Haze and Gunpowder

I grimaced as my head throbbed with a stabbing pain. I sat up from my bed still fully clothed and looked around. How long have I been out? I looked around the room for a few minutes to shake off the cob webs and vainly wait out the chainsaw inside my head. I stood up.

 Someone forgot to turn off my televisions. Luckily CONCORD was just starting. I hummed the theme song to myself as I walked over to my "kitchen" with hopes of finding something to cure this headache. I tripped over some empty cans, almost taking down the shelf I frantically grabbed to steady myself. Nice 'n easy fella. Idle hands make the devil's work, or in this case copious amounts of whiskey. Always pay for it the next day, at least your body does! Here we go! 

 Still had some Quafe left! Score! I cracked one open and downed it, my hands automatically opening a new one as I tossed the empty bottle away. I glanced at the mirror and examined myself. Maybe I should let this hair grow. I mused over having a nice set of dread locks for a bit, then walked over to the couch. I sat down, CONCORD still on. What's this? A small rectangular metallic object with a couple buttons was on my nightstand. There was a note attached to it. I wiped some Quafe from my chin as I reached for the note and read it. Nothing complicated, just a simple message of "Play the tape when you're coherent. Stay away from the whiskey next time." I smiled as I crumpled the note and tossed it. I reached over, played the tape, and listened to my voice.

The war with DnG was still on, and we needed some kills to level the field. I returned to the warm embrace of Metropolis and Heimatar space. My time away from here, even though it was short, I had missed it and grown fond of it. There was a Tristan on scan and in Evati. There was also a lot of pilots in the system, something I was very iffy about. But I haven't shot anything since my engagements with Nuke Cave and my trigger finger needed to release its itch! I warped to a novice plex to ensure nothing nasty jumped in on me without me seeing it on short scan. I loaded EMP and Mjolnir rockets and waited. Tristan on short. Waited a few more seconds. He entered the plex well within brawling range of my Rifter. Locked, webbed and scrammed and held a tight orbit as my autocannons pounded his shields. They were slowly but surely falling, which meant once I got through his shield his Tristan would crumble. His drones already had me in armor and my SAAR was working overtime to keep me in the fight. My tank was hanging in there as I punched through his shields and landed a huge hit that sent him into half armor. Speed was good, transversal good, tank is holding up, and the Tristan is in hull with his ship falling apart fast. Two more volleys, and the Tristan exploded in Minmatar Space.

Couple days later my search for war targets continued. Although it was late, I was optimistic. I undocked from Gultratren, passed through Arnstur (Nothing) and Brin (Nada). I entered Helgatid and it had several pilots in systems along with a DnG fella. D-Scan showed a Slicer but he wasn't at a celestial or a plex. Gonna try something here. I opened a novice plex, warped to it and waited a bit outside the acceleration gate. Shortly after short scan shows a Slicer inbound, moments later my overview contained a flashy red Slicer who indeed turned out to be the war target. He landed right ontop of me, and I immediately scrammed him to shut off his MWD and unleashed a barrage of gunfire and rockets. His shields crumbled and his ship's armor was being torn apart. My shields were down but I closed distance just in time as his laser blasts were missing my Rifter. I continued my close orbit and gunfire as his armor steadily tore apart and entered structure. My repper was comfortably tanking the damage with a good amount of pumps left, by this time he was already in deep structure. Three volleys later, his Slicer exploded as his pod warped off. I continued my roam of the area for another hour, but turned up empty handed. I docked up in Gultra and rested up before heading back out again later.

Later was here, and I set back out on my hunting route. The first few systems were of no incident. It wasn't until I reached a bit further out to Evati in one of the detour systems called Lasleinur that I landed at the gate with another Slicer. We both entered the system at the same time, and I watched as he warped off to the sun. That could only mean one thing. He wants to fight! Although I'd be at a disadvantage because of no plex's to force him into brawling distance, who can pass on a frig 1v1 at the sun? I followed him. I landed at the sun and the Slicer was 60-65km away from me going about 3400 m/s. I remained motionless to watch his direction of movement hoping I could burn at an angle that would intercept his path. He closed the distance fast, and at 35km I activated my afterburner and tried to intercept him. He locked me and fired his lasers, which took out most of my shield. 25km. 23km. 19km. Just a bit more! Cmon! 16km. 15km. The Slicer lingered at that range and began to pull away! I loaded Barrage immediately and stayed on him as I activated my SAAR. Time to prepare for the slingshot. I aligned to a random planet as my crew was still loading Barrage. I was already down to 5 reps left in my SAAR and not taking significant damage so I shut it off. My crew signaled the guns were ready to go and I fired away and began to scratch at his shields. His speed was helping him because my guns were missing, but enough shots were landing to damage his shield a good amount. I broke off the alignment to the planet and began to chase him down to help my guns out. As I watched his speed for an opportunity, the distance between us was closing. 17km, 15km, 13km!! Between 17km and 13km his speed went from 3k m/s to 409 m/s! I burned towards him and landed my webbifier on the Slicer which brought his speed down to the 200's! My repper had began the 60 second reload phase a few moments before, and I was already in half armor quickly entering deep armor. He was 12km away now with low shields as my Rifter closed in on him. I got in scram range, landed point and he was sitting pretty at 9,000 meters away as I set my orbit to 7500 meters because I had Barrage loaded. I landed some solid hits that put him in deep armor, but my Rifter was already in hull! My lights were going off and the sirens were screeching in the Crew's quarters! The Slicer's lasers were recking my Rifter, and I aligned to a celestial incase I had to get my pod out. He was 7,000 meters away and I was in half structure as he entered hull! It was a desperate last stand for both of us. I was still pointed and in deep hull and so was he. I lost my point and web, but I think he wanted to stay for the kill. My autocannons were firing away, and a beautiful volley left him with a small sliver of hull left!! A calm ping from my overview sounded as the Slicer exploded! I was still spamming warp so I had warped off the field in my flaming Rifter! Gf gf!!

 Another couple days later, the war with DnG was over. They were the victors. I took my Rifter out to "congratulate" them personally. I roamed through my systems with no sign of them or anyone else to fight. On my way back, I arrive in Arnstur and spot an unamed Kestrel on scan. Score! I scan around, narrow him down to a Novice and warp off. I continue to scan around and see a Tormentor with the name "Glittah Brawlah" Ke$ha's Boys! After this Kestrel, definitely gonna pay him a visit! I enter the plex and the Kestrel was sitting right off the warp in *smiles* I spam lock and approach him, but right as the lock is complete he warps off! Damn! I check short scan and the Tormentor was there. I loaded Fusion ammo and Nova rockets and waited. The Tormentor landed about 5,000 meters away. We locked each other up, webbed and scrammed and exchanged gunfire. His shields fall apart as mine follow close behind. I burn towards him to close distance, at 3,000 meters he enters half armor and I begin to rep the incoming damage to my armor. The gunfire is quick and hectic, and by the time I'm at my ideal range his Tormentor is already smoking and burning in hull. My SAAR crew was doing a magnificent job and kept my Rifter hovering at half armor as the Tormentor steadily tore apart, and with one glorious volley it exploded. Gf! I looted n' scooted and made my way to Gultratren, with my mission accomplished for the night.


I was on my fourth Quafe as the tape ended. The recordings had sparked sudden memories of the fights throughout my sporadic activity in the past few days. Well shit happens man! I grabbed my remote control and turned up the volume on CONCORD. Whachu gonna do when they come for you!

The Dogs of War

Haven't had much time to fly around and look for fights in a Rifter, which is unfortunate since we're currently at war with two corps! *woot woot* On one front we have Screaming Hayabusa in Gallente space. The war with them is going well, they're up by a couple kills! On the other side of New Eden, Ke$ha's boys Dirt 'n' Glitter have declared war on us in the Metropolis region and the we've yet to score a kill on them, but it'll come soon :)

I haven't left Adirain since my last time out. I check out my Rifter to ensure it's fully stocked and ready to go. I've completely run out of Quafe in Adirain, so any kind capsuleers want to donate New Edens favorite soft drink to the Sem Skord Quafe Foundation please do so! Ammo is loaded, rockets aren't missing fuses or have dents in them, and nanite paste is all present. And my merry crew, they must have been living it up the past couple days. Mount up!

I roam the Jov pipe in search of more SKRMR pilots. So far it's only been a couple Black Jackets fighting 'em so I wanted to help in the war effort! I pass through a few systems with no luck in finding anyone to shoot. I reach Heydieles, and decide to try again by heading back the same way instead of through Old Man Star to Ladister. I arrive in Costolle, and spot Nuke Cave in system along with a couple other people.

Neatly combed hair meant to throw you off guard!

My heart beat increases and my hands get a bit sweaty, knowing I'm going to be in for one hell of a fight when I go against these guys. I warp to a plex and wait outside the gate. I still had Phased Plasma and Inferno rockets loaded from a previous engagement and debated on whether to go EMP or Fusion when Nuke's Tristan warped in about 5,000 meters away! No time! Fire! I lock him up and unleash a torrent of nervous gunfire right away bringing down his shield. His drones enter space and immediately take out 3/4's of my shield. Another volley of fire puts the Tristan in deep armor while I haven't entered armor yet! In the midst of the gunfire I see that Nuke has rails fitted, so I overheat my afterburner and burn towards him to negate the damage. He pulls range as well and his drones begin to work on my armor. I activate the repper as Nuke enters hull, but not in a good way! He's hull tanked, and then his armor begins to repair! He's now near 6,000 meters away and I'm already in half armor struggling to tank the combined firepower of his drones and rail guns. I continue to fire away as I enter deep armor and watch as his speed is significantly faster than mine. I can't close distance quick enough nor break his tank, and my Rifter goes out in a quick violent explosion. Exchange gf's and I get my pod out of there. I race back to Adirain to reship hoping to catch him again.

I warp through systems like a bat out of hell back to Costolle. I didn't have to go far because Nuke was in Hevrice. I warp to my safe and scan around and narrow down a Slasher in a novice plex. I over load everything, load up my EMP and Mjolnir rockets and warp to the plex ready to dish out some payback. My Rifter exits warp and Nuke is there in a Slasher 8,000 meters away. I lock him up, scram and web and fire away. He begins to lock me in return as his Slasher enters armor, web n scrammin' my Rifter along with a tracking disruptor. My guns feel the effect of it and miss a few volleys, but enough bullets get through to put his Slasher into armor while my shields are still holding up! Going very well! My autocannons break through his armor and begin working on his structure, when a wild Kestrel lands on grid with us! What the! Who invited this guy! He lands 20km away and Nuke's repper patches the armor on the busted up Slasher back to life as I hold my orbit and wait for the Kestrel to make his move. The Kestrel continues to sit there so I bring my focus back to Nuke and the fight we're in. I switch to "Keep at Range" to help my guns track a bit better and mitigate the TD Nuke has on me, and I deactivate my guns to switch to Fusion ammo and Nova rockets to greet his armor tank. The ten seconds of not firing is always a great risk, and the Slasher now has full armor while I'm on my last few pumps of nanite in half armor. My guns are nearly loaded, I overheat them and fire away. The TD is doing great work messing with my autocannons as my guns miss most of its shots while Nuke is hammering away landing solid hits. Keep at range isn't working, so I align to the sun to maintain a high speed and again to assist my guns track better. Another volley lands and tears away at my armor, as my guns return the favor and bring him into half armor. My repper pumps out its last nanite rep as I enter deep armor. The Slasher lands another good volley, but my naked SAAR is holding my Rifter together! I land a solid volley and bring him into hull! Oh man! Oh maaan! At this time I noticed the Kestrel was about 45km out watching the fight because he types  :O in local and has us yellow boxed. Another volley rocks his structure but he reps his armor to about half. I haven't entered hull yet so I'm still in the fight! The gunfire continues as I have a sliver of armor left and my autocannons land a huge hit that puts him in deep hull! Nuke stays on me as I slowly chip away at the remainder of his Slasher, but one volley sends me into half structure. Uh oh. At that exact moment, my guns land one final volley and the Slasher explodes! Wooo! Gf! Gf! With the Kestrel still on grid combined with the Shakes I warp off without looting the wreck. But man! What a fight!

I docked up and repaired the damage and decided to return to the battle field and loot the wreck. Nuke was still in system, and when I reached the plex he was in a Rifter (the Krusual version). Here it is, the tie breaker! I await at the wreck and moments later he lands about 5,000 meters away. We lock each other up and I burn towards him. The two Rifters exchage gun fire but his rocks my ship. Artillery! 280's!! The fight was very fast and frantic, I was in half armor, and he was already in hull! Our repper's kick in just in time for me to repair a huge volley and Nuke's Rifter gets out of hull, bringing some armor back to life. I burn towards him in a straight line but his Rifter is faster than mine. The fire fight ensues, and my SAAR is doing great work tanking the damage. The Arty Rifter is going back and forth between half structure and breaths of life into its armor. Each consecutive volley from his artillery rocks my Rifter, but my guns reach out far enough to break through his armor tank and damage his structure. Now .. for some reason I decide to break off the angle I had on him that was working, and align towards the sun. I think I was trying to redo the Slasher kill tactic. I went from 6,000 meters to 8,500 meters bringing my autocannons well into falloff range and right in the 280's sweet spot. My SAAR runs out of nanite reps as his Rifter continues the deadly dance between deep armor and deep structure, so I burn towards him hoping to land a solid blow. I see he loses point but I decide to stay and go for the kill. Another artillery volley rocks my ship sending me into hull. I land a solid volley that brings him into deep structure again, but his artillery was too much. Oh man! Another close fight! We exchange gf's and I get my pod out of there.

We fought one more time after that, his Tormentor against my neut Rifter .. but it wasn't a close one.  As I watched the video from our Rifter fight, I kicked myself for aligning towards the sun at a point in the fight where the range was good enough for my autocannons to land solid hits. Watching it a couple times I believe if I stayed on him and never aligned to the sun I would've won. Blah! Coulda, woulda, shoulda right! It was an afternoon of good fights and more experience for me to build on and take forth, and that's a win in itself :)

At the Sun

Since my arrival to Adirain, my search for Crake has been met with road bumps. One of those bumps are my play time hours, which are primarily in the late hours on the West Coast between 11 pm-1 am. Prime time for the Aussies, but not so prime for the UK. When I have the time during the day, I'll hop into my Rifter and roam the area but to no avail.

Earlier this week I found a couple fights on a roam. Although it was late and I was sure I wouldn't find who I was looking for at this hour, I still wanted to cause some explosions *smile* I settled on a quick route through the Jove pipe that leads to Heydieles, where it "forks" off into Black Rise, or through a pocket of low sec systems where a lot of FW occurs, or loop back around through Old Man Star/Ladister/ then Aeschee and back home to Adirain. Two jumps into my route, a scan of the system reveals a Slicer on scan. It's just myself and two others, one of whom is ViRtU0zone. 

He greeted me in local with a wave and I returned it, and began searching for the Slicer. After a few minutes, he was on scan at a large plex. I loaded Fusion ammo and Nova rockets hoping to land right on top of him. I exit warp and he was about 8500 meters away from me! Turns out to be ViRtU0zone himself as I spam target lock and activate my modules so they're hot and ready to go. I see his speed hit the high 1,000's as he pulls range. Just as I complete the lock, he successfully evades my scram range. Damn! He lands two solid hits that eliminate 3/4 of my shield as he orbits 16km away from me and I scratch his shields with my autocannons. I continue firing my autocannons as I align towards the sun in hopes of sling shotting him. Moments later I'm in half armor as my SAAR is on its last few pumps. I watch his speed waiting for that moment to overheat my afterburner and burn towards him. He maintains a distance of 14-17km with speeds in the low to mid 1000's. My guns are landing but the ammo I'm using isn't enough to break through his shields. At this point I determine he's shield fit, but with my repper out of nanite and the Slicer down to 3/4 shield I decide to not reload to Barrage and stay on him. My afterburner is close to burning out as I begin to take structure damage. The Slicer gracefully maintains his distance while landing devastating hits with his lasers. As I entered half hull, the Slicer burns in towards me well within my brawling range. I punch through his shields and I land solid hits to his armor. My afterburner had burnt out at this moment, but I think it wouldn't have changed the outcome. I get my pod out of there and throw a gf in local. As I warp to the safe, the could of, would've, should'ves enter my head. Should've switched to Barrage as soon as he escaped scram range! You could of got him if you landed that point! Ah well, lesson learned for next time! Afterwards he politely returned my loot, and took off in search of more targets. Pretty cool :)

After I reshipped in Adirain, I went down the same route with no targets along the way. I reached Muetralle and saw a Caracal on scan towards a plex. Why not? I warped towards the plex, guns ready to go and myself eager to explode something. The Caracal was 20km away from me, motionless. I burned towards him, but still no movement from him. I landed my scram and web and fired away. It was like throwing grapes at him because his shields were barely taking damage. I decided to stay on him since he still hadn't locked me up, and after a few moments he yellow boxes me. I was pointed (long point) and immediately get rocked by some missles. Light Missiles.

I burn towards the sun, overheat my web to extend its range and deactivate my guns. My Rifter is falling apart as my SAAR struggles to repair the incoming damage. I get to 15km when I see the Caracal close distance. Ah man. MWD. I fire my guns and rockets, overheat everything and go down guns blazing. Even though I had no chance, I throw a gf in local and it's returned. In retrospect, the pilot was negative security status (-9. something) in an FW corp, and it was probably a fight I shouldn't of taken. *shrugs* I head back to Adirain and jump into another Rifter and head back out one more time. I make it to Heydieles without losing my ship or exploding someone else's. I head back to Adirain via Old Man Star and Ladister, but no luck. Ah well, just one of those days.

Fast forward a couple days. Now in order to prepare myself for my goal, I ordered some Rifters tweaked slightly from my usual version. I knew that Crake and his companions flew all kinds of frigates with unconventional fits, so I had to take that into consideration. I fit up my new Rifters, and set out. It was mid afternoon for me at home, so I figured the UK contingent would be out and about. I head down the Jov pipe towards Oulletta with hopes of finding more frigate action. I reach Oulletta, and there he was in local. 

My heart beat increased, my hands began to get clammy. Calm down! I control my nerves and formulate a plan to engage him. I warp to a safe and scan the system, revealing a couple other frigates including a Rifter. That has to be him! I wasn't sure about the intentions of the other frigates, but I might not get another opportunity like this. I figured if myself and Crake do end up fighting and another ship interrupts, we'll just get rid of him and any other intruders. I warp to the novice, and just as I take the acceleration gate inside the plex ... his Rifter lands! It was too late to stop the ship, so I waited inside for a few moments, hands beginning to tremble a bit with excitement (lol it still amazes me the physical effect this game has on me). I check short scan and no Rifter. I increase the range to five AU and he was still out and about, so I scan the other plex's. Nothing. Then it comes to me. The sun. I scan the sun, and Crake and his Rifter were there. Damn this is gonna be awesome. I take a deep breath and warp towards the sun.

I checked to make sure all my modules were overheated and I had the correct ammo loaded. Check and check! I hit short scan as I get under 1 AU of the sun and see a Merlin on scan. Ah damn! I exit warp and no Merlin. I land right on top of Crake, as I lock him he's already 2,000 meters away and increasing as he pulls range from me. We fire our guns and receive damage at the same time, his doing a significant amount more. He burns off in a straight path away from me and I follow suit. Rockets and bullets race between our ships as we exchange gunfire. I activate my repper as I land a devastating hit bringing him into half armor. Oh shit! I reach half armor and land another big blow as he's a sliver away from hull! I notice his ships speed is faster than mine as I get him into structure. He's at 8200 meters and close to evading my scram. My armor is holding up at half as my repper is able to tank the damage. Just as I overheat my scrambler, I lose point! Noo! His repper brings his armor back to life as he enters deep hull. My afterburner is taking heavy heat damage, and my guns are close to burning out as well. Crake still hasn't warped off, I don't know if it's because he hasn't noticed or is gonna fight to the end. Our intense firefight continues as I enter deep armor. I overheat my scram and regain point. My repper pumps out it's last rep, and I land another blow that leaves him with the smallest amount of hull life i've ever seen! His armor repairs some more of his ship, he's right above 9,000 meters away and about to evade my point again! I land one big volley and his Rifter explodes. My afterburner burnt out as I sat there in disbelief. I must have been holding my breath, my heart was beating out of my chest and a slight tremble took over my body. I did it! I managed to throw a good fight in local as I raised my arms to the ceiling and let out a quiet Yes! I sat there with a huge smile on my face until I realized I was sitting at the sun not moving with no afterburner, no nanite reps, and heavily burnt guns! I looted the wreck and warped to a safe, still in disbelief as to what I had just accomplished. Crake returned and we chatted it up in local for a bit:

[ 2015.04.09 18:52:28 ] Sem Skord > gf
[ 2015.04.09 18:52:31 ] Crake Gaterau > gf mate ;)
[ 2015.04.09 18:52:38 ] Siuil A'run > rip
[ 2015.04.09 18:52:46 ] Sem Skord > http://i.imgur.com/hdCgXNp.gif
[ 2015.04.09 18:52:53 ] Crake Gaterau > Hahaha
[ 2015.04.09 18:53:15 ] Sem Skord > I feel like i just won my first solo pvp fight
[ 2015.04.09 18:53:18 ] Sem Skord > my hearts beating lol
[ 2015.04.09 18:53:43 ] Crake Gaterau > Figured I would duel you in a Rifter. Seemed the right way to go :)
[ 2015.04.09 18:54:09 ] Sem Skord > I appreciate it man :)
[ 2015.04.09 18:54:19 ] Crake Gaterau > A good fight :)
[ 2015.04.09 18:54:24 ] Sem Skord > Hell yea man
[ 2015.04.09 18:54:41 ] Sem Skord > i have your loot
[ 2015.04.09 18:54:49 ] Sem Skord > Ouelletta II - Federal Defense Union Logistic Support
[ 2015.04.09 18:55:12 ] Crake Gaterau > All yours mate. Fair and square ;)

[ 2015.04.09 18:56:06 ] Sem Skord > Very well :]

That gif I linked was the best way to represent through gif's what I was feeling lol. The fact that he chose to engage me with a Rifter was pretty badass, and his space bushido by allowing me to keep the loot is pretty cool too.

I was on cloud nine as I left the system. I saw he had just killed a Kestrel and the pilot's pod as I checked d-scan one more time. I set my destination to Adirain to dock up as RL was encroaching into my EVE time. To be honest I was speechless, and for the record that fight is the most fun and intense one I've had! That was just one fight of many between Crake and I throughout my short time in New Eden, with him as the victor in all of our previous fights. Each time I learned something from him and the fight itself that helped me grow into a better pvp'r. Even as I'm writing this I still don't know what to say! Very good fight Crake, thanks for the help and tips you've shared with me along the way! 

Black Rebel Rifter Club has declared war on Screaming Hayabusa so hopefully we have more awesome fights such as this one in the next few days. Gotta go for now, hope you guys enjoyed it!

Asteroids and Wrecks

Adirain. My first days as a Black Dragon and later as a Black Jacket have been here, in Gallente Space. Ever since Shadow Cartel moved to the area, a lot of us moved elsewhere to Metropolis/Heimatar since we lacked the numbers to fight 'em conventionally. Some stayed and fought a guerrilla war with the assistance of larger entities that can bring the pain to Shadow Cartel. From time to time I'd return here and roam the area for a couple days when I fancied killing a miner or probing down a mission runner. Now I'm here with an intention to stick around a bit longer. I head over to my hangar to see what I have sitting around. To my pleasant surprise I see I have a good amount of Rifters neatly aligned ready to go, along with other toys to play with. I undock and begin my roam.

A Mackinaw. Shadow Cartel bait? I dock up to jump into my Wolf, which I bring out for special occasions. I felt the extra firepower on the Wolf would help bring down the Exhumer faster than a Rifter would, incase I'd need to get out quickly or something. And my assault frig had collected a large amount of dust and didn't want the guns to get clogged up or rust! I warp to a safe in the cluster the prey was sitting at and scanned the belts until I found a winner. In warp I loaded the appropriate ammo and overheated everything. I land in the belt and the Mackinaw is 19km away, drones out and getting its mining on. Man all the extra debris and rocks floating around really make it feel like an asteroid belt! I burn towards him and lock the Exhumer. I quickly close the distance and get point on him and fire away. My initial volley damages his shields and they quickly began to fall as my guns pound away. The Mackinaw begins to lock me as my ship crashes into the asteroids, causing my Wolf to bounce all over the place as it attempts to return to its close orbit. As his armor takes huge hits, his drones start firing away and hit my shields. My guns are tearing apart the Exhumer as he falls into deep armor and his hull starts to fall apart. Moments later, a glorious explosion illuminates the darkness of space. I attempt to ransom his pod, but he responded with some unkind and vulgar words that I will not utter here! No ransom, no life! I collect the loot and return to the station to dockup. I jump back into my Rifter and undock. I check D-Scan again and see a Venture on scan. Some quick D-Scan work reveals that he's in the same belt where the Mackinaw just died! I return to the belt and there was the Venture mining away, meters away from the wreck of the Mackinaw. I burn towards him and his wreck joins that of his mining brethren! I grab his pod as well, didn't offer a ransom as the player was very new.

My corp mate informs me that Crake frequents the systems of Hevrice and Costolle nearby, also adding that Oulletta and the surrounding systems is a hotbed for frigate action. I make my way towards there, checking the systems as I go. I fly around Placid searching for a fight or a sign of Crake, but nothing. Plex's are in space but either no one is in them or it's a gang. When I enter Intaki, only two other relatively young pilots are in system. As I land on the outgate, I check D-Scan and see a Vexor at a belt. I halt the ship and warp towards the belt where the Vexor is ratting. I load Phased Plasma because 1) I don't know how a Vexor is tanked and 2) I don't want to waste the good ammo on the drones I'm definitely going to have to take out. I land 20km away and immediately the Vexor locks me up as I burn for him. A swarm of Hammerheads (tech 1 thankfully!) bring my shields to half as I land point and close orbit the cruiser and begin to target the drones. I activate my repper and begin firing away at the drones. My shield holds and I waste two reps as I shut off the SAAR, and as soon as I do that my shields fall! His drones fall as I web and shoot 'em, but there's still a lot more to go. The Hammerheads begin to work on my armor but my Rifter is able to tank the damage comfortably. Just four more drones to go and my repper pumps out it's last cycle as I deactivate it so the 60 second reload can begin. Three drones, two drones, 1 more drone. Boom! I still have 3/4's of my armor left and my repper is halfway through the reload, I'm in a good spot right now. I focus my fire on the Vexor and his shields fall surprisingly fast as he begins to take armor damage. Even with Phased Plasma and Inferno rockets, the ship is falling fast. A couple minutes later, the Vexor explodes. I grab the pod as well, loot the wreck and warp off. Man, I'm enjoying the area! Miners and ratters, let's see what else is out there!

I continue on my route already on the way back to the Jov/Hevrice/Costolle pipe through Oulletta. I scan around and see a Tormentor on scan. I hold cloak and can't pin point it at a plex so I warp to a novice and wait. In warp, I scan around again and D-Scan tells me the Tormentor is sitting at a small plex. Soon as I land at the novice I warp off towards the small. I load Fusion and Nova and keep an eye on local and short scan because people are coming in and out. Inside the small the Tormentor is 13km away *fist pump* I burn towards him and begin to lock. He's faster on the trigger as he lands a solid hit taking out 1/4 of my shield 10km out. I return fire scratching his shield as he lands another solid blow, my shields warning me they're about to go down. I activate my repper and close the distance allowing my autocannons and rockets to tear his shield apart and blasting his armor. My speed is messing with his lasers as I shut off my SAAR and hold my close orbit of projectiles and rockets! My guns blasted through his armor putting him into hull as his reps bring him back to half armor. Another volley rocks his ship and puts him in deep hull, but he reps the damage again to 3/4 armor. His tank is choking as it struggles to keep up with the incoming barrage, but it's too much for the Tormentor and explodes. I almost locked his pod but he managed to get away. I loot 'n scoot, dock and repair.

A Black Jacket, Kage, is in the area causing explosions as well. We catch each other in Muetralle heading in opposite directions. We spot a Thrasher on scan and go after it. Soon as we saw it on scan it was gone, I noticed there was a large plex outside scanning range so I warp to it. I see a Maulus and Thrasher on short scan *uh oh*. I land and the Thrasher isn't there but the Maulus is 12km off. For a moment I hesitate because I imagine EWAR ships as things that can sneeze and boom you're jammed! But I decided to go for it because it's right there. I lock the ship and see its shields are gone, it's armor is gone, and it has a sliver of hull left. Just as I activate my web and scram, the Maulus warps off. Well then! Back to the Thrasher! I ask Kage if he's over there with him on his side of the system and says yes and calls out the plex he's at. We land and he isn't there. Kage suggests one of us hang out at the medium plex, and the other go to the large and we'll catch him when he starts warping around. Sounds good! I warp to the large again and the Thrasher is there on short scan. I land but the plex is empty but the destroyer is still on scan so I decide to chill and wait. Moments later the Thrasher warps in 6,000 meters away from me. I calmly mash XXXXX to inform kage he's here as I scram and fire away orbiting at 5,000. That way if he's autocannon fit I just pull range to 7500 and try and take less damage, or if he's arty fit I just burn in and orbit close. His initial volley nearly brings down my entire shield, as I fire back and begin to pull range. It's a rapid and heavy exchange of autocannon fire from both of us. My repper struggles to tank the damage to keep me in the fight. When I hit half armor I realize my afterburner isn't on *derp* and my web isn't on him either *double derp* That explains why I wasn't getting the range I wanted early on. It's a dps race at this point, I enter hull first and he follows suit. My SAAR patches my armor a bit allowing me to bring the Thrasher to deep hull. Oh man oh man!! I got this! The gizmos on my ship go off with the screeching beep noise as my Rifter explodes! The early errors cost me the fight. I get my pod out. Kage informs me that the Thrasher has escaped his clutches. Ah well. The Rifter died a good death, and I made it back to Adirain in my pod safe 'n sound.

No Crake this time, but it's only Monday!

The Most Dangerous Game

I remember throughout high school, specifically in English class, we'd read short stories in class then discuss them afterwards. The story The Most Dangerous Game stood out to me the most. TLDR of the story, a competent hunter is invited by a renowned hunter to a far off island where he resides. He ends up becoming the hunted, as the host reveals that animals no longer thrill nor challenge him, so he now hunts men. *DUN DUN DUUUUUN*

I logged on earlier today and took a look at our corp kill boards to see who's been chillin' n killin'. Some good fights on the kill boards! My heart warms up when I see our Prospects out there exploding and spreading the pew pew. I take a closer look at who's been exploding us, and I see the name Crake Gaterau.

The pvp legend, the Colossus of Clout, the Master of Atrons! Really though, this man is a well known killer in low sec. Reason why I bring up a random story from high school and Crake? Well, we all know EVE is a sandbox and it's what you make it to be. For me pvp was the path I wanted to go down from the get go. A combination of a desire to explode other peoples space ships and the challenge to even become a novice in the pew pew was what attracted me to it. Another thing about EVE, you gotta set goals for yourself, no hand holding :)

For example, when I first started learning how to pvp, my goal was to score that first solo kill. When I achieved that, I wanted to score my first solo destroyer kill, then a cruiser kill, and so on and so on. In the process of all that fighting and dying, valuable knowledge and experience was gained. Lately, I've run out of goals and just been exploding ships for the sake of explosions. Which there's nothing wrong with of course, but sometimes there's gotta be a reason behind the madness, something to keep you going. Today, after seeing those killboards, it came to me.

 Just like men is the highest form of game for the antagonist in The Most Dangerous Game, I want to win a fight against Crake, a renowned hunter of capsuleers. Various times throughout my travels, I've been exploded by this man and his companions (solo! not blobbed). Now that I kinda know what I think I'm doing with a ship, and to keep the fire going, I'm gonna make my way to their stomping grounds, seek 'em out, and fight them. I know they've been killed, they're not invincible, but I've yet to score a kill against 'em myself. It's my new goal. And judging by the skill of the opponents, it's going to be one that will keep me busy for a good while :)

So if you read this and see me in Adirain and the surrounding regions, you know what I'm up to. I'll still try and explode you if I get the chance, don't be mistaken! But if you see signs of my quarry, hook a Brutor up and point him in the last known direction!

Happy Hunting o7

Hunting We Will Go II

Day 2

I walked to my hangar, Quafe in hand ready to cause more explosions in the Neighborhood. Where's my crew? I recognized a couple of the faces and asked 'em to gather up the rest of them. Shortly after they were making last minute checks and diagnostics on my Rifter (some duct tape here, chewing gum there) and we were in space, on the hunt once again.

Arnstur, first stop of many. I warp to my safe and scan around for targets, a Slicer appears and he's chilling at a novice plex. Loaded EMP ammo and Mjolnir rockets, overheated everything and warped towards him. I keep hitting short scan as I take the gate and warp into the plex to make sure he's still there and not teasing me. The fight ensues, and he's right on the beacon well within brawling range. We trade volleys as we break through each other's shields, once he began to take armor damage and repaired it (ten second reloads!) I switched to Fusion as the speed of my Rifter combined with the poor tracking of his lasers left me relatively untouched as I waited for my guns to load. The lasers sent pretty beams of light towards my ship but each hit missing, as I let loose with my autocannons and rockets. He had quite a good tank because he held for a bit, but my firepower was too much for the Amarr pilot. Gf gf! Loot n scoot, docked and repaired my damage and continued on.

I passed through my usual hunting grounds with no luck. For a good twenty minutes I traveled enjoying the scenery of space and doing cool little warps playing with the camera and stuff. I reached the Crossroads and debated as to which route to take. Considering the fact I had quite a bit of time to kill, I went with the path through Heimatar up into Dal to another section of Metropolis. Think of it as the long way around to the other side of the Neighborhood. Surprisingly no fights or targets as I search through Heimatar, hoping I'll find something, ANYTHING, in Metropolis. When I entered Eszur, the first system I entered, Ebolfer, I scanned around. Not a lot of people in the system, but I saw a Rifter at the novice. My heart skipped a beat! I loaded Fusion and Nova rockets and warped towards the plex. He was about 15km away from me and I was waiting for him to warp off. I burned towards him anyway hoping he was too engaged with the FW rat he was shooting to notice me. I held my breath as I got closer and closer, then activated my web, followed by my scram and then fired everything. His shields melted and I began to pound away at his armor and he still hadn't even targeted me. His Rifter entered deep armor when the pilot began to rep the damage but in feeble amounts. I was webbed and began to take fire, but it was too little too late for the Rifter. In the midst of the explosion of his ship I began to spam target lock his capsule with success, and expedited his journey home. Fairly quick fight, afterwards I decided to call it a night since it was slow. I take the shortcut through Hadozeko across the other side of Metropolis, and that's when I spotted a local hell raiser of the area, Dato Koppla.

We exchange waves and as I land on the outgate he asks for a 1v1. Hmm, I had success against a Slicer earlier tonight, why not! I agree and warp off towards a novice as he begins to lock me on the gate. I enter the plex and wait inside going over my tactics in my head. Dato knows his stuff, so I would have to be on my stuff to come out successful! Check short scan and his Slicer appears. My heart beats a little faster as I wait for him to enter the plex. The audible boom signals he's entered and immediately I burn towards him to close distance as I spam target lock. I unleash the autocannons and rockets expecting an armor tank, but I'm taking nice big hits from his lasers. It'll go away as I get closer. At 3,000 meters I'm still getting hit hard, sending me in half armor.  Stay on him! My guns bring him into armor but it's like I'm throwing grapes at his ship. Another volley from his lasers puts me in low armor. Dato's Slicer delivers the final blow to my Rifter as I warp off in my pod. Man those were some huge hits! We chat a bit in local and he tells me his Slicer was a troll fit. My guess something with a huge tank and good deeps. We exchange gf's and wish him good luck on his roam.

I dock up in Gultratren and take stock of my inventory, down to one Rifter!


I think I might've underestimated this blogging beast! Real life has picked up a bit as well, hindering my EVE time, let alone time to sit down and share my fights with you guys. I try to recall the fights from memory, but after a few days combined with everything else going on, the memories become a bit hazy! I hope those of you reading this have enjoyed the fights and skirmishes I've shared, and I promise to continue to post them here. Thank you guys, happy hunting!