My time in Avenod was short lived. Although I enjoy the red, rusty glow of Minmatar space; my time there wasn't satisfying my thirst for good fights and explosions. I remained there for a week in hopes of finding them, but the action wasn't happening at the rate I liked. As I continued my scenic stroll through space, Black Jackets back at the club house in Isho were dropping killmails in corp chat like it was cool. Alright. That's it. I did one last roam around my constellation, docked up, prepared my body for the clone jump, said goodbye, and (a lot of commas there) off I went!
First Blood
Isho was just how I remembered it when I arrived. Local's in system, a few of 'em flashy and gf's exchanged in local. Home! After I gathered myself, I checked my hangar to inspect what I still had laying around. Rifters, my beautiful Rifters. Ah! A Wolf! There was some other goodies, but I had enough ships to continue my quest of causing explosions. From mid June to early July I was roaming various regions; the Citadel, Black Rise, Essence, Placid, and Verge Vendor (those commas again). There were victories, defeats, and the addictive shakes. I remember what the original intent of this blog was, to share cool things that happened in my travels and fights with other players of New Eden (because my wife can only pretend to care so much, bless her heart). Well just recently, one such event occurred!
Earlier this week as I was returning to my home station to drop off loot after a roam, I saw just four other people in local. I checked d-scan as I warped and saw a Caracal, Hecate, and a Merlin on scan. D-scanned a bit more and they were at a large together. Since one other person was in the same station as me, I checked the remaining three and sure enough they were newbro's (about a month to two months old) in the same FW corp. I started entertaining the thought in my head of harassing them, disrupting their plex'n, perhaps split them somehow and maybe pick off the Merlin. The biggest ship I had in my hangar was a Thrasher, which was not suited to what I wanted to accomplish nor how I like to fly. My Wolf was there, ready to roll. I was wary about flying without a web, but in the search of good fights and explosions these risks must be taken!
I searched the local market for 280mm's and a long point so I can do this by kiting, but artillery always gives me stupid powergrid issues (grrr) so brawling Wolf was what I was gonna work with. I do not have footage to help me tell the story properly, but it was one of my proudest feats of solo pvp to date. It took a lot of warping in at distance to gain intel on how their ships were fitted and small skirmishes with Barrage loaded to see if they were long or short point. The Caracal was as expected; fit for kiting, the Hecate had an MWD with blasters and a short point, and the Merlin was also MWD with blasters & short point. More probing the lines and small engagements led to the culminating event of my Wolf gloriously exploding the Hecate (scram kite ftw!) and the Merlin! It was my tank that kept me in the fight when it all went down, but without the footage or any notes I can't give it the proper justice. What impressed me more was that the newbro's stuck together very well and remained to fight! That was their plex and they weren't gonna give it up without a fight! EVE needs more newbro's with that mentality, who aren't scared to fight in Factional Warfare. Bravo!
Revenge, and then more Revenge!
I was still giddy about the previous day when I logged in. I did my usual inspection of my Rifter. Ammo. Check. Repaired. Check. Any loot or corpses out of the cargo bay. Check. All set! As I undocked I saw the hardy group from last night online plus one more Caracal. I stopped my ship and went back and forth on whether I can pull off the same feat but in a Rifter. A few seconds later I decided Why not? Just space pixels! I hit warp and began my pre-battle checks. But something was amiss. The UI wasn't responding quick enough, and the camera wasn't centering on whatever I clicked on. No. I clicked like a madman all over hoping it was just a momentary freeze or something. Then ... it popped up. Socket Closed. Eve is kill. Well that was anti climatic. A few agonizing minutes later, my internet was backup and I logged in to see I had not only lost my ship (as I expected) but I had been podded as well.
I was butthurt. Yes, shit happens. D/C's happen. But I was upset that I didn't have the opportunity to properly defend myself or give an actual good fight. Ah well! I sat in Yvangier displeased with what happened. The pilots who had exacted their revenge were pleased; they had sent me a message saying gf and stuff, nothing negative. But in the spirit of New Eden, I must avenge my own loss; for my e-honor!
You know those moments where a number of thoughts and memories come together in what seems like an instant, and the result is a plan of clarity and purpose? Well I had one of those. Many months ago a fellow Black Jacket, Sam Sobati, gave me a fit for a Rupture. It was dual webbed and brick tanked fit, mainly for anti-frigate stuff for the lulz. I never brought that fit to life, but I kept it because you never know what the future will bring. The future had presented me with an opportunity to use Sam's Rupture fit to dish out some R1FTA vengeance. Wensley wills it!
Off the top of my head, the mission involved two phases. First would be to actually buy everything I need for the fit and get it to Isho, which would require me to use my hauler shopping dude. The second one would be the easiest, put everything together, fly into the middle of the FW pilots, and fire away! I hopped into a Rifter to get myself across Black Rise and to The Citadel so I can be ready to roll when the Rupture arrived. I sent the fit to my hauler, switched over to him and like a tortoise burned towards Jita in my indy. The entire trip to and from, I was anxious. Will they be there? Are they still there!? Will they even stay to fight if I land on them with a Rupture? I docked in the club house, contracted all the stuff to Sem, switched over to him and began to fit everything up. A wrench was thrown into the gears that brought my plans of revenge to a grinding halt. The original fit was made before the whole module tiercide, and there were powergrid issues as a result.
Apocalypse Now
I stared at the Rupture, admiring it's size and beauty. This would be glorious. Whether I won or lost, explosions will be made, and gf's will be exchanged. I could feel Wensley's warm, drunk smile upon me as I entered the ship. I was intimidated a bit. I had flown a Stabber before (long time ago) on a cruise to Heild, but I was drunk so don't remember much except it exploded (and it was kite fit, which I suck at). But this. The guns were bigger, the armored plate thicker and more durable, the SAAR to compliment it's strength .. it was a brawler through and through. I said a prayer to Saint Wensley, and undocked.
The plan was simple. Get in the middle of all of them, point and web the closest ship, and unleash hell. The Hecate, Caracal, and Kestrel were all at the Novice. That's where they were when I D/C'd midwarp, perhaps they were protecting the Kestrel? That's some love right there. The Hecate would be the first to go since it wouldn't stand up to the fury of Dual 180mm's and Warrior drones (Trust in the Rust!). After the Hecate I would focus the drones on the Kestrel while the guns go to town on the Caracal (point would go to the Caracal of course). Republic Fleet Fusion was loaded into the guns as I practiced deep breaths, reminding myself to not forget the drones and manage overheat. Perhaps because this was my first time flying a Cruiser into a 3v1, that the shakes and adrenaline was running through me. This is why I love solo pvp. I flicked on the switches to have my guns and modules overheated, ready to roll. I repeated instructions to myself untiI I exited warp and saw the Hecate and Caracal outside the gate. The Kestrel must be inside plex'n. The ships were right on the gate. I began to lock up the Hecate, sticking to my plan. As soon as I locked him, a thunderous boom from my 180mm's calmed my nerves a bit. The Hecate was scrammed, webbed and his shields were already gone. I hit orbit to keep him close as a volley from the Hecate's blasters reminded me to neut him. I shutoff the overheat on my modules (except the weapons) as my guns were tearing the destroyer apart, the larger size projectiles putting beautiful holes into its armor. At this point I was long & short pointed and webbed. I remembered my Warrior drones, and they screamed towards the Hecate to do their work. A combined volley of blaster and missile fire put me in low shields, signaling me to hit my SAAR. The gun fight was on as the sounds of battle were echoing outside the acceleration gate. Autocannons, blasters, missiles and drones were once again conducting a symphony of burnt metal and destruction. The Hecate was struggling to repair the damage it was sustaining as my tank was holding up very well. I was missing a few volley's, but the hits that were landing were putting the Hecate deeper into hull. I checked d-scan and the Kestrel was no longer on short. Although the ship was bigger, slower but more powerful and tankier, the essence of it was the same. I was still missing, and that's where I remembered I was flying with bigger guns against a smaller target. The fact that I was orbiting so close was working against the tracking of my guns. I checked the optimal of guns and orbited at the appropriate distance. There was nothing left to do but sit back and watch. The Hecate coughed up one last rep that put it into low armor as its structure was slivers from exploding. My neocom pinged as the Hecate exploded in a brilliant flash as the Kestrel landed. The adrenaline and shakes were still flowing through me, and the Caracal was still on grid. Sticking to the plan, I pointed and webbed the Caracal as I switched ammo to EMP. I set the drones on the Caracal (modified plan) and noticed that only two of my original five drones were alive. Either the Caracal or Hecate focused on my drones, which explained why I began to tank comfortably at one point in the fight. I had one drone left in the bay, so I let it fly like a peacock to join its brethren in space battle. All my guns were set on the cruiser as I activated the neut. The 180mm's let out another roar as they fired away and tore through the target's shields. I was no longer taking any damage, so I shutoff my SAAR to save some cap life. A few volleys shredded through its armor and began to chew up the structure of the Caracal. Moments later, another glorious explosion.
My hand was trembling as I navigated my Rupture to the wrecks to scoop up the loot and call my battle hardened drones back to base. Oh man! What a rush! The time from when I got exploded and podded, me scrambling throughout space to fit up this Rupture, and finally exploding two out of my three intended targets, had took about an hour n a half! I went over the entire chain of events. I could've logged off and nursed my butthurtness and done something else after I D/C'd and got podded, but instead I decided to get my revenge and the result of it was explosions and gf's :)
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| Scars of battle .. not me! The Rupture! |
So if something similar happens to you in the future, find a way to get your revenge and cause explosions. It's good for the soul, and New Eden's economy :D
Here's a vid of the action, hope you guys enjoy!
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