Entry: five hundred thirty-seven.
CI space has been insane the last few days. At the time of my last entry, our space was infested with AQUILA and BORG. One thing I did not record of importance in the previous entry was a BORG pilot in a Malediction warping into one of our towers, ejecting a Dominix, and destroying it. BORG are ex-ATLAS, so of course they knew our password.
Two and a half days ago, there was a RAZOR gang running around. Alliance formed up a fleet and smashed them at the 9CG6- gate in UYU-. The RAZOR gang attempted to kill me three or four times.
This is probably because I was a tackle Rifter. I warped out each time I started taking damage. After repairing with the local armor repair module I had onboard, I returned to the fight, only to have to quickly warp out again. I did manage to hold down two Scimitars to be slaughtered however.
Two days ago, we had a POS defense operation in some system in Blood Raider territory. Computer: link killmail.
As a quick aside, the killboard that provided this mail labels me as an expert frigate pilot. I find this amusing as I am by no means that. I do know my role in the fleet, however, and do my best to fulfill that role while avoiding ship loss.
The mail said to formup at 22:00, that we'd leave at 22:15. I formed up on time, as did much of the fleet. As is always the case, there are stragglers that join late.
We sat in station for almost two hours. Rather suddenly, we burned a few systems to get on a Titan, and then bridged into the target system where a friendly cyno had been lit. The fleet jumped.
When we landed, we were being bombed. Immediately after bombing, the enemy fleet, an AHAC gang, warped in on top of us and proceeded to, essentially, annihilate our alpha fleet. Our guardians were destroyed first while the fleet tried to get inside of the POS. It took some time, but they were finally able to get in. The enemy then landed in the middle of the tower with the fleet.
The enemies were BORG, RAZOR, and Morsus Mihi. As the password was changed several times, it was made exceedingly clear that our alliance, while not rooted, was severely compromised. With our fleet crippled and huddling inside of a POS shield, command called for aid from Nulli Secunda. With their help the tower was barely saved, but we took crippling losses. The operation was a loss in every way except for the objective itself.
Yesterday, our space was teeming with hostiles. There were three separate gangs, combined totalling up to about one hundred twenty hostiles roaming our space. My alliance did manage to get some kills despite this, without being "whelped" as the terminology goes.
I, however, wasn't really feeling the desire to face yet another fifty man hostile gang, and just sat in station watching television. Eventually, I disconnected myself from the Neocom entirely and just watched television.
Perhaps today will be different. Half of my lack of desire to fly has to do with goals in skill training. I have a particular Republic Fleet Firetail I'd like to fly, but it will be some time before I can. It it my belief that this version of the Firetail will not only exceed the standard mold of Firetail, but completely reinvent how the ship is supposed to be flown.
Computer: terminate recording.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Day 534
Entry: five hundred thirty-four.
Yesterday, Cascade Imminent space was choked with enemies. RAZOR, Borg, Aquila, Morsus Mihi, all of them were there in our space making a mess out of things. Our pilots, however, quickly became accustomed to random hostiles running around in our space, and resumed ratting and plexing even when hostiles were in the same system.
They were literally killing us left and right. I refer you to June 23rd, 2011.
When I logged in, the intel channels were blinking so quickly I barely had time to make sense of any of it. I'd heard that some of the hostiles were coming out of a wormhole in N-M, so I boarded my Cheetah, went to the destination system, and set about scanning.
It took about ten minutes, but I found three wormholes. All of them were class five or class six. It's pretty obvious when you see black and red through the transit bubble. By sheer dumb luck, just as I was about to warp away from the final wormhole I scanned down, something came through from the other side.
It was a Drake. I quickly looked at the corp ticker before he warped away, and I saw that he was from Aquila.
While I'd been scanning, a revenge fleet had been formed. Someone else, aside from me, had gotten so fed up with our guys being retarded and getting killed while we let hostiles run rampant through our space that he formed up the fleet. I joined and camped the wormhole, providing intelligence for the rest of the fleet.
For a while, friendlies camped the 49-U gate in 5V-. And then we got word that a Machariel was tackled in N-M on the 49-U. The fleet quickly made its way over, and after some maneuvering to get a warp in on the Machariel trying to let his Drake friends on other side get through the gatecamp, the fleet got a warp in via StonerPhreak and made short work of the Machariel. The pilot ejected before being destroyed, managing to make it back to the wormhole. It appears the comments were deleted from the killboard posting on Aquila's killboard, but there was much trolling and laughing to be had at Rengas for ejecting, nevermind orbiting at snipe range with autocannons.
The fleet resumed camping the 49-U gate while the two stranded drakes attempted to work out the alternate route with a cheetah that came out of the wormhole. They seemed to have decided against that route however, as they later came into N-M via 49-U. Neither the first or second had a chance to escape to w-space.
Our revenge didn't stop there, however. I and the fleet entered the wormhole. I set about scanning down every site I could and triggering it, only learning after I triggered all of them that the system wasn't actually their home. Nevertheless, Aquila came back for a fight twice, once with a lone hurricane, a second time with a pair of hurricanes and a scimitar. I participated in both battles, bringing both of my tracking disruptors into play, but we only managed to kill the one hurricane.
We camped a little longer, before much of the fleet disbanded. A few of the more vindictive ones, like myself, proceeded to track them to their system, only one wormhole jump away, and entered. I scanned down and triggered every site they had present, and they cut off our route back to Catch. Unfortunately, two comrades were stuck with me, and now relying on me to get them out. Both were in stealth bombers: M3phisto and Sweet Bitterness.
I scanned out another class five, and we entered. Aquila attempted to ransom us for the exit several times, and we kept our mouths shut. I scanned out two more class fives in addition to the one Aquila came though. Aquila was keeping tabs though, bouncing between the class fives with a Sabre equipped with a cloak, just waiting for us to make a mistake.
After some time, a new group appeared, closing one of the class fives by jumping a Chimera and several other ships in. I scanned down another class five, and observed as a Revelation closed it. I scanned down another class five, and, at last a zero zero connection. It appeared as Aquila had left though, though Dotlan wasn't yet reporting their jumps.
We observed the zero zero connection for a short bit, then decided to jump through.
We ended up in Vale of the Silent: White Noise Territory.
Suggestions went around for getting into higher sec system and scanning. Being back in k-space, I felt the best course of action was a twelve jump burn to high-sec near Yrmori.
Every system was empty, with the occasional single resident. We encountered no threats at all. Once back in high-sec space, I was given ten million ISK from each of them for getting them out safely. Sweet Bitterness managed to make it back in time to recycle his ten ten DED site, potentially worth a billion, and he invited me along on what is, excepting for me, a corp only bomber fleet training series. I must admit, I'm pretty excited in finally finding a group of people interested in that aside from me. The first session I'm able to attend will be today.
Revenge has never tasted so sweet.
Computer: terminate recording.
Yesterday, Cascade Imminent space was choked with enemies. RAZOR, Borg, Aquila, Morsus Mihi, all of them were there in our space making a mess out of things. Our pilots, however, quickly became accustomed to random hostiles running around in our space, and resumed ratting and plexing even when hostiles were in the same system.
They were literally killing us left and right. I refer you to June 23rd, 2011.
When I logged in, the intel channels were blinking so quickly I barely had time to make sense of any of it. I'd heard that some of the hostiles were coming out of a wormhole in N-M, so I boarded my Cheetah, went to the destination system, and set about scanning.
It took about ten minutes, but I found three wormholes. All of them were class five or class six. It's pretty obvious when you see black and red through the transit bubble. By sheer dumb luck, just as I was about to warp away from the final wormhole I scanned down, something came through from the other side.
It was a Drake. I quickly looked at the corp ticker before he warped away, and I saw that he was from Aquila.
While I'd been scanning, a revenge fleet had been formed. Someone else, aside from me, had gotten so fed up with our guys being retarded and getting killed while we let hostiles run rampant through our space that he formed up the fleet. I joined and camped the wormhole, providing intelligence for the rest of the fleet.
For a while, friendlies camped the 49-U gate in 5V-. And then we got word that a Machariel was tackled in N-M on the 49-U. The fleet quickly made its way over, and after some maneuvering to get a warp in on the Machariel trying to let his Drake friends on other side get through the gatecamp, the fleet got a warp in via StonerPhreak and made short work of the Machariel. The pilot ejected before being destroyed, managing to make it back to the wormhole. It appears the comments were deleted from the killboard posting on Aquila's killboard, but there was much trolling and laughing to be had at Rengas for ejecting, nevermind orbiting at snipe range with autocannons.
The fleet resumed camping the 49-U gate while the two stranded drakes attempted to work out the alternate route with a cheetah that came out of the wormhole. They seemed to have decided against that route however, as they later came into N-M via 49-U. Neither the first or second had a chance to escape to w-space.
Our revenge didn't stop there, however. I and the fleet entered the wormhole. I set about scanning down every site I could and triggering it, only learning after I triggered all of them that the system wasn't actually their home. Nevertheless, Aquila came back for a fight twice, once with a lone hurricane, a second time with a pair of hurricanes and a scimitar. I participated in both battles, bringing both of my tracking disruptors into play, but we only managed to kill the one hurricane.
We camped a little longer, before much of the fleet disbanded. A few of the more vindictive ones, like myself, proceeded to track them to their system, only one wormhole jump away, and entered. I scanned down and triggered every site they had present, and they cut off our route back to Catch. Unfortunately, two comrades were stuck with me, and now relying on me to get them out. Both were in stealth bombers: M3phisto and Sweet Bitterness.
I scanned out another class five, and we entered. Aquila attempted to ransom us for the exit several times, and we kept our mouths shut. I scanned out two more class fives in addition to the one Aquila came though. Aquila was keeping tabs though, bouncing between the class fives with a Sabre equipped with a cloak, just waiting for us to make a mistake.
After some time, a new group appeared, closing one of the class fives by jumping a Chimera and several other ships in. I scanned down another class five, and observed as a Revelation closed it. I scanned down another class five, and, at last a zero zero connection. It appeared as Aquila had left though, though Dotlan wasn't yet reporting their jumps.
We observed the zero zero connection for a short bit, then decided to jump through.
We ended up in Vale of the Silent: White Noise Territory.
Suggestions went around for getting into higher sec system and scanning. Being back in k-space, I felt the best course of action was a twelve jump burn to high-sec near Yrmori.
Every system was empty, with the occasional single resident. We encountered no threats at all. Once back in high-sec space, I was given ten million ISK from each of them for getting them out safely. Sweet Bitterness managed to make it back in time to recycle his ten ten DED site, potentially worth a billion, and he invited me along on what is, excepting for me, a corp only bomber fleet training series. I must admit, I'm pretty excited in finally finding a group of people interested in that aside from me. The first session I'm able to attend will be today.
Revenge has never tasted so sweet.
Computer: terminate recording.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Day 530
Entry: five hundred thirty.
Today I was thinking about my life as a capsuleer. Honestly, it's hard to think as far back as my first days, even harder to think beyond that. However, this being the sum of my experiences, I will endeavor in the future to log and back enter my pre-capsuleer and early capsuleer experiences. Upon final compilation of this journal, this will no doubt be but a footnote referencing when I decided to do this.
It's a little humbling to think about all the experiences I've had since becoming immortal. I worked for Quafe and Brutor in my early career, joined a capsuleer corporation which attempted to become an economic power but failed, and was a miner for a brief period.
Shortly after working for Brutor under the guise of this capsuleer corporation, I and several corpmates ventured into w-space. We experienced difficult yet profitable ISK generation, combat, and gained more in those three months than we had gained in six in hi-sec by far.
After three months of w-space, we returned to k-space. A month later, the corporation I was a part of at the time dissolved, and the CEO went planetside. Those I had lived in w-space with formed a new corporation and we began the business of griefing.
We didn't last long as griefers. Our hearts weren't in it, but we had good times when the combat was available. I earned some man card points with the group, however, for chasing down and killing war targets in Amarr space. Normally, that in itself doesn't earn man-card points. However, the Amarr Imperial Navy was hunting me as I was hunting targets, and even engaged and attempted to destroy me while I assaulted the targets.
About a month into the griefing business, we had gotten tired of it. At the same time, I was approaching a two month-two skill plan: Logistics five and Battlecruiser five. To be brutally honest, I was also experiencing some burnout. Between regular logging, research on targets, and gate games and station games, I was exhausted.
I took a two month planetside leave of absence. Instead of hunting, logging, and researching space-combat, I took on a new course of study: strategy. Previous attempts, successes, and failures had largely been based on one or two step planning with a heavy emphasis on brute force or extreme stealth. The study of strategy planetside led me to learn the importance of positioning, reinforcement timing, advance and retreat maneuvers, and the importance of variation.
On my return, we joined a zero-zero corporation that was part of an alliance. The alliance at the time was a pet, but by now is probably a full member of the Deklein Coalition. In zero-zero, I got my first real taste of how what I learned planetside applied in space.
There were many CTAs, many small roaming gangs. I had established a good foundation on my leave, but now I was learning specifics. I was learning particular fitting schemes, small gang fits, fleet fits, fleet strategies, maneuvering, scouting, hotdropping, and target prioritization. It was a lot to take in all at once. I learned much of it quickly, and through some lost assets, other very important lessons regarding survival in zero-zero when solo.
Just as I was getting a concrete layout of the region, so that I could begin a new challenge, fleet command, our corporation changed alliances and regions. I started over learning the new region while still expanding on previous lessons in relation to combat. I began developing new fits to deal with problems I saw arise, and making ISK on the off time.
And then, after I learned the region, I found myself unsatisfied with my corporation. We had different goals and different timezones we were active. I was mostly solo, and I was having a difficult time rationalizing staying. I made the decision to change corporations, and joined what is my current corporation at the time of this recording: Militaris Industries.
It's been perhaps a month since I've joined them. I find myself enjoying this corporation and its members far more than my previous corporation however, as I tend to be active when they are. Also very important is the new alliance. They, like myself, decided their previous alliance was a bad fit for them, and left to join Cascade Imminent. I find myself in line with much of Cascade Imminent's modus operandi: zero-zero griefing and combat.
The thing I disliked about hi-sec combat was the ease of it. By and large, it wasn't a challenge, and being a small corporation of five at the time, we could not challenge many corporations. On top of that, I was forcing combat on someone completely unprepared. It was like being a soldier who killed civilians. It was plain boring, unfulfilling, unchallenging, and not worth any effort.
Being in zero-zero, everything is different. Everyone out there is prepared to fight, willing to take risks, willing to be bold. Kingdoms rise and fall based on the politics and the ISK. The station games of hi-sec are largely non-existent, and locking down entire solar systems or regions is entirely possible.
From what I've gathered about Cascade Imminent, it's an alliance of almost all combat pilots, with a small but substantial industrial backbone. As an alliance, we own a few systems so that we can recoup ISK we've spent on military efforts. Our operational scheme is largely to leave on deployment for a period of time, engaging in as much combat as possible, inflict as much damage or sovereignty loss as possible, and then return home for a brief period to earn ISK.
I think I'm going to enjoy the times ahead.
Computer: terminate recording.
Today I was thinking about my life as a capsuleer. Honestly, it's hard to think as far back as my first days, even harder to think beyond that. However, this being the sum of my experiences, I will endeavor in the future to log and back enter my pre-capsuleer and early capsuleer experiences. Upon final compilation of this journal, this will no doubt be but a footnote referencing when I decided to do this.
It's a little humbling to think about all the experiences I've had since becoming immortal. I worked for Quafe and Brutor in my early career, joined a capsuleer corporation which attempted to become an economic power but failed, and was a miner for a brief period.
Shortly after working for Brutor under the guise of this capsuleer corporation, I and several corpmates ventured into w-space. We experienced difficult yet profitable ISK generation, combat, and gained more in those three months than we had gained in six in hi-sec by far.
After three months of w-space, we returned to k-space. A month later, the corporation I was a part of at the time dissolved, and the CEO went planetside. Those I had lived in w-space with formed a new corporation and we began the business of griefing.
We didn't last long as griefers. Our hearts weren't in it, but we had good times when the combat was available. I earned some man card points with the group, however, for chasing down and killing war targets in Amarr space. Normally, that in itself doesn't earn man-card points. However, the Amarr Imperial Navy was hunting me as I was hunting targets, and even engaged and attempted to destroy me while I assaulted the targets.
About a month into the griefing business, we had gotten tired of it. At the same time, I was approaching a two month-two skill plan: Logistics five and Battlecruiser five. To be brutally honest, I was also experiencing some burnout. Between regular logging, research on targets, and gate games and station games, I was exhausted.
I took a two month planetside leave of absence. Instead of hunting, logging, and researching space-combat, I took on a new course of study: strategy. Previous attempts, successes, and failures had largely been based on one or two step planning with a heavy emphasis on brute force or extreme stealth. The study of strategy planetside led me to learn the importance of positioning, reinforcement timing, advance and retreat maneuvers, and the importance of variation.
On my return, we joined a zero-zero corporation that was part of an alliance. The alliance at the time was a pet, but by now is probably a full member of the Deklein Coalition. In zero-zero, I got my first real taste of how what I learned planetside applied in space.
There were many CTAs, many small roaming gangs. I had established a good foundation on my leave, but now I was learning specifics. I was learning particular fitting schemes, small gang fits, fleet fits, fleet strategies, maneuvering, scouting, hotdropping, and target prioritization. It was a lot to take in all at once. I learned much of it quickly, and through some lost assets, other very important lessons regarding survival in zero-zero when solo.
Just as I was getting a concrete layout of the region, so that I could begin a new challenge, fleet command, our corporation changed alliances and regions. I started over learning the new region while still expanding on previous lessons in relation to combat. I began developing new fits to deal with problems I saw arise, and making ISK on the off time.
And then, after I learned the region, I found myself unsatisfied with my corporation. We had different goals and different timezones we were active. I was mostly solo, and I was having a difficult time rationalizing staying. I made the decision to change corporations, and joined what is my current corporation at the time of this recording: Militaris Industries.
It's been perhaps a month since I've joined them. I find myself enjoying this corporation and its members far more than my previous corporation however, as I tend to be active when they are. Also very important is the new alliance. They, like myself, decided their previous alliance was a bad fit for them, and left to join Cascade Imminent. I find myself in line with much of Cascade Imminent's modus operandi: zero-zero griefing and combat.
The thing I disliked about hi-sec combat was the ease of it. By and large, it wasn't a challenge, and being a small corporation of five at the time, we could not challenge many corporations. On top of that, I was forcing combat on someone completely unprepared. It was like being a soldier who killed civilians. It was plain boring, unfulfilling, unchallenging, and not worth any effort.
Being in zero-zero, everything is different. Everyone out there is prepared to fight, willing to take risks, willing to be bold. Kingdoms rise and fall based on the politics and the ISK. The station games of hi-sec are largely non-existent, and locking down entire solar systems or regions is entirely possible.
From what I've gathered about Cascade Imminent, it's an alliance of almost all combat pilots, with a small but substantial industrial backbone. As an alliance, we own a few systems so that we can recoup ISK we've spent on military efforts. Our operational scheme is largely to leave on deployment for a period of time, engaging in as much combat as possible, inflict as much damage or sovereignty loss as possible, and then return home for a brief period to earn ISK.
I think I'm going to enjoy the times ahead.
Computer: terminate recording.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Day 503
Computer: Record. Auto-transmit to VFK for backup.
Entry: five hundred three.
I just got word that 4-AB had a few hostiles. My trigger finger is itching for some action, and I'm not waiting. I've moved from the Stiletto to the Hurricane. Standard shield buffer, nonstandard nanofiber for greater speed and maneuverability.
Warp bookmark 4-AB.
"Warp Drive Active."
So far on intelligence, I know that there are two hostiles. It's my guess that there are more, otherwise I doubt the reported Dramiel will stick around.
"Jumping. Recording Paused."
"Recording Resumed. Warping to Stargate"
I find myself wondering how large this gang is going to be, and what the backup will look like though. Ah, there's the stargate now, and there's the drag bubble. Approach the Caldari battlecruiser wreck. Activate MWD, overheat top rack and cycle. Now just for the waiting...a blackbird? Well, this isn't going to go well.
Approach gate...Jump.
"Jumping. Recording Paused."
"Recording Resumed."
Approach Dramiel. Lock. MWD and top rack on. Lock. Disruptor. Neutralizer.
I know it's a trap, but I can't help myself. Even if I lose this hurricane, but I kill the Dramiel, I'm coming out twenty plus million ISK ahead. ISK wars are pretty important. My guns keep hammering at he Dramiel, reverberating throughout my ship. It's difficult to hit him, but I landed occasional glancing blows as he hits the stargate. He's not a very good frigate pilot, but he's getting the job done, because he's only now entering armor.
"Loki, Myrmidon, Dramiel, Falcon: on grid."
Shit.
"Jammed Out."
Approach gate. Request Jump on auto-spam, begin.
"The Stargate denies you permission to Jump because of recent acts of aggression you have committed."
"The Stargate denies you permission to Jump because of recent acts of aggression you have committed."
"The Stargate denies you permission to Jump because of recent acts of aggression you have committed."
"The Stargate denies you permission to Jump because of recent acts of aggression you have committed."
Auto-warp to station on auto-spam, begin.
"External factors are preventing you from entering warp."
"External factors are preventing you from entering warp."
"External factors are preventing you from entering warp."
"Ship is out of control."
"Warping to Station."
GF coming in over local communications network, what the hell, me too. GF guys.
Warp to Stargate.
"Warping to Stargate."
Funny how everything seems calm and quiet, yet high strung and tense after you lose a ship.
"Jumping. Recording Paused."
Pause Recording until further notice. "Recording Paused."
"Recording Resumed."
Intelligence claims Robopleasure in TNT space. I didn't have another Hurricane in VFK, so I made the trip out to XCF for my one and only armor cane. Undock.
"Undocking."
....
Warp to CU9. "Warping to Stargate."
Robopleasure has been bouncing between FMB, CU9, and XCF it seems, although he's slow on the take about moving. I'm not sure why, but maybe I'll find out.
Once in CU9, pause recording until further notice.
"Jumping. Recording Paused."
To Intelligence: Robopleasure in CU9 on XCF gate.
Lock approach Robopleasure. Overload top rack and fire.
"Target is no longer locked because it doesn't exist."
To Intelligence: Robopleasure jumped XCF from CU9.
From Intelligence: shiptype?
To Intelligence: How many times do I need to repeat that he's in a Daredevil?
To Intelligence: Robopleasure CU9, DAREDEVIL, moving to approximately 100km below the XCF gate.
Pause recording until Robopleasure is webbed.
"Recording Paused."
"Recording Resumed."
Overheat top rack and approach. MWD active. Just a few seconds now.
"Target is no longer locked because it doesn't exist. Killmail Recorded."
Gimme a minute to cool my nerves. Approach wreck and loot. Once looting completed, destroy the wreck. "Acknowledged."
So, there's a little bit missing in the log there. Upon his last jump into CU9 via XCF, Robo microwarped to about a hundred below the gate. Being less agile, not mention considerably slower, I kept myself in jump range of the gate so that no matter which direction he approached from, I could lock him before he go to within ten kilometers of it, and then double web and scram him as soon as he did get in range.
He played around for quite a while, maybe ten to fifteen minutes, microwarping in and out, trying to draw me off of the gate. I wasn't willing to oblige. On one attempt, I did release some some drones at him, but they did minimal damage before one was destroyed, thus I recalled them. Note, drones will not work on a Daredevil except as a distraction.
His final run ended with him being double webbed and scrammed. There was no chance for escape.
He claims that that last run was a mistake, and frankly I'm inclined to agree with him. After how long he spent zooming in and out, one piloting error on an inbound trajectory took him in too close, resulting in the loss of his ship. I didn't even attempt to pod him, the hurricane's locking speed is far too slow to catch the pod of any half decent pilot, nevermind a regular interloper like him.
To Robopleasure: GF
From Robopleasure: GF
Computer: terminate recording.
Entry: five hundred three.
I just got word that 4-AB had a few hostiles. My trigger finger is itching for some action, and I'm not waiting. I've moved from the Stiletto to the Hurricane. Standard shield buffer, nonstandard nanofiber for greater speed and maneuverability.
Warp bookmark 4-AB.
"Warp Drive Active."
So far on intelligence, I know that there are two hostiles. It's my guess that there are more, otherwise I doubt the reported Dramiel will stick around.
"Jumping. Recording Paused."
****************
"Recording Resumed. Warping to Stargate"
I find myself wondering how large this gang is going to be, and what the backup will look like though. Ah, there's the stargate now, and there's the drag bubble. Approach the Caldari battlecruiser wreck. Activate MWD, overheat top rack and cycle. Now just for the waiting...a blackbird? Well, this isn't going to go well.
Approach gate...Jump.
"Jumping. Recording Paused."
****************
"Recording Resumed."
Approach Dramiel. Lock. MWD and top rack on. Lock. Disruptor. Neutralizer.
I know it's a trap, but I can't help myself. Even if I lose this hurricane, but I kill the Dramiel, I'm coming out twenty plus million ISK ahead. ISK wars are pretty important. My guns keep hammering at he Dramiel, reverberating throughout my ship. It's difficult to hit him, but I landed occasional glancing blows as he hits the stargate. He's not a very good frigate pilot, but he's getting the job done, because he's only now entering armor.
"Loki, Myrmidon, Dramiel, Falcon: on grid."
Shit.
"Jammed Out."
Approach gate. Request Jump on auto-spam, begin.
"The Stargate denies you permission to Jump because of recent acts of aggression you have committed."
"The Stargate denies you permission to Jump because of recent acts of aggression you have committed."
"The Stargate denies you permission to Jump because of recent acts of aggression you have committed."
"The Stargate denies you permission to Jump because of recent acts of aggression you have committed."
Auto-warp to station on auto-spam, begin.
"External factors are preventing you from entering warp."
"External factors are preventing you from entering warp."
"External factors are preventing you from entering warp."
"Ship is out of control."
"Warping to Station."
GF coming in over local communications network, what the hell, me too. GF guys.
Warp to Stargate.
"Warping to Stargate."
Funny how everything seems calm and quiet, yet high strung and tense after you lose a ship.
"Jumping. Recording Paused."
****************
Pause Recording until further notice. "Recording Paused."
****************
"Recording Resumed."
Intelligence claims Robopleasure in TNT space. I didn't have another Hurricane in VFK, so I made the trip out to XCF for my one and only armor cane. Undock.
"Undocking."
....
Warp to CU9. "Warping to Stargate."
Robopleasure has been bouncing between FMB, CU9, and XCF it seems, although he's slow on the take about moving. I'm not sure why, but maybe I'll find out.
Once in CU9, pause recording until further notice.
"Jumping. Recording Paused."
****************
To Intelligence: Robopleasure in CU9 on XCF gate.
Lock approach Robopleasure. Overload top rack and fire.
"Target is no longer locked because it doesn't exist."
To Intelligence: Robopleasure jumped XCF from CU9.
From Intelligence: shiptype?
To Intelligence: How many times do I need to repeat that he's in a Daredevil?
To Intelligence: Robopleasure CU9, DAREDEVIL, moving to approximately 100km below the XCF gate.
Pause recording until Robopleasure is webbed.
"Recording Paused."
****************
"Recording Resumed."
Overheat top rack and approach. MWD active. Just a few seconds now.
"Target is no longer locked because it doesn't exist. Killmail Recorded."
Gimme a minute to cool my nerves. Approach wreck and loot. Once looting completed, destroy the wreck. "Acknowledged."
So, there's a little bit missing in the log there. Upon his last jump into CU9 via XCF, Robo microwarped to about a hundred below the gate. Being less agile, not mention considerably slower, I kept myself in jump range of the gate so that no matter which direction he approached from, I could lock him before he go to within ten kilometers of it, and then double web and scram him as soon as he did get in range.
He played around for quite a while, maybe ten to fifteen minutes, microwarping in and out, trying to draw me off of the gate. I wasn't willing to oblige. On one attempt, I did release some some drones at him, but they did minimal damage before one was destroyed, thus I recalled them. Note, drones will not work on a Daredevil except as a distraction.
His final run ended with him being double webbed and scrammed. There was no chance for escape.
He claims that that last run was a mistake, and frankly I'm inclined to agree with him. After how long he spent zooming in and out, one piloting error on an inbound trajectory took him in too close, resulting in the loss of his ship. I didn't even attempt to pod him, the hurricane's locking speed is far too slow to catch the pod of any half decent pilot, nevermind a regular interloper like him.
To Robopleasure: GF
From Robopleasure: GF
Computer: terminate recording.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Day 501
Entry: five hundred one.
The previous day was a rather nice one.
After waking up and getting cleaned up, I boarded my ship and switched to "Logged in" mode, connecting me to the rest of capsuleer civilization. Intelligence came out only seconds after I logged in that a hostile succubus was spotted only a jump away. Without further delay, I undocked my Wolf from VFK-IV's station and warped to I30.
Reports came in that the hostile was no longer in I30 as I warped. Since local reported no hostile neo-link, I warped to the only other system, 209G-D.
I jumped into 209G to find the hostiles succubus already engaged with a Dramiel sixty-eight kilometers above the I30 gate. Redlining my MWD, I practically warped within range of the target. At twenty-four kilometers range, my overheated disruptor played across his warp core, preventing escape, and I settled into an MWD orbit at thirteen kilometers pelting the target with Barrage ammunition.
It didn't take long before the target succumbed. I was especially proud of the final blow being mine. It'd been almost half a year since I landed a final blow, and that was against a friend in a friendly death-match.
Today, however, was not so pleasant.
Upon logging in, I scoured the intelligence channels, and began hunting targets in my Wolf. I traversed VFK, 2R-, YAO-, 2-K, CCP-, TXME, FMB...I caught glimpses of the targets with the directional scanner, but had no luck.
Intelligence then came over comms about a twenty man frigate gang roaming our space. A defense fleet was formed, and we pursued.
We trapped them in a system, but they were safed up. Unable to find them, I retrieved a cheetah from VFK, only to learn the frigate gang had eluded us and moved into YAO-. Again, the fleet trapped them, but they safed up yet again. I attempted to probe them out, but they logged off to avoid detection.
Frustrating is about how I would describe that.
I left fleet, and switched the Wolf to "Logged out" mode after docking in VFK-. I didn't waste much time, and headed almost straight for my quarters. I did snag a soda on my way to my bunk, my customary 'wake up drink' and 'go back to sleep' drink. I opened the soda, placed it next to my bunk in easy reach, then lay down on the mattress.
A few hours later, after waking up and collecting my wits, I chugged down some of that previously opened soda and returned to the Wolf. Flipping the ship status to "Logged in", I formed a fleet with two corpmates, Ranger Gama and Dark Masiah. We'd decided to go to the front lines and get some action.
So we traveled to Tribute. As we arrived, all action ceased, and action at Deklein increased. Frustrated, I called for a suicide assault of RED space, and we made our journey down to 6YU.
Evidence of R.A.G.E's failscade was pretty clear cut: all their systems were empty. An interesting fact struck us in RED space however: it was empty. Literally, no one was there. It wasn't as though we were at the fringes of RED space either, we were pretty deep into Geminate.
Frustated, we headed back to M-O. This was perhaps the only part of the journey truly interesting, as we found ourselves gatecrashing away from a Pandemic Legion gatecamp in M-O on the low-sec gate. Unable to return home, or even to Tribute through that system, I scouted Hakonnen, and discovered that it had become a major Pandemic Legion staging area. With local completely filled with reds, excepting myself, I returned to the previous system, docked, and clone jumped back to CU9-.
Two minutes later, Fountain was on fire, and it was at least forty jumps away. Luck was not on my side, and I called it a day.
Computer: terminate Recording.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Day 499
Entry Date: four hundred ninety-nine.
It's been a slow week.
Normally, when a war breaks out, approaches your doorstep, or in general has been raging somewhere nearby, you'd expect to see action. It's strange how the reverse seems to be true. Even though war is on our doorstep, has broken out, and in general is raging somewhere nearby, the region of Deklein is mind numbingly silent.
With Deklein silent, but unable to bring myself to suicide on the forces of Pandemic Legion or the Drone Russians, I search for prey elsewhere. That elsewhere is away from the front lines of battle, but undoubtedly more action packed than Deklein. So I keep a close on the intelligence channels. Cloud Ring, Fade and Pure Blind, Fountain, Cobalt Edge, all are definitely worth looking into.
It is therefore unfortunate that the majority of interlopers in allied space are of the cowardly sort. To be more blunt, they're the type that pilots Stealth Bombers, Stealth Recons, or Covertly Reconfigured Strategic Cruisers. A case can be argued for the intelligence in piloting these vessels, exposing yourself as little as possible while disrupting enemy movements and income. A case can also be made for the cowardice and ineffectiveness of said pilots as well, that they repeatedly come, camp, and go in these covert vessels yet cause so little disruption in daily activities and allied fleets.
In an effort to parlay insane activity at the front lines in Tribute, I chased some leads on possible targets in Cloud Ring, and made my way over there in my as yet untested Shield Cane. You know the fit: 425's, shield extenders with resistance rigging, gyrostabilizers and tracking enhancers, the standard get up. Mine has a trick however. Amarr use lasers, which are thermal and electromagnetic weapons, but in close or with Scorch, the damage will be primarily thermal. Minmatar tend to use phased plasma, by and large, to shoot everything. Gallente use kinetic/thermal for their blasters, or phased plasma for their autocannons, or lasers. Caldari like their kinetic missiles. Given that the only threat of an electromagnetic assault comes from the offhand Amarr designed vessel, the Hurricane lacks the typical EM rig and instead boasts a kinetic hardener, vital against the ever popular nano-Drakes in play.
I prowled Cloud Ring for a time. Naturally, by the time I had arrived, the interlopers had departed to somewhere unknown. I waited for far too long before moving on to Fountain, a region bathed in fire lately from my observations in the intelligence channels. I plodded my way down via stargates, itching for action.
B-D, J5A, EI-, PNQY...everywhere was desolate except in the intelligence channels. I made my way to the systems linked in intelligence and plodded my way there via stargates again. I arrived in 6VDT without a hitch. What the hell went wrong? The whole point of taking stargates was to traverse the same routes as intruders, and yet I'd managed to evade them completely.
Seeing a lone bomber in 6VDT, I attempted to play the clueless pilot by pretending to be "out to lunch" at the 7BX- gate. I watched intelligence intently, making sure I wouldn't get caught by a roaming gang of twenty, hoping the bomber would at least check out the gate I sat at, and thinking me away, attack. I even had a whole plan laid out where I would wait until the bomber landed a disruptor on me before engaging, where I would be sure to destroy him.
I waited a fruitless hour with my weapons and disruptor set to overload, cycling, waiting for a lock on a target to dispense the hair-trigger wrath I'd readied. Nothing happened. Frustrated, I docked, deciding to come back another day, and clone jumped back to the corporate home system in CU9-, in Deklein.
Five minutes after clone jumping, the Fountain Defense fleet went up. I must be cursed or something. Luck this bad can only be the work of a malicious force, or possibly a lack of human intuition.
Having missed the bus of carnage leaving in Fountain by five minutes and some fifty plus jumps, I decided that perhaps a smaller combat vessel was in order. I'd have no chance against the larger targets, but I'd be ideally set up against any frigate-type vessels, and most likely also against any destroyer-type vessel.
I went about reconfiguring my Wolf for anti-interceptor work. I swear I'm going to kill someone with it.
It's been a slow week.
Normally, when a war breaks out, approaches your doorstep, or in general has been raging somewhere nearby, you'd expect to see action. It's strange how the reverse seems to be true. Even though war is on our doorstep, has broken out, and in general is raging somewhere nearby, the region of Deklein is mind numbingly silent.
With Deklein silent, but unable to bring myself to suicide on the forces of Pandemic Legion or the Drone Russians, I search for prey elsewhere. That elsewhere is away from the front lines of battle, but undoubtedly more action packed than Deklein. So I keep a close on the intelligence channels. Cloud Ring, Fade and Pure Blind, Fountain, Cobalt Edge, all are definitely worth looking into.
It is therefore unfortunate that the majority of interlopers in allied space are of the cowardly sort. To be more blunt, they're the type that pilots Stealth Bombers, Stealth Recons, or Covertly Reconfigured Strategic Cruisers. A case can be argued for the intelligence in piloting these vessels, exposing yourself as little as possible while disrupting enemy movements and income. A case can also be made for the cowardice and ineffectiveness of said pilots as well, that they repeatedly come, camp, and go in these covert vessels yet cause so little disruption in daily activities and allied fleets.
In an effort to parlay insane activity at the front lines in Tribute, I chased some leads on possible targets in Cloud Ring, and made my way over there in my as yet untested Shield Cane. You know the fit: 425's, shield extenders with resistance rigging, gyrostabilizers and tracking enhancers, the standard get up. Mine has a trick however. Amarr use lasers, which are thermal and electromagnetic weapons, but in close or with Scorch, the damage will be primarily thermal. Minmatar tend to use phased plasma, by and large, to shoot everything. Gallente use kinetic/thermal for their blasters, or phased plasma for their autocannons, or lasers. Caldari like their kinetic missiles. Given that the only threat of an electromagnetic assault comes from the offhand Amarr designed vessel, the Hurricane lacks the typical EM rig and instead boasts a kinetic hardener, vital against the ever popular nano-Drakes in play.
I prowled Cloud Ring for a time. Naturally, by the time I had arrived, the interlopers had departed to somewhere unknown. I waited for far too long before moving on to Fountain, a region bathed in fire lately from my observations in the intelligence channels. I plodded my way down via stargates, itching for action.
B-D, J5A, EI-, PNQY...everywhere was desolate except in the intelligence channels. I made my way to the systems linked in intelligence and plodded my way there via stargates again. I arrived in 6VDT without a hitch. What the hell went wrong? The whole point of taking stargates was to traverse the same routes as intruders, and yet I'd managed to evade them completely.
Seeing a lone bomber in 6VDT, I attempted to play the clueless pilot by pretending to be "out to lunch" at the 7BX- gate. I watched intelligence intently, making sure I wouldn't get caught by a roaming gang of twenty, hoping the bomber would at least check out the gate I sat at, and thinking me away, attack. I even had a whole plan laid out where I would wait until the bomber landed a disruptor on me before engaging, where I would be sure to destroy him.
I waited a fruitless hour with my weapons and disruptor set to overload, cycling, waiting for a lock on a target to dispense the hair-trigger wrath I'd readied. Nothing happened. Frustrated, I docked, deciding to come back another day, and clone jumped back to the corporate home system in CU9-, in Deklein.
Five minutes after clone jumping, the Fountain Defense fleet went up. I must be cursed or something. Luck this bad can only be the work of a malicious force, or possibly a lack of human intuition.
Having missed the bus of carnage leaving in Fountain by five minutes and some fifty plus jumps, I decided that perhaps a smaller combat vessel was in order. I'd have no chance against the larger targets, but I'd be ideally set up against any frigate-type vessels, and most likely also against any destroyer-type vessel.
I went about reconfiguring my Wolf for anti-interceptor work. I swear I'm going to kill someone with it.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Day 297
Entry: two hundred ninety-seven.
I scored another kill.
Lately the victim corp has been banding together, flying in packs, watching each other's backs...all good fleet tactics. But they've gotten a bit cocky just because we wouldn't walk into their trap the other day. They had some neutral buddies there to remote repair them while we shot at them, and we knew it. Three or four versus four with invulnerability doesn't work out well for us, so, no, we didn't engage.
So, because of that, at least two of them, Vistus and Dodd, have both gotten very cocky. Vistus has been trash talking us, and Dodd I'm pretty sure bought an older character to use against us.
Unfortunately for my comrades, they're a bit sketchy on taking on gangs of two or three.
I on the other hand flew in guns blazing. It's probably a mental defect. I guess throwing defeat into the jaws of victory a few times in wormhole space has given me an appreciation of taking on odds that don't appear to favor me.
So I jumped into Bereye from Mies. Vistus and Dodd were sitting on the gate. Let's pretend this is you. Do you:
one: attack the rifter
two: attack the caracal
three: burn for the gate and jump
four: run (ie warp out out)
five: sit there while your pal gets riddled with bullets
The answers for me were one and two, in that order. The answer for Vistus was five. I'll never understand why he sat there while Dodd got the living crap kicked out of him, even while I was trying to pod Dodd. He didn't engage at all until I attacked him.
The first engagement with Vistus didn't go. I was at range, and hitting with Barrage against his shields, which doesn't work out so well. Sure he got me into half armor, but it's not like I was worried. I warped out, repaired, came back, and repeated. He launched drones, I shot them down, warped out and repaired again, and came back. Clearly I did the same thing again. The last thing I wanted was to get into webbing range of him and become a sitting duck, so I kept at range, not knowing if he had a web or not. I warped out again, came back, and found Dodd now waiting for me in a Rupture.
I'm not a fool. Two cruisers versus Wolf equaled not this Wolf. I jumped out and went about my daily business while waving my kill in front of Riddick's face. Riddick had been on for a while, but had not felt like jumping into a group to fight them. He's had bad luck getting kills this week. Me stealing them isn't helping his case.
Looking back on that combat though, I should have bit the bullet and orbited at eleven kilometers and attacked with EMP rounds. It's technically in range for me, and he wasn't going any faster than I was. I could probably have ripped through his shields with ease if I had done that, and probably would have landed the podding on him as well, which, if I must say so, would be nice payback for the trash he's been spewing at us. Arrogance must be fought at every turn where it isn't deserved.
After that Rifter kill, I noticed something strange about an hour later when I engaged Dodd and someone else. Dodd was in another Rifter and someone else was in a Thorax.
Naturally, I attacked.
Dodd got away somehow almost into structure...I thought maybe I had just let him slip out of warp disruptor range. So I engaged the Thorax, and when he went into armor, he warped out too. This was despite my warp disruptor on him!
They were using warp core stabilizers. In case anyone has forgotten, they seriously screw up your ability to fight period. They cut your targeting range in half and your targeting speed in half. Probably something else too, they're that bad. So, clearly these guys are feeling the edge a bit in that they're stabilizing Rifters and Thoraxes.
Seriously, I may be in a Wolf, but I'm not suicidal. Attack me instead of sitting there like a doofus and maybe I won't get away, or at least won't get that kill next time.
Because I got the most kills for every war our corp had this week, I got fifteen million ISK in door prizes, five for each war. In the war against the Crimson Hellhounds, I scored the only two kills by destroying then podding The Garantine. In our war against Starhug, I scored the only two kills by destroying SkyDragon's Punisher and pod. In our war with the Black Merc's, I've scored the majority of kills, which would be seven. All in all, I've had a fairly decent week of combat .
And with that, our war with the Black Mercs draws to a close.
Computer: terminate recording.
I scored another kill.
Lately the victim corp has been banding together, flying in packs, watching each other's backs...all good fleet tactics. But they've gotten a bit cocky just because we wouldn't walk into their trap the other day. They had some neutral buddies there to remote repair them while we shot at them, and we knew it. Three or four versus four with invulnerability doesn't work out well for us, so, no, we didn't engage.
So, because of that, at least two of them, Vistus and Dodd, have both gotten very cocky. Vistus has been trash talking us, and Dodd I'm pretty sure bought an older character to use against us.
Unfortunately for my comrades, they're a bit sketchy on taking on gangs of two or three.
I on the other hand flew in guns blazing. It's probably a mental defect. I guess throwing defeat into the jaws of victory a few times in wormhole space has given me an appreciation of taking on odds that don't appear to favor me.
So I jumped into Bereye from Mies. Vistus and Dodd were sitting on the gate. Let's pretend this is you. Do you:
one: attack the rifter
two: attack the caracal
three: burn for the gate and jump
four: run (ie warp out out)
five: sit there while your pal gets riddled with bullets
The answers for me were one and two, in that order. The answer for Vistus was five. I'll never understand why he sat there while Dodd got the living crap kicked out of him, even while I was trying to pod Dodd. He didn't engage at all until I attacked him.
The first engagement with Vistus didn't go. I was at range, and hitting with Barrage against his shields, which doesn't work out so well. Sure he got me into half armor, but it's not like I was worried. I warped out, repaired, came back, and repeated. He launched drones, I shot them down, warped out and repaired again, and came back. Clearly I did the same thing again. The last thing I wanted was to get into webbing range of him and become a sitting duck, so I kept at range, not knowing if he had a web or not. I warped out again, came back, and found Dodd now waiting for me in a Rupture.
I'm not a fool. Two cruisers versus Wolf equaled not this Wolf. I jumped out and went about my daily business while waving my kill in front of Riddick's face. Riddick had been on for a while, but had not felt like jumping into a group to fight them. He's had bad luck getting kills this week. Me stealing them isn't helping his case.
Looking back on that combat though, I should have bit the bullet and orbited at eleven kilometers and attacked with EMP rounds. It's technically in range for me, and he wasn't going any faster than I was. I could probably have ripped through his shields with ease if I had done that, and probably would have landed the podding on him as well, which, if I must say so, would be nice payback for the trash he's been spewing at us. Arrogance must be fought at every turn where it isn't deserved.
After that Rifter kill, I noticed something strange about an hour later when I engaged Dodd and someone else. Dodd was in another Rifter and someone else was in a Thorax.
Naturally, I attacked.
Dodd got away somehow almost into structure...I thought maybe I had just let him slip out of warp disruptor range. So I engaged the Thorax, and when he went into armor, he warped out too. This was despite my warp disruptor on him!
They were using warp core stabilizers. In case anyone has forgotten, they seriously screw up your ability to fight period. They cut your targeting range in half and your targeting speed in half. Probably something else too, they're that bad. So, clearly these guys are feeling the edge a bit in that they're stabilizing Rifters and Thoraxes.
Seriously, I may be in a Wolf, but I'm not suicidal. Attack me instead of sitting there like a doofus and maybe I won't get away, or at least won't get that kill next time.
Because I got the most kills for every war our corp had this week, I got fifteen million ISK in door prizes, five for each war. In the war against the Crimson Hellhounds, I scored the only two kills by destroying then podding The Garantine. In our war against Starhug, I scored the only two kills by destroying SkyDragon's Punisher and pod. In our war with the Black Merc's, I've scored the majority of kills, which would be seven. All in all, I've had a fairly decent week of combat .
And with that, our war with the Black Mercs draws to a close.
Computer: terminate recording.
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