking for something to shoot but found nothing. We entered Heimatar through the top from Dal and explored the rest of the constellation. When we entered the Ghetto of New Eden, Amamake, I was surprised at what I saw.

[ 2015.10.27 07:07:27 ] Sem Skord > wow this is the least amount of people ive ever seen in amamake

Seven! SEVEN! People in the entire system of Amamake! On top of that, D-Scan was clean of POS trash. Wow! We pressed on to Auga, where there was some activity in space. We scanned the center of the system where the plex's were but found nothing. Just as we were about to warp towards our Auga, I noticed someone went flashy in system, and the only other plex was a small outside scan range.

[ 2015.10.27 07:11:01 ] Sem Skord > gonna check that small outpost
[ 2015.10.27 07:11:05 ] Sem Skord > someone just went flashy
[ 2015.10.27 07:11:17 ] Amand Caldurik > i see
[ 2015.10.27 07:11:18 ] Sem Skord > cruor punisher
[ 2015.10.27 07:11:19 ] Sem Skord > lets do it
[ 2015.10.27 07:11:22 ] Sem Skord > primary cruor
[ 2015.10.27 07:11:34 ] Amand Caldurik > wait
[ 2015.10.27 07:11:37 ] Sem Skord > oops

When Amand had said wait I was already taking the acceleration gate into the plex. Overheat everything! I was greeted by the sounds of battle as the Cruor had caught the Punisher and was finishing it off. They were fighting about 12km from the warp in, so I burned towards the Cruor. The Punisher exploded just as I scrammed the Cruor and my Rifter let loose with a barrage of bullets and rockets. I set an orbit to 5,000 meters knowing this thing can neut or something, and within seconds I was capped out! Shit! 

[ 2015.10.27 07:11:55 ] Sem Skord > xxx
[ 2015.10.27 07:12:21 ] Amand Caldurik > stay alive

[ 2015.10.27 07:12:24 ] Amand Caldurik > im close

I aligned towards the sun as the Cruor was in deep armor, but with my capacitor unable to keep my repper going my Rifter was dying a slow death. Seconds felt like minutes as I wondered where the gang was! Lasers were blasting holes into my beautiful hull but my projectiles and rockets were returning the favor. The Cruor entered structure as I neared deep armor! Oh man! Oh MAN! My afterburner was still going, but I still didn't see my backup on short scan. Evasive maneuvers! I overheated my afterburner and spammed warp as the range between us was slowly increasing. A laser blast wrecked my armor and damaged my structure pretty good. His repper kicked in as he was in half structure. 8,200 meters ... 8,600 meters .. 9,000 meters! Rifter on fire and smoking, I saw my backup on short. Aura's voice reassured me that we were safe and outta there!

[ 2015.10.27 07:12:56 ] Sem Skord > wooo got out
[ 2015.10.27 07:12:58 ] Sem Skord > kill him
[ 2015.10.27 07:13:00 ] Sem Skord > hes almost dead
[ 2015.10.27 07:13:12 ] Sem Skord > 38% structure left
[ 2015.10.27 07:13:29 ] Sem Skord > he escaped?
[ 2015.10.27 07:13:35 ] Amand Caldurik > he did
[ 2015.10.27 07:13:43 ] Amand Caldurik > before i landed
[ 2015.10.27 07:13:52 ] Amand Caldurik > i got someones pod
[ 2015.10.27 07:13:53 ] Sem Skord > lol man
[ 2015.10.27 07:14:01 ] Sem Skord > we were both in hull

We couldn't get that Cruor, but that skirmish between us was intense as hell! I've never fought a Cruor before, but now I know those things can neut you out real quick. We lingered in the system for a while watching Svipuls and cruisers come in and out before finally moving on.

The next system over we saw a cyno, and after explaining how to do the bounce, we warped to it and did a drive by. Except our drive by was interrupted by an Archon with the cyno having a sliver of hull left! Ah well! Comet on scan!

[ 2015.10.27 07:28:21 ] Priestess Melisandre > comet
[ 2015.10.27 07:28:24 ] Sem Skord > warp to me
[ 2015.10.27 07:28:41 ] Sem Skord > station

A flashy comet was sitting on the undock, so we fired on the frig and punched through his shield. As we began to work through his armor, he must of noticed he was getting shot at and docked up. *sigh*

Amand docked up to repair some damage while Priest and I waited at a safe. I saw a Comet on scan again, this time I opened a novice and waited outside the gate with Priest. Instead of a Comet, the Amarr rookie ship landed on the plex inside. No time for questions! Shoot it! We locked up the rookie ship and proceeded to destroy it. Woot! Explosions! I spammed target locked for the pod, and succeeded >:)

[ 2015.10.27 07:29:13 ] Sem Skord > shoot it
[ 2015.10.27 07:29:25 ] Sem Skord > priest
[ 2015.10.27 07:29:28 ] Sem Skord > shoot the capsule
[ 2015.10.27 07:29:40 ] Sem Skord > Beautiful :)
[ 2015.10.27 07:29:41 ] Priestess Melisandre > yay
[ 2015.10.27 07:29:44 ] Sem Skord > Kill: Koshei Vestov (Impairor)

An image of Chancellor Palpatine telling Anakin to execute Count Dooku when he had two light sabers on his throat entered my head at that moment.

[ 2015.10.27 07:32:18 ] Sem Skord > priest can you link the km?
[ 2015.10.27 07:32:20 ] Priestess Melisandre > Kill: Koshei Vestov (Capsule)
[ 2015.10.27 07:32:24 ] Sem Skord > ty
[ 2015.10.27 07:32:26 ] Priestess Melisandre > my first kill!
[ 2015.10.27 07:32:29 ] Sem Skord > <3
[ 2015.10.27 07:32:35 ] Sem Skord > a pod too :) and a war target for you

Mwahahahaha! We had roamed throughout Amarr space for the next twenty minutes as plexer's warped off on us and had some false alarms with possible targets. Our trigger fingers were getting jumpy.

[ 2015.10.27 07:52:00 ] Sem Skord > Oyonata nothing
[ 2015.10.27 07:52:37 ] Amand Caldurik > something wil pop up soon

As we were nearing the last few systems of our roam for the night, a catalyst called us out in local. All four of us landed on the out gate, and we watched the Catalyst warp back to a small plex. Let's do this! I warped off to follow the catty and informed Amand and Priest where to go. I landed on grid and the Catalyst was waiting. We locked each other up at the same and exchanged gun fire. My shields fell in the first volley so I activated my repper. I noticed my speed had dropped dramatically but I wasn't pointed. Another volley put me in half armor but my repper did it's thing and patched me up. The Catalyst was in half armor as I began to align to get out of there. Each successive volley was a devastating hit to the Rifter, and as Amand and Priest landed on grid, the destroyer was in hull as I warped off. Another close one! The Rifter and Slasher will finish off the Catalyst.

[ 2015.10.27 07:55:17 ] Priestess Melisandre > wow
[ 2015.10.27 07:55:21 ] Priestess Melisandre > got me

Huh!? I checked d-scan and saw Priest's capsule in space! My repper was still going as I turned my Rifter around and warped back to the small plex.

[ 2015.10.27 07:55:50 ] Amand Caldurik > qhe got me too

Noo! I landed on grid with the smoldering wrecks of my brethren in space and the Catalyst's blasters ready to keep spreading the love. I locked him up and orbited at 5,000 meters. His shields were gone, was in half armor, and had some damage to his structure. I let the guns and rockets loose as I was double webbed again and rocked with a volley blast. My SAAR coughed out its last two reps as the Catalyst exploded my Rifter.

[ 2015.10.27 07:55:52 ] Priestess Melisandre > did you get him?
[ 2015.10.27 07:55:54 ] Sem Skord > same here
[ 2015.10.27 07:55:56 ] Sem Skord > nah he got me
[ 2015.10.27 07:56:00 ] Amand Caldurik > lol podded
[ 2015.10.27 07:56:01 ] Sem Skord > went back to die in a ball of fire

I typed a gf in local and we were impressed with the Catalyst on how easy he swept us under the rug!

[ 2015.10.27 07:57:27 ] Amand Caldurik > that guy did well
[ 2015.10.27 07:57:33 ] Sem Skord > yea man i wonder what that fit is
[ 2015.10.27 07:57:41 ] Sem Skord > the dps was insane
[ 2015.10.27 07:57:44 ] Priestess Melisandre > hull?
[ 2015.10.27 07:57:52 ] Priestess Melisandre > well, he is a destroyer...
[ 2015.10.27 07:58:29 ] Sem Skord > true

Fair point Priest, fair point!

I had some ships about five jumps away as myself and Priest made our way over there so I can compensate her with a Rifter for the Slasher she lost. Amand was back in Isho.

[ 2015.10.27 08:02:15 ] Sem Skord > im in station, rifter is rdy when u get here
[ 2015.10.27 08:03:07 ] Priestess Melisandre > docking
[ 2015.10.27 08:04:23 ] Priestess Melisandre > thanks
[ 2015.10.27 08:04:31 ] Sem Skord > np, theres some t2 mods on it
[ 2015.10.27 08:04:39 ] Sem Skord > so if you need to swap out stuff for meta 4's feel free
[ 2015.10.27 08:04:50 ] Priestess Melisandre > I can't run the rocket, but the rest is fine
[ 2015.10.27 08:04:57 ] Sem Skord > cool
[ 2015.10.27 08:05:08 ] Sem Skord > alright priest, nice flying with you. see ya around o7
[ 2015.10.27 08:05:20 ] Priestess Melisandre > thanks for everything!
[ 2015.10.27 08:05:24 ] Priestess Melisandre > great night
[ 2015.10.27 08:05:39 ] Sem Skord > if you ever wanna shoot stuff again
[ 2015.10.27 08:05:45 ] Sem Skord > let us know :]
[ 2015.10.27 08:06:01 ] Priestess Melisandre > I will
[ 2015.10.27 08:06:25 ] Sem Skord > cool, gonna hit the rack. have a good night o7
[ 2015.10.27 08:06:38 ] Priestess Melisandre > thanks, u too

Got some kills, went out in a ball of fire and glory. Good roam :]

Just in time!

EVE Is a Cruel Mistress

EVE has not been good to me lately. After returning to New Eden from a small break of losing at FIFA 16, I went out looking for explosions. The day prior yielded a few good skirmishes where I was able to warp off in low structure, and a farmer kill to ease back into the groove of things. Afterwards, I tried to beat a Svipul + Hyena gate camp (I lost). Determined to bag me a decent kill I reshipped and almost got ganked by a number of frigates, but was able to escape. I was feeling confident, so I opened a novice and waited. All three entered, and my Rifter fought bravely. I was not to be deterred from my goal! Went back out and found a Condor nearby in a large plex. I died a slow agonizing death. Surely EVE was punishing me for playing a different game! I was happy when he finally exploded me so I could dock up and try again later in the day.

That Same Night

The calm ambiance of the station didn't interrupt my episode of CONCORD. I finished the episode and hopped in my Rifter as I slammed down a Quafe.

Alright baby, round three! Caldari space still felt a bit alien to me as I headed off into my usual route. One of our new Prospects, Alex Splinter was out and about looking for stuff to explode. We greeted each other in local and chatted a while as I scanned around and moved on to the next system. 

The constellation of Kurala is where I usually find a few fights without venturing far from home. This cluster of systems leads off into more low sec through Okkamon, and from there even more hunting grounds. I entered Ikoskio and scanned around and noticed something good.

[ 2015.10.09 07:34:00 ] Sem Skord > hey

[ 2015.10.09 07:34:03 ] Sem Skord > Ikoskio

[ 2015.10.09 07:34:06 ] Sem Skord > vexor at a belt

[ 2015.10.09 07:34:24 ] Alex Splinter > i can take a vexor ?

[ 2015.10.09 07:34:26 ] Alex Splinter > we*?

[ 2015.10.09 07:34:28 ] Sem Skord > yes we can

[ 2015.10.09 07:34:29 ] Alex Splinter > omw

Once I landed, through the floating debris of rocks the Vexor was sitting 200km off the belt. Ah poop. I scanned around some more and noticed an Orca out in space. It wasn't POS trash because I've never seen it on scan before, so I figured what the hell and scanned the planets. Once I pinpointed him, I warped off and loaded my Phased Plasma and Inferno rockets. I exited warp and was pleasantly surprised to land right on top of an Orca! What the shit!? Immediately I locked him up, scrammed and webbed the big beast and fired away! 

[ 2015.10.09 07:37:55 ] Sem Skord > xxxx

[ 2015.10.09 07:38:03 ] Sem Skord > Ikoskio V

[ 2015.10.09 07:38:05 ] Sem Skord > customs office

[ 2015.10.09 07:38:09 ] Sem Skord > planet V

[ 2015.10.09 07:38:11 ] Sem Skord > orca pointed

[ 2015.10.09 07:38:38 ] Sem Skord > cmon man!

[ 2015.10.09 07:38:47 ] Alex Splinter > omw

Alex landed on grid with his Incursus and we proceeded to chip away at the Orca's shield. Very slowly but surely we were doing enough damage to break his shields. 

Alex Splinter!

[ 2015.10.09 07:40:05 ] Sem Skord > once we punch thru his shields

[ 2015.10.09 07:40:08 ] Sem Skord > hes dead

[ 2015.10.09 07:40:39 ] Alex Splinter > why the hell is it here

[ 2015.10.09 07:40:57 ] Sem Skord > was doing PI maybe

[ 2015.10.09 07:41:05 ] Alex Splinter > ?

[ 2015.10.09 07:41:12 ] Alex Splinter > clear on dscan

[ 2015.10.09 07:41:29 ] Sem Skord > rgr

[ 2015.10.09 07:41:33 ] Alex Splinter > omg just overloaded -.-'

[ 2015.10.09 07:41:34 ] Sem Skord > planetary interaction

[ 2015.10.09 07:41:44 ] Sem Skord > watch the heat damage :)

[ 2015.10.09 07:42:26 ] Alex Splinter > is there anything i can do to repair here ?

[ 2015.10.09 07:43:11 ] Sem Skord > go 1 system over and rep at a station

[ 2015.10.09 07:43:17 ] Alex Splinter > yup

Even with just four of us in system, I continued to mash short scan and keep a nervous eye on who was coming and going in local. As Alex went a system over to repair his guns, a small spike of three pilots occurred. Oh no. Backup has arrived. I continued to mash short scan and to my relief saw nothing, but the pilots were still in system.

 [ 2015.10.09 07:44:18 ] Alex Splinter > whos angle?

[ 2015.10.09 07:44:22 ] Sem Skord > dunno

[ 2015.10.09 07:44:29 ] Sem Skord > not showing up on short scan

[ 2015.10.09 07:44:31 ] Alex Splinter > watch out

[ 2015.10.09 07:44:36 ] Sem Skord > rgr

[ 2015.10.09 07:45:07 ] Alex Splinter > all good ? just about to dock

[ 2015.10.09 07:45:11 ] Sem Skord > yea im good

[ 2015.10.09 07:45:27 ] Sem Skord > almost thru his shield

[ 2015.10.09 07:45:36 ] Sem Skord > just us :)

[ 2015.10.09 07:46:02 ] Sem Skord > shield broken

[ 2015.10.09 07:46:25 ] Alex Splinter > omw back

[ 2015.10.09 07:46:28 ] Sem Skord > rgr

The group had moved on and we were both shooting the Orca once again. Once the shields fell, the armor was crumbling fairly quick. 

[ 2015.10.09 07:47:37 ] Sem Skord > shoot it

[ 2015.10.09 07:47:40 ] Sem Skord > almost in hull

[ 2015.10.09 07:48:02 ] Alex Splinter > bulkheads

[ 2015.10.09 07:48:21 ] Alex Splinter > firetail in ystem

[ 2015.10.09 07:48:23 ] Alex Splinter > system

[ 2015.10.09 07:48:25 ] Sem Skord > rgr

A pair of pilots that had been chasing Alex entered system. One was in a Coercer and the other in a Firetail. We stayed on the Orca and watched short and long scan. The duo was on long, most likely looking for us but fortunately haven't succeeded. The Orca was now in half structure as its reinforced hull gave us trouble. I had gone through 3/4's of my shield ammo and rockets to break its shield, and was on the last two reloads of my armor to finish off the big beast. Ammo was running very low. Fortunately the Orca had no drones out (not sure if they can or not) so our only worry was having enough bullets to blow this bad boy up. Just then;

[ 2015.10.09 07:49:30 ] pugthetraveler Antollare > anyone want to help on gankers near V

Ah man! Almost three quarters of the way through his structure and he asks for help in local! Now the Firetail/Coercer duo know where we're at. Minutes later, both ships land on grid with us but 100km off. Not wanting to abandon this Orca, I extended a bloody olive branch.

[ 2015.10.09 07:51:38 ] Sem Skord > Help us kill it :)

The Firetail burned towards us at MWD speed. I informed Alex if he attacks one of us to focus fire on him. We continued to fire away on the Orca as the Firetail got closer and closer. At 30km I held my breath and waited to see what he'd do. 25km .. 23km ... 16km. The Firetail went suspect as his autocannons let loose on the Orca!

[ 2015.10.09 07:52:36 ] pugthetraveler Antollare > Rhight so you can take all the lot from others.  Piss ants.

[ 2015.10.09 07:52:48 ] pugthetraveler Antollare > Of course I was stupid to stay in system that long

[ 2015.10.09 07:52:50 ] Sem Skord > Ya'll can have the loot when he pops :)

[ 2015.10.09 07:53:00 ] Sem Skord > Just wanna see this guy explode

Yes! Happy that these fellas were helping us bring down this Orca faster, I told Alex to stay on his guard and get ready to warp off as soon as the Orca explodes. The Coercer was slow burning at afterburner speed towards us as we continued to fire on the ship. A couple minutes later the destroyer lent his guns to the destruction and I watched as lasers, autocannons, rockets and blasters came together for one glorious purpose. Pew pew! That's when Richard the Longshanks logged in.

[ 2015.10.09 07:53:41 ] Richard Averald > o/

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:03 ] Sem Skord > o/

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:03 ] Alex Splinter > o/

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:05 ] Sem Skord > shooting an orca

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:08 ] Sem Skord > Ikoskio

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:09 ] Sem Skord > Ikoskio V

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:25 ] Richard Averald > long left?

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:31 ] Sem Skord > quarter hull left

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:33 ] Alex Splinter > firetail and  Coercer

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:38 ] Richard Averald > nice

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:44 ] Alex Splinter > 2/3 intro hulll

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:46 ] Richard Averald > I'm shipless at Nisuwa

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:50 ] Richard Averald > have a ship in Okkamon

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:52 ] Richard Averald > coming



The Orca was approaching the last bits of life in its hull. Fire and smoke began to engulf the ship as I reminded Alex of the plan. I typed out a message and hit enter in corp chat, but got a weird ding sound. Maybe I'm typing too much. I hit enter again. Same sound. Hmm that's weird. I hit short scan again, and the Scan button stayed pushed down after I released the click from my mouse. No.

The Socket has been closed. EVE is kill. No. Not now! Not now!! Why EVE! WHYYY!!?? 

EVE definitely punished me for playing other games that night. I scrambled to log back in but was getting errors that connection wasn't there. I couldn't believe it. Seconds seemed like minutes as the launcher was back up and I opened up the exe file to log back in. Did Alex make it? I missed the Orca explosion. Is my pod ok? I probably got podded by those two. The character menu showed I was in a pod but still in system, so I didn't get podded. I entered space and landed on the Customs Office where the huge Orca wreck was floating like a fallen monument. The Firetail and Coercer were there with the engagement timer on 'em. I warped off to a safe.

[ 2015.10.09 07:57:49 ] Alex Splinter > sem ?

[ 2015.10.09 07:58:18 ] Sem Skord > Dam game D/c'd

[ 2015.10.09 07:58:23 ] Sem Skord > I got d/c'd

[ 2015.10.09 07:58:26 ] Sem Skord > in the middle of that shit

[ 2015.10.09 07:58:43 ] Alex Splinter > they both targeted so i warped and missed :@

[ 2015.10.09 07:59:00 ] Sem Skord > good job man

[ 2015.10.09 07:59:12 ] Sem Skord > im feeling mixed emotions

[ 2015.10.09 07:59:20 ] Alex Splinter > mmmm annoying. wanted kill

[ 2015.10.09 07:59:36 ] Alex Splinter > those two have been following me all day

But Richard the Longshanks wasn't gonna take this lying down. No. Because he is AutoKill Averald, The Face of Death. 

[ 2015.10.09 08:02:11 ] Sem Skord > well, we almost got an orca alex :)

[ 2015.10.09 08:02:19 ] Alex Splinter > richards aggressing

[ 2015.10.09 08:02:27 ] Sem Skord > im getting a firetail

[ 2015.10.09 08:02:35 ] Richard Averald > got both

[ 2015.10.09 08:02:41 ] Alex Splinter > richard...show off :L

[ 2015.10.09 08:02:45 ] Sem Skord > uwutm8

Richard had arrived to the battlefield in the aftermath, and with the element of surprise killed both the Firetail and the Coercer who were still at the wreck. Beautiful work! R1FTA VICTOR!

[ 2015.10.09 08:03:36 ] Sem Skord > Richard the Longshanks!

[ 2015.10.09 08:03:38 ] Richard Averald > Kill: Turok Alar (Coercer)

[ 2015.10.09 08:03:50 ] Richard Averald > Kill: Brayne Ded (Republic Fleet Firetail)

[ 2015.10.09 08:04:12 ] Sem Skord > fucking beautiful man

[ 2015.10.09 08:04:17 ] Richard Averald > we need transport

I was in another Rifter making my way towards the Orca wreck to see if I could get the loot from my destroyed Rifter; 

[ 2015.10.09 08:04:45 ] Richard Averald > golem entered

[ 2015.10.09 08:04:45 ] Alex Splinter > whats that ^?

[ 2015.10.09 08:04:51 ] Richard Averald > same guy

[ 2015.10.09 08:04:55 ] Richard Averald > want a golem kill?

[ 2015.10.09 08:05:02 ] Alex Splinter > i need ammo

[ 2015.10.09 08:05:02 ] Sem Skord > omw

[ 2015.10.09 08:05:12 ] Richard Averald > I need repairs

[ 2015.10.09 08:05:18 ] Richard Averald > going asakai to return

[ 2015.10.09 08:05:23 ] Richard Averald > he's at planet V

[ 2015.10.09 08:05:27 ] Richard Averald > probably taking loot

[ 2015.10.09 08:05:50 ] Sem Skord > yea omw ill help ya

[ 2015.10.09 08:06:49 ] Sem Skord > whats a golem?

At that point in time all I knew was that Richard was shooting a Golem at the planet where our Orca wreck was located. Alex and I were a couple jumps away burning towards him to help Rich out. By then Alex had linked a Golem ship in chat and all I saw was that it was a Marauder and its usually shield tanked. I loaded EMP ammo and Mjolnir rockets. We finally reach the system and land on grid with Richard and the Golem, and it seemed to be caught in the wreck of the Orca! Just as Richard had said, it was the same pilot! I locked him up and began firing away where his shields were falling relatively quick. I went to point and web him but got a message saying there was external factors preventing me from successfully carrying out those actions. What the?? Chat was fine since Alex and Richard were talking, all the numbers on the screen were good, nothing was freezing up or giving me the signs that I was going to get d/c'd again. I activated them again. Same message. Really odd. 

[ 2015.10.09 08:13:29 ] Sem Skord > i cant point him
[ 2015.10.09 08:13:42 ] Richard Averald > m,aybe he doesnt try to warp
[ 2015.10.09 08:14:30 ] Alex Splinter > we warped off for good ?
[ 2015.10.09 08:14:30 ] Sem Skord > thats so weird
[ 2015.10.09 08:14:34 ] Sem Skord > it wont let me point or web him
[ 2015.10.09 08:14:46 ] Richard Averald > hacked?
[ 2015.10.09 08:14:51 ] Sem Skord > maybe cuz the ship type??

The Golem was firing big missiles at Richard that would force him to warp off and repair. His shields were three quarters of the way gone. Richard warped off to repair and the Golem targeted me and the smoke trails of its delivery were heading my way. The explosion rocked my ship but the damage wasn't significant. My tank would hold for a good while.

[ 2015.10.09 08:15:04 ] Sem Skord > im good
[ 2015.10.09 08:15:07 ] Sem Skord > his shield is almost gone
[ 2015.10.09 08:15:13 ] Richard Averald > coming in again
[ 2015.10.09 08:15:15 ] Sem Skord > rgr

That's when Alex shed light on why we weren't able to point him.

[ 2015.10.09 08:15:21 ] Alex Splinter > Bastion Module I

That's why! Hey I'm just a frigate pilot! At that point we knew we would need something big and fancy to hold down the Marauder and take him down before he warps off. Problem was that it was only us three on in corp chat and we didn't have a bat phone to peeps who could drop the heat on something that big. Richard and I switched over to the Bastards public channel since they had some people online and calmly requested assistance.

[ 2015.10.09 08:17:48 ] Sem Skord > Golem
[ 2015.10.09 08:17:50 ] Sem Skord > pointed
[ 2015.10.09 08:17:53 ] Sem Skord > Ikoskio V
[ 2015.10.09 08:17:56 ] Sem Skord > need deeps
[ 2015.10.09 08:18:13 ] Richard Averald > golem pointed a planet V
[ 2015.10.09 08:18:13 ] Sem Skord > and something that can point it :)

Nothing. We continued to fire on it. Minutes later I had to warp off to repair while Alex and Richard took turns repping and shooting. I returned to the battlefield where the Golem was getting out of the wreck. My fellow Black Jackets were dry on ammo and in need of reps, so I was alone with the big ship. I had already gone through all my EMP and Thermal ammo and was firing my Fusion and Nova rockets at him. With the consistent stop and go of our fire, the Golem's shield had returned to full strength. Seconds later, it warped off.

[ 2015.10.09 08:21:42 ] Sem Skord > he warped
[ 2015.10.09 08:21:47 ] Richard Averald > noes
[ 2015.10.09 08:21:47 ] Alex Splinter > fudge
[ 2015.10.09 08:21:59 ] Sem Skord > lets loot the hazmat stuff?
[ 2015.10.09 08:21:59 ] Alex Splinter > take loot
[ 2015.10.09 08:22:03 ] Richard Averald > yea

There was 480 Hazmat Detection Systems worth 30 mil, so we began to fill our frigate hulls to the max with the stuff and ferry it a system over and repeat. We were only doing around 15-20 at a time.

[ 2015.10.09 08:26:23 ] Alex Splinter > is there a frighter or something in a local station ?
[ 2015.10.09 08:27:19 ] Sem Skord > you mean corp freighter?
[ 2015.10.09 08:27:25 ] Richard Averald > I can't fly anything like that
[ 2015.10.09 08:27:28 ] Sem Skord > same here
[ 2015.10.09 08:27:28 ] Alex Splinter > or a cheap industrial
[ 2015.10.09 08:27:36 ] Alex Splinter > itll easily pay off
[ 2015.10.09 08:27:47 ] Richard Averald > samanuni has badgers
[ 2015.10.09 08:27:54 ] Richard Averald > but that's highsec
[ 2015.10.09 08:28:13 ] Sem Skord > yea we'll get popped
[ 2015.10.09 08:28:23 ] Sem Skord > alex you can get away with it.
[ 2015.10.09 08:28:31 ] Alex Splinter > ill try

At this point Richard and I guarded the wreck as Alex was returning from high sec four jumps away in an industrial to expedite the process.

As Alex loaded the Hazmat stuff into the cargo hold of his industrial and ferried it back and forth, I went over what had transpired in an hour. It was awesome :]  It's pretty crazy how things fall into place or have that domino effect. The Orca pilot wanted to do some PI in low sec, Alex and I were roaming nearby, scanned down the Orca, pointed it, then two guys who were following Alex earlier found us, exploded the Orca, then Richard arrived and EXPLODED THEM! Orca pilot returns in a Golem, we do our best to fight him, he warps off, R1FTA pilots putting their heads together to get this loot out of the wreck and in our hands in a timely manner. Crazy!

Beautiful ain't it?

Alex loaded the last of the Hazmat materials into the cargo and ferried it to the station a system over. We sorted out the details on how to get it to high sec and were chatting about the events that just transpired when Alex shared an interesting piece of information with us.

[ 2015.10.09 09:01:35 ] Alex Splinter > err that guy we killed
[ 2015.10.09 09:01:45 ] Alex Splinter > hes lost 2 orcas now
[ 2015.10.09 09:01:46 ] Alex Splinter > :L
[ 2015.10.09 09:01:48 ] Sem Skord > lol
[ 2015.10.09 09:01:58 ] Alex Splinter > lost one on the 4th :L
[ 2015.10.09 09:02:01 ] Richard Averald > not learning the lesson

Hopefully we can continue to teach him >:]

The Spoils II

Slammed down a Quafe, sucked down a cigarette, hopped in my Rifter and set out to pick up the rest of the loot!

Fast 'n Furious
I picked up from where I last left off. After successfully rounding up the loot and contracting it to my high sec contact, I had some time to kill. I walked over to my hangar as I sipped on a Quafe and looked around. Rifters neatly aligned with various maintenance men doing their duty. I spotted an odd shape towards the back. I made my way towards it as I crushed the empty can and discard it. It was covered in a large dusty tarp. I gripped it and with one strong tug, a shiny Firetail was smiling at me. I ordered the nearby workers to have it ready to roll ASAP.

Beautiful!

I set off from Yvangier with the plan of going through Placid to the system of Vey, and taking the back door through Frarie/Mocli/Ren/Villi/Aldranatte into Black Rise and docking up in Isho. Sounds good! The first few systems reveal nothing. I enter Ouelletta, scan around but come up empty handed as well. To be honest I don't have the best of luck when I fly anything bigger (or more expensive) than a Rifter. The last time I took a Daredevil out, I didn't even get to test it out properly before I got baited by a Slasher at a plex and met two T3 Destroyers. But I was determined to not let my nerves get the best of me! I entered Frarie and saw a flashy Condor on the gate. He knew I was there since we both jumped from the previous system at the same time, so I waited to see what his next move would be. A non flashy Breacher landed on grid as well, and the Condor began to orbit at kiting range at a fast speed. Front row seats to a fight! The Breacher was motionless at the gate, and I waited for the Condor to get close so I can hit him with my scram and webs. At 13km I decloaked, locked him up and failed to land my web or scram. Shit! The curse strikes again! The Breacher targeted me and began to fire, so I focused on him while the Condor fired missiles from far away. My Firetail still had its shields functioning as rockets and missiles exploded on its hull as I returned fire with bullets and rockets. It was an intense fire fight between us. The combination of the Breacher and Condor was beginning to overpower my Firetail, even as the Breacher was doing the low armor/hull dance. I decided to evade the fight. I overheated my afterburner and aligned towards the sun. I escaped the scram of the Breacher easily, but the Condor had me with a long point. His speed and distance was increasing, until I finally heard Aura's soothing voice. I guess he didn't realize I was evading :) The Condor pilot expressed his surprise in local :

[ 2015.09.11 07:02:31 ] Sem Skord > gf
[ 2015.09.11 07:02:41 ] dnl > are you stabbed..
[ 2015.09.11 07:02:43 ] dnl > LOL
[ 2015.09.11 07:02:47 ] Sem Skord > nope. OH ab, spam warp
[ 2015.09.11 07:02:47 ] dnl > gf
[ 2015.09.11 07:03:09 ] Jock Hurin > gf
[ 2015.09.11 07:03:28 ] dnl > ah well
[ 2015.09.11 07:03:30 ] dnl > my fault then lol
[ 2015.09.11 07:03:31 ] dnl > gf gf
[ 2015.09.11 07:03:36 ] Sem Skord > up for another round?
[ 2015.09.11 07:03:43 ] dnl > shureeeee
[ 2015.09.11 07:03:51 ] dnl > fight @ sun ?
[ 2015.09.11 07:03:52 ] Jock Hurin > YEH MAN
[ 2015.09.11 07:04:08 ] Sem Skord > sure

I was confident I could take them both. I jumbled over my controls at the gate and my late reactions almost cost me the fight. This time I knew they were together, and who to take out first. Since the Condor was kite fit, I assumed it would have little to no tank. I repaired my ship and warped at distance at the sun in hopes of the Condor doing the same. Seconds went by. Then minutes ....

[ 2015.09.11 07:05:05 ] Sem Skord > calling for backup ;)
[ 2015.09.11 07:05:13 ] Jock Hurin > HAHAHA
[ 2015.09.11 07:05:17 ] Jock Hurin > rly?
[ 2015.09.11 07:05:26 ] Sem Skord > this is EVE
[ 2015.09.11 07:05:27 ] Jock Hurin > no, getting repped man
[ 2015.09.11 07:05:32 ] Sem Skord > rgr rgr
[ 2015.09.11 07:05:33 ] Jock Hurin > we are not taht lame
[ 2015.09.11 07:06:12 ] Jock Hurin > see you there man

I sat with my Firetail, everything overheated ready to roll. Even if the Breacher and Condor landed together, burn straight for the Condor! The audible sounds of two frigates exiting warp greeted my ears as the Condor appeared on grid first .. 9k meters away! Yes! Go! Go! Go! Right behind him the Breacher landed. I burned towards the Condor and landed my scram and webs and fired the guns. He was trapped and not getting away from me this time. His TD caused my first few volleys to miss, but one landed and brought him to half shields. Another volley sent him into armor. I approached at straight angle to mitigate the effects of the TD. My guns were ripping him to shreds as another volley sent him into half structure. Burn baby burn! He managed one small rep before his Condor exploded. I switched the scram, webs, and gun fire to the Breacher. The gun fire continued with both our shields falling. I activated my SAAR for the incoming armor damage. Another volley penetrated his shields and sent him into half armor. That's when his MASB kicked in. The sounds of projectiles and rockets exploding filled the air as his reps were keeping the shields on his Breacher from further damage to his smoldering hull, while my tank was comfortably holding. His shield reps were doing work but I stayed on him, it was only a matter of time now. One volley punched through his reps and tore chunks out of his hull. His shield reps were done, and his hull fell quickly. I saw a small chunk of armor rep before another volley finished the Breacher.  Wooo! Gf! Gf! Man! My plan to go for the Condor and land at a distance paid off!

[ 2015.09.11 07:07:12 ] dnl > fuckin landed right on you GGGGGGGGGGG
[ 2015.09.11 07:07:44 ] Sem Skord > gf gf
[ 2015.09.11 07:07:49 ] dnl > gf
[ 2015.09.11 07:08:01 ] Jock Hurin > gf,man
[ 2015.09.11 07:08:09 ] Sem Skord > was hoping you'd land on me too :)
[ 2015.09.11 07:08:12 ] Sem Skord > Condor i mean
[ 2015.09.11 07:08:15 ] dnl > yeah T_T
[ 2015.09.11 07:08:21 ] Sem Skord > gf guys
[ 2015.09.11 07:08:22 ] dnl > shoulda warped in farther
[ 2015.09.11 07:08:25 ] dnl > yeye gf
[ 2015.09.11 07:08:25 ] Sem Skord > fucking have the shakes <3
[ 2015.09.11 07:08:34 ] Jock Hurin > hahahhahahaha
[ 2015.09.11 07:08:37 ] Jock Hurin > yeah, me too

I looted the field, docked up to repair the damage, unloaded the loot and collected myself for a couple minutes. Been a while since I've had the shakes, but when they return I love it :)

I set back off on my route still happy with what I just pulled off. Yes I know I was in a faction frigate and they were in T1 frigs, but I finally had a good fight with something that wasn't a Rifter and I was basking in the ambiance! I made it to Ishomilken without finding another fight along the way. I scanned the system just to see if anything was out 'n about, and saw a Condor on scan. I warped to the plex, once I was on grid with him I unleashed the firepower of the Firetail and he exploded quickly. Turns out he was another farmer. Got his pod for good measure. Good roam! I entered the hangar and asked the crew to move the Firetail towards the back. I walked over to it a few minutes later, patted the hull gently, and covered it with a new tarp.