Battlecruisers of Doom!

Last weekend Azx had an idea. Azx had a wonderful…awful, idea.

I have it on good authority that this is exactly what Azx looks like

“Let’s do a battlecruiser roam, I’ve had this Ferox around for way too long.” I foolhardily agreed. Actually I was pretty psyched about the idea. I hadn’t flown a Prophecy since the changes to the ship’s bonuses. It had gone from a primarily laser boat to a drone boat and I was interested to see what kind of fit I could get on it with all my new maxed drone skills. I was pretty pleased with the fit. It wasn’t ground breaking but had about 700 dps and an effective tank of something like 80,000 hit points. Not great, but not easily ignored either. And I was planning on losing the ship so what the fuck do I care?

We fit out and headed to lo-sec. Our first encounter was…odd.

Basically Azx got caught on a gate. But, the Vexors we were fighting started killing an Omen that we thought was with them. Then, basically, they all left. We had no idea what was happening. We were just trying to get dps on the closest ships before Azx died. And boy was he going to die if they had just kept at it. We were confused but it seemed like the tank on his fit was legit. Vexors can spit out some serious dps and seemed to handle quite a bit of it. And we managed to get on the Omen killmail so yay!

Our next fight went a little better. We caught a few guys, we think from the previous group, on another gate. We primary a Cerberus and manage to break through his tank and take him down. The fight went really well, right until Azx parked his Ferox in a stargate and got stuck! Getting stuck on an inanimate object is always embarrassing, but can be downright lethal when you have enemy ships landing on you. For some reason though they didn’t engage us and we headed to a station to lick our wounds.

The final battle went about how I expected the night to go. We warped into a hornet’s nest and were obliterated. I’ll say I thought we put up a pretty good fight all things considered. We made a few mistakes, but that’s what pvp is all about. A lost ship is only painful if you don’t learn something from it. Every fight you’re in is a lesson, and the more you analyze you’re performance afterwards the better you get.

I for one need to learn to OVERHEAT MY DAMN MODULES. I don’t know what it is, I just can’t seem to remember that it’s available to me. I even have thermodynamics trained to V! Anyway we had a blast and I managed to get some decent videos of the fights. All in all a great way to spend some time on a rainy weekend!

Baptism by Fire

Apologies for not posting in a while. My life has been a bit of a mess lately. Work has been pretty all-consuming with 4:30 am wake up times and 12 hour days. Ugh. Anyway we’re here now and we all have some catching up to do.

Faux Pas is starting to hum along pretty well. Attendance is still fairly light, we have a lot of members out on vacation or off starting new jobs and moving. But the drive of the guys I’ve seen online so far is promising. This corp is starting to become exactly what I wanted to; a stress-free group of guys who just like to fly together and have some fun. No obligations, no fuss, just lo-sec roams and some good fights. I won’t be able to recap all of the fights I’ve had since my last post, but I’ll try to give you some highlights.

One of my favorites was actually a sad loss. My personal friend Eno logged on for about an hour looking for me to bring him out and find a fight. Not always a patient person but I was in the mood for a quick fight too. He was in a Tristan while I brought out my Crucifier. I took him into one of my favorite lo-sec areas and sure enough we found a lone Retribution on the scanner. After a little time spinning the camera around, I think I have a lock on the ship and I warp the squad into the fight. Eno is still working on basics of Eve and pvp especially. Since his skill set is so low, his align times are significantly higher than my lightning fast Crucifier. Those agility rigs make a world of difference! Anyway I ended up on grid with the enemy ship on my own for a few seconds while Eno played catch up. I hit my warp disruptor and sent the drones off to war! I was doing pretty good damage but the tracking disruptors weren’t making much of a dent on his small pulse turrets. I should have known! At 15 km I can’t keep my transversal velocity high enough to out run his turrets, and in the heat of battle I didn’t think to switch to the range disruption scripts. I managed to fly out of his engagement range, right about the time that Eno landed on grid. Poor guy was in a poorly fit Tristan alone against an assault frigate. It didn’t take long for him to pop. The worst part was I hadn’t explained to him how the pod ejection system worked yet, so he got a nice quick trip back to his starting system when his pod popped!

Oops! Well at least I made it out alive. I wasn’t so lucky in the next fight. Highfive logged on and joined me for a lo-sec roam since his static wormhole connection was so close to where I was operating. We managed to find ourselves a Vexor to fight. It wasn’t a great target for his Stabber and my Arbitrator, but we were bored so we decided to give it a go. I made a fatal mistake and got within his web range which quickly lead to me getting blasted out of my ship. But I managed to get a good amount of damage in and Highfive was able to just barely finish him off! Unfortunately he took a little too long collecting his loot and managed to get himself killed by a Brutix that entered the same belt shortly after. Lesson learned. Loot and scoot, don’t hang around if you don’t have to!

Not too long ago I was in one of my 0.2 systems looking for clone rats when I found a very young player trying to do the same. He must not be very used to using the directional scanner as I caught him in a belt pretty quickly. My Crucifier took him out of the fight entirely, not that he was really in it, while Highfive popped his ship in a Tristan. Really wasn’t much of a fight, but hey it’s always fun to get a kill! Soon after that we had our first official corp night. A night when the corp is guaranteed to try to get online so we can all go out and fly together for a while. We climbed into a pair of destroyers and frigates and headed out for a fight. I got a call on comms about halfway through our roam that a friendly was being chased by a Hawk, Retribution, Enyo, and Jaguar. That’s a lot of assault ships, but maybe with his tracking disruptors we would have a shot? We fleet warped to their belt and engaged the hostiles. Luckily the Hawk wasn’t there when the fight started. We primaried the Enyo and managed to bring him down before the T2 ships leveraged their firepower and systematically destroyed our whole fleet! It was bound to happen. Our pilots are still pretty new to pvp for the most part and we were horribly outgunned, but there’s no better way to learn!

It’s been a fun couple of weeks! I’m really excited to have some of the other corp members start showing up again after their respective real-life hiatuses. And I’m going to hold off on some of the videos for a while. I keep taking videos with 2 audio channels, one for the mic and one for the gameplay, but YouTube keeps cutting one of them out. And I get so distracted with the video stuff I forget to take screenshots so you’re left with a wall of text blog which no one enjoys. If anyone has any tips for encoding the videos let me know!

Fly Safe!

The Hunting Is Good

Man it has been a while since I have posted here and for that I am truly ashamed. It’s been a very busy couple of weeks. The new corp is finally up and running and recruiting has gone really well so far! A couple of real-life friends and a good number of people from in-game have joined the Faux.Pas ranks and we’re out to have some fun! I’m really happy with the way things are going so far and can’t wait to see what the next few weeks are going to be like. For now it has quieted down a little. Almost all of our members are on vacations, or have recently moved, or have some other excuse for not being on a lot at the moment. So while I wait for everyone to get settled at our new home, I have been heading out for some hunting.

The killboard is starting to fill out nicely. On a roam with Azx we came across a Coercer who was drooling at the chance to take down two little frigates ratting in his system. We had split up to cover more belts faster, and as luck would have it, I managed to pick the belt he was in. The fight was fast and brutal, we locked each other down and I released my light drones while his first volley of laser-fire obliterated my shields! His second volley did less damage but still took me down to a few bars of armor. As my warning klaxons wailed my tracking disruptor finally started taking his turrets out of the fight. If there is one thing I know about Coercer’s it’s that they have no tank. Even my three little drones manage to quickly eat through his armor and his ship exploded just as Azx made it into the fray.

A few days later I was out flying solo. I have to say I am loving my Arbitrator these days. It has the dps to take out clone rats, but allows me to do it in a way where I can move well away from the warp in point of the belt. So if someone does scan me down they end up a good 40-50 km away from me giving me time to assess whether or not I want to engage. Unfortunately for a Moa I came across that day, he was not that far from the warp in point. I had never really fought a Moa before. A solid turret boat, I wasn’t too concerned, but there is always a little apprehension when engaging a target you’re not familiar with. Needless to say I had no reason to worry. A relatively new pilot and a very poor fit means an easy kill. But not much loot to be had unfortunately. Luckily the transporter clone tags have gone back up in value and are currently hovering around the 47 million mark. My personal wallet continues to climb and I’m actually nearing the first billion I’ve ever had all to myself!

Later that same day I could not believe what my d-scanner was telling me. I was looking for rats in a 0.2 security system that was empty except for one other pilot in local. The only ship on my scanner? A Retriever. A lone mining barge. It must be unpiloted in a POS tower somewhere. But when I scan it to a 5 degree band at a planet with a belt, I can’t help but hope he’s mining. So I punch my warp drive and land 10 km away from the Retriever. He’s not aligned, has no drones, and isn’t moving. This guy is about to learn a lesson in afk-mining in lo-sec. My drones spill forth and obliterate the miner. I even rammed his ship just to make sure if he was warp stabilized he wouldn’t get away. Not an impressive kill, but the minerals he has on him is a solid couple of million which I won’t argue with. Not a bad day really, two kills and about 200 million in tags. I’ll take it!

The latest entry on the killboard is the most interesting, since I actually wasn’t involved in the kill. The day after finding the miner I find another one. But this one has a Corax escort with him. That’s fine with me, I’m pretty sure I can kill them both if one doesn’t warp away. I hesitate attacking as two new locals show up in channel. My trap sense is tingling, but I’m far enough away from these guys that I can call the drones out to attack and keep my distance to see what happens. Sure enough two Vexors arrive on the scene, but they aren’t there to help the miner and his friend. Both cruisers engage the Corax as the miner somehow makes his escape. The destroyer dies and I recall my drones while taunting the Vexors to give chase. I know I can’t take two Vexors, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have a little fun with them first. I’m not sure why this one ended up on the killboard though. I did damage the Corax, but I didn’t post it to the board. Eh what can you do.

All in all things are going great and I’m excited every time I log into the game again! It’s a great feeling. I was really worried about leaving the wormhole corp and how it would affect my relationships with those players, but they’ve all been really supportive and I’m having a lot more fun in game now than I have in a long time. Here’s to the future and some epic fights to come!

Hmm, Something’s Not Quiet Right Here…

Ugh! You ever have those days where all you want to do is play Eve, but you just can’t seem to get out of work or post-work social engagements? I swear my office was caught in a time vortex today. The hands on the clock above my coworker’s head did not move for hours! At least so it seemed. Then of course we have an old friend from out of town who wants to get beers. Fine, jerk! I’ll go have some beers with you. I finally get home, literally run upstairs and boot up the game to have this greet me…

Man today is just not going the way I want. I pace nervously around the apartment for a while and kill some time on reddit (shameless plug). Finally, sweet sweet Eve time is here! What wonders does the home wormhole system have in store for me today? Hmm, no anomalies. A ladar, a grav site, and two lo-sec wormholes. Yuck. Well, I need to take care of some online research so I might as well hit the ladar while I do that in a separate browser. But once I’ve finished that I think it’s time to get some hunting in. The Pilgrim hasn’t been out in a while, and I have a feeling there are some newbie pilots cruising around not knowing any better at this hour.

Sure enough once in the static system I find a Vexor, Maller, and Caracal pop up on my d-scanner. Mmm I can taste those newb tears now. Or maybe not as another Pilgrim blinks onto and immediately off of the scanner. Hmm, odd. Swinging the scanner around a few times gets me a nice vantage point on the Maller. But something doesn’t add up. There aren’t any rats in the belt, and he’s not moving, mining, or salvaging. He’s just sitting there. His toon is only a few months old, but if the Maller is known for one thing, it’s being a great bait ship. I decide to keep scanning.

The Caracal shows up as well, but he seems to be acting kind of funny too. He’s actually killing rats, but there’s just something about the way he doesn’t seem bothered with a dozen people in local, a Maller and a Vexor on scan. He’s about 70km away from me so I decide if maybe showing myself will elicit some kind of response. I point in a direction away from the ratter, decloak and hit my MWD. Sure enough the Caracal is trying to lock me almost immediately but I’m not close enough for him to get a clear lock just yet. And besides, I’m not really watching what he’s doing, I’m spamming my d-scanner. I’m watching the Tengu, Pilgrim, Curcifier, and a few other ships materialize out of nowhere.

Good call gut feeling, let’s get out of here! I align to a planet and warp away, never really in danger. I spark up a quick convo with the tricksters who continue their charade for a while but eventually give in. Oh well, no easy kills tonight, at least there was some excitement! There’s always next time, and at the very least…I didn’t lose my ship.

 

Return to the Pod

The pod goo is colder than I remember it being…

It is good to be back! After a long stint planetside, I’m finally back in the pod. A lot is going on planetside. I’m moving back to Brooklyn, just broke up with my girlfriend of four years (well she broke up with me), and things are pretty crazy in general. The good news is I’m finally settled in and seriously back in Eve.

The whole corp was online last night and we began telling old war stories as we pillaged the anomalies of a neighboring C3 system. After a particularly exciting engagement a few nights ago, Oz convinced me to start writing in the blog again. A fantastic idea, and this fight is definitely worth the spotlight of the first in the re-opening of Capsule in the Void.

Well it was about a week and a half ago. I had finally got a replacement Legion for the one that Oz borrowed and returned to me as a smoldering pile of wreckage. I was the only corpie online and a few anomalies looked more promising than scouting new wormholes or suckling Ladar sites. I align to my target and warp in to find the expected sleepers. So far everything is going as plan. I start popping sleepers, admiring my Legion’s shiny hull and blazing pulse lasers.

Huh, that’s funny, I don’t remember there being any Lokis in this class of anomaly, or any anomaly for that matter…

Oh shit. A few months away from the game has made me rusty. I was not spamming d-scan as much as I should have been. Regardless the reaction to the Loki appearing on my overview is instantaneous. The Legion begins aligning to the POS while I lock the Loki and begin to engage the new hostile. I should mention at this point, there is still a sleepless defender buzzing around who begins engaging the Loki as well. It’s nice to know the sleepers think this guy is as big a jerk as I do.

The cloak fitted Loki is no match for my tank or my lasers. His shields are dropping quickly, and it’s only a matter of time before he’s done for. That is until his friends in a Hurricane, Vexor, and Broadsword show up. I get it now. The Loki was just a point to lock me down until the real fleet can get there.

I start planning my next Legion purchase. It looks like the corp wallet is robust enough to handle another big purchase so I could be back in a new Legion by the end of the day. But let’s see what we can do.

As you would imagine the Broadsword catches up with me and puts the bubble up. It’s a good thing he does because now the Loki who is almost out of armor bugs out before becoming a casualty himself. I switch targets to the Broadsword, I need to bring that bubble down if I’m ever going to get out of here. The hurricane closes the distance and starts throwing his own weight into the mix. The Vexor thankfully is over 60 km away, not sure what he was doing out there, but I’m grateful he isn’t in the fight yet.

It occurs to me that the Broadsword has quite a tank, but is probably contributing very little to the damage being inflicted on my ship. The Hurricane is the real threat to my hull. I know my armor repair unit can handle the Broadsword, but the close range hurricane is beating me up pretty bad. I overheat the armor repairer while I switch targets to the Hurricane.

The Minmatar have fast ships that hit hard, but they are made of cardboard. Within 30 seconds the Hurricane has to disengage or succumb to my righteous lasers (my lasers have a special affinity for Minmatar). The Hurricane warps off leaving the Broadsword and Vexor. Well now what do I do, the Vexor is getting closer but still doesn’t seem to be in the fight. Might as well take this chance to pummel the Broadsword some. His tank is strong, but it’s passive, and he has no way to repair himself. His shields begin to evaporate just as the Vexor starts to realize he can’t shoot me from where he is. The Loki warps back in to the fray, but at this point I have a good read on their strategy and their ship weaknesses. I re-lock the Loki, quickly making him warp out again. Target focus is now back to the Broadsword.

Suddenly I realize the Broadsword is falling behind. Could it be I’m not wreckage after all? Sure enough I manage to get outside of the Broadsword’s bubble and slam the warp button to bring me back to the POS. I had remained aligned to the tower the whole time. I broadcast a “gf!” into the local channel which is reciprocated by the aggressors. I keep them chatting in local while I switch to a stealth bomber. I end up back in the anomaly aligned perfectly to the Vexor and launch a bomb to remind them they aren’t in hi-sec yet.

It’s a direct hit with something like 3,000 damage registering in my log. I get the obvious “that tickles!” in local, but they get the hint and warp out. I have a feeling the Vexor felt that bomb a bit more than he wanted to. Now it’s just me and a cloaked Loki looting my hard earned loot. I align to one of the last wrecks hoping to pop the wrecks with a bomb while damaging the Loki a bit. Unfortunately for whatever reason he leaves the last 3 wrecks. After floating aligned to the wreck of choice for five minutes, I decide to call it a day. This has been enough excitement for me thank you very much.

Welcome back to Eve!

Drake Party

I log on today and finally hook up with Oz and the crew. We exchange bookmarks and I gather up my missioning loot to sell in Amarr. I make a modest wage for two nights of minimal work and set the autopilot on its 14 jump course to our worm hole connection. I settle in to finish some work while I listen to Aura take my ship home.

As I’m reading through part of my spreadsheet, a more complex formula that I would have liked, I realize the sound of a webifier is clearly audible through my computer speakers. I find that interesting, I’m in hi-sec, I wonder what’s going on. I switch windows just as the first volley of fire hits my shielding.

Damn Gallente, still holding a grudge I see. My shields evaporate almost immediately and the blockade runner’s armor is no match for the Navy barrage heading my way. I target the system’s star and start spamming the warp button. Another volley of damage, my armor is gone and I can see a sliver of red on my structure overview. This is going to end badly, in fact I’ve already started cursing into my mic before the ship finally enters warp.

By the skin of my teeth I made it out of the killzone. I quickly warp back to the gate and jump through. Thank goodness the navy forces take such a long time to notice your presence! Looks like I’ll be flying manually from here on out. I safely navigate through the last of Gallente space and into the lo-sec system with a bookmark to our home wormhole system.

Back in the home system I set out to mine some gas, and attend to my planetary facilities. With no wormholes to our system other than our static lo-sec system, I’m not too worried about anyone finding me. I harvest a good amount of gas before getting too bored and decide to hop back into my ole’ faithful Pilgrim. I head out to the lo-sec system to see if I find something to shoot.

I end up in Obalyu with another pilot in local, and a Drake on d-scan. What a party pooper. I swear these drake pilots know I’m coming before I even undock. This particular lo-sec chain is odd having only two lo-sec systems before connecting with hi-sec again. I move to the next lo-sec gate and find a pair of wrecks with a few abandoned drones floating about 20km off the gate. Looks like I just missed a party. I jump through to the Parts system to find three more people in this system, and another Drake on scan. You’ve got to be kidding me! Does the Caldari State even make any other ships anymore? Before the void can not answer my question the Drake vanishes from my scanner. Hmm…

I hit some other lo-sec systems nearby while dodging the Gallente Navy. I find an empty system and decide to kill some local pirates to pass the time. A little security standings boost wouldn’t hurt, especially in this neighborhood. Soon enough the belts are cleared and it’s time to head home. I manage to catch a Hurricane finishing off a Vexor at one of the lo-sec gates. I figure I have a decent chance at taking the Hurricane with two tracking disruptors fitted, but decide against it with the amount of traffic in the local comm channel. I warp back into my worm hole and pack it in for the night.