Entry: eight hundred thirteen.
For the last week or so, I've been running around in my Maller trying to find a fight in Curse. I've been doing this solo, since the alliance has moved out of Curse to Detorid to make ISK for the first time in two months.
When I built the Maller, I was very excited to take it out. It was generally fit to be a brawler. As time went on, I found that it was extremely difficult finding any fight in the Maller. I'd heard that supposedly people would be more willing to engage you if you flew around in a tech one cruiser.
This is apparently not true in Curse. Everything is apparently a trap. Nothing will engage unless they know for a fact they have you. I won't say solo is dead in Curse, because it isn't, but apparently a solo tech one cruiser is so rare people run from it in quite a few cases.
That, however, isn't the crux of the problem. In trying to find a fight, either no one would engage, or as was the case today, I got caught. It was a normal nano gang, and I just got caught on a gate with a buffer tank, a recipe for disaster when both sides of a gate are covered. In the two weeks I've had it, finding a fight has been harder than finding a fight in a frigate, and when I did, it was four versus one. I actually never got the chance to engage anything anything with it except for a Cynabal on a station, which promptly docked up, and the four man Brushie gang, which my brawling Maller had zero chance of against, doubly so because of the Rapier.
What were my mistakes? Basically trying to take a buffer Maller out solo. It was a bad idea at the start, which I've come to fully recognize now. Tech one cruisers just don't seem to make good solo roaming ships out here. I wonder where they are viable, to be honest, because when I think about it, the most popular roaming ships are either faction cruisers, tech two cruisers, battlecruisers, or frigates. Tech one cruisers are subpar to everything except frigates, but even then subpar to three or more, or even a single if it is kite fit.
But with that in mind, what makes a good solo ship? Frigates, I suppose, only versus other frigates. Battlecruisers? Perhaps, though I think I will need a pretty decent active tank to pull it off, because you can't take sustained fire from multiple points and kill one of them on a buffer tank. Vagabonds and Cynabals are clearly, Curses and Pilgrims as well, but beyond those four ships and the occasional tier three battlecruiser, I don't see anything else really solo.
Is there really such a limited choice when trying to solo roam? Or is just a factor of having to be extremely picky about my targets? I'm inclined to think the latter just because of my inexperience, but it still makes me wonder since I see so many of the other type. Then again, is it just my environment, where small gang thrives but solo is hard to find? I'd honestly think solo would be hard to find anywhere though, except possibly low-sec or deep null-sec. I'm not finding NPC null to work out too well for solo.
It's an interesting question.
Since my alliance is standing down from combat this month, I'm contemplating doing the same myself, that or taking a vacation to somewhere in low-sec. I suppose making ISK couldn't hurt, I don't know that I can stand doing it for a month though. If I do, I can guarantee that I won't be posting much, if it all, during that time. I try not to bore anyone who visits after all.
Maybe a vacation in Jovainnon would be nice, but maybe Molden or Aridia would be good as well. Maybe I should restage to Misaba to harass CVA and play with the local pirates around there as well.
With that said, I'm open to suggestions about good tech one cruisers for roaming, and for vacation spots. I'm not going to feed anyone killmails, but if you think a certain spot may be good for solo combat, I'll definitely look into it. I know I've already gotten suggestions for the Jovainnon region, and the Molden/Heimatar region, I'm just wondering about other areas.
Computer: terminate entry.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
In Retrospect
Entry: eight hundred seven.
It's funny how the things you say change, like how when I was angry at PL anchoring warp disruption bubbles the 1DH- undock, only to find myself advocating a plan just like it G-G, a system next door to H-ADOC.
In my previous entries, Gorgon Empire, Art of War, Appetite for Destruction, and various other groups had been causing my alliance some serious grief with their nano cruiser gangs. They were always picking people off, and they were quite good at it.
Soon after those recordings, UDEAD began serious gatecamping of the G-G gate in H-ADOC. We snagged quite a few Gorgon and MIF this way, causing some grief and imposing a caged feeling on them. A few days later, when they started escaping through the OSY- loop, we began camping the OSY- and G-G gates in H-ADOC, not just as a corporation, but also inviting some alliance members along. I don't know if we snagged more, but things were getting pretty nasty between Cascade and the corporations now trapped behind H-ADOC.
Not long after we started camping the OSY- and G-G gates, the alliance decided to pick up that operation without UDEAD needing to start the camps. With that in place, UDEAD started camping the actual station that Gorgon operates out of in G-G. Again, I wasn't there for it, but apparently UDEAD camped the station undock with a Remote Rep Armor Battleship gang. I'm unclear if bubbles of any sort were involved. I am clear in the fact that Gorgon was unable to mount any sort of answer to that camp even with double the numbers in G-G compared to those of UDEAD. At about the point where Gorgon had quadruple the numbers, UDEAD stopped camping and went back to H-ADOC. This sort of activity has happened a few times, always hours before I would become available.
Things escalated yet again today when Gorgon and MIF teamed up to tangle with Cascade. Since things had yet again happened while I was away, I asked via mails what happened.
--------------------------------
From: Truen1ghtSent: 2012.03.22 18:46
To: Militaris Industries,
So I saw that there was this fight in H-ADOC...right now, what I can figure is that the phoon lit a cyno and the Dread really messed your BS gang up. It looks like maybe you guys were in Bassie's bubble when it happened. Given the presence of alliance members, it seems like it happened on the top station undock?
I am not making any criticisms since I clearly was not there, I am just wondering how the fight played out.
~Truen1ght
--------------------------------
From: bassie12bf1
To: Militaris Industries [UDEAD], Truen1ght
No, it was a drake that lit the cyno, phoon bait failed. and the dread self destructed. they were not exactly stuck in my bubble, most simply had no cap somehow and couldn't move to beat the dreads tracking.
--------------------------------
From: JoaoEga
To: Truen1ght
I was there. LOL!
In that fight we kill a dread of gorgon. It has no kill mail, because the guy self destruct. So our efficiency was not real. But even so, we got a win on the isk fight.
The dread just bump on station, and went far. Bassie tackle him, and we went and kill the guy.
In resume that was the fight. And of course we loose some ships.
Regards,
JEga
Interesting. They've decided to start dropping Dreads on our undock. Too bad for them it was a pretty poorly placed cyno. I bet that two billion ISK Dreadnought loss hurts, even if it didn't make it to us as a kill because of a self destruct.
Computer: terminate recording.
It's funny how the things you say change, like how when I was angry at PL anchoring warp disruption bubbles the 1DH- undock, only to find myself advocating a plan just like it G-G, a system next door to H-ADOC.
In my previous entries, Gorgon Empire, Art of War, Appetite for Destruction, and various other groups had been causing my alliance some serious grief with their nano cruiser gangs. They were always picking people off, and they were quite good at it.
Soon after those recordings, UDEAD began serious gatecamping of the G-G gate in H-ADOC. We snagged quite a few Gorgon and MIF this way, causing some grief and imposing a caged feeling on them. A few days later, when they started escaping through the OSY- loop, we began camping the OSY- and G-G gates in H-ADOC, not just as a corporation, but also inviting some alliance members along. I don't know if we snagged more, but things were getting pretty nasty between Cascade and the corporations now trapped behind H-ADOC.
Not long after we started camping the OSY- and G-G gates, the alliance decided to pick up that operation without UDEAD needing to start the camps. With that in place, UDEAD started camping the actual station that Gorgon operates out of in G-G. Again, I wasn't there for it, but apparently UDEAD camped the station undock with a Remote Rep Armor Battleship gang. I'm unclear if bubbles of any sort were involved. I am clear in the fact that Gorgon was unable to mount any sort of answer to that camp even with double the numbers in G-G compared to those of UDEAD. At about the point where Gorgon had quadruple the numbers, UDEAD stopped camping and went back to H-ADOC. This sort of activity has happened a few times, always hours before I would become available.
Things escalated yet again today when Gorgon and MIF teamed up to tangle with Cascade. Since things had yet again happened while I was away, I asked via mails what happened.
--------------------------------
From: Truen1ghtSent: 2012.03.22 18:46
To: Militaris Industries,
So I saw that there was this fight in H-ADOC...right now, what I can figure is that the phoon lit a cyno and the Dread really messed your BS gang up. It looks like maybe you guys were in Bassie's bubble when it happened. Given the presence of alliance members, it seems like it happened on the top station undock?
I am not making any criticisms since I clearly was not there, I am just wondering how the fight played out.
~Truen1ght
--------------------------------
From: bassie12bf1
To: Militaris Industries [UDEAD], Truen1ght
No, it was a drake that lit the cyno, phoon bait failed. and the dread self destructed. they were not exactly stuck in my bubble, most simply had no cap somehow and couldn't move to beat the dreads tracking.
--------------------------------
From: JoaoEga
To: Truen1ght
I was there. LOL!
In that fight we kill a dread of gorgon. It has no kill mail, because the guy self destruct. So our efficiency was not real. But even so, we got a win on the isk fight.
The dread just bump on station, and went far. Bassie tackle him, and we went and kill the guy.
In resume that was the fight. And of course we loose some ships.
Regards,
JEga
--------------------------------
Interesting. They've decided to start dropping Dreads on our undock. Too bad for them it was a pretty poorly placed cyno. I bet that two billion ISK Dreadnought loss hurts, even if it didn't make it to us as a kill because of a self destruct.
Computer: terminate recording.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Traffic Sources
Entry: seven hundred ninety-five, supplemental two.
Every now and then I take a look at what gets people to this log. Here are the ones for this week:
Let's talk about these.
First, Against All Authorities is not resetting Cascade, we are not a breakaway of them, and they don't want to reset us (to my knowledge) as evenews24.com suggests. Relations between Cascade and Against All Authorities, if the leadership is to be believed, were at their lowest when we left LGK- for Delve. Cascade has been through a very rough time though, and it could be a while before we become a real fighting force again. We try to help as we can and are asked, but we're still recovering.
Second, if you are STUCK in null-sec, and you need a way out...I'm going to assume you are stuck with a somewhat expensive ship as well...your best bet for escape are wormholes. K-Space exits to empire tend to be camped twenty-four seven three sixty five. There are always blips of non-coverage, but they are somewhat rare. Pipes to these exits are usually camped as well, and the additional problem of low-sec presents itself. With wormholes, you stand a pretty good chance of finding a three to six jump route from null to hi-sec, of which probably none of the w-space connections will be camped.
Third, Cascade will be staging all PvP out of Curse for the forseeable future. By forseeable future, I mean at least the next several months, likely six months or more. Every small gang alliance that lives there is absolutely kicking the shit out of us, but one of two things are going to happen: either Cascade just blue-balls every small gang that rolls around because we get tired of feeding killmails, and we just ref and destroy every non station structure in the area out of spite, or we manage to learn from the rape cage that is Curse and become decent combat pilots. I'm hoping for the latter, but today in particular I could go for the former. I'd love it if we could do both, but Cascade is having a bit of a morale problem, myself included.
Fourth, 6VDT- was pretty cool in an event sense, but mostly boring in that it was a massive gatecamp.
Five, Cascade doesn't have a H-ADOC forum. We have OUR forums, but nothing for the area. If we did, we'd also have a Delve, Catch, and Querious forum. This coincides with eight, as I doubt there is a specific forum for NEM3SIS and RA for coordinating with each other. Basically, stop looking.
Six, what in the world is hordes proteus stats?
Seven, if you want to learn more about Militaris Industries, just contact me. I will be happy to tell you what I can. Better yet, apply to join, and if you aren't a spy and are willing to fight and learn to fight and lose ships doing so, then there are only a few reasons why we wouldn't let you into the corp.
Finally, nine, Pristine Sansha Remnants are pretty cake. Good ISK, easy to run even in a standard nano cane. Surprisingly, the nano cane works much better than an armor cane for running this site, and the Cyclone is about on par. Keep in mind I'm talking only about combat fit ships here, it can be silly to run signatures without fitting for combat, especially in NPC null. ISK comes from intact armor plates. Each site provides somewhere between four and twelve intact armor plates, an item that insta-sells in Amarr for thirty million.
Computer: terminate recording.
Every now and then I take a look at what gets people to this log. Here are the ones for this week:
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Let's talk about these.
First, Against All Authorities is not resetting Cascade, we are not a breakaway of them, and they don't want to reset us (to my knowledge) as evenews24.com suggests. Relations between Cascade and Against All Authorities, if the leadership is to be believed, were at their lowest when we left LGK- for Delve. Cascade has been through a very rough time though, and it could be a while before we become a real fighting force again. We try to help as we can and are asked, but we're still recovering.
Second, if you are STUCK in null-sec, and you need a way out...I'm going to assume you are stuck with a somewhat expensive ship as well...your best bet for escape are wormholes. K-Space exits to empire tend to be camped twenty-four seven three sixty five. There are always blips of non-coverage, but they are somewhat rare. Pipes to these exits are usually camped as well, and the additional problem of low-sec presents itself. With wormholes, you stand a pretty good chance of finding a three to six jump route from null to hi-sec, of which probably none of the w-space connections will be camped.
Third, Cascade will be staging all PvP out of Curse for the forseeable future. By forseeable future, I mean at least the next several months, likely six months or more. Every small gang alliance that lives there is absolutely kicking the shit out of us, but one of two things are going to happen: either Cascade just blue-balls every small gang that rolls around because we get tired of feeding killmails, and we just ref and destroy every non station structure in the area out of spite, or we manage to learn from the rape cage that is Curse and become decent combat pilots. I'm hoping for the latter, but today in particular I could go for the former. I'd love it if we could do both, but Cascade is having a bit of a morale problem, myself included.
Fourth, 6VDT- was pretty cool in an event sense, but mostly boring in that it was a massive gatecamp.
Five, Cascade doesn't have a H-ADOC forum. We have OUR forums, but nothing for the area. If we did, we'd also have a Delve, Catch, and Querious forum. This coincides with eight, as I doubt there is a specific forum for NEM3SIS and RA for coordinating with each other. Basically, stop looking.
Six, what in the world is hordes proteus stats?
Seven, if you want to learn more about Militaris Industries, just contact me. I will be happy to tell you what I can. Better yet, apply to join, and if you aren't a spy and are willing to fight and learn to fight and lose ships doing so, then there are only a few reasons why we wouldn't let you into the corp.
Finally, nine, Pristine Sansha Remnants are pretty cake. Good ISK, easy to run even in a standard nano cane. Surprisingly, the nano cane works much better than an armor cane for running this site, and the Cyclone is about on par. Keep in mind I'm talking only about combat fit ships here, it can be silly to run signatures without fitting for combat, especially in NPC null. ISK comes from intact armor plates. Each site provides somewhere between four and twelve intact armor plates, an item that insta-sells in Amarr for thirty million.
Computer: terminate recording.
Funk
Entry: seven hundred ninety-five, supplemental one.
I'm a bit frustrated lately. I've been roaming around, but I haven't been able to kill anything. Honestly, that's not what really has me annoyed though, since I normally make good calls concerning fights.
What has me annoyed is that I was sitting in a safe spot in H-A, got probed down, and killed. A completely avoidable loss, to be sure.
So first, I got probed down. Guess I need probes on my overview. Second I made the wrong call in trying to warp out as soon as I saw a Loki landing on grid. It was a close thing, another half second and I would have been gone, but it was the wrong decision. So third, I aligned out with overheated MWD and started to pull range.......and then got webbed down enough that I was done for.
Sigh.
Then ridiculed in local. I suppose I deserve it to an extent, but it's still annoying. Eighty mil tornado for nothing. Seems like if the ship isn't a frigate I'm doomed to lose it the same day I use it.
I don't know, I'm clearly doing stuff wrong in that my roams aren't getting kills. It feels impossible to compete with tech two and faction ships and tech three ships all the time, and I know it's not, but the schmucks in alliance can't seem to do anything except feed killmails to anyone who comes around, and I certainly didn't help that situation, a fact itself which annoys me further because I was a schmuck then.
I was pretty excited to take out an armor gank Maller, but now I'm questioning whether I should bother. Tier has a great idea for a plate BS gang to tell those stupid kiting gangs to piss off, which is great to that point, but doesn't provide much in the way of roaming I feel like. More like a gatecamp buster, which will work given all the stupid gatecamps around here.
Gonna have to find a way to get my morale back up for sure...I feel like I'm reliving my first days where all I did was lose ships. Those were dark, frustrating, heartbreaking days...
Computer: terminate recording.
Computer: append to previous log.
I need to man the hell up, and stop being such a damn whiner...sorry to everyone who waded through that.
Computer: save and close.
I'm a bit frustrated lately. I've been roaming around, but I haven't been able to kill anything. Honestly, that's not what really has me annoyed though, since I normally make good calls concerning fights.
What has me annoyed is that I was sitting in a safe spot in H-A, got probed down, and killed. A completely avoidable loss, to be sure.
So first, I got probed down. Guess I need probes on my overview. Second I made the wrong call in trying to warp out as soon as I saw a Loki landing on grid. It was a close thing, another half second and I would have been gone, but it was the wrong decision. So third, I aligned out with overheated MWD and started to pull range.......and then got webbed down enough that I was done for.
Sigh.
Then ridiculed in local. I suppose I deserve it to an extent, but it's still annoying. Eighty mil tornado for nothing. Seems like if the ship isn't a frigate I'm doomed to lose it the same day I use it.
I don't know, I'm clearly doing stuff wrong in that my roams aren't getting kills. It feels impossible to compete with tech two and faction ships and tech three ships all the time, and I know it's not, but the schmucks in alliance can't seem to do anything except feed killmails to anyone who comes around, and I certainly didn't help that situation, a fact itself which annoys me further because I was a schmuck then.
I was pretty excited to take out an armor gank Maller, but now I'm questioning whether I should bother. Tier has a great idea for a plate BS gang to tell those stupid kiting gangs to piss off, which is great to that point, but doesn't provide much in the way of roaming I feel like. More like a gatecamp buster, which will work given all the stupid gatecamps around here.
Gonna have to find a way to get my morale back up for sure...I feel like I'm reliving my first days where all I did was lose ships. Those were dark, frustrating, heartbreaking days...
Computer: terminate recording.
****
Computer: append to previous log.
I need to man the hell up, and stop being such a damn whiner...sorry to everyone who waded through that.
Computer: save and close.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
AARs 3/13/12
Entry: seven hundred ninety-five.
Situation: Two man roam starting and ending at H-ADOC. I was in an active armor Enyo, Roden was in a sixteen hundred plate Rupture. Roamed north to KZFV-, then SAH-, then LEM-, then swung west into Uemon. After Uemon we swung down through low-sec Metropolis and then Molden Heath, returning to Curse through a Great Wildlands entrance at Khabi and 7Q- to N3-, turning south to Curse from there.
Scenario One: Encountered a Shadow arty wolf at planet three entirely by accident south of SAH-. He was forty kilometers away when I landed, so I aligned away, but didn't warp. After a minute, he began burning for me. It was only when he kept at the outer edge of point range and was shelling me did I realize he was artillery fit. After a little more burning away, I overheated as I approached him. He was too slow to notice, and I webbed him at thirteen kilometers. I approached and kept everything on while using blasters on him. My cap was low, however, and I turned off my MWD, not noticing that he was exiting web range while I called for Roden to warp in. Once he got out of web range, I was never able to catch up with him, and he escaped.
Evaulation One: If I'm gonna call in support, I can afford to let my tank get lower than I did let it, and I can afford to not use the blasters in an effort to maintain tackle. Also, pay more attention to enemies webbed not scrammed and trying to get away.
Scenario Two: Somewhere near LEM- I finally found a Harbinger on station. I managed to get tackle and get under his guns and called in support. In my haste and excitement, I accidentally let tackle slip, and the Harbinger warped off. I then accidentally left my MWD on and burnt it out.
Evaluation Two: Need to pay more attention to heat, and only use when necessary for long roams. Approach was well executed, the Harbinger only got me into half armor which was easily repaired even under drone fire.
Scenario Three: Found a cyno probe entirely by chance in a system close to Paala. I warped to it, blaster'd it, and warped out. My MWD was still burnt out. I told Roden not to warp to it, as two Abaddons were on station as well.
Evaluation Three: Good decision, free kill. Roden's probably frustrated at this point. I need to avoid paths like the one I've taken to this point, as most systems were entirely empty up to this point. MWD was still burnt out, so this was probably an unnecessary risk.
Scenario Four: MWD had been repaired in Uemon, and enroute to Khabi came across Kaeda Maxwell in a Jag and unholy Batman in a cyno Rupture on station. Roden and I decided to try to take out the cyno rupture under gate guns. It turned out that the Rupture was excessively tanked, and I believe Kaeda's tackle proved to be Roden's undoing. I got out from under the Rupture's scrambler and warped out to planet five with less than ten percent structure left. The cyno rupture was into structure.
Evaluation Four: Maybe don't engage cyno Ruptures on station anymore. At least we had some action, but it was more costly than it needed to be. Them low-sec dwellers are a bit smarter than your average null-sec pilot it seems.
Scenario Five: Got Roden reshipped and got lucky with killing a Bestower.
Evaluation Five: Awesome! I just wish it was carrying something, or maybe even if it had been fitted.
Scenario Six: In the GW pipe to N3- a Rifter jumped into us. He reapproached gate quickly, then sat there waiting for us to make a move. After a minute he aggressed and a Falcon decloaked, we jumped through. Luckily, the enemy gang didn't have a gang or fast tackler, so we warped away and ran for our lives for a few jumps without harm.
Evaluation Six: Lucky for us they didn't have a bubble. We should have simply warped off, but I was distracted by the office calling for support. Work before play and all. Roden made good calls in my absence barring the warp out that we should have taken, so I feel good about this.
Scenario Seven: Old fleet was disbanded. New fleet was me, still in the Enyo, with Green in a Stiletto, Theisland in a Blackbird, Roger and Eradicator in Assault Frigs. Green was keeping eyes on Pathetiq who was sitting on the HLW- gate in VOL- in a Hurricane. I sat in ARG- on the VOL- gate. I ordered Theis, Roger, and Eradicator to flank from RA- by taking the following route: H-A to Y-D to MN- XX9- to RA-, and to sit on the HLW- gate. I ordered them to check for camps on the RA- gate in XX9- and again on the HLW- gate in RA-. As it turned out, Pathetiq's alliance, The Jagged Alliance, was camping the XX9- gate in RA-, and since Roger successfully scouted it and gatecrashed, we called off action against what was now an unassailable Hurricane.
Evaluation Seven: Excellent calls, nice flanking action that was slowed down by new members forming up. Need to get corp members used to jumping into a situation at a moment's notice. Good predictions about the gatecamps along the back route given previous experience. Good call in retreating. Shamefully, no kills.
Computer: terminate recording.
Situation: Two man roam starting and ending at H-ADOC. I was in an active armor Enyo, Roden was in a sixteen hundred plate Rupture. Roamed north to KZFV-, then SAH-, then LEM-, then swung west into Uemon. After Uemon we swung down through low-sec Metropolis and then Molden Heath, returning to Curse through a Great Wildlands entrance at Khabi and 7Q- to N3-, turning south to Curse from there.
Scenario One: Encountered a Shadow arty wolf at planet three entirely by accident south of SAH-. He was forty kilometers away when I landed, so I aligned away, but didn't warp. After a minute, he began burning for me. It was only when he kept at the outer edge of point range and was shelling me did I realize he was artillery fit. After a little more burning away, I overheated as I approached him. He was too slow to notice, and I webbed him at thirteen kilometers. I approached and kept everything on while using blasters on him. My cap was low, however, and I turned off my MWD, not noticing that he was exiting web range while I called for Roden to warp in. Once he got out of web range, I was never able to catch up with him, and he escaped.
Evaulation One: If I'm gonna call in support, I can afford to let my tank get lower than I did let it, and I can afford to not use the blasters in an effort to maintain tackle. Also, pay more attention to enemies webbed not scrammed and trying to get away.
Scenario Two: Somewhere near LEM- I finally found a Harbinger on station. I managed to get tackle and get under his guns and called in support. In my haste and excitement, I accidentally let tackle slip, and the Harbinger warped off. I then accidentally left my MWD on and burnt it out.
Evaluation Two: Need to pay more attention to heat, and only use when necessary for long roams. Approach was well executed, the Harbinger only got me into half armor which was easily repaired even under drone fire.
Scenario Three: Found a cyno probe entirely by chance in a system close to Paala. I warped to it, blaster'd it, and warped out. My MWD was still burnt out. I told Roden not to warp to it, as two Abaddons were on station as well.
Evaluation Three: Good decision, free kill. Roden's probably frustrated at this point. I need to avoid paths like the one I've taken to this point, as most systems were entirely empty up to this point. MWD was still burnt out, so this was probably an unnecessary risk.
Scenario Four: MWD had been repaired in Uemon, and enroute to Khabi came across Kaeda Maxwell in a Jag and unholy Batman in a cyno Rupture on station. Roden and I decided to try to take out the cyno rupture under gate guns. It turned out that the Rupture was excessively tanked, and I believe Kaeda's tackle proved to be Roden's undoing. I got out from under the Rupture's scrambler and warped out to planet five with less than ten percent structure left. The cyno rupture was into structure.
Evaluation Four: Maybe don't engage cyno Ruptures on station anymore. At least we had some action, but it was more costly than it needed to be. Them low-sec dwellers are a bit smarter than your average null-sec pilot it seems.
Scenario Five: Got Roden reshipped and got lucky with killing a Bestower.
Evaluation Five: Awesome! I just wish it was carrying something, or maybe even if it had been fitted.
Scenario Six: In the GW pipe to N3- a Rifter jumped into us. He reapproached gate quickly, then sat there waiting for us to make a move. After a minute he aggressed and a Falcon decloaked, we jumped through. Luckily, the enemy gang didn't have a gang or fast tackler, so we warped away and ran for our lives for a few jumps without harm.
Evaluation Six: Lucky for us they didn't have a bubble. We should have simply warped off, but I was distracted by the office calling for support. Work before play and all. Roden made good calls in my absence barring the warp out that we should have taken, so I feel good about this.
Scenario Seven: Old fleet was disbanded. New fleet was me, still in the Enyo, with Green in a Stiletto, Theisland in a Blackbird, Roger and Eradicator in Assault Frigs. Green was keeping eyes on Pathetiq who was sitting on the HLW- gate in VOL- in a Hurricane. I sat in ARG- on the VOL- gate. I ordered Theis, Roger, and Eradicator to flank from RA- by taking the following route: H-A to Y-D to MN- XX9- to RA-, and to sit on the HLW- gate. I ordered them to check for camps on the RA- gate in XX9- and again on the HLW- gate in RA-. As it turned out, Pathetiq's alliance, The Jagged Alliance, was camping the XX9- gate in RA-, and since Roger successfully scouted it and gatecrashed, we called off action against what was now an unassailable Hurricane.
Evaluation Seven: Excellent calls, nice flanking action that was slowed down by new members forming up. Need to get corp members used to jumping into a situation at a moment's notice. Good predictions about the gatecamps along the back route given previous experience. Good call in retreating. Shamefully, no kills.
Computer: terminate recording.
Monday, March 12, 2012
AARs 3/12/12
Entry: seven hundred ninety-four, supplemental one.
Scenario: Took out a small roam of four consisting of three auto thrashers and a Wolf. Targets sought were lone ships or stragglers. I didn't feel the fleet had enough experience baiting tacklers away from main fleets, so I did not allow that as part of an engagement option unless it simply happened.
Situation One: Was headed to the dead end past HLW-. In the system prior to HLW-, noticed a Scimitar/Drake/Cane gang of fifteen to twenty warp off. Dscan showed them camping the HLW- gate. Unwilling to waste any of the fleet on a fruitless attack, we headed back to H-ADOC.
Evaluation One: The correct decisions were made. A real chance to engage in any aggressive action didn't seem to present itself.
Situation Two: Had set destination for Doril. Scouted a gatecamp in 8G- on the CL- gate with a drag bubble. At the time, only a Rifter and Jaguar were visible, although neutral numbers in local were six in the stationless system. After jumping out back into VOL-, had the gang jump and purposely warp into the drag bubble. We engaged the Jaguar, a Falcon and Nemesis decloaked and engaged. I ordered fleet out of the bubbles and to warp off if possible. I was the only casualty, although I and one other were jammed out.
Evalutation Two: I foolishly engaged a camp that was obviously supported by cloaked combatants. Art of War is known for always bringing Falcons, a fact I missed in not checking their alliance tickers. Despite this severe error I made the correct calls in getting the fleet out, excepting myself being scrambled and primaried. Even missing the fact that it was Art of War alliance, I should have known that Recon support was clearly there at the Drag bubble, and should have just turned around.
Situation Three: Frustrated, we went to F9E-. I scouted, seeing an Enyo warp away but not to where, and seeing a Retribution warp away to the sun. I warped to the sun at thirty, called the fleet to jump in and warp to the sun, and landed on top of the hostile Enyo. I died before my gang landed. My fleet landed, but not in time to take on the Enyo and Retribution.
Evaulation Three: Local only had the two neutrals and me. I should have checked if they were working together before warping to the star, an operation that would have cost me a mere few seconds and saved me my Thrasher. Failure to do this resulted in me having to tank two AB fit assault frigates at close range.
Situation Four: No replacement ships were nearby, so I podded to Agil. Passed a war target gatecamp to Agil. Bought and fitted another Thrasher then headed back to HED-GP, only to be caught by the same gatecamp I passed.
Evalutation Four: I got my pod out, but realized at this point that I was in a funk. My ability to make clear and rational decisions was compromised, in part by frustration, in part by excitement of leading a small gang, and in part due to fatigue from a slight change in sleep schedule. I felt angry at myself for thinking for a second I could slip past a well set up gatecamp in a Thrasher, and angry at Curse for being such a boring gatecamped hell of combat. I called it a day at this point, not participating in further fleets knowing that my state of mind would only get me killed later on.
I did get to meet a frequenter of these logs, and set up to roam around north of Curse on the next day, which may result in more roams with him and his friends throughout the weeks and months.
Computer: terminate recording.
Scenario: Took out a small roam of four consisting of three auto thrashers and a Wolf. Targets sought were lone ships or stragglers. I didn't feel the fleet had enough experience baiting tacklers away from main fleets, so I did not allow that as part of an engagement option unless it simply happened.
Situation One: Was headed to the dead end past HLW-. In the system prior to HLW-, noticed a Scimitar/Drake/Cane gang of fifteen to twenty warp off. Dscan showed them camping the HLW- gate. Unwilling to waste any of the fleet on a fruitless attack, we headed back to H-ADOC.
Evaluation One: The correct decisions were made. A real chance to engage in any aggressive action didn't seem to present itself.
Situation Two: Had set destination for Doril. Scouted a gatecamp in 8G- on the CL- gate with a drag bubble. At the time, only a Rifter and Jaguar were visible, although neutral numbers in local were six in the stationless system. After jumping out back into VOL-, had the gang jump and purposely warp into the drag bubble. We engaged the Jaguar, a Falcon and Nemesis decloaked and engaged. I ordered fleet out of the bubbles and to warp off if possible. I was the only casualty, although I and one other were jammed out.
Evalutation Two: I foolishly engaged a camp that was obviously supported by cloaked combatants. Art of War is known for always bringing Falcons, a fact I missed in not checking their alliance tickers. Despite this severe error I made the correct calls in getting the fleet out, excepting myself being scrambled and primaried. Even missing the fact that it was Art of War alliance, I should have known that Recon support was clearly there at the Drag bubble, and should have just turned around.
Situation Three: Frustrated, we went to F9E-. I scouted, seeing an Enyo warp away but not to where, and seeing a Retribution warp away to the sun. I warped to the sun at thirty, called the fleet to jump in and warp to the sun, and landed on top of the hostile Enyo. I died before my gang landed. My fleet landed, but not in time to take on the Enyo and Retribution.
Evaulation Three: Local only had the two neutrals and me. I should have checked if they were working together before warping to the star, an operation that would have cost me a mere few seconds and saved me my Thrasher. Failure to do this resulted in me having to tank two AB fit assault frigates at close range.
Situation Four: No replacement ships were nearby, so I podded to Agil. Passed a war target gatecamp to Agil. Bought and fitted another Thrasher then headed back to HED-GP, only to be caught by the same gatecamp I passed.
Evalutation Four: I got my pod out, but realized at this point that I was in a funk. My ability to make clear and rational decisions was compromised, in part by frustration, in part by excitement of leading a small gang, and in part due to fatigue from a slight change in sleep schedule. I felt angry at myself for thinking for a second I could slip past a well set up gatecamp in a Thrasher, and angry at Curse for being such a boring gatecamped hell of combat. I called it a day at this point, not participating in further fleets knowing that my state of mind would only get me killed later on.
I did get to meet a frequenter of these logs, and set up to roam around north of Curse on the next day, which may result in more roams with him and his friends throughout the weeks and months.
Computer: terminate recording.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Cascading Blood in Curse
Entry: seven hundred ninety-one.
Curse is tearing Cascade Imminent apart.
Some weeks ago, Cascade deployed to Curse in order to aid Against All Authorities in getting rid of Red Alliance. Shortly after, when it became clear that Pandemic Legion was essentially going to attack us at every opportunity, combined with the abysmal job scouts were doing, leadership called for a temporary halt on our objective. As we were and are still deployed, ISK generating activities have largely been frowned upon. So the alliance has been attempting to entertain itself with roams.
Delve was a very forgiving place for us: blobs, blobs, and more blobs were the typical fare. Everyone that was down there was essentially a sov holder, with a few hundred pilots backing each at the minimum. As the saying goes, there's safety in numbers, and when it's numbers versus numbers, many fights devolve to numbers. Curse, however, is very different from Delve, and the quality of the alliance in terms of fighting ability is clear. If you take a look at the alliance killboards, an ocean of red assaults your vision. How did this happen? Why does this continue to happen?
I've been told this, and realized the truth of it even before, although I had not yet realized it consciously at the time: Curse is small gang heaven, and Cascade is not suited to it. The actual statement was "larger alliances get picked apart", but it amounts to the same thing.
This goes back to my previous entry about knuckle-draggers. The majority of alliance stays logged off or spins ships except for CTAs. Why? Because they have no practical combat skill and no real desire to attain it. Most of those that are dying are trying to attain this skill, but are still stuck in the blob paradigm, where for argument's sake let's define a blob at twenty plus. To top that off, fleets not lead by an official alliance FC usually have hour long formups or don't get off the ground at all. If such a fleet does get off of a station undock, many pilots are inexperienced enough to actually think for themselves in a fight. Thus the sea of red.
And I'll admit, I'm not a fantastic combat pilot. Aside from not having links or drugs or the typical Vagabond, I'm still learning. I feel pretty safe in saying that I'm a step or two ahead of most of the alliance in terms of solo and small gang warfare, but I still pale when it comes to other alliances in the area who have been doing this for a while, such as Gorgon Empire pilots, Darkside pilots, and yes, even the occasional Pandemic Legion pilot I see rolling through.
I will also admit, that my corporation, while combat-focused, has quite a ways to go in terms of overall combat ability. While we have more pilots trying to learn small gang warfare than other corporations, we are still new to it.
Personally, I think an extended stay in Curse would do wonders for the corporation and the alliance, in that order. We have numbers, and we do reasonably decent in larger engagements. The old criticism holds true here, however: as of right now, this sov holder can only blob. Staying in Curse will force us to learn small gang warfare, or stay docked for our duration here. People would rather get blown up than be bored however, so we'll be learning the hard way.
So, the real question is this: how long will we be here, and how much will we be able to learn?
Computer: terminate recording.
Curse is tearing Cascade Imminent apart.
Some weeks ago, Cascade deployed to Curse in order to aid Against All Authorities in getting rid of Red Alliance. Shortly after, when it became clear that Pandemic Legion was essentially going to attack us at every opportunity, combined with the abysmal job scouts were doing, leadership called for a temporary halt on our objective. As we were and are still deployed, ISK generating activities have largely been frowned upon. So the alliance has been attempting to entertain itself with roams.
Delve was a very forgiving place for us: blobs, blobs, and more blobs were the typical fare. Everyone that was down there was essentially a sov holder, with a few hundred pilots backing each at the minimum. As the saying goes, there's safety in numbers, and when it's numbers versus numbers, many fights devolve to numbers. Curse, however, is very different from Delve, and the quality of the alliance in terms of fighting ability is clear. If you take a look at the alliance killboards, an ocean of red assaults your vision. How did this happen? Why does this continue to happen?
I've been told this, and realized the truth of it even before, although I had not yet realized it consciously at the time: Curse is small gang heaven, and Cascade is not suited to it. The actual statement was "larger alliances get picked apart", but it amounts to the same thing.
This goes back to my previous entry about knuckle-draggers. The majority of alliance stays logged off or spins ships except for CTAs. Why? Because they have no practical combat skill and no real desire to attain it. Most of those that are dying are trying to attain this skill, but are still stuck in the blob paradigm, where for argument's sake let's define a blob at twenty plus. To top that off, fleets not lead by an official alliance FC usually have hour long formups or don't get off the ground at all. If such a fleet does get off of a station undock, many pilots are inexperienced enough to actually think for themselves in a fight. Thus the sea of red.
And I'll admit, I'm not a fantastic combat pilot. Aside from not having links or drugs or the typical Vagabond, I'm still learning. I feel pretty safe in saying that I'm a step or two ahead of most of the alliance in terms of solo and small gang warfare, but I still pale when it comes to other alliances in the area who have been doing this for a while, such as Gorgon Empire pilots, Darkside pilots, and yes, even the occasional Pandemic Legion pilot I see rolling through.
I will also admit, that my corporation, while combat-focused, has quite a ways to go in terms of overall combat ability. While we have more pilots trying to learn small gang warfare than other corporations, we are still new to it.
Personally, I think an extended stay in Curse would do wonders for the corporation and the alliance, in that order. We have numbers, and we do reasonably decent in larger engagements. The old criticism holds true here, however: as of right now, this sov holder can only blob. Staying in Curse will force us to learn small gang warfare, or stay docked for our duration here. People would rather get blown up than be bored however, so we'll be learning the hard way.
So, the real question is this: how long will we be here, and how much will we be able to learn?
Computer: terminate recording.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Fleet Discipline and Knuckledraggers
Entry: seven hundred eighty-nine.
By now the news report for C-J is up on evenews24.com. The battle itself, from Cascade's perspective, wasn't terribly impressive. Joining the battle was all about snagging some kills and having some fun if possible amidst all the carnage.
It's not the battle I want to talk about though. Honestly, there isn't much worth talking about except that everyone was shooting everyone and friendlies took the station from Red Alliance.
Prior to the battle, we were formed up on a titan, ready to bridge. During this time, people simply could not shut up. It always gets me, and annoys the hell out of me, that this happens. Why is it that when battle comms are asked for, and we're sitting on a titan waiting to bridge while the FC tries to get intel to make a sound strategic decision, all the knuckledraggers have to choose then to talk about ship balances and improvements.
I don't understand it. I actually piped up on comms before bridging and said, "Hey, CAN WE NOT TALK ABOUT IRRELEVANT SHIT WHEN BATTLE COMMS HAVE BEEN CALLED?!" I was fairly annoyed, to be truthful. That worked about twenty seconds before the inane chatter resumed.
This behavior continued in parts of the fight in C-J, again annoying me because the FC was attempting to make sound tactical decisions while people wanted to tell the alliance about a few more irrelevant topics.
There's another problem, related to discipline, though slightly removed from yet intertwined with the C-J situation: A-GM was kicked from the alliance yesterday. I've heard a few stories, but the common theme is this: a CTA was called, and most of alliance got in fleet. A-GM didn't get in fleet, and then soon left voice comms, but remained in alliance chat and on the alliance forums. In those places, they continued to trash talk, whine, and make excuses for not being on the CTA like everyone else. When it was pointed out that A-GM was the only corporation with members fielding this behavior, they were kicked, having expressed rage at being singled out for not showing up, even though it was the truth.
Whatever assets they have, if not trapped in H-ADOC, are no doubt stuck in Cascade space. Kaldorie X, the CEO of A-GM was not connected at the time this happened, and will likely handle the issue today, but I got the feeling that A-GM is going to be in full evacuation mode as they won't be allowed to rejoin the alliance. Full evac mode will probably start today, and they are supposed to be allowed forty-eight hours to get out. There's a strong tide of resentment within Cascade though, and I wonder how many people will attack them despite blue standings.
The again, I could be wrong, and maybe they will rejoin Cascade when the pilots responsible are kicked. That was not my understanding of the situation, however.
All of that said, it's clear that discipline is a problem with Cascade lately. I just want it fixed and soon so that we can along trying to improve ourselves.
On that note, I'll discuss combat improvements within the alliance. Don't scoff, there are some...amidst the wreckage of our killboard... *sighs*
Computer: terminate recording.
By now the news report for C-J is up on evenews24.com. The battle itself, from Cascade's perspective, wasn't terribly impressive. Joining the battle was all about snagging some kills and having some fun if possible amidst all the carnage.
It's not the battle I want to talk about though. Honestly, there isn't much worth talking about except that everyone was shooting everyone and friendlies took the station from Red Alliance.
Prior to the battle, we were formed up on a titan, ready to bridge. During this time, people simply could not shut up. It always gets me, and annoys the hell out of me, that this happens. Why is it that when battle comms are asked for, and we're sitting on a titan waiting to bridge while the FC tries to get intel to make a sound strategic decision, all the knuckledraggers have to choose then to talk about ship balances and improvements.
I don't understand it. I actually piped up on comms before bridging and said, "Hey, CAN WE NOT TALK ABOUT IRRELEVANT SHIT WHEN BATTLE COMMS HAVE BEEN CALLED?!" I was fairly annoyed, to be truthful. That worked about twenty seconds before the inane chatter resumed.
This behavior continued in parts of the fight in C-J, again annoying me because the FC was attempting to make sound tactical decisions while people wanted to tell the alliance about a few more irrelevant topics.
There's another problem, related to discipline, though slightly removed from yet intertwined with the C-J situation: A-GM was kicked from the alliance yesterday. I've heard a few stories, but the common theme is this: a CTA was called, and most of alliance got in fleet. A-GM didn't get in fleet, and then soon left voice comms, but remained in alliance chat and on the alliance forums. In those places, they continued to trash talk, whine, and make excuses for not being on the CTA like everyone else. When it was pointed out that A-GM was the only corporation with members fielding this behavior, they were kicked, having expressed rage at being singled out for not showing up, even though it was the truth.
Whatever assets they have, if not trapped in H-ADOC, are no doubt stuck in Cascade space. Kaldorie X, the CEO of A-GM was not connected at the time this happened, and will likely handle the issue today, but I got the feeling that A-GM is going to be in full evacuation mode as they won't be allowed to rejoin the alliance. Full evac mode will probably start today, and they are supposed to be allowed forty-eight hours to get out. There's a strong tide of resentment within Cascade though, and I wonder how many people will attack them despite blue standings.
The again, I could be wrong, and maybe they will rejoin Cascade when the pilots responsible are kicked. That was not my understanding of the situation, however.
All of that said, it's clear that discipline is a problem with Cascade lately. I just want it fixed and soon so that we can along trying to improve ourselves.
On that note, I'll discuss combat improvements within the alliance. Don't scoff, there are some...amidst the wreckage of our killboard... *sighs*
Computer: terminate recording.
Friday, March 2, 2012
An Almost Fruitless Roam, a Useless Death
Entry: seven hundred eighty-four.
With some free time on my hands for once this week, I and a former pirate friend now corpmate roamed from H-ADOC to Utopia in a Crusader and a Wolf. On the trip up, we found nothing except a gatecamp sitting on a drag bubble which we easily bypassed, and another gatecamp on the Jorund/Utopia gate.
On our way back, we decided to make a bunch of pounces for the route, since Curse seems rife with gatecampers and cloakies. As I warped to the outgate in Hemin, I noticed an Incursus sitting a hundred off. I called for Jason to wait while I burned at him. It seemed pretty clear he was bait, but with me piloting the interceptor, I felt reasonably confident of getting away.
At forty kilometers, I called for him to warp to me. A few seconds later I had the Incursus tackled. A few seconds after that, Jason landed, and that's when the Incursus webbed and scrammed me. With Jason on field I knew we could kill the Incursus extremely fast.
It lasted ten seconds or less. There was enough time left over before the gatecamping gang landed that I tried to loot the wreck. I wasn't quite able to, however, and barely managed to get away from a Rapier and Sabre, having been webbed and momentarily inside of a bubble.
The rest of the trip to H-ADOC was uneventful.
After a few minutes in H-ADOC, we joined an alliance fleet. Waterboard came into local with an eighteen strong gang: Vagabonds, Canes, Scimis, etcetera. The FC decided to take the fight, and warped to them below the station. He called for us to warp to him, and as I was in warp, he called for fleet to leave the field. Fantastic. My cane was pretty brutally murdered, and I didn't manage to kill anything with it. Suffice to say that I was fairly ticked off at the horrendous call the FC had made.
It would not have been such a bad call had the fleet already been in space: something would have died. But half the fleet was docked. Five of us lost our ships for no reason and took nothing with us, four being battlecruisers like mine. That's the last time I join one of his fleets.
My night was a bit ruined at that useless action. I went and got another cane from HED-, only to run through a gatecamp that that FC's then active fleet was chasing. Thankfully, they hadn't reported it in intel at all, so I got to view the enemy gang up close and personal. Also thankfully, the enemy gang didn't jump in after me, probably assuming that their opponents were on the other side instead of running away.
It was fairly frustrating.
Computer: terminate recording.
With some free time on my hands for once this week, I and a former pirate friend now corpmate roamed from H-ADOC to Utopia in a Crusader and a Wolf. On the trip up, we found nothing except a gatecamp sitting on a drag bubble which we easily bypassed, and another gatecamp on the Jorund/Utopia gate.
On our way back, we decided to make a bunch of pounces for the route, since Curse seems rife with gatecampers and cloakies. As I warped to the outgate in Hemin, I noticed an Incursus sitting a hundred off. I called for Jason to wait while I burned at him. It seemed pretty clear he was bait, but with me piloting the interceptor, I felt reasonably confident of getting away.
At forty kilometers, I called for him to warp to me. A few seconds later I had the Incursus tackled. A few seconds after that, Jason landed, and that's when the Incursus webbed and scrammed me. With Jason on field I knew we could kill the Incursus extremely fast.
It lasted ten seconds or less. There was enough time left over before the gatecamping gang landed that I tried to loot the wreck. I wasn't quite able to, however, and barely managed to get away from a Rapier and Sabre, having been webbed and momentarily inside of a bubble.
The rest of the trip to H-ADOC was uneventful.
After a few minutes in H-ADOC, we joined an alliance fleet. Waterboard came into local with an eighteen strong gang: Vagabonds, Canes, Scimis, etcetera. The FC decided to take the fight, and warped to them below the station. He called for us to warp to him, and as I was in warp, he called for fleet to leave the field. Fantastic. My cane was pretty brutally murdered, and I didn't manage to kill anything with it. Suffice to say that I was fairly ticked off at the horrendous call the FC had made.
It would not have been such a bad call had the fleet already been in space: something would have died. But half the fleet was docked. Five of us lost our ships for no reason and took nothing with us, four being battlecruisers like mine. That's the last time I join one of his fleets.
My night was a bit ruined at that useless action. I went and got another cane from HED-, only to run through a gatecamp that that FC's then active fleet was chasing. Thankfully, they hadn't reported it in intel at all, so I got to view the enemy gang up close and personal. Also thankfully, the enemy gang didn't jump in after me, probably assuming that their opponents were on the other side instead of running away.
It was fairly frustrating.
Computer: terminate recording.
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