Harbinger: The Special Ed Guide

Following my previous post on Amarrian combat philosophy, I have been feeling the compulsion to expand on these fundamentals and how they apply to specific ships.

So, I decided I would begin with one of my favourite ships in the game, both to fly and for pure aesthetics, the Harbinger.

For research, I've trawled (and trolled) my way through a variety of different fittings, from both Battleclinic and Failheap. I've consulted with pilots in-game who I trust to know what the fuck they're doing when they undock, and of course I've done a fair amount of flying in the ship itself. One particular site that I do recommend for anyone looking into trying out any new ships and wants to learn about engagement strategies in PvP is Azual Skoll's blog The Altruist. Azual is a member of the famed Tuskers corporation, known for their expertise in the field of small-gang PvP, and has a series of posts called Know Your Enemy, which provide brief analyses of the strengths and weaknesses of a wide range of ships in Eve Online. Azual's analysis for the Harbinger is fairly general, and is geared toward the low-sec pilot, so this post will be a more in-depth look at the particular nuances of the Amarr's iconic battlecruiser, as well as its usage in and around my current home in null-sec.

The Harbinger is an exemplar of what it means to fly Amarr. It is large, imposing, and expresses a beautiful art deco aesthetic; It is the more damage-focussed platform in the battlecruisers, while its brother the Prophecy is more focussed on putting up a beastly tank, and the Oracle fulfils the niche role of the Tier 3 battlecruisers with its use of large guns. This means that the primary role of a Harbinger pilot is the outpouring of lasery death upon one's enemies, and not really a whole lot else. The standard (cookie-cutter) fit that is used looks something like this (note that for efficiency's sake, these fits are made using the All level V option on EFT, alter accordingly):

[Harbinger, Standard]
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Damage Control II
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II

Experimental 10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Warp Disruptor II
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
Medium Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 200

Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency M
Focused Medium Pulse Laser II, Imperial Navy Multifrequency M
Medium Unstable Power Fluctuator I

Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I

Hammerhead II x5

This fit will accomplish most goals in PvP that are acheivable with a Harbinger.  With Navy Multifrequency it puts outs 620 dps with drones, with an engagement range of about 6km. It's modest drone bay is a complement to this and gives you the option of two flights of small drones or one flight of mediums  The cap booster ensures that the ship can drag out any engagement as long as necessary and is basically immune to capacitor warfare, which is not unreasonable to expect, as its arch nemesis, the Hurricane, often has a pair of neuts on board. It is also able to answer with a single neut of its own.

It possesses a standard array of tackle, which makes it potentially viable to engage targets alone, and also ensure that anything it does catch will be held down for the duration, and doesn't move too much, as lasers notoriously suffer from relatively poor tracking compared to autocannons and blasters.

 For a damage-focussed ship, it also possesses a fairly formidable tank - this fit has an EHP listed at almost 73k, and has over 18k hp in armor. The tank though, comes at a price: this is not a fast ship. While it can reach 900m/s, not an unreasonable speed for a battlecruiser, the huge plate on it means that it handles like a '53 Buick (pictured left). It has an align time of 14s, which basically means that if you're going down, you probably won't make it out in time. Which is fine, because in the Amarr worldview, they will not run from their inferior foes, and would rather die for their God then scurry home as cowards. It also means that dictating range against virtually anything else will be difficult, so I would recommend two things: carry crystals for all occasions, especially, in this case, the almighty power of T2 Scorch, which extends your reach out to 20km. The other thing is that really, unless you have the truly massive balls required to fly expensive ships in risky situations, you should never be alone. Ideally, I reckon that you should have at least two friends, one in something smaller to provide fast tackle support and protect you from frigates and their ilk (they can and will get under your guns), and another to provide either more damage (and flexible damage at that, seeing as you are only able to deal out EM and thermal) or some kind of electronic warfare that keeps them from engaging you at range (sensor dampeners or ECM). This triad should allow you maximise the benefits that come from having a Harbinger in fleet, namely applying overwhelming force upon a target. The utlity of this kind of fleet covers short-range roaming (if I was going on a major excursion, I'd feel better if there were at least 4 other Harbingers/damage ships with me), gate camping, in which case instead of tackle, bring an interdictor, and defending structures like starbases, where its high durability allows it to endure extended sieges.

With the standard fit enumerated, how else can you fly this ship? The most drastically different, but still viable, fit in common usage is the Shield Harby. The Shield Harby is basically the Amarrian attempt at answering the Shield Hurricane. A battlecruiser that is light, fast, possesses a moderate tank and is good at applying lots and lots of damage, as all your low slots are freed up for damage mods. As an example:

[Harbinger, Shield Harby]
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
Tracking Enhancer II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
F85 Peripheral Damage System I

Experimental 10MN MicroWarpdrive I
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Warp Disruptor II

Heavy Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Scorch M
[empty high slot]

Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I

Valkyrie II x5

I might personally use this kind of fit if the rest of my fleet were out in canes and I simply didn't have a cane available or didn't feel like flying a rust-coloured phallus. This is not that uncommon, as, barring the nerf that the Cane is destined for this winter, it is a stock ship for most groups operating in null-sec. When fitted using Pulse lasers and Scorch it puts out about the same damage and longer range application than the cane, with it's massive optimal (this fit can hit out to about 30km). This said, because this is an Amarrian bulwark, it is persistently slower than the cane, although its align time is virtually the same (with at least two Nanos, mind you), and you find that in order to keep up you will have to sacrifice your damage potential. Also, Eve is an unrepentantly racist place, and people will pick on you for being a token Harbinger in a Hurricane fleet. In short, while this fit does work, it is probably better, unless the whole fleet is Shield Harbys, if you just use a cane, which accomplishes this kind of role better, and it will save your FC from having to castigate you for falling behind/sucking at delivering damage.

Other kinds of fits? Well, there is the Beam Laser Harbinger - Beams are a relatively unloved weapon for PvP, unless you're sniping, which is a relatively uncommon activity out here null-sec, as close-range combat is currently in vogue. The fit is not that different from the shield harby. Dump the tank, fit beams, and, as the operating range of this ship is now 35km+, sub out tackling equipment for things like sensor boosters and defensive EWAR in the event you encounter something that actually can actually fire back at you. Fit with T2 Aurora, a Harbinger using Heavy Beams has an optimal of 70km, and its alpha will definitely get your attention if it hits you (at least 1000 per volley). I've used this fit on a couple of occasion for things like gate camping, but it relies on having tackle actually down on the gate, and for your alpha to count, there should be several other pilots sniping with you. Lots of fun,  but possesses relatively limited utility.

The other kind of fit that I've encountered is the Neuting Harbinger. This fit isn't technically a true neuting ship, but instead has a 4/4 split in its high slots between lasers and neuts, while the rest of the fit will be an armour tank and tackle complement like the Standard fit. This is most definitely a fleet ship, and provides a surprisingly effective amount of neuting power in a brawl, while still delivering damage of its own and mounting a significant tank. While I've never actually used this fit myself, I have seen it used in fleets I've been in to devastating effect. Perhaps though, I would only recommend this if you've had a lot of experience using the Harbinger, and have an established niche for it in the fleet that you are in.

So there it is, The Special Ed Guide to the Harbinger. Live big, fly safe, shoot all da tings and have fun

Signing off,

Ed

Combat Philosophy: Amarrian Might

Today I'd like to talk about something that is generally referred to in a variety of forums, blogs, fittings and wikis, but is rarely talked about as a singular subject:

The Combat Philosophy of the Amarrian race

A little while ago, after having rotated through all 4 different racial groups, I came back to the Amarr. Having experimented with the fighting tactics and strategies of all the races, I found myself consistently coming back to the Amarr as my preferred race, largely because I find the fighting style of their ships to be my preferred way of playing Eve Online and my favourite engagement style of my enemies.

So then what is Amarrian combat philosophy? And can you, as a potential or current capsuleer of Eve Online use this knowledge to make decisions regarding how you play the game?

The answer is a combination of role-play history and a common traits shared by almost all 53 (soon to be 54) non-unique vessels that constitute the Amarrian ship line-up.

The Amarr are depicted as this monolithic, theocratic, advanced slaveholding master race of the New Eden Cluster. Barring the Jovians, they were the first and thus most advanced of the Eve racial groups. From their belief in the divinity of their emperor they derive their drive to assimilate and dominate all life in New Eden for the glory of their religion. The important bottom line in this is that they are convinced of their absolute supremacy in the universe. They fly gorgeous, sleek, golden, instruments of destruction, tirelessly working for the glory of God. They honestly believe, at all times, that they are the shit, and no corporatist, freedom-loving, or rebellious scum can match the sheer capacity for pwnage that the Amarr are capable of delivering. The two fundamentals that can be taken away from this are:

1) The Amarr are not pussies, they will not run away, they will stare you down and melt your face.

2) Because of a common thread of religion, they place high value in their unity as a race. Thus, the Amarr function of the principle that together they will conquer their enemies.

These fundamentals thus form the basis for understanding how Amarrian starships are designed and the particular goals they are built to acheive. Their supremacy complex is manifested as a doctrine for the the projection of a massive, overwhelming show of force. Thus, their racial weapon, lasers, are built to accomplish this. So they only do EM/Thermal damage, who the hell cares when you have some of the highest damage modifiers of any weapon in the game that can be adjusted instantly to almost whatever range you want (with only the longest ranges being beyond engagement). Kiting? Who needs kiting when you can just put your lasery fist through the front window of that Hurricane? (though it should be noted that if it weren't for the huge plates the ships carry, Amarrian ships are in fact quite fast). Speaking of Hurricanes, it could be argued that the Amarr and Minmatar represent a dichotomy in Eve, whereby the style of fighting of each is built around neutralising the advantage of the other. The dotrine of overwhelming power is also evident in the defensive style of the Amarr. The use of staggering amounts of armor plating, coupled with the largest capacitors to power both the lasers and the damage hardeners, is used to absorb anything you throw at it, at the same time demoralising the enemy by showing how slowly they can burn through that tank. Even relatively small ships in the Amarrian line tend to work best with huge amount of buff armour (leave active tanks for the Gallente swine). T2 variants in the Amarrian line reflect generally a preference for either overwhelming firepower or overwhelming tank (though with the tiercide of the T1 line, this is beginning to show in all of the ship classes now).

The second fundamental is manifested through the increased effectiveness of the Amarr in fleets. When trawling through the forums, you tend to notice that it is relatively uncommon for someone to cite an Amarrian ship as a good solo combat ship (generally eschewing them for the Minmatar or Gallente, which do solo/small gang rather more effectively). The Amarr are a generally fleet-style race. For instance, I find being solo in a Harbinger to be rather underwhelming. I'm a flying brick with lasers. Everyone can run away from me and my damage output is not terribly frightening. Now take ten Harbingers and you have a singular monolith of force, with excellent damage projection and an aggregate amount of armour approaching 200 000 hp. The reality is that a horde of Amarrian ships presents a nearly unstoppable force, only really overcome by an even larger oppoosing force (and to be fair, that's not terrible difficult to do in null-sec).

In conclusion, what is Amarrian combat philosophy? It is the unshakeable belief that you have balls given to you by the Divine and that your enemies are weak and feeble so when you show up on field, you use the threatening reach of your powerful weapons to commit them to dust while laughing at whatever crap is bouncing off your hull. At the same time, you place faith in those around you that together, the heresy of your opposition will be burned into the abyss, and tarnish the glory of the Empire no more.

Signing off,

Ed

Vexor: Multi-tool of the Federation Navy

As a member of the Minmatar Militia, the sight of the quintessential drone carrier of the Gallente is a relatively rare sight for me. The 'Minmatar Rush' has meant that Matari vessels are used disproportionately both by on my side and by the Amarr (see the composition of most Fweddit fleets). The fact that for PvP, there is considered to be a relatively small range of effective ships that more often rely on a philosophy of face-rolling your enemy (Drakes, Hurricanes, Harbingers, Abaddons, Thrashers, Wolfs, Ruptures and to a lesser extent Stabber Fleet Issues) are all guilty of this particular quality. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's an uncomplicated play style and for fleet commanders its easier to coordinate fleets that have a singular method of fighting (and chances are you'll see a lot of fleets made this way for the upcoming Alliance Tournament X). For myself though, I felt the desire to try something new, if for no other reason than I'm getting bored of seeing the same ships in my hangar day after day and need some occasional changes to keep my play interesting. A secondary consideration has to been to find ships that are able to effectively counter the kitchen sinks that Fweddit are gaining a reputation for fielding. Most surprisingly, I've been hearing whining (actual whining) from within the militia for this at once most endearing and irritating quality of Fweddit, their signature "lack" of fleet organisation, and how this spoils good fights. The fact is that Fweddit's swarm tactics tend to ruin the more carefully arrayed forces of more experienced players. Like this. And this. This entire engagement. And also this because it just looks funny. It made sense that you need ships that are more durable and better able to sit through swarm engagements (which Matari ships, with their requirements for pulling range and kiting, are not really optimal.). As Fweddit's favourite ship seems to be the Thrasher, it makes sense you want a ship big enough to withstand little bits of projectile bouncing into it while still have to bring effective dps to bear on smaller ships. It seems then that the effective answer to this was go for drone carriers, which are known for being dangerous for smaller ships, and can adjust damage types with different drone swarms. They also give no fucks about range, as they are quite happy fighting at 0 or at 20km. With weaponry decentralised, it means that onboard you can concentrate on build a heavy tank (1600 plate or active tank) that can wipe thrasher ammo off its hull. Drones of course, do suffer from the weakness of being destructible, but if can field of fleet of even just 2 or 3 of these, you could easily take on 6 or 7 Thrashers and have obliterated them while only losing perhaps half the drone swarm of the cruisers, assuming the Vexor pilots are competent and have good drone skills.

 This is the basic idea anyway. Eve remains tricky like that as any counter always has a reply, and I'm sure that experts in the field could say what is precisely wrong with my theory. But hey, everything is worth trying once, and my killboard will tell the story of how well it actually works.

Signing off,

Ed

On Request...

Ryven Krennel is annoying

Shalee Lianne is the prettiest princess in the castle.

Cretinism in Eve or How to be a Gate-Camping Spaceship Pirate

Captain's Log: Edna Ironsides
Fearox (Ferox-Class Battlecruiser)
Tactical Pounce, Huola

What a bunch of obstreperous f*****s!

Of the breeds of pirate in Eve Online, arguably more than the Hulk ganker and the market hub scammer, none is more frustrating, or more certainly fatal, than the gate-camper.

We've all been there, you've jumped into a system, notoriously it is often the high-to-low sec gates that are the worst (i.e. Osoggur->Amamake, Nourvukaiken->Tama), and upon your overview loading, it is filled with large, hostile bars of bright red that informs you that you have blundered into a hoard of pirates and you've almost certainly lost the ship you're flying. You now have at most a minute to contemplate the premature death of your starship (assuming you didn't mean to lose it in such a situation) before the gate-cloak drops and a disproportionate amount of force is applied in the destruction of your vessel.

So it was that I found myself on a gate pounce with fellow pirate and obnoxious bastard Darc Kaahar, waiting patiently for our next victim to stumble through the gate. As is common practice, we have eyes in the next system to give us a warning that something was coming. Various things come and go, and we shoot up a few particularly hapless frigate pilots. Quite commonly this gate is constantly watched by our pirating comrade, Tyrolen, who is somewhat infamous for camping this particular gate, racking up kills into the hundreds.

Most of the time was spent talking shit and hatching unrealistic ideas for PvP, but, once again, my evening was made by a miner, a Covetor pilot. We'd dropped on the gate in fact to try and catch a Wolf that had landed on the other side. We see the gate flash, we wait, weapons primed... and the Covetor de-cloaks. Apparently he'd passed the Wolf and just barrelled on in in his slow, undefended mining vessel. To add insult to injury, after we'd obliterated his ship, he sat quietly in his pod while our battlecruisers locked him up. And what a pod it was! Baffled by this lack of tactical awareness, we returned to our pounce, wondering how on earth, given the amount of time he had (it takes us nearly 8 seconds to lock a pod), he had not managed to get out. We concluded that the shock of losing his Covetor impaired his will for self-preservation.

Not that we were complaining.

Signing off,

Ed

The Mining Menace of Eve Online

Miners are a heavily abused and often harassed species of Eve player.

 Despite them being essential for building virtually everything we use, we have no mercy when it comes to eradicating them from nearby star systems. There is really is nothing in the game that provides such cathartic release and joy as ganking an unsuspecting Hulk pilot. And even if they are suspecting, there is very little they can do in their slow, unarmed ships. But by far the most valuable commodity that we harvest from these hapless workers, more valuable than their ore or occasionally costly modules, are their tears. The tears of Eve miners are the champagne of pirates throughout the universe of New Eden.

My good friend, Assassin126, was recently treated to this most delectable of mails from a pilot that had been recently divested of his Coveter:

Re: Suicide Gank Protection
From: Persephanie Endashi
To: Assassin126, 

FUCK YOU YOU PUSSY ASS DOUCHE BAG!!!!!!!!!!! YOU AND YOUR SCUMBAG FRIENDS CAN FUCK OFF YOU STUPID, IGNORANT MOTHERFUCKING WASTE OF SKIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Such a mail is usually indicative of a highly successful gank, and obtaining one like this usually requires a degree of luck and a familiarity of the art of trolling in local.

Another miner, managed to not only lose his Hulk but got podded as well, bringing the bill for his losses to a few isk short of 1.5 billion. The Hulk, was, even as Hulks go, very badly fit, and I couldn't resist issuing him an invite to join Almost Epic and abandon mining for the glory of the Minmatar Militia. I got this back:

Re: We cordially invite you to be a venerable member of Almost Epic
From: Dwaggy90
To: Edna Ironsides, 

1.5 billion is a slight overgo,. and as for "shitty fit" im sorry. but in high sec im not exactly expecting people to come out of nowhere to blow the hell out of me and then pod me for giggles and then attempt to ask me to their own corps... i find this hillarious if this is how you try to find new corp members..blow the crap out of them then go "that was a shitty fit. come to us and we'll show you better" :D
Why in any reason would i be intrested after that exatly?
And i was in a hulk for a reason..oh yeah. mining.. :D not setting up ellaborate anti pirate traps sadly. :D im a miner..so..you extend an invitation to a war and pirating faction...Cause that also makes sence. really..

His mastery of English required a little work. I totalled up the cost of this losses and came up with 1,476,000,000.00, so I thought the over-go comment was a bit of a red herring. Sadly, he was unpersuaded by my sell of faction warfare and a life of piracy. But yes, blowing the hell out and giggles are indeed desired occupational goals.

However, one of our most recent ganks was political. The aforementioned Assassin had, earlier today, had an argument with a pilot in a mining channel and had a political standoff, as this pilot, somewhat appropriately named Texas Oilman, has rather right-wing political convictions that he felt were best placed on the bio of his in-game profile. So, when, many hours later, we scanned a wormhole down in Huola, we were surprised that not only did it lead to Amarr High-Sec, but lo', Texas was industriously chewing rocks in his Hulk, in one of the local belts, his Orca alt idly shadowing him. Not to pass up an opportunity for political justice, we gathered together a posse of Thrashers and charged the Hulk, shouting "For Obama and the Left!" in local as we dropped onto him. As the rubble of his Hulk dispersed, and CONCORD came and obligingly obliterated our Thrashers (which we had bought using loot from previous ganks), we convo'd Texas:

Texas Oilman > greetings
Edna Ironsides > hello
Fateamendabletochange >  you big right wing bender
Fateamendabletochange > ha now whos laughing
Fateamendabletochange > http://minmatar.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=13081443
Edna Ironsides > this was a friendly visit from your local socialists
Texas Oilman > lol, get fucked liberal.  go drive ur broken down car with the obama biden sticker on it
Assassin126 > i think you hulk is a bit broken down
Texas Oilman > true.
Edna Ironsides > built by capitalists too
Texas Oilman > how much those ships cost ya?  without insurance?
Fateamendabletochange > about 1.5 mil each
Assassin126 > about 30 isk? nothing to us
Texas Oilman > nice
Texas Oilman > them hulks r getting close to 300.  not damn bad.  now i just need to figure how to survive that next time, lol
Fateamendabletochange > change ur bio
Texas Oilman > LOL
Texas Oilman > too late for that
Edna Ironsides > mine in a battleship
Degnar Oskold > pretty much. No way to take a hulk to resist 5 destroyers
Texas Oilman > yeah
Texas Oilman > anyways, its about bed time for me.  my capitalist ass gots work tonight.  someone has to pay ur guy's welfare.  lol.  good kill...

Needless to say, I will sleep like a baby tonight, having successfully defended Eve from the mining, and right-wing, menace that haunts asteroid belts everywhere. Hopefully this pilot does too, a wiser, slightly poorer, capitalist miner. Nothing, I think, is more satisfying.

The Empire Strikes Back... wait no, they're gonna stay docked up.

Captain's Log: Edna Ironsides
Riptide (Vexor-Class Cruiser)
Docked, Ishukone Corporation Factory in orbit over Huola X

The Amarr are weak.

For once, I'm not saying that simply because I have a special place in my heart for putting them down. For once, I say this in an almost lamentable tone. The Amarr, over the past couple of weeks, have been noticeably feeble. Their numbers in local are dwindling, engagements and fleet sightings are down, and generally there has been very little PvP in and around my home in Huola. There were two instances of late that particularly accentuate this point. The first was on a recent fleet outing in which I was exercising my Vexor, a ship that I feel is under-appreciated in my line of work, and have recently felt deserves some more recognition (but I'll save that for another post).

Anyway, under the expert guidance of the mighty Fateamendabletochange, we undocked and roamed throughout enemy space in search of a fight, and found absolutely nothing, except a particularly underfit Brutix. This however became most poignant when we decided to camp a complex in the Kamela system, a known home base for Wolfsbrigade and other Amarrian foes. Fate, along with most of the fleet, were convinced that doing something as rash as this would almost certainly get us a fight (and probably get us blobbed by a disproportionate amount of Amarrian firepower). But we were so bored and are ships so cheap that we decided to risk it. However, despite our pleadings, hassling, and trolling in local, and despite being outnumbered in system at least 2:1, not one Amarrian showed up, or even made an appearance on d-scan. In the end, disheartened and disillusioned of the veracity of our sworn enemies, we trundled back to Huola.

The other recent incident that illustrates the vitiated state of the Amarr militia was a short chat I had with the irascible Mystical Might in Auga local. Now, I must admit that I have a special fondness for Mystical. His name is both memorable and condescending, and he is perhaps one of the few pilots that I know of in faction warfare that is probably hated just as much by his own militia as he is by his enemies. This slippery fellow has an uncanny ability to stay alive, take names and kick ass, as exemplified by his 20:1 kill-to-death ratio. He also has a penchant for flying shiny, deadly ships (Talos, Cynabal and Machariel come to mind). And for those reasons, I respect him as a PvP pilot, if less so as an honourable human being. But this is Eve, no one cares about honour here. However, I digress. I'd not seen Mystical out and about much (one reason why I solicited him in local), and thought I'd check in (this is an approximation, as I forgot to copy the real conversation):

Edna Ironsides > Mystical!
Edna Ironsides > How you been?
Mystical Might > Not too bad.
Edna Ironsides > Not seen you around lately, beginning to miss you
Mystical Might > Meh. I haven't felt the urge to undock much lately
Edna Ironsides > That is a truly sad thing to hear from an Eve pilot
Mystical Might > It is indeed a very sad state of affairs
Edna Ironsides > I would hope that this is only a temporary state and soon you will be reinvigorated with the urge to smite someone
Mystical Might > I hope so too
Edna Ironsides > Well, I wish you luck
Edna Ironsides > Toodles

At which point I jumped out of system. The point is that Mystical had articulated a general trend that we the Minmatar have been observing in the Amarr. They just don't have the "oomph" that they had barely a month ago. In the last week, 5 Amarrian systems have fallen to our militia's forces (Tararan, Sosan, Roushzar, Oyeman, Ashged), and resistance to our occupation has been token at best. I for one, am rather disappointed, as I am here to PvP, and I've not been getting my fix (a sentiment I know is shared by my colleagues), and I hope that this dip in opposition is only temporary, and that lasers shall be wailing on my shields again soon.

Signing off,

Ed

The Blunder of Pandemic Legion OR How to lose an Erebus to a bunch of faction warfare noobs

The Erebus in Question

It finally happened.

I suppose I must start at the beginning. As of late (the last two weeks, more or less), the mighty Pandemic Legion alliance, for reasons unclear and largely chalked up to boredom in their little home in 0.0 space, decided it was in their best interests to take a field trip and squat in our faction warfare space, and when I mean our, I mean they have proven to an irritation for both Amarr and Matari forces in the area. They have a certain predilection for sitting around in very expensive, powerful ships, shooting what they can but generally being blue-balled by the residents of the area, as they are even more overbearing than the Amarrians. You may recall from an earlier post the loss of my Rupture to a gatecamp of Titans - same guys. Anyway, being as out-of-place as they were here, it was really only a matter of time before they'd do something so stupid it would be trolled upon by everyone in Eve. Thus, the aforementioned Erebus. In giving due credit, it was almost entirely pulled off by the Amarr, and mostly the Wolfsbrigade Corporation at that. Us Minmatar were too occupied with rolling about in fits of laughter to consider sending ships of our own. This might indeed by the first time in living memory when Wolfsbrigade's firepower and numbers, widely considered outsized for faction warfare, came into its own and presented them with a fun challenge. PL, in their infinite wisdom, had camped the Osoggur/Amamake gate, infamous for its gatecamps, in an array of capital and large ships. What went down next seems to be pretty straightforward. The faction warfare group pounced on the camp with their own array of carriers and dreadnoughts.

Battle ensued...

By the end, PL had managed to lose the 70 billion ISK Erebus, as well as 4 carriers and a Pilgrim, totally a whopping 133 billion ISK. Despite having lost many more ships, including over three dozen capital ships, the fw fleets losses were only 2/3's that of Pandemic Legion's. Looting, as well as raging and massive flaming in local chat ensued. The true victory though, in my humble opinion, was that a legendary alliance like Pandemic Legion could be brought low by a pile of riff-raff in faction warfare space (however well-equipped that riff-raff might have been). It is hoped, with the loss of a ship costing more than $2500 USD, that the otherwise venerable Pandemic Legion will consider carefully about whose space it chooses to encroach on.

Signing off,

Ed

4 Titans and a Hurricane

Last night, in a moment of crass decisiveness, I FC'd a small fleet. It has been a while since I had to look after any fleet - I usually prefer being a scout - but, in a sudden move, we all wound undocked in cruisers outside the station in Huola. As luck would have it, a particularly badly fit Abaddon unsafely far off the Otelen gate, which we quickly pounced on, as well as the Crusader accompanying it. Buoyed by this early success, I directed the fleet into Kourmonen, where a horde of Titans was found camping the Kamela gate. We thought, in our little cruisers, that we'd go rubberneck this oversized collection of Pandemic Legion vessels sitting around on a gate in low-sec.

Things began to deteriorate.

First off, embarrassingly, this happened. Then this happened to Dakuri. Not quite the sort of thing I wanted to happen in my fleet. We reshipped, and, avoiding the PL blockade, jumped into Lamaa. Dakuri, being the optimistic guy he is, had come back in a Hurricane. Shortly after arriving in Lamaa, this happened to Dakuri. Then this happened to Degnar's Arbitrator. Having now lost 4 ships, in the midst of confusion and the general scattering of the fleet, I ordered everyone to get safe.

My fleet op was over. And only 2 jumps from our start.

In hindsight, there were a few things I had failed to take into account, in the latter losses, the particular eagerness of the Amarr to, as always, engage with overwrought ships, and the dangers of rubbernecking (just as in real life, it can result in accidents). The others generally determined that it was just bad luck, but it was perhaps a reminder about how long it had been since I'd FC'd last, and how quickly, in faction warfare, you can get completely steamrolled as a result of a single bad decision.

Next time, I'll go rubberneck in a shuttle.

Sigining off,

Ed

Rifters, Grifters & Shitters

This is a Rifter.

For most of us serious about the PvP-related activities in this game, this is THE ship to start out in. It's tank is reasonable, it's firepower (with T2 autocannons) is acceptable, and its quick. The number of people in the Eve Community who have espoused the virtues and useful ways to fit this little frigate are numerous and legion (just google "how to fly a Rifter"), so I won't be bothered in enumerating the technical aspects of it. For my part, I still use these a lot, partly because I have stacks (20 or so) of them sitting in my hangars, but also because, to offer a critical opinion of myself, I'm still a little shit at PvP. Maybe a lot shit. However, the point I'm trying to make, for the benefit of those new to Eve (there are always a lot you), you really do need to go out and just lose these ships. Buy 50 of them. ASSUME at that point that they're already destroyed, you just don't know it yet, and proceed to undertake every way you could engage an enemy ship that you can imagine. On Stations. On Gates. In Asteroid Belts. In plexes, 200km off a planet, in high-sec (if you're like me), in low-sec and null. By the time you watch the bright light explode off the 50th ship, if you haven't learned anything about PvP in Eve Online, either A)stop. Uninstall the game and walk away. or B)Take up mining. At this juncture, I've lost about 30, and I like to think that if nothing else, I know how to NOT die by this point.

In other news, the Elections of the 7th Council of Interstellar Management are underway. For those of you that don't know/haven't got a clue, the CSM is effectively the representatives of the Eve's player base to CCP, the game's developer. They are effectively a focus group for the developers. Now, because I am in Faction Warfare, and I am never impartial. If yohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifu are reading this, and live in high security or low security space, vote for Hans Jagerblitzen. He is something a local celebrity in the faction warfare space that I frequent near Rens, and whether or not you know anything about him, the issue at stake here is that we, those of us who do not live in null-sec, need to have a voice on the Council, and quite frankly Hans' ideas are easily the most coherent and concise of any candidate claim to represent us, and we need to combat the hegemony of the null-sec interest groups, whose ideas tend to dominate the CSM and Eve generally. If you want to know more about what he's about, look here. If you are already a paying account member of Eve, and have yet to vote, go here. Do it. Do it now. And hope to God/the Celestial Spaghetti Monster, that he wins. A win for Hans is a win for all of us (who aren't fetishistic about null-sec).

Signing off,

Ed