9/26/2012

RP: New Frontier

Captain's Log: Edna Ironsides
Aboard CS Quicksilver (Catalyst-Class Destroyer)
On patrol, Z01V-Z Constellation, Region of Stain

Edna slowly tapped her fingers across top of the command console. The relaxed, even bored, impression she gave covered a nervous tension that had her eyes darting over the readouts, especially the directional scan, ready for something hostile to appear on it at any moment. The directional scan however, remained serenely blank. Local comms showed a few signals in the system, but nothing signficant. All, for the moment, was calm, but Edna was under no illusions. That very morning, a Tornado had taken a few shots at the Quicksilver on the station undock with long-range artillery.

It had been a long time since Edna had been this far out from the imperial homeworlds. The last time time she had ventured into these lawless regions of space had been a testing and grueling experience. She had been a much younger capsuleer, with relatively little experience, and had suddenly found herself neck deep in the aggressive diplomacy of the sovereign corporations that pushed and pulled their authority around 0.0 space. She had quickly found herself overwhelmed and after some staggering financial losses, including the loss of several expensive ships, had been forced to return to imperial space, licking her wounds and her pride.

This time though, things would be different. Fighting in the low-intensity war zone for the Minmatar Republic had hardened her, abolishing her fear and panic that tended to grip moments like now when her tactical overview could be suddenly filled with hordes of enemies. She now had the knowledge and experience (and ISK) that meant that this hostile space held no fear over her. She was also coming back not as a minion of a sovereign corporation, but as a member of a piratical horde. The Cadre directorship had no interest in holding assests out here. They wanted to come and destroy other people's assests. For Edna, that was just fine. No patrolling required or starbases to defend. "But", she thought, as she looked out of the bridge into the black void, "this region of space is no uncontrolled frontier". Stain remained the home to Sansha's Nation, one of the most terrifying criminal organisations in New Eden. The incursions by Sansha's fleets throughout the cluster had been going on for nearly two years now, striking fear and death in everyone. "And now", Edna thought, "I've come to the dragon's nest." As if to accentuate this point, the local channel suddenly spiked as a fleet entered the local system. 10, 20, 30... "adjust scanning to watch for probes." Edna ordered her navigation officer. Quicksilver was in a tactical safe position, so the only way she could be found was if she was scanned down by probes. It would appear though, that the fleet, was merely passing through. Edna exhaled slowly.

She had returned to null-sec.

9/09/2012

Thorax: If I get to zero I'll melt your face

Blasters are not the easiest weapons to use.

For one in an age of Eve, where kiting and sniping are quite popular, getting within effective range is a serious struggle. Once you get within that range, blaster dps is almost unsurpassed, but with so many ships being a lot faster than you, the big issue is always a matter of closing range.

The Thorax, at least for as long as I've been playing Eve (circa Jan. 2010) has been the icon of blaster-style combat. With a rack of 5 blasters, and the trinity of a MWD, web and scram or disruptor to lock down it's enemy, the principles of fighting are very simple. Burn down the target, lock it down and melt it. Any kind of variation in fit tends to only appear in the low slots of the ship, wherever different people have varying opinions about the balance of tank vs. damage mods, which should be considered depending on the nature of the fight you seek. In my opinion, it is primarily affected by how suicidal the pilot feels, as the very nature of his/her fighting style dictates that somebody is going to lose a ship, and ideally it should be the enemy. In perhaps a counterintutive move, I am of the thinking that when going out with a fleet, (as opposed to solo or small gang), more tank is better as there are likely to be larger engagements with more damage flying around, and the Thorax's capacity of as a heavy tackler overtakes its capabilities as a damage dealer (unless ofc the Thorax is the biggest ship, unlikely, in which case use even more tank as you'll be called primary).