A roll through towards Eifer and INFERNO, oh yes.

Empty space
Ever since Kane Rizzel announced that he had reset M34N corporation, I have rarely seen this low-sec pirate institution around Metropolis / Heimatar. Feels a bit odd wandering into the Eifer/Gusandall region of space and not see them. However, nature abhors a vacuum and I have seen a number of corporations and alliances seemingly step into the gap left by M34N.

I might have some targets for you to whack...

We had a call from an acquaintance that there were targets to be had in Eifer so I duly led out a fleet of four drakes and one hurricane towards the area. With the new missile updates, I was highly distracted following (almost mesmerised) the exhaust of trails of torpedoes, rockets and missiles as they vomited forth from their launchers. Yes, the Inferno upgrade has made me highly jealous now of my missile-oriented companions as all my focus and skill was towards projectiles and auto canons I think a refocus is needed. However, being distracted isn't ideal when you have a small fleet with you.

Anyway, the short journey was led by Marco Drack who jumped into Eifer and immediately tackled another drake. Obvious bait, as local shot up and we jumped into the inevitable fire. Still we opened up on the drake and the sentry guns spoke back. Being in the hurricane, I was the primary. Knowing this I had already pushed my micro warp drive and attempted to get some distance from the gate....yet, I was not moving. No scramblers or webs on me either. I was moving (according to the read out) around 1350 m/s yet was still only 500m from the in-gate. Rather perturbed I tried to pulse the drive but to no avail. I seemed to be stuck. So, the fighting started as soon as the last ship in our fleet opened fire, the enemy fleet landed and I discovered the engaging fleet was from The Obsidian Front.

The Bastards/Chupas
Drake
Drake
Drake
Drake
Hurricane

The Obsidian Front and Friends
Drake
Drake
Legion
Zealot
Loki
Legion
Rupture
Minmatar Sentry Gun (sorry had to put this one in!)

Unfortunately for me, they primaried my arse. I went down pretty quick: unable to take advantage of the hurricane's speed and maneuverability as I was still apparently, 500m from the gate and still going at 1350 m/s. Got volleyed down to hull and then into scrap soon thereafter. Marco took over but he had already bailed and was on his way back as the Obsidian chaps got to work on us. The butcher's bill was too high as we lost all our ships, destroying one of their drakes, one of their zealot and their rupture. Sometimes, engagements just don't work out the way you hope it would be.

Flash's hurricane down again!

As we raced back to re-ship I definitely noticed that there were more people in most of the 'usual' systems; preparation for the new Faction Warfare revamp perhaps? Am looking at all this quite keenly to see where we, as pirates can mostly benefit. Heck, we may even consider joining in, somehow. Getting paid for PvP, surely not?!

The rest of the night was full of near misses which was frustrating but this is New Eden, what do you expect - victims to come marching to you?

Inferno

My thoughts on Inferno is that it adds some lovely little features in the form of missiles. They are now soooo cooool that I am tempted to do my piracy in a stealth bomber! I need time to get used to the inventory window however. Can be a bit confusing for a human pilot but I read with some interest that it has also affected the botters and their automated programs. Quite funny, I wonder if CCP had this planned? Doubt it but a useful spin-off result nonetheless.

What else? Of course, the new Stealth bombers are lush. I love all of them and will be flying them more  next time I log on. I also thank Rixx Javix for an excellent series of posts on using Stealth Bombers in Low Sec. Everyone even remotely interested in using SBs in low sec should head over to Mr Javixx's excellent site.

Oh, here's the teaser trailer for inferno.

Now, there's a lot more that I want to explore: Merc contract place and the being able to assist in war declaration. Wonderful! Just head over to the notes here and get more information.

More stuff
Things are very busy for me in real life, New Eden is a harsh and demanding mistress and there's no 'casual' mode that satisfies. One needs to manage but there's no adrenaline rush akin to the instant before  combat ensues. I love it and it makes it worthwhile; however I am sneakily playing Mass Effect 2 when I can (or dual boxing on my laptop) and if only Incarna becomes something similar to Mass Effect? If Dust514 is successful, then one can only hope?

Thanks for the comments on the last post about the Kill of the Month awards; I did also state that low-sec piracy was Eve in hard mode (I point to Kane Rizzel) but I got a lot of interesting responses.

The Bastards just love the Kill of the Month.

We love the solo kill (or gank)

This is what we want to do each night....

Like any organisation, we all see a dip in numbers and activity. New Eden is a demanding mistress: but sometimes, the pull on everyone's time cannot be dealt with equitably. As a consequence many pilots take a break from the game and try something else. This is fine - after all, we all PAY to fly these shiny ships so why can't we just step away from the game when something else more attractive comes along?


Shhh, I just discovered Mass Effect 1 and love it. I hear that there's Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3. Wonderful, if only walking in stations looked as cool! 

As a consequence, The Bastards can and frequently operate as solo or duo gangs through necessity. I mean, why not? Nothing worse then spinning ships in your hangar and seeing an empty Corp Chat for example. However, it is even worse when one decides that there is nothing to do, you simply can't be bothered and simply disconnect from GalNet, unplug yourself from the pod and wander around to seek other pleasures.  Boredom and lack of companions (in the manly sense) means Sad Pirate and safe care bears.

My only advise is not to biomass your clone in a fit of depression.

Lately we've been bolstered by our Italian pirate companions, Los Chupacabras. No, they're not Mexicans but definitely Italian and props goes to their newly minted CEO, Mal Iss - we love his smooth Italian accented English.

The Order of the Peregrine

A simple by shiny medal

So, it is with great pleasure and satisfaction that I can see some Bastards frequently go out, solo and 'just do it'. Yes, EVE-Online is an environment that needs the cooperation of all your pilots as it is not a single player environment as some would like it to be. However, it is difficult to cooperate when you're on your own most of the time; especially for a small corporation like ourselves. The Bastards recognise this and we celebrate the solo kill within the corporation with a medal - the 'Order of the Peregrine' and the reward of a T2 frigate hull of the winners choice. This was set up over three years ago and it is going strong. I might have to rethink the T2 frigate hull prize though: the solo kill was mainly for those who flew frigate class vessels but there's a few kills in other ship types now.

The prize is a small gesture of thanks and an acknowledgement that this particular pilot is playing Eve in 'hard mode'. Solo in low-sec and as a criminal - is there nothing harder to master?

Unlike our fellow pirates, The Tuskers; The Bastards do not operate solo as often as I would like it but those Bastards that do, do it well. Am tempted to re-organise our regular fleets into much smaller entities (i.e. have a MAXIMUM fleet size) before undocking for example. Am sure other fellow pirates from Gunpoint Diplomacy and Shadow Cartel Alliance have their own views on fleet number and compositions. Am eager to hear them on how much longer are the small gangs and solo work viable in light of what I see as bigger and more organised fleets?

Of course, the master of solo piracy is my long time friend and fellow pirate, Kane Rizzel. If only I had him with us, he could teach some of the younger pirates a thing or two. I think I need to clone Mr Rizzel; now where did I leave his body? Even so, there are changes even in moribund low-sec space but Kane is adapting with his usual aplomb.

So let's look at the latest winner of The Bastards Order of the Peregrine: he is the unusually named pirate: 'Dynamically Reconfigured' who has been leading a one-man crusade in low-sec space; mainly in the Heimatar/Metropolis region but other areas too. Certainly, in terms of volume he has been hammering them in. Johnny Twelvebore and Layla (a newly minted Meatshield) is also getting the solo kills in.

Sometimes, you can't be picky when it comes to solo work....

Dynamic joins a long list of illustrious Bastards, past and present.

As I reviewed the kill of the months, highlights include

• There's a number of pirates who has had the award twice but never three times.
• The main ship type used for solo work is frigate and then cruiser class. There's no battle ship class in the list. Am still waiting for someone to use an electronic attack ship or an industrial ship! 
• The Vexor has featured twice when the main cruisers we fly tend to be Ruptures.
• Biggest disparity in class size was interceptor versus battle ship and stealth bomber versus battle ship.
• The most popular solo interceptor is the Taranis.
• A few anomalies including Tibbs infamous ten hulk killing and a bellicose killing a pre-nerfed dramiel.
• None of the 1 v 1 are consensual. Arranged 1 v 1 are fun and cool (recall Nashh's CDM run of posts) but they are not solo kills in the 'piratey' sense.  

An honourable mention to TFS Tibbs and BracerKirk for their infamous kill of a CCP Dev and his cockroach. The killmail is here and the full post and comments are here. If either Tibbs or Bracer managed to get it solo, it would have been the kill of the year (a new award?) - but both helped each other out.

Finally, I want to say a big thank you to Marco Drack who organises the thread and post each month for the Kill of the Month on The Bastards, having taken it other from the much-missed Persephone Astrid.

Any old Bastards, if the kills bring back warm memories of smack and fun, well - we will always welcome back good pirates and pilots. To any readers out there; if you have some solo kills you are particularly proud of, drop me a line.

Past recipients of the Order of the Peregrine (there was a previous medal of the same that was removed - for artistic reasons...)

Ard Unjiigo: Oct 2009
Arrihidaeus: April 2010, May 2010
Coochie: July 2009
Deltsbeta: August 2011
Dynamically Reconfigured: April 2012
Fish Brain: April 2009
Fitz: Sep 2011
Hera: Jan 2009
Jirat: Nov 2009
JManza: September 2010
Kingzolo: Dec 2011
Max Ursa: Nov 2011, May 2011
Mr Frog: Jan 2010
Muckalt: August 2010
Nova: May 2009
P'XEL: June 2009
Persephone Astrid: July 2010
Raelyf: June 2011, January 2011
Ravenesa: Feb 2012
Rodneystar: March 2009
TFS Tibbs: October 2011, July 2011
z0de: Sept 2009, Feb 2010

The Months

May 2012
Ongoing

April 2012
Dynamically Reconfigured v x2 Battle cruisers, x1 Battle ship and x1 rifter
Killmail: http://thebastards.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=13027504

March 2012
No clear winner. Votes tied between:
Deltsbeta's hookbill versus x2 thrashers
Killmails: http://thebastards.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_related&kll_id=12822636

and

Dynamically Reconfigured's Rupture versus a Drake
Killmail: http://thebastards.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=12791289

February 2012
Ravenesa's Dramiel versus x2 rifters and x1 thrasher
Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_related&kll_id=23393

January 2012
No Votes

December 2011
Kingzolo in a his wolf versus a dramiel
Killmail: http://www.the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=22821

November 2011
Max Ursa sabre versus hurricane
Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=22461

October 2011
TFS Tibbs hurricane and x10 (yes 10) Hulks and x10 Pods. Ok they didn't fight back but what the hell.
Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_related&kll_id=22386

September 2011
Fitz's jaguar versus x4 rifters and he prevails.
Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_related&kll_id=22206

August 2011
Deltsbeta versus five frigates, killing 3 and driving off the other 2.
Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_related&kll_id=21698

July 2011
TFS Tibbs' drake dominating a Tengu
Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=21235

June 2011
Raelyf bellicose (?) killing a dramiel (pre-nerf)
Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=20877

May 2011
MaxUrsa's thrasher killing a rapier.
Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=20202

April 2011
No votes

March 2011
No votes

February 2011
No votes

January 2011
Raelyf's vexor versus five takedown.
Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_related&kll_id=18280

December 2010
No votes

November 2012
No votes

October 2010
No votes

September 2010
JManza dramiel takes down a hurricane
Killmail: http://www.the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=17570

August 2010
Muckalt's hound versus a raven
Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb//?a=kill_detail&kll_id=17127

July 2010
Persephone's Crow kill in her Tristan
Killmail:http://www.annihilatus.org/eve/bastardskb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=130
Thread: http://www.the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5353

June 2010
[b]NO NOMINATIONS DUE TO AT8 and HK III[/b]

May 2010
Arrhidaeus slicer v 4 frigs
Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_related&kll_id=16099
Thread: http://www.the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5206

April 2010
Arrihidaeus crusader v Zealot
Killmail: http://www.the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=16011
Thread: http://www.the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5133

March 2010
Raelyf's rifter kills a cynabal
Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=15451
Thread: http://www.the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5000

February 2010
z0de's prober on prober action
Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=15263
Thread: http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4952

January 2010
Mr Frog catches a vaga in his vexor
Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=14808
Thread: http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4781&start=0

December 2009
Killmail: Unknown
Thread: Unknown

November 2009
Jirat's solo kill of a proteus in his Cyclone (WTF?)
Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=13447
Thread:

October 2009
Ard's super Vigil v Coercer
Killmail: http://www.the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=12583
Post: http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4129

September 2009
z0de's taranis versus Typhoon
Killmail:http://www.the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=12325
Post: http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3958

August 2009
Did not run.

July 2009
Coochie in Thorax vs Harbinger
Killmail: http://www.the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=11566
Post: http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3643

June 2009
P'XEL in Ishkur pops Arazu while under fire from Broadsword and Sac
Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=10727
Post: http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3528

May 2009
Nova in his Rapier and his 4 cruiser kills
Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_related&kll_id=8700
Post: http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3244

April 2009
Fish Brain in Wolf - 5 Frigs
[color=#FF0000]CAN'T FIND KILLMAIL LINK[/color]
Post: http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3044

March 2009
Rodneystar in Rifter vs rep fleet firetail
Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=7161
Post: http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2834

February 2009
Unknown.

January 2009
Hera in taranis killing a vagabond
Killmail: http://the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=5825
Post: http://the-bastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2447

So keep the solo work going guys - you chaps are all brilliant and I salute you!

Skyward Sphere and Solo Tackling on Gates

Is that a hamster?

This is very cool: http://www.ccpgames.com/skywardsphere and well done CCP!

Roam and solo-tackling on gates

Last night we had a little fleet going and just one jump out of Evati, we tangled with Eve Uni. They had ranged out from their low-sec campus in Dudreda and it was too tempting to pass up. The Unistas were smart, hanging around the gates and not initiating any aggression. So they left that last bit to us. We raced in and tried to grab as many of them as possible. However, they all managed to not fire back and jump through. Well, not all of them - one made the mistake of shooting z0de (who wouldn't want to shoot z0de? - joke) and he was promptly tackled, webbed and pummeled into flaming scrap. We lost no-one but had the gate guns hammering away at us. Tsk tsk.

We then turned round and killed an Unista Osprey again on the gate and under sentry gun fire. Yes, we're bullies but what the hell and besides, sentry guns hurt and the global criminal countdown is ANNOYING AS HELL. 

Then it was off towards Kane Rizzel's home in Gusandall and Eifer. We noticed a battle cruiser gang there of x3 hurricanes and x1 harbinger. Cpt Nessaja, an old hand at piracy was also around and we greeted the wily bastard. There were others but z0de volunteered to go in ahead and bait them but we failed to get to z0de when hostilities started and z0de died and we caught nothing. Pity.

We then switched over to a frigate gang and continued racing around low-sec, we shipped down from battle cruisers as we wanted a change. Love the frigate, still nothing like 'em for the cost and versatility. I was in a rifter (of course) and there were a few other rifters, a punisher and Dil'e taranis of doom. I have to say that Dil'e had no fear tackling non-criminals at gates in the speedy little ship; incurring the wrath of the sentry guns and surviving is no easy feat. Guys have balls of steel.

We love pew-pew

An honorable mention to Johnny Twelvebore in his punisher: the infamous 'bleeder' set-up. He too tackled people on gates and suffered sentry fire...and survived. Of course, Johnny's confidence got the better of him and he decided to solo tackle a drake. Or was he himself tackled by a drake at a station? Either way, the plucky little ship exploded in a spectacular fashion.

We also managed to kill an afk kestrel sitting on a gate in low-sec - even podding the poor fool too. It was a target too tempting to pass up!

The night ended with the pirates heading home; not too much loot but plenty of fun was had. Layla and Aaron were both caught and killed by some Sansha ships as part of their incursions: those guys are nasty.