Educate While You Eradicate

A recent post by Azual Skoll, writer of the Altruist (an informative blog I’d recommend to any pvper out there), has been toying with my head for quite a while now.  His blog post explains how ganking new pilots create a mind-set of avoiding low security space at all costs. With the addition of the Venture in the new pilot’s arsenal, they’ve been flocking to losec in herds, and pirates all over are destroying these vessels with great pleasure. I myself fitted a reaper for just that purpose and had my first victim yesterday.

There She Blows

It was Saturday 8th December. I was bored out of my mind and feeling a little depressed due to the losses I've suffered that day with only a shared Vengeance kill to show for it. First I lost a Malediction at a gate while my attention was diverted. My pod also followed. Then I decided to take on a Hookbill with my Atron. The loss wasn't really any surprise. My next fight was a bit more memorable.

The Rogue Rebel

Essence is home to many a R1DER pilot these days, specifically Adirain. Yesterday I went there to see if I can find anything worthwhile to shoot at. A quick glance at my D-Scan revealed another Rifter on scan. Delighted I checked local and spotted a fellow R1DER in the system, Bobby. A quick enquiry revealed that it was him sporting the Rifter. Dismayed at the loss of a possible fight I continued abusing the scan button and pretty soon a Catalyst showed up. I informed my fellow partner in crime and checked who the third person in local was. It was a new pilot, dipping his toe into losec for a quick thrill no doubt.

Knights in Black Leather

While grounded for six months I missed the raggedy bad ass group of no good pirates I call my brothers. So I took the time to write a poem:

There aint no stopping when the rebels ride
Boozed up courage more liqour by their side
Frenzied to no cause just loving the thrill
Better watch out when they hunt for a kill

Back in Black

Nothing like a six month leave of absence to make you yearn to fly amongst the stars once more. It's been longer than I expected and my first order of business was to look at my corp status. I was happily greeted with the BRRC symbol and greetings soon followed.

I was then informed that a lot of things have changed since I last departed. The list of ship modifications went on and on and in the end the only plan I could muster was to undock a rifter and start shooting.

I soon found a cyno and decided I'd have a go at it. Then, with the help of a Tusker called Volstruis, we scanned down the pod and merrily watched it explode. Not the most impressive of kills but kills none the less. It was a late Sunday night and there wasn't much action to be had so after a few hours of fruitless hunting, I headed to my quarters and grabbed some z's.

All in all though I'm glad to be back!

Be Back Soon...I hope!

As I explained in a previous post I take the occasional break from space at times. The length of these breaks vary, but time and again I find myself back in a pod shooting stuff before too long. The current break would have been over by now if not for the...technical difficulties* I'm suffering under at the moment. Don't fret though, I shall make my glorious return soon.

Ah, to see the ENCAPSULATED text from POWNY and the "......" from Lhorhenzo! The drunken giggles from good ol' Judge and the encyclopedic knowledge from the Maxwell's. Not to mention Saftzuse's beautiful mustache and Miura Bull's teapot's jerseys....well, maybe I'll be okay not seeing the last one again....
Sooooon........

*I moved to a new place where I have absolutely no internet at the moment, not even 3g. It's a very frustrating wait for our telephone company, the evil monopoly called Telkom, to install my land line, and my ADSL after that. The installation of these might leave me broke and out of Eve for even another month! ARGH!!! I just hope the good folks at BRRC remember me...

Stormy May Day

April is done and dusted and was by far my best month yet! Here's a quick summary of the month:

Kills: 55 (0.99B)
Losses: 19 (0.32B)
Efficiency: 75.27%

Essence has been kind and I had a lot of fun shooting noobs with a few good fights in between. On the first of May however, I found myself in Minmatar space. Dal to be exact. It was two days after killing the Vengeance and I was determined to get another kill in the Wolf.

Vengeance at last!

First of all I want to start the post by linking this:

 >>>>AT LAST!!!<<<<<

The Vengeance has eluded my killboard for quite some time now. I've always known my Wolf can take one down with relative ease, but the circumstances never played out right. This one was piloted by a fairly new pilot and he still gave me a run for my money. Especially because I forgot to turn on the afterburner...but screw it, I'm taking this kill and putting it on my hall of fame!

Taking no Bull in 2012!

Have you heard? Or maybe you’ve seen it? Most certainly you’ll soon feel it! What the hell am I talking about? I’m talking about Bull 2012! Jet cans spreading the word have sprouted up everywhere. You must have at least noticed them, surely? Or the increase in Concord patrols? No? Man, you gotta wake up and read the news brother!

Don’t worry man, I got your back. Here, have a flyer:

Rock you like a Hurricane

Recently I made a return to wormhole space along with Sorn Nordvind. You can read about our exploits on his blog post here. Needless to say, the crave for sleeper wrecks and glorious nanoribbons have returned,  but I wasn’t happy with my Hurricane fit.

I reread my old posts and reviewed old lossmails. I remembered Immortalus, my old workhorse, and how fond I was of its passive shield tank. I then read in one of my posts that its passive shield tank didn’t hold under heavy sleeper fire. I loaded the simulation of the old fit and started tweaking.

Thou shalt smite them with Malediction!

Droooooooool....

Malediction
Hull - Executioner Class    
Developer - Khanid Innovation
Role - Interceptor

Interceptors utilize a combination of advanced alloys and electronics to reduce their effective signature radius. This, along with superior maneuverability and speed, makes them very hard to target and track, particularly for high caliber turrets.
In addition to robust electronics systems, the Khanid Kingdom's ships possess advanced armor alloys capable of withstanding a great deal of punishment. Generally eschewing the use of turrets, they tend to gear their vessels more towards close-range missile combat.

It’s not only a nice looking ship, but also an effective brawler. I’ve finally finished training for this beauty and soon had it fitted for combat.

A Century of Kills

100 kills under the BRRC flag! As a cherry on top, my 100th kill was a solo reaper kill! Thank you to Sorn for offering to sit that one out, allowing me to have my "golden killmail"! Ryuu McLoud wasn't all that happy to lose his Procurer and started whining in local. Me and Sorn put an end to that. (technically that was my 100th kill, but don't kill the mood you technical bastard!) We started a fleet of rookie ships consisting of me (Reaper), Sorn (Inquisitor) and Tomba (Velator), but didn't find anything to shoot at.

Clash of Rifters

I’ve been flying in Essence a lot recently. Sorn Nordvind (he just started blogging himself, go read it – here) suggested that Essence was a good place to find fights so I went up there to see for myself. He was right, and there wasn’t any lack of BRRC presence either. Whenever me and Sorn fleet up we are soon joined by fellow rebels to join in the good times.

This morning while flying alone in my Rifter, I found a fight that had me on the edge of my seat. I was on my way to drop off the Rifter in Vitrauze, my makeshift base of operations, when another outlawed Rifter pilot landed near me. I decided to engage him, and he did the same. He was just out of my scramble and web range, my bullets didn’t touch him while he was slowly punching dents into me. I was being kited, and knowing the 400mm plates on my Rifter was slowing me down considerably, I cursed myself for engaging my turrets too soon, cutting off my escape route through the gates.

Against the odds

Yesterday I found two ratting T1 frigates, a Kestrel and Tristan, while in my favourite Cyno hunting pocket. I climbed into a Rifter and plunged myself to the belt.

I landed 30km off of them, and figured they would high tail out of there, but the Kestrel was heading straight for me. I switched on the afterburner and headed for an orbit. He opened fire first, and I followed suit. The Tristan was also getting closer, but I focused on the Kestrel first as the Tristan was piloted by a much younger pilot.

Two Rifters are better than one at a time

First: Read about how Jack Dancer and I bagged a Drake in our Rifters.

Second: Stay on his blog and have a read through his stuff, I always enjoy reading about his adventures.

Woah! Wait! Before you dispose of me, I have a little story to tell myself.

I was on a lonely trek through low sec in my ever trusty Rifter. I wandered into Paala, a null sec entry system, and chased a rookie Rifter pilot around until he curled up in a safe spot. But it wasn't long before another Rifter appeared on my D-Scan. My D-Scan capability is getting better and soon I had him located at the sun. I engaged warp drive. A quick check up on the new pilot's info revealed that he was a rookie too.

All Hail Joe Struck!

He even came up with a slogan!

I asked Joe Struck to make a signature from my little self-portrait clip art thingy that you'll see from my banner. He came up with the what you see on the right.

Go visit his website to see more examples of
his brilliance. Then support him and spice up your blog/site/signature or even just get something for yourself. GO NOW!!!

In case you missed the cleverly inserted links to his website, it's: http://spacejoe.blogspot.com

A wolf named Howler

Hello! Yes, yes I know, it’s been a while since my last post. Thing is, I’ve been enjoying murdering spaceships and got too carried away to write a blog. I decided I’d wait for something big, something momentous to write about. So  here I am, ready to tell you a story. So go grab some popcorn and sit down, I'm about to begin!

I'll take some salt with that loss please?

Kills vs Losses

A loss can be more rewarding than a kill in some cases. Sure there is the initial slap of depression when your ship blows up for the gazillionth time. But once that's done you start replaying that confrontation in your head. You gasp when you realize the missed chances and mistakes you made. You grin when you figure out your opponent's weaknesses and see the little gaps he left you. This mental replay leaves you with a sense of achievement, and a glimmer of hope. You think "next time" as you ship up and undock again.

A Quiet Week

Another week has past and with that the month. Blind Mona is busy trading like a maniac. She is making profits, but not on the scale I was hoping for. Lhorenzho wasn't kidding though when he said trading is therapeutic and with every big transaction your heart skips a merry beat.

One Week in Space

"Holy shit this system has gone to pot. Look at all those Rebels"
- Lhorenzho

Since my last post I've lost nine more rifters. Here's how that happened:

Come to think about it...

So I wasn’t going to write about yesterday. Too boring. Apart from losing my Cheetah to a gas cloud (which I was warned about, but I just had to learn that lesson myself) I didn’t find anything to fight. It was only by the end of the night while making one more pass through Heild that my D-Scanner picked up a Thorax while hanging by a plex entrance. I thought I’d take a shot as I was dying to fire an autocannon at something. The pilot was Randy Leahy, the Ishtar pilot from the day before. He landed, I approached, he destroyed my rifter. Pretty predictable outcome I thought as I docked, didn’t even get past his shields (dying to know if they were tanked or not).

Back to School

Ever done something that made you think "I knew this, why did I do this?" Like the time I stood at a low sec gate, still a fledgling pilot, waiting for someone to come by and shoot at, only to be harshly reminded about gate sentries. I knew they were there, knew that they'd shoot me if I got GCC, but in the excitement of breaking my carebare habit, I had forgotten it all! A lesson learned in this way usually sticks though.

Gulping Pod Goo Again!

6 months since my last post, 5 of which was spent out of pod. This has always been my habit and I've decided to rid myself of the unrealistic prospects of never taking a break from my capsule. While this break was abnormally long, the craving for space always becomes too much to resist.
So right before my 5 month "hibernation" I abandoned The Tempest Blood and joined The Black Rebel Rifter Club and immediately started looking for trouble everywhere I roamed. Had a few successes and a whole lot of losses. All in all though, I knew I made the right decision.