Daily Schedule for a Low-Sec Eve Pilot

Introducing Cadre

 

CADRE ASSAULT FORCE

To begin with, I haven't been writing much on here because my real life has been interfering a great deal with my Eve playing, and also I have discovered DayZ, which makes a most excellent distraction from internet spaceships.

I'm back now though, and I've found myself a new home.

As noted earlier on this blog, my corp Reckless Brilliance, was never really planned as a long-term project, simply a stop on my way to finding a new corp that I could fit in with and continue to rolling with the fun times of Eve. It would seem now that my search is over.

Cadre Assault Force (CFOR) is not your standard FW corp, for one thing, although according to history it has been with the Minmatar Militia previously, it would appear to have been roaming the wilds of 0.0 for some time, and has made its way back to the militia for the isk and rather more unstructured PvPing. It becomes apparent from the discipline of its more senior members that it has been used to the more rigid rules of fleet doctrines and the kind of tight manoeuvring that only life in null-sec really commands, and I'm at the stage of my Eve play where I'm actually beginning to find that a bit more attractive than the madness that pervades most militia warfare. That said, there is little serious internet spaceships here. Everyone just wants to have fun.

Realities of Eve

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

Reckless Brilliance

Captain's Log: Edna Ironsides

EDs Botheration (Myrmidon-Class Battlecruiser)

High Orbit over Siseide III

Reckless Brilliance.

The last few weeks have seen a change in tone of my life with the Minmatar Militia. Valkyr Industries, Almost Epic's mother corporation, made a unilateral secession from the Late Night Alliance, and has now subsequently moved on to other parts of space, with what remains of Almost Epic. I for one, have had my fill of training newbies and administrating a bastard corporation. So I resigned my directorship and began looking for a new home. Now, despite the allure of certain corporations in the militia, I decided, after much contemplation to make a go of it on my own, for various reasons in-game and in real life. So, with Karigan Vespire, another ex-Almost Epic pilot, we formed Reckless Brilliance. Our ethos is simple. We kill Amarr, we pay no taxes, we have fun. I don't anticipate this to be particularly long lived, but for now, it's good to be without the accountability of a corp of noobs and responsibility of answering to anyone but myself, especially as Late Night Alliance continues to destabilise the the militia generally with its worsening reputation throughout the war zone, the dispensation of its professional image, and its penchant for making enemies of people on both sides of the war. For myself, I'll be happy for now making my own little way around here.

Signing off,

Ed

The Art of Deception for Eve Online

I, like so many others, loved Samurai Jack, and was most sad when it was cut short. He was everything I idealise as a warrior and as an aspiring master of PvP in Eve Online: cunning, quick, alert, and honourable. My detractors would probably like to point out that I never hesitated to fire guns at the slightest provocation, regardless of the status of the person I have locked. I would like to point out in return that to fight honourably doesn't mean you will always fight fair. While the clashes between Jack and Aku were sometimes straight-up brawls, the vast majority were won or lost because of some element of deception one or the other was able to use to their advantage. This brings us my lesson for today, one that I think that all pvpers of Eve should know, but seem to often forget:

All Warfare is Based on Deception.

It is often said around FW space that the only way you are likely to get a fight is if you're outnumbered at least 5 to 1, or will be overwhelmed, at least on paper, by enemy firepower. This certainly appears to bear out in large part, as oversized gangs, both fw or otherwise, tend to have a hard time finding fights around here, in part because large ships are relatively rare (most of faction warfare tends to occur in ships smaller than battlecruisers and anything larger usually only comes out for special activities, like hub and POS bashes, or Pandemic Legion coming to visit), and resultedly, having an fc comfortable organising such a fleet usually comes down to a few select individuals who may or may not be online. So then, as fitting of true combat, engaging in a fight comes down to looking like an easy target, but possessing some kind of ace up your sleeve.

This particular Taranis pilot makes an excellent example of this. At face value, even a minimally experienced Eve pilot will, quite rightly, assess the matchup as "ZOMG, it's a bleeding Rifter vs. a Taranis, Ed's gonna get pwned in the face, badly." Indeed, a combat interceptor should have no trouble obliterating a T1 frigate on its own. However, as the killmail shows, this doesn't tell the whole story. I had two aces up my sleeve on this occasion. Firstly, I was actively armour tanked, which in itself could not win me such a battle, but it does significantly increase my survivability against a pilot that had evidently thought me a quick kill. However, the second ace was, as may be guessed by the heavy NPC firepower, that I was sitting on the button in a Major Outpost, and this pilot was the third such to have made a go at me, so the spawn cycle inside the plex was already active. What it amounted to was a staggering amount of dps and neuting power was brought to bear on him as he leeroyed straight at me from the complex entrance. To his own credit, he had made it most of the way through my armour when the NPC's ate his capacitor and then masticated what little armour and shielding he had. But none of that was evident when he would have picked me up on scan and decided to have a go. All he saw was a lonely noob sitting in a plex running down a timer to save Tzvi from the Amarrian menace.

A message to those people new to faction warfare, or any kind of PvP in Eve really: never imagine that simply because you're low-level and lack the experience and firepower to defeat enemies in pitched engagements (of which there are an overwhelming myriad on YouTube), you cannot defeat enemies who should by all accounts eat you for breakfast. Battles in Eve are often not won by the side that brings the biggest or most number of ships, but by the side that knows how to shape the battlefield to their advantage, be it in plexes, on gates, outside stations or in asteroid belts, and most importantly, the side that knows how best to deceive the other. If Eve PvP was really only about charging in armed to the teeth, we'd probably get bored of it very quickly.

Signing off,

Ed

The Inferno Cometh

Captain's Log: Edna Ironsides
EDs Judicator (Rupture-Class Cruiser)
Minmatar Major Outpost, Huola Star System

*crackle* pzzzzt... ssssss: Begin Recording... Message to the Matari People - Kasorata Fogneko, Grand Admiral of the Republic Fleet, from the forward command office in Amamake.

---Begin Transmission---

Children of the Minmatar, a new day has begun for us. Our people, through the outpouring of blood, sweat and tears, have pushed back the insidious spectre of tyranny and subjugation. We have thrown off the mantle of empire and the colonial misery so long laid upon us by the lords of the Amarr and their abominable God-Emperor, and reclaimed for ourselves our homes, our tribes, and our people. We have done this since the beginning and we will continue until all Matari people are liberated from the clutches of the enemy.

The great battle that has been in action over these systems for the last few days has attained a high intensity. It is too soon to attempt to assign limits either to its scale or to its duration. We must certainly expect that greater efforts will be made by the enemy than any they have put forth so far. If after all their boasting and threats and lurid accounts announced throughout New Eden of the damage they have inflicted, of the vast numbers of militia pilots shot down, with so little loss to himself... if after all this their whole onslaughts were forced after a while to cough out, their reputation for veracity of statement might be seriously impugned. We may be sure, therefore, that they will continue as long as they have the strength to fight.

Why do I say all this? Not, assuredly, to boast; not, assuredly, to give the slightest countenance to complacency. The dangers we face are still enormous, but so are our advantages and resources. I tell you this because the Minmatar have a right to know that there are solid grounds for the confidence which we feel, and that we have good reason to believe ourselves capable of continuing the war, continuing unaided, and continuing for many years to come.

Fight savagely to the last man, leave free, die well!

---End Transmission---

On Request...

Ryven Krennel is annoying

Shalee Lianne is the prettiest princess in the castle.

Brace Yourselves, the Inferno is Coming

I notice that many, many others within the Eve blogosphere are chattering away about the changes that this summer's Inferno release will bring to the game, most relevantly in my case the long overdue changes to the mechanics of faction warfare. At this time, incredibly little is actually known for certain, but this hasn't stopped people from speculating like a bunch of American stock exchange workers and extrapolating all kinds of things from supposed "certain" additions that will be added.

I for one, could care less.

This isn't to simply say that any changes that occur won't be important and may significantly influence my life as a militia pilot. However, my choice to fight for the Republic was never predicated on the ease or excitement of the mechanics of the game concept - I that were so, I may have disregarded FW altogether for being so mundane, archaic, and utterly pointless. No, for me, I play where I do, because, in a way I never experienced anywhere else I've been in Eve, there is a sense of real community of players here in faction warfare. They're not simply a bunch of guys driven by a plan or ideology (which I found to be rife throughout 0.0 space), or the fapping around and sheer impotence of high-sec players. These are people that have relationships that are vibrant, dynamic, and often transcend the boundaries of the militias themselves. There are real, interesting personalities at work in this part of Eve, that make it exciting and fun to log on, if for no other reason to hear what everyone's up to. With this, in commemoration of my 4th month of being in the Matari Militia, I would like to briefly talk about the people that made my time here splendid, fun, and just outright awesome in a way only internet spaceships can be:

Name: Lokarios
Lok is probably one of the most crass, bullshitting, half-assed people I know in Eve. He was in fact the man who hired me in the militia in the beginning. I don't like his politics, and often his attitude, but I can count on Lok to be straight-shooting (pun intended), upfront, and wise when it really counts.

Name: Djan Shilde
Our Great White Chief. Djan is always on, always up to something, and always mumbling something incoherent on voice comms. He is laid back, knows his shit, and takes everything as it comes. He is the old soul, the one who's seen everything, and probably knows how each and everyone one of us ended up here.

Name: Fateamendabletochange
Fate is cool. He bum-rushes around, making a jolly mess of enemies' days, has absolutely zero fear, and is just an all-around great guy. Fate is the kind of guy who is always fun to have a chat with, fly with, or anything else for that matter.

:Name: Darc Kaahar
This man gives no fucks, whatsoever. He pirates, pillages, and it is probably one of the most prolific trolls I know in-game. For him, the ends always seem to justify the means, and he just does Eve without inhibition or hesitation.

Name: SigmaPi
The great man with the great heart. This man knows his eve logistics. If you want to know if it works, how it works, can it work, or whether you should even try it, Siggy is the man. He's probably been playing even longer than Djan, and is another old soul. For all intents, a master of internet spaceships

Name: Voi Lutois
The fittings master. This man knows his ships. He's got a fit and flying style for every conceivable occasion. While not necessarily an FC, Voi is an invaluable addition to any fleet, and is downright deadly if you're 1v1 with him. Always friendly, always helpful, and always positive!

There are of course legions of others that I value in my life in Eve. The above are just some that tend to stand out in my mind. You're all terrific, keep flying!