25 Jun 2007

Got the stabber - finally.

Finally nailed the stabber - I was in a rupture and I eventually tracked the stabber and killed him. Once more, it took a long time to chew through his shields and when I got the kill mail I discovered why: the best named T1 large shield extender and a medium C5-L emergency shield overload system. He also dropped a 650K gyrostabiliser and named 200mm auto cannons.

All in all, a good score for me.

Then a day later, I ambushed a comorant. I killed and podded the pilot in record time. The pilot, once he was out of the cloning vats; congratulated me on the fastest kill he had experienced.

Well that was very nice of him.

24 Jun 2007

Stabber pwned me, then I killed a cyclone.

Anyway, enough of the musings - what have I done? Well, I got a few ships and lost a few. I went after a stabber in my rifter - the previous stabbers I had tackled solo went down eventually and I thought, this one would be no different. There's a pilot that rats in a local system I frequent and each time I jump in he safe spots. Until that one time when I scanned him down, jumped in and scrambled him all under ten seconds. I was in my rifter, with T2 guns no less and started to pummel him after a quick lock and scramble.

He replied back with rockets. He had no web but I noticed that his shield was barely shifting.
I was just about tanking him but as the fight progressed - it was clear he had a meaty shield tank and it was an active one too. A wee bit concerned, I switched to EMP rounds but it didn't make that much of a difference. I was into 25% armour when his shield dropped noticeably. Not too sure if it was lag or something but finally, when I entered hull - I was was finally making some progress on the stabber. I managed to pop my armour repairer twice and got the armour back up to 35% but I was already on fire. The stabber, spewing rockets and occasionally hitting me with his auto cannons, was into armour as well. Even relying on base armour - it would take time for me to chew through.

His last rocket blew my rifter into pieces and I insta-warped out of there. I congratulated the pilot on a job well done. I also noticed that the pilot was barely a week old out of pod school. So damn good job.

2007.06.21 08:12
Victim: flashfresh
Alliance: NONE
Corp: Independent Pilots
Destroyed: Rifter
System: Auren
Security: 0.4

Involved parties:
Name: DeaDie (laid the final blow)
Security: 0.5
Alliance: NONE
Corp: Republic University
Ship: Stabber
Weapon: Phalanx Rocket

So, a little bit miffed; I waited for the flag to time out and came back out with a new ship. Deadie has already left the system though still logged.

A few days later, I managed to snag him in another belt, same system. I was in the punisher this time and when I entered system; was too far from him to insta-lock so I hit the afterburner and closed the distance. To my delight - he targeted back and hit his microwarpdrive and sped towards me. He wanted the fight and since he beat me once, why not again?

Was relying on the meaty armour and high resistance with the small signature of the punisher to take me through the fight. How wrong I was. The fight was much like the previous fight: I got in close and started to hit him with the emp rounds but his rockets, once more, scored decent hits on me. Once again, my shields disappeared quick but my armour held.

Good, I thought, now we'll see how much he can chew through!

However, something went wrong with my tanking and his damage started to bleed past my armour repairer. I had a tech 2 version too so am surprised if not a little bit disturbed.

Like the previous fight, by the time I had chipped his shields away and into his armour, I was in structure once again. The punisher was on fire but the armour repairer was doing a better job on this frigate than it did on the rifter.

The fight was slowly swinging my way but by 15% structure I had to turn and run. Damn.

Once again, I congratulated the pilot on his ship fitting. I was dying to know what it was.

Replaying the combat log files showed me making decent DPS but I couldn't hold on and tank him and bleed his cap. I think the stabber actually had some frigate sized weapons on it and therefore could track small ships very well - backed up with cruiser sized shields and armour no less.

Oh well, no ransom on this one.

A couple of days later, was out hunting in my rifter when I came across two destroyers hunting. One was the thrasher class and the other, a comorant class. Without a second's hesitation I scanned them down and discovered both were in separate belts. I went in and ambushed the thrasher - my rifter blasting off it's shields in two volley and biting deep into his armour. The destroyer was in the belt moving slowly under it's sub-warp engines. I gave no quarter and needed to knock out the thrasher pilot as soon as possible; without the possibility of him warning the comorant pilot. Once the ship was into hull, I prepared to speak to the pilot, in a private channel but Angels appeared and attacked the now flaming destroyer and robbing me of my kill mail.

Just as I was preparing to snag the pod, the comorant came roaring in.

SHIT.

I quickly switched to the new danger - letting the pod and a potential ransom to go. The comorant locked me without hesitation and opened up with it's hybrid blasters. They hit my shields full on and my rifter rocked back violently. I hit the afterburner and ordered the crew to move to battlestations. The onslaught was impressive by the comorant but I reacted quick enough and started the intricate dance amongst the shattered remnants of the previous kill. The Angels had also started to lock me so I was in for a bit of a pounding.

The comorant, interestingly was setup with blasters so it was designed for up close work. No webber however so this gave me a chance. I webbed the comorant and slowed it's velocity to single digits - this should give me an advantage. Like most caldari ships - the shield sub-systems are very impressive but nothing underneath. I had to crack the tough outer shell of the shield and the destroyer was as good as dead. A massive hail of emps shells spat out of my autocannons and I was hoping he had not increased the resistance of his shields to the EMP pulse rounds I was firing at him.

He had anti-matter hybrid rounds but being webbed, he now was having trouble hitting me - I had now swung out to about 4km; still an effective range for my lovely 150mm auto cannons but too far now for his blaster rounds to do anything but bounce off my ship. I knew I had him. I opened up a private conversation with him and demanded a one million isk release fee. To that he replied:

>fuck off pirate

It was the last thing he uttered as I smoothly blew his ship to pieces and podded him.
About 500k of loot of him and a few named mods from the thrasher, a total of 900K. OK, I guess. A few of these and I will have enough to get a couple of rifters and add to the Flashfresh retirement fund.

After my criminal flag had expired, I took the scenic route back home. I spotted a cyclone on scan. It wasn't a rookie either. Never had much success against this class of battlecruiser - its shields always proved to be very tough. I paused and took some time to scan it down. Narrowing it down to a cluster of three belts, I warped to the first one and yes, there were wrecks. So he was ratting.

I docked at one of the base stations and discovered all I had was my hurricane. Quite possibly overkill but recent information on GalNet had a report on how a cyclone utterly destroyed a deimos class heavy assault cruiser. I quickly switched crews and checked the battlecruiser - like all pirates, I had all ship systems on warm standby so I was back into space within a minute.

Warping the two jumps back towards the target system I found the cyclone once more. A quick mental calculation and I estimated that he was would have moved off the three-belt cluster by now and would have moved down to the next belt. I was right: nothing like predictability to kill you.

Hurling the considerable bulk into the belt, I exploded out of warp - the plasma streams slipping off my battlecruiser like rain. The crew raced to re-calibrate equipment as I started to lock the cyclone. Not at all afraid, the cyclone pilot locked me back and battle was joined.

Tactical analysis revealed that he was using a combination of artillery and missiles. I ordered the webber to be switched on and sent my drones out, the deadly machines screaming towards the cyclone-class battlecruiser.

It had a tough shield tank and was trading broadsides with my hurricane with what appeared to be gusto. He wasn't running but with dual-medium nosferatus on him a well; the cyclone was trapped. My only hope was that it was not calling in friends.

The considerable shield systems on the cyclone were finally overcome and I was hitting his armour. I was eager to check out his active shield systems if I survived this. As the minutes ticked by and he was into hull, I knew I had him. My shields had stabilised at around 35% and his damage output had dropped considerably. He was also starting to move and align but he would soon discover that his warp engines were scrambled.

I opened up a private channel but i heard nothing. I did not want to do a general local broadcast either so decided that he was going to go down fighting. Escape pods started to stream out of the now dying cyclone class battlecruiser and I prepared my crew to grab what we can. The ship exploded with the captain zipping out instantly.

Checking the wreckage I found a nice named large shield booster - worth over 600K isk. With an assortment of other goodies, the haul was over a million isk. Not bad.

The pilot and I finally chatted and I congratulated him on his fight. It turned out he didn't have any insurance on his ship. That was horrible but as they say, never fly anything you can not afford to lose!

21 Jun 2007

Musings on solo-pirating. Part One.

Solo pirating has been my preferred way of playing an EVE Pirate for the last two years. I enjoy the freedom and ability to choose targets, not to mention the ability to log in and out and not mess up any group operations.

However, solo pirating does limit myself in terms of available targets. Ideally, one should be in a fast-locking, speedy, hard-hitting and cheap ship. In other words, frigates (a rifter for example) or cruisers such as a stabber. However; being solo and in a frigate usually means you have to contend with:

1. Inability to scout ahead - unless you double-back.
2. No possibility of calling in backup.
3. Limited target availability.

Using a rifter, I have speed and hard hitting power on my side and I can rip into all T1 frigates, T1 destroyers, some T1 cruisers, T2 interceptors (if I fit dual-webbers) and of course T1 mining barges.

To me the advantages of the rifter are:

1. Cheap.
2. Very hard hitting - great ability to 'alpha-strike' someone.
3. Speedy.
4. Fast locking on targets.

However, the disadvantages include:

1. Inability to tank damage from missiles;
2. Difficulty in tanking damage from more than five drones at once;
3. Small capacitor on rifter;

The longer the fight, the greater the chance of defeat not because of potential gang mates coming in to help the victim but because of the likelihood that the rifter would have ran out of cap by then. No cap doesn't stop the rifter from firing but it does stop the armour repairer from working and more importantly, the warp disruptor.

Switching to the punisher drops my DPS but gives me probably the hardest frigate tank available; this is the infamous 'bleeder' setup. However, I have still been killed while being in the punisher by having either my cap drained or damage that 'bleeds' past the armour repairer between the repair cycles (i.e. frigate guns).

Moving up to assault frigates has changed the mix once more. The Jaguar, to me, with the extra mid-slot now can be used as a decent shield tank but I might lose the tackling mods. However, the high resistances offered to the Jaguar (both on shield and on armour) makes it a nasty ship; in fact I am seriously thinking of a passive shield tank (via a named medium extender) and then active armour tanking. A bit crazy but I am willing to give it a go. Cooker-cutter setups are fine but it does mean that anyone who scans the various eve forums might get a good idea what you are flying.

Doesn't actually bother me if people have an idea on what I am flying but I certainly don't want to make it easier for potential victims.

Going to experiment over the next week or so and I will see how it all goes.

20 Jun 2007

Solo tackling a drake in a rifter is not a good idea...

LOL.

After knocking out half a dozen destroyers and frigates (and a cruiser or two I think) : I got a bit cocky and decided to tackle a drake-class battlecruiser.
Well, I have single-handed taken down a hurricane in a punisher but a drake in a rifter?

It would be a challenge to be sure.

I managed to get the drake down to 4/5 shield before I popped.

Meh. It was fun.

2007.06.20 16:00

Victim: flashfresh
Alliance: NONE
Corp: Independent Pilots
Destroyed: Rifter
System: Auren
Security: 0.4

Involved parties:

Name: Ethersong (laid the final blow)
Security: 0.2
Alliance: NONE
Corp: The Yin-Yang Concept
Ship: Drake
Weapon: Scourge Heavy Missile


Destroyed items:

EMP S, Qty: 12348 (Cargo)
Depleted Uranium S, Qty: 500 (Cargo)
280mm Howitzer Artillery I (Cargo)
Small Shield Extender I (Cargo)
Phased Plasma S, Qty: 340 (Cargo)
ECCM - Ladar I (Cargo)
150mm Light AutoCannon I
Barrage S, Qty: 381 (Cargo)
'Langour' Drive Disruptor I
Carbonized Lead S, Qty: 297 (Cargo)
Corpse (Cargo)
Proton S, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
200mm Light Carbine Repeating Cannon I (Cargo)
Small Capacitor Battery I (Cargo)
EMP S, Qty: 53
EMP S, Qty: 36
EMP S, Qty: 53

16 Jun 2007

Should I keep killing the same pilot?

Well the title says it all. I was out hunting when I spotted a pilot in a rifter. I did the usual: tracked, scanned and ambushed him. Before my global timer was up; the same pilot came in - no doubt to loot his own wreck. So, he warped in on me and I killed him again.

Global flag reset and I waited and guess what? Same pilot came in again, no doubt in an attempt to loot BOTH wrecks. He died for a third time.

Then he came in again for the fourth - in a rookie ship.

I killed him so many times, I am too embarrassed to post the kill mails. Just wasn't right. OK, so the combined reprocessed mineral value of the T1 mods would have paid for a new frigate but still.

Later on, I ambushed a caracal - it had shield extenders on it and but lucky for me; heavy missile launchers too. I jumped him and pumped EMP shells into into, blasting off shields. He was under attack from a single Angel frigate so he turned his attentions to me.
My speed kept me safe though - a passively tanked caracal has no more room for any EW stuff; so no webbers!

A good kill but the pilot warped out. He rejected my ransom demands.

14 Jun 2007

Please Pay Me...

I think all pirates have done this. Sitting in a belt and waiting for a belt ratter to come to you. Normally, I actively hunt but this time; this chap was tricky. He would insta-warp as soon as I came into the belt. Very quick reactions and I did congratulate him on it.

However, I changed tact and observed his ratting pattern. In this one system, he started from the bottom belt and was working his way up. Scanning revealed he was in either belt 6,7 or8. Not wanting to spook him, I decided against going in. Besides, the three belts mentioned were all in line with each other from my scan spot so would prove difficult to pick out.

I warped to belt 9 and confirmed that he was ratting. There were crackling wrecks there and they were claimed by the ratter.

Belt 8 was also empty so I was pretty sure he was in belt 7.

Not wanting to risk it, I warped to belt 5 and waited. Some Angels came in and I knocked them out quickly then settled back in.



Hitting the scanner I waited, he was still in the cluster.

I waited. Willing him to come in.

And he did.

Joy.

He could not escape me this time and the end result is something that all pirates will smile at:


Some nice iskies later, I let him go.

Yaaar.

13 Jun 2007

Solo'ed a tempest...but where's the kill mail?

Now, I was out hunting in Eifer when I came across this chap: Akaya Kalari. He got out out fast, before I could lock him but he we struck up a conversation and chatted for the next hour or so. The prey was thin today as Gusandall was full of Blackfleet versus MeanCorp / ADF / FFAT et al. Too hot for a solo pirate like me.

The conversations meandered a bit but it got into a chat about the pirate profession and I told Akaya to get the warp drive disruption skill. Bread and butter for any pirate. Akaya lacked this skill and he has already experienced the problems this might have caused.

'Dude - if u want to practise; come and see me. I wont destroy you.' I said, fully intending to maintain my word.
'What system are you in?' asked Akaya. Checking the scanner, 'Go to a system called Auren.' Flipping the map around, I got a feel for the route.
'Try Eifer to Gusandall to Auren. A couple of jumps, you should be fine. '
'Gate campers everywhere today,' observed Akaya as he made his journey to our rendezvous. I could not agree more.

flashfresh > omw to auren
Akaya Kalari > one at the eiffer side of the gate, another on the gusandall side lol
flashfresh > You're in a rifter - you're fast enough
flashfresh > get into auren and safe spot
flashfresh > I am 4 jumps out
Akaya Kalari > ya, they didn't even see me ^^
Akaya Kalari > the only other person in Auren is non-hostile
flashfresh > Then hunt him!!!
flashfresh > 1 jump out.
Akaya Kalari > ?

I arrived in Auren and ganged Akaya. I also spied out a pilot I recognised: 'Eppix' - my notes indicated that he was a rookie tempest pilot and had been seen in and around Eifer. Maybe I would be lucky. A quick scan and indeed, there was a tempest.

flashfresh > Eppix - lets get him. He's in a tempest. lets take him!!!!
Akaya Kalari > Who?
flashfresh > Eppix
Akaya Kalari > k, warping to you
flashfresh > knock out his drones first
flashfresh > and then the ship
flashfresh > should be fun
Akaya Kalari > :)
flashfresh > OK going to planet X as he is in that cluster
flashfresh > Then we scan him down and engage
flashfresh > Unless he has safe spotted

Planet X loomed ahead of me and I willed the scanner to pick out the battleship's signature. Nothing.

flashfresh > He's moved
flashfresh > Going to another spot.

At my second scan spot I hit the scanner once more. Akaya was following me, ready to pounce.

flashfresh > He's moving. IX cluster now
flashfresh > IX-belt 4

I gang-warped me and my wing man to the target belt. Akaya's rifter was rigged for speed and burst out of warp seconds before my rifter.

Akaya Kalari > He's here!

Indeed he was. Looming ahead of our two small rifters was a tempest-class battleship. Pride of the Minmatar navy. I checked my overview to see how far we had landed.

flashfresh > Go go! We've landed too far!
flashfresh > move move move

I hit the afterburners and got within range as quickly as the burners would allow me. Eppix was busy looting some wrecks: unfortunate Angels caught by the monstrous battleship. He apparently didn't notice two rifters enter into the belt, or did not care. It was his mistake and I ordered my wing-man in.

flashfresh > Attack!
Akaya Kalari > just now got in range
flashfresh > This is funny
flashfresh > I doubt we'll get him though.
flashfresh > But feel the rush............

So we blasted the tempest with all our weaponry. There was no return fire on me after we were locked. A couple of minutes passed before there was any hostile return fire. Heavy missiles it would seem but no drones. No web either. Could we be so lucky?

There was flicker around the tempest, a slight bend in the light and the tempest warped out.
Damn. I turned off the warp disruptor. Disappointed I spoke to Akaya.

flashfresh > ach - stabbed
Akaya Kalari > =/
flashfresh > Do not follow.
flashfresh > You had no scrambler and I did not have enough points.
Akaya Kalari > I'll have one soon
flashfresh > Indeed
flashfresh > But he'll sit here now as he knows we only have one point between us, so he will think we are no threat to him.
flashfresh > you also have about 11 minutes left on your criminal counter yes?
Akaya Kalari > ya
flashfresh > OK.
flashfresh > Well we have ten minutes of twiddling our thumbs before I go back to fit more points.
flashfresh > I am going to fit x2 +2 scramblers
flashfresh > Should give us four points that should lock him down tight
flashfresh > Akaya - you have a webber ?
Akaya Kalari > No, I have electronics 2, I have none of that
Akaya Kalari > 10 hours on electronics 3
flashfresh > hmmm
flashfresh > This will be tricky taking on a tempest with two rifters then but it was fun wasn't it?
Akaya Kalari > ya
flashfresh > OK in 7 minutes I will leave the system and refit with x2 +2 scramblers
flashfresh > I hope Eppix is noob enough to stay put in the system but he is hanging around the sentry guns too now.
flashfresh > Hmmmm

With us unable to attack, I decided we could at least keep tabs on the tempest. It had already moved off from the gate it had warped to and appeared to be back in the belts.

flashfresh > He's near the vii cluster lets get closer.

I jumped to the VII cluster.

flashfresh > OK the scanner tells me he is either at vi-1, vi-2 or viii-1

flashfresh > This is agony. 4 minutes left
flashfresh > ok he's at vi-2 but we can't engage him yet. We can't lock him down!
flashfresh > 3 minutes are crawling by
flashfresh > You know, I think the tempest pilot has gone back to ratting again!
flashfresh > He's cycling through the belts.
flashfresh > OK - he's moved to cluster VIII; do not venture into the belts Akaya

The red counter winked off. My Concord Global flag had finally expired. I did not wait any longer.

flashfresh > ok stay here. Am going to refit
Akaya Kalari > k
flashfresh > keep him on scan

That was my last instruction as I activated the star gate and left the system. I was getting updates from Akaya as I docked and got the engineers to take out two mid-slot components and slap in two +2 scramblers.

There were plenty of other blinkies as I undocked and made the seven-jump journey back to Akaya. As I arrived at the warp gate and zipped through, I requested an update.

flashfresh > Is Eppix still there?
Akaya Kalari > he's moved, I'm looking for him
Akaya Kalari > found him

Damn it. Akaya was too eager and didn't have the points to lock the battleship down.

flashfresh > Warping to you. You have him on visual or on scan?
Akaya Kalari > visual, but he just ran
flashfresh > damnit

OK, I had to concentrate - Eppix surely knew we were tracking him. I hit the scanner again and tracked the battleship down to a single location.

flashfresh > He's at XI-7
flashfresh > Go go!!

I landed 6km from the battleship that was buys dispatching an Angel cruiser. I quickly hit the double-scramblers.

flashfresh > Got 4 points on him now.
flashfresh > Go go go!!! Attack!!

Like two furious flies, Akaya and I buzzed around the tempest firing at it with everything we had. Missiles streaked away from the missile pods dotted around the tempest and blasted Akaya. With his ship rattling around him, Akaya spoke up.

Akaya Kalari > doesn't like me lol
Akaya Kalari > half shields

Checking the readouts - I realised that Akaya was in danger.

flashfresh > Get ready to warp out then

flashfresh > keep moving at max burn

Akaya Kalari > ...
Akaya Kalari > boom
Akaya Kalari > I'll pod ram him for you

flashfresh > ?
flashfresh > you warped to a gate??

Akaya Kalari > No, he popped me
flashfresh > You should have left earlier to recharge
Akaya Kalari > You said move off at full speed instead of warping out, so I didn't warp
Akaya Kalari > sry =/

OK, so I was guilty of bad communication and lost my wingman.

flashfresh > He's hitting me now but I need you back as I can't break him solo.
Akaya Kalari > Are you tanking that?
flashfresh > Yeah
Akaya Kalari > lol, I was getting hammered
flashfresh > However, his armour is too thick and I will probably run out of ammo
Akaya Kalari > will sentry guns pod me?
flashfresh > no
Akaya Kalari > I need to go replace my ship
Akaya Kalari > how are you tanking that?
flashfresh > Size and speed

I realised that Akaya was still next to his wreck and in his egg watching the fight.

flashfresh > Go get another ship and come straight back
Akaya Kalari > They weren't hitting me hard, but I don't have enough cap to run a rep
flashfresh > Get a nos - now move and get another ship please
flashfresh > I can't keep this up forever!

I was getting impatient and needed Akaya to move.

Akaya Kalari > I'm going

Akaya then left the system - burning for the nearest system with any shop selling rifter-class frigates.

Akaya Kalari > but I won't be able to come back through the gate for 6 minutes
flashfresh > i know
Akaya Kalari > wish he had podded me, I'd be back at the station immediately
Akaya Kalari > lol
Akaya Kalari > 2 more minutes
flashfresh > ok never move away - always orbit ok?
Akaya Kalari > k

Another five minutes trickled back - I had burned through almost 1000 EMP rounds but had finally managed to crack the Tempest's shield. I continued to hammer away but amazingly, I was chewing through a lot quicker. Wonder if he was shield tanking?

Akaya Kalari > omw back
flashfresh > Careful u don't get taken out
flashfresh > He's down to 50% armour now
Akaya Kalari > Ok, how much ammo do you have left?
flashfresh > Enough - make sure you have plenty.
Akaya Kalari > 2k proton s
flashfresh > Move!

Three minutes later and Akaya was nowhere to be seen. Where was he? I was still hammering away and had opened up a conversation with Eppix, the tempest pilot. I told him that, under current conditions - I would have him dead. I wanted a 20million ransom. The answer was a cryptic 'We'll see.'

Hmmm, reinforcements? I re-doubled my efforts and finally cracked the armour. I certainly did not see the tell tale glow of a functioning armour repairer. The only data was a slew of missiles that I could just tank with my armour sitting at 25%. My repairer was keeping up but if a lucky shot came through then I was in trouble. Luckily this was not happening. What was on that ship? My target indicators told me that he was now into hull.

flashfresh > He's into hull!
Akaya Kalari > woot, gating into eiffer
Akaya Kalari > almost there
flashfresh > he's on fire
Akaya Kalari > I'm warping to you


I fired a few more salvos but then the Angels turned up and also joined in the killing of the tempest. I made a mistake. I should have stopped pumping shells into the tempest and turned our attentions to the Angels.

The tempest, on fire from front to back, leaking fuel and oxygen, escape pods streaming away - finally shuddered and exploded. The pilot's pod insta-warped as well.

flashfresh > Get the kill mail?
flashfresh > Help yourself to the loot
Akaya Kalari > got no mail
flashfresh > Me neither -rats must have it. Good kill though!
Akaya Kalari > you sure you don't want this stuff?
flashfresh > Your first pirate kill and a BS no less.
flashfresh > Naw, Keep it
Akaya Kalari > okay, my cargo's full
Akaya Kalari > there's a stack of 3.5k widowmakers in there if you want em and ty ty ^^
Akaya Kalari > going to get what's left of my other ship
flashfresh > LOL - so how was your first pirate experience?
Akaya Kalari > fun ^^ way more fun than mining or mission running
flashfresh > yaaarrr
flashfresh > Very happy that i could tank the damage though
Akaya Kalari > ya, that was impressive
flashfresh > Had to keep the speed up so i took less damage but great pity we don't have the kill mail.
Akaya Kalari > ya =/
Akaya Kalari > stupid rats
flashfresh > next time
flashfresh > 1 minute left on counter. I need to dock and get more ammo.
flashfresh > That was a lot of fun.
flashfresh > I wanted to ransom Eppix for 20million isk but he refused
Akaya Kalari > aww =/
flashfresh > he said he was all insured
flashfresh > so we'll take his mods instead. A man's gotta eat
flashfresh > UK time -> nearing midnight
Akaya Kalari > =/
Akaya Kalari > time zones suck
flashfresh > But i hope u enjoyed your first day pirating!
Akaya Kalari > well, I'll be on really late tonight, so get up early =P
flashfresh > well done, could not have done it without your help mate!
Akaya Kalari > I did!
Akaya Kalari > was a blast
flashfresh > hope the loot was good!
flashfresh > ok - logging - its been a good night. see you later.
Akaya Kalari > see ya :)

I picked up x3 Large Named Shield Extenders - so it was a passively tanked tempest?

Noooooo?

Time: 11/06/2007 21:17:18
Character: flashfresh
Location: Gusandall
Duration: 00:25:40

My Weapons Used

200mm Light 'Scout' Autocannon I
150mm Light AutoCannon I

Enemies Attacked

Eppix [TYYC]

Damage Done: 51017.00
Damage Received: 10905.30

11 Jun 2007

My rifters - I love them.

Hmmm, even after flying for almost three years - why do I still love flying the rifter? Well, a number of reasons:

1. It is cheap. For a deadly setup, it costs me under 600K: even better when the items are 'salvaged' off other ships.

2. The rifter looks like a pirate ship.

3. It's fast and packs a nice punch up front. Other frigates may tank better, fly faster (unlikely), hit harder (which one?) or look better but the rifter is nice combination of all of them.

4. It is a T1 frigate. And it's cheap.

I prefer to use my skills to make the ship deadlier as I reckon:

skills + T1 + experience > T2

Also love taking on bigger ship classes, nothing gives me a rush than attacking another ship much bigger than you. However, the largest ship class the rifter has managed to successfully take down was a BC-class, solo. Most of the kills have been other frigates, destroyers and cruisers. I have tried against a BS and a tier-3 BC but no success yet. I have lost over 40 rifters.

Frigate killing in a rifter is great though - I love the speed and the instant turning ability.

Been tinkering with the rifter setups but the classic setups seems to work best for me:

Highs:
x3 150mm Autocannon (named)
x1 small knave nosferatu

Meds:
x1 Afterburner
x1 disruptor
x1 webber


Lows:
x1 gyrostabiliser
x1 small armour repairer (T2)
x1 200mm plate

The above, mix and match named with basic with T2 as one fancies. I had a full T2 fitted rifter once; it rocked but came up against a big gate camp and was insta-popped.

Pew Pew

Have always wondered why I like to pirate. I mean, the loot and ransoms are good (though not many peeps pay) and the thrill of the hunt and kill is still, as ever, intoxicating as my first kill back in 2004.

Since the last entry I had hunted down and killed another couple of rifters and a thrasher. Why are so many thrashers so badly fitted?

Today, I scanned down and engaged a rupture-class cruiser. It had it's drones out and was in a belt and it appeared it had already dispatched all the rats and was looting the wrecks. I hit the rifter and got the T2 auto cannons onto the pesky drones while scrambling the cruiser itself and putting myself into a tight 1000m orbit.

Yes, I had decided to pimp out my T1 rifter and kit it out with some T2 goodies.

The ruppie had me webbed and was slamming missiles into me while I was slowly popping his drones. I hate this part of the kill: dispatching the drones before the main kill, all the time having to contend with the firepower of the main ship. Being webbed didn't help either.

Instead of a nosferatu I had a rocket launcher. Looking back at it, this was a mistake when going after this cruiser. While a rocket launcher gave me more DPS it did not help me surviveability as it meant my capacitor, meagre as it is had a greater chance to run out.

By the time the last drone popped I was done to 40% armour and proceeded to work on the main ship. Even webbed, the ruppie had trouble hitting me with anything except his missiles. However, my capacitor was hovering around 0% and most of the mods were switching off - especially the SAR II.

I managed to pump the SAR II a couple of times and started to chew into the Ruppie's armour. I had it down to about 60% when, to my horror, two Angel frigates warped in and targeted me!

With the two NPCs hitting me, my armour was soon blasted off though the SAR II sputtering to life enough times to keep my hanging in there at 15% structure.

I popped and warped away. Would I have survived without the NPCs hitting me? I think so or at least the fight would have been closer than it was.

The target was a courteous and honourable fellow and I salute him. He thoroughly deserved the kill however. He even returned my non-destroyed mods so as a thank you; he's off my KOS list.

Well fought, 'Captain Frolicking Fairy', commander of 'Number 3', rupture-class cruiser.

2007.06.11 08:57

Victim: flashfresh
Alliance: NONE
Corp: Independent Pilots
Destroyed: Rifter
System: Eifer
Security: 0.4

Involved parties:
Name: Frolicking Fairy
Security: 0.4
Alliance: NONE
Corp: Republic Military School
Ship: Rupture
Weapon: Rupture

Name: Angel Nomad / Archangels (laid the final blow)

Destroyed items:
200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
'Langour' Drive Disruptor I
F-M2 Weapon Inertial Suspensor
200mm AutoCannon II
'Malkuth' Rocket Launcher I
Small Armor Repairer II
Barrage S, Qty: 60

6 Jun 2007

Harbringer just killed me.

Was too busy blowing up cans (with ore in them) to notice a goddamn Harbringer 'Romper Stomper' returning to the same belt and kick the hell out of me. Didn't even get a chance to fire back.

Good job by the BC pilot though; he had me down to structure in no time.

Better luck next time.....

I'll be back.....

4 Jun 2007

I coulda beat you :)

Could one be lucky again and assume a past victim simply doesn't learn from his mistakes and come back? Maybe....

I decided that I had an hour to kill so decided to zip back towards the location of my last epic 3 v 1. On the way, I tracked down and killed a thrasher and another rifter. The thrasher was loaded down with over 5K of emp ammo. That's nice, my ammo stocks was running low so this was a welcome bonus.

Checking my address book, I found out that OriasV was online so my luck may be in.

The gate control allowed me through and lo, the Gods of plunder and yaar was with me.

OriasV's avatar was in local. My heart beat faster as I anticipated another kill, but chances are he would safe spot or leave. Still, one must not give up. Deep down, I prayed that he would stay. Please say.

My scanning skills were pretty good but I had trouble pinning OriasV down - as it appeared he was jumping around the belts. After five minutes, I gave up and parked myself at a planet. At least he didn't leave. Let him come to me. I was tempted to initiate communications but decided against it. Surely he must know I was there.

I idly hit the scanner a few times and nothing. He was on the otherside of the system and I couldn't be bothered to chase him. Not right now. Each time I jumped towards him, OriasV jumped to a safe spot on the other side. At least I knew he was in a rupture-class cruiser - quite a tough ship to bring down in a lonely rifter but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Checking the scanner once more: I suddenly noticed that the rupture was within scan range.

I waited for another minute and checked again, he had not moved. Licking my lips in anticipation (as much as one can do when submerged in some gelatinous goo) - I re-checked his position and confirmed his position as being in belt 3.

'All hands. Battlestations. We have a juicy bit of fruit to pick. Ready all weapons and systems.'

My crew all gave a collective 'Yarr!' and the ship powered up.

The ship leapt into warp - as eager for the kill as I was. The GUI updated itself with the familiar lag as it loaded up the extra information and in a burst of light - the beautiful, solid square bracket appeared on the overview.

'Contact! Contact! Contact twelve kilometers port side.'

I had a +2 scrambler on this time so needed to get close to the target - which I did. OriasV locked me back as I opened up on him. My emp and barrage shells spat out just as the rupture's missile launcher started up.

There was no Nosferatu or a webber or drones from the rupture. Strange - could I be fighting another gimped ship? I maintained orbit around OriasV's rupture as his heavy missiles slammed into me. My nosferatu kept my capacitor topped up and I kept an eye on local to make sure that OriasV didn't call in more reinforcements.

I broke his shields and was finally into OriasV's armour when he spat out five drones.

SHIT.

Don't know why he kept the drones until now, however I was down to armour now and the drones tore into me. Not good. I quickly switched my overview so that I can lock the drones. Switching my guns over to the first of five light drones, my auto cannons started to blast the robotic monstrosities, all the time my armour was being melted off.

At about 30% armour, my capacitor ran out. Even with the nosferatu running - it wasn't enough. My webber and small armour repairer switched off. So did the afterburner.

SHIT.

The rupture was repping his armour and even his shields had crept back up.

The shot of adrenaline into my system sharpened my focus however and the second of the five drone disappeared in a cloud of shrapnel. Three left, I glanced at the overview.

SHIT.

Four drone left. OrisaV must have released his last drone.

My armour dropped some more as the third drone blew. I targeted the fourth drone as my capacitor crept back up enough for me to run the small armour repairer for a cycle. My armour sprang back up to 40%. The fourth drone died as my armour slid back down to 25%. All the time, OriasV's missiles were hurting me too.

My capacitor charged a little back up and I ran the repairer a bit more. The fifth drone blew up but OriasV's armour was back to almost full strength. The sixth drone went but my armour dropped to 15%. OriasV had no more drones left and I started to tank his damage but only just.

I decided to switch ammunition to emp as I needed to knock his shields back down. This I did and switching over to barrage and fusion meant that his armour was also shredded - he must have ran out of capacitor for his repairer.

A wonderful explosion later and I had the pod - I wanted to ransom the chap.

OriasV > i coulda beat you :)
flashfresh > ?
OriasV > you could just challenge ppl btw
OriasV > instead of pirating
OriasV > its lame that way
OriasV > and i could have beat you
flashfresh > you could have beat me?
OriasV > its my salvaging ship :)
flashfresh > Maybe
flashfresh > 1 milion to let you go
OriasV > if it was actually fitted fo pvp you'd not stand a change
OriasV > lol
OriasV > kiss my ass flash newb
flashfresh > ?
flashfresh > no need to smack
OriasV > plenty ;)
OriasV > you asked, i answers
OriasV > 1mil? kiss my ass
OriasV > :)
flashfresh > Look, I *AM* a pirate. What am I meant to do? Sell ice cream?
OriasV > yeah
OriasV > vanilla
flashfresh > besides, you are in a cruiser - this is a t1 frigate
flashfresh > you had drones - five of them
OriasV > no its not
OriasV > i have salvagers too
flashfresh > not what?
OriasV > lol
flashfresh > so?
OriasV > you use tech II stuff
flashfresh > you had missiles and drones. plenty
OriasV > so its a salvaging ship?
flashfresh > i am using T2 guns yes
OriasV > so its fitted t2
OriasV > liar much?
OriasV > :)
flashfresh > t2 weapons yes
OriasV > shoot me and be quiet
flashfresh > nah.
flashfresh > i like chatting to you
OriasV > blocked you
OriasV > talking is pointless
OriasV > newblet




And the kill mail:


2007.06.04 15:42

Victim: OriasV
Alliance: NONE
Corp: The Yin-Yang Concept
Destroyed: Capsule
System: Auren
Security: 0.4

Involved parties:

Name: flashfresh (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Alliance: NONE
Corp: Independent Pilots
Ship: Rifter
Weapon: 200mm AutoCannon II

1 Jun 2007

YAAARR. Today is a good day to die.

I love the rifter! I still reckon this is the best T1 frigate for pirating followed closely by the punisher. I use both and for a while, the punisher was the best. I had the most spectacular kills in it (battlecruiser-class solo and battleship-class in a group) however, the rifter is more fun in my view. It looks better too. Been looking at trying to tank the rifter and make it almost a completely passive shield setup and so far, it has looked ok. Certainly, it means my cap can last a lot longer this way.

So what has been going on? The loot is flowing in and even one or two ransoms have yielded isk. Most peeps are still reluctant to pay pirates, due to the bad press and reputation I guess, but I am managing.

Anyway, this is about what I have been up to lately and boy, has it been fun. As per usual, I have my haunt, my range that I frequent but lately - there has been more and more new faces. I view this as an opportunity and not a challenge. However, a lot of the pirate corps have decided to go blue with each other. I mean why? There is a serious reduction in potential targets and isk-sources when you do this. Now all those corps are all happily flying with each other and nary a new target in sight.

It's a crazy move in my view.

Anyway, I am an independent pilot so I regard all but a very small number of pilots as targets of opportunity and meat. Been busy with setting up trade routes to get some of the nice T2 mods I had collected to the market place and had to go through a number of intermedaries before I found buyers. Am a pirate but I don't have a rich sugar daddy to look after me. However, being isk challenged is always fun and adds an edge to the game.

I picked off a ratting rifter in Gusandall - was chasing him down for a couple of systems and finally had him. The alpha strike ability of the rifter is amazing - especially when equipped with T2 auto cannons. However, I love the chase more. The hunt and the challenge of pursuit gets my blood pumping.

Waiting for my 15 minute counter to go off, I spotted a Scythe cruiser zip past through local and then out again. Wasn't too sure if he would be of interest but I had marked down his vector and decided to follow once the global criminal flag expired. I certainly didn't want to be killed by the sentry guns. That has happened one time too many.

Once the flag had gone, I gave orders to make the ship ready and set the frigate towards Hrondredir, a nearby system. Curling around me, the warp tunnel pulled me through towards the gate. I landed close by and there were some wrecks bouncing off the ship. A quick analysis of the metallic alloys gave me the distinctive signatures of known hauler pilots and apparently the local pirate corps were busy shredding them. I am not into gate camping at all though it is probably a lucrative method of isk generation.

I love the hunt and pursuit. I was thrown into the new system and a quick scan revealed nothing though the local communication net was quite busy - more so than usual. I jumped to my scanning spots and smiled when I saw the scythe-class cruiser appear on the scan. It was a hard return and he was in one of the belts. Problem was, so was a stabber-class cruiser from a corp that probably has me KOS.

Had to be careful then, as the stabber could be working with the scythe cruiser pilot or even hunting him or using him as bait. So much to consider when attacking a ship class that was two sizes bigger than you and out-numbered too. However, I have been here before and know that the best way to test a situation like this is to go in all guns blazing and already assume that you're dead - it's just that I don't know it.

'All hands, battlestations. Prepare for attack!'

The rifter responded magnificantly and leapt into the warp - the pings from the scanner became stronger as I neared the target. I love the feeling when you know there is a target there. Emerging from the warp, I saw the scythe below my ship. In a fluid motion, I set to intercept course and had it webbed and scrambled with the autocannons spinning furiously and spitting out emp shells and barrage shells.

The stabber came screaming in soon after. No idea whether it was bad luck on my part or he answered a distress call from the scythe pilot but the stabber had me targeted straight away while I was still pummelling the scythe. I wanted to run but the stabber had me scrambled so that made up my mind. I had to concentrate on the scythe and knock him out before dealing with the more menacing stabber. Three salvos later and I managed to kill the scythe but my shields were all gone, stripped down to armour by the stabber's dual-sabretooth missile launchers.

However, the stabber pilot made a mistake: he was too close to me and didn't use the inherent speed advantage of the stabber-class cruiser. In fact, now I am pretty sure he wasn't even orbitting but sitting there, a mere three kilometers away and trading broadsides with me. Foolish move as I slapped on my webber and then scrambled him, all the while frantically repairing my armour from his missile and auto-cannon onslaught.

I now set my own orbit around him but then, to my horror - I was webbed too. Getting closer was a problem but reports from damage control was that while things were serious, the armour was at 25% and holding. We had enough capacitor to repair and keep up with the damage if we repaired in bursts. There might be a chance there for us.

'Maximise firepower, concentrate on the stabber and make sure we're as close as we can be!'

My crew responded brilliantly as even though being in control of the ship, I still needed a crew to ensure that the ship could function; especially in combat situations. I noticed that slowly the stabber's shields were being whittled away and that soon my shells would be crashing into it's armour. Still, this a cruiser-class ship with comparatively thicker armour to match. The slugfest continued as we traded shots with both our ships crawling around each other. However, due to the frigates small size, I had the advantage and I noticed that it was only his missiles that were hitting me; his dual-180mm auto-cannons were missing me. Soon the stabber was down to only 25% armour and still dropping. My armour held steady at 25% as I was finally able to tank his missile damage. The stabber's armour was finally ripped off and the her delicate hull was now being increasingly exposed to my hostile EMP shell fire from my three 150mm autocannons. My blood was up and I made sure that each shot was delivered with venom. I knew now that victory was almost mine.

The stabber was on fire and starting to turn away; it was bleeding atmosphere and fuel. However, my webber and disruptor kept it locked down tight - it was not going to get away. I wanted to kill it and snag the pilot too. The blood lust was there. The final fusiliade split the stabber open, spilling out it's precious atmosphere along with some of the unfortunate crew. I cared not.

The pod popped out after what felt like an age and I had it scrambled, instantly. I said 'GF' and then destroyed the pod as the pilot's corp HQ was only one jump away so I was not going to take any chances. The gelatinous capsule fluid flash freezing into a wonderfully violent shape as it met vacuum. I scooped it up with the intention of adding it to the collection. I was intoxicated after the fight. Nothing like a combat induced high to take the edge of things. You can keep your drugs and drink!

I docked up and swapped out the loot for some ammunition, the night was still young and I had more pirating to do. The loot was decent: it would pay for at least two more fully equipped rifters. Still, a 2 v 1 match up (two cruisers v a single frigate) was something that I enjoyed. I strongly suspected though that the scythe was a miner-setup so didn't have all guns setup. Oh well.

Undocking, I made sure that I got a good look at the local pilots and scanned to see more isk-generating opportunities. Nothing.

Moving towards a few more systems, I spotted a catalyst. Quick scanning revealed that it was probably at a planet so I set battlestations and warped there. On arrival, I crashed into the catalyst, the crunch of our hulls and armour plating making me wince. I ordered the crew to make ready for a fight as I targeted and scrambled and webbed the destroyer.

It locked me back and started to hit me with 75mm railguns. God, I hate them as I saw my shields get stripped down. My own rifter's 150mm autocannons spoke back and it was a brutal broadside. However, the destroyer, a dedicated anti-frigate platform it may be but not when it was badly fitted. It was destroyed with surprising easy by the rifter; I really thought it would be a closer contest. The pilot (Wuabba) complained to me that he was just chilling at the planet. I taught him never to let one's guard down by pod killing him. I felt no guilt. His loot was nice useful too though being a Gallente destroyer, I had little need for railguns.

A few moments later, while I still had the global criminal flag - two pilots appeared. I recognised one, a pilot called OriasV and second was his corp mate, called 'Ethersong'. Both were corp mate's of Wuabba so it was apparent they were coming for a bit of revenge. There was a frigate, kestrel-class and a blackbird-class cruiser. The signs did not look good. Wuabba then came back in, no doubt to salvage what he could from his wreck now under It was bit errie as I had his corpse in the cargo bay but no, it was the same pilot. Fresh from the reclone vats and not looking too happy.

I opened up a conversation with Lucius Cain, who had killed three of OriasV's ships in succession on the same day. Explaining the situation, Lucius leapt at the opportunity to join in and came in to join me in his frigate. So, a potential 3 v 2 but OriasV and his friends did not appear to want to play, even though we managed to land close enough to see to his kestrel on two occasions.

With no targets we decided to move on.

After seven jumps, we were in New Justice territory - a corporation that knows Lucius well and has Kill-On-Sight orders to that effect. I scanned down a scythe and ambushed it. He was -9.2 security rated so I had no problem attacking him. However, I was having trouble taking his shield down and meanwhile, local had leapt by two. A caracal was on scan as well and it looked likely that the Scythe had called in reinforcements. Still, I was not leaving but waited grimly for the caracal to turn up. Meanwhile the scythe's shields were only trickling down, was my firepower that poor? My sixth sense screamed at me and I hit the scan once more. A Typhoon-class battleship was on scan alongside the caracal. The situation looked worse than before. The scythe was now down to armour but he was holding on, credit to the pilot. The space around me warped and vomited out the menacing shape of the Typhoon. 'Anters' was the N-J pilot in the battleship and I was not going to be sticking around.

'Disengage. Disengage.'

I was half-expecting to be warp scrambled but lady-luck was on my side and I managed to get out. So, I was now facing a caracal, a scythe and a typhoon. Lucius, who was following the engagement put forward a suggestion.

'How about the duo-of-death?' - my sinister Sebioster brother was referring to both of us in our hurricane-class battlecruisers. However, without a tackler / scout we would be blind to gate camps. Nonetheless, we decided to give it a try. Five jumps back to our base and we launched back into space in the elegant but deadly lines of the hurricane-class battlecruiser. In my view, nothing can match the speed, tank, hitting power and beauty of this piece of Minmatar technology.

We returned to the N-J system and hunted but for the next hour, it was a fruitless search. Lucius had to dock and left me to hunt alone. Another half-an-hour later, I had twice missed a buzzard, my lock time much increased now. I decided to return home.

Switching back to the rifter, I thought to myself that OriasV and his friends were probably back in Auren. I set course after making sure that I had plenty of ammunition and supplies and headed back out. Local was thick and heavy with new pilots - with a corp battling it out against a bunch of farmers. I left them to it - badly constructed English insults flying.

On entering Auren, I was elated to see that yes, indeed - OriasV, Ethersong and Wuabba were in local. We greeted other, knowing full well what was to happen. I quickly fired off an evemail to the still awol Lucius and then jumped to my scan spot. The returns from the scanner revealed that near the IX-1 belt, there was a blackbird, catalyst and thrasher. From my notes and intelligence, I knew exactly who was in what ship - with a one-week old pilot in the blackbird. I doubt very much that he had decent e-war skills. Still, 3 v 1 fight was the stuff I dreamed about. Even better that my frigate would be going against bigger ship classes and being outnumbered. Who wants to live forever?

I readied my crew and explained to them the situation we were in. There were targets available and we rarely ran from a fight. Yes, the odds were against us but we have had contests where we stepped up and went toe-to-toe with battlecruisers and prevailed. I told them that I trusted their abilities and their singlemindedness for isk. I also said that any booty we got would be evenly split - with me taking nothing. That brought forth many 'yaaars' from the crew and they snapped to their tasks with isk-fuelled gusto.


I could only imagine what OriasV would be telling his gang mates. Probably along the lines that I would be shitting myself. Well, he was in for a surprise.

With the various ship departments informing me of their ready status I gave the order to engage. The engines fired up and the rifter was pulled into warp. Someone put on the some Minmatar heavy metal 'death of an angel' as the ship sped towards it's engagement. In a burst of light and plasma, my ship popped back into existence. I landed within 10km of all three ships - their first mistake as it meant I did not have to move too far to engage them!

I laughed as Ethersong said:
Ethersong> heh, your your ours Flash
Ethersong>*just one yours

Kind enough to correct his grammar.

The primary target was the thrasher. Why, with the blackbird in close vicinity? The thrasher was primary because it had the most experienced pilot (OriasV) in it. I had it locked down and then opened up, while at the same time, all three enemy ships flashed red as they returned the lock and fired back. We were joined in battle now and there would be no quarter asked or given.

My 150mm tech 2 autocannons spun and pumped furiously at the thrasher, ripping the destroyer's shields off in flashes of light. The enemy fire rocked my frigate though my shields somehow survived the first enemy salvo. Missiles from the blackbird and hybrid anti-matter rounds from the catalyst combined with the auto cannons from the thrasher meant it was a nasty cocktail. However, I was not webbed by anyone so I used my speed to my advantage. The thrasher convulsed under my sustained fire and it was into 50% armour while I was just entering armour damage. The catalyst and blackbird were still unmolested.

I was down to 75% armour when a plume of fire burst out from the back of the thrasher, I had penertrated the armour and the last salvo probably hit the fusion reactors. My armour was now down to 65% but the thrasher was dying, bleeding atmosphere and fluids. It burst into a million pieces, shrapnel showering my ship. With one enemy down, I ignored the pod and went after the blackbird. My armour repairer had already started but I was now out of capacitor, so I had to manage my precious energy reserves when it recharged. The blackbird peppered me with missiles but by the Gods, it had no ECM!

Feeling some hope, I poured more fire on the cruiser....then the firing stopped as the ammunition hoppers for my guns ran dry. Cursing, I reloaded and retargetted but the precious ten seconds allowed the blackbird to recharge her shields almost to full. With fully recharged autocannons, i went back into the fight - my armour was holding steady at 15% with my switching on the armour repairer in bursts in between the manual activations of the warp scrambler and webber. It was tricky but I was managing. The blackbird shield was slowly going down and let's not forget the catalyst, it was not deadly but was hammering away at me with it's 75mm railguns. No-one there had a webber so my speed was saving me but I couldn't keep this up. However, experience told me that I had the blackbird dead unless OriasV returned in something bigger within the next minute or so.

The shield on the blackbird eventually was broken after over 500 EMP rounds from me and I was into the Caldari cruiser's armour. Lilke all caldari ships: great shields, no armour. My shells bored their way into the hull in no time and soon, the blackbird was aflame and was turning away to escape. Like hell it was. It popped in a glorious display of fire and debris. Two down, one to go.

Yaaarr.

Now, the catalyst was all mine, I switched the webber and scrambler on and orbitted him, his 75mm hybrids scored hits but my speed was still saving me. Like the thrasher-class ship, destroyers are deadly to frigates but not today. I ripped it apart within 20 seconds and only stopped firing when the the expanding cloud of gas and shrapnel disappated. I let the pod go and numbly realised that not only had I survived but had emerged victorious. There were thunderous cheers and stamping of feet from my crew as they realised that we had overcome the odds.

Ethersong stayed in local and was magnanimous in his congratulations. I replied back that it was a good fight.

Collecting my wits I hollered at the crew to get ready for the loot and salvage. The three wrecks sat there, winking at me in the overview. The haul was good with a T2 shield booster from the catalyst and a large named shield booster from the cruiser wreck. Other assorted loot meant that I had enough now for another cruiser or an eighth of a hurricane class battle cruiser.



There was so much loot I could not cram it into the hold.

OriasV came back.

Oh joy of joys.

No doubt, he wanted to salvage back what he could and would be returning to the wrecks. I had already bookmarked the wrecks and waiting for a few minutes, I zipped back in. Due to my blood lust, I had completely forgotten to scan him down therefore I had no idea what ship he would be in. OriasV has been sighted in a malestrom-class battleship before. Bursting out of warp, I saw a kestrel class ship disappear and heading off the nearest planet. I was in hot pursuit as OriasV declared he wanted revenge.

Fair enough, I appeared right next to his kestrel and engaged him. My webber came on and locked him tight. If he was a rocket-kessie, it would negate his short-range firepower. He had missiles but no matter; the Gods of war were behind me and in under 1 minute, his kestrel was no more. I snagged his pod and congratulated him on the fight.

Flashfresh> Dude, need to ransom you out of principle.
Flashfresh> 1 million
OriasV>i need to say stick it up your arse on account of being me.
OriasV> :-)

Fair enough. I podded the captain and laughed.

Ethersong> gg, one day we will get you Flash
Ethersong> one day

Hmmmm - now where are those killmails?