PVP: Meeting a Tusker

So last night I log in and hang around in the dead end system I call home at the moment. It has a 2/10 complex so there is usually always someone in local that might be a target. After a while I notice local spiking by 1 and there is a new “target” in local. This one was a Tusker by the name of Maksim Cammeren. Now I’ve never met a Tusker in combat before, yes I’ve read the blogs and know a few players who are members but one thing I know for sure is that if there’s a Tusker in local they are looking for a fight.

I warp to the sun to see if I can find my new friend. I’m flying a Wolf assault ship something that my skills make for a good tank with plenty of gank. D-scan reveals that my target in is a Harpy and quick ship info check shows me that the best ammo is Explosive types.. damn I only have Barrage and Plasma..

My friend warps to the Sun just as I warp off to a belt, I quickly turn around and head back to the sun and although he’s not there I’m sure he will return.. Minutes later he appears and makes his way towards me I let me lock me up and get closer before returning the lock and starting my orbit. I’m preloaded with Barrage so I set my orbit slightly wider than normal and the fight is on, my shields disappear with a couple of salvos from his blasters and I start my armor repairer I already know at this point I’m going to lose the damage I’m inflicting is not making a big enough dent on his shields. Sure enough moments later my Wolf goes pop.

“GF’s” are exchanged and I get my pod out and head of to the Rebels base to reship. I decide to try an Enyo and configure it for lots of tank. I then notice that my friend is in local and I head out to see if I can find him. Again we dance around the sun and the fight starts again, this time he sets a wider orbit and due to the bonuses with range the Harpy gets I’m hardly hitting him at all. In the end we both burn out our guns and we warp off.

Back I base I reship to a Jaguar, it’s a ship I’ve never flown before but I need to get use to shield tanked ships. At this point I start a convo with Maksim and ask him about his fit (this is where I learn about the range bonus on a Harpy). Maksim is still new to the Tuskers but it seems he will make a good pirate (when I first encountered him his sec status was 2.2 by the end of the evening it was 0.3)..

I head back to my dead end system and test my Jag fit out against some of the local belt rats, a short time later Maskim appears again in local and it’s time for a rematch. This time I have RF Fusion ammo with me so I preload it and warp to the sun, not much later the Harpy reappears and we make our way towards each other. This time the fight is much closer, my Jag gets webbed but due to it’s faster overall speed I maintain some speed to try and keep the damage down and this time my Jag is fitted with a tracking disruptor (my skills suck for those at the moment). We both chew through each others shields and it’s a race to finish, I overheat my guns for the last few seconds of the fight (I started with them overheated but switched them off so I didn’t burn them out). The Harpy explodeswith my Jag at 50% structure, I catch the pod (something I’m not bad at) and although I could easily pod my opponent I let the pod go and we head off in different directions.

I could have podded him, and to be honest I would have podded him if it wasn’t for the fact that I enjoyed the fights and he was a good opponent, he never backed down from the fight and although he’s still new to the Tuskers I’m sure he will be a great pirate. Maksim Cammeren I salute you..

Durz

PVP: Do you have the skills?

Hello readers, it’s been a while since any real post of substance and for that I apologise (again). In my last post I mentioned that I had gone the way of the YAARRRR as in I was no longer welcome in the areas of space with a security status of 0.5 or above. Since then I’ve been living in low sec, in fact the Rebels recently moved to a new “home” and as such I shipped all my ships over there. I sold my Loki and used the ISK to buy a whole host of new ships. Mostly T2 frigates of various types and races, some of which I can fly, some I can’t but I won’t fly any till my skills are up to the level I think they should be.

So far since being in low sec, I’ve lost a Rifter, an Iskhur and a Dramiel.. All of these were in 1v1’s and to be honest I’m not surprised I lost, fighting in low is a lot more “difficult” than high sec but it’s all about the learning. Which then made me think about my “skill plan”.

Most of the year so far has been spent learning the “support” skills, basically anything that increases my tank and makes my cap last longer. Flying frigates is fun but I want to make my Rifters even more deadly. Then I remembered about the famous Rifter Plan devised by the deadly pirate Kirith Darkblade, so with the power of Google I tracked it down. Below is the output from his plan, along with how my skills match up:

Electronics
– Electronics V – Trained
– Propulsion Jamming V – Trained
– Signature Analysis V – Trained

Engineering
– Energy Management V – Trained
– Energy Systems Operation V – Trained
– Engineering V – Trained
– Shield Management V – Trained
– Shield Operation V – Trained
– Tactical Shield Manipulation V – Trained to lvl 4

Gunnery
– Advanced Weapon Upgrades V – Trained to lvl 4
– Gunnery V – Trained
– Motion Prediction V – Trained
– Rapid Firing V – Trained
– Shrapshooter V – Trained to lvl 4
– Small Autocannon Specialisation V – Trained (well in just over a day)
– Small Projectile Turret V – – Trained
– Surgical Strike V – – Trained to lvl 4
– Trajectory Analysis V – – Trained to lvl 4
– Weapon Upgrades V – – Trained

Mechanic
– Hull Upgrades V – Trained
– Jury Rigging III – Trained to lvl 4
– Mechanic V – Trained
– Projectile Weapon Rigging V – Trained to lvl 4
– Repair Systems V – Trained

Missile Launcher Operation
– Missile Bombardment V – Trained to lvl 4
– Missile Launcher Operation V – Trained
– Missile Projection V – – Trained to lvl 4
– Rapid Launch V – – Trained to lvl 4
– Rocket Specialisation V – Trained
– Target Navigation Prediction V – Trained to lvl 4
– Warhead Upgrades V – Trained to lvl 4

Navigation
– Acceleration Control V – Trained to lvl 4
– Afterburner V – Trained
– Evasive Manouvering V – Trained
– Fuel Conservation V – Trained
– Navigation V -Trained
– Warp Drive Operation V – Trained

Science
– Thermodynamics V – Trained to lvl 4

Spaceship Command
– Minmatar Frigate V -Trained
– Spaceship Command V – Trained

On top of these I have the following which I feel are just as important:

Shield Upgrades V
All Armour Compensations to V
All Shield Compensations to IV (will get to V at some point)
Long Range Targeting V
Electronic Upgrades V (not really necessary for a Rifter but)
Energy Emissions Systems – Trained to lvl 4 (will be trained to V soon)
Armour Rigging IV

So that’s where I am now, this year will see the finishing off of some more support skills and then work out what to do next year..

Fly safe, and only fly what you can fight in..
Durz

PVP: I’ve gone pirate….

Just a quick post to say I’m now officially banned from high sec after a moment of madness killing 2 catalyst and pods in under 2 minutes…

Oh well, it’s taken me long enough to get here.. 🙂

Now on the logistics of moving my stuff, buying some new ships and killing stuff…

More later.. 🙂

Durz

Gen: I’m still here…

Hello readers (if I have any left), my apologies for the lack of posting over the last few weeks/months. It was not my intention to leave it this long without giving you something to read.

Since my last post things have been much the same (hence the lack of posting), I’m still getting some kills and even spent some time in lowsec. The Black Rebels now have Chapters so I’ve moved away from Hek/Auner area and I’m looking for a new home in Caldari space. To be honest I will probably stay available for what is currently a period of ongoing war’s with various different Corps/Alliances some of which are in High Sec (i.e. no negative ten sec status for me yet).

A few weeks ago the Rebels took a small gang around Auner, this was the first time I’ve flown with some of the Rebels and as most of my time is spent Solo it made a nice change. I was in my shiny new armour Cane providing DPS and a big target while the rest of the Rebels were in smaller ships. We ended up killing a Raven (running a mission in low sec.. that’s what d-scan is for), and as a claim to fame (well sort of) I managed to get the final blow on Lady Shaniqua \o/.

She wasn’t too pleased about being “ganked” and come back in a Loki looking for us, but before we could all die under her guns we went after a Battleship (yes it was bait) in a belt and then got blobbed, my Cane died a hero’s death though and managed to kill a Rifter and Rupture before exploding.. 😦

Skill training wise I am finishing off what I class as the last of the Core support skills to minimize capacitor/CPU/Powergrid and maximize Tank before topping up some more Gunnery and Missile skills. To be honest I will still fly the “smaller” ships because I enjoy it more than tanking around an a big ass hull. Plus I still have some ships I want to fly and all these wars give me plenty of opportunity to try them out. I did lose a Manticore the other day in 0.0 space on a quick visit, I was about 15KM off the gate when a Dramiel uncloaked me and made short work of my bomber. I will be back though as I want to practice some bombing runs.. 🙂 I might even head back into WH space in search of some PVP action.. 🙂

The Black Rebels are also recruiting currently, so if you fancy some small gang PVP and want a awesome bunch of people to fly with (some of the best pilots I’ve ever flown with in Eve), then drop by our in-game public channel The Autocannon or pay a visit to our recruitment thread.

So that’s about it for today, sorry again for the lack of posting I will do my best to improve.. I would also like to say Thank You to all my readers.. I know it may seem strange but because of you guys and the other Bloggers out there I enjoy telling stories of my Eve life, in fact since starting this blog I’ve started another blog about my other passion in life (well not including my awesome girlfriend and family of course) which is all things IT related..

This is totally a none Eve blog so if you are interested (and there isn’t much there yet) please feel free to visit The IT Geek Chronicles. I would ask though if you want to comment etc please use a non Eve account (I want to keep them separate).. oh and Rixx if you are reading this, let me know what you think to my blog banner on that site.. 🙂

PVP: 3 Month review in the Rebels

So it’s been a while since I posted last, not because I’ve stopped playing Eve just more because I haven’t got anything “interesting” to write about. I’m still floating around Hek picking fights and overall it’s been a case of winning more than I’ve lost (which is always nice).

I’ve been in the Black Rebel Rifter Club for over 3 months now, which for me is a long time to stay in a PVP corp. Not because I am a serial corp hopper, just because usually I either lose interest in PVP or die and get bored. The Rebel’s are a cool bunch to fly with, each with their own style and although we are often spread out across the universe it’s still nice to know a good bunch of pilots have your back. We also have a large number of bloggers in the corp. You can find the RSS feed for them all HERE

This post is a mostly a review of my PVP career in the Rebels, I’m not a great one for posting how awesome I am at killing ships but I am proud of my stats so far (mostly because I’m still new to PVP and I fly solo 100% of the time).

So here for your enjoyment are my R1FTA Killboard Stats:

Kills: 47
Real kills: 43
Losses: 12
Damage done (ISK): 0.28B
Damage received (ISK): 0.09B
Chance of enemy survival: 21.82%
Pilot Efficiency (ISK): 76.05%

Ships & Weapons Used:

Rifter 42 Kills
Wolf 4 Kills
Hookbill 1 Kill

150mm Light AutoCannon II 29 kills
200mm AutoCannon II 14 Kills
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket 1 Kill

Make of this what you like, but I’m pleased with my progress so far, a lot of my kills are against bigger ship classes so that’s a good thing right?? 🙂

Fly it like you want

Durz

PVP: Bleh moments

So I’ve been a bit quiet the last few weeks, other than publishing my PDF version of my looting and flipping guide that’s been about it. To be honest I’ve reached a bit of a “bleh” moment in Eve. Can flipping and looting wrecks has reached the point where it’s more work than I want and the fights aren’t always “fair”.

I’ve been waiting for some courier contracts to be completed (thanks Red Frog Freight) in order to get my gear into low sec, now all I need is to fly some ships into my new home and then get my mass of modules and ships moved. It means reducing the number of some ships I will be taking but nothing major.

My last couple of outings in Eve have been a bit FAIL, for a couple of reasons. The other night I undocked in my Rifter and after 10 minutes hunting around Hek decided to head back to Arnon (yes I was that bored), on arriving in Arnon I was surprised how quiet it was so decided to head into low sec next door.. Again nothing worth engaging so I decided to have a fly around the area and see what happens.

I randomly chose systems and made some new safes in a couple of locations, I was just about to log for the night when I landed in one system and warped to the station. On arrival at the station I saw a hauler slow boating out of the station and warping off to customs office. I decided for an easy kill and followed, I landed just before the hauler locked him, point, web and started to unload hot rounds of RF ammo into him.. Awesome I thought he’s going down quick.. well not as quick as me when Concord landed and blasted the shit out of me.. Yes yes I was in a 0.6 system and hadn’t thought to check before being a wannabe pirate.

The next day I reshipped in a shiney new Hawk assault frigate, first fail of the day, rocket/shield fit. Second fail of the day engaging a cane in Hek, that wiped me out in seconds. Now I have half decent shield skills and thought I had a decent fit but it made me realise that when it comes to shield fit ships I need a lot more practice flying them so I will stick with armour for now.

2 stupid encounters in 2 days, does it bother me, no not really I think it’s just a side effect of living in high sec for so long, you tend to lose a part of your common sense and forget that fights need planning and attention should be paid to your surroundings at all time.

Oh well, off to low sec I go, I’ve been putting it off for too long.

Fly crazy (but be smart).

Durz

Guides: Looting & Flipping the PDF version

So I know I’m a bit behind with this, but I’m on another batch of medication and in my drug fueled haze I’ve finally finished the PDF version of my Guide to Looting & Flipping. Now I admit I’m no guru with graphics so apologies if it doesn’t look like a fine polished piece of work but I’ve done my best.

You can download the guide HERE

Enjoy

Durz

Gen: Still around in spirit..

This is just a quick post to say I’m still around, just not really “with it” at the minute. The last 4 weeks I’ve been ill and after 6 trips to the doctors, 2 lots of blood tests and 4 different lots of medication I think I’m finally on the road to recovery.

I have been in-game during this time and even managed to get a few kills but my focus hasn’t really been there and I’ve been sleeping a lot. A lot of my in-game time has been spent moving stuff around on my other toons and getting my indy alt settled into his new WH home.

The guide I published a copy of weeks ago is nearly finished in PDF format, just a title to put on it and then i will publish it on this blog for those that are interested.

I posted a week or so again about being unsure about going -10. Well I’ve finally decided to go for it, I will move my stuff into my new low sec home this weekend and then once I’m back to 100% health I will see how long it takes to get -10 (and the all important flashy red). I’ve kinda worked out a skill plan for the next few weeks that will help me with the ships I fly currently and let me get into some new ones. After that it’s back to the support skills I need to max out to make my frigates even more powerful… 🙂

Durz

Gen: Oh decisions, decisions

My biggest problem in Eve has always been working out what to do, I train for a specific purpose and then get side tracked into something else before going back to my original plan. The same is to be said about the “role” I chose to play. Durzo started with the intention of being pure PVP and to be honest he has stayed that way, I might have diverted his training for a specific type of ship but always combat related.

The “issue” I have currently is decided what sort of combat I want. Durzo as you know has spent a lot of time can flipping and getting into fights in order to build up his PVP experience, but that’s got boring, then I decided to try a bit of ninja’ing but I’m not sure if that will suit me, sure I have an alt trained with nearly 4mil SP in leadership skills and capable of flying on Orca but can I really wander around solo living out of an Orca?

Lately I’ve been thinking about low sec again, I like low sec there is something about it that feels comfortable and you are always certain of a fight. In fact last night I was hanging around in a low sec system near Hek and I just missed out on the chance of getting a mining barge and then a hoarder and a hawk. The thing that stopped me.. worrying about my sec status. See loosing your sec status is easy, kill some ships, pop some pods and it’s gone. Getting it back is a bitch, I mean a time-consuming, long-winded painful experience that without 0.0 access can take weeks/months in low sec.

Add to that a fair number of Black Rebel’s hitting low sec and causing some pain for other pilots I kind of feel left out, sure the Rebels are a casual bunch who don’t mind what you do but I like the company and it’s better than playing solo.

So my dear readers, what are you views? Shall I make my way to -10 or spend time working on PVP in High sec?

Durz

PS the PDF version of my guide is nearly done, managed to get it to 1 page just need to add some artwork.

Gen: Just wanted to say thank you..

I would like to thank everyone for all the positive feedback and comments since I published my Guide to Looting and Flipping. Over the next week or so I will publish the guide as a 1 page PDF (available for download) and if my geek skills are up to it as a in-game browser compatible web page. I’m not sure if this will be a benefit but it might help some newer players access my guide without having to visit my blog.

Yesterday was my RL birthday (no Eve related presents for me though) so I didn’t get any Eve time in and I was busy over the weekend as well so not much happening. I’m currently work on a new Loki fitting so I can make us of that for some more high sec fun and mischief and to my shame (don’t tell the Black Rebels) I’ve been running some level 4’s to get my sec status back up past -2.0 so I can move more freely around empire space.

Oh my social experiment for creating my own blog related in-game channel so far has only one other visitor (you know who you are), so thank you and hopefully might see some more of you in there at some point.

Durz