Flying an Onyx

There are times in EVE when you have an expensive ship or a niche ship, and you don’t get the chance to use it. It sort of just collects dust, spinning in station, raising the perennial question of “should I sell it?”

I happen to own a ship like that. It’s an Onyx. Arguably, it’s the worst of the four Heavy Interdictors, defeated by its shield-tanking counterpart the Broadsword due to the Broadsword’s better native shield resists.

That’s not to say, however, that my Onyx has not seen action. I did manage to point a Thanatos with it at the Battle of Namaili after all. Yet, its effectiveness is fairly low for something of its cost, especially in lowsec–its infinite point greatly unnecessary except for catching warp core stabbed haulers.

Today, however I chanced upon a great opportunity. After setting up an additional POS in Saikamon, I landed on the Myyherra Gate and happened to notice an Abaddon-class battleship on long-range scan. Returning to station, I undocked in a Buzzard, expecting him to be at one of the Besieged Covert Research Facilities. To my surprise, after a cursory D-Scan, I saw that he was actually sitting at an asteroid belt. Against the advice of my directors and corpmates on comms, I said “Today, I use my Onyx,” and immediately warped to belt, landing tackle on the Abaddon at 26km away. Notifying my corpmates, who were 5 jumps out in T1 frigates, I sat triumphantly in the belt.

Suddenly, my joyous attitude changed to “Today, I lose my Onyx,” when the Abaddon applied heavy neuts, shutting down my propulsion module and shield resistance modules. I was terrified–this was a bait Abaddon.

At this point, I suppose I should discuss my fit: HMS Dostoyevsky

High Slots
1x Cynosoural Field Generator (and I had no fuel)
3x Medium Diminishing Power System Drain I
2x Warp Disruption Field Generator I (loaded with Focused Warp Disruption Scripts)

Medium Slots
2x Large Shield Extender II
2x Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
1x Experimental 10mn Microwarpdrive
1x EM Ward Field II

Low Slots
1x Damage Control II
3x Power Diagnostic System II

Rigs:
2x Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer

As you can see, my ship has no guns, but it did have NOSes. After the initial shock of being neuted out, I slowboated to the Abaddon and managed to sink my NOSes on cycles while another Abaddon and Armageddon landed on grid.

Surprisingly, I was tanking them. Looking at my notifications, I saw that they had deployed Hammerheads, which were doing anywhere between 5 and 9 damage to my Onyx’s 93% Thermal Resist. The tables had turned!

The next ten minutes were essentially made up of me frantically screaming on intel channels to local groups about dps. Fortunately, this was one of the times when the militia delivered. Between Loaded-Dice and Fluffy Puppy Fight Club [FUPY], the Amarr militia mustered enough firepower to bring down two of the three battleships, with a single Abaddon escaping.

The killmails, however, are the reason why I wanted to write this post.

https://zkillboard.com/kill/40915122/

https://zkillboard.com/kill/40915081/

Yes. Let those sink in. Apparently, these pilots had used a similar setup to kill a Sacrilege in the past, but my Onyx, with its naturally high thermal resists and passive shield regen, simply proved to be too tough.

Sometimes you get to use your shiny ship for something, and in this case, I ended up not losing mine.

Battle of Namaili

With the end of the WINMATAR. alliance’s traditional alliance structure, Heart of Pyerite has once again been cast into the Amarr militia in search of a home. However, this act comes on the eve of one of the greatest achievements that shall go down in corporation history. For that reason, I wanted to record it for posterity.

==== The Set Up ====

I have written previously about NO45’s engagements in Namaili-Raravath. After that engagement in which an Ashimmu was destroyed, we had begun utilizing Namaili as a place of respite, away from the frigate and destroyer-sized battles of factional warfare.

It was during this time that I sparked the idea of surveying the moons to see if there were any resources worth mining. To my surprise, the system had two moons worth setting up POSes on: A Cobalt/Vanadium moon and a Platinum/Cobalt moon. After hiccups in the initial setups, the the POSes would net the corporation roughly 500m in profit–the first true corporation income, which would be dedicated to corporation Ship Replacement Program (SRP).

Alas, the local good pirates were fairly high skill point, though relatively easy to bait out. First blood drawn was a Sacrilege, in exchange for a Griffin and an Ishkur.

After determining that the members of LowSechnaya Sholupen [LSH] were relatively inactive, director James Clough (name recently capitalized) and myself began establishing moon mining in the system. We were joined in our efforts by a number of PI enthusiasts, which would allow us to produce fuel locally and thus cut down on costs significantly while maximizing profits.

The first bump in this plan occurred on August 7, 2014, when a notification was pinged out to alliance that Rad1st–a member of LowSechnaya Sholupen’s Airguard–had attacked one of our POSes. Upon further inspection, we also learned that he had indeed put it into reinforced mode. Thus began the Namaili Campaign.

Instinctively, I let the NO45 pilots know that the defense of our towers may be our burden, without any help from the alliance–as Namaili was outside of jump range. However, praying mantis01 alleviated those concerns by his willingness to redeploy his Titan to a closer staging point. The gears turned quickly against the clock as our characters worked to set up a Dickstar Large Tower with ECM batteries and shield hardeners at the staging point while also emptying the silos of valuables. The siege was underway and we were potentially outgunned.

An analysis of the notifications indicated that the time was simply too fast for any small ships to have reinforced the POS. Indeed, by looking at Rad1st’s killmails, we learned that he used a lone dreadnought to reinforce POSes in the systems. With their alts already identified due to our reconnaissance in the preceding weeks, we settled down into a long siege. Pilots crucial to the defense of Namaili were all who participated in the defense, though special credit should be extended to Gakz, Flawless 1987, and Jek Lazair for logistical support and fast response. Additionally, further reconnaissance demonstrated that Rad1st was indeed comfortable with dedicating a lone dreadnought to siege POSes:

http://imgur.com/BPN4DxK

I shared this information with Snuff Box, which presumably owned the POS being shot at, though they had no means of projecting power into the system. Instead, I turned to former corpmates ODSTSnakez and Reggie Attor, who had recently joined the famous alliance “Surely You’re Joking.” Batphone in place, we prepared for battle.

The first day of the siege held mixed blessings. At first, LSH only deployed light battlecruisers to bear down on the POS, prompting the alliance fleet to raise a number of T1 frigates in an attempt to seize control of the system. Unfortunately, we ended up getting smacked around by Rad1st in a Cynabal. After waiting for quite a while on the Titan, NO45’s emergency response fleet managed to repair the reinforced POS with specially-outfitted POSpreys, though we took casualties from a pair of Black Ops battleships. Indeed, with the POS repaired, the fleet disbanded, though not 30 minutes later did Rad1st show up in a Sin in an attempt to pop another POSprey. The batphone we had established was still in Chemilip (high sec connection to Raravath, which is in turn connected to Namaili), so I got into a bait Gnosis and managed to point the Sin. Unfortunately, reinforcements were just a bit too slow…

https://zkillboard.com/kill/40557263/

Nonetheless, the POS was repaired and we proceeded with the campaign. praying mantis01 graciously allowed his Avatar-class Titan to remain at the staging point should they return, though our hopes were diminished by their skirmishing.

The next day, however, both POSes ended up being reinforced. Checking the status on the towers on neocom really early in the morning, I must say that I was pretty angry, but then Gakz, in his brilliance, managed two kills that threw us into the land of positive isk efficiency:

https://zkillboard.com/kill/40567658/

https://zkillboard.com/kill/40567662/

Clearly, the pilots in LSH had high skillpoints, but when it came to piloting, the PvP abilities honed in the warzone proved far stronger. I believe that Gakz’s kill proved that those who believed themselves invincible could bleed, and through this victory, I attempted to rally the corporation on the eve of the POSes… soon to come out of reinforced mode in less than 20 hours each.

“Pilots of Heart of Pyerite,

Your corporation needs you. The POSes in Namaili are yet again reinforced, and this time it is both of them. As such, I am requesting a temporary deployment as a corporation to the system to secure it once and for all.

You may ask: What is in it for me? Why should I care about these POSes?

To state clearly: These POSes are not “director POSes,” that is, the wealth they generate does not simply go to paying a director’s PLEX. These POSes directly support the Ship Replacement Program (once the initial capital costs have been paid off). An SRP benefits all pilots, because it will be open to everyone (obviously we may not be able to cover battleship losses or anything like that, but we will be able to replace frigate casualties, destroyers, and maybe even some cruisers). Once the system is safe, we will also establish a large reaction tower which will double the amount of profit generated on behalf of the corporation’s SRP.

You may wonder: What are these POSes worth?

These POSes net the corporation 500m isk per month. The third POS will provide over 600m isk per month.

Finally, these POSes are worth defending because of the killmails! Kill: LepanAD (Oracle) Kill: LepanAD (Capsule)

These pilots don’t have enough people to field a 20-man ishtar gang to bash our POS, so instead they bring dreadnoughts, Black OPs battleships, and strategic cruisers.

I say unto you, that our enemies may have better skillpoints, but they don’t have our cunning, sharpened from months of fighting in the warzone. They may have more expensive ships, but they lack our teamwork–forged in the furnaces of Huola and other systems. They may have capital ships, but they lack our numbers–numbers that we can use to overwhelm them and break their morale.

Join me in Namaili and together we shall secure the system once and for all!

Yours,
Naomi “

With our batphones shaky, the time the towers came out of reinforced incredibly early in the morning, alliance participation uncertain, and Snuff Box unable or unwilling to deploy to the system… I took a risk and called upon the aid of the local pirate alliance known as “Shadow Cartel.” I believed that without any others helping us, Shadow Cartel was the only entity that could project power into Namaili in a short period of time with little notice though the conversation requesting their assistance nonetheless left me nervous:

[ 2014.08.10 01:45:50 ] W0wbagger > sup
[ 2014.08.10 01:46:08 ] Naomi Sakakibara > http://imgur.com/BPN4DxK
[ 2014.08.10 01:46:13 ] Naomi Sakakibara > this image was captured two days ago
[ 2014.08.10 01:46:37 ] W0wbagger > right
[ 2014.08.10 01:46:40 ] Naomi Sakakibara > the same character then started sieging one of our POSes a jump over with another dreadnought
[ 2014.08.10 01:46:50 ] Naomi Sakakibara > And now, they’ve reinforced our POSes
[ 2014.08.10 01:46:51 ] W0wbagger > k
[ 2014.08.10 01:47:02 ] Naomi Sakakibara > so we expect them to show up
[ 2014.08.10 01:47:02 ] W0wbagger > when does it come out
[ 2014.08.10 01:47:07 ] Naomi Sakakibara > 13:00
[ 2014.08.10 01:47:11 ] W0wbagger > tomorrow?
[ 2014.08.10 01:47:14 ] W0wbagger > exactly?
[ 2014.08.10 01:47:24 ] Naomi Sakakibara > 11 hours 24 minutes from now
[ 2014.08.10 01:47:34 ] Naomi Sakakibara > so almost on the dot
[ 2014.08.10 01:47:47 ] W0wbagger > whats the moon and system
[ 2014.08.10 01:49:01 ] Naomi Sakakibara > I don’t suppose you’d take the moon from us? xD
[ 2014.08.10 01:49:15 ] W0wbagger > no
[ 2014.08.10 01:49:20 ] W0wbagger > even if its an r64
[ 2014.08.10 01:49:23 ] W0wbagger > not now you’ve asked for help
[ 2014.08.10 01:49:26 ] W0wbagger > annoingly
[ 2014.08.10 01:49:29 ] W0wbagger > lol
[ 2014.08.10 01:49:38 ] W0wbagger > reputation = more batphones basically
[ 2014.08.10 01:49:41 ] W0wbagger > we care about fights not moons
[ 2014.08.10 01:49:53 ] W0wbagger > if you dont tell me the system and moon we will struggle to helpo
[ 2014.08.10 01:49:54 ] W0wbagger > so its up to you
[ 2014.08.10 01:50:43 ] Naomi Sakakibara > The system is Namaili
[ 2014.08.10 01:50:55 ] Naomi Sakakibara > We’ll let you know the moon closer to the time if anything comes up
[ 2014.08.10 01:51:09 ] W0wbagger > yeah… thats not how this works
[ 2014.08.10 01:51:23 ] W0wbagger > you seem like bait
[ 2014.08.10 01:51:26 ] W0wbagger > to be honst
[ 2014.08.10 01:51:28 ] Naomi Sakakibara > Namaili VI – Moon 11

With the threat of Shadow Cartel abandoning us, I capitulated and shared the location of our Vanadium/Cobalt moon, hoping that they wouldn’t just seize the POS for themselves afterwards.

The pieces set and in motion, the siege ground on. After setting my alarm for 5 A.M. in the morning so I could be online in time for the counter-attack, there was a significant lack of LSH in system. The first POS to be repped was easy enough to be fixed, but ultimately LSH didn’t show up… not even when a bait carrier was summoned to the field (they had no alts or eyes in local). Dismayed, I apologized profusely to both Shadow Cartel and the alliance… another uneventful form-up that was wearing thin on their patience.

In times of darkness, lights do emerge, and it was to my surprise that LSH was the spark for that light. At first, it was a lone Ishtar–granted, a stationary one–but I believed at the time it would spell doom for our POSes as I certain that a large Ishtar fleet would not only be difficult for us to engage, but it would also ensure Shadow Cartel losing interest. Nonetheless, the alliance prepared to counter-attack, returning to the staging point. Then, a miracle happened.

An Archon piloted by P0lly Perkins, a known Airguard alt, landed on the POS. LSH clearly didn’t respect us, and they greatly underestimated our abilities. The cyno in place, the order came for a light while I frantically contacted Shadow Cartel about the carrier that had just appeared off of the POS.

[ 2014.08.10 14:47:10 ] Naomi Sakakibara > they have a domi there now but hardly worth dropping for
[ 2014.08.10 14:53:25 ] Naomi Sakakibara > they dropped a carrier
[ 2014.08.10 14:53:53 ] praying mantis01 > move cyno we will get tackel
[ 2014.08.10 14:56:40 ] W0wbagger > inciting paq
[ 2014.08.10 14:56:43 ] W0wbagger > he will handle
[ 2014.08.10 14:56:48 ] W0wbagger > as much detail as possin here
[ 2014.08.10 14:56:54 ] Paquito > how close to the shield is he
[ 2014.08.10 14:57:21 ] Paquito > let me ask a different way
[ 2014.08.10 14:57:25 ] Paquito > can you give us the password
[ 2014.08.10 14:57:29 ] Paquito > and light us right on the edge
[ 2014.08.10 14:57:34 ] Paquito > so we can slowboat in when they return blob
[ 2014.08.10 14:57:48 ] Naomi Sakakibara > let me into your fleet and i’ll light
[ 2014.08.10 14:57:58 ] Paquito > you didn’t answer
[ 2014.08.10 14:58:13 ] Naomi Sakakibara > i have to make a new password
[ 2014.08.10 14:58:14 ] Naomi Sakakibara > one sec
[ 2014.08.10 14:59:16 ] Mr Bio > can you do it though
[ 2014.08.10 14:59:18 ] Naomi Sakakibara > password is carrier
[ 2014.08.10 14:59:57 ] Mr Bio > and our cyno is going to be right on the shield right
[ 2014.08.10 15:00:19 ] Naomi Sakakibara > it may not be right on the shield
[ 2014.08.10 15:00:26 ] Naomi Sakakibara > do you need it there?
[ 2014.08.10 15:00:36 ] Mr Bio > link dest
[ 2014.08.10 15:00:41 ] Mr Bio > and yes we need it close to the shield
[ 2014.08.10 15:00:45 ] Mr Bio > so we can go inside if shit happens
[ 2014.08.10 15:00:54 ] Naomi Sakakibara > Namaili
[ 2014.08.10 15:00:56 ] Mr Bio > as long as it’s within 5km of shield
[ 2014.08.10 15:01:07 ] Naomi Sakakibara > the archon is 40km out and aligned
[ 2014.08.10 15:01:15 ] Mr Bio > but you have him tackled right
[ 2014.08.10 15:01:18 ] Naomi Sakakibara > not now
[ 2014.08.10 15:01:19 ] Naomi Sakakibara > no
[ 2014.08.10 15:01:22 ] Mr Bio > so
[ 2014.08.10 15:01:25 ] Mr Bio > why are you talking to us
[ 2014.08.10 15:01:34 ] Naomi Sakakibara > we’re getting ready to tackle him
[ 2014.08.10 15:02:02 ] Mr Bio > he’s aligned so you’re not going to
[ 2014.08.10 15:03:09 ] Mr Bio > well we’re about ready
[ 2014.08.10 15:03:17 ] Naomi Sakakibara > invite me to fleet
[ 2014.08.10 15:03:22 ] Mr Bio > tackle him first
[ 2014.08.10 15:04:51 ] Naomi Sakakibara > all right we don’t have tackle
[ 2014.08.10 15:05:03 ] Mr Bio > so he warped off
[ 2014.08.10 15:05:09 ] Naomi Sakakibara > yeah
[ 2014.08.10 15:05:21 ] Naomi Sakakibara > we’ll see if they bring him back
[ 2014.08.10 15:05:22 ] Mr Bio > lol

Shadow Cartel was getting impatient with us… the Archon had managed to slip away as the fleet landed. Instead, the alliance went to work on the Ishtars in the meantime, though hopes for a major victory were being dashed quickly. All seemed loss in terms of capital kills until another miracle happened: LSH jumped in three additional carriers: Two Chimeras and a Thanatos.

[ 2014.08.10 15:06:02 ] praying mantis01 > CHIMERA
[ 2014.08.10 15:06:20 ] Naomi Sakakibara > fleet plz
[ 2014.08.10 15:06:23 ] Naomi Sakakibara > scram on thanatos
[ 2014.08.10 15:06:27 ] Naomi Sakakibara > invite fleet
[ 2014.08.10 15:06:32 ] praying mantis01 > CHIMERA TACKEL
[ 2014.08.10 15:06:37 ] Naomi Sakakibara > carriers are tackled
[ 2014.08.10 15:06:37 ] Mr Bio > guys
[ 2014.08.10 15:06:49 ] praying mantis01 > we are going to loose scram
[ 2014.08.10 15:07:03 ] Mr Bio > wait
[ 2014.08.10 15:07:08 ] Mr Bio > we’re not cynoing in next to them
[ 2014.08.10 15:07:10 ] Mr Bio > on shield only
[ 2014.08.10 15:07:15 ] Mr Bio > did i not make that very very clear
[ 2014.08.10 15:07:55 ] praying mantis01 > get read
[ 2014.08.10 15:10:17 ] Mr Bio > ALE primary
[ 2014.08.10 15:10:18 ] W0wbagger > are any of the carriers friendly to you
[ 2014.08.10 15:10:26 ] praying mantis01 > no
[ 2014.08.10 15:10:30 ] W0wbagger > k
[ 2014.08.10 15:11:26 ] Mr Bio > tackle 3b
[ 2014.08.10 15:11:56 ] Mr Bio > everything on 3b
[ 2014.08.10 15:11:59 ] praying mantis01 > hes tackled

Invited to a Shadow Cartel fleet, I was given specific instructions. I was to provide the POS password and light the cyno on the egde of the shield so that if anything went awry, the Shadow Cartel fleet could extract. Maneuvering my HIC into position, I stated that I was ready, though I was ordered to wait. Praying that I had enough liquid ozone to light–making sure that I trained Cynosoural Field Theory to III–I waited… and waited… and then the order came to put the cyno up. Shadow Cartel, to its credit, sent only a lone carrier in to make sure I had followed their strict regulations, but after he surveyed the carnage before him–tackle ships and battleships being annhilated and scrambling notifications filling the screen–he gave the go-ahead to his fleetmates and soon a massive Shadow Cartel Archon fleet rocked the system of Namaili. During this time, I decided to point the Thanatos with my HIC’s Focused Warp Disruption script, resulting in him primarying me. Intriguingly, he used Garde II’s while my thermal resist was above 90%, not even putting my shields to half by the time he decided he’d try to self-destruct.

First one Chimera went down, then another, and then finally the Thanatos. The following killmails should give you a sense of the carnage:

https://zkillboard.com/kill/40593972/

https://zkillboard.com/kill/40593958/

https://zkillboard.com/kill/40594092/

https://zkillboard.com/kill/40594094/

https://zkillboard.com/kill/40594120/

https://zkillboard.com/kill/40594148/

Casualties on the allied side, while significant, were dwarfed by the nearly 10b isk destroyed on the side of LSH. Comms were ecstatic. Considering that even one of our battleships was only one-half the cost of an Ishtar, it is safe to say that the NO45 isk efficiency was incredibly high. The after action analysis indicated that their fleet of bash ships were armor-tanked, but the carriers they dropped were shield-tanked. Either this was a gross oversight on their part, or they really underestimated our capabilities as an alliance.

Ultimately, however, the Namaili POSes were destroyed and the victory is largely a Shadow Cartel victory. Nonetheless, for only a few hundred million isk, LSH bled several billion. The time it would take for them to recoup the losses on the moons they had just seized? Nearly 3 years (my setups are labor-intensive, so if they go for a standard setup, they’re looking at a profit of around 144m a month for both towers). The value in content generated? Priceless.

There are many details that I have been unable to recount–things that stick out in my mind include their inability to remove our T1 logistics (Augorors), of which we only had two as well as the fact that our fleet was made up primarily of Augoror Navy Issues, Armageddons, and a single Proteus.

Honorable mentions include Korall Koraka, who managed to get on killmails in a noobship, Al Kamda, our newest pilot who wrote that he had been “shaking the whole time,” and of course a list of names far too long to include in this post. If you’re in game, you will know them, for they shall carry with their decorations the Namaili Star.

Where have you been, Regi?!

I haven’t written very much in recent months, and I suppose that ought to be due to a number of factors. For one thing, I’ve taken up a position on FactionWarfare.com as the Amarr correspondent, and it has taken the majority of my wordpress time. Moreover, now that I am the CEO of Heart of Pyerite, things have really sped up from the perspective of managing things. 

Leaving a lowsec alliance in favor of Vitoc Health Services was, in my opinion, a good move. Simply put, the corp didn’t quite have the average skillpoints necessary to really contribute to an alliance that was throwing around capital ships. Fast forward to our days in VHS, and we get to a period of relative inactivity in the corp. It would seem we lost a good number of our members’ interest in the first lowsec group we joined and we weren’t able to carry on others into the second one. 

Regardless, VHS was a good home for Heart of Pyerite’s near-dormant state, where the only members regularly online were james clough (his character name has been capitalized post-Crius), and myself (on either alt). Bungling through this time period was pretty hard on our incredibly small member base, as we constantly grappled with the realities of either becoming a noob corp or being assimilated into the greater VHS structure. Indeed, other members that stood by us during this time were Brett Malurant–who is on/off deployed and doesn’t play as much as he used to–Brett’s friend Ankor Anubai, and Sir Maximus Khamsi (who actually joined Black Watch Syndicate first, then rejoined VHS by entering Heart of Pyerite). 

Several campaigns later and VHS hit a lull not unlike the one that Heart of Pyerite felt in the aftermath of leaving The Mandalorians. Top-level drama happened and Heart of Pyerite suddenly became the most active corporation in VHS by virtue of assimilating pilots who decided not to follow Varrinox into J4LP. 

Another month or so of being listless–though punctuated by successfully retaking Saikamon in the wake of the Minmatar counter-push after the 24th Imperial Crusade came within three systems of taking the war zone–and we were once again back in the situation of not really knowing what to do. By that time, we had absorbed most of the active members left in Black Watch Syndicate (the executor of VHS) such as Faidra Eve, Tianzi, KissMe, and the ever-colorful Globby. That’s when james clough received an offer from Aslon Seridith or Odysseus Olacar (I can’t remember which) to join WINMATAR. 

Now, WINMATAR. has a bit of a checkered history in the Amarr militia. On the one hand, they used to be in the Minmatar militia before a massive civil war that ultimately led to the Fall of Bosboger. After that–though they contemplated joining the Gal/Cal warzone–they decided upon revenge instead, ground Amarr standings, and then joined up with the crusade. Since then they’ve been running open militia fleets, hosting pilots on their comms channels, and have been fairly active in the warzone by operating with the rest of the Egghelende bloc. 

At the time, we flew a lot with Amarrian Vengeance by virtue of living fairly close to Sahtogas, so moving to the other side of the warzone was a big deal. But, seeing as how we didn’t really have a lot of other options, despite their infamous history, we took them up on their offer and have been having fun flying in their fleets ever since. 

The last few months have really seen Heart of Pyerite grow into a relatively solid corporation. We still have a long way to go in terms of skills, but the fact that our members are slowly entering the world of T2 cruisers and can fly T2 frigates with decent proficiency leads me to believe that we’re on the right track in terms of internal development. On average, our skillpoints are still lower than the alliance’s, but as we focus on small-gang PvP rather than larger fleet work, when we do participate in Alliance fleets, I like to think we’re providing pilots with good manual piloting skills that can effectively fill the fast tackle role. 

T2 Sentry Drones. Train them. 

So that’s the nutshell of what’s happened. I guess I didn’t really cover The Mandalorians period very well, and I may get back to it or not. In the meantime, feel free to check out what is going on in the Amarr warzone. 

Ashimmu 2.0 (Not the Ashigaru)

So, even though I was less than 24 hours away from Hull Upgrades V, I decided to build an Ashimmu. The fit was more or less identical to Ashimmu 1.0 except that I was using an active tank. The problem with this Ashimmu was that in lowsec, it’s generally a bad idea to let boredom get the better of you. 

So there I was, sitting at a tactical bookmark with my hardeners not even activated waiting for whether or not a Prophecy would aggress us. Then an Abaddon warped in on top of me and then a Megathron. 

The bigger issue of tactical bookmarks is that they’re good when EVERYONE is either standing still or aligning to a gate. Unfortunately for me, I was burning towards the Shuria gate while Brett Malurant, in a Blackbird, remained stationary. 

Additionally, boredom is bad because I was looking at his Blackbird rather than my Ashimmu when the Abaddon warped in on top of me. As such, I was really confused when I started taking damage from an Abaddon that was 10km away. 

Disoriented and confused, I realized far too late, got webbed and scrammed… Deployed my ecm drones to no avail and was popped very quickly. Thus, this Ashimmu died to my own boredom and stupidity rather than any tactical issues. 

I think the greater issue here is that tactical cohesion deteriorates over long periods of time. If really exciting, then everyone remains alert. If not, then everyone sort of drifts off. So, a very expensive, though important, lesson. 

Farewell Naginata! 

I probably won’t fit another Ashimmu without a T2 tank. The benefits at this point are too high to ignore. 

Lowsec Roam Snapshot

 

A brief bit on a lowsec roam conducted by myself and corpmate Reggie Attor, today. I understand it’s a little off the beaten track of the 20 Ashimmu Plan and Naomi’s Corner, but he politely asked that I transcribe this into history. 

The day began in Deven and almost ended there. Over the last twenty-four hours since my post on the Hookbill with Naomi’s Corner, I have lost two Hookbills. The first time was against a member of the Swarm with a Hawk jumping in and ruining the fun. The second time was against a rocket brawler Corax. Reggie Attor (or Reggie2 as I like to refer to him as) also did not leave Deven unscathed, having lost a Punisher and an Imperial Navy Slicer. 

Fed up with Faction Warfare PvP professionals, we decided to return to the Milal loop to hopefully pick on some miners. The first time we ventured there, however, all we found were cloaked up explorers. 

After breaking for lunch, we resumed our roam–I was in a cheap tackle Crucifier and he brought his tanky Hurricane, hence the picture above. We were surprised to see a squadron worth of players from the same corporation in local. 

They spoke French, and with our combined French-speaking abilities essentially that of a five-year old (and that insults a five-year old), we ascertained that they would let us through to the other side. Interestingly, uncloaking off of the Rammi gate, I was followed by a Hawk pilot. He then engaged me along with the rest of his corporation. 

Now, the thing about lowsec gate guns–which I covered in the last installment of the Ashimmu plan–is that they will shoot at people. This isn’t a problem if your ship is tanked-out Prophecy or decently tanked cruiser, but it is a problem if you are a frigate. For after he managed to kill me, he too was popped. 

My Crucifier was worth roughly 4.9m ISK. His Hawk? More than five times that amount. Regardless, I typed in “Vous etes vraiment ridicules” in local and they responded in English, “Welcome to EVE Online.” Basically, they had lied about letting us through. I proceeded to laugh at them in local about the isk efficiency of that kill, when Reggie2 entered system. 

Off I went back to Shuria to get an Impairor, but what transpired was one of the greatest feats in Improbability Drive Inc. lowsec roam history: Reggie2 took on four cruisers at once. The cruisers in question were two Thoraxes, a Blackbird, and a Stabber. Even better, they aggressed him on the gate. 

Gate guns giving supporting fire, Reggie2 launched drones and prepared for the onslaught. Surely these cruisers were equipped for high alpha damage? The Blackbird managed a lock, but Reggie2 found that his tank was diminishing very slowly. So slowly in fact, that one of the Thorax pilots ran. 

At this point, the unfortunate Blackbird pilot, armed with a rainbow fit most likely not geared towards Minmatar vessels, was unable to get a second jam. Reggie2 responded in kind by locking up a Thorax. The Thorax pilot must have been very confused, because even though he had a Medium Ancillary Armor Repairer, Reggie2 reports that he did not see the armor ever increasing. Shortly thereafter, the Thorax pilot popped. 

With his friends in retreat, the Stabber pilot began burning away, and if not for a mistake on Reggie2’s part, he would have most likely died as well. 

For poetic justice, Reggie2 wrote, “Welcome to EVE Online.” 

This experience has taught me not to trust people who can only speak French in EVE.

The best part of this story is that Reggie2 was fitted with a T1, Meta Level 4 Hurricane. The only modules he had that were T2 were a Nosferatu module and his Damage Control Unit II. The Thorax? Completely T2 fit with faction ammo. 

French Corporation: estimated 60-70 million isk in losses. 

Improbability Drive Inc: One Crucifier 

It’s a good thing I didn’t put any rigs on it. 

Until next time,

– Regi