Guilty Pleasures

I decided to inject some 'fun' to the sanctioned op for tonight; as typically, The Bastards always have a laugh as New Eden to us, should be a place of fun and opportunity. We don't have super serious 'CALL TO ARMS!!!' hysterical rubbish nor do we micro-manage our pilots. We want our pilots to enjoy themselves and thus I decided on flavouring our battle cruiser roam with....guilty pleasures. We all have them: power ballads from the 80s that you sing (with gusto) when you think you're alone but you would be a little bit embarrassed if this fact came out, or was somehow recorded and released to youtube....


Anyway, I logged on late as I had a dinner invitation suddenly spring up on me and what can one do when a lovely curry (Lamb roushini, niramish, paneer masala, sag aloo and bindi bhaji with stuffed paratha) is dangled in front of you?


Don't call me weak now...


So, with a full belly I finally got into the station to find that The Bastards had already set up a fleet and had gotten a jump on a brace of Los Chupacabras ships, Mexican Space Banditos indeed. We came out on top and it sounded like a superb engagement.

a-Ha

I undocked my hurricane to the chintzy keyboard tunes of 'Take On Me' blasting out of my speakers. This song was A-Ha's break out song that reached Number 2 in the UK charts and Number 1 in the US in 1985. Remembered for its revolutionary rotoscoping music video.


Feeling my mullet growing I ordered the fleet to set sail to Eifer. As we jumped we had reports of a large gang in Ardar and we then bumped into a battle ship gang from a corporation well known to us: The Gentlemen of Low Morale Fibre [SCONE], a spiffing bunch of renegades and rascals if I say so myself. It was decided to go into Ardar with our fleets backing each other up. The first potential targets of the night was a fleet of battle cruisers from Focused Intentions alliance, Los Chupacabras' erstwhile alliance mates, were seen loitering around Egmar and Taff and with some excitement, the Gentlemen raced in and settled on the main Taff to Egmar gate. However it looked like the FI chaps were tipped off and they docked up and logged off. Not too discouraged, the combined fleet moved down towards the Ardar system - a busy system with plenty of potential. As the leading elements of our fleet (led by the Gentlemen) went through into Ardar, they discovered a 'SCUM.' alliance almost twice the numbers of the Gentlemen were sitting on the gate. Both sides were criminal so gate guns would have stayed silent.


There was plenty of yellow boxing but the SCUM. alliance did not engage [SCONE] and instead jumped through and docked up a station.


With Vixen's 'Edge of a Broken Heart'** thumping away over the speakers we tried to entice the SCUM. alliance pilots to undock but they were not playing. However, since The Bastards were one jump away and holding on a gate, we *did* catch one SCUM straggler who popped and podded. 

**Vixen's 'Edge of a broken heart' topped the UK and US charts in 1988. I also knew that another 80s icon, Richard Marx wrote the song...


So with visions of big hair, shoulder pads and lipstick (and this is the guys were were talking about) - the fleet roared into Molden Heath where we took leave of the Gentlemen; our Guilty Pleasure playlist being too much for our fellow pirates. 


On arrival to Oddelulf, we spied a small grouping of ships: an ishtar, hurricane and falcon all clustered around the high-sec gate to Gefliven. TheHermit, Fiz and Hin, with T'Pau, Queen and The Bangles blasting away decided to have a go at these chaps. TheHermit opened up on the hurricane who leisurely yellow-boxed him back. The hurricane was down to armour and then jumped into high-sec. The gang then switched over to the ishtar and once again, the gang opened up. The ishtar pilot wasn't stupid - he probably knew that as soon as he returned fire we would jump in. So he sat there, tanking and (probably) enjoying our music. It was so loud that we could hear it clearly through our ventrilo speaker whenever anyone spoke....and we weren't even streaming it through. 


However, once the ishtar was down to low-armour we knew he was getting ready to jump. He was teasing us. The cad. 


Fate, obviously, had a sense of humour as roaring into sniping range was a lass called 'Ariartus' who volleyed the ishtar straight into hull and into a lovely explosion straight-after. I bet the ishtar pilot didn't see that one coming! However, Ariartus wasn't in our gang and therefore a viable target - there was no communications before hand and besides, he turned his guns onto Hinaj and knocked his ass down to hull too. All is fair in love and war so Fizixx raced over and tackled the tempest and killed him. The pod got away. 

Heaven is a place called earth

With Alannah Myles now caressing our ears with 'Black Velvet' (classic one song hit from 1990 that won her a grammy award) - we started our journey back but amazingly we missed a dominix, a loki (NO!!!) and two drakes as we burned back home. Just a tad slow on the tackle by the fleet. I blame Belinda Carlisle for missing the loki as 'Heaven is a place called earth' certainly had all of us in a crazy sing-a-long. This track was Belinda Carlisle's only number one, topping the UK charts at number one for two weeks and the US billboard. A great song by the ex-Go-Go singer but cost us the loki. Worth it? Discuss.  


As per usual, our fleets tend to see action as we come home and this time it was no exception. Initially we thought it was a camp on the Todi / Evati gate but it was actually a fight. Time to gate crash it but we jumped in too late and only managed to snag a BRICK SQUAD drake after chasing one of their devoters and harbingers as it raced off the gate. We did get nearly all of the loot that was left from the big fight though and it contained some nice gear, so bonus!


Oh, a shout out to Tibbs who linked in a special version of Bonnie Tyler's 'Total Eclipse of the heart' - a literal version. MUST SEE. 


The Bastards Guilty Pleasures Playlist, 26th October 2010:


Take on Me - A-Ha
Edge of a broken heart - Vixen
Alone - Heart
We Built this City - Starship
Crockett's Theme (from Miami Vice) - Jan Hammer
Kyrie - Mr Mister 
If you leave me now - Chicago 
Hello - Lionel Richie

Livin' on a prayer - Bon Jovi 
Total Eclipse of the Heart (Literal version) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIO2e0pYtSg - Bonnie Tyler 

Hero - Bonnie Tyler
we are the champions - Queen
simply the best - Tina Turner
because the night - Patti Smith Group
the one i love - REM
i drove all night - Cyndi Lauper
the power of love - Jennifer Rush
heaven is a place on earth - Belinda Carlisle
is this love? - Whitesnake
black velvet - Alannah Myles
died in your arms - Cutting Crew
total eclipse of the heart - Bonnie Tyler
china in your hand - T'Pau
how you remind me - Nickleback
love hurts - Nazereth / Cher? 
every rose has its thorn - Poison
nothing compares to you - Sinead Oconnor
drive - The Cars
broken wings - Mr Mister
hard to say im sorry - Chicago
the living years - Mike and the Mechanics
when i see you smile - Bad English
it must have been love - Roxette
eternal flame - The Bangles
Sweet Child o' mine - Guns 'n' Roses

Intercept roam!

Tuesday night is my FC slot and pushing the time back just a wee bit; I linked into fleet chat with z0de and others all milling about in local and waiting for me. I was made boss but z0de had an interesting idea: he saw that there was a large Dark-Rising [DARK] fleet in Evati, specifically in the Minmatar plex. z0de, wanting to kick the night off with a bang urged the fleet to suicide jump into the lot and hope to get a kill (or two). I actually thought it would be a good idea and switched to my vexor and roared after z0de. As I activated the acceleration gate, I yelled out in the local broadcast:

"One million per ship! This is a ransom! One million per ship!"

The other pirates, too sensible to join z0de and I snickered in fleet chat as I tried to relay the situation. I landed right into the middle of a swarm of about twenty or so frigates. Who didn't hesitate to lock me and reduce my ship to pieces. I didn't get a single ransom. Nor did z0de. Suitably blooded, I rejoined the fleet and grabbed my claw and within a minute; the fleet was out.

With 14 pilots, a mixed gang of Bastards, Hellcats and recruits we zipped into null-sec. Our first port of call was the infamous EOA-ZC gate and as our scouts moved through; they reported back a bubble and two ships sitting about 200km or so off the gate. I ordered the scouts to bait them to a planet or belt but they didn't take it. Not deterred we moved on and our first catch was a harpy. Complete over kill but what we do? The assault frigate melted within seconds with much hooting and yarrs. We followed this up with a jaguar kill, once again melted it down to it's elements in a few seconds. Great job by Happy for the tackle. We continued with the roam and once again, a call came out.

"There's a hurricane on scan. I can see some probes out..." Reported back San, we moved out of system to give him time to scan the hurricane down without spooking the mission runner.

Ahead, I had Plat running as my scout and some other pilots stretched out. I wanted eyes.

"Hit."

A jolt went through me. I love the feeling when there's some immient violence.

"OK - we need one long point to go in and for San to fleet warp you." Michael and z0de were the two and they hovered eagerly near the gate.

"Found the hurricane - he's outside a wormhole. He's found a wormhole."

"Tacklers, jump jump jump. Warp to Happy. Confirm your points." Two flashes and Michael and z0de were gone, re-appearing thousands of kilometres away and racing towards the hurricane.

The rest of the fleet waited impatiently.

"Point. Point." That was our signal.

"Fleet: jump, jump, jump. Warp to Happy." The fleet, almost snarling, jumped through and raced towards our single target. The hurricane was parked right outside a dazzling ball of light: the entrance to a wormhole. As I suspected, he was within jump range and quickly raced through into worm hole space.

"Everyone but me and Reyna - jump and follow that 'cane!"

Like a pack of wolves, the interceptor fleet fell upon the hurricane and tore it to pieces. Looting the wreck; there was a burst of chatter and noise.

"What did you say? Archon?"

"Yes! An Archon. Here in the worm hole!"

"Kill it!!" Suggested one pirate.

"Point it!"

"Point, point, point!"

"Drones are coming out, his warrior IIs are killing me." That sounded like Happy, the only voice I recognised as the voices seemed to get warped. A product of the worm hole?

"Er, are we going to kill it? I mean, the archon? Are we going to kill it?"

"Yes! Let's do it" Replied z0de, somewhat enthusiastically.

"We're not going to kill it. Not with 13 inties. Not an Archon." Injected Fish, with a bit of reality. "He might have smarties."

"He would have used them by now. Let's go!!"

So the inties swarmed around the Archon like angry flies - now, I would love to have the night end with an Archon kill but it became obvious that thirteen inties would not be able to dent the beast and I reluctantly gave the order to disengage and continue with the roam. There were some grumbles from the pilots include z0de who was quite adamant that they should have stayed longer.

The gang continued to move with scouts pushing ahead and pinging their scanners furiously for targets but there was nothing. As the group came together, our scouts, only one jump ahead cleared the way but communications broke down somewhat. A large gang had jumped into our system and their ship types reported back. We were aligned to our next destination and we followed the scouts - the camp appeared to be on our side and with our angel of approach; it was unlikely a bubble could pull us out. We landed and activated the gate and we were then faced with an even bigger camp. Not good. Hesitation killed us as we should have GTFO: the camp had not dropped an interdiction sphere and when it did - the bubble grew slowly enough for most of the frigates to get away; if we had warped away instantly. Instead, four of the gang were caught and destroyed.

Disappointed, the surviving fleet rendevoused with me, two systems away and we re-grouped and proceeded on our way. A slight detour but we were on track and after two more jumps, the group was chatting and having fun once again. The loss of four colleagues now just a memory. Happy spotted a rupture while Fish managed to track down an ishtar. As I decided to split up the fleet, sending some to the rupture and the rest to the ishtar - Happy announced that he had lost the rupture, most likely it went to a pos. Just as this report was being posted, Fish announced that not only had he found the ishtar, he had pointed it and it was at the UBX-CC gate. Just one jump away.

Not waiting, I ordered the fleet to warp to the gate and held back half of the interceptors on this side while the rest whipped in.

"Point!"

"Web it!! It's too fast."

"He has stopped aggression; he is going to be jumping through to you Flash." Said Fish, due to the gate mechanics, it required a ship to wait for 30 seconds before the excess energy built up from firing weapons systems, could be bled out and for the jump gate to be activated. That's why it is always a good idea to have a tackler(s) on both sides of the gate. There was a flash of light as the star gate registered a new arrival.

"Ishtar has jumped to you Flash."

"All ship on the UBX-CC gate, orbit the gate with drones out please. Over load your pumps." We had to maximise our chances and behold, an ishtar dropped gate cloak and started to align. I was 28km and closing, my microwarpdrive burning brightly. The ishtar disappeared from my overview.

"Ishtar has a cloak. Moving towards last known position."

While a cloak is a miracle of modern sciene, it doesn't make one invulnerable. The Ishtar dropped gate cloak and quickly engaged his cloak. However, the inties with me had a very good idea where he was and burned towards him - once you are withing 2000m of a cloaked ship, the interference from your engines cause the cloak to short and disengage. So the ishtar was found, pointed and webbed once more.

"Point and we need more DPS."

The Ishtar was fully repped back up in terms of armour, much to my chagrin but we kept at it and pounded away until it was down to 10% when he once more stopped aggression and crawled close enough to the gate to jump. Happy and Fish both stopped their aggression as well and prepared to jump. We had wisely left two more interceptors on the other side of the gate just in case. The ishtar jumped and was promptly pointed once more on the other side.

We were in a dilemma however: we had 50% of our ships on either side of the gate and it was clear that we needed a touch more DPS to crack the armour tank on the HAC. However, should I commit our entire strength in one go?

"He's de-aggressing. Flash, get ready again." Said Viginti.

Moments later, the ishtar was back and his armour was whole. He cloaked up and we burned towards him, breaking his cloak. We pointed and we webbed.

"Point!" I yelled.

"Webbed." Said Michael.

I checked the distance between the ishtar and the gate: 12KM and he was slowed to a crawl; looked like this time, I had all the webbers with me - some luck. We poured on the fire and he tanked very well but slowly, under the onslaught, damage was bleeding into his hull. It started looking likely that he wasn't going to make it. Everyone piled in, the star gate flashing as my fleet mates raced in, eager for the kill. We left only one person behind.

"Overload. Overload." With the extra damage from overheating our guns, pushing them beyond their manufactured tolerances; we should be able to crack this ishtar. Slowly, inexorably, the ishtar began to die: leaking our fluids and sections of his ship decompressing as precious atmosphere vomiting out. With the help of our webbers, we finally popped the troublesome ishtar. It was fitted and piloted very well by Captain Teneal.

We finally got back home in one piece and it was a superb roam. Well done by all.

Skigannon came back.

Jubes and I tackled Skigannon, once again in his ishtar. Jubes went in first and tackled then called me in. Mid-way through warp I saw 'gf' from Skigannon.

I mean, WTF? I thought to myself.

On arrival, Jubes' hurricane-class battlecruiser (a dual rep active tank setup) was not there, just a smoking wreck. Drones were buzzing around and I was a tad worried, I locked and webbed Skigannon and was disappointed to see that the majority of the shields were still there and his armour was untouched.

Oh dear i thought.

No matter, I had Hail M loaded, not the best choice against shields but Jubes did cause enough damage that my drones managed to strip off the remaining shields quickly enough. My 425mm ACs (refitted from the usual dual-180mm ACs) opened up with a furious barrage. Hail M is a real motherfucker of an ammo, specialised yes, but it was perfect for this engagement: short and sweet. No tracking issues (due to both of us being webbed) and no running either.

However, Skigannon's drones (ogre IIs) ripped my shield to pieces and I was toggling first one and then both MAR IIs to keep my hull safe. However, his armour was being blasted off too - and from memory, he had only one MAR II and a Med Capacitor Booster in place. I was hoping that I would be on top. His armour disappeared before his MAR could cycle and his was in hull. The Hail ammo absolutely ate into him while I was tanking with about 55% armour and holding.

Skigannon's Ishtar went down to 50% and yes, it seemed to be just sitting there, I had this horrible feeling once more but the Gods of wars were with me and his hull popped. I snapped the scrambler towards the pod but he insta-warped out of there.

I grabbed all the surviving mods from Jubes' wreck and what was left from Skigannon. Once more, I congratulated Skigannon on what I think is the best Ishtar fit I have seen. Over the last two engagements, I have managed to get an idea on what his low-slot fit might be.