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MB.

The Possessed

Public perception would point to calling the pilots who fly around with this tag as 'the possessed'. This misrendering would make it possible to speak of them as demoniacs in some unexamined sense, which probably lends them a certain glamour and even exonerates them to a certain extent. We do see a number of pilots here behaving as if they were 'possessed.' The implications of the word are almost right, but it points in the wrong direction. More study will be needed before a final conclusion can be made.

~ excerpt from 'A Study on Piracy: Corp/Alliance tags and their cultural meanings.' - Prof. Enzo Hrohl.



I took note of a comment from an alliance mate recently who stated that most blogs these days tend to focus mainly on game issues, problems, the drama, the metagame et all, and tend to lose track of the actual ingame element. The personal touch, if you like, sometimes gets lost in the fog. News and views are all good but it is nice to mix it up once in a while.

With this in mind I decided to have a look through my killboard and compile a short November kill review.

~

If you warp away from me because of warp core stabilizers I will hunt you down and come back with more scrams fitted. My urgency to get the job done will be doubled more so if you mock in local. I do enjoy the challenge involved in these kind of executions. I do take great pleasure in these type of kills. I even have a special watchlist with known 'stab' users.

Most recently this guy decided to fall foul of the warp core watchlist.

Battle report taken from R1DER forums.


There's this cheeky little stabmonkey Procurer pilot who would mine all day in lowsec and then he'd warp off as soon as his shields were gone. He'd then smack a little bit in local while docked up hiding. I tried my luck twice with him over the space of a week and he warped off both times.

It wasn't going to be third time lucky for him.

I had a stash of Hookbills nearby and decided to modify the midslots and go prepared with two scramblers. I checked my 'hitlist of people who are online that I will kill one day', (there is no escape) and sure enough he was online. I punched in the coordinates and soon enough I was in his local. I think there's about 15 belts in this system and from memory he was always in the same belt. Must have been his favourite.

I landed some 50 clicks off him at first attempt and burned towards him with mwd at full speed.

Bruce Havoc > again lol

Bruce Havoc > your just wasting your time

SCRAM 1 ENGAGE.

SCRAM 2 ENGAGE.


Commence epic DP... oh yeah I'm in a Hookbill. Slowly I plink away at his shields. Eventually he hits armor and starts to align out.


AND NOW FOR MY TRAP CARD MOTHERFUKKER.


Bruce Havoc > Miura Bull stop it

Bruce Havoc > Miura Bull PLEASE stop it NOW

He's in half-armor and only now decides to unleash the full force of his t1 drone arsenal. Which I ignore.


He ends up dead.


Miura Bull > gf


There is no response.


I warp to a deep safespot for a little break and when I get back local has been busy.


Drake Saamdur > Bruce they got you again?

Bruce Havoc > yup

Drake Saamdur > In your thorax?

Bruce Havoc > nope in prouncer

Bruce Havoc > he was using 2 warp scramblers

Drake Saamdur > In that litlle hook bill?

Bruce Havoc > what ?

Drake Saamdur > Is that what killed you?

Bruce Havoc > yes

Drake Saamdur > How cute

Drake Saamdur > Let me know next time and I will make sure scrubs like that dont kill you

Bruce Havoc > cheers

Bruce Havoc > I have him on watchlist now

Drake Saamdur > he prob wont show face around here again

Drake Saamdur > scrub

Drake Saamdur > scrub knows his place

Bruce Havoc > yup


I lol'd too.


On the theme of mining barges.

I spotted a Procurer mining in lowsec. I uncloaked and started delivering the pain. Just as he was about to pop, a buddy (maybe even his own alt judging by the name) landed in the belt in a Megathron.

I wasted no time in locking him down and removing him from space. That Megathron really is a crime for the fitting police.

This Procurer I am certain was afk mining. I burned quite a distance to land the scram, but what was most pleasing from the killmail was the pod.

There's so many more mining barges that have fallen in lowsec but I don't really have the time to write about them all. I even logged out in a mining site recently and came back a couple of hours later to find a Retriever sat at zero. Would have been rude not to right?

I just hope they keep coming. Lowsec at the moment reminds me of the Serengeti and the Masai Mara during the great wildebeest migrations. So much to feed on, so little time. And it's not just mining barges that are providing to the feast.

How do you fit a Brutix?

I like your Vexor.

... and your Thorax.

... oh and don't worry about the vase.

Seriously at times I don't know how I find them.


Apart from slaying the weak I have actually found some pretty good fights this past month. Nothing truly memorable but good for the quick fix.

The Slasher continues to impress in its role as slightly over-powered attack frigate. Not that you can really complain. This shake up of ship changes keeps everyone on their toes at least.

Slasher versus Taranis would once upon a time never be viable.

I hesitated for a brief moment when engaging this Harpy, but I'm glad that I did in the end.


Tech 2 cruisers are great targets for frigates.

This poorly looking Sacrilege met an unfortunate end.

... as too did this Zealot.


On a rare roam in a Cynabal I perhaps bit off slightly more than I could chew when landing smack bang at zero on a Drake and a Moa. Knowing from killboard intel that the Moa was likely not fitted with a scram I decided to chance it and go for the Drake. Who sadly did have a scram fitted. I managed to kill him just in time. The Moa had multiple webs on me and his blasters were hurting so I decided to warp off in structure. A weird fight.

On a roam through Syndicate I was making some bookmarks on a gate when multiple gate flashes grabbed my attention. I carried on burning and was greeted by the sight of an advancing Daredevil. He was moving at quite some speed. So I killed him. I managed to warp off as the rest of his gang had just locked me up. A lucky escape from an angry Tornado gang.

I found another Daredevil a few days later which also met its end.

The Daredevil is a funky ship but so fragile!



MB.

The Gambler

That much-played game of New Eden life, loved by many but loathed by more. A rotten and stinking game to those who oppose it. The ECM dice roll can smack you in the face when you least expect it. Like a rogue poker player with revolver loaded under the table, ready to spark a gunfight when the game doesn't go his way.

If you were to ask the majority of the eve population, generally the overall opinion would be that ECM leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Well it does in the circles I operate in. There are some dark circles who worship the ECM Gods but it is best we don't go there for fear of a perma-jammed voodoo hell.

I have never used an offensive ECM module or had an ECM drone in my drone bay. I haven't even got the skill plugged in. Is this a wise tactic? What is my reasoning? I guess you could say I am a gambler. I will take my chances, however slim they be. But I ain't rolling no dice, whatever the odds. I don't ever feel that attached to a ship that I'd consider ECM drones a viable tactic that would give me any kind of advantage. I'd just rather my ship explode if I'm being honest.

Some recently announced proposals should 'tweak' the overall ECM game in the favour of those who oppose it. Notably:

• Reduce Optimal Range and Falloff of all ECM modules by 10%

• Add four new racial sensor compensation skills that increase each type of Sensor Strength by 5% per level

I am looking forward to plugging in those skills and training them all to 5. I'm also hoping ECM drones die a horrible death. I don't ask for much. Did I mention I'm not a fan of ECM?

Tonight I started the dance with the ECM Gods once again, a delicate tip-toe on the end of an autocannon barrel. I land the scram on a Rupture whilst out in the Wolf, switching over to my drone tab I spot ECM drones swarming me. I immediately lock up the drones and switch my autocannons onto them, hopefully blasting them into oblivion before they jam me. One drone is destroyed before the jams lock me out. The Rupture isn't going nowhere though, he wants to kill me as much as I want to kill him.

I spam for lock.

I get my systems back and lock up the Rupture and the drones but I'm immediately jammed again.

Frustrating.

Again I'm back in the game. Killing drones. Jams. Killing drones. Jams. It's a slow race, what are these drones? Super-strength?

After removing all the drones from space I am finally back to killing the Rupture. But then I lose lock again just as the Rupture enters structure. He starts to align as I scramble to get my lock back and just in the nick of time I land the scram again for one final gut-shot. ECM burst?

The Rupture dies.

Seriously, why people feel the need for this much ECM I will never understand. Those drones even started breeding in his cargohold.



MB.

The Idiot (oops)

The safespot. The first thing we make when entering a new system. The hiding place of many and also the final resting place of many who fall into the trap of thinking that they are 'safe'. Many a pilot will embark on epic bookmarking roams, plotting future tacticals and warp-in spots, all for the slightest future advantage.

I lost three ships this week out of stupidity. I am an idiot. What did I do? I didn't use a safespot. Why did I not use a safespot? I can't really answer that. Laziness, perhaps. Three times and each time I thought to myself 'damn what an idiot, I won't do that again'. 

I guess I wouldn't be that bothered but the frustrating thing is they were all fights I should have won.  

First up I lost a Wolf to an Enyo. I was in Decon and spotted a few ships on scan, mostly coming and going and not hanging around. All the time I spotted an Enyo on scan but it looked like he wasn't interested in the fight. So I parked myself in top belt and waited. And waited ... Out of boredom I alt-tabbed out to our corp forums (yeah, probably should use the ingame browser once in a while). Anyway, I hear alarms ringing. Shit. Wolf in half armor. Enyo stinging away. Dead Wolf. I pop a gf in local and warp out with my tail between my legs. 100 million isk down the toilet. No big deal. Promise myself I won't do that again.

Fast forward a few days and I am in a Jaguar hanging around some 2/10 acceleration gates. There's nobody in local so I get up and go for stroll, like you do. I should have known better. I come back to the screen and there's a Cyclone killing me. I have already lost shields as I start a valiant attempt to kill his drones but I've already taken too much damage and I explode and warp my pod out. 

Same old drill I pop a gf in local and an 'oops I was afk, so bad at this game' message in local. The pilot starts lecturing me on how lowsec is dangerous. So bad.

Today I visited one of the out-of-the-way Pithi 2/10 sites. I am in another 100mil isk Wolf. Wolfs are like my fix. I love them. Anyway. There's a Thrasher and a Worm on scan. I wait on the gate but the Thrasher leaves local and the Worm is seemingly sat on station for what seems like an eternity. I enter the 2/10 site and wait inside on the entry point. You can probably guess what's going to happen here ... yep. I am alt-tabbed checking the forums again (damn these forums are bad for my health) and I come back to a half-dead Wolf and a Worm, which somehow I manage to get into structure before I pop. 

A gf goes up in local and I decide to write a blogpost about how bad I am at this game. Must. Use. Safespots.

MB.

 

1337 pvp

1337 pvp isn't about actual pilot skill. Oh no, far from it. These two guys with less than a week of training between them hardly scratched my rifter's rusty bits. It is all about timing the fight just right with the 24-hour clock.

click ~ look at the time, look at the time :)

It's definitely a slow news day.




MB.

The Mad Machine of Killboard Stats (performance review)

A quick peek into the world of numbers and figures.


I like to think of The Devil's Tattoo alliance < R1DER > as a giant machine that randomly spits out killmails on a daily basis. I imagine that some weird ol' mad scientist made this machine on one of his lunch breaks. I like to picture this imaginary piece of machinery as having big clunky pipes venting steam at random times, weird bits that came from somewhere else bodged together that don't really work but they look quite good even though they keep falling off.

Whether these killmails are for or against we don't really care that much as long as our members are having a good time. Of course we do care, but we don't care. If that makes sense?

It is therefore a surprise that < R1DER > is currently the second rank in recent performing alliances. Perhaps the other alliances need to up their game somewhat? What are those crooks doing out in null-sec to let a gang of bad rifter pilots steal a march on the go-to ranking lists? Hmm, one does wonder.

Black Rebel Rifter Club seems to keep bobbing around the number 3 mark in the recent corporate rankings, give or take a few yo-yo drops every now and then.

Overall R1FTA continues to climb the overall corporate rankings to the heady heights of number 68. Over 800 billion isk in destroyed ships and assets is a nice number that continues to rise. Almost 17,000 kills to date. That's a mind-boggling amount of individual killmails. Our favourite ship is listed as the Rifter! Oh I do love a good a stat.

On a personal level I find myself jostling for position in the top 300 of the individual pilot rankings. At the time of writing I rank as #271. I quite enjoy watching the progress of these rankings and looking at the stats of those in and around my rank. One thing you notice is the higher you get in the rankings the slower your progress, it's like a bottleneck as pilots queue to the tiny entrance that is the top 100 club. When you're hovering in and around the top 1000 and above you can make huge strides with a good day of killing above-class hulls, not so when you're plinking away for points with all those other blood-thirsty pilots.

Somebody was asking in a public channel I was in the other day how they could make their stats 'look better' as they learn how to pvp. They seemed downhearted by the fact they kept losing ships and their efficiency was terrible and they don't want to engage this or do that because it might mean a comment on a lossmail and a bruised ego and blahdeblah.

As a word of advice, the best way is to not worry about it all.

Just take the fights and learn from them, with over 500 losses I feel qualified to state that I don't worry about them and if I did I wouldn't have over 500 losses to my name. The potential for a great killmail usually ends in a lossmail, but if we don't try ....

Stats will, over time, start to take shape. Whether they turn out good or bad is another thing but the key thing to remember is don't fall into the trap of thinking about stats and killboards before you take a fight. Don't become a risk-averse puppet who has one eye on his efficiency. The only people who care about efficiency are in it for the wrong reasons.

Enjoy the game, it is after all just a game.


MB.