Entry: four hundred fifty-four, supplemental five.
Region: Catch
FC: Aggressively Stupid
Time: 03:50
FC: Guys, free burn to CZK-.
Intel Channel: Anyone up for a POS bash in Efa?
Me: What size tower is it?
Intel Channel: Small.
Me: Sure, fleet invite?
**********
System: 25S-
Region: Catch
Time: 04:00
Me: Computer: Set Destination Efa.
Computer: Route calculated. RR-DO5, 4-07, 49-U, 8QT-, UYU-, 9CG, 3-F, Efa.
**********
System: Efa
Security Status: 0.4
Location: Planet V, Moon X
Time: 04:45
72Inches: Tower's down, thanks for coming guys.
Computer: terminate entry.
Entry: four hundred fifty-four, supplemental four.
System: CZK-
Region: Catch
Time: 03:30
FC: Aggressively Stupid
Hakawu: Guys, there's a Sedition gang coming in behind us. Looks like battlecruisers.
FC: Alright guys, reship into battlecruisers.
**********
System: CZK-
Region: Catch
Time: 03:40
FC: Aggressively Stupid
Hakawu: The Sedition gang has stopped in HY-! A triple a gang just jumped into system, there's going to be a fight!
FC: Guys, burn to HY-! Get there as fast as you can!
**********
System: HY-
Region: Catch
Time: 03:45
FC: Aggressively Stupid
Hakawu: The trip a FC is asking us to stay here.
*triple a gang warps off to another gate*
FC: Ok, I guess we'll stay here, in case Sedition comes back.
Hakawu: Don't do it, they're going to go rape that fleet and leave us out.
*a minute passes, pods start trickling in to our gate*
Hakawu: Goddamn triple a, I told you they were going to do this. Don't ever listen to them when they tell you stay somewhere, because when they do it means they are going to rape the enemy and leave you with pods.
Grunt: Hurricane landing!
*I jump through*
Hakawu: Pointed! Get webs guys!
*I got a web and scram, but he gatecrashed and jumped back through into the main fleet*
Grunt: Hurricane down!
Grunt: A lot of pods coming in...
FC: Yeah, but pods aren't enough to slake my bloodthirst...next time I won't listen to triple a, like Hak said.
Computer: terminate recording.
Entry: four hundred fifty-four, supplemental two.
System: Hemin
Region: Curse
Time: 02:45
FC: Aggressively Stupid
Fleet Composition: mostly frigates.
Aggressively Stupid: Fleet jump warp to StonerPhreak!
Hakawu: The Machariel is getting away! Someone get a point!
StonerPhreak: I can't hold him!
Hakawu: Get a...he's gone.
StonerPhreak: Cynabal landing! Get him!
Aggresively Stupid: Get points and webs! He's burning out of the bubble!
Grunt: Point!
Grunt: Point!
Grunt: Web!
Grunt: Point!
Hakawu: Burn him down guys!
Me: 'Dammit! Why can't I lock him! Lock you PIECE OF SHIT! LOCK!!!'
Grunt: Point on Pod!
*Hammering from lasers, pod destroyed*
Computer: terminate entry.
Entry: four hundred fifty-four, supplemental one.
System: 8G-MQV
Region: Curse
Time: 02:09
FC: Aggressively Stupid
Fleet Compostion: frigates
Hakawu: I've got a frig gang on the out gate...there's a drag bubble!...I'm landing...they've got me tackled, I'm going d...
Aggressively Stupid: Jump into 8G! Jump jump jump warp to Hak! Jump warp to Hak Jump warp to Hak!
Hakawu: They've got me tackled...I'm going down!
Aggressively Stupid: Can you get away?
Hakawu: No...I'm webbed and scrammed, come on guys, get here.
Grunt: Landing!
Hakawu: I'm into structure, I'm dead guys...
Aggressively Stupid: Get that Vengeance!
Grunt: Point!
Grunt: Point!
Grunt: Web!
Aggressively Stupid: Take him out guys!
*dictor bubble goes up, Vengeance explodes*
Grunt: Point on pod!
Aggressively Stupid: Kill the pod. Hak, did they get your pod?
Hakawu: No. I got away. I'm going to reship, looks like...two jumps out.
Aggressively Stupid: Fast tackle, get me a bouce!
Computer: terminate recording.
Entry: four hundred fifty-four.
Back on my home planet, I lived in a desert. I'm not talking the endless sand dunes and stripped-bare landscape, but the other type. The type where every plant and animal causes immense pain or can kill with a touch, where the air is so dry it sucks the water right out of you and leaves the ground so parched it's not simply cracked, but baked and broken. The type where it is so hot and so dry, you will literally die of heatstroke in twenty minutes if you are exposed to direct sunlight and not hydrated constantly.
Back on my home planet, when it rained, it flooded, destroying anything and everything unlucky enough to not be on the high ground. Today reminded me of that. Pilot on pilot bloodthirst seemed to come out of nowhere, spiraling madly about our regions of null-sec. Any pilot not partaking of the bloodletting willingly was getting his blood sucked into space unwillingly.
The first hour of my day was relatively peaceful. Orders had come down from Alliance Command for redeployment to CZK- on successful agreement of a NIP, non-invasion-pact, with our enemies attempting to take and hold space in Delve. Razor, Morsus Mihi, and Brick Squad were reluctant to sign, only now agreeing upon realization that the DRF was on Catch's doorstep. Considering how easily we've steamrolled them, if we get steamrolled by the DRF, they most certainly have no chance at a home away from the rules of CONCORD. With this NIP signed and sealed, redeployment orders given, I moved the vast majority of my frigates to CZK- from 9CG6-H without incident.
Incident occurred during relocation of my Hound, the final ship I was moving. Timestamp: zero-one hours.
NCdot had sent a few bait vessels to sit on the CZK- station. I warped at zero to a Dry Dock bookmark, away from the undock for situations such as these. However, the undock was not bubbled, so I sat at zero on the station. A friendly Harbinger was some one hundred fifty to two hundred kilometers from station. Without warning, the NCdot fleet got a warp-in on that Harbinger, a Hurricane landing the full force of the NanoCane upon it.
The Harbinger dropped a can, being out of fleet, and I warped to it at thirty, realizing too late that local was spiking with hostiles. A hostile Sabre noticed and burned for me, dropping a bubble. My torpedoes had little effect, and my Hound and my life were taken away from me in the space of a minute. While waiting to die in my pod, I got front row seats to watch the Harbinger pilot demonstrate the painful death I was about to experience.
I woke back up in the CZK- station. I didn't waste any time, rushing out of the medical bay ordering my Guardian made ready as calls came out for logistics. The headaches were unbearable, and my recollection of those first few moments is so painful I almost wish I would have just died forever instead. I ran, barefoot, metal grating into my feet as I scurried to make it in time, that other pain easing the pain in my head slowly but surely. I didn't spend time on proper procedure when I got to my pod; I jumped in and boarded the Guardian, cursing the undock procedure, between waking up and actually leaving the station, at taking a full minute.
I immediately locked up any friendlies under fire and gave reps. A minute of this passed before points were called as needed, as the hostiles were starting to withdraw. I docked, wasting another full minute on changing into a Claw and undocking.
Fleet formed quickly between those who had engaged NCdot on the station. Fleet was only at twenty-four of the seventy-three in local, however. Much grumbling commenced at this, from myself included.
The hostiles were sighted in warp to CNC-. Tackle was ordered to warp to it at zero and aggress. Our scout in CNC-, Sweet Bitterness, reported no hostiles in CNC-. Shortly after, the enemy fleet was sighted in warp to 4NBN- and we warped at zero. Some of us, mostly tacklers, landed first, and jumped through to get points as they were running away.
I arrived in 4NBN-, enemy dictor bubble up. FC called the order to hold cloak a second too late, as I already had engaged my mwd away from the gate. The enemy fleet was battlecruiser heavy, a few Scimitars, a few tacklers. I had a hard time dealing with the Dramiel trying to eliminate me, but it was having a hard time with me as well, barely dealing damage to me as it held me with a long point. The battlecruisers did the most damage to me, and I did my best to repair while pointing while microwarping out of lock range of the enemy fleet.
Somehow, I managed to survive with most of my hull intact, armor stripped bare and slagged to shit, sparks as the last remnants of my recharging shields. I had evaded death, but was still a target as evidenced by redboxed drones and the tacklers that drove me off from providing warp-ins on the enemy fleet. It seemed that the friendly fleet had found their opportunity in me and a few other tacklers distracting them, and had managed to destroy some of the enemy fleet's battlecruisers and frigates. In my escape from a second, extremely painful demise, I had missed that part of that play.
The FC hadn't seen where the enemy fleet went. I and two others warped to the X4 gate. It's where everyone goes to get away in 4NBN- when the retreat is sounded. I called hostiles sighted on the X4- gate as I landed, having by then recharged half of my shields and reformed half of my armor into something resembling a buffer between life and death.
We chased them. X4-, Q-U, EX6- gate, and then we lost them. We snagged another few kills in the chase, most notably a Hurricane in Q-U on the EX6- gate, caught a stop bubble and then a tackler on his game. I'd have held him on the X4- gate, but I slipped and got inside of neut range of the Hurricane, allowing him to slip through my grasp.
We didn't leave any pods intact. All were destroyed with excessive prejudice. Looting commenced and was finished quickly, I myself gaining seven four twenty-fives, quite a few scooped drones, a corpse, a covert ops cloak, and some BCUs with a Nanofiber hull upgrade.
Fleet returned to CZK- to reship for the planned frigate roam at zero-one hours.
Computer: terminate recording.
Entry: four hundred fifty-three, supplemental one.
There was an emergency CTA called today for twenty-thirty hours. I was busy, and didn't make it back in time to join the fight. Computer: link battle report.
As you can see, at the time of this recording, there were one thousand one hundred seventeen friendlies and seven hundred forty-four hostiles. Lag in the system was soul-crushing as reported by corp mates. I'm both happy and sad that I missed the fight. I've no desire to experience another instance of Uemon, back when the Deklein Coalition made an attempt at helping the NC against the DRF. I am, however, very happy that the DRF lost that fight.
Having missed the CTA, I set about doing other things.
Not long after I clone jumped from Dantumi to 9CG6-H, calls came out over an intel channel that a neutral Munnin was pinned on the 3-F gate in I1Y-. I rushed over in a four hundred plated Rifter, as I have five of them, and took the bridge from 9CG6-H to 3-F. Upon arrival, I immediately warped to the I1Y- gate and jumped, having learned that the Munnin had aggression.
As I arrived in I1Y-, I realized the Munnin was gone. The Munnin was called as having warped to the bottom belt, so I warped at zero to it. Several seconds later, I landed on the Munnin and pointed and webbed it. I took quite a bit of damage while my microwarpdrive was still active, but once it deactivated and I settled into a five hundred meter orbit, I was safe from the four twenty-fives it was fitted with. A friendly Zealot and one other ship I didn't catch eliminated the Munnin with me. I came out of the fight with twenty-two percent armor remaining and made my way back to 9CG for repairs with some loot in the hold.
Feeling strung up on adrenaline, I and several others set up a gate camp on the Efa gate in 3-F. It wasn't long before snowman1, the poor pilot of the Munnin returned with friends. He was, apparently, not content to let us keep our space to ourselves, and wanted some revenge.
When we learned that they were fielding two Canes and two Drakes, we engaged. I microwarped towards the broadcasted Hurricane, webbed and scrammed him, and poured bullets into him as I set a close orbit. He wasn't hitting me once the microwarp went off, but his drones were chipping away at me. I aligned out at three quarters armor, and then activated my microwarpdrive. Just as I thought I was going to bite it, the neutral gang deaggressed, and I wasted no time warping to my bounce point some two hundred kilometers above the gate. I was in half structure, fire bleeding from my Rifter's left nacelle. I wasn't able to do much else at that point except be annoying to the remaining enemies by warping in and locking, but never aggressing.
The first ship to fall was snowman1's Hurricane. Second was the Hurricane piloted by Technotrope. The last ship to fall was Tsavoungla's Drake. The only pilot with any sense of them was wormy1, who burned far away from the gate, and when the final Drake was going down, warped out and then jumped back to Efa. The other three pilots were podded after being caught in warp disruption bubbles.
Feeling even more strung out on adrenaline, and with some more loot and scooped drones, I went back to 9CG for repairs yet again, then made my way out to Molea. I'd heard that the Sansha were launching an attack on capsuleers there, and I burned the eighteen jumps to get there. The Amarr didn't let up on their hatred of me, trying to pin me down as I jetted from gate to gate, calling me out in local and inviting everyone to have a shot at me. As I burned, details came in that the fight was taking place on the Galida gate.
I eventually arrived in Molea, and warped to the Galida gate. A mass of Sansha and capsuleers were battling it out: the podders with their emo-rage, the Sansha with their rhetoric, and both with every weapon possible.
I joined in.
I targeted the nearest Sansha vessels repeatedly, spraying explosive charges at them in the form of Fusion S as I orbited them with my microwarpdrive on. As it turns out, one twenty fives deal full damage even while orbiting at five hundred with the microwarp active. I made sure to continue this throughout the fight, as the Rifter is actually just barely cap stable with only the microwarpdrive active. I weaved in an out, sometimes deactivating the microwarp in lieu of a scram and web when the enemy was attempting escape. I kept them pinned down, and the flood of missiles finished them off.
After killing quite a few Sansha, the Sansha fleet primaried me. Damage started coming in, and my shields vanished without a trace. Armor was starting to melt. I veered away from my victim, away from the fleet, and burned away, trailing out molten armor in a widening spiral away from the Sansha until some minutes later they changed primaries due to their failure to lower my armor beyond eight-eight percent intact.
Free of most of the enemy fleet, I made for the violent wormhole. I had no idea if it would work, but I burned for it, setting orbit at five hundred and scramming, webbing, and shooting the hole. This attracted the attention of a few Sansha frigate and cruiser vessels, forcing me to change targets while the main fleet destroyed them.
And then, without warning ten minutes later, the Sansha vanished into the wormhole, taking the wormhole with them. Strung out and junked up on yet more adrenaline, and pure joy at how the day had turned out, I burned the eighteen jumps back to 9CG, not caring if the Imperial Navy was after me or not.
I took a break for a few hours.
When I came back, nothing much happened for a bit, and then a request for assistance came over intel for the OTKF- gate in 3-F. I switched out my hero Rifter for a Claw, undocked, and bridged to 3-F yet again, and warped to the OTKF- gate. I set orbit for one thousand, pre-heating my warp disruptor two and priming it for action.
I orbited for almost ten minutes as additional help slowly formed up on the OTKF- gate before the neutral jumped through in a Harbinger. He must have panicked when he saw us, because he didn't wait out his session change timer, and he didn't attempt a gatecrash, instead electing to attempt a warp out with my interceptor on the field. He most assuredly did not make it out in one piece. I bridged back to 9CG and docked.
I took another break, just messing around while keeping the intel channels open. No reason at all why I can't do something else if nothing is going on, and some hours later, intel came out for a neutral in 3-F. There was no visual on the pilot, but she seemed fairly young. I undocked in the Claw yet again and bridged to 3-F.
I warped and jumped OTKF-, the usual first jump out from 3-F. No sighting in local, so I re-approached and jumped. I warped to I1Y-, a typical second choice, and again no visual, so I re-approached and jumped. At this point, the only hope for catching the interloper was 9SBB-, a system I had recently learned had had the 3-F gate bubbled beyond insane. By the look of it, the bubbles reach out about seventy kilometers from the gate in all directions, possibly more. If she was still catchable, that would be the place.
I warped 9SBB- and jumped into the bubble field.
Sure enough, there was Darven Beast, logged out because her neocom wasn't registering in local, but still there, trapped in the bubble field. I pointed it, shot it, and it made like a tissue at a snot party. Her pod followed immediately after.
It's been one hell of a day, but it's been a great one.
Computer: terminate recording.
Entry: four hundred fifty-three.
System: Mara
Security Status: 0.4
Local Count: 2
It was a long trip from Catch to here. I had a specific plan in mind with this trip, namely setting up a clone to fly with the RUDE pilots and the few in Shadows of the Federation now that that corporation is going full pirate.
Six jumps out in my somewhat unorthodox armor rifter, I see Suddenly Swag pop up in the RUDE public chat. He's looking for a fight, but low-sec is empty tonight. I offer up a duel, being only six jumps out. He agrees, and I continue my course while scanning the market for nearby faction ammo.
I didn't find any. I have lots of crap ammo in the hold, just no faction ammo. These rifters weren't designed for laying the smack-down in PvP, they were designed for tackling the crap out of hostile targets in null-sec fleets and killing drones. I don't use good ammo for killing drones.
With my four hundred plate, one twenty-fives, microwarp, web, and scram, I'm as ready as I'm going to get. I load up Fusion S, expecting an armor rifter.
I jump in Mara, and the location is agreed on as Mara planet two. Swag warps to zero, I warped at fifty. I'm fit to brawl, but I like to leave a little leeway to see if I need to change ammo to EMP S.
As we burn towards each other, I'm not seeing shield related speed, but he's definitely moving at afterburner speed. I microwarp at him, prime my guns, and aggress at fifteen kilometers, web set to overheat.
As I pull in range at about seven kilometers, I'm seeing that I'm having a very hard time with his shields. Thinking perhaps he was shield fit after all, I disarm and swap out for EMP S. Ten seconds pass as he pounds into my shields, stripping them and knocking me into top armor as my guns finish reloading.
Web and scram on him, scram and web on me, I've set the orbit for five hundred to get under his guns, almost certainly bigger than my one twenty-fives. His shields evaporate, but his armor is taking a bit longer than I would like, and I'm nearing a third armor gone.
I overheat the top rack. One twenty-fives can take quite a bit of heat damage even without using paste.
The damage is coming in a little slower now, which is excellent as I'm doing stupid amounts of damage compared to him. His bigger guns are having issues, my one twenty-fives are having a walk in the park. Still, this armor is taking a bit, and I find myself wondering if he's packing a four-hundred plate.
At about forty percent armor, he hits structure. When I hit twenty-two percent armor, his ship crumples in on itself, resulting in an explosion as the warp core blows.
Having aggressed, I've got the GCC. I wait it out while Swag reships. At the end of the timer, I dock up for repairs, and then return to Mara for round two. Planet two is the again agreed upon location, but a hostile cane enters system, so we fleet up and warp to a safe spot. Our duel took place there once we made range on each other.
He burns to seventy kilometers from me, and I wonder what the deal is. I suspect artillery, but I'm not sure. One thing is for sure, however, he's got a microwarpdrive. His speed is cresting thirty-five hundred, and with that speed, he's either uselessly overheating on an armor tank, or he has no tank, or he has a shield tank. EMP S fits the bill two out of three times, so I reload from the Fusion for an armor Rifter that I had prepared.
I wait him out. Patience is key. At seventy kilometers, he isn't doing anything to me, and with my four hundred plate, he's faster by far.
A minute passes. He stops skirting me at seventy and starts coming at me, microwarp off. I told him I wasn't going to blow my cap uselessly chasing him.
Another minute passes, we're within forty of each other. I set my camera bots on his ship, watching his approach, his engine flares, his speed...
Thirty seconds have passed, he's at thirty, and his approach angle is changing. I overload the microwarp on my ship and burn at him. Overheat the web and scram and guns...wait for it...I lock at twenty and my web catches him as a I zip by. I don't zip by too far, however; the overheated web is still holding him at twelve kilometers as two volleys from his guns strip my shields. I microwarp back in at him, land the scram, and set orbit for five hundred.
Up close, he has no chance of hitting me at my speed, and my guns are hitting him just fine. One twenty-fives are boss-mode. His ship makes like the big bang mere seconds after I get in close on him.
We have a good chat afterwards. I never made an attempt to catch his pod. There are multiple reasons, but the most relevant is that he's an acquaintance of Anjali's. He logged off soon afterwards.
Reviewing the first fight, I felt as though the first fight was pretty even. I was using EMP S on his armor tank with one twenty-fives, while he was using Fusion on my armor tank with tech one one-fifties. Given that his active armor tank crumbled before my four hundred plate buffer did however, I'm getting the feel that this four hundred plate microwarp combo is pretty good.
Review of the second fight is of an entirely different issue, coming down to piloting instead of effective hitpoints. By waiting him out, I forced him to approach, and at the right moment I screamed towards him and managed to catch him.
Computer: terminate recording.
Entry: four hundred fifty.
Where I'm largely the fleet style pilot, Anjali is more focused in the dueling arena of combat. The difference hit particularly hard today in replaying her roam today with her corpmates and some loosely allied pirates in her fleet.
After watching what was largely a failed roam starting in Dantumi and ending in F7C- in Pure Blind, due to weight class issues and general aversion of combat from potential victims, Anjali made several errors. The first, she was scouting, and in bouncing off of the sun to reach the next gate towards J5A-IX, she evaded a set of drag bubbles. She failed to relay this as the fleet jumped in, telling them to warp to the 0-Z gate, as the fleet was spoiling for a fight. Having not bounced, the fleet was dragged past the gate, and because of unfamiliarity with drag bubbles, most of the frigate gang she scouted for was destroyed and podded in that bubble.
The second mistake, after escaping, was going back. She knew full well that it was a frigate gang with interceptors in the mix, and she went back in her Slicer anyways. Because of how things have worked out, her speed isn't what anyone would call top-notch, and her thermodynamics skills are non-existent. Overconfidence, or a disregard for the odds, were her enemy.
The third mistake was what I think everyone would call pilot error. As it happened, she was evading the frigate gang quite well for a full minute, matching or beating their speeds, and even though she was warp disrupted, she drove off a Crow and a Rifter. She failed to destroy them, but she did drive off two of the eight frigates before being destroyed herself. How she got caught was what seems to be a lapse in paying attention to a particular Rifter that was closing in on her, and having failed to alter her path in time, the Rifter landed a scram on her, pinning her in place for the slaughter.
To be frank, her piloting skills impressed me. With only two and a half million skillpoints and a plan she was doing quite well. But also, to be frank, I'm pretty dubious about being able to fly that well in those situations. Maybe I can fly better, technically speaking, but in execution? I don't know. And here I sit with nearly twenty-three million skillpoints myself.
I wonder how she would view my type of piloting, which is to say tackling for a huge fleet with the other huge fleet doing everything it can to hit you with those battleship sized weapons. Would she think it was easier? Harder?
Then again, I have to wonder if what we each do is really different. Maybe it's just stylistic, maybe its circumstantial. Maybe there's no real difference, even though they feel separate.
It's not often I find a new found respect for something, but with successful pirates...there's something great going on there, and I intend to discover it.
Computer: terminate recording.
Entry: four hundred forty-seven.
System: NOL-. Region: Delve.
Allied forces are currently engaging a rapecaged enemy tower. I'm unsure of who it belongs to, but given all the Brick Squad in system, I'm inclined to think it's theirs. I'm flying my Claw again,as per the norm. I was the first to land at the tower per orders of Archie. I've never tanked POS guns before, but it's an intoxicating feeling to be moving so fast that you are immune to the weapons of a heavily defended tower.
I've been manually orbiting the tower for but a few minutes at this point, evading enemy POS weapons as though they didn't exist. I feel almost as though I'm on drugs.
Pull up, keep that transversal up...turn around...ah there's the fleet landing now. Bubble bubble bubble...bubbles everywhere. They've got no choice but to hide in the tower while the fleet reinforces it. Just a few moments have passed by and I've already traveled a third of the circumference of the forcefield. Wait...is that Drake trying to make a break a for it?
Alter course downwards at the Drake. Lock, lock, lock...got him! Reverse direction, hold him down dammit...hahahahaha bye bye buddy, lemme snag your helpless pod while we're at it.
For my first flyby, that was pretty damn impressive I think. Now just to make sure no one else gets away.
"Recording Paused."
"Recording Resumed."
It's been about an hour since this log was paused. After destroying the relevant SBUs and TCUs, we gated back to NOL- and have been waiting at the station here.
Action went largely as expected, with only three ships managing to make it out. I believe they were a Slicer, a Dramiel, and some sort of Recon ship. Following tower reinforcement, we gated to M2-XFE. Tacklers always camp gates, and so we got a few more additional kills while the Alpha fleet wiped out structures, although a Manticore did manage to slip in and a Proteus managed to slip out.
While waiting, I've learned that Cascade Imminent is taking over the space that once belonged to CONVICTED. For reasons unknown to me, CONVICTED decided to drop all sov in Delve and just go away somewhere. My corp is going to be holding sov in this region, technically speaking, even though our home base is still in Catch and we're deployed at Querious. I've also learned that as of a few hours ago, our alliance, and hence coalition, has blued BORG. That struck me as a bit of a surprise.
We've lost little in the way of ships today. There've been quite a few bombing runs, but they always seem to fail. By and large, we've dominated the field today, with the ten minute exception of Brick Squad warping in a sniper battleship fleet on us at the station. Being at the station, we just docked, and then came out when we were good and ready and drove them off back into the POS mentioned earlier.
We're headed home now. With only a few minutes left on that TCU timer, Brick couldn't stop us if they wanted to.
Computer: terminate recording.
Entry: four hundred forty-four, supplemental one.
Recruiting has been restricted as of today. After kicking someone suspected of being a spy, I've been told to auto-reject anyone with previous affiliations with the NC. This is unsurprising, I just wonder why such a rule wasn't put in place sooner given the crumbling states of RAZOR and Morsus Mihi. For sure this move eases concerns I have about recruiting these applicants.
There is a question to be resolved in this though: does this only apply to former NC, or does this also apply to former DC?
That aside, I went on my first Black Ops operation today. The fleet was surprisingly small.
After an hour of form up, we'd gotten about thirty-five members. We had a few recons, a few bombers, one Panther, but our biggest issues were the blockade runners and the covops cyno pilot. We only managed to get our covops cyno pilot after an hour of forming up. It had taken forty-five minutes to get the bare minimum of two blockade runners that we required.
Once we got the required ships, those being the Panther, the covert cyno, and the bloackade runners, we burned to D-3, somewhere that maps to south in my head but is actually in Delve. Upon arrival, we landed at a POS, and sat there for an hour and a half while we waited for activity to die down in the target system, PR- I believe. To pass the time, a few people attempted to find targets, but with fleets sized fifty and up roaming about, none were to be had. Our mini titan, the Panther, didn't get to light that sickly red cyno bridge.
I feel pretty secure in saying that the night was a failure, and though the FC thanked us for coming, even he had to admit that our operation was simply not possible tonight, and that he would try it again another night, when the friendlies aren't stirring up the hornets' nest.
I do feel pretty good about one thing however: I am apparently one of perhaps forty people in my timezone in my alliance capable of working in a Black Ops fleet. That's an old goal of mine, to be able to do Black Ops stuff: harassment, sieging behind enemy lines, surprise attacks.
Computer: terminate recording.
Entry: four hundred forty-four.
Last night was somewhat strange.
There wasn't much going on in the way of fleets. Hak had been advertising an intel chasing channel for the last half hour things were so dead. Just as they were about to leave, a fleet which I had elected not to join having attempted intel chasing in Deklein, Archie threw up the advert for a CTA I had been unaware of.
It was a Thorn op. I was curious. I had the ship, and could fit it properly for reimbursement, and had originally wanted to try this although previously missed the few Thorn ops prior to this one.
I was the first to join fleet, literally. I set about fitting out the ship properly for reimbursement, and a few minutes later I was set.
Members slowly trickled in. It seemed that Thorn ops weren't popular, and I can't say I really blame anyone. They're bomber structure shoots, no kills to be had really. Over the next half hour, we eventually built up about thirty-five members. Once everyone was fitted, we made our way to NOL-, Nulli Secunda space. The trip was uneventiful, mostly a free-burn.
Once there, we engaged one of the three SBUs,this particular one on the PR- gate. Shortly after engaging it, a neutral Sabre managed to get a warp-in and killed one of our bombers before warping off.
Following this was a game of cat and mouse of sorts. We would warp in, peck at the SBU, and then warp off when bombing runs were made on us. None of us died to bombs, and the only case of a bomb actually hitting someone was perhaps the fifth bombing run, where a Morsus Mihi Vagabond was burning at us, and a Morsus Mihi Hound decloaked to bomb us. We warped off and somehow the bomb hit the Vagabond. Man, Morsus Mihi and RAZOR really suck at using bombs.
Notable kills of the night were two cyno ships and two SBUs. Nulli Secunda helped us out wipe two of the three SBUs, leaving the third alone for whatever reason. Our fleet on its own managed to snag two cyno ships, both at towers. We only lost one bomber at the first cyno ship because the pilot burned directly at the tower instead of maintaining transversal.
Seeing that Nulli wasn't going to help us take out the third SBU in their space, we left it alone also and burned back to 9CG6-H. At this point we learned that our objective had actually been another structure in another system, but there had been no way for us to make it there with the fleet intact because of hostiles on the pipe to the target system. On top of that, Nulli had been engaged with a Black Legion fleet on that pipe for nearly an hour before being able to help us clear SBUs. They apparently won, because their fleet of a hundred or so was there to help us at the end.
In addition to that sov warfare strangeness, I was working on some recruiting business prior to the actual fleet rollout. It's a very strange situation. This particular pilot has been in and out of null sec three months at a time in three different alliances, two of which are Nulli and Against All Authorities, and one of which is Morsus Mihi.
I had a chat with him about various things, including those just mentioned. I didn't sense any dishonesty from him, but the situation is odd as a friend of his was recently recruited into our corp.
Given the situation and what I've learned about him, I'm willing to put him on probation for four months. If he remains active and doesn't leave before then, and doesn't seem to be a spy, he'll get to stay. His record, however, paints a picture which I think is likely to occur.
He'll stay with us for three months. In that time, he will be active one day a month, and very active that day. Aside from those three days, he'll not do much. After three months, he'll leave and return to high-sec.
He'll definitely not be allowed roles for a while if he gets accepted to the corp. Thankfully, that's not a decision I get to make.
Computer: terminate recording.
Entry: four hundred forty three, I think.
...not gonna bother double checking that...
...
...
Have you ever been driven to inaction simply because of someone else?
...
Today, an alliance mate named EvilDead put out an advert for home defense. Because I thought EvilDead was going to FC the affair, I did not join fleet. Something like fifteen minutes later, maybe thirty, I'm unsure, it seemed as though enough people had trickled into the fleet to put up an actual fight against the twenty odd RAZOR in our space.
So I joined. Not three minutes in, I hear the following:
EvilDead: "Guys, we have to get moving soon before they leave."
FC: "We need more logistics."
...
I left fleet.
The defense fleet had formed slowly. Logistics had not formed up. I was frustrated by the slowness of it.
As it turned out, the defense fleet had been forming a Nano gang. Since we're an armor alliance, this poses somewhat of a huge problem, as Scimitars are not typically on hand except for the occasional roam. Being honest, I can't recall any reimbursable shield fleets run by our alliance, and playing Scimitar on a non reimburseable op in an alliance that sports armor tanking as the primary meat and potatoes of everyday life is a poor deal to take, even if you are itching for action. It's essentially the sole reason that I've not fit another Scimitar since I lost my first out here.
...
So, not only was I annoyed that perhaps the one person in the entire alliance that I know I dislike was leading the roam, I was then annoyed at the slow formup, followed by the lack of willingness to form a proper gang. I went inactive. The fleet left perhaps five minutes later. I have no idea how well they did, but I have a strong feeling RAZOR probably did better. They use shield gangs more often, had five or more Scimitars, and our side was trying to emulate it when what we do best is armor.
...
I'm ambivalent about whether I should have joined that roam or not. I know this situation happens quite frequently, I've put up with it hundreds of times. On the one hand, I didn't go, and didn't gain or lose anything. On the other, I potentially missed out on some action. On the previous, I missed out on EvilDead. On the latter, I don't have any shield ships available, and any tackle ship I'd have brought would have been an instant loss with only the faint hope of being recorded on two to three killmails before being primaried.
...
It's a tough call...
Computer: terminate recording.
Entry: four hundred forty.
Archie logged on at twenty-three thirty yesterday and began forming us up. This was a non-critical station timer CTA, but we were going to show up. Since it was an ATLAS station being reinforced, we would know soon enough if RAZOR was coming to lay down another reinforcement on the station.
From: Archiebald Hornby
To: Cascade Imminent[FAIL]
Form up 9cg-
Have the following ready to roll
Shield Triage Carriers >AHACS> Guardians > Tackles
Shield Triage Carriers > Faildongs > Guardians > Tackles
As we formed up, he called for Faildongs. Once ready, we were to warp to the Titan and sit there until the bridge was up. Archie sent out a cyno pilot to the target system, A2-V27, and called for scouts in enemy systems to watch for formups. In addition to the subcap fleet, he called for carriers, both shield and armor triage.
Intel came across to us that the enemy subcap pilots were forming up into bombers. Archie changed the subcap fleet composition from alpha to AHAC and had us re-formup on the Titan. Previous experience showed us that RAZOR was horrible at executing bomber squadrons and that our AHAC fleet would decimate it.
I was flying tackle, a Claw to be specific, so I didn't bother. I've been getting fairly good at flying tackle for the fleets in the same way that I got really good at flying logi for alpha fleets: focused repetition.
Shortly after the fleet reformed on the Titan, we bridged into A2-V27. Upon landing, we warped to the station at zero. As I exited warp, I saw multiple RAZOR capitals at the station. Archie called for the fleet to engage, dictors to bubble, tackles to burn off at range.
As I burned around, I had the opportunity to witness the carnage about to ensue. We had brought approximately one hundred and fifty subcapital ships, mostly AHACs with high damage output, with a complement of guardians and tackle.
Over the next thirty minutes, we burned every Dreadnought and Carrier fielded by RAZOR that we could point or bubble. RAZOR attempted to destroy us with bombing runs, but failed to eliminate a single one of us with bombs. They, in fact, were their own worst enemy, as they ended up bombing themselves and getting caught in our bubbles, sniped by AHACs, or tackled and killed. Immediately after bombing runs, I made it a point to fly into the midst of the slaughter and aggress some of the capitals in a flyby maneuver, not only to harass and taunt RAZOR, but also to whore on some of the capital killmails that were on our way via express shipping.
Near the end, with only a few RAZOR capitals left on the field, one jumped out. Archie immediately called for tacklers to point whatever capitals remained on the field, with an emphasis on the Thanatos far afield piloted by Miss Ohm. I maintained a focused point for a short time before she was bubbled. It was here that I made a mistake, and continued to hold a focused point on the Thanatos at close range. Miss Ohm neuted me, and still in the dictor bubble, I was unable to warp out or microwarp away as her Hammerheads beat me into dust.
I docked up to get a Reaper, and didn't quite make it back to the fight before her Thantos exploded, but I still got on the killmail, albeit in a Reaper as opposed to a Claw.
All said, we took the field, destroying billions of RAZOR assets in exchange for four tackle ships. With nothing left to kill, we repped the station while destroying three of four RAZOR SBUs. I left in the middle of the first SBU assault to return from 9cg with a Rifter.
Computer: link battle report.
After destroying the SBUs and having repaired the station, a spy reported to us that RAZOR command sent out an alliance mail congratulating the RAZOR fleet on a job well done with the stealth bombers and for holding their ground.
Poor bastards, I don't think any one that was involved in that conflict is under any illusion of RAZOR having done well at all.
Computer: terminate recording.
Entry: four hundred thirty-five.
Two nights ago, there were multiple CTAs. I was surprised at how, moments after logging into the galactic network, I ended up on a four trip across to the ass end of the galaxy, then all the way back across into the piss-hole of the galaxy. Naturally, I refer to Detorid and Delve respectively.
After joining fleet, we waited for fifteen minutes at a Titan tower for a bridge to 49-U from 9CG6-. I really have no understand of why this was done, when the bridge to 8QT- was next door, and 49-U is but two systems from 8QT-. After waiting, the FC ordered us to take the bridge. We burned into Catch, then took some more jumpbridges to arrive at a Titan in GE-8. We bridged to another Titan, then bridged to another Titan, and bridged to another Titan, and bridged to another Titan, which finally deposited us in Detorid eleven jumps from our destination, where Imperial Order had apparently called for help in eliminating some SBUs.
We mopped it up rather quickly, managing to snag a few kills while Imperial Order, with a fleet of eighty, cowered. Our fleet was smaller.
We burned backwards to 9CG6-, taking the exact titans back as well.
Fifteen minutes after returning to 9CG6-, we reformed into another fleet, Sniper HAC in this case. We managed to get a bridge from the Titan in 9CG6- this time, and landed in NOL- in Delve, where we and Against All Authorities hammered out two SBUs and a TCU. Morsus Mihi felt it necessary to bomb us, Cascade Imminent, at the first SBU, and then triple A at the remaining two sov structures.
The problems were multiple for Morsus Mihi. First, both fleets were sensor boosted Sniper Hacs with HIC support. Morsus Mihi lost something in the area of thirty bombers, killing only a handful of Muninns as the majority of both fleets were Zealots, which have a ninety-two percent explosive resistance. That is important as the bombs fired were Shrapnel bombs. The fact that both fleets were largely composed of Zealots was the second issue. The third issue was the sheer incompetence of their bombers. In no case did the bombers set up a proper bombing run, and in many cases either launched too many bombs or launched them from too far away.
For those not in the know, a proper bombing run is one where you align your target with a warp out point, such as the sun or another celestial, perhaps even another bookmark on-grid that you an warp to. I have several of both types of bookmarks myself. Once aligned at full speed at a distance of thirty kilometers from the target, you decloak, launch the bomb, and warp out. Total exposure time is about a second.
After that travesty of bombing by Morsus Mihi, Cascade made its way home after blobbing a Scimitar. The following link replays the highlights of the return trip, which was approximately ten to fifteen minutes, in this three and a half minute video.
The next day, shortly after logging in, I joined the CTA fleet that was forming. While there is little to report about it, it should be noted that we essentially rapecaged a Morsus Mihi staging tower in UVHO-, where Morsus Mihi had apparently been attempting to take sov away from us. The tower was reinforced in short order by Cascade Imminent and triple A.
I took today off from Cascade Imminent, deciding to stay in and enjoy some of my favorite pastimes, such as reading books, a luxury only capsuleers can afford these days, and sleeping. Anjali mentioned something about trying to run a fleet today, but having such low attendance that she and the few logged in decided to stick close to home and kill anything that reared its ugly head. A quick review of the killboard shows that Anjali lost a Griffin, her fleet lost a few Rifters and a Dominix, and her fleet managed to kill a Rupture and a Kestrel today. I wish she'd had the opportunity to kill more, but that's just how it is some days. Slow one week, furious the next.
On another issue, her corp has asked me to teach their recruits how to be a hero frigate pilot. They've apparently already had one lesson from Nihassa, but he asked me specifically to teach them some ins and outs of hero tackling. On this subject, I have some good advice and better ship setups. While I would normally offhandedly recommend reading the Rifter guide Wensely has drawn up, I don't feel it entirely applies in this situation.
There are a lot of statistics and measurements and proven fits in that guide, but from what I remember of reading it, it was geared towards the lone wolf, not the sacrificial hero. As a matter of practicality as well, there is no teacher as good as firsthand experience, and sixty pages is far too much for firsthand experience. I'm not saying I'm a frigate god, or even amazing at piloting them, but the guide is just that, a guide, not a substitute, and I think Wensely would agree as a matter of course.
To that end, I had my own training regimen in mind. First, teach how to approach a target.
When you tackle, your goal isn't to kill. Your goal is to hold some poor bastard down, and stay alive long enough for the fleet to rescue you via kicking the target while he's down. To that end, there are two types of tackling.
microwarp at the target, and when in range, web him and scram him.
The second is the long range tackle. You also microwarp at the target, but you orbit at twenty kilometers and try to outrun the drones and damage while your fleet comes in and kicks him while he's down. Normally this role is filled out by interceptors, as they are a tad fragile to take in close unless the target is fitted for long range turret based combat. Though some Assault Frigates and faction frigates are notable exceptions.
The common trick to both is the approach. Out of sheer bloodlust or panic, whichever the case is, people like to approach the target directly. This is blatantly wrong, but often blissfully overlooked when the target is killed. The pilot in these cases is thinking, "Get point get point get point,". The pilot should instead be thinking, "Stay alive, get point, stay alive, get point." A tackler that doesn't tackle fails pretty hard.
Your average tackler burns directly at the target, as though a straight line was the only path towards the target. Your smarter tackler will approach in a quick but roundabout fashion. If the target is directly opposite you on a circle, and the edge of the circle is the only path, then you your approach vectors are roundabout, yet safe. Tacklers should be utilizing this approach so as not to be melted by pilots with bigger ships. Cruisers, Battlecruisers, and Battleships can be tackled much more safely this way.
The final point to bring this training to an end is simply experience. However, pilot on pilot combat almost always results in a death, and is a poor place to train new combat tactics. To this end, I'll be arranging a simulation for the newer members in a class two wormhole. The situation is controlled enough that the pilots can get real combat practice while not being in a state of panic or bloodlust.
Computer: terminate recording.
Entry: four hundred thirty, supplementary log one.
Almost as soon as I connected to Galactic Network via "logging in", I heard comms going crazy over neutrals. A fleet was already forming up to take on the intruders. The intruders were some we had seen before: AQUILA.
Among my alliance members, there is a distinctly hateful respect of AQUILA. They are dedicated wormhole dwellers, and not only do they live in class five and class six w-space, they prosper. Not only do they prosper despite the nastiest and toughest Sleepers known anywhere, they are extremely well versed combat pilots. Not only are they extremely well versed combat pilots, their tactics and fleet cohesion is on a level far beyond the defense fleets usually formed up to deal with them. I think those in the alliance hate them out of envy and admiration, and respect them because unlike Morsus Mihi and RAZOR and BORG, they don't drop supercapitals.
Granted, they don't drop them because they can't, but they don't, and that's the more important issue.
We got our fleet together at 49-U6U. Fleet filled to approximately twenty within ten minutes, which is fairly quick. After a short time, we grouped up on the station. AQUILA landed. Orders came out to get points, and I in my Rifter did my best to fulfill this role. I managed to get a point on one Drake, fire at another, and get shot down rather quickly.
I warped away, and didn't redock until the call came to disengage, thus allowing me to show on the killmail.
As it turned out, the Drakes were fit to kill damn near anything, especially tackle frigates like myself.
Given this information, we regrouped and reformed. About fifteen minutes later, we had gained some new members in alpha ships and ranged damage dealers in the form of Hurricanes and Drakes. AQUILA most likely found out via directional scan, and ran: destination, Efa.
As one of but a few fast tacklers, I was given the job to follow them.
5V-, 3-J, L3-, K-L, NDII-, 9CG6-, UYU-, YW-, Z-UZZN, C-7, I1Y-...
Our fleet managed to get ahead of AQUILA into 3-F via Jumpbridges. With their escape route cut off, and several of us watching every gate in I1Y-, we waited, and camped, while they bounced around multiple and random safe spots.
We waited for almost thirty minutes before a new FC came in and got us a prober. The prober, however, was also unable to scan down anyone in AQUILA.
A little more time passed, and AQUILA jumped into LS-, thinking to throw us off. The main fleet warped to the 9SBB- gate while AQUILA went ED- then 9SBB-. They would have no choice except to come through 3-F, however.
They jumped into 3-F, and we engaged. I landed point on another Drake, now in my Wolf, while shooting at another Drake. I was targeted quickly, and I aligned to planet two to make my timely escape.
"No one should be dying," called the FC. "If you're taking damage, warp out...until that bubble went up."
I groaned, spamming the warp command, aligned with my microwarpdrive burning me towards the distant planet. I never made it though, my ship exploding around me. I found myself in my pod a mere few hundred meters from the edge of the bubble, from the edge of the salvation of my Wolf. Curse the bastard who launched that bubble, as it didn't even enable the fleet to kill any more of the AQUILA fleet. AQUILA managed to get away to the Efa gate and jumped through.
That bubble quite easily makes into my top two of most fail bubbles ever, the only other one worse being in 6VDT-H when I was at the hellcamp, when IT was failscading.
In exchange for three Drakes, AQUILA destroyed a Dramiel, my Rifter, my Wolf, two Hurricanes, and a Hound. My Wolf and Rifter almost equal one Drake in ISK, a Hound approximately equals a Drake in loss, a Dramiel approximates a Drake in cost, and each Hurricane equals a Drake as well. This puts AQUILA in the lead on the ISK front with a win loss ratio of five to three and in the black approximately one hundred million ISK.
Despite being out manned, outgunned, and outrun, they managed to out position us at every turn, and they defeated us handily.
Hats off to AQUILA, pro combat pilots to say the least, with an FC I wish I had around to fly under. AQUILA got their revenge, and as the saying goes, had it too.
Computer: terminate recording.
Entry: four hundred thirty, guest Anjali Subranni.
I had my first chance to be an FC. Even True hasn't done this yet, something I find myself incredibly proud of being much newer to capsuleer life than him. Upon joining my new home, RUDE pirate corporation, I had expected to be a lot like True actually: a grunt, a lone wolf, a soldier.
Fate has cast me in a different role though, and I found myself enjoying it.
The problem was that the corporation, by and large, had become inactive combat wise. I mean, we're pirates, we're supposed to throw caution to the wind and have fun! But, instead, we hadn't been. Many had been running missions in high security space, or mining, or being industrious citizens. I had been listless since nothing had been going on, and at some point I realized the recruiter, Watson, had been approaching a breaking point, but doing everything he could to get the corporation motivated.
The issue was what we expected upon joining. It didn't take long to realize that almost everyone in the corporation had expected the same future as me: to be a grunt, a soldier, a lonewolf. With no one else stepping up, I was faced with the option of leading, or leaving.
I gave a shot at leading. It went surprisingly well, considering all the bad that occurred.
I organized a roam under the premise of a nano cruiser / nano battlecruiser gang. I was going for fast, shield tanked, high damage ships. Things already went wrong with this, as we've had an influx of newer members that could not fit these sorts of ships, in some cases not even fly them. I went along with it though, because we're not a null-sec corp. We're pirates, we're supposed to be hodgepodge at first, until we acquire enough loot to be among the best.
We set destination to Hevrice. The plan was to find the Tuskers, kill them, and come back. This is mostly because I felt certain that were we to encounter the Tuskers, we would find a fight. I also happen to know that Lucifer's Hammer likes to hang out around there somewhat, and that they are very strong group of pirates, worth fighting just as much as the Tuskers.
Two jumps in, we were holed up on the pipe from Dantumi. There was a cruiser fleet on one side gatecamping us in, a Battleship gang on the other side camping us in. We nearly lost a few ships right then and there. Thanks to some quick command decisions from Watson, and some later decisions by me to create a rolling safe, we managed to avoid the death at our doorstep.
Some time later, we resumed the roam. A few jumps down the line, I found and tackled a ratting Armageddon. I called the fleet in to kill it, and they arrived swiftly, meeting out swift punishment. Nihassa has itchy trigger finger, however, and destroyed the pod before we got a chance to ransom it.
Nothing else happened until we reached Old Man Star, where we encountered a Hydra Deimos. After trying to resolve the situation peacefully since many of the corp original members came from Hydra, we engaged. The Deimos pilot won out, destroying me and getting away with twenty percent structure intact. With my Slicer destroyed, I picked up an old Crucifier lying around at Old Man Star. Since we only had a few more jumps, I knew that the next four systems themselves were largely inactive, we set destination for Dantumi and headed home.
Close to the end of the pipe on our way back, we encountered a small gang, consisting of a Rupture, Blackbird, and something else. A quick discussion, and the gang held on the in-gate for the enemy down the pipe. Watson managed to chase down the Rupture to a belt, and while it got away, the Blackbird that came to help did not escape. It turned out that the Blackbird pilot was also the FC for that gang, so they weren't coming out to engage us again.
We resumed our trip and entered Dantumi.
I warped the squad immediately to a cyno that was up. I barely managed to whore on the kill, as, again, Nihassa has that itchy trigger finger. The fleet then warped to Aurohenen where there was a small frigate fleet active that Watson reported. I lost my Crucifier to gate guns, and then a Griffin to the same gate guns, while my fleet under the command of Watson and then Nihassa, once Watson lost his Vagabond, eliminated the frigate fleet.
I know I wasn't a fantastic FC, but I think I did fairly well for my first time. Nihassa and Watson seem to agree, having made me an official FC for my timezone, as well as Nihassa giving me a Slicer and buying me two new Arbitrators, as I was unable to buy them given my recent ban from zero point nine space and higher. I may have to rely on True and Reschef to get me ships in the future, if the corp cannot do this for me.
Overall, I'd rate myself about a three point five out of five. I did ok, with some good bits in the middle. I didn't lose my Slicer stupidly, but I did lose the following two frigates stupidly, and was not able to FC the final battle.
I think I could improve in command decision making, as well as learning what can and can't tank gate guns. Also, better scouting, as I was it, will be helpful in avoiding gangs that suddenly warp in as I tell the fleet to warp to the outgate
Computer: Terminate recording.
Entry: four hundred thirty.
It's been eleven days since my last entry. Much has happened since then worth talking about.
Shortly after the previous entry, I took part in a roam with Easley Thames as FC. Under his command in my Republic Fleet Firetail, I managed to get onto a few kills. I felt pretty good about taking my Firetail out for combat, win or lose, for the first time ever since getting it, and coming out on the winning team. Victims included a Harbinger, a Rupture, a Drake, and a smartbomb fit Armageddon that I didn't quite manage to get on the kill of.
I've been waiting for that Bomber Squadron Leader, Sweet Bitterness, to start up again. He hasn't, however, and I wonder if he's worn off of it or if things have really been that busy with his corporation. I do realize they are heavily engaged in pilot versus pilot operations in order to gain entry to Cascade Imminent, but still...
Following this, there was an engagement against RAZOR. They've taken a liking to roaming in our space with fifty man plus gangs. It's been quite frustrating. Rather quickly, this particular force was met with quick action of forming up on a titan. A cyno went up in A2-, and the fleet jumped, being scattered as the cyno pilot died. We warped to the stargate the enemy battleships-guardian fleet were bubbled on, and engaged. We managed to destroy most of their guardians while they managed to destroy many of our zealots. At the end, we had managed to destroy enough guardians that we were going to win when a Thantos was cyno'd in on top of us. Suffice to say, the fleet bailed. I lost my Rifter tackling a Tempest that attempted to escape because it had support in the form of a Rapier which webbed me heavily.
I've done some ratting since then, getting ready for out next deployment. The Alliance is pretty fed up with RAZOR and Morsus Mihi, with their penchant for dropping capitals, supercapitals, and roaming in blobs. Us, Atlas, Nulli Secunda, and Against All Authorities in conjunction with TEST and friends are planning to get rid of them.
In between ratting ventures have been the occasional roams, none noteworthy until last night. There was, again, a RAZOR fleet, approximately sized fifty, invading our space. After some rather slow forming up on Cascade Imminent's part which took the better part of two hours, we managed to get a fight. I attempted to join the fight in my Hound, and attempted to bomb the enemy fleet. I did manage to get the bomb off, but I lost my ship in exchange, and I got on zero kills to show for it. I'll keep this mind for the future so that I don't get antsy and lose my ship for nothing.
Things have not been going well for our area of null-sec. Things are going to change, however, and soon. Retribution is our fuel, and only grows hotter with each passing day.
Computer: terminate recording.
