Blood Red Terror

Solo and very small gang pvp is the main play style in Black Rebel Rifter Club. A lot of us in the solo pvp community have memories of our most favorite fights, and those which we cannot believe we pulled off. Well our very own Prez, Darth Terona  recently achieved one of these feats. I admire the skill it took to pull off what he did. Anyway, in his own words!

Blood Red Wolf.
 

So I start the night off in my trusty duel web Republic Fleet Firetail. I check my ammo to make sure its topped off and set a course for Tama from Gultratren.
A couple of jumps in, I encounter a lone Throax sitting on the large in Todifrauan.  Without question, I order my ship to warp to the plex at zero. You see, I'm a crazy fool who hunts for those famed outmatched fights. The Thorax should make short work of my ship with duel webs and blasters, coupled with tech II drones.
I'm a fool for attacking him. But there is no room for fear when you're a Black Jacket.
I land right on top of the Thorax and quickly tell my ship to orbit at 500. One cycle of my MWD locks me into close orbit fast, and I lay in with Republic Fleet Fusion and Nova rockets. I only put one web on him though and a scram.  He launches drones, and I quickly switch my aggro to them. Web, AC's, rockets, BOOM. Web, AC's, rockets, BOOM, web, AC's, rockets BOOM, webacrocketboom warb! Now the Thorax is defenseless against me.  He is shield tanked. I neglect to load EM ammo.
I get him down to low armor and a Hookbil lands on top of me. So I let loose one web, AC's and rockets on him. Again without switching ammo. https://zkillboard.com/kill/48004280/
The fight is lost, with the Thorax in deep armor and the Hookbill's shields stripped away. If only I had switched to EM or Thermal ammo.. Oh well.

Determined not to let this derail me, I pick up a Retribution from Gultratren and head back towards Tama hoping for a rematch. I didn't find that Thorax and Hookbill duo.. but I did find a beautiful death.
https://zkillboard.com/kill/48004678/
 
On my way to Tama, I find a Rifter and Hawk in Arnher. The details of how the battle began are fuzzy to me, but I do know I found two of em' at the large outpost. I warped in at 100, turned 180 and burned away. A third landed, and a fourth, and a fifth. They seem like they wanted the fight. Their FC chanting taunts in local.  My tactic is working. In a bid to catch me, they are all burning at me at different speeds. The Tristan was the fastest. He got within 30km and the next closest opponent was 65km. I shut off my MWD, and wait for it to cycle. Then I turned and burned with  an overheated MWD right at him. I know that with that speed, he is set to kite. He is caught well off guard with my Retribution 1km off his tailpipe re-sculpting his hull quickly with Conflag. I'm able to pull off shooting Conflag at him, which usually kills tracking, because I know he wants nothing more than to get away from me. He does pull out to 11k towards the end of the fight, and I'm forced to fit scorch and oh MWD and scram to catch him again.
https://zkillboard.com/kill/48004587/
 
The next fastest is a Rifter. I fly away from the blob after my first kill with my micro warp drive screaming.
I pull a 30k separation on the Rifter, and use the same move to slingshot back on top of him, Conflag heated and ready to go. It takes all of two orbits to completely destroy him.
https://zkillboard.com/kill/48004616/

Burn away from the blob you fool! Oh yea!

I pull straight up and light the MWD again. this time. This time I notice the Kestrel and Punisher are far enough away (90km) for me to have a nice long fight with the Hawk. So I turn back onto him.  The Hawk does nice bits of damage to me, but my Pulse Lasers and Conflag coupled with approach and some manual piloting to keep my nose pointed right at him melt away his shields. I hear an alarm and look down. My hull is 20%! so I have a moment of weakness, load Scorch and start to pull away with the intent on leaving the fight. Its not going well though, as he has a web. But I notice his shield stopped repairing. I had tasted victory, I needed only to turn back into him to ensure my destiny. Conflag loaded, I burned all the way out of scram range in order to cycle my MWD and approach. It works nice!  I swing right at him passing 500m from his bow. as I pass, he showers me with a beautiful explosion!
https://zkillboard.com/kill/48004638/

I'm really hurting at this point, but I want them all. With less than 5% armor I turn and burn for the Kestrel who is within 20k of a punisher. I know I probably wont survive.. but I don't care. I never care.
I make a running pass at the Kestrel while really working my way into a tight orbit on the Punisher. I know I can get under his guns. Punisher is the primary target, but I wont ignore the Kestrel while I have a shot on him. I pass the Kestrel at 1.3k peppering him with Scorch on the approach from 14 to 6k and Conflag from 6k to 6k and finally scorch again from 6k to 9k on the opening vector. He, to my surprise, could not handle the attack and melted.
https://zkillboard.com/kill/48004668/

My move works well, I'm right up next to the Punisher just like I want to be. But sadly cannot establish an orbit like I want because of my lack of AB or web. I started the fight in 40% structure after the Kestrel,  and got the Punisher down to under 10% structure.. One more shot!!! but it was not to be.. With 40% structure and severe heat damage to all my mods, I was out of tricks.  Great Fight!

The guys are really cool about the fight, and I explain to them not to be discouraged. I've been doing solo for years, and designed this ship to fight Svipuls. We chat in local a bit, many good fights where exchanged and I learned that the FC (Hawk guy) was getting people to follow him to low sec to pick up fighting. I offer to pay for all their losses and make some new friends... well, such as friends are for me.. I'm likely to shoot my own tail if I can ever catch the damn thing.






Some good shit right there! As he shared the story with me and later on with the rest of the corp, I was just amazed. Biggest I ever fought out numbered was about a 3v1 in a Rail-cursus (and lost), but this right here is another level! This deserves a celebration from SpongeBob!

Man of the Hour

Since the last post I've been out fighting the good fight, looking to cause explosions and rescue any stranded drones I come across. Got some real good action while out roaming in Verge Vendor. I entered Ouelletta and saw an unnamed Vexor on scan. My memory is hazy, but if I remember correctly there was about four people in local and the pilot who matched the Vexor was a month old! Oh yea! Let's do this! Once I found the belt he was at, I warped to it with Phased Plasma in my 200mm's and Inferno rockets courtesy of the Caldari military loaded and ready to go. Wrecks of poor helpless rats scattered the belt as the Vexor was finishing up the last npc. I landed right on top of him and proceeded to fire with extreme prejudice. His shields were falling fast and my guns were already tearing up his armor when I saw an unnamed Retriever on short scan. What the? I continue firing on the vessel as I was tanking his tech one drones comfortably and when he entered deep armor, the barge shows up on grid right on top of us! What is going on!? The Vexor is in halfway through structure and the barge just sits there, I assume watching the fight going on. When the Vexor exploded I locked up the barge and began unloading on him as well. The shields were falling fairly quick but his drones were banging up my Rifter pretty good. When the barge had 3/4's shields left, I switched to the drones. I fired at the drones for a few seconds when it clicked in my mind that his shields are almost gone, and to switch back to the barge. The fight ensued and I had him in deep armor as my Rifter was running out of it was too late! Gf gf!!

nanite reps and was in low armor as well. I began to align towards the sun to get out of there, but I was close to getting him into structure and decided to turn back around finish him. Two big volleys from the drones put me in deep hull, and I turned around AGAIN ... but

I got my pod out of there and raced back to my outpost in Yvangier to reship. Minutes later I was in a Rifter burning back to Ouelletta hoping that the barge was still there. This time I loaded Fusion ammo with the mindset that since his shields fell quickly, I'll need the extra oomph to punch through his armor and explode the barge. I enter the system, and not only is the barge still there, but there's an unnamed Venture with him as well! Christmas came early!

I warp to the belt and there they were, like a mother whale guiding her young calf through the vast ocean. The two ships were mining together, and I locked up the barge and unleashed my 200mm's and rockets as I swooped in. The drones were out doing their thing, but I wasn't going down this time! The Venture remained in the belt, motionless and still mining! Shock perhaps?? Couple minutes later the barge went down fighting as my gamble with the Fusion ammo paid off, as I checked short I saw a Vigilant on scan. First off I don't know what that is but it sounds bad so I begin aligning towards the sun to get out of there. But the Venture is still chilling in the belt! I lock up the Venture and fire away as I'm aligning. Moments later the Vigilant lands just as the Venture explodes! Time to get out of here! I mash the warp button as the Vigilant locks me up, and just as I'm about to get that last little bit of speed to warp off .... I bounce off an asteroid.

Oh how cruel New Eden is! Kill a ratting Vexor, a barge and a little 'ol Venture, only to be denied my escape via an asteroid! The Vigilant landed his long point and shortly after made quick work of my Rifter. All good fun though, in under 30 minutes got some quick juicy action so I'm a happy camper.


But enough of that! What I really want to share is a kill by a fellow Black Jacket Richard Averald. We've been having a monthly contest of who can get the best solo kill (preferably while flying a frigate) and he not only landed this juicy kill, but told us the story. So in his own words, Richard Averald's account of how he killed a Cruor in a Kestrel!

The Face of Death.

The story
I was starting a solo-roam in Arzad where I had left my ship last time I was logged in. In the area I met a few gangs a few two-person-teams in slicers (one team I engaged but they were plexers and fled). I slowly went through the FW-systems in Devoid and Bleak Lands and came around to Laama the other way around and then entered Tzvi which usually have a couple of vets and the occasional newbie playing hunter and prey.

At the time there was a novice site in Tzvi with a Tristan and a Cruor close. The people in the system had neutral-ish sec status and no one flashed which got me thinking they were team and a "no-go" on engaging with any odds in my favor. In the very next minute I saw the Tristan disappearing from d-scan, he probably went towards the other end of system and next a new medium site appeared at the same time as the Cruor went off d-scan too. Hoped that they were going for a split taking one plex each made hit warp to the new site.

When reaching 14.3AU I saw the Cruor on d-scan, alone. I narrowed d-scan in the direction to see that he was at the site and not nearby. Maybe this could be the chance to try a 1vs1? I suddenly left warp and saw the gate - and there the Cruor was waiting at the gate... I didn't who the pilot was so I was pretty secure of my imminent death: a Cruor at a gate with me warping in at 0km 

I overheated my racks and targeted him. He targeted me first and was already coming closer. I took a few hits and looked into the eyes of the Cruor's death-neuts before my webs hit him. Together with the overheated AB I was slowly getting outside neut range which otherwise would've been a fast - and certain - death.

Am I going to be able to hold him at edge of scram range?

I was.

I kept an eye on d-scan and didn't see the Tristan coming. Then my rockets started chewing into his armor. He had pretty good resists but my chewing was still going at a steady pace. His hits made go into armor when I had taken all his. I was feeling a bit confident now but knew that if he got me inside neut range I would be at a loss - my AB had 96% heat damage now, in other words, overheating any further was not an alternative.

When he was at 50% structure I slowly moved closer to him - I didn't want him to slingshot out of scram in a last effort to break free. On the other hand I was back inside neut range. Luckily rockets have good alpha and two rounds of rockets later I was blinded by the awesome destruction of the Cruor. I immediately tried to scram his pod but he was already on the way and I was full of adrenaline and joy - this is why Eve rocks!

Sincerely,

Richard \o/

Man! I read that and was smiling the whole time! That's why we enjoy solo pvp! Motivated pilots doing amazing things with tech 1 frigates! I'm grateful to have found a home in New Eden with other pilots who share the same love and play style :]

Until next time!

A Good Start

After the success of the prior day, I ventured out again into the Neighborhood in my Rifter. A fellow Black Jacket, DontTouchMeHair (or DT as I call him for short), was out and about looking for trouble as well. With the lack of targets in my specific area, I decided to meet up with him in Heimatar a few jumps over.

I reached Ardar, a system in the middle of a pipe route that can take you "South" into Metropolis or "North" into a shortcut through Metropolis to another constellation. I spotted a Merlin on scan, and slammed the brakes on my ship. It was sitting at a novice, and I couldn't pass up the chance. I wheeled around and warped to the novice loading the appropriate ammunition and rockets. I entered the plex and the Merlin was sitting 80 something kilometers from the warp in. Ahh! I approach him at the base speed of my Rifter, watching to see what he does. A couple seconds go by and he hasn't warped off, his speed and distance indicate he's slowly approaching me as well.

I begin to approach him using the spiral method as we circle each other like a pair of sharks. I eyeball his guns and they appear to be railguns. At about 30km the Merlin locked me up, and when I reached 20km I overheated my afterburner and did the same thing. I reached brawling distance fast, shut off the overheating, and inside 10km we exchanged volleys. The gun fight was intense, my eyebrows raised a bit when his shields fell quickly but mine followed suit. At this point I noticed my speed had dropped to a snail's pace. Dual Webs! His rails were landing significant hits and tearing up my armor pretty good. My repper was keeping me in the fight but if I didn't something fast I was gonna have to keep DT waiting longer in order to for me to reship! Eff that noise! I begin to zig zag with hopes of messing with the rail's tracking. The Merlin was now in half armor and my Rifter was working overtime reppin' the incoming damage. Then the Merlin repped. Really bro!? Switching ammo at this point would mean 10 seconds of me just taking punches without firing back, and with the amount of reps running low it was do or die. I overheat my afterburner and burn directly towards him. I slowly close the distance between us, and some of his shots are missing my Rifter as I begin to orbit him close. I watch the heat damage on the afterburner which is dangerously close to burning out, debating whether to shut it off now that I'm in brawling range. Huge hits were landing on both sides with the occasional miss from the Merlin. As his Merlin entered deep armor, my afterburner had burnt out. I was out of nanite reps and was running on empty reps to stay in the fight, and the Merlin was quickly leaving my Rifter in the dust. At around 4,000 meters the big hits were landing, sending me into structure. I continued to zig zag towards him, each volley sending him deeper into structure. Both of our ships were on fire, but he had a lot less structure left than my Rifter. Moments later, R1FTA VICTOR! Woooo! My heart was beating and I suffered a small case of the shakes, it felt amazing :)

We exchanged gf's in local, and he was a bit suspicious of my speed. I assured him that I don't use links or drugs, then he asked if I had snakes and answered no. I'm too poor to drop that amount of ISK on implants, I much rather use it towards more Rifters and ammunition! It wasn't until I shared the killmail with DT that he pointed out it was an EVE Uni player. Gf!

Hanuman Ormand, watch out for his Merlin!

I drop off the loot at a station, repair my ship and reload my guns and continue making my way to DT.

He was getting some action too as he linked a killmail of a Tormentor, and said he had just got out as a Dramiel landed on grid. He repairs the damage on his Incursus and takes another look to see if the Dramiel pilot was still in system. He most definitely was, and sitting at a novice. I arrive and meet up with him and we decide to fight this fella. We iron out a solid plan of attack:

[ 2015.07.05 19:56:44 ] Sem Skord > are drams usually shield or armor tanked?
[ 2015.07.05 19:57:07 ] Sem Skord > im here
[ 2015.07.05 19:57:16 ] DontTouchMeHair > dunno :)
[ 2015.07.05 19:57:21 ] Sem Skord > haha lets do this

We warp to the plex, and even with two frigates on short the Dramiel stayed put. He must've felt really confident. I take the gate and land inside the plex with the Dramiel sitting right in the warp in, DT lands moments after me. The Dramiel locks me up and fires away as I close distance as well, holding a close orbit. He was shield fit and I had Fusion loaded (derp!). He starts to neut me so I overheat my afterburner and evade to escape neut range. In the midst of the escape his shields are holding steady as I begin to take damage to my armor. At 5,000 meters my cap was successfully neutralized, but the two webs on the Dramiel allow my Rifter to drift away and regain some cap life. I was still taking damage and was on my last few reps as the Dramiel's shields broke and began to crumble. I had floated out to 10km so I wheeled around, overheated my afterburner and burned back to help DT finish him off. The Dramiel melted as we fired with extreme prejudice and destroyed him.

After a bit of whooping and celebrating, DT and I assessed the aftermath:

[ 2015.07.05 20:00:53 ] Sem Skord > 0_0
[ 2015.07.05 20:00:57 ] Sem Skord > 49 mil in loot
[ 2015.07.05 20:01:14 ] Sem Skord > ill split it with ya when i sell this stuff
[ 2015.07.05 20:01:37 ] DontTouchMeHair > no worrie buy 20 Rifters !
[ 2015.07.05 20:01:47 ] DontTouchMeHair > 100 I mean
[ 2015.07.05 20:01:51 ] Sem Skord > why are you so good to me DT
[ 2015.07.05 20:01:58 ] Sem Skord > you deserve someone better
[ 2015.07.05 20:02:10 ] Sem Skord > haha
[ 2015.07.05 20:02:22 ] DontTouchMeHair > I have loot all over which I'm too lazy to collect :)
[ 2015.07.05 20:02:50 ] DontTouchMeHair > good kill though !
[ 2015.07.05 20:02:58 ] Sem Skord > couldnt of done it without ya
[ 2015.07.05 20:03:35 ] DontTouchMeHair > nope surprosed he stayed, they underestimate Rifters
[ 2015.07.05 20:03:53 ] Sem Skord > yea, i was expecting him to leave the plex when we both showed up
[ 2015.07.05 20:03:58 ] Sem Skord > or on d-scan i mean
[ 2015.07.05 20:04:15 ] Sem Skord > once that shield broke
[ 2015.07.05 20:04:17 ] Sem Skord > melted <3
[ 2015.07.05 20:06:09 ] DontTouchMeHair > 108m kill :)

Beautiful, outstanding work! Two frigates taking down a pirate faction frig. I love it. I think this deserves a celebration!

Haha hope you enjoyed the read!

 

A Meal Best Served Cold

Fighting the good fight. Flying my Rifter through Heimatar, Metropolis (The Neighborhood), Amarr space, and even sometimes back towards Gallente space; searching for the good fights. My search has not been in vain either! That's what I've been up to for the past month and a half or so. Recently an event happened that reminded me why I started this blog up in the first place, to share cool things that happened in the game with people who'd understand and appreciate the coolness of the story.

 

 I undocked my Rifter to the rusty red warmth of Avenod, Metropolis! Still causing explosions in my Black Jacket with my Black Jacket's, in search of more. Our main location is still Gultratren on the other side of the Neighborhood, but lately I've been flying out of my Avenod outpost due to its proximity to Amarr space and Gallente space which is just a few jumps away. Sweet spot between the two hunting grounds! I hit my usual route finding nothing along the way. I spot a local who I've fought before, Hamul Jinn.

I see that he's in a Myrmidon, instead of a Tristan so I continue on. I arrive in Aset, check D-Scan and see a mining barge out in space. I quickly find him near a cluster of belts, do some more d-scan work and got him down to one belt. I warp to him frothing at the mouth, EMP and Mjolnir rockets ready to tear holes into the barge. I land on the belt, and it's sitting at zero. Cool less work for me! I immediately lock, scram and web and fire away at the barge. I don't bother to orbit since there's no drones out in space and no guns firing at me. Seconds later, I'm webbed and scrammed and a fleet of vicious Hobgoblin tech one drones hit the field. I activate my afterburner and begin orbiting the barge, but I notice I'm not going my normal web speed. Dual webs?? I overheat the afterburner to not be such an easy target for the drones and begin taking them down.

The barge pilot, Shaie Arnerette, knows her stuff as she pulls the drones back into the drone bay and sends them back out. We continue this dance for a couple minutes, and I notice Hamul enters system. I check short, and see a Daredevil. Ah shit. Moments later the Daredevil lands on grid and it's Hamul himself. For a faint moment I wishfully think he's going to help me with the barge, since both of us are combat pilots. Oh Sem .. you foolish man! I get my pod out of there.









I chalk the loss to the game. In retrospect the signs were there that it was bait. Sign one was the barge was sitting at zero, not at about 20km away mining. Sign two was when I was webbed and scrammed. I guess you can consider sign three as the drones being pulled back and sent out repeatedly. Three red flags that I ignored due to a combination of my itchy trigger finger and the fact that it was a young player with tech 1 drones. Classic bait barge in a belt! I informed my fellow Black Jackets who were online and in the area, Urkhan Law, and the Crazy Englishman himself kage Huren, to not engage the barge pilot because it was bait. Urkhan was a bit irritated at this, since he had fought Hamul before and personally felt it was very low of him to have used a bait barge to get kills.

I hadn't gave it much thought, my personal pet peeves are links and gate camps, but if I fall for a bait ship then it's something that if it happens it happens. We solo pilots understand that our ship is basically already gone when we undock.

A couple minutes later, a lightbulb illuminated over our big Brutor heads at the same time. We throw some ideas around and shortly come up with a plan. We were going to come back at them Black Jacket style, destroy the bait barge and the Daredevil. Pretty much, kage was going to go in for tackle on the bait barge, draw out the Daredevil, then myself and Urkhan would jump in system, warp to kage, switch all gunfire to the Daredevil (one of us would maintain point on the barge and the other on the DD) and kill him. Awesome! I reship into another Rifter, except with two webs in order to hold the Daredevil down nice and tight. Urkhan stages one system from Aset, so I meet up with him there.    

                                                                                                                                                       
After some afk'ness between the three of us, the plan was ready to be hatched! Kage was already staged in the opposite system one jump from Aset. Just then another Black Jacket, Richard Averald, logged in. We filled him in quickly and he joined kage in his staging system. We went over the plan one more time, and undocked. Urkhan and I staged on the Aset gate, Richard did the same on his side. Moments later kage signaled us with the famous "xxxxxxxx" and we jumped in and warped to the belt to join our bro. Even though the plan was to wait for the Daredevil, all four of us were pounding away at the barge. I watched with a feeling of satisfaction as the shields of the bait barge fell slowly but surely. Drones were out on both sides, lasers, blasters, autocannons and rockets fired together to form a sweet, beautiful melody of synchronized destruction. Hamul was in system, but four frigates in a belt would be too much for the Daredevil. I continued to spam short waiting to see what would arrive.

 

A few seconds into the ambush, a Nereus appeared on short. We had broke through the barge's shields and its armor was falling apart fast. The Nereus was piloted by Hamul, as the industrial landed on grid with us. I typed out to continue fire on the Procurer. For almost a minute the industrial was on grid with us but seemed to target no one. The barge was in deep structure at this point, and I watched as it warped off! Nooooo! We switched fire to the Nereus, and right after I was scrammed, webbed, and the cherry on top was my cap was being neuted! I overheated my afterburner and tried to get outside neut range. The Nereus's drones were rocking my Rifter, but the industrial's shields were falling fast as the frigate gang focused fire on him. I activated my repper and continued my slow trek away from the indy. My speed went from 300 m/s, to a snails pace of 97 m/s! My capacitor was gone, but the industrial's shields had fallen and was taking huge hits to his armor. Seconds went by as my Rifter began to bleed into hull at the same time the Nereus was entering structure. I began to align to a celestial as I entered deep hull, moments later I escaped in my pod and left the battlefield. Couple of emotions ran through me simultaneously. First was a bit of disappointment as we didn't explode the barge. Second, was satisfaction as I knew the Nereus would die soon. Seconds later my boys in black informed me that they exploded him. I smiled and thanked the Black Jackets for taking some time out of their EVE day to help a pirate get some revenge. The pod had gotten away, but seconds later they said they got him! Apparently the pod had warped back to them at the belt! Very weird, but I don't mind. Complete Op Success!  The guys had gathered the loot from my wreckage and from the Nereus, and contracted it to me. The kindness and love just kept coming! I thanked them all again and couldn't find words to express my gratitude at their work, determination and blood lust that resulted in the success of this ambush.

 

I was sitting in station, and Hamul convo'd me.

 

[ 2015.07.04 20:12:34 ] Hamul Jinn > that kind of blew up in our faces:P
[ 2015.07.04 20:12:54 ] Sem Skord > Was hoping you would bring the DD
[ 2015.07.04 20:13:15 ] Hamul Jinn > thank god i didnt...my connection crapped out on my, almost threw my laptop on the flooe
[ 2015.07.04 20:13:16 ] Sem Skord > One of our dudes had to afk during the fight, thats how the barge got away :)
[ 2015.07.04 20:13:17 ] Hamul Jinn > r
[ 2015.07.04 20:13:35 ] Hamul Jinn > well my pod was just sitting there...so hey christmas!!!
[ 2015.07.04 20:13:42 ] Hamul Jinn > thank the lord it wasnt my asb pod
[ 2015.07.04 20:14:33 ] Sem Skord > well
[ 2015.07.04 20:14:35 ] Hamul Jinn > no wouldnt bring the DD to a vs 4 fight though
[ 2015.07.04 20:15:36 ] Hamul Jinn > wouldve been a nice fight if your mate or myself didnt bounce out of eve though
[ 2015.07.04 20:15:43 ] Hamul Jinn > that nereus...i had high hopes for it
[ 2015.07.04 20:16:43 ] Sem Skord > well it got one of us
[ 2015.07.04 20:16:56 ] Sem Skord > so it died a good death
[ 2015.07.04 20:17:05 ] Hamul Jinn > which is what matters
[ 2015.07.04 20:17:14 ] Hamul Jinn > nicely done to all of you!
[ 2015.07.04 20:17:20 ] Hamul Jinn > cheers man o/

 

Gf! Gf!

 

After all this had went down, I wanted to share this story but I knew my wife could only understand and care so much without me explaining stuff. Hey! You have a blog, share it on there! A fine thought! So if you read this, I hope you enjoyed the read :)

 

The Crazy Englishman, kage Huren.

Our parolee Urkhan Law.

The Face of Death, Richard Averald!

 

 

The Cavalry

"We always give thanks to the Gods after our last killmail for we know not when the next one cometh."
Wensley, Verse 4 Chapter 7

Saw that in fellow Black Jacket's Urkahn Law's bio and liked it! I remember reading Wensley's Rifter guide over 'n over again a long way's back. I'm too young .. in the age spectrum of EVE way .. to remember him and his antics, but I remember this guide and how it inspired me to stick with the Rifter. Even though the guide is outdated in terms of fits and weapon specifications (tracking, damage numbers n stuff) it's still a piece of art and history near n dear to my heart! Gonna link it because history. Rifters Trust in the Rust!


Now to tie the verse with this blog, (meanwhile, back at the ranch!) Ever had those days where you're roaming and wrecking shit and have to either buy more ammo and paste out deep in your route or if you're close enough fly back to your base? And then following those days where you are the god of war, you don't find anything. Well this post is about that, when you undock from your home base and you're pumped ready to go and explode anything that fails to escape your scram! And when you pass system number 20 something without so much as a single gun shot! It seems like New Eden, at least your part of it, has better things to do like not pvp .. or RL. By this point, when you're far away from your closest resupply outpost where you stash your ships, you're desperate for anything. A cyno, something! Well that was me the other night.

I undocked from Gultra, roamed throughout the Neighborhood, even ventured into Heimatar *shudders*, up into another section of Metropolis, and to the religious zealots who reside in Amarr space. Not one, single, gun fight. It was late, and I was discouraged at the lack of any action on this long roam. I decided to dock up in Avenod for the night instead of making the trek to Gultra. As I landed on the station I d-scanned one more time and saw a Venture that I've been harassing (which means failing to kill) and a Hyperion. There's four other people (including myself) in space, and one of them is docked up and the other is a young player. I figure this guy is the Hyperion pilot, so I dock up and fill my cargo with extra ammo. When I scanned again, only the Venture was out 'n about. I decide to try one last time to kill this miner, so I warp to his belt where he was 20 something kilometers away. I burn towards him but when I got to 14km he was already aligning. As he warped off and my grumbling, I hear the sound of a ship landing on grid .. and the Hyperion appears in the belt! The ship was sitting majestically about 11+ kilometers from my Rifter, so I immediately lock him up, web n' scram him and fire away. His Ogres deployed, so I focused my gun fire and web to the big drones and began to destroy them one by one. I had Phased Plasma firing away and Inferno rockets flying with bad intentions at these drones. The Hyperion pilot must've been in shock or something, because he didn't target me the entire time I was shooting his Ogre's. The battleship's drones were now wrecks in the vastness of space, and the Hyperion's huge weapons were no threat to my tiny Rifter! Local didn't spike, no call for help in local, the battleship's pilot was trapped and helpless. I began to work on the Hyperion's shield, and slowly but surely it was giving way. Two minutes in (long time for someone used to quick intense frigate fights!) I had broken through his shield and began to work on his armor, but he was reppin' the damage like nothing. I didn't want to sit there for a long time, but I was the only Black Jacket online at the moment and figured I would definitely run out of ammo if I try to take this guy down by myself. So I turned to the local contingent of Australians and New Zealanders known as The Asylum for help. I flipped over to their channel and linked my location to the chat box and typed in a simple message,

Sem Skord > Hyperion tackled
Sem Skord > need deeps

I kept shooting, chipping away at his armor waiting for a response. A couple minutes went by (felt like a long time!), then this:

Maynard Otsito > we're in frigs but we're on the way

Cavalry is on the way! All I had to do was just make sure this big ship didn't go anywhere and keep shooting till the Aussies arrive. The fight began around 0535 EVE time, 0541 I called for help, and by 0546 Maynard had arrived in his Kestrel with the rest of his gang right behind him. By this point the Hyperion was still shooting at me as the Kestrel rained down missiles on the ship. A few moments later, an Atron (Coco Madeveda) landed, followed by a Tristan (K00wip) and a Hookbill (Lucas Stronghammer) bringing up the rear. Drones flew out of their drone bays in unison and began their work on the Hyperion, as a gang of frigates circled and ravaged the battleship like a pack of wolves bringing down a large moose! Or maybe a bunch of saber tooth tigers bringing down a Wooly Mammoth! You get the idea! By this point the Hyperion had fallen into structure but was still repping the large barrage of gunfire. A Fed Navy Comet joined the fray (Damosolo) a bit late to the party but better late then never! The Hyperion was at half structure as I listened and watched the beautiful sights and sounds of different types of weapon systems and pirates joining together for a common cause .. to explode stuff!

Sem Skord > Glorious!
Maynard Otsito > \o/
Maynard Otsito > the power of the frig
Maynard Otsito > (s)

The power of the frig(s) indeed! The Hyperion exploded in a large brilliant flash of light as it's wreck floated in space.

Now pirates being pirates, I decided to scavenge the wreck for the good loot and get out of there! The gang had captured the pod and after they killed him I managed to snag the corpse as well, and warped to a safe! Now that the Hyperion was gone I didn't wanna linger in the belt, no offense to the cavalry! I thanked the fellas for their helping hand and docked up.

Now even though that was the only kill of the roam, it was well worth it and a lot of fun. I looked at the killmail and was glad I called for backup because there was no way I would've broke the Hyperion's tank by myself! I thought about what just happened and brought me back to what I realized recently, that it's about relationships and the people in New Eden. No game out there like EVE, and there's no pvp like EVE!

Back to the Basics

First off, we have a couple former Prospects that have become fully patched members and earned their Black Jackets! Warms my heart to know we're not alone in our simple desire to cause explosions in New Eden.

                                                                                                                                                                                 

The Astero Pirate.

 Nyar Darkfire. Since he joined our merry bunch he's been out there flying around and looking for fights. His trademark is the Astero, as he'll be exploring and when the opportunity presents itself .. tackles an unsuspecting explorer or lonely frig in a plex! His fervor and willingness to fight fits perfectly with one of the Black Jacket .. erm .. pillars I guess you can say.

"We have no skillpoint or skillset requirements, all we require is a good attitude and a willingness to cause explosions be it the enemy or yourself."

Obidiah Kane. Scarface! Him and his Firetail have been fighting the good fight in Metropolis and Heimatar, spreading the pew pew to anyone willing and able to exchange with him. Although it's a bit difficult to understand his English accent on comms (but it sounds badass!) he's a chill n eager dude. Glad to have both of ya'll with us!

So recently I've been doing what I usually do, flying around in my Rifter looking for the good fights. For a little bit I was losing focus on why I play EVE the way I do. I was logging in less, and the times I did log in I would get bored after a few minutes. I felt as if I was forcing myself to undock and get out there and explode ships. A small case of the infamous "burnout". I was disheartened. Burnout?? I've only been playing for a year! How is this possible! I thought about it, the possible causes. Perhaps it was because I spent very little time in high sec and jumped right into low sec since I stumbled upon Black Rebel Rifter Club and never looked back. Solo and very small gang pvp has been my play style since then. I've done exploration on the side when I needed isk to keep the Rifters coming in, but other than that that's it (a lot of "th" words in this sentence). Another reason, I realized I made a serious SERIOUS mistake. I began to keep track of my kills and losses on my roams. That is something that will quickly end the fun of pvp and bring misery and frustration.

A few days ago, as I was thinking about all this, I decided to return back to my roots. Back to Adirain! It was late so it wasn't very busy, but there were people going to and fro. My memory of what transpired is hazy, since I didn't record anything and the footage helps me greatly with sharing what happened. So bear with me! I entered Murethand, only a couple people in system. I warp to my safe and began scanning around looking for signs of life. D-Scan reveals a Rifter out n about in space. I always get excited when I see another one of these baby's in space, so I began to narrow it down. I check the plex's, nothing. Hmmm. Check the belts! Sure enough the Rifter was on scan towards a cluster of belts. I warp to the planet and scan each belt until I find him. I land on grid everything overheated and ready to bring the pain. The Rifter was about 30 something kilometers away working on a lone NPC battleship. Ratting in a Rifter! I burn towards him expecting him to warp off before I get close. I click the "Look At" button to zoom in on him, not to check his weapons, but if he's within distance and the Look At button isn't zooming in, then it means he's about to warp off. Well I wasn't zooming in, and I was 24km away ... but the asteroids were preventing him from building enough acceleration to activate the warp drive! I smiled and giggled in glee as I got closer, now at 15km. It was like watching some kind of trapped animal struggling to escape. The Rifter bounced from one large asteroid to the other as I locked him up, webbed and scrammed him, and destroyed his ship. He didn't even fight back until he was in deep armor. His pod encountered the same problem. I locked up the battleship to see how far he got with it, and it was in deep armor already bleeding into hull. I decided to finish off the battleship, so for about 10 minutes I sat there in the belt ratting. As the NPC enters deep hull, I notice someone enter local. To my pleasant surprise it was the Rifter pilot from earlier. I wait in the belt and spam D-Scan. Unnamed Destroyer *smiles* He wanted some payback! The Thrasher landed about 50km off the belt, and I flew up to get out of the entanglement of the 'roids. The destroyer was motionless, probably expecting me to warp off. I zoomed in on him to eyeball his weapons, and saw he had artillery fitted. I smiled again. Plan was simple, use my speed to get under his guns, hold a close orbit, and fire away. We burned towards each other, at 25km I overheated my afterburner and targeted the Thrasher. He got off one volley damaging my shields but soon after I was in brawling range firing away at his destroyer. Each hit of his was missing as my Rifter was too fast. Soon after, his Thrasher met the same fate. As did his pod.

This event reminded me of why I play the way I do. It was nothing blingy or over the top. But it was a simple story of one pilot who suffered a loss and wanted revenge, bringing a bigger ship to achieve it. It was a player driven small scale drama, an interaction of different wills and goals that culminated in explosions in an asteroid belt. The days that followed this showdown, the "burnout" was beginning to fade slowly but surely. I wasn't sitting in the station, I wasn't forcing myself to undock. I doubled up with corp mates on roams, which broke the monotony of solo pvp. It was the people, and the relationships that brought me out of the funk and guided me back to my style of EVE.

"...a good attitude and a willingness to cause explosions be it the enemy or yourself."



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!