I got into my retriever this morning, promptly when off to a belt, and mined a bunch of Veldspar. It felt good for a five minute warm up.
Later today I decided to really break in the strip miners and started to realize what a newb I was. I didn't know how to operate a asteroid scanner, wasn't sure how fast or how much the miners would pick up, had to avoid any rats whatsoever even though they shouldn't scare a 1 day old, and basically realized I was without a plan at all. Oops!
So I sat back and thought about it: am I mining for production or resale? What ores should I look for and concentrate on, because that will determine where I need to go? How will this operation work, one person or two?
Finally I settled on the answers. First off, I'm mining for production purposes such as building ships and ammo. I wanted to build a Rokh for Kirith so veldspar would be an excellent start and I can do that close to home. Secondly, I decided that this would be a one woman operation.
Here's how:
1) In a frigate with scanner, find a belt with lots of ore and then bookmark a good location close enough to the good 'roids yet apart enough to secure some giant secure cans (GSCs).
2) Use hauler to anchor 4-5 GSCs at the location within 15 km of targets.
3) Come in with Retriever and fill cans and cargohold.
4) Come back with hauler to retrieve full cans.
I should be able to secure about 500K units of tritanium per round trip that way if not more.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Magnets...
I wanted to do two things to my jetbikes: put them on larger bases as all jetbikes come with now and make them easier to transport. So I decided to try and magnetize them.
I experimented with two of them. Initial tests suggest that the magnets I used were too small and while I can move them by the base they will be prone to falling off and I can't move them by the bike. Time to order more magnets I guess.
I experimented with two of them. Initial tests suggest that the magnets I used were too small and while I can move them by the base they will be prone to falling off and I can't move them by the bike. Time to order more magnets I guess.
Soon the Roids will Suffer my wrath
Derranna is less than 24 hours from being able to fly her Retriever and fit strip miners on it. I'm stoked about it because it will give me another source of income and hopefully eventually I will be able to mine and refine Ice ore to power the POS. In the meantime, I'm running courier missions for Minmatar Mining Corp to reduce the refining cost at headquarters so that any ore I do bring in is all mine. Right now I've gone from losing 5% to losing 3.73% and in another week I should get it down to close to zero.
Once I have the retriever up and flying, next step is the Ship Invention skills.
Once I have the retriever up and flying, next step is the Ship Invention skills.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Bloody Battle to the End
Last night I hooked up with Chris (Suicide_King) for a game of 40K, him using the new chaos codex and me fielding my faithful Eldar. I decided to experiment a little and since I knew Chris liked to make my life hell in the past, I decided to respond in kind.
Chris:
Daemon Prince
10 Terminators
3 squads of 10 marines with rhinos
10 Raptors
Dreadnought with twin lascannon
2 Predator Destructors
1 Predator Annihilator
Bill:
Farseer + 8 Warlocks in Wave Serpent
Autarch
10 Scorpions
10 Dire Avengers
10 Guaridans
6 Jetbikes
5 Pathfinders
2 Vypers
Uber Falcon
Uber Fire Prism
3 Scatterlaser Warwalkers
We played on an 8x4 board, but the game quickly devolved into a 4x4 battle. I deployed deep in my zone with only the guardians, Avengers, and Scorpions out front and the rest hiding behind a large ridge, while Chris deployed everything as far forward as he could be and used turn 1 to charge into my half of the board intent on swamping me.
I tried to play sniper with the Falcon and Fire Prism and it sort of worked, but a couple turns the Falcon got shaken and the one time he turned the pred annihilator at the Fire Prism he blew it up. I shouldn't complain though, the lascannons on the pred and dread where mostly horrible all game, with the dreadnought finally picking up a kill near the end when he fire frenzied and the wave serpent was too close.
The Scorpions made good accounting of themselves as they often do, charging and killing the raptors and then charging and killing the second half of the terminator squad. The guardians helped out by killing a predator with side shots from the scatterlaser, but the Dire Avengers failed to stick around as I left them exposed early on. Poor guys.
The warwalkers trotted to the top of the hill and unleashed a wall of light on the 8-9 remaining terminators, bringing down half the squad. Chris responded with vengeance by shooting everything he had at them to destroy all three in one turn. Ouch.
After a couple turns of letting Chris beat up on my exposed units, I brought the jetbikes, vypers, and seer council in wave serpent around the end of the ridge and slammed into the flank. The jetbikes and vypers were not impressive against the power armour marines, but 6 destructor templates proved to be quite illuminating, frying one squad that was dispatched with a charge next turn, and then frying another to bring it below half. All that and surviving a fusillade of firepower as Chris tried to drive me below half.
At the end of six turns the predator annihilator held Chris' original deployment quarter all by himself and his Daemon Prince and one marine squad contested my deployment quarter against the Falcon and pathfinders, while the Seer Council heroically took the adjacent quarter to my deployment zone to make it a tie.
Analysis:
I made some mistakes in this game. First off, I choose quarters such that Chris had the zone with lots of trenches and obstacles that I thought would slow him down, but instead he deployed as close to me as he could and ignored all the terrain in his zone. Doh. That meant he had clear sailing into my flat and clear quarter and it became a firefight in close quarters, something I wanted to avoid. As a consequence, the Guardians and Dire Avengers got hammered early on and the scorpions avoided a similar fate by virture of being off on a flank far enough from his main assault.
I also made the grevious error of not killing that predator annihilator which not only cost me my Fire Prism when I really needed it alive, but also held a table quarter at the end. That armour 13 on the front really intimidated me and my lack of brightlances really told in that account. Should have upgraded the wave serpent and guardians.
All in all a great game. Chris had me on the ropes and it took some terrible armour saves on his part to counteract some terrible wounding rolls on my part to preserve the tie.
Chris:
Daemon Prince
10 Terminators
3 squads of 10 marines with rhinos
10 Raptors
Dreadnought with twin lascannon
2 Predator Destructors
1 Predator Annihilator
Bill:
Farseer + 8 Warlocks in Wave Serpent
Autarch
10 Scorpions
10 Dire Avengers
10 Guaridans
6 Jetbikes
5 Pathfinders
2 Vypers
Uber Falcon
Uber Fire Prism
3 Scatterlaser Warwalkers
We played on an 8x4 board, but the game quickly devolved into a 4x4 battle. I deployed deep in my zone with only the guardians, Avengers, and Scorpions out front and the rest hiding behind a large ridge, while Chris deployed everything as far forward as he could be and used turn 1 to charge into my half of the board intent on swamping me.
I tried to play sniper with the Falcon and Fire Prism and it sort of worked, but a couple turns the Falcon got shaken and the one time he turned the pred annihilator at the Fire Prism he blew it up. I shouldn't complain though, the lascannons on the pred and dread where mostly horrible all game, with the dreadnought finally picking up a kill near the end when he fire frenzied and the wave serpent was too close.
The Scorpions made good accounting of themselves as they often do, charging and killing the raptors and then charging and killing the second half of the terminator squad. The guardians helped out by killing a predator with side shots from the scatterlaser, but the Dire Avengers failed to stick around as I left them exposed early on. Poor guys.
The warwalkers trotted to the top of the hill and unleashed a wall of light on the 8-9 remaining terminators, bringing down half the squad. Chris responded with vengeance by shooting everything he had at them to destroy all three in one turn. Ouch.
After a couple turns of letting Chris beat up on my exposed units, I brought the jetbikes, vypers, and seer council in wave serpent around the end of the ridge and slammed into the flank. The jetbikes and vypers were not impressive against the power armour marines, but 6 destructor templates proved to be quite illuminating, frying one squad that was dispatched with a charge next turn, and then frying another to bring it below half. All that and surviving a fusillade of firepower as Chris tried to drive me below half.
At the end of six turns the predator annihilator held Chris' original deployment quarter all by himself and his Daemon Prince and one marine squad contested my deployment quarter against the Falcon and pathfinders, while the Seer Council heroically took the adjacent quarter to my deployment zone to make it a tie.
Analysis:
I made some mistakes in this game. First off, I choose quarters such that Chris had the zone with lots of trenches and obstacles that I thought would slow him down, but instead he deployed as close to me as he could and ignored all the terrain in his zone. Doh. That meant he had clear sailing into my flat and clear quarter and it became a firefight in close quarters, something I wanted to avoid. As a consequence, the Guardians and Dire Avengers got hammered early on and the scorpions avoided a similar fate by virture of being off on a flank far enough from his main assault.
I also made the grevious error of not killing that predator annihilator which not only cost me my Fire Prism when I really needed it alive, but also held a table quarter at the end. That armour 13 on the front really intimidated me and my lack of brightlances really told in that account. Should have upgraded the wave serpent and guardians.
All in all a great game. Chris had me on the ropes and it took some terrible armour saves on his part to counteract some terrible wounding rolls on my part to preserve the tie.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Whew! Long Week Over
I was exceptionally busy last week but things are returning to normal. First off, catch up on Eve happenings.
I finished the training for Assault Frigs and decided it was time to get T2 weapons so began training in that direction. Also picked up Interceptor IV and Advanced Weapon Upgrades to help with fitting ships. The plan is a 73 day epic journey of which half is Large and Medium Hybrid Turret V skills. This takes me into freaking November. Wow. But it should be worth it.
On the KODA side of things, Derranna finished Metallurgy V for those difficult blueprints that required it for research and production and has moved into skills for my mining barge which will take a couple weeks. She also started running missions for a corp to increase refining yield at its stations.
In a fit of craziness I went on a spending spree and purchased the Transport Ship skillbook for her and both Minmatar transport ships. After flying them, I have to say the Mastodon disappointed me. It has slightly less space than the T1 Mammoth when both have 4 T2 expanders, and it is dead slow and takes massive cap to get into warp (although that is partly Derranna's fault with her crappy ship flying skills). On the upside, it has nearly 10 times the shield HPs and can fit 5 expanders so has overall more space.
The Prowler Blockade Runner on the other hand, has exceeded my expectations by far. With four times the shields than the mammoth it is still lighter, faster, and warps at 9 au/sec! That's faster than cruisers and battleships and gives a nice advantage to this ship. Cargo space sucks, but for scooting through low sec or making average hauls through high sec where space is not an issue, it will be the go-to ship.
In other news, I've partnered with a close friend and started to get things in place for ship invention. I wasn't planning it for a while but the interest is high and reserves were at a place I felt I could afford to invest. It will take a month or so before the first job goes in but the process is started.
I finished the training for Assault Frigs and decided it was time to get T2 weapons so began training in that direction. Also picked up Interceptor IV and Advanced Weapon Upgrades to help with fitting ships. The plan is a 73 day epic journey of which half is Large and Medium Hybrid Turret V skills. This takes me into freaking November. Wow. But it should be worth it.
On the KODA side of things, Derranna finished Metallurgy V for those difficult blueprints that required it for research and production and has moved into skills for my mining barge which will take a couple weeks. She also started running missions for a corp to increase refining yield at its stations.
In a fit of craziness I went on a spending spree and purchased the Transport Ship skillbook for her and both Minmatar transport ships. After flying them, I have to say the Mastodon disappointed me. It has slightly less space than the T1 Mammoth when both have 4 T2 expanders, and it is dead slow and takes massive cap to get into warp (although that is partly Derranna's fault with her crappy ship flying skills). On the upside, it has nearly 10 times the shield HPs and can fit 5 expanders so has overall more space.
The Prowler Blockade Runner on the other hand, has exceeded my expectations by far. With four times the shields than the mammoth it is still lighter, faster, and warps at 9 au/sec! That's faster than cruisers and battleships and gives a nice advantage to this ship. Cargo space sucks, but for scooting through low sec or making average hauls through high sec where space is not an issue, it will be the go-to ship.
In other news, I've partnered with a close friend and started to get things in place for ship invention. I wasn't planning it for a while but the interest is high and reserves were at a place I felt I could afford to invest. It will take a month or so before the first job goes in but the process is started.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Dire Avenger Pictures
Last time I posted pictures of my Dire Avengers, it was back in April. My how time flies.
I finished the wraithbone and was working on the black, tidying it up and getting it ready for highlighting.
Here is the group shot and a close up:
The real problem I have is what to do with the back banner of the Exarch:
I finished the wraithbone and was working on the black, tidying it up and getting it ready for highlighting.
Here is the group shot and a close up:
The real problem I have is what to do with the back banner of the Exarch:
Monday, August 20, 2007
Eve: So What Next?
Ok, I got my Scorpion with both ratting and PvP setups. I got a Blackbird, and coming up in a carrier a Manticore, Buzzard, and Raptor. And I have over 60 million in the bank. So what next?
Well, I have three current ambitions. The first which I should accomplish in a few days is being able to fly Assault Frigates, specifically the Harpy. Its a nice rail ship with lots of turrets and is based on the sexy Merlin hull. I can see using it as a small gang support ship, maneuverable like a frigate and hitting like a cruiser. This will cost me about 20-25 million for the skill, ship, and mods.
Next up is training for Recon ships so I can fly Falcons and Rooks. Not a huge deal for me personally, but they are ECM capable ships and useful to the corp. The skill book alone costs a pretty penny so I'll need to build up the bank account.
My third ambition is another battleship, this time a Rokh. I want to play around with a blaster setting and there are players that swear by a blaster outfitted Rokh. I'm collecting blasters in Fountain from rat droppings to move forward towards that goal.
Well, I have three current ambitions. The first which I should accomplish in a few days is being able to fly Assault Frigates, specifically the Harpy. Its a nice rail ship with lots of turrets and is based on the sexy Merlin hull. I can see using it as a small gang support ship, maneuverable like a frigate and hitting like a cruiser. This will cost me about 20-25 million for the skill, ship, and mods.
Next up is training for Recon ships so I can fly Falcons and Rooks. Not a huge deal for me personally, but they are ECM capable ships and useful to the corp. The skill book alone costs a pretty penny so I'll need to build up the bank account.
My third ambition is another battleship, this time a Rokh. I want to play around with a blaster setting and there are players that swear by a blaster outfitted Rokh. I'm collecting blasters in Fountain from rat droppings to move forward towards that goal.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Is that a mining laser in your pocket or...?
Mining has always been in the back of my mind as an occupation. When ratting in belts sometimes I will see what types of ore are there and imagine myself mining them. The promise of the rich 'roid, easy money with little to no risk. Ah, the dreams.
Kirith is too combat oriented to mine effectively without massive training, but my industrial alt is far more along the path of roid rage. When Derranna was still young I would take her out in a probe with lasers and mine in Syndicate while waiting for the next batch of BPOs to come out of the labs. Then earlier this year I actually bought a mining barge but things got crazy in KODA and I sold it. But the dream lived on.
This week I bought a new mining barge, a retriever, and made a training plan to get into it and start melting veld. I thought about rolling a new character but I figured I didn't want to bother with it and all the secondary skills required. Derranna is pretty close to being in a mining barge so I went with her. It will take a couple weeks after I finish Metallurgy V.
Speaking of ratting, yesterday I finally stumbled across a Shadow Serpentis cruiser (800K bounty) and plugged him. Not only did I get some faction ammo and a named blaster, I picked up a 3 run BPC for Shadow Warp Disrupter batteries for a POS. Not a great find, but very exciting for me. Ratting is going well overall; I make about 10 million from bounties in an hour and I'm getting lots of loot and salvage to deal with later on. I think next week I'll try and smuggle it back to empire.
Kirith is too combat oriented to mine effectively without massive training, but my industrial alt is far more along the path of roid rage. When Derranna was still young I would take her out in a probe with lasers and mine in Syndicate while waiting for the next batch of BPOs to come out of the labs. Then earlier this year I actually bought a mining barge but things got crazy in KODA and I sold it. But the dream lived on.
This week I bought a new mining barge, a retriever, and made a training plan to get into it and start melting veld. I thought about rolling a new character but I figured I didn't want to bother with it and all the secondary skills required. Derranna is pretty close to being in a mining barge so I went with her. It will take a couple weeks after I finish Metallurgy V.
Speaking of ratting, yesterday I finally stumbled across a Shadow Serpentis cruiser (800K bounty) and plugged him. Not only did I get some faction ammo and a named blaster, I picked up a 3 run BPC for Shadow Warp Disrupter batteries for a POS. Not a great find, but very exciting for me. Ratting is going well overall; I make about 10 million from bounties in an hour and I'm getting lots of loot and salvage to deal with later on. I think next week I'll try and smuggle it back to empire.
The Wall That Are Obliterators
Last night I played Noel and his Lost and the Damned in 1500 pts Take and Hold Mission.
I sent the Red Tide up the flank facing off against 3 obliterators, and 10 kroot mercenaries in a forest. I deployed the guardians to absolutely destroy the kroot (Go Go Destructor Template! *WHOOSH-BBQ-KROOT-STEAKS*) and turned the following firepower at the obliterators:
Twinlinked brightlance
8 twinlinked shuricats from bikes, vypers, and wave serpents
2 Shuricannons
Twinlinked Shuricannon
Scatterlaser
11 Shuriken from scorpions
Fire Prism
I got one wound. Damn.
The Fire Prism missed, brightlance was saved by the 5+ invul, and Noel just rolled lots of 2+ saves on everything else.
That was distressing but not totally unexpected. I tried to tie the oblits up with the charging jetbikes but they were quickly broken and scattered. The oblits then charged the 10 scorpions and I thought my power fist would help out here. Four attacks hitting on threes... rolled 1, 2, 2, and 2. Uh oh.
Next assault phase, got some wounds, he made the save. Finally the assault phase after that I started to make headway and eventually killed the oblits when I had 2 scorpions left, but my that time the Red Tide was down to a Fire Prism and two wave serpents facing off against a lot of enemy that were still alive.
The fire prism had a rough start too. Night fight first turn and I rolled 6 inches for seeing, missed second turn at the oblits, and was shaken for the third turn. Turn four I blew up the hellhound and turn five I blew up a nice chunk of zombies, but got weapon destroyed before turn 6. Still, it survived and claimed some objective VPs.
Lost and the Damned claimed victory and I give credit to Noel for making a solid attack on my static flank to clean up while the obliterators stopped the red tide singlehandedly. A little but of better luck for me on those hits and worse luck for him on those saves and it could have been a much different game.
I sent the Red Tide up the flank facing off against 3 obliterators, and 10 kroot mercenaries in a forest. I deployed the guardians to absolutely destroy the kroot (Go Go Destructor Template! *WHOOSH-BBQ-KROOT-STEAKS*) and turned the following firepower at the obliterators:
Twinlinked brightlance
8 twinlinked shuricats from bikes, vypers, and wave serpents
2 Shuricannons
Twinlinked Shuricannon
Scatterlaser
11 Shuriken from scorpions
Fire Prism
I got one wound. Damn.
The Fire Prism missed, brightlance was saved by the 5+ invul, and Noel just rolled lots of 2+ saves on everything else.
That was distressing but not totally unexpected. I tried to tie the oblits up with the charging jetbikes but they were quickly broken and scattered. The oblits then charged the 10 scorpions and I thought my power fist would help out here. Four attacks hitting on threes... rolled 1, 2, 2, and 2. Uh oh.
Next assault phase, got some wounds, he made the save. Finally the assault phase after that I started to make headway and eventually killed the oblits when I had 2 scorpions left, but my that time the Red Tide was down to a Fire Prism and two wave serpents facing off against a lot of enemy that were still alive.
The fire prism had a rough start too. Night fight first turn and I rolled 6 inches for seeing, missed second turn at the oblits, and was shaken for the third turn. Turn four I blew up the hellhound and turn five I blew up a nice chunk of zombies, but got weapon destroyed before turn 6. Still, it survived and claimed some objective VPs.
Lost and the Damned claimed victory and I give credit to Noel for making a solid attack on my static flank to clean up while the obliterators stopped the red tide singlehandedly. A little but of better luck for me on those hits and worse luck for him on those saves and it could have been a much different game.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Black and Blue
I finished the wraithbone on the Avengers, now on to the black cloth tabards and such.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Thoughts On Electronic Warfare
Today I'm finishing the last of the training I plan to do on Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) skills as Long Distance Jamming IV completes.
I started into ECM training at the end of July in an effort to allow me to use the Scorpion as my PvP battleship since the Raven was not my style and the Rokh is so bloody expensive. The Scorpion is cheaper yet deadly in gang PvP with the ability to lock down one or two ships and prevent them from doing any damage.
The Scorpion is unique amoungst all the races' battleship in that it is the only one to focus on electronic warfare instead of just damage and tanking. While the other races' tier one battleships are looked at as cheaper and less effective versions of the tier two and three ships (excepting the Dominix which is a drone carrier second to none outside of a carrier), the Scorpion is considered worthy of being a fleet class vessel with long range and powerful target jamming.
Another bonus to learning the ECM skills is that I can now PvP in a Blackbird which is a nice cheap cruiser, and I have skills to make maximum use of the recon ships, the Falcon and the Rook.
I started into ECM training at the end of July in an effort to allow me to use the Scorpion as my PvP battleship since the Raven was not my style and the Rokh is so bloody expensive. The Scorpion is cheaper yet deadly in gang PvP with the ability to lock down one or two ships and prevent them from doing any damage.
The Scorpion is unique amoungst all the races' battleship in that it is the only one to focus on electronic warfare instead of just damage and tanking. While the other races' tier one battleships are looked at as cheaper and less effective versions of the tier two and three ships (excepting the Dominix which is a drone carrier second to none outside of a carrier), the Scorpion is considered worthy of being a fleet class vessel with long range and powerful target jamming.
Another bonus to learning the ECM skills is that I can now PvP in a Blackbird which is a nice cheap cruiser, and I have skills to make maximum use of the recon ships, the Falcon and the Rook.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Dire Avengers
I know what you're thinking; "You still play 40K???!!!"
Well I do. Summer vacation and visiting children kept 40K nights off the map for a month, but things are returning to normal now and I have a game scheduled for Thursday against Noel. He's been out of the loop for over a year so I plan to go a bit easy on him and maybe leave the uber falcon at home. ;)
As for the subject line, yes I started painting again. During the summer I had no interest in painting but the urge is coming back so I actually got the half finished Avengers out and did the brown wash on the weapons and now I have started the bone highlighting. Once I get that phase one I'll post a picture or two.
Well I do. Summer vacation and visiting children kept 40K nights off the map for a month, but things are returning to normal now and I have a game scheduled for Thursday against Noel. He's been out of the loop for over a year so I plan to go a bit easy on him and maybe leave the uber falcon at home. ;)
As for the subject line, yes I started painting again. During the summer I had no interest in painting but the urge is coming back so I actually got the half finished Avengers out and did the brown wash on the weapons and now I have started the bone highlighting. Once I get that phase one I'll post a picture or two.
Scorpions, Russians, and Jump Clones
It was a busy weekend for me in Eve. On Friday I went and bought a new Scorpion in empire for a great price (56 mil) and proceeded to make two outfittings for it: one for plain ratting and one for PvP jamming.
Ratting Scorpion:
Highs: 4 x ZX1000 Siege Launchers, Tractor Beam, Salvager
Mids: Invul Field II, Thermal Hardener II, Kinetic Hardner II, 3 x LSE IIs, 2 x Shield Recharger IIs
Lows: 3 x BCU IIs, Shield Power Relay II
This thing has over 17K shields at resists over 70 for everything except EM which sucks at 30. Fortunately Serpentis rats don't throw EM damage. The torpedoes and 5 Vespa IIs will give me superior damage over the Ferox and I can loot faster with the tractor and salvager. Its no Raven but it will suffice for me since I can quickly swap mods out and go for the PvP Jamming build.
Jamming Scorpion:
Highs: same, or swap tractor for cloak
Mids: 2 x Sensor Booster II, 2 x Mag ECM IIs, 4 x Multispec ECM IIs
Lows: BCU II, 3 x Sig Disrupt Amp IIs
With this setup, I can lock down one battleship with ease, two with decent confidence if at least one is Gallente. Smaller ships don't stand a chance.
So Saturday morning I head to the pipe to Fountain which starts in low sec Aridia. I have a T2 fitted battleship with more T2 mods in the trunk, and I fit a cloak and 3 warp stabs for travelling. I've never seen a camp in Aridia before so I'm confident that if I scout the first jump into low sec first I should be ok.
Well, second system I jump into in low sec is gate camped by reds speaking Russian in local. My heart goes into overdrive as I sit there with the jump in cloak still active. Decent sized camp with a couple battleships, cruisers, and frigs. Close, about 12-20 KM away. Next warp gate is at my 3 o'clock and the scorpion turns and accelerates like a brick. I had my ECM setup on, and one or two or even three enemy ships I could have possibly escaped from, but this camp had enough ships that three warp stabs was probably inadequate. I decide to try stealth. Of course, last time I tried that a vegabond sped up and deactivated my cloak before I could escape but I was hoping this time I would be luckier.
I double clicked in space and hit the cloak and waited with my heart in my chest pounding. A couple frigs come closer... but don't find me. About the same time I tried my escape, a crow jumped in and I think distracted them. Having aggro'd the sentry guns, the camp jumps out to regroup and I can warp to the next gate. Whew!
Thinking that one close call was enough I immediately dock next system and jump clone back to empire. I can finish the low sec-0.0 trip on Monday when the population is lower and less active. For the rest of the weekend I run a couple missions, get a new jump clone as my standings are high enough now, and manage KODA corp. Then this morning I finished the trip to 0.0 in safety and am now ready to start ratting and pvping.
Ratting Scorpion:
Highs: 4 x ZX1000 Siege Launchers, Tractor Beam, Salvager
Mids: Invul Field II, Thermal Hardener II, Kinetic Hardner II, 3 x LSE IIs, 2 x Shield Recharger IIs
Lows: 3 x BCU IIs, Shield Power Relay II
This thing has over 17K shields at resists over 70 for everything except EM which sucks at 30. Fortunately Serpentis rats don't throw EM damage. The torpedoes and 5 Vespa IIs will give me superior damage over the Ferox and I can loot faster with the tractor and salvager. Its no Raven but it will suffice for me since I can quickly swap mods out and go for the PvP Jamming build.
Jamming Scorpion:
Highs: same, or swap tractor for cloak
Mids: 2 x Sensor Booster II, 2 x Mag ECM IIs, 4 x Multispec ECM IIs
Lows: BCU II, 3 x Sig Disrupt Amp IIs
With this setup, I can lock down one battleship with ease, two with decent confidence if at least one is Gallente. Smaller ships don't stand a chance.
So Saturday morning I head to the pipe to Fountain which starts in low sec Aridia. I have a T2 fitted battleship with more T2 mods in the trunk, and I fit a cloak and 3 warp stabs for travelling. I've never seen a camp in Aridia before so I'm confident that if I scout the first jump into low sec first I should be ok.
Well, second system I jump into in low sec is gate camped by reds speaking Russian in local. My heart goes into overdrive as I sit there with the jump in cloak still active. Decent sized camp with a couple battleships, cruisers, and frigs. Close, about 12-20 KM away. Next warp gate is at my 3 o'clock and the scorpion turns and accelerates like a brick. I had my ECM setup on, and one or two or even three enemy ships I could have possibly escaped from, but this camp had enough ships that three warp stabs was probably inadequate. I decide to try stealth. Of course, last time I tried that a vegabond sped up and deactivated my cloak before I could escape but I was hoping this time I would be luckier.
I double clicked in space and hit the cloak and waited with my heart in my chest pounding. A couple frigs come closer... but don't find me. About the same time I tried my escape, a crow jumped in and I think distracted them. Having aggro'd the sentry guns, the camp jumps out to regroup and I can warp to the next gate. Whew!
Thinking that one close call was enough I immediately dock next system and jump clone back to empire. I can finish the low sec-0.0 trip on Monday when the population is lower and less active. For the rest of the weekend I run a couple missions, get a new jump clone as my standings are high enough now, and manage KODA corp. Then this morning I finished the trip to 0.0 in safety and am now ready to start ratting and pvping.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Back In the ISK
Last night that pesky scorpion sold in Deklien so I was back over 100 million isk. I promptly spent a whack of it buying some stuff for my Ferox and 0.0 base and I'm sitting just over 90 mil now. So the question becomes, what next?
After being burned so badly in Deklien such that I became destitute enough that I had to borrow 5 million from a friend to outfit a T1 Ferox for ratting, I'm very hesitant to buy and outfit more ships in 0.0 space right now. I'd like a ratting battleship, PvP raptors, exploring Buzzards, and maybe a PvP fitting battlecruiser out there, but I'm not going to rush it this time. The Ferox can suffice for ratting and any PvP support until I get more money and setup a decent battleship for ratting.
Now, I'm back in this place again: what battleship? Raven is great for ratting but not much else. Rokh is good for ratting with my skills and decent in PvP but costs a lot of money. Scorpion is the worst for damage output but is the cheapest and handy in PvP. Dammit, I'll try the Scorpion again. Sigh.
After being burned so badly in Deklien such that I became destitute enough that I had to borrow 5 million from a friend to outfit a T1 Ferox for ratting, I'm very hesitant to buy and outfit more ships in 0.0 space right now. I'd like a ratting battleship, PvP raptors, exploring Buzzards, and maybe a PvP fitting battlecruiser out there, but I'm not going to rush it this time. The Ferox can suffice for ratting and any PvP support until I get more money and setup a decent battleship for ratting.
Now, I'm back in this place again: what battleship? Raven is great for ratting but not much else. Rokh is good for ratting with my skills and decent in PvP but costs a lot of money. Scorpion is the worst for damage output but is the cheapest and handy in PvP. Dammit, I'll try the Scorpion again. Sigh.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
I'm Not Dead!
Summer vacation is over now and a quick review of what I've been up to in Eve.
July 21-28 - Camping in wilderness, no Eve.
Since July 28 - Well, my corp (Omen) and alliance (Storm Armada) in Deklien basically had a falling out and the corp left the alliance for a new alliance in Fountain region. The bad news is that due to the sudden move a lot of people lost track of a lot of stuff and basically I think I have to write off a few hundred million ISK worth of property. In addition, a put some stuff I couldn't carry on market in Deklien before I pulled out including a scorpion battleship that hasn't sold yet. So I'm hurting a lot for money.
I'm trying to rat in Fountain in a T1 fitted Ferox and its not pleasant. I want to save up for a battleship but until I make another 50-60 million isk or the Scorp sells, I'm stuck.
On the bright side, my EWAR skills are done in a week and I can start working towards recons which are only a month more training, most of which is Caldari Cruiser V (23+ days). Or assault frigs. Damn. Maybe both.
As for the Industrial side of things the CEO bug was finally addressed last week and my POS is anchored and running. I've re-opened the research service to the public and I'm working on getting income to support the POS fuel going. Invention continues to provide some decent profit and the Cloaking Device BPO finally came out of the copying labs. Things are looking up.
July 21-28 - Camping in wilderness, no Eve.
Since July 28 - Well, my corp (Omen) and alliance (Storm Armada) in Deklien basically had a falling out and the corp left the alliance for a new alliance in Fountain region. The bad news is that due to the sudden move a lot of people lost track of a lot of stuff and basically I think I have to write off a few hundred million ISK worth of property. In addition, a put some stuff I couldn't carry on market in Deklien before I pulled out including a scorpion battleship that hasn't sold yet. So I'm hurting a lot for money.
I'm trying to rat in Fountain in a T1 fitted Ferox and its not pleasant. I want to save up for a battleship but until I make another 50-60 million isk or the Scorp sells, I'm stuck.
On the bright side, my EWAR skills are done in a week and I can start working towards recons which are only a month more training, most of which is Caldari Cruiser V (23+ days). Or assault frigs. Damn. Maybe both.
As for the Industrial side of things the CEO bug was finally addressed last week and my POS is anchored and running. I've re-opened the research service to the public and I'm working on getting income to support the POS fuel going. Invention continues to provide some decent profit and the Cloaking Device BPO finally came out of the copying labs. Things are looking up.
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