Today I had 15 minutes free so I logged into Sisi to fool around with the player character and check out any changes and I was shocked to be presented with new icons in the overview:Thanks, Kirith.
Their is a unique icon for capital (same one for the Wyvern FYI), battleship, cruiser/battlecruiser, and I dropped a kestrel from my hanger to see the new one for frigate. The effect is that you can immediately tell there is different hull types on the field at a glance without having to compare pixels on squares.
I approve.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Dear CCP: I'm Sorry I Claimed Credit...
... for the revised ship icons we saw on Sisi one day in last March. I rescind my claim. Can you make them happen now?
Happy Holidays!
I'm off work tomorrow and next week and coming back Tuesday Jan 3rd. As such, blog will go dark until the new year. Some tidbits:
* * * * *
The Redesign the Eagle Contest runs through the month of January. I'll review the current entries in the first week of the new year.
* * * * *
Fiction friday will continue regularly on a weekly basis again starting in January. Apologies for the long interlude.
* * * * *
Bring Me The head of Kirith Kodachi III will be coming in the early spring. I'm going to be borrowing a lot of ideas from the Flight of a Thousand Rifters event Marlona Sky did to help encourage a larger diversity.
* * * * *
Was out roaming last night and lost a Rifter to a Cormorant destroyer that was camping the inside of a minor factional warfare complex. Blasters, web, scram = one dead frig. Didn't have a destroyer on hand to challenge it. Later on found a Kestrel afk at a safe spot and brought in the alt fresh out of the wormhole to probe it down and kill and pod it. Only a cyno frig but better than nothing.
* * * * *
Still recruiting in the Kadavr Black Guard, check out Kadavr Public channel in game.
* * * * *
Possible stats for revised Assault Frigs being rumoured on Failheap Challenge. My initial impression is "meh". I mean, the ships look like they are getting buffed with extra slots and MWD bonus but I would have preferred an afterburner bonus instead. We'll see how things pan out.
* * * * *
Happy Holidays and fly safe!
* * * * *
The Redesign the Eagle Contest runs through the month of January. I'll review the current entries in the first week of the new year.
* * * * *
Fiction friday will continue regularly on a weekly basis again starting in January. Apologies for the long interlude.
* * * * *
Bring Me The head of Kirith Kodachi III will be coming in the early spring. I'm going to be borrowing a lot of ideas from the Flight of a Thousand Rifters event Marlona Sky did to help encourage a larger diversity.
* * * * *
Was out roaming last night and lost a Rifter to a Cormorant destroyer that was camping the inside of a minor factional warfare complex. Blasters, web, scram = one dead frig. Didn't have a destroyer on hand to challenge it. Later on found a Kestrel afk at a safe spot and brought in the alt fresh out of the wormhole to probe it down and kill and pod it. Only a cyno frig but better than nothing.
* * * * *
Still recruiting in the Kadavr Black Guard, check out Kadavr Public channel in game.
* * * * *
Possible stats for revised Assault Frigs being rumoured on Failheap Challenge. My initial impression is "meh". I mean, the ships look like they are getting buffed with extra slots and MWD bonus but I would have preferred an afterburner bonus instead. We'll see how things pan out.
* * * * *
Happy Holidays and fly safe!
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Idea: Make Hull Tanking Viable
I heard a story once. It was that there was supposed to be three main ways to tank your ships in Eve, one for each of the race and Minmatar who as the improvisational race would borrow from all three.
Caldari would use Shields and thus had a lot of mid slots for shield modules.
Amarr would use Armour and thus had a lot of low slots for armour modules.
Gallente would usee Hull and thus had relatively equal numbers of mid and low slots as hull modules were spread between them.
However somewhere along the way hull tanking became unfavourable to armour tanking, even for the Gallente ships, and while the modules still exist the only viable ways to tank are shield or armour (and less commonly speed or e-war depending on the ship).
So I have a proposal: let's make hull tanking viable for front line combat ships, particularly the Gallente. Why? For two reasons: variety is nice, and it maybe the last change to take Gallente blaster boats over the finish line into respectability. NOTE: To be fair, Gallente boats are looking pretty good for the most part now, but I had a bee in my bonnet about hull tanking so here we are.
Each tanking method has trade offs.
Shields
Pros:
- use mid slots which leaves low slots for damage mods
- have passive recharge
- active tank very well
Cons:
- take up slots needed for propulsion, tackle
- tend to increase signature radius making it a better target
- cap energy hungry
Armour
Pros:
- use low slots which leaves mid slots for tackle and propulsion
- have passive Energized Adaptive Nano Membranes for resists
- overall uses less cap than shields
Cons:
- adds mass to ship thus cuts into its top speed
- takes up slots for damage mods
- does not active tank as well as shields
So where would hull tanking fit in? Well, I envision hull tanking having the following trade offs:
Pros:
- uses both mid and low slots so ships have room for some tackle/propulsion and damage mods
- does not increase signature radius or mass (i.e. reduce speed/agility)
- actively does not use as much energy as either shield or armour tanks
Cons:
- does not active tank as well as shields or armour tanks
- cannot get as high resists as shields or armour tanks
- you're often fighting in structure which means there is not a lot of room for error
So the result is that a ship choosing the hull tank might not have as powerful tank as an armour or shield tanked ship but it has a smaller signature and moves faster and uses less cap for tank, ideal for blaster ships.
To implement this would not be that hard as the mods for hull tanking are already mostly in the game and require only moderate tweaks to be more useful. Then Gallente ships could be tweaked to make hull tanking an option or even preferable to armour tanking.
Mods
Damage Control - (low slot) already a very useful mod on many ships, this one would be mandatory on a hull tanked ship as it (i.e. tech II version) gives 60% resist bonuses on hull hit points. No changes required.
Reinforced Bulkheads - (low slot) gives a percentage increase to hull hit points (25% for the tech II version) but penalizes top velocity and mass. At the very least I would remove the penalties, but a more thorough solution would be to make varying sizes of reinforced bulkheads with set amounts of additional hit points like shield extenders and armour plates and then you could scale the CPU/power grid reqs. As it stands right now, only ships with decent amounts of hull hitpoints benefit from this mod.
Hull Repairer - (mid slots) much like an armour repairer except it goes in a mid slot. Comes in large, medium, and small sizes. Right now its fitting requirements are much lower on power grid but double on CPU compared to similar armour repairer, but repairs a lot less hit points. For example Medium Armour Repairer II fits with 173 PG and 28 CPU and repairs 26.6 pts/sec for 13.3 capacitor/sec, while a Medium Hull Repairer II fits with 50 PG and 66 CPU and repairs 2.5 pts/sec for 2.5 cap/sec. I would fiddle with the stats to get it in the 20 pts/sec for ~10 cap/sec region, and higher fitting reqs.Also, add capital version.
Hull Resistance Plating - (mid slots) currently nothing like this exists in game, but I would add it in to allow a bit more resistance tank for hull tanked ships. Four types with a tech I, tech II, and four meta versions for 24 mods. Each type covers one of the resistances, giving a bonus of 10-20% depending on meta level (stacking penalties apply). Fitting requires are 1 PG and 10-20 CPU depending on the meta level.
Rigs - (rig slots) We would need an additional rig category for hull rigs and the usual rigs for resistance boosting, hull repairer effectiveness, and hull points.
Remote Hull Repairers - (high slots) Currently the mods exist but are very inefficient compared to armour repairs. I would tweak their stats to make them viable for hull tanking fleets.
Gallente Ships
I'm not going to go ship by ship and detail the changes I would make, but I will say that I would in general switch the armour hit point values with the hull hit point values and change any armour repair bonuses or armour resistance bonuses on ships to corresponding hull bonuses.
Furthermore, any ships with remote armour repair bonuses I would change to remote hull repair bonuses.
Information Warfare
The whole slew of information warfare skills and modules I would probably toss in favour of hull boosting skills and modules. I am not aware of any major fleet doctrine that utilizes the Gallente warfare mindlink or modules.
Conclusion
From when I started writing this post to now I've come to realize that this is a more significant undertaking than I first realized. It could have the effect of neutering Gallente from any type of fleet warfare much like Caldari shield ships were for the longest time (and missile ships still are).
Still, I think there is value in at least exploring the concept and seeing if a third way can be found, a less efficient tanking method but more conducive to close range hit and run attacks or straight up bare-knuckled brawling. Last one with structure left wins.
Caldari would use Shields and thus had a lot of mid slots for shield modules.
Amarr would use Armour and thus had a lot of low slots for armour modules.
Gallente would usee Hull and thus had relatively equal numbers of mid and low slots as hull modules were spread between them.
However somewhere along the way hull tanking became unfavourable to armour tanking, even for the Gallente ships, and while the modules still exist the only viable ways to tank are shield or armour (and less commonly speed or e-war depending on the ship).
So I have a proposal: let's make hull tanking viable for front line combat ships, particularly the Gallente. Why? For two reasons: variety is nice, and it maybe the last change to take Gallente blaster boats over the finish line into respectability. NOTE: To be fair, Gallente boats are looking pretty good for the most part now, but I had a bee in my bonnet about hull tanking so here we are.
Each tanking method has trade offs.
Shields
Pros:
- use mid slots which leaves low slots for damage mods
- have passive recharge
- active tank very well
Cons:
- take up slots needed for propulsion, tackle
- tend to increase signature radius making it a better target
- cap energy hungry
Armour
Pros:
- use low slots which leaves mid slots for tackle and propulsion
- have passive Energized Adaptive Nano Membranes for resists
- overall uses less cap than shields
Cons:
- adds mass to ship thus cuts into its top speed
- takes up slots for damage mods
- does not active tank as well as shields
So where would hull tanking fit in? Well, I envision hull tanking having the following trade offs:
Pros:
- uses both mid and low slots so ships have room for some tackle/propulsion and damage mods
- does not increase signature radius or mass (i.e. reduce speed/agility)
- actively does not use as much energy as either shield or armour tanks
Cons:
- does not active tank as well as shields or armour tanks
- cannot get as high resists as shields or armour tanks
- you're often fighting in structure which means there is not a lot of room for error
So the result is that a ship choosing the hull tank might not have as powerful tank as an armour or shield tanked ship but it has a smaller signature and moves faster and uses less cap for tank, ideal for blaster ships.
To implement this would not be that hard as the mods for hull tanking are already mostly in the game and require only moderate tweaks to be more useful. Then Gallente ships could be tweaked to make hull tanking an option or even preferable to armour tanking.
Mods
Damage Control - (low slot) already a very useful mod on many ships, this one would be mandatory on a hull tanked ship as it (i.e. tech II version) gives 60% resist bonuses on hull hit points. No changes required.
Reinforced Bulkheads - (low slot) gives a percentage increase to hull hit points (25% for the tech II version) but penalizes top velocity and mass. At the very least I would remove the penalties, but a more thorough solution would be to make varying sizes of reinforced bulkheads with set amounts of additional hit points like shield extenders and armour plates and then you could scale the CPU/power grid reqs. As it stands right now, only ships with decent amounts of hull hitpoints benefit from this mod.
Hull Repairer - (mid slots) much like an armour repairer except it goes in a mid slot. Comes in large, medium, and small sizes. Right now its fitting requirements are much lower on power grid but double on CPU compared to similar armour repairer, but repairs a lot less hit points. For example Medium Armour Repairer II fits with 173 PG and 28 CPU and repairs 26.6 pts/sec for 13.3 capacitor/sec, while a Medium Hull Repairer II fits with 50 PG and 66 CPU and repairs 2.5 pts/sec for 2.5 cap/sec. I would fiddle with the stats to get it in the 20 pts/sec for ~10 cap/sec region, and higher fitting reqs.Also, add capital version.
Hull Resistance Plating - (mid slots) currently nothing like this exists in game, but I would add it in to allow a bit more resistance tank for hull tanked ships. Four types with a tech I, tech II, and four meta versions for 24 mods. Each type covers one of the resistances, giving a bonus of 10-20% depending on meta level (stacking penalties apply). Fitting requires are 1 PG and 10-20 CPU depending on the meta level.
Rigs - (rig slots) We would need an additional rig category for hull rigs and the usual rigs for resistance boosting, hull repairer effectiveness, and hull points.
Remote Hull Repairers - (high slots) Currently the mods exist but are very inefficient compared to armour repairs. I would tweak their stats to make them viable for hull tanking fleets.
Gallente Ships
I'm not going to go ship by ship and detail the changes I would make, but I will say that I would in general switch the armour hit point values with the hull hit point values and change any armour repair bonuses or armour resistance bonuses on ships to corresponding hull bonuses.
Furthermore, any ships with remote armour repair bonuses I would change to remote hull repair bonuses.
Information Warfare
The whole slew of information warfare skills and modules I would probably toss in favour of hull boosting skills and modules. I am not aware of any major fleet doctrine that utilizes the Gallente warfare mindlink or modules.
Conclusion
From when I started writing this post to now I've come to realize that this is a more significant undertaking than I first realized. It could have the effect of neutering Gallente from any type of fleet warfare much like Caldari shield ships were for the longest time (and missile ships still are).
Still, I think there is value in at least exploring the concept and seeing if a third way can be found, a less efficient tanking method but more conducive to close range hit and run attacks or straight up bare-knuckled brawling. Last one with structure left wins.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Rifter versus Rifter
Nothing special, just a little video of me attacking a Rifter in Amamake a couple weeks ago.
Go to youTube for a better quality.
Go to youTube for a better quality.
Flight of a Thousand Rifters Report
So Saturday afternoon arrived a rare set of circumstances: I was home, housework was under control, kids were sleeping or occupied, and an event was happening in Eve. Specifically Marlona Sky's Flight of a Thousand Rifters.
I logged in the morning to see where the event was being held as it was only announced that day and saw it was in Vlillirier in Placid region. Ew. That's pretty far by any standard. However I was determined to make it so I found an available medical facility only 5 jumps away in Onnamon in Black Rise region and pod-killed myself there. Then I purchased an Incursus and parts on the local market and made my way to the system, ready for the event.
When the event started I warped to the station where it was happening at 100 km for a look-see but was quickly locked up by a sniping Cormorant almost immediately. With 180+ in system and me being -8.9 sec status there was lots of people looking for frigate kills and I was a prime target. I warped in again from a different angle to make a bookmark and then again 100 km from there to have a 200 km distance perch spot to observe without being easily target-able.
However, Marlona Sky burnt out her repair mods prematurely and the dreadnought started to go down hard. I decided to warp in at zero and at least get on the killmail, but when I warped to station I forgot I was on the other side and even warping to zero put my over 45 km from the dreadnought! CRAP. I figured I would make a suicide run so afterburner on and guns a-blazing I made the head long dash and got targeted almost immediately. Still, I made it close enough for getting on the killmail and got my pod out. I went back in an Ibis for another run but the Moros exploded just as I got there. Oh well.
A good time and I look forward to more events like this from Marlona.
Here is a bit of video I managed to snag.
I logged in the morning to see where the event was being held as it was only announced that day and saw it was in Vlillirier in Placid region. Ew. That's pretty far by any standard. However I was determined to make it so I found an available medical facility only 5 jumps away in Onnamon in Black Rise region and pod-killed myself there. Then I purchased an Incursus and parts on the local market and made my way to the system, ready for the event.
When the event started I warped to the station where it was happening at 100 km for a look-see but was quickly locked up by a sniping Cormorant almost immediately. With 180+ in system and me being -8.9 sec status there was lots of people looking for frigate kills and I was a prime target. I warped in again from a different angle to make a bookmark and then again 100 km from there to have a 200 km distance perch spot to observe without being easily target-able.
However, Marlona Sky burnt out her repair mods prematurely and the dreadnought started to go down hard. I decided to warp in at zero and at least get on the killmail, but when I warped to station I forgot I was on the other side and even warping to zero put my over 45 km from the dreadnought! CRAP. I figured I would make a suicide run so afterburner on and guns a-blazing I made the head long dash and got targeted almost immediately. Still, I made it close enough for getting on the killmail and got my pod out. I went back in an Ibis for another run but the Moros exploded just as I got there. Oh well.
A good time and I look forward to more events like this from Marlona.
Here is a bit of video I managed to snag.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Eagle Contest Update - Now With Moar Prizes
I've partnered with EveNews24 to increase exposure on the contest and they've added to the prize pool so now the prizes are:
1st Place Entry - 1 x Pirate Battleship (list)
2nd Place Entry - 1 x Pirate Cruiser (list)
3rd Place Entry - 1 x Pirate Frigate (list)
Get cracking!
1st Place Entry - 1 x Pirate Battleship (list)
2nd Place Entry - 1 x Pirate Cruiser (list)
3rd Place Entry - 1 x Pirate Frigate (list)
Get cracking!
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Promotion: Flight of a Thousand Rifters
Marlona Sky is running a big player event this Saturday:
I'll be doing my best to make it, hope you will too!
Flight of a Thousand Rifters: A Player Event
On 2011.12.17 (December 17th, 2011) at precisely 19:00 GMT (game time) I will undock, in a low security system (location announced the day of the event) I will be sieging a station with Intigo, my Moros dreadnought. It has been irrelevant for a good couple years and it is high time it dies of a fiery death explosion.
I want to give players a change to do some damage and win some prizes so I will be running a player event to destroy my dreadnought. There are a few rules to follow for you to be eligible for prizes. The top three players with the most points gained with a frigate or destroyer class ship will each win one of three prizes. The player leaving the final blow on my Moros or the final blow on my capsule will each receive a special prize.Tier 1 Prizes: (Can be won only with a frigate or destroyer class ship)
- 1st place: Vindicator (a.k.a. Freak of Nature)
- 2nd place: Apocalypse Navy Issue (courtesy of Rooks and Kings)
- 3rd place: 300 million ISK (courtesy of Taladool)
- 4th place: Vigilant
- 5th place: 100 million ISK (courtesy of The 0rphanage)
- 6th place: Daredevil
Tier 2 Prizes: (Any ship qualifies)
- Final blow on my Moros = 1,000x Rifters
- Final blow on my capsule = 1x PLEX
- On the most non-frigate/destroyer kill mails = Fully T2 fit Legion with 5x subsystems and two T2 CCC rigs (courtesy of T'Amber)
Rules:
To receive any prizes or gain points you must follow these rules or you will be disqualified or receive a penalty multiplier against your total points.
- Only frigate and destroyer class hulls on my Moros kill mail will qualify for points.
- Event time starts 30 minutes before I undock in the Moros and lasts 30 minutes after my capsule is destroyed.
- Any contestant found to be in a ship other than a frigate or destroyer class during event time will be disqualified from the points based prizes.
- If any contestant’s corporation members are listed on a kill mail during event time is using a ship other than a frigate or destroyer class then you will forfeit 50% of your base points.
- Alternatively if any contestant’s alliance members are found on a kill mail during event time using a ship other than a frigate or destroyer class then you will forfeit 25% of your base points. (NPC alliances do not count)
- Damage done on the Moros kill mail is a players base points.
- Kill board used to verify kills will be: eve-kill.net (all other kill boards will not be considered so please post kill mails there)
- If you are on any kill mail with a frigate or destroyer class hull counts as a 1x point multiplier. (members of your player made alliance/corporation do not count)
- In the event of a tie in points; the player listed higher on the kill mail will win.
Environment setting:
- The system location will NOT be announced until the day of the event. Sorry.
- I will be in siege mode from the start of the event until my death. This prevents me from being remote repaired and relying only on my personal tank. I will not dock or warp off.
- I will be outlaw so anyone can legally me without the player taking a security hit or be shot by the station guns. (frigate/destroyer friendly
)
- I will have all three guns fit and the siege module. So by simply looking at my ship you will know I do not have smart bombs fit.
- I will be directly on top of a station so other players will not be able to activate smart bombs. Smart bombs do not work within 5km of station dock range. (keeping it a frigate/destroyer friendly environment
- I will be petitioning CCP to reinforce the event system so lag and other such monsters are kept at bay.
- The system will be in low security space with an ongoing Incursion. (this means no normal cyno can be activated for capital ship shenanigans)
- DO NOT FLY WHAT YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO LOSE!
- Post all kill mails! Any kill mails not API verified on eve-kill.net or kill mails added 48 hours after my pod loss mail will not be considered in the prize decision.
- All prizes will be contracted at Jita 4-4.
Tips:
- Just because you’re in a frigate or destroyer does not mean other players will not shoot you. Keep this in mind! Bring help/friends/mommy's hand bag or whatever you think will help you win the prizes. Just keep the penalty rules in mind and also the fact that any ships not a frigate or destroyer are automatic point multipliers.
- Just because your main character can't make the event because they are busy sucking on a POS appendage hoping for a few drops of Technetium, does not mean you can't bring a starter character in a frigate to the event on the same account. Bring it!
- DO NOT FLY WHAT YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO LOSE!
- Join channel: FOATR to chat and discuss the event
---
With every kill mail there is always a story to be told. Some more glorious than others, some over a small disagreement or a major battle for territory. There is always a story to be told. So for the next story...
The question you have to ask yourself is; will you be reading about it, or will you be writing it?
Official Sponsors: EVE University, Red vs. Blue, Noir. Mercenary Group, The 0rphanage, eve-radio.com, Rooks and Kings
I'll be doing my best to make it, hope you will too!
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Contest - Redesign The Eagle
Rixx Javix over at Eveoganda bemused the doom of the Zealot and Vagabond at the hands of the new Oracle and Tornado and when he ended the post asking about other ships, in the comments I said this:
[EveNews24 Editor: For those who do not like the comparison between the Eagle and the Naga, I have reworded the comparison. At lvl 5 skills, the Eagle can hit at 146+15km range while the Naga can hit at 194+30km range with 33% more damage without any gunnery modifying modules or implants and the Naga can fit 8 guns while the Eagle is stuck with 5 guns for twice the price. ]
Sure, there are advantages to being smaller and having superior tracking but overall the Eagle is not what you would call a desirable ship. On top of all that game mechanics, the Moa is one of the most reviled ship hulls in the game.
So here is your chance to be game designer AND art lead on the Eagle makeover.
The goal is to produce a description of how you would change the Eagle (and/or all of the Heavy Assault Cruiser class) to make it viable in the new Crucible age AS WELL AS one or more images of a hull redesign for the Moa/Eagle/Gila/Onyx ships very much like how the Scoprion and Maller have been completely redone..
The submission deadline is Feb 1, 2012 and I will be judging the entries.
1st Place Entry - 1 x PLEX
2nd Place Entry - 1 x HAC of your choice
3rd Place Entry - 1 x Battlecruiser of your choice
EDIT: I've partnered with EveNews24 and they kindly added to the pot so that the prizes are now:
1st Place Entry - 1 x Pirate Battleship (list)
2nd Place Entry - 1 x Pirate Cruiser (list)
3rd Place Entry - 1 x Pirate Frigate (list)
For the mechanics change, it doesn't have to be drastic or super detailed in order to be a good entry. The same goes for the hull redesign; a simple pencil sketch will suffice as much as a professional graphic artist entry as long as I feel the design is cool and evokes the Caldari esthetic.
Get cracking!
Naga: about third(!) of the price of a Rokh, with same range bonus, and 25% damage increase over the battleship. Sure, it can't tank like the Rokh but its more agile and cheaper and does not require BS 5.And then on twitter Rixx responded:
Not to mention the Eagle (which was dead already) will never see the light of day now.
good point about the poor sodden Eagle. Amazing how bad is it that it doesn't even get remembered? So sadYes, the Eagle even with the improvements to Hybrid weapons still is lackluster and now with the Naga available its even more undesirable. Sure, it can tank better but with Battlecruisers V a Naga can snipe out to 194 km with 400 DPS while at HAC IV an Eagle only gets around 156km optimal and 180 DPS. At approximately twice the price.
[EveNews24 Editor: For those who do not like the comparison between the Eagle and the Naga, I have reworded the comparison. At lvl 5 skills, the Eagle can hit at 146+15km range while the Naga can hit at 194+30km range with 33% more damage without any gunnery modifying modules or implants and the Naga can fit 8 guns while the Eagle is stuck with 5 guns for twice the price. ]
Sure, there are advantages to being smaller and having superior tracking but overall the Eagle is not what you would call a desirable ship. On top of all that game mechanics, the Moa is one of the most reviled ship hulls in the game.
So here is your chance to be game designer AND art lead on the Eagle makeover.
Redesign the Eagle Contest!
 |
| Somebody Save Me!!!! |
The submission deadline is Feb 1, 2012 and I will be judging the entries.
EDIT: I've partnered with EveNews24 and they kindly added to the pot so that the prizes are now:
1st Place Entry - 1 x Pirate Battleship (list)
2nd Place Entry - 1 x Pirate Cruiser (list)
3rd Place Entry - 1 x Pirate Frigate (list)
For the mechanics change, it doesn't have to be drastic or super detailed in order to be a good entry. The same goes for the hull redesign; a simple pencil sketch will suffice as much as a professional graphic artist entry as long as I feel the design is cool and evokes the Caldari esthetic.
Get cracking!
The Art of the Duel
So yesterday I pontificated on the challenges facing the roaming solo PvPer, mostly talking about low sec as the challenges in null sec are different but no less daunting.
Today we will talk about dueling in Eve.
There are three broad categories of duels. There is the spontaneous duel, the improvised duel, and the arranged duel.
In the spontaneous duel, you and your opponent are both out hunting and happen upon each other. There may be some positioning and warping to celestials but essentially the gist is that you both want the fight and go at it with no interference from other pilots on either side and no refitting to specific ships for the fight. There may be some communication in local or private chat along the lines of goading or arranging to meet at a particular spot.
While these fights can be satisfying, they are fraught with risk. Your opponent could be in a fleet with an alt providing significant performance boosts through gang links, or in a fleet with other pilots ready to jump in as soon as you are tackled. Or your opponent could have seen you roaming and put together a specific fit to defeat you.
The improvised duel is a way to mitigate some of the risk. Usually these types develop when someone asks in local for a 1v1 of a particular ship type like frigate or cruiser. If you agree, a chat is started up and a fleet so that both sides can see that the other does not have a booster alt or gang waiting in the wings. There may be additional requests like "only to the pod" or "no ECM" and a hope that suggest agreed to requests are honoured. You meet at a safe spot and go at it.
Like a spontaneous duel there is a threat that your opponent has buddies waiting in the wings with a bookmark to the location or that if he saw your ship earlier he built a setup just to defeat you, but since there is an agreement in place there is more honour in respecting the terms and not cheating. Its no guarantee but in Eve memories can be long and grudges fierce, and honouring 1v1s is considered the basic mark of a good low sec citizen.
Another form of improvised dueling is when a pilot sits on an undock of a trade hub with some ammo in a jet can and waits for a dancing partner to it so he can fire upon them. This is not so much a duel as a trap since even if you are ready for a fight, he may have friends ready to undock if you fire or logistics ships ready to go out of your range. I'd advise you to not take the bait and don't feed the trolls.
Finally we have the Arranged Duel, a hallmark of the blogging/podcasting community that was really brought to the fore by Nashh Kadavr's work with the Celebrity Death Matches of yesteryear. Essentially you and another pilot agree ahead of time to have a duel with terms and conditions set out in explicit detail as to what is allowed and not allowed. For example, tech 1 frigates (no faction), tech II gear and ammo (faction charges allowed), no ECM, warp to bookmark at preferred range, to the pod. A time and place are set and the participants arrive and get ready with some banter and clarifications if necessary.
The big difference in arranged duels is that both pilots have time to plan ship fits to an obsessive degree, piling on killboards to see what their opponent has used before, seeing if any intel on skills or certificates can be found, and in some cases checking out previous duels. Since the terms are set out very clearly, and warping out is an admission of defeat where the goal is bragging rights more so than a kill mail, ship fits can be customized in a manner that normal PvP ships would never be found in. For example, fits without points or fits with Amarr drones (don't laugh, I used them to help defeat Nashh once). Arranged duels can happen anywhere, high sec, low sec, null sec, even in wormholes. For high sec or low sec, players can exchange one unit of ammo in a jet can to become red flashy to each other to avoid a security penalty. Also, arranged duels can be more than just 1v1, they can be 2v2 (see video below) or even more as long as all participants are considered trustworthy.
Having done all three, I can assure you that arranged duels can be awesome as players are more willing to risk bigger ships if they are assured of a fair fight. While a Rifter duel can be fun, a loss is nothing to write home to mother about. But putting a battleship or tech II vessel on the line is a whole different matter.
If you want to dip your toe into the water, don't be afraid to drop me a line. But watch this first :)
Today we will talk about dueling in Eve.
There are three broad categories of duels. There is the spontaneous duel, the improvised duel, and the arranged duel.
In the spontaneous duel, you and your opponent are both out hunting and happen upon each other. There may be some positioning and warping to celestials but essentially the gist is that you both want the fight and go at it with no interference from other pilots on either side and no refitting to specific ships for the fight. There may be some communication in local or private chat along the lines of goading or arranging to meet at a particular spot.
While these fights can be satisfying, they are fraught with risk. Your opponent could be in a fleet with an alt providing significant performance boosts through gang links, or in a fleet with other pilots ready to jump in as soon as you are tackled. Or your opponent could have seen you roaming and put together a specific fit to defeat you.
The improvised duel is a way to mitigate some of the risk. Usually these types develop when someone asks in local for a 1v1 of a particular ship type like frigate or cruiser. If you agree, a chat is started up and a fleet so that both sides can see that the other does not have a booster alt or gang waiting in the wings. There may be additional requests like "only to the pod" or "no ECM" and a hope that suggest agreed to requests are honoured. You meet at a safe spot and go at it.
Like a spontaneous duel there is a threat that your opponent has buddies waiting in the wings with a bookmark to the location or that if he saw your ship earlier he built a setup just to defeat you, but since there is an agreement in place there is more honour in respecting the terms and not cheating. Its no guarantee but in Eve memories can be long and grudges fierce, and honouring 1v1s is considered the basic mark of a good low sec citizen.
Another form of improvised dueling is when a pilot sits on an undock of a trade hub with some ammo in a jet can and waits for a dancing partner to it so he can fire upon them. This is not so much a duel as a trap since even if you are ready for a fight, he may have friends ready to undock if you fire or logistics ships ready to go out of your range. I'd advise you to not take the bait and don't feed the trolls.
Finally we have the Arranged Duel, a hallmark of the blogging/podcasting community that was really brought to the fore by Nashh Kadavr's work with the Celebrity Death Matches of yesteryear. Essentially you and another pilot agree ahead of time to have a duel with terms and conditions set out in explicit detail as to what is allowed and not allowed. For example, tech 1 frigates (no faction), tech II gear and ammo (faction charges allowed), no ECM, warp to bookmark at preferred range, to the pod. A time and place are set and the participants arrive and get ready with some banter and clarifications if necessary.
The big difference in arranged duels is that both pilots have time to plan ship fits to an obsessive degree, piling on killboards to see what their opponent has used before, seeing if any intel on skills or certificates can be found, and in some cases checking out previous duels. Since the terms are set out very clearly, and warping out is an admission of defeat where the goal is bragging rights more so than a kill mail, ship fits can be customized in a manner that normal PvP ships would never be found in. For example, fits without points or fits with Amarr drones (don't laugh, I used them to help defeat Nashh once). Arranged duels can happen anywhere, high sec, low sec, null sec, even in wormholes. For high sec or low sec, players can exchange one unit of ammo in a jet can to become red flashy to each other to avoid a security penalty. Also, arranged duels can be more than just 1v1, they can be 2v2 (see video below) or even more as long as all participants are considered trustworthy.
Having done all three, I can assure you that arranged duels can be awesome as players are more willing to risk bigger ships if they are assured of a fair fight. While a Rifter duel can be fun, a loss is nothing to write home to mother about. But putting a battleship or tech II vessel on the line is a whole different matter.
If you want to dip your toe into the water, don't be afraid to drop me a line. But watch this first :)
Nashh Kadavr's CDM # 16 - 2 v 2
Monday, December 12, 2011
Plight of the Solo PvPer
While solo PvP in Eve is not dead, it is certainly one of the most difficult modes on play in Eve that I have encountered.
Null sec warfare certainly has its trials and tribulations, but for the average pilot there is not much more than fitting your ship to required specs and following orders of the FCs properly. It may be more costly in terms of ISK for lost ships and implants but there is a certain amount of freedom in being able to lame some or all of the blame at the feet of others; others, incidentally, that do the work of finding the enemy and evaluating engagement opportunities for you.
Not so in solo PvP. The job of finding the targets to engage falls solely on the pilot. And since he is a fleet of one there are a lot of hazards out there that a fleet of you and 50 friends can safely ignore. Thus we run into the plight of the solo PvP pilot: which ship to use?
Battleships give the most DPS and tank combination, allowing certain latitude in engaging on gates and stations while ignoring the sentry guns, or even taking on numerous smaller foes. However, they are slow to align and warp making them easy targets for hostile ships to tackle and wear down, plus they can run on the pricey side when they do get destroyed.
So we downgrade to a cheaper battlecruiser which has decent DPS and tank, a little more agile, smaller caliber weapons for threatening even destroyers and frigates in the right circumstances. Still can get caught on gates by larger fleets but not so expensive to lose. But you are still big and unable to enter some faction warfare sites and a lot of viable targets cruiser-sized and smaller will simply refuse to fight you.
Well, what about a cruiser then? Your number of viable targets has dropped considerably now, and any fleet bigger than 3 frigates will give you serious trouble. Really, it seems like a solo cruiser has none of the advantages of a bigger ship but all of the disadvantages of a smaller ship unless you go Tech II or III and really raise the price tag.
Destroyers? Very situational, and the lack of mid slots means that tackling target frigates is problematic. Better used in wolf packs.
So we're down to frigates. Small and agile, they are hard to catch at gates. Even Tech II versions are affordable. You can enter all Faction Warfare sites (EDIT: well, not Tech II frigs sadly, but faction frigs can for a more expensive option). And good pilots can in the right circumstances threaten destroyers and some cruisers. But your viable target pool has shrunk very small now and any well coordinated fleet of enemy tech I frigs is a tough battle usually ending in your demise. At least the cost of a loss is not too devastating.
* * * * *
So what's the answer to this conundrum? My response is to keep a couple ships of every type handy, roam in a frigate and if a target presents itself that requires MOAR POWER then I dock and re-ship. Once the opportunity is over, back to the frigate.
Tomorrow we'll talk about the Art of the Duel.
Null sec warfare certainly has its trials and tribulations, but for the average pilot there is not much more than fitting your ship to required specs and following orders of the FCs properly. It may be more costly in terms of ISK for lost ships and implants but there is a certain amount of freedom in being able to lame some or all of the blame at the feet of others; others, incidentally, that do the work of finding the enemy and evaluating engagement opportunities for you.
Not so in solo PvP. The job of finding the targets to engage falls solely on the pilot. And since he is a fleet of one there are a lot of hazards out there that a fleet of you and 50 friends can safely ignore. Thus we run into the plight of the solo PvP pilot: which ship to use?
Battleships give the most DPS and tank combination, allowing certain latitude in engaging on gates and stations while ignoring the sentry guns, or even taking on numerous smaller foes. However, they are slow to align and warp making them easy targets for hostile ships to tackle and wear down, plus they can run on the pricey side when they do get destroyed.
So we downgrade to a cheaper battlecruiser which has decent DPS and tank, a little more agile, smaller caliber weapons for threatening even destroyers and frigates in the right circumstances. Still can get caught on gates by larger fleets but not so expensive to lose. But you are still big and unable to enter some faction warfare sites and a lot of viable targets cruiser-sized and smaller will simply refuse to fight you.
Well, what about a cruiser then? Your number of viable targets has dropped considerably now, and any fleet bigger than 3 frigates will give you serious trouble. Really, it seems like a solo cruiser has none of the advantages of a bigger ship but all of the disadvantages of a smaller ship unless you go Tech II or III and really raise the price tag.
Destroyers? Very situational, and the lack of mid slots means that tackling target frigates is problematic. Better used in wolf packs.
So we're down to frigates. Small and agile, they are hard to catch at gates. Even Tech II versions are affordable. You can enter all Faction Warfare sites (EDIT: well, not Tech II frigs sadly, but faction frigs can for a more expensive option). And good pilots can in the right circumstances threaten destroyers and some cruisers. But your viable target pool has shrunk very small now and any well coordinated fleet of enemy tech I frigs is a tough battle usually ending in your demise. At least the cost of a loss is not too devastating.
* * * * *
So what's the answer to this conundrum? My response is to keep a couple ships of every type handy, roam in a frigate and if a target presents itself that requires MOAR POWER then I dock and re-ship. Once the opportunity is over, back to the frigate.
Tomorrow we'll talk about the Art of the Duel.
Friday, December 09, 2011
Fiction Friday: Series 4 - Part 13
Previously:
Prologue Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12
* * * * *
"Here, have a drink."
I took the offered glass and tilted my head back to let the alcohol burn down my throat. Some Amarrian brandy of some sort. I was too furious to take note of th name of it. I barely even tasted it. And it did not quench my anger.
"...they are not stopping..."
Nhi'Khuna took the empty glass and filled it half way again before handing it back to me and returning to her desk. I resisted the urge to gulp the second portion as I wanted a clear head to plot my revenge. It had taken all my will power to resist the drugs back in my room, anything to try and erase the image of my crew's life boats from being destroyed one by one as I sat there helpless.
"... there is something wrong..."
"I can't believe she did that, Nhi. They had nothing to do with her brother." I clenched my fist. "They were only human."
Nhi`Khuna sighed and spread her hands in a helpless shrug. "I don't know what to tell you, Kirith. I've never seen anyone do that before. I'm so sorry."
"I don't need your sorry. I need to start thinking of a way to get back at her for this! For my crew!"
"Let's not be rash, Kir. This is a pair of station scum lowlife like Rusack we're talking about here. She is rich and connected; you want to start a war with a null sec alliance? They will hound you out of space." She looked down at her desktop. "You don't realize how small space is until they start chasing you out of it."
"... they are not stopping..."
"RASH!? She fucking killed hundreds of people who don't get to wake up in a clone vat, Nhi'Khuna! And no one will do anything about it? BULLSHIT!" I stood up and started angrily pacing. "I'm going to do something about it."
"Oh god," she exclaimed, "don't be stupid. Crew die by the thousands every day. They know that signing up for a capsuleer ship is a risky venture that pays well, live or die. The pensions and insurance cover all the risk and more." She pointed a finger at me. "You think rescue craft from the nearest Sister's outpost arrive promptly out in the depths of dark null sec? They face the dangers of starvation and isolation every day."
"I am in high sec," I retorted, "my crew was not signing up for null sec risk."
She snorted. "Don't be naive. You and I both know that low sec is one jump away and just as dangerous as anywhere else in space. Your crew accepted the risks when they were onboard when you undocked. Don't go soft on them and me just because you got caught."
"... sensors indicate we are being locked..."
I sat back down in the chair, shoulders slumping. I got caught. It was my fault they died. Caught. In high sec. No CONCORD to save the day. Something clicked in my head. I lifted my head and looked Nhi'Khuna in the eyes.
"... sir, it was an honour service with y-"
"How much did she pay you to intercept the notification about the war dec?"
The flicker of an eyelid told me all that I needed to know.
"You bitch!" I growled.
"Kirith..." Nhi'Khuna began.
"Don't you fucking 'Kirith' me!" I screamed as I bolted up. She calmed laid a pistol on the desk top, her hand not coming off it. It was a big desk and she had nerves of steel. I would never get it from her in time.
"Listen," she pleaded, "I haven't been home in years. She cleared my name with the Empire. All I thought it cost was your ship and a pod. If I knew what she planned..."
I turned in disgust and started walking to the door.
"Kirith, we'll think of something! Come back!"
The doors slid open and I stormed out.
Prologue Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12
* * * * *
"Here, have a drink."
I took the offered glass and tilted my head back to let the alcohol burn down my throat. Some Amarrian brandy of some sort. I was too furious to take note of th name of it. I barely even tasted it. And it did not quench my anger.
"...they are not stopping..."
Nhi'Khuna took the empty glass and filled it half way again before handing it back to me and returning to her desk. I resisted the urge to gulp the second portion as I wanted a clear head to plot my revenge. It had taken all my will power to resist the drugs back in my room, anything to try and erase the image of my crew's life boats from being destroyed one by one as I sat there helpless.
"... there is something wrong..."
"I can't believe she did that, Nhi. They had nothing to do with her brother." I clenched my fist. "They were only human."
Nhi`Khuna sighed and spread her hands in a helpless shrug. "I don't know what to tell you, Kirith. I've never seen anyone do that before. I'm so sorry."
"I don't need your sorry. I need to start thinking of a way to get back at her for this! For my crew!"
"Let's not be rash, Kir. This is a pair of station scum lowlife like Rusack we're talking about here. She is rich and connected; you want to start a war with a null sec alliance? They will hound you out of space." She looked down at her desktop. "You don't realize how small space is until they start chasing you out of it."
"... they are not stopping..."
"RASH!? She fucking killed hundreds of people who don't get to wake up in a clone vat, Nhi'Khuna! And no one will do anything about it? BULLSHIT!" I stood up and started angrily pacing. "I'm going to do something about it."
"Oh god," she exclaimed, "don't be stupid. Crew die by the thousands every day. They know that signing up for a capsuleer ship is a risky venture that pays well, live or die. The pensions and insurance cover all the risk and more." She pointed a finger at me. "You think rescue craft from the nearest Sister's outpost arrive promptly out in the depths of dark null sec? They face the dangers of starvation and isolation every day."
"I am in high sec," I retorted, "my crew was not signing up for null sec risk."
She snorted. "Don't be naive. You and I both know that low sec is one jump away and just as dangerous as anywhere else in space. Your crew accepted the risks when they were onboard when you undocked. Don't go soft on them and me just because you got caught."
"... sensors indicate we are being locked..."
I sat back down in the chair, shoulders slumping. I got caught. It was my fault they died. Caught. In high sec. No CONCORD to save the day. Something clicked in my head. I lifted my head and looked Nhi'Khuna in the eyes.
"... sir, it was an honour service with y-"
"How much did she pay you to intercept the notification about the war dec?"
The flicker of an eyelid told me all that I needed to know.
"You bitch!" I growled.
"Kirith..." Nhi'Khuna began.
"Don't you fucking 'Kirith' me!" I screamed as I bolted up. She calmed laid a pistol on the desk top, her hand not coming off it. It was a big desk and she had nerves of steel. I would never get it from her in time.
"Listen," she pleaded, "I haven't been home in years. She cleared my name with the Empire. All I thought it cost was your ship and a pod. If I knew what she planned..."
I turned in disgust and started walking to the door.
"Kirith, we'll think of something! Come back!"
The doors slid open and I stormed out.
Thursday, December 08, 2011
Eve Online Hold'Em
I'm now an advertiser for Eve Online Hold'Em Poker as you can see by the new banner in the side bar right underneath E-ON magazine. If you are looking for a way to play around with your ISK and perhaps make more of it, give it a try.
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Enhanced Targeting HUD
Seeing my PvP videos of my fights with Stan, a couple people asked about how I got the enhanced green multiline text to show on my currently selected item. Here is an example:
Well, the answer is that a while back there was a pilot who put together an Overview Creator that allowed you to setup your overview through a friendly interface and export an XML file you could then import into Eve. Part of this website's functionality was the ability to customize your selection text into very fancy outputs like the one you see above.
Alas, that website has gone down (was balss-industries.com) and I've emailed the creator to find out if it can be brought back to life. No word yet.
But if you feel adventurous, you can hand craft it. Here's how:
1) In game, right click on your Overview tab and choose to export overview. This creates an XML file in your "My Documents\Eve\overview" folder (or corresponding folder on your machine).
2) Using a nice XML editor program, (or notepad but that is hardcore) you can change the file in the section called "shiplabels" to show something like this:
Note that the xml is actually cleaned up by my xml editor from this in the plain text version of the XML:
Note that the last one is Distance with a type of "None" because the client automatically puts the distance at the end of the ship labels I believe.
In theory you could get creative and have multiple colours, font sizes and effects, or other information important to you. If you decide to try this out, please export your current overview and save it safely somewhere as a backup.
Note: as far as I know, this is not considered an exploit by CCP according to the Overview Creator website that advertised on the forums while it was in operation.
FOLLOW UP:
I made a petition to CCP and here is the response:
 |
| From BMTHOKK 2 |
Alas, that website has gone down (was balss-industries.com) and I've emailed the creator to find out if it can be brought back to life. No word yet.
But if you feel adventurous, you can hand craft it. Here's how:
1) In game, right click on your Overview tab and choose to export overview. This creates an XML file in your "My Documents\Eve\overview" folder (or corresponding folder on your machine).
2) Using a nice XML editor program, (or notepad but that is hardcore) you can change the file in the section called "
Note that the xml
Note that the last one is Distance with a type of "None" because the client automatically puts the distance at the end of the ship labels I believe.
In theory you could get creative and have multiple colours, font sizes and effects, or other information important to you. If you decide to try this out, please export your current overview and save it safely somewhere as a backup.
Note: as far as I know, this is not considered an exploit by CCP according to the Overview Creator website that advertised on the forums while it was in operation.
FOLLOW UP:
I made a petition to CCP and here is the response:
Hello Kirith,
While we do not currently consider this to be a violation of the EULA, please note that we do reserve the right to change this decision at a point in the future should we find it necessary. If you have any other questions or problems, please let me know.
Best regards,
GM
EVE Online Customer Support Team
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Seismic Beatdown Videos
I finally got the three videos of me humiliating Seismic Stan annotated and uploaded to Youtube.
Here is the first duel:
And Stan's version here.
The second duel:
And the third duel:
Here is the first duel:
And Stan's version here.
The second duel:
And the third duel:
Monday, December 05, 2011
Sunday Night's Alright For Fighting
RECAP: Grudge Match and then Putting Moose beaver To The Sword
So Seismic Stan and I met on the field of battle in the quiet low sec system of Aliette and prepared for our best of five matches duel, starting at lowly frigates and then going to destroyers, cruisers, and if required, battlecruisers and battleships.
Preparation
Since both of us are long in the tooth in terms of skillpoints (and he's a wily old bastard), I knew that trying to counter a specific ship in each class was useless so I went with whatever I felt I could make work.
For frigates, I settled on a dependable low sec roaming Rifter. I considered going for something more exotic or with a bigger tank, but I figured the familiarity of the abilities of the Rifter was key. Pretty much standard 150mm autocannons, a Nos, and active armour tank.
Next, there was no doubt I would take a Catalyst as its my favourite destroyer, the question was merely if I should go with a blaster fit or rail fit. I opted for railguns as I planned to try and stay out of his range and flick him to death, hoping he opted for a shorter ranged Thrasher or Coercer, or a paper thinned hull Cormorant.
I spent the most time working on a cruiser ship. First I thought "gank Thorax" but realized that was better for catching unsuspecting targets unawares and not ideal for a prepared opponent. Then I spent some time planning out a blaster Moa that could tank like a pro and deal decent damage, but I was worried I would be outranged and outran by a well piloted Rupture. So I finally decided to get out of my comfort zone and go EWAR. We agreed no ECM, but that left a lot of other nasty options open like neutralizers and tracking disruptors. I've been eager to try out an Arbitrator for a while so put one together with two medium neuts, one medium nos, and one small nos in the highs, two tracking disruptors in the mids, and a buffer armour tank. All damage would come from medium drones of which I packed 15 (no frigs to worry about). It was a risk; if he brought a missile ship or a drone ship or a sniping ship, I could be in trouble.
On to battlecruisers and this was a no brainer: Gank Talos. I fully expected to die but I hoped the shock of getting hit by battleship weapons would make him panic and mess up. So eight big honking Neutron Blaster Cannons IIs, tackle, a semblance of an armour buffer tank, and a one way ticket to explodey-ville!
If we got to battleships, I wanted to fly cautiously. I wanted something with the best combination of gank, tank, and range. There is no question that Pulse lasers are the answer to two of those questions and the Abaddon provides the bulk of the third. Enter Mega Pulse Laser IIs, 1600mm plates and trimark armour pumps, and enough mid slots to pin down a charging bull (or Megathron). I would try and engage at ~50 km range and let powerful Scorch Crystals do their work. Failing that, Imperial Navy Multifriequency would have to suffice.
The Duel Part 1 - Merlin vs Rifter
Stan ran into a problem setting up. He forgot an important power grid implant and thus his frigate fit was not going to work! I offered to disable a mod to equal terms but he declined, graciously offering to slog it out with whatever he could pull together in station. A true trooper, almost Canadian in his perseverance!
We met at the duel safe spot (apologies to Vsmit who was in system to see duels but we went with security over publicity due to Stan's terror of low sec) and I saw it was a Merlin. I've said before a properly fitted and flown Merlin can be fearsome so I knew I was in for a fight. We barreled into each other at short range and began the dance of death.
I was quickly in armour and out of capacitor, but since warping off was conceding defeat I turned off scram mods and concentrated on pulsing the armour repper whenever I could and keeping that nosferatu running. Slowly but surely I nibbled at his shields and eventually I broke them. It was over soon after that.
Lord Moose Beaver 1, Baron Crumpet Tea 0
The Duel Part 2 - Catalyst vs Catalyst
For the second duel I warped in and found Stan landing over 100 km away in a Catalyst. And he fired up a micro warp drive meaning two things: 1) we're both fitting long range fits and trying to maintain range and 2) my afterburner fit is sorely going to be outpaced in that department.
In hindsight, I should have never won this duel. Stan had also fitted a remote sensor dampener which combined with the range fit and MWD should have meant he could fight outside of my targeting range of 41 km and prevent me from ever hitting him. I'll need to review the fraps I made of the event but I never once had problems targeting him when he pulled within 41 km so I wonder if he fit the wrong script and was uselessly messing with my scan resolution instead, or just didn't get the mod activated soon enough when in range.
Regardless, the fact of the matter is that his big signature from the MWD meant I hit him pretty hard when he came into range and as he tried to pull back I finished him off.
Lord Moose Beaver 2, Baron Crumpet Tea 0
The Duel Part 3 - Moa vs Arbitrator
I was really surprised to see yet another Caldari ship as I fully expected a dependable and solid Rupture cruiser here. I was really happy when he landed right on top of me as it meant that my tracking disruptors would be most effective in close. We engaged and the battle was on.
Again, this fight was weird. I think he stayed stationary for most of the fight allowing me to orbit at ease. It seemed he was firing upon my drones a lot of the fight too and since I had him tracking disrupted and lots of spare drones, that didn't worry me. I killed his drones right away to make sure my tank was not threatened and sat happily at ~50% armour.
Then something happened as his shield tank broke. I don't know if he opted to start moving differently (which is what the fraps suggested) or if he turned all weapons on me instead of my drones. It became a race into structure but I think my drones managed to save me and kill him while I still had 28% structure left.
Lord Moose Beaver 3, Baron Crumpet Tea 0
Conclusions
I can't help but feel that rust on Stan's part saved me in at least two of those matches. The Catalyst matchup was completely in his favour on paper, and the last one would have required some pretty fancy flying to avoid death had he been doing all throughout the match what he did at the end to start hitting me.
That being said, there is no substitution for victory and close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. My Canadian Honour has been assuaged this time, Stan. Don't make me come after you again!
So Seismic Stan and I met on the field of battle in the quiet low sec system of Aliette and prepared for our best of five matches duel, starting at lowly frigates and then going to destroyers, cruisers, and if required, battlecruisers and battleships.
Preparation
Since both of us are long in the tooth in terms of skillpoints (and he's a wily old bastard), I knew that trying to counter a specific ship in each class was useless so I went with whatever I felt I could make work.
For frigates, I settled on a dependable low sec roaming Rifter. I considered going for something more exotic or with a bigger tank, but I figured the familiarity of the abilities of the Rifter was key. Pretty much standard 150mm autocannons, a Nos, and active armour tank.
Next, there was no doubt I would take a Catalyst as its my favourite destroyer, the question was merely if I should go with a blaster fit or rail fit. I opted for railguns as I planned to try and stay out of his range and flick him to death, hoping he opted for a shorter ranged Thrasher or Coercer, or a paper thinned hull Cormorant.
I spent the most time working on a cruiser ship. First I thought "gank Thorax" but realized that was better for catching unsuspecting targets unawares and not ideal for a prepared opponent. Then I spent some time planning out a blaster Moa that could tank like a pro and deal decent damage, but I was worried I would be outranged and outran by a well piloted Rupture. So I finally decided to get out of my comfort zone and go EWAR. We agreed no ECM, but that left a lot of other nasty options open like neutralizers and tracking disruptors. I've been eager to try out an Arbitrator for a while so put one together with two medium neuts, one medium nos, and one small nos in the highs, two tracking disruptors in the mids, and a buffer armour tank. All damage would come from medium drones of which I packed 15 (no frigs to worry about). It was a risk; if he brought a missile ship or a drone ship or a sniping ship, I could be in trouble.
On to battlecruisers and this was a no brainer: Gank Talos. I fully expected to die but I hoped the shock of getting hit by battleship weapons would make him panic and mess up. So eight big honking Neutron Blaster Cannons IIs, tackle, a semblance of an armour buffer tank, and a one way ticket to explodey-ville!
If we got to battleships, I wanted to fly cautiously. I wanted something with the best combination of gank, tank, and range. There is no question that Pulse lasers are the answer to two of those questions and the Abaddon provides the bulk of the third. Enter Mega Pulse Laser IIs, 1600mm plates and trimark armour pumps, and enough mid slots to pin down a charging bull (or Megathron). I would try and engage at ~50 km range and let powerful Scorch Crystals do their work. Failing that, Imperial Navy Multifriequency would have to suffice.
The Duel Part 1 - Merlin vs Rifter
Stan ran into a problem setting up. He forgot an important power grid implant and thus his frigate fit was not going to work! I offered to disable a mod to equal terms but he declined, graciously offering to slog it out with whatever he could pull together in station. A true trooper, almost Canadian in his perseverance!
We met at the duel safe spot (apologies to Vsmit who was in system to see duels but we went with security over publicity due to Stan's terror of low sec) and I saw it was a Merlin. I've said before a properly fitted and flown Merlin can be fearsome so I knew I was in for a fight. We barreled into each other at short range and began the dance of death.
I was quickly in armour and out of capacitor, but since warping off was conceding defeat I turned off scram mods and concentrated on pulsing the armour repper whenever I could and keeping that nosferatu running. Slowly but surely I nibbled at his shields and eventually I broke them. It was over soon after that.
Lord Moose Beaver 1, Baron Crumpet Tea 0
The Duel Part 2 - Catalyst vs Catalyst
For the second duel I warped in and found Stan landing over 100 km away in a Catalyst. And he fired up a micro warp drive meaning two things: 1) we're both fitting long range fits and trying to maintain range and 2) my afterburner fit is sorely going to be outpaced in that department.
In hindsight, I should have never won this duel. Stan had also fitted a remote sensor dampener which combined with the range fit and MWD should have meant he could fight outside of my targeting range of 41 km and prevent me from ever hitting him. I'll need to review the fraps I made of the event but I never once had problems targeting him when he pulled within 41 km so I wonder if he fit the wrong script and was uselessly messing with my scan resolution instead, or just didn't get the mod activated soon enough when in range.
Regardless, the fact of the matter is that his big signature from the MWD meant I hit him pretty hard when he came into range and as he tried to pull back I finished him off.
Lord Moose Beaver 2, Baron Crumpet Tea 0
The Duel Part 3 - Moa vs Arbitrator
I was really surprised to see yet another Caldari ship as I fully expected a dependable and solid Rupture cruiser here. I was really happy when he landed right on top of me as it meant that my tracking disruptors would be most effective in close. We engaged and the battle was on.
Again, this fight was weird. I think he stayed stationary for most of the fight allowing me to orbit at ease. It seemed he was firing upon my drones a lot of the fight too and since I had him tracking disrupted and lots of spare drones, that didn't worry me. I killed his drones right away to make sure my tank was not threatened and sat happily at ~50% armour.
Then something happened as his shield tank broke. I don't know if he opted to start moving differently (which is what the fraps suggested) or if he turned all weapons on me instead of my drones. It became a race into structure but I think my drones managed to save me and kill him while I still had 28% structure left.
Lord Moose Beaver 3, Baron Crumpet Tea 0
Conclusions
I can't help but feel that rust on Stan's part saved me in at least two of those matches. The Catalyst matchup was completely in his favour on paper, and the last one would have required some pretty fancy flying to avoid death had he been doing all throughout the match what he did at the end to start hitting me.
That being said, there is no substitution for victory and close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. My Canadian Honour has been assuaged this time, Stan. Don't make me come after you again!
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