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

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

Captain's Log

Captain's Log: Edna Ironsides
Dead Horse (Hurricane-Class Battlecruiser)
High Orbit over Huola III

It would appear in recent days that the Amarr/Caldari coalition have finally got their panties above their ankles again, and reclaimed space from the Gallente and Minmatar. A handful of star systems occupied by Matari forces have finally been reclaimed by the Amarr, including Raa and Sifiliar, and would seem to indicate that the Amarr are in fact capable of organising themselves once in a blue moon. Huola, however, remains comfortably in Matari hands (it helps that we have a bunch of keeners who live to de-contest the system). Along the Caldari/Gallente front, 6 Caldari star systems that have long been held by Gallente forces were finally reclaimed and the Gallente system of Oicx (you try and figure out how it should be pronounced), was captured by the Caldari. Meanwhile, efforts by Wolfsbrigade to have a POS in the Kourmonen star system resulted in a resounding roflstomp of said POS, much to the chagrin of ranking members of the Amarrian forces. I suspect that we may see a degree of persistance from the Amarr, what with their POS build and system recapturing, but sceptics within the ranks of the Late Nite Alliance, and the Matari militia generally, find this doubtful over the long-term. It may, in the very least, be a continued source of good battles and mangled bits of golden armour floating through space.

Signing off,

Ed