Kraesslers Coyotes

Even a pirate has some earning to do

2011-11-20T16:15:00.001+01:00

As the title does tell it all i won't tell you anything new when i say, that even the criminals of Eve have to have some industry, production or trader comrades in the galaxies.I am no exception. My girlfriend runs a nice interplanetary production agency which gives some ISK into the corp. And some frigates and ammo. It's always good to have some "clean" business.

If you want to know what planetary interaction or "PI" is all about,then i recommend checking this video out first.

My trusty Tristan fit

2011-11-19T13:46:00.001+01:00

Here we go with my trusty Tristan fit. I know you all say frigate fighting is dead. But who knows. Perhaps you can kill more than you think you can.

Railomator - my favorite Tristan setup

[Tristan, railomator]
Damage Control II
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Adaptive Nano Plating II

Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Initiated Harmonic Warp Scrambler I
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator

125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
125mm Railgun II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket

Small Trimark Armor Pump I
Small Hybrid Burst Aerator I
Small Anti-Explosive Screen Reinforcer I

Warrior II x1

Set your optimal and destroy other frigates....

Back from my hiding place - exploding Rifters

2011-02-06T12:17:00.005+01:00

Due to some unfortunate cirumstances involving headhunters and some crazy ammarian priests i went into my hiding place to get out of the view of their hired snipers and killers. Apparently i had stirred up some unrest.

But i now can come back. I have had a facial surgery, vocal chord changes and even some more dubious things done to me. My confidants say that the surgeon did a bit much and that i am now looking like some famous rock-star. Bullshit but see for yourself:

Old Face

New Face

The first thing after i crept out under my stone was to get some new ships. As everybody should know, i fly mostly frigate sized space ships. The Tristan and the Incursus are my favorites. Both are underestimated by the normal rifter pilots. This can be seen in my first battle in this year.

I roamed the worlds of the Amarr/Minmatar Faction Warfare area. Going through Auga, Kourmonen and Lamaa i memorized good scanning spots. In Lamaa i came across a Rifter pilot named Handssor. He was longing for a fight as he just sat a planet. I think it was Planet III. Quickly i aligned towards the planet and warped at 10km from the planetary warp-to point. There he sat. The ducttape rifter gleamed in the rays of the sun. I hit my afterburner to full throttle and my trusty Tristan jumped into action. My old setup has seen me flying with close range blasters. Now i have changed my setup to long-range Railguns and faction ammo. New tactics for new battles.

As soon as i engaged i could see that the other pilot activated a tracking disruptor on me. This thing is a nasty piece of electronic warfare. It can disrupt the range or the tracking speed of weapon turrets. And my railguns really have some bad tracking and need a nice optimal range. So either way he had set up the tracking disruptor it would hurt my damage. On the other hand it ment, that he hadn't a web on his ship as my Warp-Scramble-Alerter showed my that he activated a WarpScramber on my engines. My speed wouldnt be affected.

After my first shots my HUD displayed that he had the optimal range script loaded and my railguns optimal range was reduced significantly. I quickly countered that by overheating the guns hoping to kill him fast. Additionaly i now launced my single Warrior II drone to take him out. Warrior II drones are the fastest drones with exceptional tracking and the best drones to take out frigate sized ships.

His shield evaporated under my hail of Antimatter plasma and the rockets that spew out of my advanced rocket launchers. Chunks of his armor spew out of his hull but were quickly redone by nano-assemblers. I quickly realized that he activated his Armor Repairer as the blue shine of the nano-assemblers covered his hull. My own ship was in armor too when i realized that another rifter entered the fray. Luckily he warped to 70km from us and hesitated to engage me. I quickly got a better range on my first target and my damage was enough to explode it. My weapons were burnt badly and i shut down the overheat. In the meantime the second Rifter, piloted by Morden Thrace burnt towards me.

My Tristan fit doesn't have an Armor-Repairer so i took my chances by holding my range at around 7.000 to 8.000 m and letting loose all i had. I was lucky and my armor just melted when the second Rifter exploded.

A good new start. Killing two Rifters in my Tristan was a feat i could be proud of. Heading back to Amamake to dock my battered ship up the concord database showed me that these two pilots work as a tag-team. Today wasn't their day.

Rifter fitting

2009-07-12T14:30:00.001+02:00

My other character flies rifters. It is the very best dogfighter. Here are my two setups:

[Rifter, ac, rocket]
Gyrostabilizer II
Damage Control II
Adaptive Nano Plating II

Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

'Malkuth' Rocket Launcher I, Foxfire Rocket
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP S

[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]

[Rifter, loving rose]
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Gyrostabilizer II
Small I-a Polarized Armor Regenerator

Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I
'Langour' Drive Disruptor I

125mm Gatling AutoCannon II, Fusion S
125mm Gatling AutoCannon II, Fusion S
125mm Gatling AutoCannon II, Fusion S
Small 'Knave' I Energy Drain

[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]

Another tristan fitting

2009-07-12T14:29:00.001+02:00

I like to fly this one too:

[Tristan, with TD]
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Emergency Damage Control I

Initiated Harmonic Warp Scrambler I
Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
F-392 Baker Nunn Targeting Scrambler

Light Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
'Malkuth' Rocket Launcher I, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket
'Malkuth' Rocket Launcher I, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket

[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]
[empty rig slot]

Hornet EC-300 x1

Vard is hot

2009-06-03T16:32:00.003+02:00

And it was hot. Indeed. The battle took nearly 19 minutes with ships warping in and out, standdowns at 100 km and small scouting ships buzzing around. 19 Minutes where we to hold the Republics Complex to be freed from the Amarr capturing it. Tens of military wrecks from the regular Minmatar Navy floated in space, debris and hot gases spewing out of compartments where atmosphere was still maintained by emergency controls.

The captains from other ships reported their status and in the background i could sometimes hear a claxon sounding on and off when a new ingetrity breach in the hull was reported. It has been a close battle.

But we have won and the Vard system is once again decontested. That was worth the cost.

Eve meme

2009-06-02T16:19:00.004+02:00

Inspired by Kirith Kodachi i present you my EVE meme. Places where i have been in the past.

Mostly this is minmatar low-sec but Providence and Curse are also big yellow points, meaning i was there often if not recent. Recent action in milita takes place in Heimatar, Devoid and Metropolis region with some action in The Bleak lands too. There are my red dots.

5 years action. And i have not seen half of EVE space. Should i change it?

AAR 05/28/09

2009-05-29T08:31:00.003+02:00

Once in my quarters in DAL i turned the com-systems on to be overwhelmed by massive radio talk. A WT carrier was pinned down in DAL. As i was still confused by the massive paperwork i had down in the days before and the planetside voyage i needed whole 2 minutes (freaking awesome) to realize that i was docked in DAL. Dammit. As i undocked my Stabber Cruiser i filtered the radio message to get the info, that the carrier was in structure. As i came out of warp it was destroyed. Debris, emergency capsules and statics all over the place. And a lot of friendly ships. Incidents of friendly fire still arise and this place was no exception.

Anyhow. Some minutes after i landed two war target frigates, punishers, just came out of warp near me. What were they thinking? Landing in a hornets nest they were nearly instantly popped.

It was time for the roaming gang which i postponed from tuesday to thursday. We have now mission running fleets too and i was surprised to get instantly four comrades in frigates. AS we assembled we took the opportunity to pop a rigged "Cormorant" class destroyer worth nearly 100 million ISK. The excape capsules left nearly instantly so the captain and the crew of the destroyer were fully awake and knew what the odds were against us.

We left the system to the low-sec systems of the Metropolis region. After three jumps we got a positive contact, that some amarrian war targets were trying to take a plex. Two interceptors orbited the minmatar navy at the plex station and we made our way to take the plex station back.

Now i like the ancient earthen game called chess a lot. And something really similar evolved. After 5 to 10 minutes the enemy changed ships to cruisers. And we got one cruiser on its way while still using four frigates and one destroyer. Meanwhile i changed from a close range destroyer to a long range "Cormorant" class destroyer and our "Rupture" class cruiser was in warp to the plex.

When, finally, we reconquered the plex the enemy arrived with a "Maller", an "Arbitrator" (both cruisers) and a "Retribution". Things went smooth. With the loss of only one "Rifter" we smashed all three enemies.

We joked a bit on our way home that to make this roam even better we just need a WT on a gate ready to be blasted. And hey, wishes sometimes come true. A rigged "Crow" orbited the gate we came in, was attacked and exterminated. A glorious roam.

Easter voyage

2009-04-09T22:48:00.000+02:00

For the old earthen Easter holidays i made my way back to some secret meeting with old comrades of arms. I will report on the outcome.

Fight me personally

2009-04-09T22:38:00.001+02:00

If you want to fight me personnaly, then head out to:

http://heinzk.mybrute.com

A shameless plug i must admit. Have fun.

More eve related updates are in the pipe too. We had some interesting fights and my Fc'ing is very strenous. Militia is a mob you can't tame very well in an impromptu fight.

The Frerstorn incident

2009-03-28T21:03:00.000+01:00

Here we go with another quick insight into tactical errors and good learning from the enemy from our previous engagements.

When i logged in i heard corp communications trying to get a fight from some arbitrators and Mallers but were too low on ppl. Enemy WT were Vigilia VEF again. We quickly got a small gang together. We had like 4 cruisers and 3 BC. WT strength was estimated to 4 cruisers+. The WT did open up a major in Frerstorn which was uncontested. WT left system, we were spotted earlier and they got the intel.

Soon after we asked ourselves why should we close the plex: no points, no chance to get a fight and so on.

We warped to Ardar gate. Soon after a WT prophecy jumped through to us. Ardar intel was still Arbis and mallers. I ordered the attack on the prophecy. And then it went down the drain ^^. A guardian, an armageddon an executioner and something else jumped us. We had the prophecy in 50% armor but the guardian was repping him. At the point where i wanted to have the guardian down he was over 20km away.

kb/?a=kill_related&kll_id=30867

I gave the order to break off.

Only later did i realize that i missed one friendly BC going afk.

Lessons learned:
Always / ALWAYS have a scout in the next system. Scouts should be in voice. If you dont have a mic you cant be scout. If no one has a mic, nobody is scout and no fleet will be active.

Lesson to myself: Be quicker to see the real threat: the guardian. And: We need ECM ships and drones. Much more. Train them EC-drones are easy to learn.

And another lesson: VVEF has a broad range of ships up to BS and logisitcs.

Busy times

2009-03-23T17:43:00.002+01:00

I have founded the Tuesday roams in our ever growing Faction Warfare corporation in the Minmatar Militia. Every tuesday i will FC a fleet of small ships to roam around contested systems to free them and to down some Amarrian milita pilots. So far we have met with mixed success some target of opportunity.

Example:

We assembled in Dal and left at 2005 EVE the system for Metropolis region again. VV is doing a show there and i thought it a good idea to spank their presence while they feel overconfident of themselves. Even from the losses we inflicted on them yesterday.

Our fleet consisted of mostly frigs with one heroic Jeddak taking a rupture and presenting himself as primary in every encounter.

In Ardar we encountered VV. They consisted of one punisher and two mallers, then another maller joined them. We didnt tackle them and went to safes. After that we got a call from Sasawong in Eytangard again. He had plexes open and the system was contested. Sasawong brought a trasher into the gang.

We assembled at the button to have cover from the 1st spawn of friendly NPCs. Soon after 3 WT came into the system. Two Mallers and one Arbitrator. And soon enough they warped in. Plan was to lure them into the plex near the button so that enough NPC spawns will help us. We killed two waves of Warrior II from the Arbitrator. The Mallers advanced and we got damage. Command was now to warp out to a SafeSpot and double back to the acc gate to get them in the midst of their plexing.

Plan succeded the enemy contact. kb/?a=kill_related&kll_id=30472

We killed them, killed another wave of Valkyrie II, chased the survivors away and closed the plex.

Fitting for Tristans

2009-02-26T09:27:00.003+01:00

I use very often Gallente frigates for FW fun. Here are two setups i like very much. Which one do you prefer? They are written in the EFT format, the tool for Eve fittings.

[Tristan, 27820]
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Damage Control II

'Langour' Drive Disruptor I
1MN MicroWarpdrive I
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

Light Electron Blaster II
Light Electron Blaster II
OE-5200 Rocket Launcher
OE-5200 Rocket Launcher

[empty rig slot]

Warrior I x1

[Tristan, 27800]
Adaptive Nano Plating II
N-Type Reactive Membrane I
Small Inefficient Armor Repair Unit

Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Small Capacitor Booster I
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

Light Ion Blaster II
Light Neutron Blaster II
OE-5200 Rocket Launcher
OE-5200 Rocket Launcher

[empty rig slot]

Warrior I x1

Another fleet action

2009-02-26T09:06:00.002+01:00

Wednesdays are not good for fleet actions but we got one running anyhow. We got 2 rifters one replaced with another rifter, 1 Tristan replaced by a Kestrel replaced by a Catalyst, 1 Cormorant replaced by a Thrasher and one Hawk. Later on we got two more frigates but to my dismay it was to late to go on with the fleet.

Rally Point for the fleet was Dal and everybody tried to come as fast as possible to the 2nd station. We started with some problems when 4th Dominion was ganked in Amamake on undock by pirates in and some news about amarrian scum flying around in big blob fleets. Additionally we heard about an engagement at top station in DAL and soon Mr. 15sec and me were enroute to this station. The action was over when we arrived as Hoffnar took the enemy out. Soon enough a claw was incoming and shredded my 10 minutes old Tristan to pieces. But Mr. 15sec and Hoffnar took him out soon enough. I replaced my Tristan with a rocket Kestrel because at this point we didn't have enough raw DPS. I hoped that the changes to missiles are not affecting the damage of rockets towards small ships. We would see.

An amarrian Tristan did cat and mouse games with us and warped away as soon as one of us came to engagement range. The amarrian blob arrived in Dal and camped a gate but the reason for the small fleets is to play in lagfest with larger blobs. At least we were ready to go and the course was set towards Arzad where the amarrians have made some progress.

As our scout jumped into Arzad he reported a pirate in a rupture that came into our system. We arranged to optimals and engaged him. Then confusion spread as someone on the comsystem called that he is one of us. Half of the fleet stopped laying fire on the rupture which by this time was already in half armor and had popped Jeddak in his rifter. Fast checks on the overview and the bracket systems showed that he was a valid target by rules of concord and we engaged again. As we soon learned he once was a pilot in our own corporation who went the piracy way. Too bad. We blasted his rupture into nothingness for the loss of my Kestrel.

My fit can't be that bad as it turned 2nd on the damage listing. Well. I lost it and replaced it by a Catalyst.

We wanted to rally in Ezzara when a new/the old amarrian blob consisting of more than 20 ships arrived there and began to plexing. By luck and sneaky skills we could assemble in Arzad and there we did our roaming, our main mission. We encountered no war target and heard only then over the com-systems that the militias clashed in Ezarra. The amarrians took a victory from the militia fleet because of more ECM and firepower. Soon after we stood down in Arzad.

Short update

2009-02-26T09:05:00.001+01:00

I am FC'ing now and will take small gangs into lo-sec to secure systems for the Minmatar militia.

Did the first roaming fleet yesterday and i had fun while it lasted. Sadly i only had one hour time to play and after plexing a minor in Tararan i had to leave. To my dismay we didn'*t encounter a war target that we could have pwned (WTFBBQRIFTAAAAH) but alas .. such is eve.

I did a brief (very longwinded ^^) introduction to fleet maneuver/actions e.g. what to do after jumping into a system, what a scout does, what the ECM does, how a fleet is arranged in a plex against hostiles and so.

I apologize to the veterans for the crash course but i hope you too did find it a bit refreshing.

Will definitely do it again.

And on we go

2009-02-19T14:27:00.003+01:00

Despite the recent backlash with the terrible system anomalies (even with the new Ramsan) our militia is doing good progress. We liberated the Ezzara system from the Amarrians and went on with our task. We felt that our pressure has made an impression on the amarrian militia. We encounter our foes not so often as before and when we do, we mostly win. At least thats the feeling we get in our corporation Tribal Core, my new home.

Tribal Core is doing a corp internal frigate tournament. Its a tourney where mostly all of our pilots have a go at each other in 1vs1. I hope i can give a good show for the money. The rules are easy and the fittings including the ship itself have to stay below 2 million isk. Thats all. I will post the results here.

Petition turned down

2009-02-15T19:38:00.003+01:00

Well, as expected CCP turned down my petition:

"Hi,

Thank you for the information you have provided.

Unfortunately all reimbursement petitions must be verified through our server side logs, which do not show that any server issues happened during the approximate time of your ship loss. This is not to say that anything you have said is not believed, however we must be able to find information to support the reimbursement as well as many other factors.

At this time your reimbursement request has been denied.

Best Regards,
GM Gilsev
The EVE Online Customer Support Team"

The problem with this, that CCP indeed acknowledges server issues with Faction Warfare in this thread. And they ask us players to give them details of the fights. We did. And i did it with the laggy battle where i lost my Taranis. But they still turn it down because their server protocols dont show it.

"Dear Sirs and managers,

thanks for answering. Your answer isnt very conclusive. We players have wittnesses for the lag. You have nothing in your protocol. I trust my eyes and my PC and my wittnes more than your server protocols.

But as this is your standard answer i just quit playing Faction Warfare until you decide to fix it. The small problem is that Faction Warfare was one reason i made and trained skills with this character so i can have small scale PVP. If i don't get fun out of a game, i will leave a game. If you make conditions where a player can not act the player is disappointed, Up to a point where he simply leaves this game to get to a new one where he isnt gutted about playing. Just as a reminder for your marketing crew.

Yours sincerely
Heinz"

Perhaps its time to go to piracy and/or spec a trader and for CCP to get better server protocols or players within Faction Warfare so they can see the lag with their own eyes. For now i am very disappointed with CCP and EVE.

And again - system anomalies interfere with a battle

2009-02-04T22:02:00.003+01:00

In a very nice fight against the amarrian forces in Auga i lost my trusty Taranis. It had served me and my crew some long months. Sadly enough i was podded too. So i woke up to the sound of Mozart in my clone station vat. What a loss. Due to a system anomaly me and some other pilot experienced time shift and saw things that never happened or just saw nothing at all (ooc: lag). This oocured in the middle of the fight.

Low-Security systems are notoriously known for system anomalies. Whereas in null.null-space you rarely ever experience them it is getting more than a nuisance to the pod pilots here in the militia warfare. Our scientists are looking into it to get some further insight but all we really have is hope. Hope that the anomalies some podpilots call "lag" will be diminishing.

Lantorn lost

2009-02-04T10:39:00.003+01:00

"Lantorn is lost, all forces regroup at xxxxxx-station in xxxxxxx-system"

That was the message in my communication system as i set course for Dal. That was shocking but not surprising. For a long time the Amarr militia launched every day at an exact time (ooc: after downtime) an offensive against Lantorn and conquered the military bases and complexes. Unable to defend against such large forces the Minmatar militia tried to set some new focal points in the surrounding systems. To no avail. We steadily lost the focus and were hampered by the constant strain that was put upon the pilots who were active when the Amarrians fielded their biggest fleets.

So now Lantorn is lost. But we have a drawerful of new plans. Read about the ongoings in a later post.

Real life

2009-01-25T11:10:00.003+01:00

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. I am still active in the faction warfare and we had some nice battles against our amarr counterparts. Real life kicked me in the butt though and i am trying to get some play time. New updates soon.

Meanwhile in a battle at Amamake system of only 40 to 50 odd ships we got so bad lag that the whole speed-campaign of CCP feels like a joke. But that being my first lag battle in some months i still feel confident. At least we got a nice battle. I was on duty in my Ares interceptor to get some points on enemies. Then we got reports on the enemy fleet which was around the same strength as our fleet. Hidden to us were the some ten or fifteen ships in surrounding systems including some heavy hitters and battleships. This led to our disaster as we fielded more frigate class ships and no battleship. That and the lag was the downfall of our Task Force "Stoogie". Kudos to our enemies for a smack free battle and to our pilots who stood and fled not.

But revenge will come.

Strategy in space

2009-01-08T16:03:00.002+01:00

I did some more ventures into the faction warfare of EVE lately.

Beginning from the 1st of January i participated in the destruction of eight ships and two pods. I joined a new corporation as i had the feeling that my old corp wasnt doing very much. But i hold no grudge to them and have learned some nice tips for PVP. The Tribal Core is deeply in Faction Warfare. I found some very nice people there and they are mostly active during the euopean evening. Thats very great because i can mostly play at this timeframe.

Based from my last post you could get the impression that you can not have very much fun with FW. Bug what you can get is a lot of PVP action. For beginnners in PVP it is an ideal way to get experience in fleet combat. The FC's are mostly competent and even if the militia guys are mostly a bunch of chaotic and unorganized ot Faction Warfare. Pirates (cough cough) and a lot of war targets present themselves. Sometimes you just stay with some other guys from militia in your PVP ships at the gates and wait .. and wait ..... and wait ..... but no targets present themselves. Then you switch to your T1 Cruiser or T1 frigate to run down a complex and all of a sudden the amarr militia is coming in PVP outfit. On other days there is just cat and mouse with fleets and the FC is consulting intel channels, maps and scouts to get a doublecross route to cut the enemy of.

Pure plexing isn't fun. But if you mix it with some PVP and harrassing attacks on the amarr worlds .. then it is.

Faction warfare - how and some comments

2009-01-04T12:38:00.003+01:00

Letrange has done a good job of writing the main mechanics of Factional Warfare into a post at his site. Check it out here. He is commenting on the things he thinks are good and the one that are not so good.

I have to agree to his point of view, especially the defensive plexing is one of the most boring and time consuming things to do. With no reward its kind of a game where you wait for an enemy. And with the current flavor of the month called "THE BLOB" there is little a solo pilot can do.

Letrange summarizes as following: "Conclusion: An interesting tool to learn Pew Pew. It's biggest advantage is that you don't have the sec-status worrys of the typical anti-pirate campaign (only about 1/3 of all pirates are -5 sec status or below from what I've observed) and you dont' have to go Pirate to get some action. But until the rewards are tweeked and consequences thrown in at best it's only a training tool. The inability of alliances to retain corporations while letting those corporations go do FW means it's a disapointing training tool as well."

I wholeheartedly agree. Thanks to Letrange for posting this.

On the official eve-online forum, scrapheap-challenge and the german forums there is currently a discussion going if FW is dead or not. Let's wait for CCP to patch it to its best. I cant see why they should leave FW in this state.

Fun and not

2009-01-03T14:45:00.002+01:00

With the help from other milita guys I destroyed some more ship and their pilots and crew. But it did not satisfy me. Even when blowing things in space up was a well cultivated sports of mine, doing it in milita didn't gave me the kicks i experienced when flying alone and on the lookout for some game i could prey on. *sigh*

On the other hand gave me the combat and fights done in a fleet a valuable sight of fleet combat. Even if it was a bit unorganized. An experience i would not miss and that i will need once, i know.

But the majority of faction warfare was to sit at gates, at planets to scan military complexes out and to play cat and mouse with the enemy militia. It was a boring game. A game i didn't want to play forever. But now i just had to go through this period of time to hone my skills.

In the meantime i killed some more pilots. A merlin and a crusader fell to my Ares, warp disrupted for the fleet to blast 'em to smitherens. The merlin pilot was podded too. Such was the onslaught of our small fleet. The Ares is a wonderfull tool for that job. It can stay out of range of almost every other ship except another interceptor and pinpoint the target with its sophisticated Warp disruptors. Then the interceptor pilot just calls in the heavy guys to kill the target. One has to be careful though to not do some silly pilot errors. Or very fast warrior drones. These are the fastest drones in the galaxy and they can catch an careless or fooldhardy interceptor.

The spoils of war

2008-12-30T11:05:00.001+01:00

Kourmonen was a system where a lot of action was about to happen. The local pirate community was happy about the new targets and the Amarr and Minmatar militias were fighting around the system's planets. I plotted a course to the planets and watched nearly at every entry point a battle. Military compounds were found and at the acceleration gates fights erupted nearly instantly when defending pilots headed to the intruders to dispell them from the system.
In the 3 months i was in hiatus i didnt notice that the terrorist Minmatar Freedom Fighter community called Ushra'Khan had a expeditionary corps they called Kinda'Shujaa.

In one month i nearly saw them everywhere around the battlegrounds fighting for the Minmatar milita. And they fought with a vigor i have not seen very often these days. After my body was cleaned via nanocleansing from all drug effects i volunteered to the Kinda'Shuuja corp - and was taken in.

Then i began my killing spree in Kourmonen and surroundings. Seven ships in one day were destroyed with my assistance. My crew got comfortable with the layout of the Taranis and i got confident. We nearly slept in the ship and didnt dock up for targets presented themselves everywhere. Another three ships went down, their crews spilling out of the wrecks while two pods escaped. The third enemy would hopefully wake up in his clone vat. We searched for more.

ooc: Listed in famous Blogroll

2008-12-28T12:29:00.003+01:00

Now to something completely different. Shortly after my comeback from hiatus i discovered a blogroll of some fame - the blogroll of EVE-online players - tadaaaa. And now the blog of Kraesslers Coyotes is in the list too. Thanks to CrazyKinux for his blogroll of eve.

It gets even better. This blog will be featured in both the EVE Speedlinking post as well as the next Micro Warp Cast podcast. So check it out.

To the war and back

2008-12-27T12:18:00.003+01:00

So i went to the frontlines of the Minmatar-Ammar conflict. The militas and big corporations who seemd to have a charge in the war ventured to systems like Auga, Dal or Kourmonen. These were all systems a normal pod pilot would not fly into with easy feelings. It was a pirate infested region. And now the militias of the empires offered themselves as even more targets for the cutthroats of space.

In months i wasn't that happy when i boarded my interceptor. I plotted the course to Auga and dreamt of targets aplenty.

When i arrived in the once near empty system of Auga i counted the ships in space that my scanner could locate. More than 79 ships of all sizes, most of them cruiser-class and below. Perfect. Nearly instantly i attacked a ship that was near a Military outpost. To my dismay instantly a swarm of small frigates warped to the rescue and i had to warp off. What the heck. I need more intel to cope with the new situation.

War is brooding and boring

2008-12-22T20:58:00.005+01:00

Well its been a while that i posted here. After my adventures in the Gusandall area with a Rifter, a Tristan and various other frigate hulls i got a bit bored by the absence of targets. That and a new blue stick, that was invented by some gallentean drug lord, made me a bit weary and lazy. I just couldn't resist the call of the blue stick and therefore i got into a welcomed stupor.

After what seemed like months full of drugs, girls and excessive drinking in countless bars the rumors had it that war loomed over the four empires. Well, that sounded strange enough 'cause the current state with the four empires is just a truce between Gallente and Caldari as one conflict and Ammar and Minmatar as the other armistice. And pod pilots from all empires didnt care an ISK about the truce. Freedom Fighters, zealots, smugglers and businessmen from the galaxies just shot at each other or said "A fat lot i care". But there was a day when the news showed one of those super carriers, a NYX-class, steered deliberateley into a station managed by Ishukone corporation. Well .. this really ment war.

The Nyx is a gigantic homage to a figure much loved in Gallente society. The ship’s design is based on the scepter of Doule dos Rouvenor III, the king who, during his peaceful 36-year reign, was credited with laying the foundation for the technologically and socially progressive ideologies which have pervaded Gallente thought in the millennia since. Indeed, the Nyx itself is emblematic of the Gallenteans’ love for progress; packed to the ergonomic brim with the latest in cutting-edge advancements, it is a proud reminder of the things that make the Federation what it is.

The unstable truce between Gallente and Caldari broke. Shortly after this it was war all out.

My interest reawakend. War ment new targets and lots of it. I hired a new crew for my Tristan interceptor class star ship and went to reap the harvest.

Interceptors utilize a combination of advanced alloys and electronics to reduce their effective signature radius. This, along with superior maneuverability and speed, makes them very hard to target and track, particularly for high caliber turrets. Developer: Duvolle Labs. Duvolle labs manufactures sturdy ships with a good mix of offensive and defensive capacities. Since its foremost manufacturer of Particle Blasters its ships tend to favor turrets and thus have somewhat higher power output than normal.

The new wargrounds of the empire militias were in my huntinground - lowsec space. CONCORD rarerly ventured here and if, they only stood at the gates huddling around their escape route. The weeks of piracy didn't tame my inner beast. I was ready to claw out again.

Ships aplenty

2008-01-28T14:55:00.000+01:00

In the past days i switched from frigate to frigate of the various factions in empire. Currently the crew was accustomized to the gallente layout of the consoles and computers. Now we were sitting in a Rifter, proud of the Matari people. If you can be proud of some piece of junk held by duct tape that is.

Anyway. The recent experiences showed some flaws in my tactics. I was eager to iron out these flaws. Firing up the active scanner my weapons officer informed me nearly instantly about a firing solution for a frigate located at planet VII. The engines roared to warp drive inside the ships hull protesting against their mounts. Soon our frigate sped out of the warp tunnel and engaged the other frigate. It happens that it was a Rifter class too. As we closed the distance the weapons officer opened up fire while the navigation officer plotted a course to orbit our prey. Soon our EMP rounds tore big chunks out of his armor, destroying his shield in nearly two salvos.

EMP: A new technology, this highly advanced ammunition emits a focused EM pulse. Very potent against shields.

During this operation i scanned the vicinity again and realized that in an asteroid belt near our current position a small Breacher class frigate was cruising around.

The Breacher's structure is little more than a fragile scrapheap, but the ship's missile launcher hardpoints and superior sensors have placed it among the most valued Minmatar frigates when it comes to long range combat.

As the hull of our target disintegrated into the vacuum of the cold space and debris, cargo and hapless crew members were frozen instantly i ordered course to the the next target. Very soon our Rifter once again sprang out of the warp tunnel and right next to the Breacher frigate. The pilot didn't expect to be attacked and it seemed that no action was taken on his part to sped away. Again i ordered the attack and soon enough the Breachers hull was broken. Once again my crew cheered. MattCalladan, who is another pirate in the region, turned up. We flew some hunts together and managed to kill two more frigates out there. Good job Matt.

Exhausted but upbeat i ordered the course to set home.

Fools Gold

2008-01-21T14:04:00.000+01:00

During my ventures with another (t)rusty Rifter me and my crew went to belt hunting. We were searching for another Rifter in the system of Eifer. Eifer is a very busy solar system where lots of asteroid belts ready to mine wait for some of the miners and wannabes out there. Eifer is also a low-sec system where a lot of fresh and aspiring captains from high sec-corporations are directed to.

The chase was on. My crew and me got excited as we realized that an assault frigate joined the chase. A Jaguar class assault frigate to be precise.

(The Jaguar is a versatile ship capable of reaching speeds unmatched by any other assault-class vessel. While comparatively weak on the defensive front it sports great flexibility, allowing pilots considerable latitude in configuring their loadouts for whatever circumstances they find themselves in. Being the brain-child of the nomadic Thukkers, it is no surprise the Jaguar is as fast as it is. Initially conceived as a way for the tribe to pack some added punch to their organized detachments, they've found it to be equally useful as messenger, scout and escort, and it is likely to become one of the most commonly-seen ships in the Thukkers' stomping grounds.)

The Rifter would be eaten to breakfast by this assault frigate. But i might be able to join the party when the Jaguar and my prey would mess with each other. A gamble, but one i would take bets on nonetheless.

For more than half an hour we were chasing each other from asteroid belts to safe scan spots in the system and back to near misses in the belts. Then the dies were cast. We headed to a belt where the scan system informed the weapon officer that both ships were in. Trusting the computer we planned the course and i ordered to enter warp velocity. Midway into warp the results from the scan system looked not so fun anymore. The Jaguar was alone in the belts. And just as for confirmation the warp tunnel caved in and the monitors showed to us an assault frigate in just 5.000m range. I ordered the ship to immediately enter warp to a near celestial object but alas it was too late. Our warp drive was scrambled and we could not leave the system. In no time our shield and armor were shredded to nothingness and once again i found myself in my rescue pod.

Red colored stars began drifting into my brain when i plotted the course back to yet another ship and another crew in my hangar.

Dull period

2008-01-17T09:22:00.000+01:00

In every life there is a time of dullness, utter boredom or simply said, there is nothing to do. That was the way with my life for 5 days. I roamed the low-sec systems of Metropolis, Heimatar and Molden Heath only to discover that there were no ships which me and my crew in our trusty Merlin could attack with any chance of winning. Not even a small chance.

Low-sec systems see the same phenomenon as the ruthless 0.0 systems. The ship get bigger and bigger, deadlier and more heavily tanked. No chance for a lonely frigate to attack battlecruisers, command ships or battleships.

During this dull period there formed some thoughts of wolfpack and skirmish warfare. I stored theses ideas for later use when i have formed my own corporation. Yes ... no more working for a corporation except it is mine, no more working for the monsters.

Upping the bar

2008-01-16T10:58:00.000+01:00

Back in my clone vat i was still dreaming. Then the monster in me took control again. I hired and press ganged new crew members to replace the recently lost ones. Once again i contacted some guys within the Caldari Provisions Corporation. Some war veterans are more than happy to deal in a shady way and get their pensions up.

(Caldari Provisions is one of the companies that were created by war veterans of the Gallente-Caldari War. Specializing in the distribution of supply and logistics, Caldari Provisions have carved themselves a nice little niche within the Caldari State and are looking towards expanding their operation in other empires.)

Once in the cockpit again and with a more or less eager crew to handle things i set the course to one of the most notorious low-sec system of the Heimatar region - Amamake. Home of some of the most ruthless and even barbarous pirates of New Eden.

(From the New Eden solar system, where the gate of EVE once led to the old world, humans expanded in all directions at a furious pace, exploring and colonizing rapidly.)

The Pator Tech School in Amamake was camped by some pirates whose ships furiously blinked in red on my system overview. Red blinking ships always mean that they can be killed without remorse. My brain analyzed the situation not so fast as the fire control computer and it reported a danger advice in the severe lethality category. The ships were heavily tanked battlecruisers and battleships i knew from the fleet tactics course at the State War University. I ordered a new course, deeper into the not so traveled outer systems.

Battlecruisers (BC): A class of powerful combat vessels midway between cruisers and battleships.
Battleships (BC): The foundations of any respectable fighting force.

In the system of Damalin the scanner presented the signature of two pirate outposts and of 2 cruiser classed Scythe ships.

(The Scythe-class cruiser is the oldest Minmatar ship still in use. It has seen many battles and is an integrated part in Minmatar tales and heritage. Recent firmware upgrades "borrowed" from the Caldari have vastly increased the efficiency of its mining output).

So the pilots were probably mining in one of the Asteroid belts. Asteroid belts contain some very valuable ores which can be unearthed and mined by the use of special modulated lasers. These lasers are unable to hurt the shield or armor of a ship though. Checking the personal files i got from a contact within Concord i saw that they have been fairly new to this region and unexperienced pilots in addition. Once again i gave the signal to ready the battle stations. The ships were not in the same belt so i thought them easy prey by taking them out singly.

The engines screamed as the Merlin class frigate came out of warp drive only to be spurred upon the cruiser with flaring exhaust trails of the Afterburner engines. Within fractions of a second the laser control center got a solution on the Scythe and all weapons were fired upon it. Diving into a tight orbit around the prey we could see the shields flare brightly upon the onblast of energy. Then whole chunks of armor were blasted and melted away as my electron blasters and rockets tore the shield down.

The aproximity alarm went off. Looking on the overview i saw the second scythe cruiser arriving into the belt. My vision went red and i ordered a retreat to a deep space safe spot. That bar was too high for our Merlin and I didnt want to loose another ship and crew, even a miserable crew like this. We left a burning scythe shot into structure and a slowly advancing cruiser to rescue some survivors.

Blood spilled into the eye

2008-01-15T12:35:00.000+01:00

When the system star of Gulmorogod was occluded by the stiffeners from the plexicupola the approximity alarm went off. Releasing my daydream i stiffened shortly and opened up the scanner. Once the modules warmed up i saw my target. A Rifter, was on scan near an Asteroid Belt, probably battling the local bandits.

(The Rifter is a very powerful combat frigate and can easily tackle the best frigates out there. It has gone through many radical design phases since its inauguration during the Minmatar Rebellion. The Rifter has a wide variety of offensive capabilities, making it an unpredictable and deadly adversary)

I informed the crew of the hit and they lept eagerly to their battle stations. Once the "all hands ready" signal came back from the compartments i sent the Merlin frigate "Reaver" into the warp.

(The Merlin is the most powerful all-out combat frigate of the Caldari. It is highly valued for its versatility in using both missiles and turrets, while its defenses are exceptionally strong for a Caldari vessel.)

Once our ship left the warp tunnel i saw the Rifter broadsiding against some bandit wrecks, the pilot eager to pilfer the remaining valuables. Once in range the merlin spat forth deadly hybrid charges from the electron blasters. In combination with the dual rocket launcher the shield melted quickly under this onblast. But the Rifter is a arguably the best combat frigate of the Minmatar people. And his speed and tank easily protected it from my weapons. The scrambler sucked my capacitor and the engine room officer informed me that the Afterburner would soon switch off. To top this all the enemy Rifter dug deep into our shields and managed to burn into our structure. The ship was soon out of control and the crew ran to the emergency capsules. With a loud bang my own capsule undocked just in time to see the Merlins hull breached. Oxygen, scrap metal, whole modules and crew members were sucked into the cold nothingness, called space.

My capsule propelled me back to a station. And i went back to daydreaming while blood spilled into my left eye.

A new dawn

2008-01-15T09:28:00.000+01:00

I was enlisted to the Caldari State War Academy* and in my last exams when i finally went berserk. I knew it was all around, lingering in my head, cowering at every corner that lay in the dark of my mind. I dodged this feeling for a good year. But now it was too much. The creatures attacked me from everywhere. Leutnant Charled Heizer stood no chance against the Skye Laser i wielded with Deadly Efficiency.

(*The State War Academy was founded shortly after the Caldari State came into being while the war with the Gallente Federation was still in full swing. Due to this, the academy has always had a very combat oriented slant, as opposed to the broader scope of ship handling).

They took me from my quarters. Many fanged monsters standing guard over me. During the transport to the periphery systems our convoy was attacked by Amarrian religious fanatics. The ship was boarded and me and some other hapless prisoners, waiting for the mines, were welcomed in slavery and "reeducation". But the new monsters were ambushed by a group of pirates. And there i embraced the way of piracy. No more monsters that can harm me. I can be the monster.