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:

Wednesday (18/01/12)

I lost two rifters against Raxip Elamp from Gunpoint Diplomacy. He was in a kiting boat and I got wasted pretty easily. He opened a conversation with me and gave me a few pointers regarding my fit. We decided on a location for another 1v1 and I was smart enough to be kited again. I should really learn to pack long range ammo for situations like these, but rifter fights don't last long and I will most definitely be far behind when I reload mid-fight.

Thursday (19/01/12)

I lost another three the next day when I found a war target (Xujar) in a Megathron sitting at the Boundless station in Hek. I broadcast this on Intel and soon one of the Maxwell's arrived in a Myrmidon. We engaged and I got webbed and targeted by his swarm of drones. To make matters worse I got stuck on the station and became a sitting duck for the Thron's mighty turrets. With that rifter lost I docked up and got in another one. I decide to concentrate on the drones this time as requested by Miss Maxwell. To my surprise I couldn't get a solid hit on them and my rifter soon went up in flames. I'm still not sure why that happened.

Soon Kohana Maxwell declared her Myrmidon lost. I still feel guilty for my utter uselessness. I couldn't even tell her what went wrong. With no hard feelings, she said she's shipping up again and I started to frantically put together another rifter.

I joined up with her again 250km from the station looking over the enemy and the incoming backup. "Neutral reppers," she declared and it seemed we had to lure them away if we wanted to engage. More rebels came to our aid and three of us were still sitting 250km away from the station when a lone interceptor warped in. Like a pack of wolves we started tearing apart the inty, but just as I thought it was over for him, my targeting system got jammed, and the inty's whole fleet arrived. Can't remember if the others got away, but another rifter was lost along with my pod.

I have to admit, I wasn't feeling too great about myself. But nothing could prepare me for the next day...

Friday (20/01/12)

It was Friday, and that meant Kaeda would be hosting a roam night. I prepared a rifter and anxiously waited for it to begin.

Schmata, a fellow rebel wanted to duel 1v1, I offered to meet her and we duked it out while we wait. I shot at her with all I've got but couldn't bring her rifter's shields down. Confused, I watched with dismay as she started biting chunks out of my armour. I was halfway in armour when her shields dropped, and then it was a downhill battle for me. Nicholai, another rebel, wanted in on the action too. I repaired my vessel and another rifter battle commenced. This time it was my rifter that went pop.

To Kaeda's surprise we soon had a fleet of 20 or so rifters for the roam, apart from Duke Thunderhorse in his Wolf and Kaeda in her Punisher. Even though we found nothing for the first 2 hours, I still enjoyed being in a large fleet for the first time. We were heading for Amamake, and we teamed up with even more rebels along the way. We found a Hurricane in a roid belt in Amamake, we warped in and chaos erupted. Small projectile ammo rained down upon the cane and comms was alive with chatter. Soon another cane warped in along with a Stabber Fleet Issue. The first cane exploded and the Stabber was our secondary. More canes warped in, as another big explosion illuminated the swarm of rifters. We got to work on the third Hurricane but we were starting to lose numbers fast. Another explosion meant a new target. Our numbers were falling rapidly and I got red boxed for the first time during the encounter. I lost my rifter in a flash, and then my pod instantly cracked after that. It was only after reading the killmail that I realized that a smartbombing Typhoon showed up for the party. Most of us left after that, me included as I was tired and all the way back in Heild again. Others decided to meet up and gather some more rifters. I didn't see any additional kills on the killboard though, so I don't know how that went down.

Saturday (21/01/12)

My fleet of fitted rifters was down to one. A kiting fit I still wanted to try out was all that remained. I roamed around and soon I was 250km away from a Cynabal. I knew this was no fair fight so I called in some help. I watched the distance get smaller and smaller as the cyna came burning towards me. And when I realised that backup wasn't arriving in time, it was too late. I was pinned and subsequently destroyed. (PS. look at the killmail and tell me what you think of the fit)

Sunday (22/01/12)

With my fleet of rifters destroyed I decided it was time to earn some cash. I bought a Wolf, fitted it for level 2 missions and started blitzing missions to gain some standing with Republic Fleet. This got boring fast and soon I was trying to kill can flippers in a Reaper. I was going to need a different source of income because missions are just too damn boring!




I fitted another Rifter and headed to Heild. I met Havok, an ex-rebel also in a rifter and we dueled. He flew a...you guessed it...kiting rifter, and I was destroyed. Havok mentioned he made a big mistake by disabling his afterburner for a moment. I noticed this when I came blazing past him, but I was flying manual and couldn't make use of the opportunity.

Monday (23/01/12)

Remembering that I had contracted a pilot (Blind Mona) under my license to do some planetary resource gathering in WH space, I started to do some research into PI. It took the whole night, and only by the end of it did Kaeda inform me of "Player owned custom offices" or POCO's if you will. I felt less inclined to go that direction.

Tuesday (24/01/12)

Discovered a guide amongst the corp forums on something called "station trading". I got Blind Mona started on that.

I went can flipping to hunt for my holy grail of killmails, a reaper kill. I discovered a Retriever and a Bestower, the Retriever was busy mining into a can. I flip the can, looting a 1mil mod in the process and to my surprise the Retriever red boxes me. I flew in orbit spewing Fusion S and his drones closed in and got to work on me. I decide to run in favour of the mod I looted (I'm low on cash okay!) and just as I enter warp I noticed that I've done more damage (overall percentage) to him than he's done to me. Cursing I dock up, that was my chance to get the holy killmail! Angry, I grab my Cane and return to the can I flipped. The Retriever was still mining and I insta popped him. It got even better as the Bestower then grabbed my flipped can. Another insta pop left me with a few million in loot. I had some more fun with miners in the system, but no bites.

Wednesday (25/01/12)

I did some more can flipping and ninja salvaging. No kills for the night (though I did get a can full of ore), but decide to head over to Rens with my amassed loot and see how much my dastardly deeds has brought in. To my surprise I was 40mil richer by the end of the day! It’s time to buy another fleet of rifters.

Blind Mona is starting to get the hang of station trading, but no major profit yet. I hope it pays off. And I hope I get a HOLY KILLMAIL this week!!!