War, War Never Changes

For a low sec Faction Warfare alliance, we sure are spending a lot of time in null sec lately with numerous timers, CTAs, and fleet actions!

Last fall going into null sec was a diversion from a war zone that had grown stale and quiet as Caldari Militia licked their wounds, but multiple successes turned the expeditionary force into an occupancy force for the Gallente Militia and Galmilistan was born in Cloud Ring region.

The big attraction for holding on to these systems in Cloud Ring are these two little icons...

Those two things are Outposts, and on June 5th CCP is going to do a one time conversion of all outposts in the game to special faction Citadels, items that cannot be gotten in any other manner in game ever again. From the dev blog:

Each of these new faction Citadels will have the stats of an improved Fortizar, and share the Fortizar’s docking restrictions. Each will gain a set of special bonuses connected to their former station identity: combining the defensive benefits of a Fortizar with extra bonuses usually reserved for more vulnerable structures.
- The Minmatar Outpost replacement Citadels will gain a bonus to reprocessing (smaller than the bonus on Refineries)
- The Amarr Outpost replacement Citadels will gain bonuses to manufacturing (smaller than the bonus on Engineering Complexes)
- The Caldari Outpost replacement Citadels will gain bonuses to research (smaller than the bonus on Engineering Complexes)
- The Gallente Outpost replacement Citadels will have an extra service module slot and gain a bonus to service module fuel use
- The “Immensea” Conquerable Station replacement Citadels will gain extra defensive benefits, hitpoints and slots as well as milder versions of the bonuses from the other four faction Citadels.

These new faction Citadels will be able to be unanchored, scooped and redeployed just like any other Upwell structure. They will not be manufacturable by capsuleers.
The faction Citadels replacing upgraded Outposts will receive another exclusive benefit: new special edition faction structure rigs. Which of these powerful rigs you receive will depend on the upgrades installed on the Outpost being replaced. The combined Outpost upgrades installed on each Outpost will all be added to a single faction rig so that the other two rig slots will remain free for use with normal L-set rigs. 

Like the faction Citadels themselves, these rigs will be exclusive to the Outpost upgrade event and no more will ever be added to New Eden. These rigs will begin installed and will be destroyed if removed or if their host Citadel is unanchored (just like a normal rig).

Needless to say, these are going to be very valuable assets to the owning corporations on June 5th, so other entities are poking around the edges of existing owners and their space looking for weak spots where these outposts can be conquered before then and held until after the conversion.

Hence the timers, defenses, and CTAs. For now, we are a sov holding entity.

Raiding the Farms and Fields

I was asked to run a structure bash op for my Sunday Night Fleet this past weekend but it got cancelled right after I had jump cloned so decided to fight my nervousness about null sec and do the roam in the great black yonder of Cloud Ring and neighbouring regions. We set out with a fleet of small ships, interceptors and frigates and destroyers and a couple interdictors.

Man, its weird seeing interdictors actually being used! And bubbles as an option in the tool box! And no gate guns! Its all so freaky.

But the freakiest thing is the residents of null sec we ran into.

Ratting Vexor Navy Issues. Several times.

Ratting Rattlesnake. (He got away)

Industrial on a gate.

A moon mining op. And after we killed a couple of them, a Cynabal wandered too close to our interceptors and got caught.

I've always suspected that the shark eat shark microcosm of constant warfare of low sec created pilots of a higher quality and this roam around null sec only reinforced that idea. Its just not safe for ratting in low sec, and mining ops are much more paranoid. In null sec the lower population density and infrequency of danger lowers one's guard more, but I still find it interesting that the reaction is quiet acceptance of the kills. In low sec, getting a kill with a fleet almost always ensures a fleet being assembled to come kill you. Yet the one gang we saw didn't give chase.

Oh well, it was a nice ego boost either way as Galmilistan continues to exist against all expectations.

Also, loving my Taranis, what a nice little pistol.

Times Have Changed

The first time I went into null sec, I decided to buy a destroyer.

Being a Caldari pilot I went looking for a Cormorant on the market. But I wasn't in a big null sec alliance, I was in a small corp tucked into a couple systems of a constellation in a quiet part of Syndicate region, 9GYL-O to be precise. And the only Cormorant on the market was in the opposite end of the region, in a pocket that was controlled at the time by Goonswarm.

It did not end well.

It is amazing to me how much I didn't know back then. I spent many years in and out of null sec in corporations and alliances of different sizes and capabilities before deciding that low sec was more my speed for my casual playstyle. I got better, learned how not to buy things in hostile territory, how to move assets into null without getting ganked at the first jump, and eventually mastered using carriers and jump freighters to move things around. Null sec because comfortable to me and I did not leave it because it was hard or frustrating.

Last Sunday night, back in a fleet in null sec as we defended some timers in our constellation in Cloud Ring, I was scouting and tackling in a Taranis. Pandemic Horde dropped by to give us a fight and I scored some kills on a Griffin and Taranis and a few pods. Nothing special.

But afterwards as I mused on the evening's activities and reviewed my performance, I was struck by a difference: I was calm. Excited for the battle, pleased at the outcome, but calm. Last time I lived in null sec every engagement was fraught with nerves and adrenaline, but years of constant fighting and killing and losing in low sec have steadied my nerves and given clarity to my piloting.

I flew towards jamming Griffins, dodging missiles slung from Caracals, dogfighting a Taranis, bobbing and weaving in and out of the battle, and while I felt alive I did not feel panic. Hands were steady, heartbeat even.

It is been a long road from frightened newbie to hardened veteran and it is hard to see the difference week over week, month to month. But the stark contrast from the last time I was in null to fight and to this time allowed me to see the change easily. I'm not saying I'm a better pilot, but definitely more ready for the challenge.

Cloud Ring Invasion

While I've spent August recuperating and regenerating my batteries, things in EVE have been going a little weird in my social circles.

Take a look at this map:

Click for full size

Not only is my little alliance, FEDUP, on the map for sov in a null sec region in U65-CN near the top middle, our Gallente Militia allies WANGS controll 12 systems in the north east, BEBOP 7 systems in the south east, and GVMA controls DY-F70 in the south middle.

Before I took my break we were playing around in Cloud Ring because faction warfare has been ignored for a long time and suffered from unintended consequences of the new structures. As the group of some (or all) of the main Gallente Militia alliances made inroads into the residents there, we began to take sovereignty and plant our flags.

It was surprising coming back and seeing how much of Cloud Ring has been taken and the area seems to be heating up as evicted and threatened residents fight back and call in reinforcements from neighbours.

I'm ambivalent about it all. On one hand, I'm happy for the success and excitement the alliance and allies have found in the region, but I find my heart lies in low sec in general and the warzone in particular. I'm hoping that this respite from our constant attention has given some breathing room to our Caldari opposite numbers and allowed them to start opposing us again. I don't know if I'm ready to move back to null sec...

Null Sec Blues

Its been a long time since I've been in null sec. I moved to low sec and never looked back years ago.

Low sec PvP and Null Sec PvP are very different. The presence or lack thereof of gate guns, warp disruption bubbles, and faction warfare plexes all make minor contributions that combined change the feel of the space.

So it was with great trepidation I prepared a fleet for Sunday night out of our deployment system adjacent to Cloud Ring region, flying frigates and tactical destroyers on a roam looking for fights and kills.

Overall it did not go so well. For example, at one point we decided to engage an Orthrus on a hostile citadel and lost a few ships to point defense guns that his buddy activated once we were within range. We have them in low sec but so rarely engage near citadels, it seems fighting on hostile structures is maybe more common in null sec?

Warping from gate to gate, sometimes forgetting about drag bubbles. Later on warping into a fight an ally had started and getting stuck in a bubble and I didn't even realize it. *Groan* Dealing with bubbles used to be so second nature for me, years in low sec has dulled those skills.

Overall it was not my best fleet I've run. Hopefully enough rust has been scraped off to make the next fleet more productive for my members.