Entry: seven hundred four.
It's been a long few path days on the warpath. Combat-wise, very little has happened with the exception of three turkey shoots, one in which my fleet were the turkeys. Aside from those few instances of bullets spraying back and forth, it's been structure grinding. People aren't generally happy with this, but understand the need to wipe out these structures in our goal to retake CZK- and CNC-, as well as reclaim valuable moons currently held by enemies.
Delve and Querious are dead zones these days. Very little fighting happens at all in these regions except around structure timers. This is less a problem for our enemies as opposed to Cascade, as the nearest combat zones are typically near Stain in Catch. While this keep us safe so that we can make our ISK, there's the issue of life in the alliance.
That said though, the grinding really has taken the life out of the alliance right now. It's been hard even getting a respectable number pilots for roams, nevermind emergency CTAs.
I can't wait for this reclamation of our space to be finished so we can back to what we're good at: pissin' in someone else's Cheerios.
Computer: terminate recording.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Two on One and then Eighty on None
Entry: seven hundred one.
Two nights ago, Archie led us in a fleet to fight against the Fountain residents. I tried the previous night to make it a more engrossing battlereport, but with the battle lasting thirty minutes, I doubt anyone, even myself, would have the patience to wade through thirty minutes of raw combat logging interspersed with fleet chatter. In fact, I know I could not.
In this particular roam, we formed up in Arty Canes and Drakes. We had one or two Scimitars tops, and a smattering of tacklers and recons. After a trip from 49-U6U to lower Fountain, we waited on a gate for fifteen minutes before finally jumping into LBGI- to engage. When the fight did finally happen, we were at zero on the WMH- gate when the enemy fleet landed.
There was a period of confusion, as the FC was deciding what to do, and then after ten seconds, when a fleet member called multiple enemies engaging him, we took action and burned off the gate and out of the deployed interdiction bubbles. Primaries were called one after the other as we burned off, aligning out with microwarpdrives active. Enemy targets fell minute by minute as they attempted to chase us down, but our superior speed and range kept us out of range by and large. They gave chase for over ten minutes before the situation changed.
Enemy reinforcements arrived. We engaged for another few volleys before warping off. We'd lost a quarter of our fleet.
A few minutes later, we warped back to the WMH- gate at range, ready for the enemy fleet to warp at zero to give chase. When they landed, we activated our microwarpdrives and aligned out, shooting down anything that came close. More enemy targets fell, but we started losing more of our own fleet faster as pilots became less able to manage their own diminishing capacitor levels. We warped off yet again. We'd lost yet another half of our fleet.
A few minutes after the previous warp out, we decided to change locations. We moved to J-R, warped to a gate at range, and waited. The enemy arrived as expected, but with so few of us left and so many of them, we lost far more than we took with us before we warped off and began bouncing safe spots for the next fifteen minutes. When fifteen minutes were up, we went dark.
Unfortunately, the FC was still probed down, destroyed, and podded. With him dead, those of use remaining were forced to burn back home. After fifteen minutes of zero power output, we reactivated our systems and burned up into Fountain and out into low-sec, taking the trip back home down through the Aridia region to 1DH-.
The roam was extremely successful during the first two engagements in LBGI-, but cascaded horribly in the third and final engagement, costing most of the fleet its ships.
Fortunately, and unfortunately, I've gotten quite good at not getting myself killed. This is a blessing in the sense that I don't lose much, but a curse in that I have three such Arty Canes and have yet to lose one. I'm seriously considering contracting them off, or finding a way to modify them from the original spec without a serious ISK investment. After that, I still have a Whelp Cane, a Tornado, a Nano Pest, and several assorted frigates including interceptors, assault ships, stealth bombers, and an Imperial Navy Slicer.
The biggest issue concerning these is accumulation. I want to fly other ships than what I have, but I don't want to own twenty ships. I'm doing my best to lose them in PvP without intentionally losing them, but so far I've been unsuccessful. I'm starting to wonder how long I'll have these ships, if I'll even get the insurance money on them before the contracts expire.
As for today, we formed a practice run of a Drake doctrine, for which I flew the Slicer, hoping to lose it. We 'terrorized' BDEAL for two hours, disabling jumpbridges and attempting to bump a Hurricane out of the Jump Bridge tower's forcefield, as well as generally running around in their space while waiting for them to form up a fleet.
It seems, however, that BDEAL can't actually field a fleet strong enough to deal with an eighty man gang on its own. We left frustrated, no targets to shoot, no enemies to fight, no killmails acquired. Further roams against the CFC, if it can still be said to exist, will likely run farther into Fountain, even past PNQY-.
I find another situation more likely, though. With the CFC having left Delve, there's no one for Evoke to combat except for Cascade and Nulli, while Cascade also has former DRF entities in Catch to deal with, with the strong possibility of TEST and Pandemic Legion making a show there as well, if not on a regular basis, then at least from time to time.
Given that Evoke has been forming up for Cascade's timers as we retake our former space in Catch, Querious, and Delve, I expect we'll be seeing them more in the coming days long before anyone else. It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out though.
Computer: terminate recording.
Two nights ago, Archie led us in a fleet to fight against the Fountain residents. I tried the previous night to make it a more engrossing battlereport, but with the battle lasting thirty minutes, I doubt anyone, even myself, would have the patience to wade through thirty minutes of raw combat logging interspersed with fleet chatter. In fact, I know I could not.
In this particular roam, we formed up in Arty Canes and Drakes. We had one or two Scimitars tops, and a smattering of tacklers and recons. After a trip from 49-U6U to lower Fountain, we waited on a gate for fifteen minutes before finally jumping into LBGI- to engage. When the fight did finally happen, we were at zero on the WMH- gate when the enemy fleet landed.
There was a period of confusion, as the FC was deciding what to do, and then after ten seconds, when a fleet member called multiple enemies engaging him, we took action and burned off the gate and out of the deployed interdiction bubbles. Primaries were called one after the other as we burned off, aligning out with microwarpdrives active. Enemy targets fell minute by minute as they attempted to chase us down, but our superior speed and range kept us out of range by and large. They gave chase for over ten minutes before the situation changed.
Enemy reinforcements arrived. We engaged for another few volleys before warping off. We'd lost a quarter of our fleet.
A few minutes later, we warped back to the WMH- gate at range, ready for the enemy fleet to warp at zero to give chase. When they landed, we activated our microwarpdrives and aligned out, shooting down anything that came close. More enemy targets fell, but we started losing more of our own fleet faster as pilots became less able to manage their own diminishing capacitor levels. We warped off yet again. We'd lost yet another half of our fleet.
A few minutes after the previous warp out, we decided to change locations. We moved to J-R, warped to a gate at range, and waited. The enemy arrived as expected, but with so few of us left and so many of them, we lost far more than we took with us before we warped off and began bouncing safe spots for the next fifteen minutes. When fifteen minutes were up, we went dark.
Unfortunately, the FC was still probed down, destroyed, and podded. With him dead, those of use remaining were forced to burn back home. After fifteen minutes of zero power output, we reactivated our systems and burned up into Fountain and out into low-sec, taking the trip back home down through the Aridia region to 1DH-.
The roam was extremely successful during the first two engagements in LBGI-, but cascaded horribly in the third and final engagement, costing most of the fleet its ships.
Fortunately, and unfortunately, I've gotten quite good at not getting myself killed. This is a blessing in the sense that I don't lose much, but a curse in that I have three such Arty Canes and have yet to lose one. I'm seriously considering contracting them off, or finding a way to modify them from the original spec without a serious ISK investment. After that, I still have a Whelp Cane, a Tornado, a Nano Pest, and several assorted frigates including interceptors, assault ships, stealth bombers, and an Imperial Navy Slicer.
The biggest issue concerning these is accumulation. I want to fly other ships than what I have, but I don't want to own twenty ships. I'm doing my best to lose them in PvP without intentionally losing them, but so far I've been unsuccessful. I'm starting to wonder how long I'll have these ships, if I'll even get the insurance money on them before the contracts expire.
As for today, we formed a practice run of a Drake doctrine, for which I flew the Slicer, hoping to lose it. We 'terrorized' BDEAL for two hours, disabling jumpbridges and attempting to bump a Hurricane out of the Jump Bridge tower's forcefield, as well as generally running around in their space while waiting for them to form up a fleet.
It seems, however, that BDEAL can't actually field a fleet strong enough to deal with an eighty man gang on its own. We left frustrated, no targets to shoot, no enemies to fight, no killmails acquired. Further roams against the CFC, if it can still be said to exist, will likely run farther into Fountain, even past PNQY-.
I find another situation more likely, though. With the CFC having left Delve, there's no one for Evoke to combat except for Cascade and Nulli, while Cascade also has former DRF entities in Catch to deal with, with the strong possibility of TEST and Pandemic Legion making a show there as well, if not on a regular basis, then at least from time to time.
Given that Evoke has been forming up for Cascade's timers as we retake our former space in Catch, Querious, and Delve, I expect we'll be seeing them more in the coming days long before anyone else. It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out though.
Computer: terminate recording.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Retraction, PL might not have sucked
I was browsing about a bit before work and came across this particular link.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Mintchiplol#p/u/4/0mtF-LC9G-8
The particular section I am interested in is minutes 8-9, where one of the PL guys explains why he was camping the 1DH- undock. He doesn't specifically mention 1DH-, but the context was Morsus Mihi had gone to Delve to rebuild, and this guy (Graff?) started doing it to show Morsus Mihi (and Cascade and Brick also probably, just as an added bonus) how unsafe NPC space can be.
If that was the goal, I'd say it was a resounding success. I'd be willing to say that what I wrote a month earlier about PL sucking because of this was entirely uninformed. I have to think back all the way to my days with Morrdack to remember that even in the 34th Massachusetts, this is pretty much what it was about. Griefing and having fun no matter what.
Not that PL really cares about a small fry like me anyways. I should acknowledge when I'm (definitely or possibly) wrong though.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Mintchiplol#p/u/4/0mtF-LC9G-8
The particular section I am interested in is minutes 8-9, where one of the PL guys explains why he was camping the 1DH- undock. He doesn't specifically mention 1DH-, but the context was Morsus Mihi had gone to Delve to rebuild, and this guy (Graff?) started doing it to show Morsus Mihi (and Cascade and Brick also probably, just as an added bonus) how unsafe NPC space can be.
If that was the goal, I'd say it was a resounding success. I'd be willing to say that what I wrote a month earlier about PL sucking because of this was entirely uninformed. I have to think back all the way to my days with Morrdack to remember that even in the 34th Massachusetts, this is pretty much what it was about. Griefing and having fun no matter what.
Not that PL really cares about a small fry like me anyways. I should acknowledge when I'm (definitely or possibly) wrong though.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
J131401
Entry: six hundred ninety-eight.
Yesterday a call came out for backup. N3MESIS apparently needed some help to deal with a gang of W-spacers coming in and out through a connection in 9SBB-.
Only a few short minutes passed before Cascade began forming up in 49-U6U. A few of us didn't wait for the main Cascade fleet to formup and just burned directly. It was only a few minutes after the initial formup that the fleet began burning furiously for 9SBB- as well. The thirteen jump trip itself was rather uneventful except for the frantic urging by N3MESIS and the Cascade FC to get to 9SBB- as fast as possible. Orders were passed down en route to hold on the 9SBB- gate in 3-F, and I arrived only scant minutes before the rest of the Cascade emergency fleet did.
Just moments after the fleet landed and joined the N3MESIS fleet on that gate, N3MESIS jumped in and warped to the wormhole entrance, telling us to do the same only a minute later. There was a pause in orders as N3MESIS waited for the situation to develop on the other side of the connection, then began screaming for everyone to transit. The fight had finally escalated.
My stomach twisted sickeningly as I traversed the connection, only relenting once the other side was reached. The situation that greeted me was just as bad as traversing the connection had been though. Two FCs were calling targets in the same fleet against the enemy targets. Only when Cascade's FC relented and let the N3MESIS FC call primaries did things become organized.
The enemy arrayed against us was Transmission Lost, a dedicated W-Space alliance that some of my fleet members had run across before once or twice. Their force was bubbled on the connection to 9SBB-, but they had an Archon in triage. Their sub-capitals were attempting to defend the triaged Archon while the Archon attempted to keep them alive. To make matters worse for them, when N3MESIS and Cascade had transited into J131401, the way back had collapsed due to the sheer mass that passed through the connection.
With no chance for escape, over fifty of us versus thirty of them, they went out fighting, all but a few of their ships too deep within the bubbles to burn for the edges and warp away to safety. Enemy sub-capitals were eliminated over the course of the next few minutes, before the Archon was finally destroyed in about a minute's time.
With no immediate route back to Querious, the fleet looted the field while a Prober scanned out new wormholes to get us back to K-Space. It was during this wait that I learned that the fight I had just been involved in was a revenge fleet. N3MESIS had apparently been in and out of skirmishes with Transmission Lost in the preceeding hours, and in the final skirmish before the revenge fleet, they had been whelped rather badly.
Being used as a tool for someone else's revenge just isn't as fulfilling I'd hoped it might be, and the several hours of waiting just to re-enter K-Space wasn't the best repayment either. Still, the loot was nice, and should deal with some of the costs of fitting a recently acquired Tornado, courtesy of Militaris Industries. I suppose it all balances out in the end.
After all, I could have ended up doing nothing all as opposed to having a little fun.
Computer: terminate recording.
Yesterday a call came out for backup. N3MESIS apparently needed some help to deal with a gang of W-spacers coming in and out through a connection in 9SBB-.
Only a few short minutes passed before Cascade began forming up in 49-U6U. A few of us didn't wait for the main Cascade fleet to formup and just burned directly. It was only a few minutes after the initial formup that the fleet began burning furiously for 9SBB- as well. The thirteen jump trip itself was rather uneventful except for the frantic urging by N3MESIS and the Cascade FC to get to 9SBB- as fast as possible. Orders were passed down en route to hold on the 9SBB- gate in 3-F, and I arrived only scant minutes before the rest of the Cascade emergency fleet did.
Just moments after the fleet landed and joined the N3MESIS fleet on that gate, N3MESIS jumped in and warped to the wormhole entrance, telling us to do the same only a minute later. There was a pause in orders as N3MESIS waited for the situation to develop on the other side of the connection, then began screaming for everyone to transit. The fight had finally escalated.
My stomach twisted sickeningly as I traversed the connection, only relenting once the other side was reached. The situation that greeted me was just as bad as traversing the connection had been though. Two FCs were calling targets in the same fleet against the enemy targets. Only when Cascade's FC relented and let the N3MESIS FC call primaries did things become organized.
The enemy arrayed against us was Transmission Lost, a dedicated W-Space alliance that some of my fleet members had run across before once or twice. Their force was bubbled on the connection to 9SBB-, but they had an Archon in triage. Their sub-capitals were attempting to defend the triaged Archon while the Archon attempted to keep them alive. To make matters worse for them, when N3MESIS and Cascade had transited into J131401, the way back had collapsed due to the sheer mass that passed through the connection.
With no chance for escape, over fifty of us versus thirty of them, they went out fighting, all but a few of their ships too deep within the bubbles to burn for the edges and warp away to safety. Enemy sub-capitals were eliminated over the course of the next few minutes, before the Archon was finally destroyed in about a minute's time.
With no immediate route back to Querious, the fleet looted the field while a Prober scanned out new wormholes to get us back to K-Space. It was during this wait that I learned that the fight I had just been involved in was a revenge fleet. N3MESIS had apparently been in and out of skirmishes with Transmission Lost in the preceeding hours, and in the final skirmish before the revenge fleet, they had been whelped rather badly.
Being used as a tool for someone else's revenge just isn't as fulfilling I'd hoped it might be, and the several hours of waiting just to re-enter K-Space wasn't the best repayment either. Still, the loot was nice, and should deal with some of the costs of fitting a recently acquired Tornado, courtesy of Militaris Industries. I suppose it all balances out in the end.
After all, I could have ended up doing nothing all as opposed to having a little fun.
Computer: terminate recording.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Abusing Stront
Entry: six hundred ninety-five.
Three days ago I got greedy and lost a stealth bomber. The why is because I don't rat, or mine, or produce, or any of the other number of ways there are to make ISK.
The how is that it occurred shortly after a "grief Ushra'Khan" / "kill the cyno jammer" / "destroy station services" operation that took place in CNC-, as Cascade is attempting to remove them from its former space. As we were wrapping up the "destroy station services" portion of the operation, NCdot bridged in on a scattered Cascade fleet with its guard down. Multiple losses ensued, mostly on Cascade's side, a few on NCdot's side.
Some of the destroyed ships were of the tech two variant, and when the heat had died down and NCdot returned home, I returned with the intention of salvaging some intact armor plates from those wrecks, each valued on insta-sell at thirty million ISK.
Unfortunately, a cluttered overview resulted in a snipe Apocalypse nailing me while I was grubbing for ISK. At that point, I was down thirty million ISK.
Yesterday there was a very fast formup to knock out an Evoke tower in MKD-. After a five minute formup, Cascade, N3MESIS, and Krysis burned to and met in the target system. The pilots in the newest Battlecruisers warped in at range and the stealth bombers were provided a warp-in from a sub-FC.
The bomber warp-in was very bad.
Instead of being thirty kilometers away from the tower, the warp-in point was twenty kilometers away. This placed us too close to the tower for comfort, and during our confused efforts to get proper range, the FC called enemy targets, targets that were at the tower attempting to repair it. Bombers decloaked and began laying into the enemy, and I was forced to warp off of the field deep into armor midway through the fight. The small Evoke force destroyed fourteen bombers, however, before their remaining elements were pushed inside the forcefield.
Once Evoke was inside the tower, what remained targetable were the Evoke tower and a large group of stealth bomber wrecks. I set about salvaging while providing additional damage, and came out at the end with eighty plus million ISK in tech two salvage in the hold.
The fleet stopped applying damage when the tower shields reached approximately thirty percent. Evoke had managed to repair the tower shields just enough to restront the tower to come out of reinforce in their most active timezone, which coincedentally is not a strong timezone for us. We left, promising to come back in a few hours, at which point we would finish reinforcing it and use their stront levels against them to force the tower to exit reinforced mode in their worst timezone.
Evoke won't have that tower in MKD- for much longer, of that there is no doubt. Question is, how long will Evoke be able to repair and restront the tower before it goes down?
Computer: terminate recording.
Three days ago I got greedy and lost a stealth bomber. The why is because I don't rat, or mine, or produce, or any of the other number of ways there are to make ISK.
The how is that it occurred shortly after a "grief Ushra'Khan" / "kill the cyno jammer" / "destroy station services" operation that took place in CNC-, as Cascade is attempting to remove them from its former space. As we were wrapping up the "destroy station services" portion of the operation, NCdot bridged in on a scattered Cascade fleet with its guard down. Multiple losses ensued, mostly on Cascade's side, a few on NCdot's side.
Some of the destroyed ships were of the tech two variant, and when the heat had died down and NCdot returned home, I returned with the intention of salvaging some intact armor plates from those wrecks, each valued on insta-sell at thirty million ISK.
Unfortunately, a cluttered overview resulted in a snipe Apocalypse nailing me while I was grubbing for ISK. At that point, I was down thirty million ISK.
Yesterday there was a very fast formup to knock out an Evoke tower in MKD-. After a five minute formup, Cascade, N3MESIS, and Krysis burned to and met in the target system. The pilots in the newest Battlecruisers warped in at range and the stealth bombers were provided a warp-in from a sub-FC.
The bomber warp-in was very bad.
Instead of being thirty kilometers away from the tower, the warp-in point was twenty kilometers away. This placed us too close to the tower for comfort, and during our confused efforts to get proper range, the FC called enemy targets, targets that were at the tower attempting to repair it. Bombers decloaked and began laying into the enemy, and I was forced to warp off of the field deep into armor midway through the fight. The small Evoke force destroyed fourteen bombers, however, before their remaining elements were pushed inside the forcefield.
Once Evoke was inside the tower, what remained targetable were the Evoke tower and a large group of stealth bomber wrecks. I set about salvaging while providing additional damage, and came out at the end with eighty plus million ISK in tech two salvage in the hold.
The fleet stopped applying damage when the tower shields reached approximately thirty percent. Evoke had managed to repair the tower shields just enough to restront the tower to come out of reinforce in their most active timezone, which coincedentally is not a strong timezone for us. We left, promising to come back in a few hours, at which point we would finish reinforcing it and use their stront levels against them to force the tower to exit reinforced mode in their worst timezone.
Evoke won't have that tower in MKD- for much longer, of that there is no doubt. Question is, how long will Evoke be able to repair and restront the tower before it goes down?
Computer: terminate recording.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Humbling Experience
Entry: six hundred eighty-nine.
Today is day two of trying to flip the W-IX station to Cascade control. Black Legion have come back yet again to mess with us while we handle our business in subcapitals. We know better than to light a cyno and take the easy way out with Dreads: we do that, and Raiden or Pandemic Legion or anyone else itching for capital kills will come knocking down the house to save the couch.
As Black Legion attacked the TCU, the main FC, who was overly tired, asked for bombers. I took command as no one else was going about organizing any sort of bombing run. His fatigue and frustration are egging me on.
I ask bombers to "x up" with bomb types. Four scorches with mine, one shrapnel, one concussion. I create a group chat with the scorch bombers and a prober, simultaneously setting up a pounce at the TCU while Black Legion takes a brief break in K7D-. Just as I make my pounce, Black Legion warps in on the TCU and starts attacking it. Bubbles go up at zero on the TCU: I hoped I wasn't wrong in my next judgement.
I ordered the scorch bombers only to warp to me at ten and to "x up" when they landed. No one is being vocal and the fleet FC is getting frustrated in part because his fatigue is so intense. The only bombers talking are the ones I don't want around for the bombing run.
Finally, my scorch bombers "x up". Warpin is fifty behind them towards the P4- gate. I order a warp up to the warpin at ten, we end up twenty from the nearest. FC is infringing on me, and I make a bad call to get thirty from the nearest, turn around, bomb, warpout.
First scorch bomber decloaks and launches, and I call a stop because I read shrapnel. I see it as scorch a moment later and call the resume action. Too late, first bomber down, second going down, random shrapnel bomb from the damn shrapnel bomber, my bomb goes out. I lag, try to warp out, but I'm not in my bombing fit because I was shooting the station, and I die.
No bombs hit. Not a single one was set up for a proper bombing run, mostly because of alignment, partially because of fit, and partially for the mixed bomb that blew up bombs immediately behind it. What a cluster****.
"Computer: playback forum post."
Computer: "Confirmed."
While working on the W-IX station BL came in with Gilas and started knocking on the TCU. I asked for bombers to x up with types. 5 scorch including me, 1 shrap, 1 concussion.
I had a pounce on the TCU and had the scorch bombers warp to me at 10. None of them decloaked. We got a warp in behind them and began bombing. Our target was the drones, but 5 bombs should have done a substantial amount of damage to them as well.
Problems:
1) Bombers that died lagged out or got insta locked and killed.
2) Mixed bomb types were launched despite only scorch bombers only being told to make the run.
3) Our warp in position had no aligned warp-out. We did have time to do it, but I felt rushed and made a bad call
4) Main fleet chatter was pretty active despite our setting up to bomb. It's very hard to coordinate when non combatants are talking about anything.
5) Squad members did not speak on comms. Do not know why.
How I'll be looking to fix this:
1) I will not execute any bombing run when "lone bombers" with bombs not part of the main group are present. They get impatient and disobey orders because no one can see them. If a TCU falls, so be it.
2) Bombing runs will be aligned with a warp out if time permits. Ambushes will be set up ahead of time, defensive bombs have a short time before the enemy target is destroyed.
3) Even though I lagged, I still took a few hits before dying due to the Invuln I had active. If I had had an MSE fitted and online, I could have survived long enough to warp out despite the damage. Instead, my bomb never hit because I died. Will bring an offline MSE from now on. Cannot use this bomber on thorn fleets period since I can't switch between the MWD and AB. Can still fit torps for structure shoots by toggling off the MSE and MWD as necessary.
4) Will use separate comms channel instead of staying in main fleet channel.
5) Will tell squad members in this separate comms channel to reply over voice comms instead of holding silence.
Are there any suggestions on other improvements that could be made? Any bomber FC can learn from this, so I encourage constructive criticism.
Computer: "Playback terminated."
Such a humbling experience.
Computer: terminate recording.
Today is day two of trying to flip the W-IX station to Cascade control. Black Legion have come back yet again to mess with us while we handle our business in subcapitals. We know better than to light a cyno and take the easy way out with Dreads: we do that, and Raiden or Pandemic Legion or anyone else itching for capital kills will come knocking down the house to save the couch.
As Black Legion attacked the TCU, the main FC, who was overly tired, asked for bombers. I took command as no one else was going about organizing any sort of bombing run. His fatigue and frustration are egging me on.
I ask bombers to "x up" with bomb types. Four scorches with mine, one shrapnel, one concussion. I create a group chat with the scorch bombers and a prober, simultaneously setting up a pounce at the TCU while Black Legion takes a brief break in K7D-. Just as I make my pounce, Black Legion warps in on the TCU and starts attacking it. Bubbles go up at zero on the TCU: I hoped I wasn't wrong in my next judgement.
I ordered the scorch bombers only to warp to me at ten and to "x up" when they landed. No one is being vocal and the fleet FC is getting frustrated in part because his fatigue is so intense. The only bombers talking are the ones I don't want around for the bombing run.
Finally, my scorch bombers "x up". Warpin is fifty behind them towards the P4- gate. I order a warp up to the warpin at ten, we end up twenty from the nearest. FC is infringing on me, and I make a bad call to get thirty from the nearest, turn around, bomb, warpout.
First scorch bomber decloaks and launches, and I call a stop because I read shrapnel. I see it as scorch a moment later and call the resume action. Too late, first bomber down, second going down, random shrapnel bomb from the damn shrapnel bomber, my bomb goes out. I lag, try to warp out, but I'm not in my bombing fit because I was shooting the station, and I die.
No bombs hit. Not a single one was set up for a proper bombing run, mostly because of alignment, partially because of fit, and partially for the mixed bomb that blew up bombs immediately behind it. What a cluster****.
"Computer: playback forum post."
Computer: "Confirmed."
*****
While working on the W-IX station BL came in with Gilas and started knocking on the TCU. I asked for bombers to x up with types. 5 scorch including me, 1 shrap, 1 concussion.
I had a pounce on the TCU and had the scorch bombers warp to me at 10. None of them decloaked. We got a warp in behind them and began bombing. Our target was the drones, but 5 bombs should have done a substantial amount of damage to them as well.
Problems:
1) Bombers that died lagged out or got insta locked and killed.
2) Mixed bomb types were launched despite only scorch bombers only being told to make the run.
3) Our warp in position had no aligned warp-out. We did have time to do it, but I felt rushed and made a bad call
4) Main fleet chatter was pretty active despite our setting up to bomb. It's very hard to coordinate when non combatants are talking about anything.
5) Squad members did not speak on comms. Do not know why.
How I'll be looking to fix this:
1) I will not execute any bombing run when "lone bombers" with bombs not part of the main group are present. They get impatient and disobey orders because no one can see them. If a TCU falls, so be it.
2) Bombing runs will be aligned with a warp out if time permits. Ambushes will be set up ahead of time, defensive bombs have a short time before the enemy target is destroyed.
3) Even though I lagged, I still took a few hits before dying due to the Invuln I had active. If I had had an MSE fitted and online, I could have survived long enough to warp out despite the damage. Instead, my bomb never hit because I died. Will bring an offline MSE from now on. Cannot use this bomber on thorn fleets period since I can't switch between the MWD and AB. Can still fit torps for structure shoots by toggling off the MSE and MWD as necessary.
4) Will use separate comms channel instead of staying in main fleet channel.
5) Will tell squad members in this separate comms channel to reply over voice comms instead of holding silence.
Are there any suggestions on other improvements that could be made? Any bomber FC can learn from this, so I encourage constructive criticism.
*****
Computer: "Playback terminated."
Such a humbling experience.
Computer: terminate recording.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Grinding
Entry: six hundred eighty-eight.
I'm painfully reminded of Suleiman's comment yesterday. "lol sov". Indeed. I've been scouting for the main fleet for quite some time, perhaps six plus hours, I'm not real sure. Raiden and Evoke went around taking sovereignty away from us in three major systems today: A2-V2, 9CG6, and W-IX. We've only been able to manage a smallish fleet of forty to fifty for this mission of taking back space.
I'm sure Raiden are laughing at us for how long it's taking us. First, we had to destroy the TCUs in those systems, and then we had to flip the stations. So far, we've destroyed the TCUs with torpedo spam, and then reshipped into Battleships to flip the stations, of which only 9CG6 has been flipped back to us from Raiden.
Currently the W-IX station is in structure being flipped from Raiden to us. A2-V2, but the Neocom network is going down for upgrades in a few hours, and I doubt we'll flip A2-V2 in time for that.
Raiden attempted to get a super fleet up against us for the 9CG6 and then the W-IX stations, but failed and formed up a small bomber squad. While forming up, Black Legion rolled past us into 9CG6 in their Gila fleet, then came back to W-IX and killed a few of our battleships. After Black Legion left, Raiden managed to drop some bombs on our kitchen sink battleship fleet and we lost a few more.
Setbacks sure slow station flipping down.
"lol sov". No kidding. But it's this or gate and station guns, and I'd rather deal with this, especially since the flipping process usually results in combat, just not when your opponent would have to fight you out of their timezone.
On the upside, it looks like I'm going to win the first place prize this month for combat. I haven't necessarily been the most active, but two major strikes with bombs put me over the top for the month. I'm looking forward to perfecting my bombing tactics, solo and in groups, to win these sorts of prizes more often.
Computer: terminate recording.
I'm painfully reminded of Suleiman's comment yesterday. "lol sov". Indeed. I've been scouting for the main fleet for quite some time, perhaps six plus hours, I'm not real sure. Raiden and Evoke went around taking sovereignty away from us in three major systems today: A2-V2, 9CG6, and W-IX. We've only been able to manage a smallish fleet of forty to fifty for this mission of taking back space.
I'm sure Raiden are laughing at us for how long it's taking us. First, we had to destroy the TCUs in those systems, and then we had to flip the stations. So far, we've destroyed the TCUs with torpedo spam, and then reshipped into Battleships to flip the stations, of which only 9CG6 has been flipped back to us from Raiden.
Currently the W-IX station is in structure being flipped from Raiden to us. A2-V2, but the Neocom network is going down for upgrades in a few hours, and I doubt we'll flip A2-V2 in time for that.
Raiden attempted to get a super fleet up against us for the 9CG6 and then the W-IX stations, but failed and formed up a small bomber squad. While forming up, Black Legion rolled past us into 9CG6 in their Gila fleet, then came back to W-IX and killed a few of our battleships. After Black Legion left, Raiden managed to drop some bombs on our kitchen sink battleship fleet and we lost a few more.
Setbacks sure slow station flipping down.
"lol sov". No kidding. But it's this or gate and station guns, and I'd rather deal with this, especially since the flipping process usually results in combat, just not when your opponent would have to fight you out of their timezone.
On the upside, it looks like I'm going to win the first place prize this month for combat. I haven't necessarily been the most active, but two major strikes with bombs put me over the top for the month. I'm looking forward to perfecting my bombing tactics, solo and in groups, to win these sorts of prizes more often.
Computer: terminate recording.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)