Last night was a good night for Cosmology. Unfortunately some of our less-determined and sleep-deprived pilots missed out on the opportunity. Nevertheless, good fun was had by all (targets not included).
I logged in after putting the kids to bed to find that we had two active neighboring systems. Scouts from both systems had scanned down our system, Abyss, which has a static hi-sec exit. While they were scanning our system we had scouts in both of their systems and everyone was cloaked up, so while we were highly active it looked like calm waters.
Basically, you can't ask for better ambush conditions. Our only problem was that the system our hi-sec connected to was 23 jumps from Jita and the visitors were apparently unwilling to make that many jumps. Honestly, I don't blame them. I wouldn't have gone for that either.
To make matters worse these guys had nothing better to do than scanning down our hi-sec and both scouts soon returned to their home systems afterwards and logged off. I had been hoping that at least one of the two scouts would decide the long haul to Jita was worth the time and begin running out haulers or something, but as it happened Cosmology's fleet was left empty-handed.
The sudden drop in potential pew put a damper on our motivation and our EU pilots who were thoroughly deprived of sleep by that point logged off, followed closely thereafter by our resident yankee, leaving us with only a trio, though some of our best.
One of our number pushed forward in his covops, determined to find something to kill, while the rest of us remained in our cloaky T3s and followed close behind in the event our scout found anything worth engaging right on the spot.
We backtracked through one of the K162s and found that it had an incoming hi-sec connection so we followed that and discovered a wormhole in the hi-sec leading to a class 2 system. Once inside we found several more wormholes and a few towers, but there didn't seem to be much activity.
One of the connecting wormholes in the class 2, being at the end of its natural lifetime, was shaking like Michael J. Fox on crack and the other two connecting systems were dead quiet. It was looking very much like we were going to be in for a silent night for New Year's Eve.
Just as my own resolve was beginning to waver Bob, the almighty lord and god of w-space, smiled down on us with favor. New targets - we would soon figure out that they were locals - begin pouring in from the hi-sec system. First it was a Hurricane, then an Anathema and a Nemesis and they were followed shortly by some Drakes and later on a Talos.
With new things to shoot at our lust for violence and space-murder was given new life, but we soon found that we were outnumbered 2-to-1 and these guys were locals so they would have the home-field advantage if engaged. Our scout shipped one of his alts into an Arazu and cloaked up on the wormhole to the class 2 in the hi-sec system.
For a long time we struggled to keep tabs on what they were all doing and where they were at. With only three of us we weren't able to keep track of their six pilots hopping between as many POSs and eventually we simply lost them.
They must've gone into one of the connecting wormholes so our scout began going from one to the other and soon we found them running sites in a class 1 system. Their fleet consisted of 3 Drakes, 1 Talos, 1 Tengu, 1 Navy Drake and a Noctis.
Our Arazu pilot went and reshipped to a gank Proteus for the extra DPS. Having utterly obliterated a larger force by maximizing on our home-field advantage in the past I was concerned about engaging a numerically superior force so close to their own system. While our scout was getting close enough to provide a warp-in for our small group I was considering whether we should engage on the wormhole when they returned to their system or attack while they were still at the site.
Ultimately I decided on taking the initiative and attacking them in the site rather than waiting for them to come to us. Point targets were assigned to each of our three pilots and the first three targets were established. Our scout said he was in position so I gave the word to jump through the wormhole and hold cloak.
Luckily I made one last inquiry of the scout before engaging:
"Mav, what's your range from the target?"
"About 18k."
That was at the very edge of my point range and although we had one ship with a long point I wanted to be closer. Close proximity would also allow our Proteuses to begin applying damage immediately.
"Everyone hold cloak. We still have time. Mav, get closer. We need to be no farther than 5k from them when we land."
As our decloak timer ticked steadily down our scout closed the range with the group and gave us the go ahead. Everyone warped in and I found myself sitting right at optimal range on the Tengu, which was primary.
Points were spread and the enemy fleet's superior numbers gave most of them enough security that some of those who weren't pointed stayed to see the fight to its conclusion. The Tengu had a good tank, but couldn't sustain itself under the combined deeps of our overheated blasters and missilez.
We liberated the pod from the restrictive confines of the Tengu's innards and moved on to the Talos, which melted under the assault. At that point one of the initial Drakes that had warped off returned to assist his friends. I tackled him and we moved on to the Navy Drake, which put up a respectable defense, but suffered the same fate as the others. The drake followed in like fashion and we also killed their Noctis which had come to the field to honor Bob's glory with its sacrifice.
The entire time we were slaughtering them I was watching d-scan, waiting for the pods that had escaped to reship in their home system and return with either Logistics or ECM, either of which would've utterly shut us down. Combined with tackle we would've all burned in Bob's glorious fire.
Luckily for us, that's not how it went down. We looted the wrecks and departed the system through its static hi-sec, setting course for home. e-High fives were given between the Cosmology space-bros, the loot was divided and we called it a night on a high note.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Violence of Action
On the 11th of December we had a run-in with some guys from a connecting system. I can't recall their names, but for the same of simplicity I'm just going to refer to them as the HomoSexDoucheBags (HSDBs for short).
It started as I was out scouting the chain when Merc notified me that we had visitors back in Abyss. I was already heading back home when he first saw them so it didn't take long for me to get there. Menacher was also in Abyss helping keep and eye on wormholes and trying to figure out what our visitors were up to.
The HSBDs were quickly moving ships through our system to hi-sec and we thought that perhaps they were moving out, but couldn't get into a good intercept position before things cooled down. I reshipped into a covert Proteus and sat on the connecting wormhole they were using, but saw only pods and small ships I wouldn't be able to lock.
By this time Bjornsen had joined us in a covert Proteus, Merc was flying a covert Tengu, but didn't have a point fitted and Menacher was acting as primary scout in his covops frigate inside the HSDB home system. Merc and I held position and waited for a couple of haulers to come back in that we'd missed earlier on their way out. Luckily they didn't disappoint. Merc gave the heads up that they were inbound. I decloaked on the connecting wormhole and engaged them when they landed.
Both haulers jumped through to their system. I followed. On the other side I engaged one of the haulers. Merc called out that an HSDB Armageddon, Proteus and Scorpion were en route to support the haulers' return and they were landing as I had the hauler well into shields.
Bjornsen jumped into system while Merc waited in Abyss on the other side of the wormhole in his Tengu. The HSDB Proteus jumped through the wormhole into Abyss and I followed while Bjorn stayed in their system and bore the weight of the Geddon DPS. Merc and I engaged the Proteus on the wormhole in Abyss, but it jumped back through into the hostile's home system. Bjornsen jumped back into Abyss at the same time.
Menacher, still scouting in the HSDB system, passed word that all ships were leaving the wormhole and going back to their POS. The ambush had been a failure, but we didn't lose any ships to their superior numbers (at some point we'd counted about 6 different pilots from HSDB).
FC: Malception
Sustain: While our numbers were pretty feeble we had 100% participation from those online, even if some didn't intend to get pulled into a fight. Nice work and I most definitely appreciate the dedication to committing as many acts of space-murder as possible.
Improve: Sadly there are a lot of things that need improvement.
It started as I was out scouting the chain when Merc notified me that we had visitors back in Abyss. I was already heading back home when he first saw them so it didn't take long for me to get there. Menacher was also in Abyss helping keep and eye on wormholes and trying to figure out what our visitors were up to.
The HSBDs were quickly moving ships through our system to hi-sec and we thought that perhaps they were moving out, but couldn't get into a good intercept position before things cooled down. I reshipped into a covert Proteus and sat on the connecting wormhole they were using, but saw only pods and small ships I wouldn't be able to lock.
By this time Bjornsen had joined us in a covert Proteus, Merc was flying a covert Tengu, but didn't have a point fitted and Menacher was acting as primary scout in his covops frigate inside the HSDB home system. Merc and I held position and waited for a couple of haulers to come back in that we'd missed earlier on their way out. Luckily they didn't disappoint. Merc gave the heads up that they were inbound. I decloaked on the connecting wormhole and engaged them when they landed.
Both haulers jumped through to their system. I followed. On the other side I engaged one of the haulers. Merc called out that an HSDB Armageddon, Proteus and Scorpion were en route to support the haulers' return and they were landing as I had the hauler well into shields.
Bjornsen jumped into system while Merc waited in Abyss on the other side of the wormhole in his Tengu. The HSDB Proteus jumped through the wormhole into Abyss and I followed while Bjorn stayed in their system and bore the weight of the Geddon DPS. Merc and I engaged the Proteus on the wormhole in Abyss, but it jumped back through into the hostile's home system. Bjornsen jumped back into Abyss at the same time.
Menacher, still scouting in the HSDB system, passed word that all ships were leaving the wormhole and going back to their POS. The ambush had been a failure, but we didn't lose any ships to their superior numbers (at some point we'd counted about 6 different pilots from HSDB).
FC: Malception
Sustain: While our numbers were pretty feeble we had 100% participation from those online, even if some didn't intend to get pulled into a fight. Nice work and I most definitely appreciate the dedication to committing as many acts of space-murder as possible.
Improve: Sadly there are a lot of things that need improvement.
- Fleet Comms - If you're not the FC don't talk unless it's to pass critical information or ask for clarification on the FC's instructions.
- Fleet Composition - We need to get everyone skilled up on armor-tanked boats. They don't need to be covert T3s, but they do need to be armor. We also need to make sure that everyone has a point (even scouts should have point for hero tackle purposes).
- Scouting: I should've sent the scout into the HSDB system earlier in the engagement.
- FC Aggression - HSDB had enough visibility of our forces to know that they would have to pass through a gauntlet on their way back home. I should have acted with more aggression initially before they had enough time to scope us out. The other option would've been to sacrifice some of our DPS in exchange for Logi support, but would only provide possibilities not guaranteed outcomes.
Summary: Good participation. Discipline our fleet comms. Train up armor skills. More aggression at the front end of engagements.
In a perfect world Menacher would've been sent into the HSDB system as soon as we saw activity from them. Merc would have an armor HAC or T3 at his disposal and I would've provided Logi support for him and Bjorn. We would've all jumped into the HSDB system. The Proteus's would warp right on top of the HSDB battleships - a move made possible by Menacher providing the warp-in with his covops scout - and they would burn both the Geddon and Scorpion with Logi support from Malception.
Like I've said in my Scouting Like A Pro series: scouting can be the defining factor in an engagement and we saw it first hand with this fight.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Empty Space
It's been a lean few months for me in my new home. The hi-sec static doesn't lend itself very well to the wide open expanses of w-space PvP to which I'd grown accustomed. The accute lack of wholesale violence has made me weak but desperately hungry for space-murder.
Nevertheless, I continue to push forward, searching for the fleets of carebears in their site-running drakes and prodding my corpies into more and more of a pvp-focused role. I have high hopes for our future and look forward to divulging all the details of victories and defeats.
I'm sure they'll be coming soon. With any luck we'll be invaded by Christmas.
Nevertheless, I continue to push forward, searching for the fleets of carebears in their site-running drakes and prodding my corpies into more and more of a pvp-focused role. I have high hopes for our future and look forward to divulging all the details of victories and defeats.
I'm sure they'll be coming soon. With any luck we'll be invaded by Christmas.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
The Burden
I'm still in charge. Suck it Caesar, you freaking newb!
I must admit, though, iron-fisted despotic rule does come with its share of toils. For instance, I always thought the POSs just sort of auto-magically fueled themselves. Not really, but it is a much bigger chore than I would've thought if I'd never seized power for myself.
The biggest issue I think is that there's just a ton of little crap to deal with and that requires time which can't be spent roaming w-space in search of death and destruction.
While I'd like to believe this will ease up in the future I'm afraid upcoming plans to move my crew deeper into w-space will only increase the workload. It's something I'll need to address before long.
In the meantime, praise be to Bob!
I must admit, though, iron-fisted despotic rule does come with its share of toils. For instance, I always thought the POSs just sort of auto-magically fueled themselves. Not really, but it is a much bigger chore than I would've thought if I'd never seized power for myself.
The biggest issue I think is that there's just a ton of little crap to deal with and that requires time which can't be spent roaming w-space in search of death and destruction.
While I'd like to believe this will ease up in the future I'm afraid upcoming plans to move my crew deeper into w-space will only increase the workload. It's something I'll need to address before long.
In the meantime, praise be to Bob!
Thursday, October 24, 2013
A Lesson for Corpmates
So I've returned to an old carebear corporation of mine as the leader of their wormhole space operations. Now, I'm not a master at it by any means, but I know a bit more about the dangerous aspects of wormhole space, how to prevent them and how to perpetrate them upon others.
That being the case, I think it's about time I wrote up a brief explanation of how I like to do things. Being the good wormholer that I am, I'll post this information publicly in that hopes that everyone who sucks worse than I do can read this and suck a little bit less.
I'm not sure what to call my particular method in practicing PvP activities. I've always participated in PvP as if I were doing it for real.
For starters I stay out of sight. All predators utilize the element of surprise. It's a valuable advantage and shouldn't be squandered.
Secondly, I do my best to establish a comprehensive picture of the environment and my target. In wormhole space that means I'm usually scanning down all the sigs and doing recon on all the systems around me to understand where my target came from, where he's going and who might be around to help him or hinder me.
I learned early on - a baptism by fire, if you will - that actions based on good, complete intel dictate the outcome of the fight. What's funny is that these aren't new ideas. Some old, dead guy wrote The Art of War a while back and he spells out all these things in detail. If you've never read it you should.
At any rate, once I have all that situational awareness and intel that I'm looking for I make a judgement call on whether or not the conditions favor me. If I think I can swing a successful engagement I'll go for it. If not I'll go elsewhere.
Lesson over. Now go, my children, and commit space-murder.
That being the case, I think it's about time I wrote up a brief explanation of how I like to do things. Being the good wormholer that I am, I'll post this information publicly in that hopes that everyone who sucks worse than I do can read this and suck a little bit less.
I'm not sure what to call my particular method in practicing PvP activities. I've always participated in PvP as if I were doing it for real.
For starters I stay out of sight. All predators utilize the element of surprise. It's a valuable advantage and shouldn't be squandered.
Secondly, I do my best to establish a comprehensive picture of the environment and my target. In wormhole space that means I'm usually scanning down all the sigs and doing recon on all the systems around me to understand where my target came from, where he's going and who might be around to help him or hinder me.
I learned early on - a baptism by fire, if you will - that actions based on good, complete intel dictate the outcome of the fight. What's funny is that these aren't new ideas. Some old, dead guy wrote The Art of War a while back and he spells out all these things in detail. If you've never read it you should.
At any rate, once I have all that situational awareness and intel that I'm looking for I make a judgement call on whether or not the conditions favor me. If I think I can swing a successful engagement I'll go for it. If not I'll go elsewhere.
Lesson over. Now go, my children, and commit space-murder.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Dictator Perpetuo
In 49BC Julius Caesar was elected Dictator in the Roman Republic. Dictator was an office occupied only in times of dire emergency and in order to resolve very specific issues. In the years 48-45BC Caesar was elected to the same office until being named as Perpetual Dictator - often referred to today as "Dictator for Life" - in 44BC.
He was assassinated several weeks later.
When my former corporation was disbanded I found myself wandering aimlessly through w-space. I didn't want to join a large alliance and deal with the drama inherent to such organizations. I desired the simple life of exploring the unknown and butchering helpless passersby.
Ironically, I found that my thoughts were constantly drawn to a corporation I'd previously worked with. Ironic, because I'd left them about a year previously to seek out bloodier pastures.
The corporation I was thinking of was Cosmology, a serious industrial corp that had a feeble presence in class 3 space. I contacted their CEO and because of my new experience in merciless slaughter as well as prior exemplary conduct in Cosmology I was offered the opportunity to re-join the ranks.
Appointed by the CEO as "Wormhole Commander" to take the reigns of the corporation's ops in w-space and armed with a Director role I've seized the title "Wormhole Dictator for Life."
It's been 2 weeks for me. Let's hope I can outlast the mighty Caesar.
He was assassinated several weeks later.
When my former corporation was disbanded I found myself wandering aimlessly through w-space. I didn't want to join a large alliance and deal with the drama inherent to such organizations. I desired the simple life of exploring the unknown and butchering helpless passersby.
Ironically, I found that my thoughts were constantly drawn to a corporation I'd previously worked with. Ironic, because I'd left them about a year previously to seek out bloodier pastures.
The corporation I was thinking of was Cosmology, a serious industrial corp that had a feeble presence in class 3 space. I contacted their CEO and because of my new experience in merciless slaughter as well as prior exemplary conduct in Cosmology I was offered the opportunity to re-join the ranks.
Appointed by the CEO as "Wormhole Commander" to take the reigns of the corporation's ops in w-space and armed with a Director role I've seized the title "Wormhole Dictator for Life."
It's been 2 weeks for me. Let's hope I can outlast the mighty Caesar.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
The Summer of Swag
The guys in Cold Moon Destruction are debased, violent, emotionally
abusive, trolling, 100% all gay, godless, immoral sons of whores. If I
ever had friends I'd never met they are it.
I can barely remember not having flown with Cold Moon. It seems like forever since I joined - probably because of No'Wai's proliferation of anti-straight propaganda, Torshawna's absentee-ism, Atom's endless complaining, Terumah's propensity for leading us to believe our static wasn't spawning, Everlast's desire to instigate trouble and me constantly being kicked to the em0 Scissor room mid-sentence. Of course, let's not forget Henry's uncanny ability to harvest an entire Instrumental with his army of alts before anyone else could land on grid or Fischey's scanning (and dying) in Tech1 frigates for months on end.
Honestly I don't know how we survived for as long as we have, but our time is almost up. The Summer of Swag is winding down and Cold Moon Destruction draws its last few breaths.
As we all go our separate ways I'd like to reminisce about our last glorious fight, a fitting end to the Summer of Swag.
http://kb.cldmn-destruction.com/?a=kill_related&kll_id=303
The Aztechs were looking for a fight and we determined to give them what for. Carriers and dreadnoughts were boarded. Support ships were readied. Scouts were already relaying intel from the hostile system and once everyone gave the good-to-go we warped our fleet onto the wormhole, held by a paltry token force.
We knew there would be more.
The Aztechs did not disappoint. While their swarm of Legions unleashed a debilitating torrent of energy neutralizers against our carrier pilot their Guardians formed a logistics chain we couldn't break. Their sub-capital assault ships held us down until their own dreadnoughts made it to the field and established their dominance without mercy.
Outnumbered 3-to-1 and without support we broke away from the engagement with what few sub-capitals we could, but that cannot be counted as any worth. The Aztech dreadnought fire ripped through our own capital hulls and whether anyone knew it or not the explosions were the death knells of Cold Moon Destruction.
No one regrets this. It is the natural order of things.
So, my CLDMN space-bros, this is it. We've murdered more things than I can count, relentlessly trolled every kind-hearted person we've encountered, mastered space that most people will never see and some will never learn of.
It's been fun and I love you like a dog loves a hump-toy.
Yolo swag.
I can barely remember not having flown with Cold Moon. It seems like forever since I joined - probably because of No'Wai's proliferation of anti-straight propaganda, Torshawna's absentee-ism, Atom's endless complaining, Terumah's propensity for leading us to believe our static wasn't spawning, Everlast's desire to instigate trouble and me constantly being kicked to the em0 Scissor room mid-sentence. Of course, let's not forget Henry's uncanny ability to harvest an entire Instrumental with his army of alts before anyone else could land on grid or Fischey's scanning (and dying) in Tech1 frigates for months on end.
Honestly I don't know how we survived for as long as we have, but our time is almost up. The Summer of Swag is winding down and Cold Moon Destruction draws its last few breaths.
As we all go our separate ways I'd like to reminisce about our last glorious fight, a fitting end to the Summer of Swag.
http://kb.cldmn-destruction.com/?a=kill_related&kll_id=303
The Aztechs were looking for a fight and we determined to give them what for. Carriers and dreadnoughts were boarded. Support ships were readied. Scouts were already relaying intel from the hostile system and once everyone gave the good-to-go we warped our fleet onto the wormhole, held by a paltry token force.
We knew there would be more.
The Aztechs did not disappoint. While their swarm of Legions unleashed a debilitating torrent of energy neutralizers against our carrier pilot their Guardians formed a logistics chain we couldn't break. Their sub-capital assault ships held us down until their own dreadnoughts made it to the field and established their dominance without mercy.
Outnumbered 3-to-1 and without support we broke away from the engagement with what few sub-capitals we could, but that cannot be counted as any worth. The Aztech dreadnought fire ripped through our own capital hulls and whether anyone knew it or not the explosions were the death knells of Cold Moon Destruction.
No one regrets this. It is the natural order of things.
So, my CLDMN space-bros, this is it. We've murdered more things than I can count, relentlessly trolled every kind-hearted person we've encountered, mastered space that most people will never see and some will never learn of.
It's been fun and I love you like a dog loves a hump-toy.
Yolo swag.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Blood in the Water
"Battleships are picking up speed. Raven in warp. Megathron warping. Everything is warping off. They're all in warp," our scout called on comms. All hell was about to break loose and Cold Moon Destruction would be right at home.
Of course, this type of thing doesn't start out in the middle of an operation. The beginnings of this were quite innocuous and to be honest, boring, but in wormhole space boredom is the mother of invention.
I had logged in Monday night to find the chain already scanned down so I hopped into a cloaky Proteus and did a bit of patrolling, but there was nothing to be found. We had no more use for our static connection so decided to roll it.
Fischey (a rapidly-improving scout, btw, so props to him) and I went down the chain in our Covops boats. Our static, C4s, was occupied, but showed no signs of activity so I jumped into a connecting class 2 system while Fisch finished up the static.
I quickly noticed a variety of ships and some activity in the system so started getting eyes on all of their POS's. They had quite a few people on, but not everyone was in the same corp or alliance so it was unclear what exactly was happening in here, if anything.
We noticed that all the POCOs were reinforced and that there had been some recent Sleeper kills as well as player kills. It looked like an invasion, but as far as we could tell there'd been no hostilities between the groups that we'd put eyes on.
Fischey and No'Wai, in a covert Proteus, soon joined me in the C2. The locals were primarily flying battleships and battle cruisers with one or two tech 2 cruisers here and there, one of which, an Abso, was sitting on their critical-mass hi-sec connection doing nothing as far as we could tell.
Maybe he was fail-scouting. Either way this turned out to be the first of many instances in which these pilots were either lost or high. No'Wai was soon watching them switch back and forth between Ravens and battle cruisers, warp back and forth between POS's, log on different alts, etc.
It was all very strange, but soon enough they reached new lows when one of their pilots began slow-boating a Tempest out of their POS. This was very good news, but all we had in system was a cloaky prot and two covops, so in order to keep from embarrassing these guys too much by insta-blapping their battleship with my single Hobgoblin II I decided to go reship.
While all this was going on we were forming up a small, but respectable little gang of T3's and logi in C4s. The goal was to engage this Tempest at the POS and lure more of their people into a fight. No'Wai was closing the distance between himself and Tempest and when he gave the word everyone jumped into the C2 and warped.
40AU. Yolo-swag, as No'Wai would put it.
By the time we landed he'd decloaked and tackled the Tempest. The pilot was also sent on his way.
Unfortunately, none of his friends came to help. To be honest it was rather fast, so we all burned off the POS and headed back to the wormhole leading to C4s, but held in the C2.
The locals continued to perform their odd behavior but showed no sign of interest in a fight. After their hi-sec collapsed Fischey quickly scanned down the new one and managed to pull his probes before they had a chance to see them.
It wasn't long before one of their scouts jumped out to see what system their new static exit lead to. At this juncture we determined that Fischey actually has prescient mental abilities that allows him to call a wormhole activation before one actually occurs. This revelation was discussed in detail while we all sat uncloaked on their hi-sec connection for about 2 minutes "waiting for the scout's de-cloak timer to burn off."
The scout did jump back, though, proving Fischey's new found ability, and got himself polarized for a few seconds. It was long enough to liberate his pod of the burdensome Anathema.
We waited around for a bit, but they showed no further signs of activity. Still, we knew they were going to have to deal with those POCO's and had a pretty good idea what all those battleships were going to be used for. Since the system had a hi-sec static we decided to leave a scout and head back to Swagshack.
Their sick and weak had been picked off from the herd. The next day we'd return for the rest.
Upon logging in the last night (Tuesday) we had a few hours before the POCO reinforcement timers expired. Our fleet commander, Fuegooooooo Paaaaantaloneeeeeeees (yes, it must be typed just as it is spoken), decided to go with heavy DPS rather than stealth, so I headed out to hi-sec and refit my Proteus into beast-mode.
Meanwhile our scout was providing intel that gave us pause. The locals in system were showing massive amounts of firepower. There were 14 piloted battleships and a few more supporting cruisers and battle cruisers. We were going to need help.
I don't know how this transpired, but at different points throughout the night we were flying with some good guys from End of Line, Fighting Carebears and Trimen Explorations. Maybe No'Wai tempted them with his butt or disconcertingly good Smeagol voice. I don't know.
At any rate, we headed toward their hi-sec system in Amarr space and held one jump out. The wormhole was once again at critical mass so we decided to jump in a hole closer under their noses. This worked better than expected since the pilot was able to slip past a faction cruiser. Our scout got the new hi-sec connection and we all burned 15 jumps to wait one system out.
We didn't have to wait there very long. The locals had just warped their fleet of battleships to the planet 7 POCO and we were given the word to move. Upon arriving in the C2 we all warped to the target area. Our scout was sounding off that their fleet was moving to evacuate the area.
They were too late.
Our fleet of cruisers landed in their midst and unleashed a wave of hate and discontent. An Abaddon and its pilot were the first of many sacrifices to Bob that night and were quickly followed by a Navy Raven and its pilot. Another Raven, its pilot, an Oracle and a pod were dispatched in rapid succession.
Bob was pleased but demanded more and our thirst for chaos was not yet sated. We warped our fleet to one of the newly-erected POCOs and began the process of reinforcing it in hopes of forcing the locals' hand.
They began launching ineffectual waves of stealth bomber attacks. I thought we managed to kill one of them on the first wave, but I can't find the kill.
Shortly after this our Fighting Carebear associates had to take off in order to meet prior obligations. This left us with roughly half of our fleet: 4 strategic cruisers, an Absolution, an Armageddon and a couple of Guardians. We did have some stealth bombers en route from hi-sec, but the locals had home-field advantage and were making use of it.
Many of their battleships and battle cruisers had escaped our initial contact, remarkably enough, and now, in light of our reduced numbers they were reforming with logistical support in the form of Ospreys.
"Battleships are picking up speed. Raven in warp. Megathron warping. Everything is warping off. They're all in warp," our scout called on comms.
Our force was outgunned and outnumbered. The enemy fleet of battleships - about a dozen of them - landed on top of us and I was down to about 60% armor before I knew it, my shields having been stripped off as an afterthought faster than you can say "Tijuana Crack Whore."
Our Guardian pilots were on the ball, though and kept me alive, forcing the counter-attacking fleet to switch targets, but their time was running out.
We'd already sunken our teeth into an Apocalypse and were switching to their Megathron. As we began our relentless work on their Armageddon the last vestiges of their fleet were escaping our clutches, probably having re-aligned for a quick exit as soon as they landed in the engagement area.
With their supply of ships rapidly dwindling and suffering massive losses the locals showed no further signs of aggression, though they did remain logged in. This allowed us to continue our reinforcement of the POCO and bring in our End of Line stealth bomber contingent who'd been making best speed to the hi-sec entrance from across the cluster.
I had to leave shortly after this point, but I intend to rectify the situation of enemy battleships being able to escape a wolf-pack of strategic cruisers if we return to that system tonight. They do have a reinforced customs office to deal with, after all.
Of course, this type of thing doesn't start out in the middle of an operation. The beginnings of this were quite innocuous and to be honest, boring, but in wormhole space boredom is the mother of invention.
I had logged in Monday night to find the chain already scanned down so I hopped into a cloaky Proteus and did a bit of patrolling, but there was nothing to be found. We had no more use for our static connection so decided to roll it.
Fischey (a rapidly-improving scout, btw, so props to him) and I went down the chain in our Covops boats. Our static, C4s, was occupied, but showed no signs of activity so I jumped into a connecting class 2 system while Fisch finished up the static.
I quickly noticed a variety of ships and some activity in the system so started getting eyes on all of their POS's. They had quite a few people on, but not everyone was in the same corp or alliance so it was unclear what exactly was happening in here, if anything.
We noticed that all the POCOs were reinforced and that there had been some recent Sleeper kills as well as player kills. It looked like an invasion, but as far as we could tell there'd been no hostilities between the groups that we'd put eyes on.
Fischey and No'Wai, in a covert Proteus, soon joined me in the C2. The locals were primarily flying battleships and battle cruisers with one or two tech 2 cruisers here and there, one of which, an Abso, was sitting on their critical-mass hi-sec connection doing nothing as far as we could tell.
Maybe he was fail-scouting. Either way this turned out to be the first of many instances in which these pilots were either lost or high. No'Wai was soon watching them switch back and forth between Ravens and battle cruisers, warp back and forth between POS's, log on different alts, etc.
It was all very strange, but soon enough they reached new lows when one of their pilots began slow-boating a Tempest out of their POS. This was very good news, but all we had in system was a cloaky prot and two covops, so in order to keep from embarrassing these guys too much by insta-blapping their battleship with my single Hobgoblin II I decided to go reship.
While all this was going on we were forming up a small, but respectable little gang of T3's and logi in C4s. The goal was to engage this Tempest at the POS and lure more of their people into a fight. No'Wai was closing the distance between himself and Tempest and when he gave the word everyone jumped into the C2 and warped.
40AU. Yolo-swag, as No'Wai would put it.
By the time we landed he'd decloaked and tackled the Tempest. The pilot was also sent on his way.
Unfortunately, none of his friends came to help. To be honest it was rather fast, so we all burned off the POS and headed back to the wormhole leading to C4s, but held in the C2.
The locals continued to perform their odd behavior but showed no sign of interest in a fight. After their hi-sec collapsed Fischey quickly scanned down the new one and managed to pull his probes before they had a chance to see them.
It wasn't long before one of their scouts jumped out to see what system their new static exit lead to. At this juncture we determined that Fischey actually has prescient mental abilities that allows him to call a wormhole activation before one actually occurs. This revelation was discussed in detail while we all sat uncloaked on their hi-sec connection for about 2 minutes "waiting for the scout's de-cloak timer to burn off."
The scout did jump back, though, proving Fischey's new found ability, and got himself polarized for a few seconds. It was long enough to liberate his pod of the burdensome Anathema.
We waited around for a bit, but they showed no further signs of activity. Still, we knew they were going to have to deal with those POCO's and had a pretty good idea what all those battleships were going to be used for. Since the system had a hi-sec static we decided to leave a scout and head back to Swagshack.
Their sick and weak had been picked off from the herd. The next day we'd return for the rest.
Upon logging in the last night (Tuesday) we had a few hours before the POCO reinforcement timers expired. Our fleet commander, Fuegooooooo Paaaaantaloneeeeeeees (yes, it must be typed just as it is spoken), decided to go with heavy DPS rather than stealth, so I headed out to hi-sec and refit my Proteus into beast-mode.
Meanwhile our scout was providing intel that gave us pause. The locals in system were showing massive amounts of firepower. There were 14 piloted battleships and a few more supporting cruisers and battle cruisers. We were going to need help.
I don't know how this transpired, but at different points throughout the night we were flying with some good guys from End of Line, Fighting Carebears and Trimen Explorations. Maybe No'Wai tempted them with his butt or disconcertingly good Smeagol voice. I don't know.
At any rate, we headed toward their hi-sec system in Amarr space and held one jump out. The wormhole was once again at critical mass so we decided to jump in a hole closer under their noses. This worked better than expected since the pilot was able to slip past a faction cruiser. Our scout got the new hi-sec connection and we all burned 15 jumps to wait one system out.
We didn't have to wait there very long. The locals had just warped their fleet of battleships to the planet 7 POCO and we were given the word to move. Upon arriving in the C2 we all warped to the target area. Our scout was sounding off that their fleet was moving to evacuate the area.
They were too late.
Our fleet of cruisers landed in their midst and unleashed a wave of hate and discontent. An Abaddon and its pilot were the first of many sacrifices to Bob that night and were quickly followed by a Navy Raven and its pilot. Another Raven, its pilot, an Oracle and a pod were dispatched in rapid succession.
Bob was pleased but demanded more and our thirst for chaos was not yet sated. We warped our fleet to one of the newly-erected POCOs and began the process of reinforcing it in hopes of forcing the locals' hand.
They began launching ineffectual waves of stealth bomber attacks. I thought we managed to kill one of them on the first wave, but I can't find the kill.
Shortly after this our Fighting Carebear associates had to take off in order to meet prior obligations. This left us with roughly half of our fleet: 4 strategic cruisers, an Absolution, an Armageddon and a couple of Guardians. We did have some stealth bombers en route from hi-sec, but the locals had home-field advantage and were making use of it.
Many of their battleships and battle cruisers had escaped our initial contact, remarkably enough, and now, in light of our reduced numbers they were reforming with logistical support in the form of Ospreys.
"Battleships are picking up speed. Raven in warp. Megathron warping. Everything is warping off. They're all in warp," our scout called on comms.
Our force was outgunned and outnumbered. The enemy fleet of battleships - about a dozen of them - landed on top of us and I was down to about 60% armor before I knew it, my shields having been stripped off as an afterthought faster than you can say "Tijuana Crack Whore."
Our Guardian pilots were on the ball, though and kept me alive, forcing the counter-attacking fleet to switch targets, but their time was running out.
We'd already sunken our teeth into an Apocalypse and were switching to their Megathron. As we began our relentless work on their Armageddon the last vestiges of their fleet were escaping our clutches, probably having re-aligned for a quick exit as soon as they landed in the engagement area.
With their supply of ships rapidly dwindling and suffering massive losses the locals showed no further signs of aggression, though they did remain logged in. This allowed us to continue our reinforcement of the POCO and bring in our End of Line stealth bomber contingent who'd been making best speed to the hi-sec entrance from across the cluster.
I had to leave shortly after this point, but I intend to rectify the situation of enemy battleships being able to escape a wolf-pack of strategic cruisers if we return to that system tonight. They do have a reinforced customs office to deal with, after all.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Malception's Law
Malception's Law (alternately referred to as the Law of Caldari Navy Ravens, the Law of Nubs Flying Billion-ISK Navens or the No'Wai-Malception Law) describes the tendency of low-skill pilots in care-bearing wormhole corporations to fly officer-fit Navy Ravens.
This law can be stated thus: the absolute tendency of a pilot to fly an officer and/or faction-fit Navy Raven is inversely proportional to his amount of skill points as it approaches zero, such that at zero the tendency is infinite and the pilot is only prevented from doing so by his physical inability to board the spacecraft.
This bent was first observed in Katherine Upton of Weyl Manufacturing on 1 August 2013 in J224401 and the hypothesis was confirmed on 24 August 2013 in J111557 when Ander Elbow and Jonas M Bonamigo, both from Tenebris Venators, were observed flying expensive Navy Ravens.
All three instances resulted in the destruction of the Navy-issue Raven.
This law can be stated thus: the absolute tendency of a pilot to fly an officer and/or faction-fit Navy Raven is inversely proportional to his amount of skill points as it approaches zero, such that at zero the tendency is infinite and the pilot is only prevented from doing so by his physical inability to board the spacecraft.
This bent was first observed in Katherine Upton of Weyl Manufacturing on 1 August 2013 in J224401 and the hypothesis was confirmed on 24 August 2013 in J111557 when Ander Elbow and Jonas M Bonamigo, both from Tenebris Venators, were observed flying expensive Navy Ravens.
All three instances resulted in the destruction of the Navy-issue Raven.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
337
Every once in a while there arises an opportunity for self-sacrifice such that the gains are so incredibly massive that their scale is difficult to grasp. Consider the fact that had Adolf Hitler's father carried little junior in loving arms to the front porch and caved in his infant head with an old, but serviceable ball peen hammer that the entirety of World War II would likely have been avoided. The emotional cost to the father, no doubt, would've been severe, but when compared to the immense gain in later years there's no question as to its worthiness and honor.
This same character of self-sacrifice can also be seen in the holiest of all space: Anoikis. One might even risk saying that the self-sacrifice witnessed by the lucky few in w-space is even more glorious and worthy than that in the previous scenario.
Just recently our small, but savage group of pilots in Cold Moon Destruction, sustaining ourselves in spartan quarters and living off of what little could be found in our immediate vicinity were ruthlessly set upon by a horde of Bolshevik homosexuals.
Our elite pilots held the invading horde at bay for as long as they could, reducing the available mass on the wormhole with skill and cunning, but the onslaught was overwhelming. We were forced to fall back and regroup.
Knowing the communist dogs for what they were - a malignant infestation of Bob's holy cosmos, ever-seeking to spread their Marxist filth to all non-believers - we summoned our bravest pilot.
With his strength bolstered and senses dulled by delicious red wine he boarded the hole-closer (known to everyone else in the entire game as a pvp Phobos) and proceeded without delay to collapse the wormhole before those Slavic mongoloids had a chance to seed our system with scouts and blasphemous idols of their precious Rasputin.
Our beautiful Swagshack was saved, but the same could not be said of Malception.
On the far side of the wormhole he was surrounded by a vast armada of war ships. Unwilling to show any fear he targeted the largest of their brood, a Navy Dominix, and charged forward.
Guns and missiles and lazorbeamz erupted for as far as the eye could see. Only after vast swaths of the enemy fleet had been cripplingly reduced to the narrowest margins of buckling structure did the Phobos succumb to the massive amounts of terrible firepower arrayed against it.
Malception's sacrifice saved countless internet spaceships that day. We should all look to him as an example of righteousness and how to die in a glorious fire, selflessly sacrificing himself and his worthless Genolution implants in defense of the realm.
As for those Russian suck-tards...
This same character of self-sacrifice can also be seen in the holiest of all space: Anoikis. One might even risk saying that the self-sacrifice witnessed by the lucky few in w-space is even more glorious and worthy than that in the previous scenario.
Just recently our small, but savage group of pilots in Cold Moon Destruction, sustaining ourselves in spartan quarters and living off of what little could be found in our immediate vicinity were ruthlessly set upon by a horde of Bolshevik homosexuals.
Our elite pilots held the invading horde at bay for as long as they could, reducing the available mass on the wormhole with skill and cunning, but the onslaught was overwhelming. We were forced to fall back and regroup.
Knowing the communist dogs for what they were - a malignant infestation of Bob's holy cosmos, ever-seeking to spread their Marxist filth to all non-believers - we summoned our bravest pilot.
With his strength bolstered and senses dulled by delicious red wine he boarded the hole-closer (known to everyone else in the entire game as a pvp Phobos) and proceeded without delay to collapse the wormhole before those Slavic mongoloids had a chance to seed our system with scouts and blasphemous idols of their precious Rasputin.
Our beautiful Swagshack was saved, but the same could not be said of Malception.
On the far side of the wormhole he was surrounded by a vast armada of war ships. Unwilling to show any fear he targeted the largest of their brood, a Navy Dominix, and charged forward.
Guns and missiles and lazorbeamz erupted for as far as the eye could see. Only after vast swaths of the enemy fleet had been cripplingly reduced to the narrowest margins of buckling structure did the Phobos succumb to the massive amounts of terrible firepower arrayed against it.
Malception's sacrifice saved countless internet spaceships that day. We should all look to him as an example of righteousness and how to die in a glorious fire, selflessly sacrificing himself and his worthless Genolution implants in defense of the realm.
As for those Russian suck-tards...
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
The Night Crew
The Night Crew (TNC) put out one of the best fights last night and very nearly sprayed our guts all over their killboard. I have to give them the credit they're due: don't underestimate these guys!
It all started while I was minding my own business in TNC's home system, a class 4 that I will refer to as c4a. By "minding my own business" I of course mean "watching their POS and plotting destruction," but let's not split hairs, shall we?
Another Cold Moon Destruction (CLMDN) pilot, Fischey, was sitting in our static, c4s, with his scout alt and a fail-cloak Legion (he's new; blame me instead). There were a few other pilots online, but they were semi-afk.
Just as I was about to give up on these two TNC pilots there was finally some activity. One of them arrived back at their POS and if memory serves he switched into a Legion. At this point I'd counted three online pilots, two of which had shown no signs of life whatsoever.
Soon after an Archon was logged in and the pilot switched to a covert scanning Proteus complete with the interdiction-nullifying spoiler. As far as we could make out the Legion and Prot both jumped into the c4s and proceeded to chill out.
At this point I'm assuming they're waiting for us to do something stupid, so we began to try to think up ways to accommodate their expectation. Fischey scanned down the Gas site in c4a and then warped in his Venture.
This was intended to give TNC the impression that we either didn't know of their presence or were too stupid to care and lure them into doing something stupid themselves. What actually happened was that Fischey's Venture got blown up by the five Sleeper turrets he didn't see when scanning down the site.
Naturally, being such professional mentors as one might expect to find in CLDMN, we laughed, pointed fingers and assaulted him with scathing mockery.
Still, all was not lost. In addition to appearing unaware I was hoping we also now appeared incompetent, so I jumped my Helios into c4s and warped to our home hole without bothering to cloak.
I was told a stealth bomber had jumped in behind me and really started to believe we were going to get a fight at this point. These guys were on the hunt and had no idea that their paltry gang was about to get monkey-stomped by our superior numbers (I'll come back to this later, so keep it in mind).
After waiting a few seconds uncloaked on the wormhole back to our home system, Swagshack, I jumped back in and switched out to a Proteus then warped back to the wormhole and waited for their move.
At this point our guys who were AFK had now joined the fleet. We had a Legion, Proteus (x2), a Typhoon, a covops scout and a Drake.
I didn't have to wait long before our scout in c4s sounded off that the Proteus and Legion were jumping into Swagshack. I acknowledged and engaged the Proteus first.
While our forces were en route the scout called a TNC Hound and two Drakes were jumping through from c4s to the shack.
Hmmm. That wasn't expected, but even so, I knew my tank wasn't going to suffer any catastrophic collapse under the added pressure. I was, however, a little more interested as to when back-up was going to land.
As soon as they did I jumped over to c4s in order to save my armor and be able to tackle these guys when they fled, as they most certainly would. We now had a fresh Proteus, a Sleipnir, Drake and Typhoon on the Shack side of the wormhole and a Legion and my Proteus on the c4s side.
The fight quickly migrated into c4s as the TNC guys jumped over, but someone on CLMDN comms called out that more TNC guys were coming in. My overview which shows only targets was nearly full and I knew I'd very severely underestimated these guys.
The ships they were bringing in weren't covert ships, but somehow they'd managed to hide them. So be warned: TNC will surprise buttsex you without a second thought.
There was a Curse (these things always make me nervous), Domi, Tengu and another Proteus and more landing on grid. If we didn't unscrew this situation CLDMN would soon be covered in TNC dps. We'd already lost a Legion.
Two of us jumped back into shack and picked up whatever logi was closest at hand. We came back with a Guardian and Oneiros and managed to stave off total disaster, but not before our Typhoon went down. That pilot jumped back to shack and brought back an Astarte.
At this point the CLDMN fleet consisted of Zealot, Oneiros, Proteus, Astarte, Sleipnir, Drake and Guardian. TNC's fleet was substantially larger: Falcon, Legion, Proteus (x2), Tengu, Curse, Drake (x2) and Dominix.
The Curse was still a pain and made sustained reps difficult, but dual cap boosters on my Oneiros let me stay just far enough ahead of the neuts to rep our Guardian which was doing a phenomenal job mitigating the TNC dps.
At this point the tables were turning dramatically in our favor. We couldn't match their dps, but without reps they had no way to mitigate ours and began losing ships in quick succession.
Wisely deciding to cut their losses, they burned off the hole and left the field. "GF's" were had in local and I think everyone had a good time. It was definitely a learning experience for me.
Battle Report
After the fight I spent a lot of time thinking about how we came out on top of this brawl. Ultimately it came down to positioning on the existing terrain. The fight largely took place just outside our front door and when it started to go bad that allowed us to change tactics.
With no form of tackle on the Swagshack side of the wormhole TNC had no way to prevent us from leaving the field and stopping us from reshipping, whereas we were able to prevent them from doing so and even if they could've reshipped it would've taken them twice as long to do so because the fight took place on our wormhole, not theirs.
Ultimately, I take two lessons from this fight: 1) TNC are very cool guys, but they will rape you and 2) the ability to rapidly shift tactics enables you to move from the narrowest ledge of certain destruction to solid victory!
It all started while I was minding my own business in TNC's home system, a class 4 that I will refer to as c4a. By "minding my own business" I of course mean "watching their POS and plotting destruction," but let's not split hairs, shall we?
Another Cold Moon Destruction (CLMDN) pilot, Fischey, was sitting in our static, c4s, with his scout alt and a fail-cloak Legion (he's new; blame me instead). There were a few other pilots online, but they were semi-afk.
Just as I was about to give up on these two TNC pilots there was finally some activity. One of them arrived back at their POS and if memory serves he switched into a Legion. At this point I'd counted three online pilots, two of which had shown no signs of life whatsoever.
Soon after an Archon was logged in and the pilot switched to a covert scanning Proteus complete with the interdiction-nullifying spoiler. As far as we could make out the Legion and Prot both jumped into the c4s and proceeded to chill out.
At this point I'm assuming they're waiting for us to do something stupid, so we began to try to think up ways to accommodate their expectation. Fischey scanned down the Gas site in c4a and then warped in his Venture.
This was intended to give TNC the impression that we either didn't know of their presence or were too stupid to care and lure them into doing something stupid themselves. What actually happened was that Fischey's Venture got blown up by the five Sleeper turrets he didn't see when scanning down the site.
Naturally, being such professional mentors as one might expect to find in CLDMN, we laughed, pointed fingers and assaulted him with scathing mockery.
Still, all was not lost. In addition to appearing unaware I was hoping we also now appeared incompetent, so I jumped my Helios into c4s and warped to our home hole without bothering to cloak.
I was told a stealth bomber had jumped in behind me and really started to believe we were going to get a fight at this point. These guys were on the hunt and had no idea that their paltry gang was about to get monkey-stomped by our superior numbers (I'll come back to this later, so keep it in mind).
After waiting a few seconds uncloaked on the wormhole back to our home system, Swagshack, I jumped back in and switched out to a Proteus then warped back to the wormhole and waited for their move.
At this point our guys who were AFK had now joined the fleet. We had a Legion, Proteus (x2), a Typhoon, a covops scout and a Drake.
I didn't have to wait long before our scout in c4s sounded off that the Proteus and Legion were jumping into Swagshack. I acknowledged and engaged the Proteus first.
While our forces were en route the scout called a TNC Hound and two Drakes were jumping through from c4s to the shack.
Hmmm. That wasn't expected, but even so, I knew my tank wasn't going to suffer any catastrophic collapse under the added pressure. I was, however, a little more interested as to when back-up was going to land.
As soon as they did I jumped over to c4s in order to save my armor and be able to tackle these guys when they fled, as they most certainly would. We now had a fresh Proteus, a Sleipnir, Drake and Typhoon on the Shack side of the wormhole and a Legion and my Proteus on the c4s side.
The fight quickly migrated into c4s as the TNC guys jumped over, but someone on CLMDN comms called out that more TNC guys were coming in. My overview which shows only targets was nearly full and I knew I'd very severely underestimated these guys.
The ships they were bringing in weren't covert ships, but somehow they'd managed to hide them. So be warned: TNC will surprise buttsex you without a second thought.
There was a Curse (these things always make me nervous), Domi, Tengu and another Proteus and more landing on grid. If we didn't unscrew this situation CLDMN would soon be covered in TNC dps. We'd already lost a Legion.
Two of us jumped back into shack and picked up whatever logi was closest at hand. We came back with a Guardian and Oneiros and managed to stave off total disaster, but not before our Typhoon went down. That pilot jumped back to shack and brought back an Astarte.
At this point the CLDMN fleet consisted of Zealot, Oneiros, Proteus, Astarte, Sleipnir, Drake and Guardian. TNC's fleet was substantially larger: Falcon, Legion, Proteus (x2), Tengu, Curse, Drake (x2) and Dominix.
The Curse was still a pain and made sustained reps difficult, but dual cap boosters on my Oneiros let me stay just far enough ahead of the neuts to rep our Guardian which was doing a phenomenal job mitigating the TNC dps.
At this point the tables were turning dramatically in our favor. We couldn't match their dps, but without reps they had no way to mitigate ours and began losing ships in quick succession.
Wisely deciding to cut their losses, they burned off the hole and left the field. "GF's" were had in local and I think everyone had a good time. It was definitely a learning experience for me.
Battle Report
After the fight I spent a lot of time thinking about how we came out on top of this brawl. Ultimately it came down to positioning on the existing terrain. The fight largely took place just outside our front door and when it started to go bad that allowed us to change tactics.
With no form of tackle on the Swagshack side of the wormhole TNC had no way to prevent us from leaving the field and stopping us from reshipping, whereas we were able to prevent them from doing so and even if they could've reshipped it would've taken them twice as long to do so because the fight took place on our wormhole, not theirs.
Ultimately, I take two lessons from this fight: 1) TNC are very cool guys, but they will rape you and 2) the ability to rapidly shift tactics enables you to move from the narrowest ledge of certain destruction to solid victory!
Monday, August 26, 2013
Scouting Like a Pro III
This is the third in a series of posts about scouting in wormhole space. The first covers the necessary preparation and infiltration while the second covers POS recon.
It's about time to drop those probes, but before you do take note. If at all possible drop them outside the dscan range of all enemy pilots and keep them outside the dscan range of all enemy pilots for as long as possible, but finish the scanning job quickly. The goal here is to resolve the system without spooking your target. You achieve this by minimizing the time your probes are visible to the enemy.
Using probes is covered in all sorts of other "Nub Scouting" videos and blogs so I'll skip all that crap. What you need to know is that All signatures will be within 8 AU of a planet. I don't know why that's the case, but it is. With that knowledge you can save yourself a lot of time by narrowing your probes down to a size of 8 AU and centering them on planets before you activate the scan sequence.
Because you have the proper ship and equipment that was prescribed in part 1 of this series you can go directly from 8 AU to 2 AU when you've re-centered on a signature. Sometimes you'll have to go down to .5 AU in order to pin down a sig, but most of time can get it at 1 AU. If you've got maxed out skills and are using the right implants you can get pretty much everything at 2 AU, but I don't use the implants. If I ever do I'll make a part 4 of the series and name it "Scouting Like a Fat Kid in a Candy Store."
Now that covers the tips for scanning down sigs, but what about ships?
For ships you need Combat Scanner probes. Yes, these probes can also find regular signatures. No, you should not just use Combat probes.
"Why's that, Malception?"I
Because Combat probes are only half as powerful as Core probes. In effect, if you use combats to scan normal signatures it's going to take you twice as long to do it. You will suck at scouting and die an inglorious, ignominious death. If you're in Cold Moon Destruction you'll likely be killed by your own people for such incompetence.
So... when you see a ship on dscan, but know it's not in a POS then you simply use the Dscan to get a general direction of the ship from your position. Once you've pinned down the direction to as narrow a degree as possible you want to play with the range on your dscanner to determine about how far away the ship is from you. Once you've got a direction and range you launch probes outside his dscan range and prepare to scan him down.
The diameter of the scan range for your probes is dictated by how closely you've pinned down his position and also the size of the ship. An Orca is a hell of a lot easier to scan down than a pod. When in doubt use 4 AU on your combats. You will get a hit and if you're lucky you'll get 100% on the first pass, but you will probably have to make a second pass in order to pin him down.
Scanning down ships is very tricky. For one thing, ships move so you'll have to move quickly and accurately on your dscan in order to get a good position to target your combat probes. Another thing that makes it difficult is the fact that ship sizes, their signature radii, are so different that it's hard to say what range you need on your probes.
In all probability you will fail the first few times you try this. Having a second set of eyes in the system to help with dscan while you do the combat probes is very helpful, but it can be done solo. Just keep at it. Remember, slow and smooth and smooth is fast.
Once you get the target ship pinned down pull those probes and warp to 0. If they're paying attention to dscan they'll have seen your probes and if it's a small ship they'll likely have escaped. If not then you've got a shot, but that's about it. Nothing is guaranteed.
Last, but not least: remember to tag your dscan even while you're probing. Most people don't do this and they get tunnel vision while using the probe interface, thereby denying themselves one of the most powerful scouting tools in the game.
That's it. Do these things consistently and you're scouting like a pro.
Final Thoughts (aka things momma said before dropping you off at school)
Use the right gear for the task at hand. Don't rush. Take your time. Watch dscan at all times. Provide accurate information. Ask questions if you don't know or are unsure about anything.
It's about time to drop those probes, but before you do take note. If at all possible drop them outside the dscan range of all enemy pilots and keep them outside the dscan range of all enemy pilots for as long as possible, but finish the scanning job quickly. The goal here is to resolve the system without spooking your target. You achieve this by minimizing the time your probes are visible to the enemy.
Using probes is covered in all sorts of other "Nub Scouting" videos and blogs so I'll skip all that crap. What you need to know is that All signatures will be within 8 AU of a planet. I don't know why that's the case, but it is. With that knowledge you can save yourself a lot of time by narrowing your probes down to a size of 8 AU and centering them on planets before you activate the scan sequence.
Because you have the proper ship and equipment that was prescribed in part 1 of this series you can go directly from 8 AU to 2 AU when you've re-centered on a signature. Sometimes you'll have to go down to .5 AU in order to pin down a sig, but most of time can get it at 1 AU. If you've got maxed out skills and are using the right implants you can get pretty much everything at 2 AU, but I don't use the implants. If I ever do I'll make a part 4 of the series and name it "Scouting Like a Fat Kid in a Candy Store."
Now that covers the tips for scanning down sigs, but what about ships?
For ships you need Combat Scanner probes. Yes, these probes can also find regular signatures. No, you should not just use Combat probes.
"Why's that, Malception?"I
Because Combat probes are only half as powerful as Core probes. In effect, if you use combats to scan normal signatures it's going to take you twice as long to do it. You will suck at scouting and die an inglorious, ignominious death. If you're in Cold Moon Destruction you'll likely be killed by your own people for such incompetence.
So... when you see a ship on dscan, but know it's not in a POS then you simply use the Dscan to get a general direction of the ship from your position. Once you've pinned down the direction to as narrow a degree as possible you want to play with the range on your dscanner to determine about how far away the ship is from you. Once you've got a direction and range you launch probes outside his dscan range and prepare to scan him down.
The diameter of the scan range for your probes is dictated by how closely you've pinned down his position and also the size of the ship. An Orca is a hell of a lot easier to scan down than a pod. When in doubt use 4 AU on your combats. You will get a hit and if you're lucky you'll get 100% on the first pass, but you will probably have to make a second pass in order to pin him down.
Scanning down ships is very tricky. For one thing, ships move so you'll have to move quickly and accurately on your dscan in order to get a good position to target your combat probes. Another thing that makes it difficult is the fact that ship sizes, their signature radii, are so different that it's hard to say what range you need on your probes.
In all probability you will fail the first few times you try this. Having a second set of eyes in the system to help with dscan while you do the combat probes is very helpful, but it can be done solo. Just keep at it. Remember, slow and smooth and smooth is fast.
Once you get the target ship pinned down pull those probes and warp to 0. If they're paying attention to dscan they'll have seen your probes and if it's a small ship they'll likely have escaped. If not then you've got a shot, but that's about it. Nothing is guaranteed.
Last, but not least: remember to tag your dscan even while you're probing. Most people don't do this and they get tunnel vision while using the probe interface, thereby denying themselves one of the most powerful scouting tools in the game.
That's it. Do these things consistently and you're scouting like a pro.
Final Thoughts (aka things momma said before dropping you off at school)
Use the right gear for the task at hand. Don't rush. Take your time. Watch dscan at all times. Provide accurate information. Ask questions if you don't know or are unsure about anything.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Scouting Like a Pro II
This is the second in a short series of instructional posts on how to "scout like a pro", as it were. Click here to read the first, which covers what you need in order to accomplish this worthy goal and how to achieve the initial infiltration of a possibly hostile system (i.e. all systems).
Been taking your time? Paying attention? Good. Now pay attention because this next part is critical. It determines whether or not you're a pro or a scrub. Speed is very important when you go about doing all this stuff, but don't screw up because you're trying to go too fast. That happened to a corp-mate of mine, recently and I had to walk him through some things. There's no telling how long he would've been failing if he hadn't learned this very important lesson.
The lesson, as handed down to me will now be handed down to you: slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
Getting all this stuff done quickly is important, but getting accurate intel is paramount! That means "most important" for you illiterate retards. So go slow and get it right. The speed will come on its own.
Now let's get down to business.
The next thing you want to do is find all the enemy strongholds - all their player-owned stations (POS's) - and get eyes on them. This requires a lot of dscan voodoo, so pay attention. I apologize ahead of time for the boring step by step, but I don't have any pictures at the moment. I might add them later.
"Uh, dscan? You mean drop probes, right?"
No, you little pustule! That doesn't mean drop probes. That comes later.
Idiot.
Dscan is the directional scanner. Open up your system map and activate your tactical overlay. Hit the scan button on your dscan. Anything you see on that dscan will be inside that 15AU radius on your system map. Those other planets outside the 15AU radius on your system map (if there are any) still need to be checked out though, so go ahead and warp to that planet's customs office at 100km and do another dscan. Repeat for every planet outside your dscan range on your first dscan (the scan you performed upon first entering the system).
What you're looking for are active POS's. You can determine whether or not they're active by looking for Force Fields. Now, just because a POS doesn't have a Force Field up doesn't mean it's inactive. It could be a good trap. It could be that the owner is just now setting the POS up. It would be an AWOX in progress. In all of those cases you will likely see ships on dscan so always be on the lookout and maintain your situational awareness.
For instructional purposes, let's say you've got an active POS around planet III. You warp to that planet's customs office at 100km. Keep your system map and tactical overlay up because you're going to need them.
Now that you're at the customs office you can see that your tactical overlay conveniently divides the planetary system up into quadrants (that would be four 90-degree sections for those of you who are mathematically challenged). Set your dscan for 180-degrees and align your field of view with along one of the axes of the dscan (look down a row of AU ranges).
Activate your dscan and rotate your field of view 90-degrees to the right until you find what quadrant the POS is in. Once you determine the quadrant you want to reduce the angle of your dscan until you single out the specific moon that the POS is at. If you are unable to determine a specific moon even at the narrowest dscan angle (5 degrees) then play with the dscan range until you figure out which moon the POS is at.
This is very easy when there are only a few moons and sometimes you can go really fast through the narrowing down process, but rest assured, this process will never fail you.
When you do get a bead on that POS you want to be aware of those pesky warp bubbles that can really screw up your day. If you've followed simple instructions from Scouting Like a Pro I, then you've got them on your overview tab and they already show up on your dscan. Now, if you see a warp bubble you also want to check for containers, which likely indicates the presence of a decloak trap when seen together.
For you baby wormholers, a decloak trap is a warp disruption bubble lined with containers. The bubble sucks people into it who are warping onto the grid and the containers decloak any and all ships that land within 2000m of them. The POS will then target and destroy your ship.
Luckily, there are ways to minimize the risk of certain death from decloak traps and since you're reading "Scouting Like a Pro" and not "Scouting Like a Bear" I will share with you my methods.
#1. If you've got great big balls like No'Wai you can scout in a strategic cruiser, which gives you the ability to fit the Warp Disruption Nullifier subsystem. This will make you invulnerable to the drag effect of the warp bubble and render most decloak traps ineffective.
#2. You can also simply stay in your Helios and warp to the moon at the standard 100km. You will get sucked into the warp bubble and will likely get decloaked, but because your ship is very small the POS will not be able to target you before you can put all cans at a distance and cloak up. If you opt for this method don't activate your MWD, because that greatly increases your signature radius, making it easier for the POS to target you.
#3. There is also dumb luck.
Keep in mind that these measures only reduce the risk. They do not eliminate it. Some traps are very clever. I recently encountered one that made use of freight containers, which don't show up on dscan, so I warped to the POS thinking I'd get sucked into a bubble and could slow boat out of it at my leisure. When I got onto the grid I was not happy to see a bubble full of containers waiting for my beloved Proteus.
"Wow, Malception! That loss must've really sucked."
Negro, please! I Scout Like a Pro. Utilizing method #3 I evaded that feeble trap and went on to gather valuable intelligence on my target.
Once you're on grid with the POS you need to figure out who owns it. Check out the owner's kill board. Get names of any pilots. Copy all the dscan information and paste it into Dingo's. That tool will organize all the information for you and provide you with a link in order to share the intel. Make sure you relay everything to the FC.
I think that's about all I'm going to put in this post. It may not look like a lot, but it's something that takes a lot of practice, so while you're out and about perfecting these skills I'll be writing up the next post.
Check in later to find out about dropping those probes.
The lesson, as handed down to me will now be handed down to you: slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
Getting all this stuff done quickly is important, but getting accurate intel is paramount! That means "most important" for you illiterate retards. So go slow and get it right. The speed will come on its own.
Now let's get down to business.
The next thing you want to do is find all the enemy strongholds - all their player-owned stations (POS's) - and get eyes on them. This requires a lot of dscan voodoo, so pay attention. I apologize ahead of time for the boring step by step, but I don't have any pictures at the moment. I might add them later.
"Uh, dscan? You mean drop probes, right?"
No, you little pustule! That doesn't mean drop probes. That comes later.
Idiot.
Dscan is the directional scanner. Open up your system map and activate your tactical overlay. Hit the scan button on your dscan. Anything you see on that dscan will be inside that 15AU radius on your system map. Those other planets outside the 15AU radius on your system map (if there are any) still need to be checked out though, so go ahead and warp to that planet's customs office at 100km and do another dscan. Repeat for every planet outside your dscan range on your first dscan (the scan you performed upon first entering the system).
What you're looking for are active POS's. You can determine whether or not they're active by looking for Force Fields. Now, just because a POS doesn't have a Force Field up doesn't mean it's inactive. It could be a good trap. It could be that the owner is just now setting the POS up. It would be an AWOX in progress. In all of those cases you will likely see ships on dscan so always be on the lookout and maintain your situational awareness.
For instructional purposes, let's say you've got an active POS around planet III. You warp to that planet's customs office at 100km. Keep your system map and tactical overlay up because you're going to need them.
Now that you're at the customs office you can see that your tactical overlay conveniently divides the planetary system up into quadrants (that would be four 90-degree sections for those of you who are mathematically challenged). Set your dscan for 180-degrees and align your field of view with along one of the axes of the dscan (look down a row of AU ranges).
Activate your dscan and rotate your field of view 90-degrees to the right until you find what quadrant the POS is in. Once you determine the quadrant you want to reduce the angle of your dscan until you single out the specific moon that the POS is at. If you are unable to determine a specific moon even at the narrowest dscan angle (5 degrees) then play with the dscan range until you figure out which moon the POS is at.
This is very easy when there are only a few moons and sometimes you can go really fast through the narrowing down process, but rest assured, this process will never fail you.
When you do get a bead on that POS you want to be aware of those pesky warp bubbles that can really screw up your day. If you've followed simple instructions from Scouting Like a Pro I, then you've got them on your overview tab and they already show up on your dscan. Now, if you see a warp bubble you also want to check for containers, which likely indicates the presence of a decloak trap when seen together.
For you baby wormholers, a decloak trap is a warp disruption bubble lined with containers. The bubble sucks people into it who are warping onto the grid and the containers decloak any and all ships that land within 2000m of them. The POS will then target and destroy your ship.
Luckily, there are ways to minimize the risk of certain death from decloak traps and since you're reading "Scouting Like a Pro" and not "Scouting Like a Bear" I will share with you my methods.
#1. If you've got great big balls like No'Wai you can scout in a strategic cruiser, which gives you the ability to fit the Warp Disruption Nullifier subsystem. This will make you invulnerable to the drag effect of the warp bubble and render most decloak traps ineffective.
#2. You can also simply stay in your Helios and warp to the moon at the standard 100km. You will get sucked into the warp bubble and will likely get decloaked, but because your ship is very small the POS will not be able to target you before you can put all cans at a distance and cloak up. If you opt for this method don't activate your MWD, because that greatly increases your signature radius, making it easier for the POS to target you.
#3. There is also dumb luck.
Keep in mind that these measures only reduce the risk. They do not eliminate it. Some traps are very clever. I recently encountered one that made use of freight containers, which don't show up on dscan, so I warped to the POS thinking I'd get sucked into a bubble and could slow boat out of it at my leisure. When I got onto the grid I was not happy to see a bubble full of containers waiting for my beloved Proteus.
"Wow, Malception! That loss must've really sucked."
Negro, please! I Scout Like a Pro. Utilizing method #3 I evaded that feeble trap and went on to gather valuable intelligence on my target.
Once you're on grid with the POS you need to figure out who owns it. Check out the owner's kill board. Get names of any pilots. Copy all the dscan information and paste it into Dingo's. That tool will organize all the information for you and provide you with a link in order to share the intel. Make sure you relay everything to the FC.
I think that's about all I'm going to put in this post. It may not look like a lot, but it's something that takes a lot of practice, so while you're out and about perfecting these skills I'll be writing up the next post.
Check in later to find out about dropping those probes.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Scouting Like a Pro I
Living in wormhole space is about 75% information gathering and 25% doing other stuff. The sheer number of tools that are available to provide and sort the large amounts of information required to be successful in w-space should give an idea as to how much it really is about what information you gather, what information you give away and how that information is used, either by you or by your enemy.
So read the rest of this post keeping in mind that out here, information and its utilization is the end-all, be-all of success.
In most cases your scouting is going to be informal and sort like shooting from the hip. Still, it's good to get into a few habits. Situational awareness (SA) is paramount in general, but especially so for scouts.
First off, you need to make sure that your overview settings are correctly setup for your specific mission. Make sure you have POS's, Force Fields, all ships and Mobile Warp Bubbles set to show up. I also have TCU's on mine as well as another tab that I can switch to in order to see cans that when seen in combination with warp bubbles on a POS likely indicates a de-cloak trap.
Speaking of cloaking, if you're not in a Helios you're doing it wrong. The Helios is the only scout ship with the ability to field a combat drone and all enemy scouts must die! Seriously, taking into consideration the critical nature of scouts if you can remove the enemy's ability to gather information you've all but won the engagement already. The Helios grants you a near guaranteed victory (unless you really suck) over other scouts because of its drone bay.
I'm sure some people will disagree, but they're F-tools so just ignore those plebeian masses and continue reading.
Now that you're in the right ship with the right overview settings it's almost time to get to work. But before heading out make sure you're aware of some of the basic information gathering and relaying tools.
I always have my corporation's chain-mapper, Dingo's, WormNav and Wormholes loaded on my IGB or very close at hand. Between these various tools I'm able to gather and relay a wealth of information.
The chain-mapper allows everyone to see where I am (and vice versa) as well as allowing me to see a visual representation of the wider terrain.
WormNav and Wormhol.es are very easy to use and give intel on trends of past activity in any system.
Dingo's is awesome. It allows the scout to create quick summaries of whatever the scout sees on his dscan. This site will then provide a short link that the scout can share with his fleet to relay that information very accurately and very quickly.
Scouts (or wouldbe scouts), if you relay bad intel you will either get your friends killed or prevent them from getting a kill. In either case, you will likely be killed.
"But, Malception, I don't want that to happen! Can you tell me how not to suck?"
Yes. If you would shut-up and listen I'm trying to get to that.
Take your time and do things by the numbers. It will be slow and tedious at first, but as you get used to doing it the pace will improve and you'll make less mistakes. In short, the way not to suck is to practice. Scan massive chains and take notes on every piece of information you can gather. Make bookmarks several hundred kilometers off of every wormhole you pass through (on both sides!), every active POS you find and create safe-spots in every system you discover.
You may not have to use these bookmarks often, but at some point you will need them and having them will give you an edge over your enemy.
Do you see a second principle emerging here? Preparation. Only through the gathering of information can you be properly prepared. If you are more prepared you will likely win. Unless you suck or unless Bob turns against you.
Anyway, just keep practicing.
Just as an example (this is certainly not the only way to do things) whenever I enter a new system in w-space I eyeball my overview to see whether or not there are any ships sitting on top of the wormhole which determines whether or not I have to deal with an immediate engagement.
Assuming for the sake of instruction that there are no ships I hold my cloak, hit my dscan, refresh the info pages on WormNav and Wormholes. I also check out the solar system map and see which planets, if any, are outside my dscan range. I grab all the signatures in system and put them in the chain-mapper's signature list. Finally, I burn off the wormhole and cloak up, changing direction as soon as I hit the cloak.
All of that should happen before your cloak timer deactivates. If for whatever reason I think I might run out of time, I go ahead and burn off/cloak/change direction, then go back to the information gathering.
After I burn off the wormhole and am safely cloaked up I'll usually make the bookmark then, but if you're micro skills are 31337 then go ahead and make the bookmark prior burning off the wormhole.
The point in all of this is to get as much information as you can in as short a time-frame as possible while minimizing your own exposure to death and dismemberment. This also minimizes the time in which your enemy has the opportunity to gather information about you.
Now, let me go back to the when I first jumped through the wormhole for a second. If there was a ship on the wormhole I have to make a split-second decision. If it's a scout ship (Anathema, Buzzard or Probe) I'm going to decloak and engage them with my long-point and Hobgoblin II. If it's anything other than that I'm going to perform the exact same steps I've already described.
The reason I wouldn't engage a Helios is because the fight is probably going to be evenly matched and 50-50 odds are little on the high-side for my liking. I'd likely see if he warps off or jumps through the wormhole before dropping cloak. If he does leave then I've learned quite a bit, but he's learned virtually nothing. If he does hang around and I have to drop cloak then I'll burn off and cloak.
At this point you've infiltrated the area and you're now behind enemy lines, so-to-speak. What next? In the interest of time you'll have to check back later. Until then, take your time and pay attention.
So read the rest of this post keeping in mind that out here, information and its utilization is the end-all, be-all of success.
In most cases your scouting is going to be informal and sort like shooting from the hip. Still, it's good to get into a few habits. Situational awareness (SA) is paramount in general, but especially so for scouts.
First off, you need to make sure that your overview settings are correctly setup for your specific mission. Make sure you have POS's, Force Fields, all ships and Mobile Warp Bubbles set to show up. I also have TCU's on mine as well as another tab that I can switch to in order to see cans that when seen in combination with warp bubbles on a POS likely indicates a de-cloak trap.
Speaking of cloaking, if you're not in a Helios you're doing it wrong. The Helios is the only scout ship with the ability to field a combat drone and all enemy scouts must die! Seriously, taking into consideration the critical nature of scouts if you can remove the enemy's ability to gather information you've all but won the engagement already. The Helios grants you a near guaranteed victory (unless you really suck) over other scouts because of its drone bay.
I'm sure some people will disagree, but they're F-tools so just ignore those plebeian masses and continue reading.
Now that you're in the right ship with the right overview settings it's almost time to get to work. But before heading out make sure you're aware of some of the basic information gathering and relaying tools.
I always have my corporation's chain-mapper, Dingo's, WormNav and Wormholes loaded on my IGB or very close at hand. Between these various tools I'm able to gather and relay a wealth of information.
The chain-mapper allows everyone to see where I am (and vice versa) as well as allowing me to see a visual representation of the wider terrain.
WormNav and Wormhol.es are very easy to use and give intel on trends of past activity in any system.
Dingo's is awesome. It allows the scout to create quick summaries of whatever the scout sees on his dscan. This site will then provide a short link that the scout can share with his fleet to relay that information very accurately and very quickly.
Scouts (or wouldbe scouts), if you relay bad intel you will either get your friends killed or prevent them from getting a kill. In either case, you will likely be killed.
"But, Malception, I don't want that to happen! Can you tell me how not to suck?"
Yes. If you would shut-up and listen I'm trying to get to that.
Take your time and do things by the numbers. It will be slow and tedious at first, but as you get used to doing it the pace will improve and you'll make less mistakes. In short, the way not to suck is to practice. Scan massive chains and take notes on every piece of information you can gather. Make bookmarks several hundred kilometers off of every wormhole you pass through (on both sides!), every active POS you find and create safe-spots in every system you discover.
You may not have to use these bookmarks often, but at some point you will need them and having them will give you an edge over your enemy.
Do you see a second principle emerging here? Preparation. Only through the gathering of information can you be properly prepared. If you are more prepared you will likely win. Unless you suck or unless Bob turns against you.
Anyway, just keep practicing.
Just as an example (this is certainly not the only way to do things) whenever I enter a new system in w-space I eyeball my overview to see whether or not there are any ships sitting on top of the wormhole which determines whether or not I have to deal with an immediate engagement.
Assuming for the sake of instruction that there are no ships I hold my cloak, hit my dscan, refresh the info pages on WormNav and Wormholes. I also check out the solar system map and see which planets, if any, are outside my dscan range. I grab all the signatures in system and put them in the chain-mapper's signature list. Finally, I burn off the wormhole and cloak up, changing direction as soon as I hit the cloak.
All of that should happen before your cloak timer deactivates. If for whatever reason I think I might run out of time, I go ahead and burn off/cloak/change direction, then go back to the information gathering.
After I burn off the wormhole and am safely cloaked up I'll usually make the bookmark then, but if you're micro skills are 31337 then go ahead and make the bookmark prior burning off the wormhole.
The point in all of this is to get as much information as you can in as short a time-frame as possible while minimizing your own exposure to death and dismemberment. This also minimizes the time in which your enemy has the opportunity to gather information about you.
Now, let me go back to the when I first jumped through the wormhole for a second. If there was a ship on the wormhole I have to make a split-second decision. If it's a scout ship (Anathema, Buzzard or Probe) I'm going to decloak and engage them with my long-point and Hobgoblin II. If it's anything other than that I'm going to perform the exact same steps I've already described.
The reason I wouldn't engage a Helios is because the fight is probably going to be evenly matched and 50-50 odds are little on the high-side for my liking. I'd likely see if he warps off or jumps through the wormhole before dropping cloak. If he does leave then I've learned quite a bit, but he's learned virtually nothing. If he does hang around and I have to drop cloak then I'll burn off and cloak.
At this point you've infiltrated the area and you're now behind enemy lines, so-to-speak. What next? In the interest of time you'll have to check back later. Until then, take your time and pay attention.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
After Action
I logged in alone last night. I was tempted to chill out in my emo scissor room, but decided I'd better head up to the common channel just in case anyone else logged in. I scanned down the new static and proceeded to scout the rest of the chain in my super-elite Helios.
Surely You're Joking (SYJ) was active and had likely come from an incoming C6 which was connected to our static C4. I jumped into a class 2 system, the static exit of our C4s. The C2 was a Black Hole system with static exits to hi-sec and class 3 systems.
In the C2a I saw a lot of SYJ activity and decided to let it die down before making my presence known. They are a large group and with only myself and now one other Cold Moon pilot on I didn't want to attract their attention.
Once all their ships had been off dscan for a while I dropped probes and scanned down the HS and C3a. After checking out the hi-sec for any massive SYJ gang I warped to the C3 and jumped through. Almost immediately I heard the wormhole activate behind me so I burned off and cloaked in time to see a blockade runner - a Viator to be exact - from Weyl Manufacturing warp off.
I followed the blockade runner to his POS and found several piloted ships: a Megathron, a few Ravens and Drakes and the Viator. There didn't seem to be much activity and I suspected that SYJ had been hunting these guys, but bungled the attack somehow, allowing them to escape back to the POS.
Soon enough, though, these guys would get back to business, but with their superior numbers and larger ships I was a bit worried about our ability to keep up with their tank. Fortunately we had some more pilots logging on and the opposing numbers were becoming less of a problem.
Eventually our targets warped off to one of their null-sec wormholes and we formed a fleet of covert strategic cruisers with a couple of HACs and Guardians piloted by Henry and Fischey as auxiliary deeps and logi support.
Because of the prior SYJ activity I was weary of putting our non-claoking ships in the open, but I did want them close by in order to actually fulfill their support role. I decided to err on the side of caution and put them in the hi-sec system off of C2a. It was a safe spot and they were one jump closer to the rest of us than if they had remained in our home system.
While the auxiliaries got into position I set the trap. One of our covert Proteuses, Teseer, remained in the C3 on the NS1 wormhole. I went into NS1 with my covert Proteus and cloaked up on the wormhole. We also had No'Wai in a covert Proteus sitting at the enemy POS watching a Drake that had been chilling out there.
The ratting Drake docked up in NS1 while the Raven mopped up. Once finished the Raven warped back to the wormhole. At the sametime the Drake in the POS in C3a warped to the other side of the wormhole and jumped through to NS1.
I decloaked and engaged the Raven. Thinking they only had to contend with a sole Proteus the Raven and Drake both engaged me. Teseer jumped from the C3a into NS1 and I called the Drake as primary. Meanwhile our support group of HACs and Logi was moving toward us in the event that our targets conjured up some reinforcements.
When the Raven and Drake jumped back into C3a they were engaged by No'Wai in our third covert Proteus and Henry in his Hound. Teseer and I followed the targets back into the C3 where they were finished off on the wormhole before our support gang arrived on grid. Even though they couldn't whore themselves out on the kill mails they did get to live vicariously through us.
ze pod
Navy Raven
Drake
So here's my thoughts on things that went well, what might be improved on and a few other deep thoughts.
Sustain
1. We had really good fleet comms. There wasn't any chatter or talking over people.
2. The fleet movements, separated into two groups as they were, was excellent.
3. The springing of the trap went well. No one got polarized or anything like that.
4. The scouting was solid.
Improve
1. Auxiliary fleet positioning. I didn't really like having them so far off, but I didn't want to leave them exposed while the forward group waited for that initial contact. I should have placed inside C2a on the wormhole to HS. That would've put them even closer to us, but still provided an easy route to safety if they were jumped.
2. After the fight was over we had some loitering going on. In the future we need to clear the field or cloak up to minimize our exposure to a possible counter-attack or third-party-ganking.
Deep Thoughts
I'm tempted to say I'd have liked to have had more versatility in the auxiliary fleet like EWAR or neuts, but from the very outset this engagement was geared toward burning down tech 1 battleships and battle cruisers, so I wanted to bring a lot of DPS in order to burn through their potentially large tanks. With that in mind I think the entire fleet comp was perfectly suited to burning down the scouted fleet.
Surely You're Joking (SYJ) was active and had likely come from an incoming C6 which was connected to our static C4. I jumped into a class 2 system, the static exit of our C4s. The C2 was a Black Hole system with static exits to hi-sec and class 3 systems.
In the C2a I saw a lot of SYJ activity and decided to let it die down before making my presence known. They are a large group and with only myself and now one other Cold Moon pilot on I didn't want to attract their attention.
Once all their ships had been off dscan for a while I dropped probes and scanned down the HS and C3a. After checking out the hi-sec for any massive SYJ gang I warped to the C3 and jumped through. Almost immediately I heard the wormhole activate behind me so I burned off and cloaked in time to see a blockade runner - a Viator to be exact - from Weyl Manufacturing warp off.
I followed the blockade runner to his POS and found several piloted ships: a Megathron, a few Ravens and Drakes and the Viator. There didn't seem to be much activity and I suspected that SYJ had been hunting these guys, but bungled the attack somehow, allowing them to escape back to the POS.
Soon enough, though, these guys would get back to business, but with their superior numbers and larger ships I was a bit worried about our ability to keep up with their tank. Fortunately we had some more pilots logging on and the opposing numbers were becoming less of a problem.
Eventually our targets warped off to one of their null-sec wormholes and we formed a fleet of covert strategic cruisers with a couple of HACs and Guardians piloted by Henry and Fischey as auxiliary deeps and logi support.
Because of the prior SYJ activity I was weary of putting our non-claoking ships in the open, but I did want them close by in order to actually fulfill their support role. I decided to err on the side of caution and put them in the hi-sec system off of C2a. It was a safe spot and they were one jump closer to the rest of us than if they had remained in our home system.
While the auxiliaries got into position I set the trap. One of our covert Proteuses, Teseer, remained in the C3 on the NS1 wormhole. I went into NS1 with my covert Proteus and cloaked up on the wormhole. We also had No'Wai in a covert Proteus sitting at the enemy POS watching a Drake that had been chilling out there.
The ratting Drake docked up in NS1 while the Raven mopped up. Once finished the Raven warped back to the wormhole. At the sametime the Drake in the POS in C3a warped to the other side of the wormhole and jumped through to NS1.
I decloaked and engaged the Raven. Thinking they only had to contend with a sole Proteus the Raven and Drake both engaged me. Teseer jumped from the C3a into NS1 and I called the Drake as primary. Meanwhile our support group of HACs and Logi was moving toward us in the event that our targets conjured up some reinforcements.
When the Raven and Drake jumped back into C3a they were engaged by No'Wai in our third covert Proteus and Henry in his Hound. Teseer and I followed the targets back into the C3 where they were finished off on the wormhole before our support gang arrived on grid. Even though they couldn't whore themselves out on the kill mails they did get to live vicariously through us.
ze pod
Navy Raven
Drake
So here's my thoughts on things that went well, what might be improved on and a few other deep thoughts.
Sustain
1. We had really good fleet comms. There wasn't any chatter or talking over people.
2. The fleet movements, separated into two groups as they were, was excellent.
3. The springing of the trap went well. No one got polarized or anything like that.
4. The scouting was solid.
Improve
1. Auxiliary fleet positioning. I didn't really like having them so far off, but I didn't want to leave them exposed while the forward group waited for that initial contact. I should have placed inside C2a on the wormhole to HS. That would've put them even closer to us, but still provided an easy route to safety if they were jumped.
2. After the fight was over we had some loitering going on. In the future we need to clear the field or cloak up to minimize our exposure to a possible counter-attack or third-party-ganking.
Deep Thoughts
I'm tempted to say I'd have liked to have had more versatility in the auxiliary fleet like EWAR or neuts, but from the very outset this engagement was geared toward burning down tech 1 battleships and battle cruisers, so I wanted to bring a lot of DPS in order to burn through their potentially large tanks. With that in mind I think the entire fleet comp was perfectly suited to burning down the scouted fleet.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Better Scouting
The other day I was scouting in my Helios. I don't remember if I was scanning down a chain or just patrolling an existing one, but I noticed a couple of industrial ships in the open on DSCAN. It was an Iteron V and some sort of rock-chewing ship.
As expected they were at an ore site doing their thing. The Iteron had a flight of T1 hobgoblins out. I don't know if it was out of boredom or if it was supposed to be some sort of deterrent, but either way it was pretty useless.
I wormed my way through the asteroid field toward the two ships to get into warp scrambler range and called for our fleet. While they formed up in another system I continued to relay intel, which was pretty boring: "No movement and they're still shooting rocks."
As the fleet traversed the wormhole I decloaked for a bump and point on the Iteron. The fleet landed and the carebears were issued tickets for the HS Express. I made sure to get on the kills with my point.
So, here's what I learned from that experience. I need to switch out my scrambler for a disruptor. The extra range on a disruptor would've been very useful here and I think is better suited for light/scout tackle.
The second issue I have with my performance during that engagement was sticking around to get on the kill mails like a whore. In most cases it doesn't matter and I don't think it really mattered in this instance, but we are creatures of habit and it's better to do the right thing all the time, not just only "when it matters."
I should've held my point and bumps only as long as it took for the Hictor to arrive and as soon as the bubble went up I should've disengaged and cloaked. The reason I say this is because as a scout my role is to provide intelligence and support, not charge in with the heavy cavalry when it arrives.
That may be debate-worthy to some people, but if you think of it in terms of roles and then translate those roles to the real world you get something like a recon unit relaying SITREPS, calling fire missions and only when necessary do they engage targets themselves.
As expected they were at an ore site doing their thing. The Iteron had a flight of T1 hobgoblins out. I don't know if it was out of boredom or if it was supposed to be some sort of deterrent, but either way it was pretty useless.
I wormed my way through the asteroid field toward the two ships to get into warp scrambler range and called for our fleet. While they formed up in another system I continued to relay intel, which was pretty boring: "No movement and they're still shooting rocks."
As the fleet traversed the wormhole I decloaked for a bump and point on the Iteron. The fleet landed and the carebears were issued tickets for the HS Express. I made sure to get on the kills with my point.
So, here's what I learned from that experience. I need to switch out my scrambler for a disruptor. The extra range on a disruptor would've been very useful here and I think is better suited for light/scout tackle.
The second issue I have with my performance during that engagement was sticking around to get on the kill mails like a whore. In most cases it doesn't matter and I don't think it really mattered in this instance, but we are creatures of habit and it's better to do the right thing all the time, not just only "when it matters."
I should've held my point and bumps only as long as it took for the Hictor to arrive and as soon as the bubble went up I should've disengaged and cloaked. The reason I say this is because as a scout my role is to provide intelligence and support, not charge in with the heavy cavalry when it arrives.
That may be debate-worthy to some people, but if you think of it in terms of roles and then translate those roles to the real world you get something like a recon unit relaying SITREPS, calling fire missions and only when necessary do they engage targets themselves.
Frigid Satellite Disassembly Company
After about a month or so of being on my own, diving into wormholes from hi-sec I've returned to Cold Moon Destruction and found them in nearly the same condition I found them the first time: living in a class 5 system with a static to class 4 wormhole space. They've also rid themselves of a lot of dead weight by abandoning a necrotic alliance.
At any rate, I've been busy since returning to my true internet spaceship home and I look forward to the greatness I'm sure we'll be accomplishing on our own in the near future.
As for the rest of you hole-probing internet spaceship nerds, please fill your hulls with PLEX and exotic dancers before re-entering Bob's holy space.
At any rate, I've been busy since returning to my true internet spaceship home and I look forward to the greatness I'm sure we'll be accomplishing on our own in the near future.
As for the rest of you hole-probing internet spaceship nerds, please fill your hulls with PLEX and exotic dancers before re-entering Bob's holy space.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Welcome to class!
So
after creating this new corporation of my, Tenebrous Effect, for those
of you that may be interested in joining in on the ground floor of a
scrub corp like this (or not), I decided to do a bit of hi-sec diving.
Odyssey has just recently been released after all and there would be
plenty of poor nubs eager to learn their first lessons in w-space.
It
didn't take long to find an incoming K162 from a class 2 wormhole. I
jumped in and saw that someone was already scanning. In the process of
creating a safespot I noticed a lone Caracal on dscan toward the outer
planet. Naturally, I abandoned the prudent course of action in favor of a
more aggressive tactic.
The
Caracal was sitting about 100 kilometers off of the customs office and
with his probes still out I figured there was little chance of him
keeping an eye on the directional scanner so I decloaked and engaged.
First kill of the evening: http://eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=18135021
Once
dispatched I sent him the obligatory "gf" and went on about my
business: setting up a safe and observation point near the local POS. It
looked like they ran sites fairly regularly and I wouldn't turn down an
easy kill.
It
didn't take long for the next new explorer to roll in from hi-sec. He
was sporting a brand new Caldari faction Heron and like his predecessor
figured that no one would see him at the outer planet even if he was
uncloaked.
I found this poor soul chilling out at a site near the outer planet. A bump gave me all the time I needed.
Second kill:
I
was somewhat disappointed with the loot drops so far, but to be honest I
wasn't expecting all that much. These were simple nubs after all. But
still, how is it that everyone else always finds those morons who carry
PLEX?
I
had left both of these wrecks untouched. I'm still not sure if that's
such a great move or not. It does act as a bit of bait, but I'm thinking
it might give away more information than it's worth. In hindsight, now
that I think about it, leaving the wrecks was probably a stupid move.
People can look up the kill on killboards and figure out what I'm
flying.
Yep. Definitely stupid.
After
this I went back to observing the locals. There was one or two logged
in, but as far as I could tell they were perma-afk. I kept an eagle on
them though. You never know when someone's going to do something
incredibly stupid.
After
a few more minutes of watching the locals though there was another
newcomer from hi-sec. A Moa this time. That was good. I was getting
tired of blowing up pitiably defenseless frigates.
Amazingly
I found the Moa at the outer planet. Whether he was attracted there by
the wrecks or by ignorance of the threats lurking in Anoikis I can't
say. Yet there he was at that same site I'd made my last kill.
I
have to give him credit though. He was aligned, but nothing that a
simple bump couldn't take care of. Once engaged this guy quickly turned
to the offense and opened up, but he just didn't have the firepower to
break through my Proteus's elite shield buffer? What?
Third and fourth kills from that chap:
Sunday, June 9, 2013
New Digs
There've been a few changes since the last post: I left my homosexual brothers-in-arms, Cold Moon Destruction. Those guys are probably the closest thing I've encountered in EVE to what the personal relationships are like in the Marine Corps: total debauchery!
At any rate, I've struck out on my own for the time being. Without a home in w-space I've pretty much been stalking other people and preying on those who don't know any better. Just today I've killed three people who were out exploring from Amarr and though they thought enough to fit the probe launcher none of them bothered with cloaking devices.
A few old friends have invited me to join up with them so far. I'll probably play it stubborn for a few weeks and see what I can't make happen in this scrub corp I've got going right now.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Countertrap on Hisec
I love combat in w-space. In my opinion it's the best in the game. There are some instances though when people generally avoid combat in w-space, such as on a wormhole that leads to high security space, but it does happen from time to time.
One such opportunity presented itself yesterday. A Transmission Lost pilot, Draconic, was utilizing a hi-sec wormhole that was at the other end of a chain which opened up as a K162 into our system; he was moving in some ships and supplies and had garnered the attention of a small Wayward 7 gang.
On his way out Draconic, our resident pedo-bait by the way, spotted a Harbinger and Drake sitting on the hi-sec side of the wormhole. I decided to go sit on the w-space side of that wormhole and keep an eye on things. Not long after I arrived in my covert Proteus a Phobos landed on the wormhole and bubbled up.
Now I'm not sure what these guys were thinking would happen. It's possible that they were waiting for Draconic to get back and try to kill him when he jumped back into the wormhole, but were they under the impression that he would jump in with a Harby and Drake chilling out at the hole? If so he would be able to jump right back out. Maybe they were hoping some other ships would be coming to access hi-sec and the ships in k-space would jump in, but why leave them in k-space? It's not like someone watching d-scan would jump to the wormhole with a Phobos on it, but not with the two battle-cruisers. Like I said, I don't know what they were thinking.
Nevertheless, I did intend on killing them. Draconic was on his way back with a heavily-tanked bait-Abaddon and while I was waiting I'd also seen a Tengu arrive and cloak up on the hole. It was obvious these guys had no idea I was there, which was perfectly fine with me. They were under the impression that they were going to net some easy kills in this "tarp" of theirs.
Guys from Loveshack, our home system, were already shipped up and sitting on the other side of the wormhole one system back.
A few minutes later Draconic jumped through the wormhole. Remaining cloaked I moved toward the wormhole, but kept my distance. We could never kill the Phobos since he could jump the wormhole as soon as he got in trouble. I waited for the Tengu to decloak then dropped my own cloak and immediately engaged him. Draconic's Abaddon drew the Harbinger and Drake in behind him.
At this point a hostile Proteus decloaked and engaged us, but our own gang was coming onto grid and the enemy began to flee through the wormhole to hi-sec. Unfortunately, their Harby had followed the Abaddon too far off of the wormhole and could not make it back before his ship and pod were destroyed.
While we looted the field a Wayward 7 Hound decloaked and launched a bomb. Bravo, sir! Once again I have no clue what you were thinking, but who am I to judge?
One such opportunity presented itself yesterday. A Transmission Lost pilot, Draconic, was utilizing a hi-sec wormhole that was at the other end of a chain which opened up as a K162 into our system; he was moving in some ships and supplies and had garnered the attention of a small Wayward 7 gang.
On his way out Draconic, our resident pedo-bait by the way, spotted a Harbinger and Drake sitting on the hi-sec side of the wormhole. I decided to go sit on the w-space side of that wormhole and keep an eye on things. Not long after I arrived in my covert Proteus a Phobos landed on the wormhole and bubbled up.
Now I'm not sure what these guys were thinking would happen. It's possible that they were waiting for Draconic to get back and try to kill him when he jumped back into the wormhole, but were they under the impression that he would jump in with a Harby and Drake chilling out at the hole? If so he would be able to jump right back out. Maybe they were hoping some other ships would be coming to access hi-sec and the ships in k-space would jump in, but why leave them in k-space? It's not like someone watching d-scan would jump to the wormhole with a Phobos on it, but not with the two battle-cruisers. Like I said, I don't know what they were thinking.
Nevertheless, I did intend on killing them. Draconic was on his way back with a heavily-tanked bait-Abaddon and while I was waiting I'd also seen a Tengu arrive and cloak up on the hole. It was obvious these guys had no idea I was there, which was perfectly fine with me. They were under the impression that they were going to net some easy kills in this "tarp" of theirs.
Guys from Loveshack, our home system, were already shipped up and sitting on the other side of the wormhole one system back.
A few minutes later Draconic jumped through the wormhole. Remaining cloaked I moved toward the wormhole, but kept my distance. We could never kill the Phobos since he could jump the wormhole as soon as he got in trouble. I waited for the Tengu to decloak then dropped my own cloak and immediately engaged him. Draconic's Abaddon drew the Harbinger and Drake in behind him.
At this point a hostile Proteus decloaked and engaged us, but our own gang was coming onto grid and the enemy began to flee through the wormhole to hi-sec. Unfortunately, their Harby had followed the Abaddon too far off of the wormhole and could not make it back before his ship and pod were destroyed.
While we looted the field a Wayward 7 Hound decloaked and launched a bomb. Bravo, sir! Once again I have no clue what you were thinking, but who am I to judge?
Friday, April 26, 2013
Late Nights
Writing the title to this post I immediately started thinking of a song from Aladdin: Arabian Nights. I can't stand that movie, but I really like that song. Anyway...
I've managed to work out a less-than-ideal solution to my recent lack of play-time on the home front (ie with the wife). Due to my work schedule I can't really stay up late and night during the week, which really forces me to get in all my gaming on the weekends. Since that is the case I've gotten the clear to stay up all night on Friday's and I won't be bothered Saturday. I can sleep in until mid-afternoon.
Now, while I can play all night and into the morning on Friday night/Saturday morning, that's not really how I like to do things. I'd much rather have a few hours on several days throughout the week, so let this be a lesson to you younger gentlemen who probably have never seen a women naked without paying for it: just don't get married! If you don't want to take my word for it then at least take the advice of the great and powerful Sam, possibly one of the wisest cocaine sages of the 1980's.
I've managed to work out a less-than-ideal solution to my recent lack of play-time on the home front (ie with the wife). Due to my work schedule I can't really stay up late and night during the week, which really forces me to get in all my gaming on the weekends. Since that is the case I've gotten the clear to stay up all night on Friday's and I won't be bothered Saturday. I can sleep in until mid-afternoon.
Now, while I can play all night and into the morning on Friday night/Saturday morning, that's not really how I like to do things. I'd much rather have a few hours on several days throughout the week, so let this be a lesson to you younger gentlemen who probably have never seen a women naked without paying for it: just don't get married! If you don't want to take my word for it then at least take the advice of the great and powerful Sam, possibly one of the wisest cocaine sages of the 1980's.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Existential Blue Balls
Last night was interesting in a fail kind of way. I logged into to find that we had a possible fight with Existential Anxiety (EA), a group that has become something of a pet project for Transmission Lost over the last few months. I'm not sure what lead up to this possible fight, but they knew we were there and we knew they were there and everything looked pretty good, so I hopped into my Proteus and headed down the chain.
I had to travel through two systems in k-space, which should be renamed suck-space, but when there are fights to be had suck-space is of no consequence. After those two systems I dived back into the beloved unknown and we gathered the fleet in EA's home system.
For a while there we thought they were actually going to fight us. I had about an hour before I needed to log which was plenty of time to blow some people up and get back to Loveshack. In the end they simply wasted about an hour of our lives. First their excuse was that we had too many people.
Are you serious?! You and two thirds of wormhole space, outnumbering us 6-to-1, invade our home and burn it to the ground and now you don't want to fight outnumbered yourselves?
Then they said they would fight a 10v10. While we mulled this over they took ten ships and moved them to the hi-sec wormhole. EA, why would you do this? Do you think we would come and fight you on the hi-sec wormhole? I think this got me pissed off more than anything else.
But it's okay. It's all fine. You don't like to fight unless victory is assured. When victory isn't assured you'll fight on a hi-sec wormhole so you can just jump to safety. Good. Insidious Design played these stupid Mickey Mouse games. They ran their mouths and made a lot of talk and hid inside POS's, wouldn't fight outnumbered and all that.
I would like to introduce EVE to the new punks of wormhole space: Existential Design! I hope everyone gets a good look because they won't be around much longer.
Are you serious?! You and two thirds of wormhole space, outnumbering us 6-to-1, invade our home and burn it to the ground and now you don't want to fight outnumbered yourselves?
Then they said they would fight a 10v10. While we mulled this over they took ten ships and moved them to the hi-sec wormhole. EA, why would you do this? Do you think we would come and fight you on the hi-sec wormhole? I think this got me pissed off more than anything else.
But it's okay. It's all fine. You don't like to fight unless victory is assured. When victory isn't assured you'll fight on a hi-sec wormhole so you can just jump to safety. Good. Insidious Design played these stupid Mickey Mouse games. They ran their mouths and made a lot of talk and hid inside POS's, wouldn't fight outnumbered and all that.
I would like to introduce EVE to the new punks of wormhole space: Existential Design! I hope everyone gets a good look because they won't be around much longer.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Burn Everything
During the first week of April we, Transmission Lost, identified scouts from Polarized, a mercenary wormhole alliance, in our system. Polarized, for those of you not familiar with w-space, are a spin-off of Exhale. They know what they're doing and are not taken lightly.
A lone covert ops frigate in the system is not typically a problem - we simply wait for it at the wormhole and kill it when it attempts to leave. The fact that this was a group in covert-capable ships and presumably lead by that alliance's fleet commander indicated that this was no ordinary scouting party.
An invasion was probably in the works and we had just put eyes on their reconnassiance team. That our alliance had just been war-decced by high-sec mercenaries only lent more credibility to that line of thinking.
Over the course of the next two days we stayed well ahead of this recon group, quickly scanning down the statics as well as incoming connections and setting up camps to catch and kill them or force them out. In this way we thinned their numbers, but their ultimate goal, J215338 or Loveshack, was still within reach.
We got intel that Polarized was rage-rolling and on the first of April they got their chance when a wormhole connected their system to ours. A swarm of ships from multiple alliances (Polarized, Existential Anxiety, Surely You're Joking, Ixtab, Ash, Buffer Zone, The Last Chancers, R.E.P.O., Exiled Ones, etc.) began pouring into our system and there was very little we could do about it.
Transmission Lost was not without friends, however. Our frequent and skilled opponents Sleeper Social Club and Kill It With Fire were, themselves, rage-rolling for our system. They didn't arrive in time to prevent our towers from being seiged into reinforced mode, but they did come. Unfortunately, their arrival was ill-timed. Transmission Lost forces were few at that point in the day. Thinking that if they moved quickly enough they could wrest control of the static wormhole and thus gain system control SSC and KILL attacked the enemy fleet camping the wormhole.
Transmission Lost pilots joined in on the counter-attack, but the Polarized coalition was reacted quickly with overwhelming force that was far beyond our expectations. We took severe losses and the reinforcements were forced to retreat back to their home system, collapsing the wormhole behind them.
Our fate was sealed and written in red on our killboards.
What was the impetus behind this invasion? It's uncertain, but it was clear that the Loveshack would burn and every capsuleer flying the colors of Transmission Lost would feel the cold bite of open space before it was all over.
Even as I write this the forces arrayed against us are destroying our POSes; obliterating a fortress system that has existed for longer than I know and has seen countless battles.
But their coalition is fleeting and as nebulous as wormhole space itself. Those who have instigated this will not always so grotesquely outnumber Transmission Lost. Their die is cast and sooner or later we will come to collect the debt that is owed to us.
A lone covert ops frigate in the system is not typically a problem - we simply wait for it at the wormhole and kill it when it attempts to leave. The fact that this was a group in covert-capable ships and presumably lead by that alliance's fleet commander indicated that this was no ordinary scouting party.
An invasion was probably in the works and we had just put eyes on their reconnassiance team. That our alliance had just been war-decced by high-sec mercenaries only lent more credibility to that line of thinking.
Over the course of the next two days we stayed well ahead of this recon group, quickly scanning down the statics as well as incoming connections and setting up camps to catch and kill them or force them out. In this way we thinned their numbers, but their ultimate goal, J215338 or Loveshack, was still within reach.
We got intel that Polarized was rage-rolling and on the first of April they got their chance when a wormhole connected their system to ours. A swarm of ships from multiple alliances (Polarized, Existential Anxiety, Surely You're Joking, Ixtab, Ash, Buffer Zone, The Last Chancers, R.E.P.O., Exiled Ones, etc.) began pouring into our system and there was very little we could do about it.
Transmission Lost was not without friends, however. Our frequent and skilled opponents Sleeper Social Club and Kill It With Fire were, themselves, rage-rolling for our system. They didn't arrive in time to prevent our towers from being seiged into reinforced mode, but they did come. Unfortunately, their arrival was ill-timed. Transmission Lost forces were few at that point in the day. Thinking that if they moved quickly enough they could wrest control of the static wormhole and thus gain system control SSC and KILL attacked the enemy fleet camping the wormhole.
Transmission Lost pilots joined in on the counter-attack, but the Polarized coalition was reacted quickly with overwhelming force that was far beyond our expectations. We took severe losses and the reinforcements were forced to retreat back to their home system, collapsing the wormhole behind them.
Our fate was sealed and written in red on our killboards.
What was the impetus behind this invasion? It's uncertain, but it was clear that the Loveshack would burn and every capsuleer flying the colors of Transmission Lost would feel the cold bite of open space before it was all over.
Even as I write this the forces arrayed against us are destroying our POSes; obliterating a fortress system that has existed for longer than I know and has seen countless battles.
But their coalition is fleeting and as nebulous as wormhole space itself. Those who have instigated this will not always so grotesquely outnumber Transmission Lost. Their die is cast and sooner or later we will come to collect the debt that is owed to us.
† Many thanks to our allies in this. †
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Throne of Lies
I messed up pretty bad today. I'll leave it at that for the moment since I think some back story is in order.
My alliance is currently under a declaration of war by some k-space bears (everyone who lives in k-space is a bear now) so we decided to take out a fleet and wreck some of their faces. The FC asked if anyone had anything good and shiny that we could use as bait in Jita, so I offered up my Navy-thron. It had a solid tank and would last more than long enough to act as bait.
A scout already in Jita had ID'd one war target sitting on the Jita 4-4 undock so I made my way there in a pod. The guy sitting on the undock was in a Megathron with a bunch of probes out. Naturally I was able to dock up without issue and proceeded to refit the bait ship for maximum tank.
I gave my thumbs up to the FC and once the fleet was in position I was given word to undock and engage. I did so, but this is where I screwed up. The guy wasn't firing back. I'm not sure what he was waiting for.
At any rate, I had him locked up and was giving it all the pew I could muster. When the FC asked how it was going I told him I had him aggressed and that he wasn't going anywhere. I was under the mistaken impression that if you're being fired on you can't dock. I'm not sure where I got idea, but it is wrong! So don't make the same mistake that I did.
Well... the fleet lands and starts applying DPS and the target docks. There was about a half-second of silence before the WTF's started to erupt. Here's a few of the highlights.
"I thought you said he was aggressed."
"That was definitely not 1 minute."
"He didn't even red-box you did he?"
"He said the war target was aggressed. He sits upon a throne of lies!"
Many of us have kids so I can make this analogy. You know how when a kid does something he realizes is incredibly wrong or when he breaks something he'll get really quiet and just hang his head? That was me last night once I realized what happened.
In addition to my throne of lies I also had a crown of shame. One might even say I Nutmegged us.
Ultimately, it was just a lesson learned and one I won't need to learn again. I'm sure it won't be the last time I have to deal with lessons learned.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
They Moan ALOT
I logged in today and did the usual. Scanning, scouting, spinning my ship in the POS. When I got around to checking out the chain I saw a bunch of ships - likely inside a tower - on directional scan in our static. I took a second to put eyes on this potential pinata and at first sight all was as I would typically find a bunch of ships sitting inside a tower.
Ships. Stick. Corporate hangar. Bubble. Dickstar mods.
Alas, there was one small problem in their particular dickstar implementation: most of their mods were unanchored. Of the mods that remained most of those were offline.
Being the educator at heart that I am, I decided to teach them one of the lessons all true wormholers already know. I made a few million ISK in the process, but I would've done it for free, I think.
You might say I'm just generous, like that.
Ships. Stick. Corporate hangar. Bubble. Dickstar mods.
Alas, there was one small problem in their particular dickstar implementation: most of their mods were unanchored. Of the mods that remained most of those were offline.
Being the educator at heart that I am, I decided to teach them one of the lessons all true wormholers already know. I made a few million ISK in the process, but I would've done it for free, I think.
You might say I'm just generous, like that.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
The Sidelines (twice)
I logged in last night to find that our people had already found a good fight - or at least the probability of one - against Sleeper Social Club. We've met these guys a few times now and were looking to redeem the honor of our good name since our last fight against them was a catastrophic failure.
I didn't have any ships that would fit in with the fleet comp so I stood by in my trusty Helios and took notes, more or less. With 3 Bhaals and an Archon the support aspect of the fleet was rock-solid. The rest was armor-tanked strategic cruisers (standard fare for w-space fights).
Listening in on comms, but never actually putting eyes on the fleet, I had to rely on what was being said. Luckily things were smooth and clear during the actual engagement portions so I had a good idea of what was happening and could visualize it well.
SSC pretty much ran up against a brick wall, which was good for us, but they weren't running very fast so didn't lose a ton of ships, which was good for them. Still, the victory went fully toward Transmission Lost.
After that fight we rolled the static wormhole into a c5/c6. The static was empty, but had a ton of gas sites in it. After scanning down the c6 I jumped in, leaving another prober in the c5 to finish up the signatures.
Intel available on this c6 system was promising. It looked to be held by a small corp who had been running sites daily at exactly that time. Another scout jumped in and we put eyes on both POSes in the system, confirming the wormhol.es intel on the inhabitants. There were no ships at either POS and both had feeble defenses.
For a few minutes we were pushing the idea to stront-check the POSes, but pilots of the c6 corp began logging on. First it was a Buzzard which appeared to be completely lost, but we allowed him to scan down the system in his own fail fashion. His logon was followed by several others: 2 Moroses, a Domi, another Buzzard, a Rapier and a Tempest.
Keeping eyes on the POS I relayed all this intel to the fleet which was massing on the other side of the C5s>C6a wormhole. We were hoping to catch one of the dreads rolling the hole, but that was not to be. The targets decided to use a Domi and their Tempest, so we took what we could get.
Both battleships went down in a blaze of failure, while I waited and watched the dreads at the POS hoping against hope that one (or both) of them would warp in to save the day. Neither of them did and my hopes were dashed.
I didn't whore on the kills so my efforts go undocumented, but one day some one will warp a dreadnaught to a wormhole in a failcascading attempt to rescue a battleship. I'll relay that information to the fleet which will eagerly devour the failcakes and maybe then I'll whore on the mail. Maybe.
I didn't have any ships that would fit in with the fleet comp so I stood by in my trusty Helios and took notes, more or less. With 3 Bhaals and an Archon the support aspect of the fleet was rock-solid. The rest was armor-tanked strategic cruisers (standard fare for w-space fights).
Listening in on comms, but never actually putting eyes on the fleet, I had to rely on what was being said. Luckily things were smooth and clear during the actual engagement portions so I had a good idea of what was happening and could visualize it well.
SSC pretty much ran up against a brick wall, which was good for us, but they weren't running very fast so didn't lose a ton of ships, which was good for them. Still, the victory went fully toward Transmission Lost.
After that fight we rolled the static wormhole into a c5/c6. The static was empty, but had a ton of gas sites in it. After scanning down the c6 I jumped in, leaving another prober in the c5 to finish up the signatures.
Intel available on this c6 system was promising. It looked to be held by a small corp who had been running sites daily at exactly that time. Another scout jumped in and we put eyes on both POSes in the system, confirming the wormhol.es intel on the inhabitants. There were no ships at either POS and both had feeble defenses.
For a few minutes we were pushing the idea to stront-check the POSes, but pilots of the c6 corp began logging on. First it was a Buzzard which appeared to be completely lost, but we allowed him to scan down the system in his own fail fashion. His logon was followed by several others: 2 Moroses, a Domi, another Buzzard, a Rapier and a Tempest.
Keeping eyes on the POS I relayed all this intel to the fleet which was massing on the other side of the C5s>C6a wormhole. We were hoping to catch one of the dreads rolling the hole, but that was not to be. The targets decided to use a Domi and their Tempest, so we took what we could get.
Both battleships went down in a blaze of failure, while I waited and watched the dreads at the POS hoping against hope that one (or both) of them would warp in to save the day. Neither of them did and my hopes were dashed.
I didn't whore on the kills so my efforts go undocumented, but one day some one will warp a dreadnaught to a wormhole in a failcascading attempt to rescue a battleship. I'll relay that information to the fleet which will eagerly devour the failcakes and maybe then I'll whore on the mail. Maybe.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Forgotten
There is a special place in Hell for wormholers. It's called wormhole space.
It is the region of the universe where the despised and forgotten make their home and I am one of them. I take pride in living out here where the civilization of "enlightened" people has no true power. Certainly there are pockets of light in this vast darkness, but those pockets are an insignificant flicker against the backdrop of an endless, black abyss.
My victories and failings alike are likely to go unnoticed. They'll be eclipsed and forgotten. My entire existence will collapse and be lost behind the veil of history just as these wormholes that enable my existence in this place eb and flow in and out of existence.
As depressing as that may seem, I like the idea that I will become one of the many secrets w-space will keep to itself. There is no doubt in my mind I shall be in good company.
Don't lose the Tengus
A few nights ago it was pretty quiet for us and I, being the impoverished wormholer that I am, had been scanning for sites to run. I found a couple of Instrumental Ladar sites and rallied a few guys who also needed to fatten their wallets. It took a few minutes, but I got four able-bodied Tengu pilots and we set off.
I suppose the only thing that makes this particular Tengu op noteworthy is that we weren't running these sites in home or our static, but four or five jumps down the chain in a null-bear expo system. No big deal as far as I was concerned. We had a dedicated scout in the system, the chain was quiet with the exception of a Helios probing (very poorly I might add) in our static, and we had enough firepower to clean out the Sleepers and head home.
Still, my CEO put the pressure on with the obligatory "You better not lose those Tengus." There's nothing really interesting to tell about the rest of it. Sleepers exploded and Ventures sucked up the gas while one of our guys reshipped to a Noctis to salvage the field.
That, in my eyes, is one of the best parts of wormhole space: the ability to quickly go deep into unknown and hostile territory, do something profitable and get out all under the pressure of paranoia bordering on psychosis.
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