The Flight of Vanu Sovereignty’s Late Night Squad

Location: Amarr Sovereign space in open rebellion

It had been a rather uneventful day as far as Factional Warfare goes. I’m pretty sure I had lost at least one or two kestrels by the time I managed to log in–a short while after dinner in Pacific Standard Time. At any rate, armed with a new kestrel–Clausewitz X–I flew into contested space for loyalty points, but more importantly, to strike lasting fear into the Minmatar rebels. Joining me on comms was none other than fellow Late Night Squad Member (and de facto Late Night Squad Commander) Kent Robin.

I entered Ontorn per alliance directive, bouncing between small and novice outposts in the hopes of finding a Republic Fleet Firetail piloted by inept Matari scum. Frustrated by his antics, I captured the small outpost for the glory of the empire, bringing the system to 99.6% contested in favor of Amarr. Rather than defend his so-called “territory,” the pilot Fedor Hekard placed a 100,000 isk bounty on my head. I derided the gesture in the local channel, arguing that I was worth at least 5 million isk. Alas, the Matari are poor pilots, their ships made of scrap–I would have had a better chance asking a Caldari vendor for another can of Quafe. In the end, after I flipped the system into a vulnerable state while shouting a resounding, “AMARR VICTOR!” the pilot added another meagre 100,000 isk to my bounty.

Disappointed at the cowardice of the Firetail pilot, I was pleased to see the sudden appearance of a Federation Navy Comet commanded by a pirate, Benjamin Deviety. Pirates are not as bad as Minmatar, but their presence still sullies the sacred land of Amarr. Thus, I sent a signal over to Kent who was several jumps away, asking for assistance in laying a trap. Kent responded dutifully and I pulled the Comet into the system of Gebuladi. In order to buy time for Kent to reach the system, I burned back towards the Ontorn gate, orbiting at 500 meters with the full knowledge that the gate guns would protect me from the Comet’s onslaught. However, to demonstrate that I was still interested in shooting at him, I locked him as soon as he de-cloaked. He responded in kind and our ships orbited the Ontorn gate for at least three minutes.

Finally, Kent gave the signal that he was sitting on an adjoining gate, so I took the opportunity to pop a novice outpost and pull the Comet with me through the acceleration gate. Indeed, the Comet followed but alas, my first strike in the name of the Empress failed when my targeting system refused to acknowledge a command to scramble the Comet’s warp drive. After watching the Comet warp off into the distance, I frustatedly warped to a celestial, awaiting further instructions from Kent.

At that point, Kent began ordering an emergency warp to the novice outpost. Kent had entered the outpost in an Incursus dubbed “naomi,” bait that the Comet had taken hook, line, and sinker. Yet, despite Kent’s impressive dual reps, his calls were becoming increasingly frantic. I kicked my warp drive into gear, landed on the gate, activated as soon as possible, preheated my scram, web, and rockets and locked the Comet before launching a volley of Caldari Navy issue rockets at him. With two frigates against him, the Comet pilot’s moments flashed by quickly before he went up in a ball of flame for the glory of Amarr! One less pirate. It will forever be a mystery as to why the Comet would have taken such obvious bait, but as I have done similar, I give him the credit for standing and fighting.

https://zkillboard.com/detail/36295883/

The details of the aftermath of the pirate’s death are a blur to me at this point, but our sensors detected a Hurricane at long range at a Large Stronghold. Intrigued, Kent and I warped to the stronghold at range, sending a request for assistance through the Militia channel. An Imperial Navy Slicer heeded the call, but it was all for naught. The Matari coward, Amador Tar’Uth, worried at the sight of three frigates, warped off in his battlecruiser, leaving the three of us with a Minmatar Large Stronghold… with less than two minutes left on the timer. By the time he mustered the courage to warp back, we had seized the complex for the glory of Amarr!

We made our presence felt further in the system of Lasleinur, where we found the same Hurricane pilot guarding yet another Large Stronghold. It was at this crucial moment that Kent Robin, fearless commander of Late Night Squad, made up his mind that we would kill the Hurricane. As if by Divine Providence, we received word from Late Night Squad Specialist Marcuss Liciniuss Crassus that he was prepared to ship into a new ship, though he was fifteen jumps away.

Through a short discussion of disruption frigates, we determined that a Crucifier with its bonuses to Tracking Disruption would prove vital to destroying the Hurricane. In the meantime, Kent and I attempted to keep the Matari rebels in the system busy. Our efforts came to fruition when a Condor piloted by the Matari defiler Jhy’dha engaged Kent’s Incursus. Unfortunately, Kent’s piloting skills were more than a match for the Matari rebel in a solo battle and the Condor exploded before I even managed to lock him.

https://zkillboard.com/detail/36297035/

The Condor pilot’s death would have been a mere footnote in this narrative had he not paired with the Hurricane pilot in an attempt to bait us. For around half an hour, Kent and I played cat and mouse: First, we dodged their pathetic ploy of popping a small complex with the Hurricane (which actually landed on grid just as we did), next, we dragged them through novice compound after novice compound in an attempt to separate Jhy’dha (who had reshipped to an Incursus following the disastrous piloting of his Condor) and Amador Tar’Uth, who was flying a Wolf.

Taking a breather in a novice outpost, we were joined by a friendly Imperial Navy Slicer, piloted by Eaon Fallion. We exchanged salutes in local to the annoyance of our Matari prey, and I took the opportunity to enter into a conversation with Fallion. During the opening lines of our conversation, he warped off towards a medium complex in an attempt to catch the Wolf, which at this point had been abandoned by Jhy’dha, an act typical of Minmatar slaves. I asked if he wanted to kill the Wolf, to which he replied, “Trying to.”

Good enough for us.

We immediately invited him to our frigate squadron, brought him into comms, and brought everyone up to speed on our plan to kill Amador Tar’Uth’s Hurricane. For the glory of Amarr, however, we also made vulnerable the system of Lasleinur–to the further anger of our slow-witted Matari opponent.

We rendezvoused with Marcuss in Ofstold, where Marcuss impressed all fleet members present with his conversation with a local friendly Hookbill pilot, who happened to be Russian. After a few exchanges of salutes and the deflation of local of neutral pirates, Amador Tar’Uth entered the system. We hushed, scattered as we were across multiple complexes, waiting for intel on what he was flying. To our disappointment, it was merely a capsule. Then, he logged off.

Sadness overcame us briefly before we rallied around seizing Ofstold for the Empress as well, it being a system at 99.3% contested. Thus, off we went in search of complexes to capture.

Suddenly, local shot up +1 and there he was: Amador Tar’Uth. Marcuss, who was getting impatient (he wanted to kill something before he went to sleep), began spamming local chat with his location. Before Kent could talk some sense into Marcuss, the Hurricane had warped to the sun–Marcuss’ position. At first, Kent, Eaon and I thought Marcuss was jesting. Surely no pilot–Matari or not–could be so stupid as to warp to the sun at the behest of an enemy in local. But Marcuss’ reports became more and more detailed, he described drones being launched onto him in addition to his warp drive refusing to respond to his commands.

Instinctively, we aligned to the blinding star and warped towards Marcuss, attempting to provide calm instruction to activate all of his tracking disruptors onto the Hurricane.
We hurried to the location as quickly as possible and not a moment too soon, for Marcuss was taking armor damage, his Crucifier not designed for brawler combat. Yet, with an additional three frigates to worry about, Amador Tar’Uth switched his focus and Marcuss was able to warp off to safety. Now it was our turn to worry, as the drones Amador had been using were revealed to be the Acolyte neuting drones. How dare he use Amarrian technology! But their effectiveness could not be ignored. Kent called primary on the drones after pointing the lumbering Hurricane, to which Eaon and I responded.

The drones destroyed by a combination of lasers and rockets, we turned our attention to the Hurricane. Kent’s dual reps were beginning to fail, encumbered by an energy neutralizer that the crafty Matari scumbag pilot had fitted to his Hurricane. Yet, as if sent by the Golden Fleet itself, Marcuss returned to the field and activated his tracking disruptors on the Hurricane. The already-faulty Matari computers began to return erroneous results as volley after volley began to miss Kent. Soon after I established secondary point and webbed the Hurricane, allowing us to apply our damage to the fullest.

Disrupted, scrammed, webbed, and being attacked by four frigates, the conclusion–much like that of the Matari uprising–was foregone. The Hurricane burst into flames and Amarr reigned supreme! Cheers were exchanged over comms, the victory made even sweeter with Late Night Squadron sustaining zero casualties.

[For some reason at this time, the kill is not available on battleclinic or zkillboard, so I have to do this the old fashioned way]

Amador Tar’Uth
Hurricane

High:
6x 425mm AutoCannon II
1x Small Energy Neutralizer II

Med:
1x 10MN Microwarpdrive II
2x Stasis Webifier II
1x Warp Disruptor II

Low:
2x Gyrostabilizer II
1x Armor Thermic Hardener II
1x Armor EM Hardener II
2x 800mm Reinforced Steel Plates II

Rigs:
1x Medium Ancillary Current Router I
1x Medium Anti-Explosive Pump
1x Medium Trimark Armor Pump

Total Worth: 75,056,531 isk.

Three minutes later, Ofstold was made vulnerable.
Glory to Amarr! Glory to Vanu! Hail the Empress!

Special Recognition to:
Marcuss, for flying a Crucifier and providing crucial tracking disruptor support.

– This message was sponsored by the Ministry for Amarrian Truth, Late Night Squadron, and Vanu Sovereignty

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 

Naomi’s Corner: The True PvPer

Considering that this is primarily a place for Reginald’s eccentricities, it should also be a place where I can write about Naomi’s exploits. Naomi Sakakibara is my first true alt for EVE, created roughly one month after Reginald had generated enough ISK to PLEX two characters. Naomi was always intended to fly as the true PvP character, whereas Reginald has, by necessity, been my trade character though he has decent Amarr skills. We will see what the future holds. 

—— 

Naomi, despite her youth, is a pretty amazing character thus far. Her ISK efficiency is fairly impressive, having defeated a Gnosis in a duel utilizing only a Corax. However, that was months ago and was really just a fluke (as she had just finished Thermodynamics) and is not a story worth recounting due to how old it is… trust me though, it was a great fight. 

Having been supplanted as the highest-class ship kill in the corporation by Asken Drayt’s amazing solo performance with an Ishkur against an Abaddon, Naomi is currently working towards a Manticore. With Caldari Frigate V out of the way, along with decent ECM skills, I believe that I will also have Naomi train into a Kitsune. 

Anyway, long story short, Naomi is the true PvPer in the family. As such, without any further introduction, I present the first installment of Naomi’s Corner. 

Installment I 

It had been a rather boring day for Naomi, kind of stuck in a station that I had jump cloned her to, counting down the hours until she could get into a real clone with implants again. The irony of it all, was that after I had picked up the real clone, I brought her to Uitra to see if anyone was willing to duel. For those who do not know, dueling is an agreement between two players in high security space that allows them to fight each other for a limited period without inference from CONCORD, the NPC police organization that blasts you out of the sky should you commit a criminal act (this includes attacking another player outside of the aforementioned conditions).

Despite challenging a two-month old Gnosis pilot (who may have seen the Gnosis kill in my bio), along with various frigates and an Astero, it seemed that Uitra offered little to no willingness for PvP. Fed up with the limited nature of dueling in general, I decided to make my first major solo trek into Faction Warfare space. 

A little background on Faction Warfare. In EVE online, there are four major factions grouped into two main alliances: The Amarr Empire and Caldari State on the one hand, and the Gallente Federation and Minmatar Republic on the other. These major empires have contested space between them, but because of CONCORD treaties (which, according to the in-game lore is sort of like the United Nations), they cannot really fight each other directly. Faction Warfare is where they hammer out territorial disputes in proxy wars through players. The benefits of being good at Faction Warfare are tremendous: tons of loyalty points that you can trade in for faction ships and ammunition, and from there, trade for ISK–the in-game currency. 

But without getting bogged down deeper into the details, the bottom line is that Faction Warfare can make a player rich. To do so, players join up with one of the four empires’ militias and then go to special Faction Warfare sites in space characterized as “low security” (where CONCORD will not come to the rescue) and interact with those sites on behalf of their sponsor faction. Naturally, this means that there are players who will go to this space to make money… and where there are players trying to make money, there will be players to hunt them. 

I found myself in this latter group this evening, zooming through The Citadel region in Caldari Space in a Caldari Navy Hookbill, eager to take on another frigate pilot in one of the smaller faction warfare sites. Indeed, I was so eager, I did not even bother to travel fit (a big no-no for lowsec roams), banking on the quick align time of the Hookbill. 

The Fit: Lancer

High Slots: 

3x “Arbalest” Rocket Launchers, Caldari Navy Mjolnir 

 

Mid-Slots

2x “Langour” Drive Disruptor I

1x J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler 

1x Medium F-S9 “Regolith”  Shield Induction

1x Experimental 1MN Afterburner 

Low Slots:

1x F85 Peripheral Damage System 

1x Ballistic Control System II 

Rigs: 

1x Small Ancillary Current Router I

1x Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer

1x Small Core Defense Field Extender 

 

Analysis: 

I set this fit up expecting a fast frigate target armed with turrets rather than missiles. This particular fit, borrowed from EVE University’s page on the Caldari Navy Hookbill, is a very tight fit that requires very good fitting skills. Fortunately, the first things I trained on Naomi were Powergrid Management V and CPU Management V. Even with those skills, this fit leaves 0.1 powergrid. 

The idea of the fit should be pretty clear. The double webs provide the best range dictation on a frigate-sized hull in the game, allowing the Hookbill to be one of the few ships that can actually catch a Dramiel. I suppose that it’s a playstyle that carries over from Regi–I like to feel in control when I duel, and severely limiting my opponent’s speed is a decent substitute for destroying their capacitor. 

In any case, fit in tow, I set course straight for a faction warfare system: Deven. 

I passed through a number of gates, taking into account the number of individuals in local. I saw a good number of blinking suspects along with various types of cruisers on d-scan, so I continued my quest to Deven. For some reason or another, Deven was pretty quiet–one other pilot was there while I set up my safe, and only for the time it took for them to pass through. 

And when I say “set up safe,” I mean it in the noobiest way possible. In fact, if you’re in my corporation and you see my Deven safes, use the one designated “SS-F” because the others are pretty terrible. You’ll probably die. 

Anyway, with that out of the way, there I was sitting around thinking about making a better safe, when a pilot suddenly entered local. I took a look at his employment history to see if he was someone I could conceivably take on in Naomi. Fortunately, instead of being 7 years old like the last guy passing through local, this character had started playing in October 2013, three days older than Naomi. 

Overjoyed, I started d-scanning, found nothing, then warped off to the only faction warfare site outside of d-scan range. He wouldn’t just jump to a faction warfare zone, would he? 

To my surprise, he did. Yet, even though I had found my quarry, it was pretty clear I’d be outgunned at face value–he was flying a Talwar. The Talwar is a Minmatar destroyer adept at using missiles. In fact, for PvP engagements, according to EVE University, it is favored over its Caldari counterpart, the Corax–the very ship that Naomi had used to defeat a Gnosis. 

For a split second, I considered returning to my safe, then came to the conclusion that I came here to PvP. With that, I turned my safeties off and activated the acceleration gate. 

The Fight 

He was sitting above 20km off of the spawn location, engaging a Caldari NPC Cruiser. I started locking him and began setting up a direct run (there’s no point going with a transversal against missiles because absolute speed is the damage modifier). That’s when I realized he wasn’t using missiles at all, but rockets. The distinctive feature of rockets is their weird flight pattern, and since it was a destroyer, I figured the deck was stacked against me. He had already began yellow-boxing me as I burned towards him. Undaunted, I got into web and scram range and began engaging with–what I thought were–overheated rocket launchers. 

The double webs worked perfectly as far as holding my opponent down was concerned. Around that time, I realized that my opponent was Minmatar, so I had no idea what kind of tank he was fielding. I must have assumed shield because I was equipped with Caldari Navy Mjolnirs despite the CN Novas in my hold. 

Now here comes a strange anomaly. I thought I had overheated my rocket launchers because they were flashing green, but when I right-clicked on them after my shields reached 30%, I still had the option to overheat. Oh well, better late than never, I supposed. Additionally, my orbit was set to 500 meters. 

The battle was a battle of hairlines, but eventually I broke through his shield, armor, and structure. Although battered, I could boast more than 80% structure. Yet, because my opponent was a Faction Warfare pilot and not a PvE’er part-time duelist, he warped off immediately before I could lock down his pod. I typed in a “gf,” looted his wreck, went to a station, repaired, then put his warp core stabilizers onto my low slots for the journey back to highsec. 

And good thing I looted those too, because a roam had just entered Deven, either because my opponent sent out a distress signal or random chance. Either way, I chose not to hang around. 

Analysis: 

There are a number of things that went well for me in this fight and most of them have to do with skills. Fitting skills, combat skills, Thermodynamics, access to faction ammo, and the months of practicing d-scan in group lowsec operations really paid off. What did not pay off was my lack of solo pvp experience. 

At an orbit of 500 meters per second, my ship was not going at maximum speed. It may be a holdover from Reginald, but the Caldari Navy Hookbill fit from above is cap stable–I can run everything and I still have something like 37% capacitor. As such, I could have easily established an orbital closer to the outside range of the scram module at 7k or 7.5k. This would have allowed me a faster absolute speed with which to decrease his rocket damage while mine remained easily applied due to the double webs. In other words, I should have reset my default 500m orbit useful against turret ships to a better missile/rocket orbit. 

In the end, intel worked in my favor and my gambles paid off, but I’d rather not leave these things to chance. I have to be more careful with overheating. As it was, we were the only ones in local at the time he popped, so it seems like EVE cut me some slack. Indeed, my opponent was travel fit while in a Faction Warfare complex. However, I suppose the combination of surprise and adrenaline made him forget that he could have warped off at any time… unless a scram overcomes both warp core stabilizers? 

Kill: serega Jakuard (Talwar)

Total Damage Taken: 4,149

Top Damage: Naomi Sakakibara, 77.2%, Caldari Navy Mjolnir Rockets

Final Blow: Naomi Sakakibara, 77.2%, Caldari Navy Mjolnir Rockets

*Special Thanks to Caldari State Cruiser NPC

High slots: 

6x “Arbalest” Rocket Launcher I

1x Prototype Cloaking Device 

 

Mid Slots:

1x Limited 1MN Microwarpdrive I

1x Faint Warp Disruptor I

1x Small Clarity Ward Booster

 

Low Slots:

1x Damage Control II

2x Warp Core Stabilizer

Rigs: 

1x Small Anti-Explosive Pump 

1x Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst

1x Small Semiconductor Memory Cell 

 

Hold: 2552x Caldari Navy Nova Rockets 

*I do find his choice of weaponry interesting. The major benefit of missiles is being able to switch damage types, yet he opted for pure explosive rounds. I think that, yet again, an oversight on my opponent’s part contributed just enough to my victory. Had my opponent used EM rounds and overheated his launchers, I think he would be the one writing a blog post about killing a Caldari Navy Hookbill. 

In any case, a travel fit Talwar is not such a great kill, especially since it was valued at only around 12 million isk. All the same, it was a surprisingly successful first run into FW space. 

Good fight to my opponent, and thank you for the warp core stabilizers. 

Ashimmu 2.0: Rise of the Ashigaru

Sorry that I don’t have a picture to go with this one, guys. 

Today, several of my corpmates and myself decided to go to the Milal Loop in order to get some fights. After being tricked out of roughly 150m isk by an Impairor pilot sitting idle at the sun thanks to kill rights (a brilliant ploy, hat’s off to you), we continued along through the loop until we ran into a couple of Rifter pilots. It looked to be a mentor/mentee set up because there was one older pilot and one younger pilot, but neither were looking for a fight with our Condor pilot, so we sort of just parted ways. One of the Rifter pilots did yellow box me, but he probably knew that the Medium Capacitor Neutralizers on my Ashimmu would’ve left him high and dry. 

At any rate, we continued with our roam and actually caught a guy in local flying a Mackinaw. It was really interesting because he passed right by me on the gate. After breaking for lunch, we resumed our hunt for the rest of the lowsec mining operation–which Reggie Attor and Brett Malurant had spotted while I was eating. 

The mining operation included several Mackinaws, Hulks, and an Orca, which we thought would be juicy targets between our Condor fast-tackle, Ashimmu heavy tackle, and Hurricane DPS. importantly, each mining character had at least one same last-name alt flying some form of combat ship, most likely, as we surmised, to deal with NPC rats. Unfortunately, all of the miners got spooked as soon as we caught up to them in the Rimbah system and so they booked it. HOWEVER, they did return a few minutes later with more combat-ready vessels. These ships included a Navy Harbinger, flown by the oldest member in their little operation–a vessel I wish I had been able to engage. 

Yet, as goes with PvP in this game, rookie abilities will limit the effectiveness of well-skilled ships. We could tell that our opponents were unused to PvP in lowsec because they had the audacity to engage our Condor pilot on a gate. 

The Condor may have gone down to T2 lasers with Scorch/Conflagration from a Coercer, but the Coercer went down to gate guns. As soon as the Condor had been obliterated, the Hurricane and myself jumped in to save the day. The Harbinger Navy Issue and another ship who left so fast I could not even tell what it was, decided it was not worth it, and jumped out, leaving a pretty aquamarine-blinking capsule pilot behind. 

The pilot chose not to move, so I simply burned at it with my top speed of 157 m/s and managed to get a point on the pod. Shortly thereafter I got a web. Between the Hurricane and myself, the poor pod didn’t stand a chance. 

Kill: Mamou Boo (Capsule) 

Total Damage Taken: 438 

Final Blow: Reginald Sakakibara, Ashimmu, Focused Modal Pulse Laser I, 38.8%

Top Damage: Reggie Attor, Hurricane, Warrior II, 61.2%

Honorable Mention: Brett Malurant, Condor, who died giving us the chance at a pod kill. 

*Note, the pod left behind a full rack of Basic Implants valued at roughly 50m isk. 

The Fit: 

Ashigaru (Because Reggie Attor would not stop pestering me about it): 

High Slots: 

3x Focused Modal Pulse Laser I, Imperial Navy Multifrequency 

3x Medium Unstable Power Fluctuator (fit with a cheap 1% powergrid implant) 

 

Medium Slots:

1x Federation Navy Stasis Webifier

1x Warp Disruptor II

1x Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster, Navy Cap Booster 800

1x Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive 

 

Low Slots:

1x DCU II

1x Heat Sink II

1x Prototype Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane 

1x 1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plate

1x Medium Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste 

 

Drones: 2x Hornet EC-300

 

Rigs:

3x Medium Trimark Armor Pump I

 

Analysis: 

So, I didn’t really get to use this ship for much. I did, however, duel a Gnosis with it the day before and it actually forced the pilot to dock up. Still not enough DPS, however. The T2 Lazors and T2 Tank are on their way… a few more days out. I’m hoping to get them done by the new year, then have a resolution to fit +4s on Reginald Sakakibara to speed up training. 

All in all, I like the increased staying power of the Medium Ancillary Armor Repairer, but considering that the only targets that we ran into on our roam flew away, I still do not consider it battle-tested. 

———

In other news, very suspiciously, the war targets from Wardec U managed to crack a corporation safe. I have my suspicions as to who the culprit is… 

Possibly more on that later. 

What’s a Billionaire to Do? The 20 Ashimmu Plan

 

Hello everyone. For those of you who know me, I am the Lord Profiteer of Improbability Drive Inc. I am responsible for pioneering the development of trade routes between hubs so that the corporation can profit. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. I am an EVE online player, and a noob at that. I started playing roughly three months ago and in that time, I’ve maintained an isk wallet of over three billion isk. It’s not much, I suppose, but I have been spending large quantities on top of that. 

In any case, I’m pretty good at station trading. But what I’m really interested in EVE Online is PvP. And so, what’s a billionaire to do when they want to do PvP? 

 

I was thinking for a long time of doing something similar to Taurean Eltannin: http://flight-of-dragons.blogspot.com/ 

His account of the 20 Punisher Plan is a fantastic read for players who want to get into PvP without all of the pitfalls. Basically, his plan was to construct 20 Punishers and lose them all. In the process, he reasoned, he would be able to learn about PvP. Unfortunately, as of February 2013, Taurean Eltannin has ceased updating his blog. It seems to be the same way with a lot of the great Eve Online bloggers, such as Eve Altruist. 

But when great personas leave, someone must rise to take their place, even if they’re a lowly noob who has little to no idea of what they’re doing. 

So, as an entertaining way of continuing their legacies, I bring you the first installment of ReginaldtheTrader’s 20 Ashimmu Plan. 

For some good information on the Ashimmu, try these links: 

Eve University’s excellent wiki article: http://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Ashimmu 

And Eve Altruist’s “Know Your Enemy” post on Pirate Cruisers: http://www.evealtruist.com/2011/11/know-your-enemy-pirate-cruisers.html

Has this been done before in the history of EVE? I have no idea. But the great thing about EVE is that it lets you write your own story. 

To discuss Ashimmu Fit 1.0, let’s add some context: 

My corporation, Improbability Drive Inc., has been at war for a little over a week now. We were wardecced by the corporation Wardec U and in that time, although we inflicted a Gnosis kill and an Augoror kill (which didn’t count because the Augoror pilot wasn’t in Wardec U at the time), we have also lost roughly half a billion isk in ships. Now, we’re not your typical carebear corporation. We stand and we fight. And fight we do! 

In any case, the weapon of choice of the two active members of Wardec U are T3 strategic cruisers. Specifically, one flies a blaster-fit Proteus and the other flies a HAM Tengu. They’re both fairly difficult nuts to crack. But what is the great equalizer? Electronic warfare. 

Electronic warfare of nearly all types have been deployed in our war. We deployed numerous Griffins and Blackbirds for example, capable of jamming both the Proteus and the Tengu. Unfortunately, we do not have all of those ships on hand at any given time. 

As such, I stepped up to the plate and used my resources and skills aimed at flying a Pilgrim/Curse into constructing an Ashimmu. 

The Ashimmu is the bane of T3 cruisers in that it is an excellent heavy tackler. Emphasis on the word heavy. This ship is slow. Really slow. However, it excels in one or two places, namely gate camps and station camps. With its bonuses to webbing and neut capacity, it is a cap warfare ship unto itself that can latch onto a target and suck it dry. 

Without further ado, I give you Ashimmu 1.0:

 

High Slots:

3x Focused Medium Pulse Lasers, Imperial Navy Multifrequency 

2x Medium Unstable Power Fluctuator

1x Small Unstable Power Fluctuator

 

Mid Slots:

1x Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster, Navy Cap Booster 800 

1x Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I

1x Federation Navy Stasis Webifier 

1x Warp Disruptor II 

 

Low Slots: 

1x Heatsink II

2x Prototype Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane 

1x DCU II

1x 1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I

 

Rigs: 

3x Medium Trimark Nano Pumps I

 

I’m sure that the first reaction, if you’ve played this game at all, is “LOL” or “LMAO” or “ROFL” or “OMG THIS NEWB SUCKS.” And of course, you would be correct. In a lot of ways, this blog is meant to be humorous. What better way to get a good laugh than to read about someone willing to lose 20 Ashimmus? 

This ship was not designed as a solo Ashimmu, but to be deployed with the support of corp mates. Logistics, in particular, make this ship, as newbish as it is, several times as effective. 

You may also say, “I wouldn’t bother flying the Ashimmu without T2 guns and a T2 tank.” To that, my response is a) This is the 20 Ashimmu plan, b) My corporation needed pilots and so I rose to the call, and c) Rome wasn’t built in a day. A T2 tank and T2 guns are exactly what I’m training for right now. 

Remember, I’m an eccentric billionaire in a corporation that likes helping each other. They say that EVE is a game of cutthroat individuals, but not everyone is like that, most certainly not me. It’s also important for this story that you know that I can at least overheat my modules. So just keep that in mind. 

The Fight

There were only four of us online at the time. Three of us, however, were the only combat capable ones. As soon as the war target came online, we undocked and engaged in front of the Roden Shipyards Station in Jufvitte. 

Here, the neuting abilities of the Ashimmu surprised all of us. Supported by a ship I can’t remember and a Megathron Navy Issue, we engaged the Proteus decisively. Although he placed a webifier and a warp disruptor on me, my three neuts were more than able to cap him out. At least, from my perspective, because his disruptor and webifier turned off. 

In the chaos of battle, however, we often lose sight of our surroundings, and that’s when the HAM Tengu appeared. He immediately primaried me and I started burning towards a celestial. Doom was only staved off by the fact that I was actually outside of his HAM range. At this point, I made the crucial error of not overheating my microwarpdrive, because as soon as I reached structure, I popped. He had to have switched ammunition or turned on his own prop mod, because I didn’t last long. 

In any case, I managed to get out with my pod to live another day, with the important lesson that I had rendered the Proteus useless. 

Kill: Reginald Sakakibara (Ashimmu)

Total Damage Taken: 18,151

Alejandrom777, Proteus – Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor, 18.4%

Jim Bobert, Tengu – Scourge Rage Heavy Assault Missile, 81.6%

 

Analysis: Ha, you see? I preempted you on the T2 Tank and T2 Guns! But in all reality, a T2 tank would’ve performed much better. Additionally, although I had read that a Small Neut is preferable to a Medium Neut because it can beat a target’s natural recharge rate, the lack of range is an issue that I must revisit. In future iterations, I plan on utilizing three Medium Neuts. 

Also, if you happen to comment, I am also thinking of including a Medium Ancillary Armor Repairer instead of an EANM. Thoughts? 

The baseline lesson to all of this is that the Ashimmu is a gang support vessel that really shines with logistics support. Unfortunately, no logistics was available on that day. No other casualties except two rookie ships. 

So ended the ship I had named the Kingslayer.