Early roam - to BWF-ZZ and back.

"Let's roll."

That's all I said as a fleet was quickly put together from the usual suspects around Gusandall. Viper Sam joined the fleet once it was in place and we found ourselves in a nice, well-balanced gang. It consisted of:

Dominix
Dominix
Hurricane
Hurricane
Falcon

With the falcon running ahead as scout we decided on a quick trip, only nine-jumps to a 0.0 gate. The roam was uneventful with a few ships zipping past us, too quick for us to lock. I would have gladly tackled any ship and took sentry fire but each time the ships coming into the system de-cloaked 30 kms or more from my position. Even with my micro warp drive hot, I could not close the gap.

There was a distraction in Messoya / Tasti as we had located the presence of a phobos pilot, tackling ships as they transited through. However, we were unable to pin-point the pilot and had to move on, having wasted a good 15 minutes attempting to track him down. We didn't have any scan probers with us and this made things very difficult.

We eventually made it to Akora and found that the entire area was full of reds. I doubt if they were all together but from a reconnaissance, we discovered that all were docked. A quick glance at the map and we discovered that, alongside some publicly available killbaords, that BWF-ZZ was hot. A nice five-ship gang like ours would prove to be a tasty morsel for the camping residents. We turned back and headed home.

First Golem kill?

Also, I think Black-Flag took part in our first Marauder kill? It was a golem and it looked like fun.

Jump Clones and the new staging post

JUMP CLONES

I like Jump Clones. I think the concept is kinda creepy though. To be honest, being a pod pilot is creepy - providing we can make contact with our nominated cloning station, we can't die. We could suffer from mild amnesia and develop some eccentric behaviour depending on the quality of the clone but we could not die. Not in the same mortal sense as others.

So having another clone (or three) scattered around New Eden guarantees my safety now but importantly, it enables me to travel in an instant, to any of my clones without dying first. I could just, well - go to sleep and instantly wake up millions of light years. Some would argue that this is, indeed, dying. The only drawback is that one can not perform a second clone-jump within 24 hours of the first clone-jump. It's due to the immense cost involved in squirting trillions of terabytes of data across space and time as well as the likelihood of some sort of mental trauma.

Am pragmatic enough to understand that jump-clones are a necessity now as I simply can't travel from Gusandall to another location or back in time to respond to ultra-fast engagements, now that Black-Flag has increased her range of operations.

As long as I could park a jump clone in a distant station - I could get there in an instant, though I may not have a ship to fly once there....a major problem as you can see so some equipment move is required.

Thanks to the folks at TRIUMVIRATE and their station in EC8-PR - I managed to get three clones installed and then moved, individually. The first clone moved to location X, the second clone at Gusandall and the third clone at a second secret location.

Last week, I jumped to my first clone and it took me a few minutes to re-orient myself. An employee with a [TRI] badge on his jersey pocket handed me a towel and directed me to a shower facility - just to freshen up.

Flicking open the star map I plotted a course back to Eifer, the long route, taking in only low-sec and 0.0 routes, thus avoiding CONCORD was an eye-watering 67 jumps. I changed the settings and wanted the shortest route possible and it gave me an option of 29 jumps. This was much better but half of the run was through Empire space. The route would take me through Gallente and Caldari space and may even nick a bit of Minmater space as well. 29 jumps. In a shuttle. Through space where, if I lingered, CONCORD would destroy my shuttle. Everyone else, I am KOS too as well.

Sounded fun, now where was my shuttle?

I grabbed a brand-new shuttle and found out that I paid 100,000 isk for it, a nice jump up from the usual 9,000 isk! Undocking out into EC-P8R space, I headed over to the next gate and this one was into high-sec, through Torrinos. My first mistake.

The gate was bubbled and my shuttle sputtered out around a large mobile warp disruptor, pulling me out of warp 45km from the 'safety' of the Torrinos gate. There were ships all around here and I was locked. I had no other choice then to ask for safe passage in local and hope.

I wasn't webbed so I powered around the flickering field of the warp disruptor and hoped no-one would insta-pop me. I was still locked but no warning shots, no red flashing red boxes. Not even a reply. Maybe, the defenders thought I was going to die on the other side. Still, once I got to within gate activation range, I thanked the pilots for not popping me and jumped into Empire, for the first time in over a year.

Here come the warnings.....

CONCORD were not happy with my presence and threatened to relieve me of my ship. I hit the throttle and jumped from gate to gate - pausing only long enough to activate the gate and fire on through. As the number of jumps counted down, I saw that JITA was looming ahead. Ah, Jita. Lag city. Hell Hole. The most hated system for pod pilots in all of New Eden.

I knew that the main problem was the slow-down in the input / output signal for the pod pilots as we all attempted to link in with the local sub-space communications network. Due to the dense concentration of other pod pilots, all linked in - there was a real danger of sensory overload resulting in a lag in responses from the camera drones and any activated modules.

JITA

"Approaching stargate to Jita. Approaching stargate to Jita."

Since I was a flagged criminal, I could not afford to wait and jumped into Jita and to hell with the consequences. There was a noticeable dulling of my senses, almost like one is under-water. All the senses sounded faint and I could not link into the local communication network, my GUI did not update as I had trouble linking into my camera drones. I knew that my drones were out, but no input was coming back in.

I had to hurry - the gate cloak would only hold for 15 seconds and CONCORD, ever vigilant, would see me there - sitting all inviting and quickly destroy my ship. There was a dull thump and I heard with my own ears, the sound of metal being torn off, the sound was transmitted through the shock-absorbing fluid very clearly.

SHIT.

Another five minutes ticked by and finally, I linked into the Jita cacophony and yes, I was in a pod. Damn it!

Was very surprised that no-one passing through Jita had decided to pod my ass. I didn't waste any more time and jumped to the next system. Jita is so congested that I had trouble thinking. I felt like I was in glue. I hate it. Had to get out. Had to get out.



After, what felt like another hour, I was out of Jita. I was in a pod, but was out. I had to move - and quickly. Being in a pod and a blinkie at that, I was very vulnerable now. Anyone could pod me. Should I get a shuttle or continue pod jumping?

Pod jumping of course.

I was locked a few times and was also chased by some opportunist carebears who tried and continued to fail to get me. The last six jumps had me jumping and laughing at the inept attempt at trying to kill me. A smartbomb would have worked but then again.....

New Moves

I finally did make it back and started to relocate my jump clones. The other journeys were more or less the same, minus the shuttle loss and took me the good part of a week to get this done. This took me away from existing Black-Flag operations; some of which were being run through intermediaries. Yes, Black-Flag operatives are working in the background at the moment, Viper Sam came back after a long, covert operation. He had some absolute explosive news for us; he explained the reason for his prolong absence and how the wheels within wheels were turning.

Our current crop of applicants, all from The Bastards, have run some ops with Black-Flag but amongst the BF directors, we're very impressed with them. Many are focusing on relevant skills that would help us but Viper Sam's covert operations had taken some of the focus away from the applicants, something that I am sure that The Bastards can understand. We're pirates sure, but we have a definite direction and goals. Very exciting. Very exciting times ahead.

So where am I?

Haven't managed to get onto any operations for a week but I have seen that Jubes has been terrorising the locals to no-end. Check out the killboard...

JUBES IS GOD.
JUBES IS GOD.
JUBES IS GOD.
JUBES IS GOD.

There, got that one out. He is a one-man army of destruction.

A mixed gang goes a roaming...

Swinging out of my chair, the latest administrative work now completed for the Independence bar I decided to open up my intelligence channels and see what was going on. Like most pod pilots, there is a constant buzz and hum from dozens and dozens of communication channels drip feeding information, greetings and down-right slander to me. I made contact with each of the channels and mentally opened up the special communications implant that allowed the information to flow in. Once contacted, it feels like a cold needle flashing through your brain, for those uninitiated with implantation, new information began to flow in.

I needed to hunt. The various accents, Caldari, Gallente, Minmater and Amarr buzzed through my head once more as my sources reported back to me.

"Samuel4: Small mining operation in Dal, no escorts, pilot id are..."

"Kerjin: Vexor in belt - probably bait - going in........"

"Agent332: Rifter from Fleet Academy on a shake down cruise in Eifer with a newly qualified egger at the helm: coordinates are....."

I muted the intelligence channel and went back to the previous thread.

What was Kerjin doing in one of my communications channels? I re-spooled the conversation and replayed it, muting the rest. A quick scan showed me that Kerjin was in M34N corporation, meaning he was blue to Black-Flag! Such is life.

He had jumped in and had tackled the vexor but then the communications link was severed. A few pilots in the Independence channel were also available and also listening in and Capt Nessaja, ex-TSL and now with New Orion Underground offered to help. Meanwhile, I had a fleet running with me and Lucius Cain - he was back and pondering his next move in New Eden but couldn't resist a bit of wanton killing and destruction. He was in a rapier.

I decided to bring in more pilots and combine the fleets. Since I had fleet command, I might as well get the ball rolling. I went to the Independence channel and announced that I needed some help. I also flicked on the communicate tab and fired off a request to all pilots in the majority of the communications channels who were available.

In all, I had six pilots and Kerjin also answered the call, making the number up to seven. I wanted an update from all the pilots, especially Kerjin.

"Got the Vexor down to structure," said Kerjin, his image breaking up as he weaved his ship in and out of hostile fire. "Then a blackbird came in and jammed me. Nothing I could do. Had to bail."

"Roger that Kerjin. You safe?"

"Yessir. Safe and cloaked." Good man. I acknowledged the undocking request as my jaguar-class assault frigate slid out into space. Somewhere out there was Lucius Cain in his rapier.

"All fleet pilots: listen up. We have marks in Evati. Vexor, Blackbird and two ravens on a mission. All fleet pilots move to Todi' and hold. Kerjin, please stay cloaked in Evati and observe traffic. All pilots acknowldge and present current status please."

"Lucius Cain here. In rapier and en route to Evati."

"Kerjin. Cloaked and holding. "

"Capt. Nessaja. In drake and en route to Evati."

"Darthimus. In Harbringer and en route to Evati."

"Prediction Pain reporting. Just clone-jumped, will be in falcon and 4-jumps from Evati."

"Blade reporting. In Dominix and en route to Evati."

"XXX reporting. In helios and en route to Evati."

"Flashfresh reporting. In Jaguar and en route to Evati."

I made the jumps to the gate ahead of the main gang and went into Evati, the local communication channel updated itself and I got a good look at all registered pod pilots. Four were red. It was unknown whether they were together. Evati was a mess of ships and scanning was difficult. No matter.

"Luc, XXX and PP - come to Evati to probe please. All other ships, hold at gate."

There was a chorus of affirmations as we got ready. Meanwhile, local chat was updating itself with the broadcasted messages of the pilots and it was clear that the blackbird was now destroyed with the vexor escaping. There was a new player in town.

"We have two ruptures and one, maybe two rapiers here on my scanner. They were close to where the BB and Vex were. Working together?" Wondered Kerjin aloud.

"One of the rapiers is me," hissed Lucius. Sifting through the intelligence and coming up with a plan was tricky but it was clear that Corstadd, SunStr0ke and Crulos were together. The latter two in rapiers with Costadd in a rupture. The fourth pilot, Nithon, and based on the task of elimination was in the second rupture. There was also a dominix-class battleship so calling in Blade would balance this out. It was unclear whether this identified Dominix was part of the group of four. Smart gangs would split themselves up, reducing the potential loss in ships if they get discovered.

"Negative - they're not working together, Blackbird and vexor popped. New hostiles in Evati." Replied PP.

"Scanning for new targets, the ravens have moved. " Said XXX, our second and at this moment, secret scan prober.

"Okay change of plan. Nessaja - you're bait. Go to III-1; PP and Luc and Kerjin will be with you, cloaked so you will not be alone." I tried to sound reassuring.

"Roger that Flash. Warping to III-1."

"Darth and Blade: hold in Todi. No need to show our hands just yet."

"Roger. Holding in Todi," said Blade, answering for both him and Darth. Nessa warped into the belt and waited. I kept my scanner pinging ahead and was alert for any changes. It was XXX who chimed in.

"I have Corstaad's safe spot!" Good job I thought. "Corstaad is in rupture and moving at speed, not aligned to anything."

"Kerjin - warp to XXX and tackle. Luc - assist in your rapier. Everyone else - hold please."

"Roger that."

This was now perfect. If we tackled and snagged the rupture; there was a good chance that his gang mates would come in to assist - then we would close the trap on them. The tension was mounting as Luc and Kerjin raced to the rupture.

"Exiting warp in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 -"

"Approaching exit in 3 seconds, right behind you Kerjin -"

"Rupture pointed! Closing to optimal -"

The tension was mounting for everyone else, I could now see all three ships on my scanner. They had not been joined by others yet.

"Do not pod the pilot. Web and scramble him." I said, it would be perfect. The pilot, horribly exposed in his pod would no doubt inform his mates to come rescue him.

"Rupture is going down -" there was a burst of static, "- it's down. It's down."

"Get the pod." I reminded Luc and Kerjin.

"Shit." It sounded like Kerjin. "Sorry. Missed it."

"Damn." There goes our best chance.

Still it was a good kill and the night was still young. Had to go back to the original plan.

"Okay. Nessaja - you're up. Bait once more. Go to 3-1 and look pretty. Luc, PP and Ker - assume cloaked holding positions above Nessaja. Darth and Blade - hold position in Todi."

"Goddamnit. I want to use these new pulse lasers!" Complained Darthimus. I sympathised but we had to be patient.

It didn't take long for the drake to prove to be a tasty morsel and soon Nithon in his rupture engaged it.

"Nessaja here. Contact. Contact. Contact. Nithon in his rupture. Engaging."

"Flash? What next?" Asked PP. I quickly went through the possibilities in my head. A single drake should be able to take the rupture, but we had to make it quick enough to spook the ruppie pilot in asking for help.

"Kerjin - de-cloak and engage ruppie."

"Shit. This ruppie is fast." Observed Nessaja. That made up my mind to get Lucius into the fight.

"Luc, de-cloak and web the ruppie."

"Roger that," replied Luc as his ship dropped it's cloak and entered the fight.

"Contact! Contact! Second rapier in belt!" Yelled Kerjin. "Third rapier! Third rapier!"

It was time to drop the hammer.

"PP - decloak - and jam both rapiers. Darth and Blade, enter Evati and warp to Nessaja."

"GO! GO! GO!" Exhorted PP.

"Fleet targets: Points as follows: Darth and Flash: Nithon in rupture. Luc and PP: SunStr0ke. Nessa, Blade and Kerjin: Crulos. Keep an eye for that Dom. PP, you will need to jam that Dom instead of the rapiers if it jumps in as well. "

I entered the fight and was in a mess of ECM drones - they were swarming around PP's Falcon, I locked Nithon in his rupture while Darthimus roared in alongside me, pulse lasers lancing out.

"Shit. Am primary! Jammed. Am warping out." Said PP, as the falcon streaked out.

"Darth, maintain fire on Nithon. Luc and Kerjin- get SunStr0ke. Blade and Nessaja - you have points on the Crulos?"

"Negative. Down to 50% shield. Hurry and kill these fookers!" Shouted Nessaja. A rapier came close to me - about 14km and zipped through, it's micro warp drive flaring. It had webbed someone on our side, I couldn't tell. It too was webbed, most likely by Lucius.

Hammerhead drones screamed past me - intent on another target; luckily not me. I snapped on on webber and disruptor on Nithon's rupture. It was tough, probably fitted with a plate but it burst apart pretty quickly even so. Even before it died, I was ready.

"Darth and Nessaja - hit your mwds and chase SunStr0ke in his rapier." By this time PP had come back and had also targeted Sunstr0ke.

"He's webbed and pointed and jammed."

I was 67KM from him. Crulos appeared to warp out, escaping the clutches of Blade and Darthimus.

"They're bugging out. Just Sunstr0ke here. Kill him quick."

Before I got to 24km, the rapier burst open and Sunstr0ke was in his pod, but like any experienced pilot - he managed to warp away and save the pod.

"Did we get the second rapier?" I asked. No one was sure.

"OKAY loot up and safe up. Good job guys. Good job. No sign of the other Domi?"

"We can assume it's not with these guys!"Stated PP.

It was good fight, split over a wide area.

The kill mails are here:

The First Rupture kill.

The Second Rupture Kill.

The First Rapier Kill.


++Carrier Fest++

Just had to add this in....
http://www.battleclinic.com/eve_online/pk/view.php?type=player&name=chex&id=3301021&page=1&filter=losses#mail

Always kill someone. Always.

++Back++

Due to real-life issues I missed the big corp operation that involved Black-Flag, Hellequin and The Bastards moving some assets and ships up to a 0.0 staging spot. As I stated a few week's back; Black-Flag are roaming now and not just a 'one-evening-let's-saddle-up-and-go' type of roam but more of a 'hello-we're-going-to-be-here-for-a-couple-of-weeks' type of roam. Logistics is the key here and a supply chain needs to be set up that can drip feed supplies and ships to cover losses and consumables. All this takes time to set up so pirating actions have been limited now as we concentrate on getting a decent forward base, supply caches and routes. Not too sure how the locals will react but we should soon find out. After a period, we will then move out to another area. We'll always come back to Gusandall however - it's our home where most of us cut our teeth.

I need to contact Viper Sam to see what needs to be done - I still need a ship there at the forward operating base and will have to get ready when the next operation is in order.

Meanwhile, I have not been idle.

++Meet the Maelstrom++



Yes, the newest ship to join the Black-Flag line-of-battle ships went for a shake down cruise and came back, no kills but with an extremely happy Captain. The current fit is confidential but does utilise the bonuses of the maelstrom-class battleship to the extreme. I would be interested in comparing other ships setups with other pirates. Am sure there are some very interesting fits out there. Needless to say, the maelstrom will provide much needed DPS to any engagement, one can have too many points but never too much DPS. Am still a tad worried about it's resistance to ECM however as I seem to see Falcon-class recon ships with most gangs over three ships in the fleet.


++Always kill everything++

Always kill everything. Always. Blow up all ships. Check the wrecks. Always.

Why?

Because of this.

Keanez is a new member of the Independence channel but he was quite excited today and well, goddamn is all I can say.

Nice haul!!!!

++Other bits++

Just a quiz but I have spotted some very odd portraits and I wonder if we can identify them? Most are either friends of mine, people I have killed or readers of this blog. The portrait mash-ups are due to come cock-up with the 'puter am using.


















++Kills++

Ah what about kills? I snagged a rifter and a thrasher on my lunch break. The rifter was ratting in Eifer and I was in my jaguar. Very one-sided unfortunately but I was in it to help hunt out a cyclone that was meant to be moving around. Using the local scanner, I quickly pin-pointed the craft at the IV-1 belt and making sure that weapons were all warmed up, I jumped in and dispatched the pilot effortless. I was a noob however as I failed to snag the pod - been playing with my overview settings and the 'capsule' was not now visible. Very silly.

The Thrasher was a bit tougher, but not by much.

Oh, some funny back-chat by some after some pirate (Lucius - see below) tried to snag him:

[13:43:10] Gerfem > LOL @ pirate who tried to kill me....I HAVE A WARP STABILISER BEOTCH!

Er, indeed.


++Old Friends++

Finally a welcome return to an old friend of mine: Lucius Cain. He left the area and joined up with Blood Corsair's but the alliance (Blood Blind) finally closed down and now Lucius is back in his old stomping grounds and I welcome him back to the Independence channel.

Welcome back Luc!




The scariest looking pilot in EVE.............

The thrill of the hunt....

"Targets in Eifer. Get into your ship Flash. Fleet already formed."

Knocking off my latest, un-opened correspondence from the table and choking down a hot croissant (who said pirates don't have class?) - I raced towards my hangar and got my crew ready for the hurricane.

By the time I was out of space dock, I had updated my watch list, logged into the fleet voice chat and was switching to my combat overview GUI. The fleet included some pirates from The Bastards: General Coochie, Z0de, RoninData to name three. Viper Sam and Serenator was present too. We briefly exchanged pleasantries and got ready.

"I have two drakes and a sleipnir around the IV cluster," informed Sam. "They're jumping around though."

"Need any help?" I offered.

"Flash: you come in and bait."

"Roger that." I activated the gate and was inside Eifer in a flash. I could see nothing from the Gusandall entry point and I briefly recalled the last couple of times I was bait. It ended badly for me. However, as I moved towards my safe spot - two drake-class battle cruisers and a rapier appeared. I had them towards the 1-1 asteroid belt and headed towards there. Imaging my surprise when I landed 1000m behind the lead drake! I pointed it and yelled for the other ships to fly in and assist. I had tackled one of the two drakes. I opened fire and prepared to duke it out with both drakes. Sam called in the other ships in the fleet and they all warped towards me. The first drake warped out quickly followed by the second drake.

"Drakes are stabbed. Sorry, I had one point on me." I was very disappointed as the other ships finally came in. No matter, as under Sam's direction - all the ships scattered to the nearest planets and belts in an effort to catch the slippery customers. The two drakes however, left the system into a high-sec gate.

We decided to move on and we roamed towards Evati when zode or silvetrys had managed to locate a cyclone coming through into Todifrauan. He locked it but it fled. We gave chase. Moving like a pack of sharks. The cyclone pilot taunted us by saying we had lost the opportunity at grabbing some BPOs! The cheek!

"Over towards the two gates!"

We moved fast but not fast enough - just catching the tell tale signs of a successful gate activation. Twice we came close - decloaking just out of range of the fleeing cyclone. He stayed in low-sec and was moving between systems but one of The Bastards had more or less determined that this cyclone pilot was determined to get into Evati and we were making it difficult for him. Twice we came close, once when he warped to a planet and we chased but missed him - we had no ships smaller than a BC and the mark was warping out as soon as he arrived.

He then docked up and we waited along the route to Evati. He came out again, but in a probe - even faster and harder to catch.

Eventually, the mark left through a high-security gate.

However, no problem as General Coochie had scanned out a mission runner but we strongly suspected that there was a second party of pirates doing the same thing. We took a few minutes too long to organise ourselves, due to the fleet being spread out across five or six systems. Once we arrived, we snagged an expensively fit Arazu but failed to catch the other ships (dominix, hurricane etc) no matter; the thrill of the last hour or so was excellent.

This is what piracy is all about.

It is feast or famine most of the time and if I wanted guaranteed PvP - I might as well undock my pod and subscribe to 'Quake 2142' where I can always get opponents. No, piracy is about hunting those who don't want to be hunted, stealing and killing those who want to avoid confrontation and making life a misery for those too stupid, lazy or dumb to survive in New Eden.

Let's do it.

Musings of a pirate - part 7 - The Hurricane

A return!

It's great to be back and I love the tickle on the back of the neck when you hear the sweet voice of Aurora welcoming you back into the pod. I took a leave of absence and went traveling (in cognito of course) to the fleshpots of Luminaire for a recharge of my batteries and creative juces. It also allowed me to think about some subjects in a little bit of depth as well as respond to the new challenges in Black-Flag.


A roam to 0.0 - let's do it!

First off is the addition of new routes into 0.0 for Black-Flag. We are low-sec pirates but we also move where there's new, fresh prey. Who wouldn't want to get involved in killing 0.0 alliance pilots? This addition of a 0.0 region to our roaming route has meant a temporary cutting down of active forays as the Black-Flag pilots get the logistic chain set up to move ships, ammo and supplies to a staging area closer to this new 0.0 operating area. Since many of us are 'criminals' we have to utilise friends and third parties to move our gear through high security space as required. All this movement of goods takes time. Am sure that the success of any roaming gang depends largely on it's logistics and how well it's going to be managed. We'll probably be seeding ammunition dumps around selected systems to facilitate easy re-supply as there are no stations for us to dock in. I suppose this is where capital ships would be useful - an area that Black-Flag is not too interested (except trying to take them down....) at the moment.

I have no information on how long Viper Sam, the CEO, wants us to roam in this 0.0 region but I guess, so long as we can kick somebody's nuts in and rob him of his modules and ransom his pod; we shall remain. Oh, due to the power of cloning, Viper Sam got a face-lift and now looks like thus -->


The Hurricane - my thoughts

The force with which this ship hits is more than sufficient to leave a trail of shattered enemies, floating around like so much lifeless debris. An adaptable vessel, it has enough turret hardpoints for a full-scale assault while remaining versatile enough to allow for plenty of missile fire, and has both sufficient speed to outrun its enemies and sufficient capacitor charge to outlast them.

Ah, how I love the hurricane and how I am so happy that Black-Flag has a variant of the Hurricane as its standard line-of-battle-ship. While Black-Flag has other ships types available, all Black-Flag pilots are expected to fly the hurricane not just competently but expertly utilising the 'canes speed and firepower. While the maelstrom-class battleship has made it's appearance in the order of battle for Black-Flag, the core is still the hurricane-class battle cruiser. I actually dropped down from the typhoon-class battleship to a hurricane when it came out as I was very dis-satisfied with using a battleship-class ship for roaming and solo low-sec work. The 'cane proved to be ideal. Been flying the 'cane now for well over a year and since joining Black-Flag, the use of a fleet of hurricanes has been a revelation. With five or six of these ships - am confident of taking on most fleets of equal size and coming out on top. The use 425mm auto canon, the gun by which the hurricane was designed for and the presence of some top-notch gyrostabilisers, mean that the hurricane can pour out a tremendous amount of lethal fire in a concentrated burst. Not many ships can survive this onslaught and when you have five of these ships each with a full complement of 425mm auto canons pointing at you, the chance of surviving it is slim.

Finally, the ship looks damn sexy.

The next few weeks...and The Bastards

For me, the next few weeks will see me moving a portion of my ships to the new 0.0 staging area - we hope to be causing maximum havoc and destruction and this requires some patience and planning on our part. Am also sorry to see founding Black-Flag member, Grunanca, depart from Black-Flag due to RL issues but I wish him well and that Black-Flag would not be here without his efforts. Having said that, we've have had a rush of new applications from pirates and others. The largest contingent has been from 'The Bastards'


A pirating bunch based a few jumps from us in Gusandall and I know them from reputation, especially General Coochie a most excellent pirate and pilot. They have submitted their applications and it's being looked at carefully by Muelac and others. They all have the skills (or close to it) and low-sec experience and I wish them luck as well as a patience in waiting forthe application to process especially with the refocusing of corp energies into prepping for the extended 0.0 tour. However, I support their applications and extend our courtesy and thanks to them. Of course, they are still red to us until their application is successful and I will not hesitate to fire nor should they.

We're pirates after all.

Right, now where's my hauler?

Back.......

Had some RL vacation and I took it.

Back now.

First port of call is the BF forum, then Killboard, then sleep.