What Does "Solo/Small-Gang" Mean?

I'd originally planned for this post to be a reflection on my experiences since founding Hellcats Reloaded a few weeks ago. This is a question that's come up several times during recruitment, though, and I think it's worth a blog post.

~* if you're looking for the tl;dr, skip to the next tag *~

An awful lot of groups out there identify themselves as focusing on "solo/small-gang" PVP, including Hellcats Reloaded. Exactly what proportion of time is spent solo vs. flying with others varies from group to group, something I learned the hard way when I first tried to start my career as a pirate. Up to that point I'd been flying exclusively with gangs, some of them with fellow squids, other times as part of Wensley's Wednesday night roams. I had so much fun doing the latter that I decided to jump ship from FW and join Gunpoint Diplomacy. At the time, Sard Caid warned me that the play style in RANSM was mainly solo, different than what I was used to in FW and on Wensley's roams. I wasn't too troubled by the idea - there had to be some gangs out, right?

I quickly learned how wrong I was. Between most of the corp's members being in the EU TZ (iirc, Sard, Dirty Protagonist and I were the only consistently active US TZ members at the time) and the others' inclination to soloing, I spent a lot of time spinning my ship waiting for something to happen. Combined with losses grinding my wallet down and not having easy access to ISK from factional warfare missions, I lasted a month in RANSM before I went back to Black Rise with my tail between my legs – or at least, that's how it felt at the time.

Since then, I've noticed that among lowsec pirate corps, solo PVP often makes up the majority of the "solo/small-gang" division. I've jokingly referred to the Black Rebel Rifter Club as the "solo frigate pilots' support group", and a lot of the time I spent there was either FCing my own gangs or flying with ex-corpies in RANSM or FW. I gradually got more accustomed to soloing during my quest to join the Tuskers, but even after I'd reached that goal, I mainly flew in gangs; I just didn't notice it then because RL was cutting into my play time.

In fact, most of the lowsec pirates I've flown with spend the majority of their EVE time not flying in gangs, and sometimes not even PVPing. They might prefer to solo, they might be making ISK (whether through exploration, farming WH sites, level 5 missions, FW alts, or whatever), hauling ships on an alt for their main to explode, doing corp administrative stuff, playing EOH Poker (you know who you are :P), tab out of EVE while playing LoL or DOTA, or just have gone AFK and not bothered to log out of the game (guilty). It was the opportunity to fly with people in gangs that drew me into piracy, but it was only after I took the plunge that I realised the gangs I flew with before joining the corp were most of what I was going to get.

Given that women in EVE are a small demographic as-is and lowsec pirates are a relatively small part of the EVE community, I expect that Hellcats Reloaded will turn out the same way, at least early on. What does that mean for women who've flown with us (or plan to) and want to join the corp? It means that those two things, flying with Hellcats Reloaded and wearing the corp tag, aren't always the same thing. TBH, my emphasis on "you don't have to join us to fly with us" came from how I've usually flown with corpies more before joining them than as an actual corp member.

~* tl;dr starts here *~

For people who are used to having content provided for them, like being able to log in and hop into a fleet that somebody else FCs, lowsec piracy will probably feel like a bucket of cold water. Even if you're able and willing to run your own gangs, Hellcats Reloaded is small enough  that there might not be anyone around to FC, or the people who are online might prefer to fly solo – cats aren't pack animals, after all! If you're comfortable with the idea that most of your PVP will be solo, or have other things to occupy your time besides Hellcats Reloaded fleets, I'm sure you'll adapt to our play style without any trouble. If your goal is to fly with HCATZ you can do exactly that on the public roams, without having to uproot yourself from wherever you currently are.

If you're interested in Hellcats Reloaded, please don't take this as an anti-recruitment speech; I'm not looking to turn anyone away or make them feel unwelcome. Instead, learn from my experience and figure out what you're really after. Take it from me, it's no fun to join a corp for the gangs and end up sitting in station all the time because no one's running them – and if you're not having fun, why are you playing the game?

Not as dramatic a start as I'd hoped.

In my first 24 hours as a Hellcat, I've racked up four losses and... well, this is awkward.

In my defence, three of those were cyno ships and one was a narrow loss to a Tristan in my Atron. We were both deep into structure at the time; if I'd overheated  my guns from the beginning instead of waiting until I started thinking about how close the fight was I might've ended up taking him. I've tried to learn this lesson in the past, so to repeat it for myself: in a roughly even frigate fight, at the beginning of the match, overheat ALL the things. Including the guns.

Note to self: get to work recruiting this week so that other people can cover up my being bad at EVE. :P

Shameless Plug: EVE Altruist's "Know Your Enemy: Combat Cruisers"

In the spirit of promoting generally good info, giving props to a fellow Tusker and not having to generate my own content (ha!), I'd like to point everyone to the Combat Cruisers edition of Know Your Enemy, over at Azual Skoll's EVE Altruist. Azual posts this kind of thing because he's a reallyniceguy (maybe a little too nice, in his own estimation), and frankly, is modest enough that he hates plugging his own blog. So, I'm going to do it for him.

(Seriously, folks, read his stuff. It's awesome, and I'm not saying that just because he's a corpmate.)

Guest Post: Valgore Meurte

Greetings all! Since I'm sure all of my readers (all three of you) have been wondering why I haven't made any posts lately, well, it's a long story and a lot less exciting than internet spaceships. In lieu of my own post, however, today I bring you a guest post by a fellow Tusker, Valgore Meurte. In it he gives an account of a tooth-achingly exciting duo engagement and an important window into the mindset of a lowsec pirate. Read on, and enjoy! (No, Val, I didn't edit this. It's all you, buddy.)

So I want to talk about piracy and the way I view it. It is simple really, I gank people for isk. Good fights are fine, solid fleets are fine. But to me the best thing is when I tackle that Faction Fit Navy Dominix and hold it long enough till a mate shows up so we can take it down. That is where I find the most enjoyment in this game. The stalking of the prey, the rush of the nab, and the thrill I get from seeing the shiny bit of loot in my cargo-hold. Then there is the tears I sometimes get that make it even better. But those are only the things I get when everything goes smoothly.

The Tuskers Frigate Free-For-All II - Saturday 5 January 2013

Fantastic artwork (c) Rixx Javix.

Remember that frigate FFA we held back in October? Well, we had so darn much fun that we're doing it again. Click here to see the details on the Tuskers' public forums. We look forward to having you join us while we once again kill ALL the things.

That was in the span of 4h. We're going two hours longer this time...

Buried Alive in the Sandbox

Note: I had originally planned this post as part of Blog Banter 42, but I kept getting dragged away from writing a review of EVE and into more of a review of the community. I figured I'd put it up anyway for people to read, and may still end up doing a BB42 entry.

Note 2: Apparently, Stan thinks that this should go into the Blog Banter anyway. Thanks Stan, you're a sweetheart!

Every time I see any sort of opportunity for the playerbase to review EVE, I immediately think I'm supposed to go into Bittervet Mode, as if there's an expectation of a long-standing "CCP vs. the players" antagonism. Instead, it comes out more like this XKCD comic.

Ever since the epic backpedalling following the Walking in Stations debacle, I've been pleased to note that at least in the broad strokes, CCP seems to be addressing concerns that players bring up. Is there room for improvement? Absolutely - but I'm not convinced that it's CCP's responsibility to make it happen.

Re-Blog: Welcome to Lowsec

Content? Who needs content? :P More to the point, in his most recent "Welcome to Lowsec" post, Azual has perfectly explained something that's influenced my PVP ever since the first time I shot another player in a spaceship. I've never been able to describe it beyond a vague feeling of "I'm a pirate, not a griefer", but fortunately, now I can just link people to his post instead of breaking keyboards with my head as I try. (I also have to admit that, with as many times as I've seen jokes about having to revoke Azual's pirate licence, his finally just going and doing it himself was hilarious to me.)

Seriously, it's a good read.

Tuskers Frigate Free For All - October 27 (Updated with Prize Link)

Awesome banner by Rixx Javix

EDIT: Though I'm a couple of days behind in updating this and I'd be surprised if anyone used only this site as their news source (flattered, but surprised), Sulei has posted a link to the list of prizes on the Tuskers public forum. Congrats to all the winners!

Thanks to everyone who helped make this event so much fun. I'm glad you all enjoyed the opportunity to kill ALL the things. For a more detailed look at the festivities, check out TG's write-up at Through Newb Eyes. I'll keep my own account brief:

At the time this screenshot was taken, 54 of the kills in the 24h total were unrelated to the Tuskers' event. Yes, only 54.

Blog Banter 40: Van Damme In Space?

While I'm not sure I'd call this a triumphant return to EVE blogging, the topic of the latest Blog Banter (BB40) caught my eye. Interstellar Blood Sports? Sounds like the everyday life of a lowsec pirate to me, I thought.

No, not THAT Bloodsport. Not even when you count that ECM drones are the blinding powder of EVE.

Upon reading further into the question, however, I quickly discovered that the commentary was intended to focus on tournaments and "eSports" in EVE Online. The next statement that popped into my head was, never mind, that's nothing like real PVP. Normally I'd have let the matter drop there with a smug return to my dinner, but on further reflection, the comment was so stuffed with my own assumptions and pre-conceptions that I couldn't resist poking at it to see what came out.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...

I don't think four months is the longest I've ever gone without posting, but the time that's passed since I last wrote in May has managed to be both quiet and extremely eventful at the same time. I've been out of EVE completely more often than not over the past three months due to a slew of RL troubles, which have only recently begun stabilising. In the past couple of weeks, however, the relative malaise of my internet spaceships time has turned around significantly.

Catching Up

Huo Lung > Do you comment on like every other kill of yours? You need to just resume blogging. :P

Fine then, I WILL. :P

In fairness, it has been just about three months since I've posted anything updates of my own life in internet spaceships. In that time, we've had a ton of stuff happen in-game, a lot of which I don't even remember clearly enough to comment on. Thus, in lieu of a wordier post with all the things I normally include in my blog, I'll just list a few highlights of the past three months as a Black Rebel.

• March was a relatively slow month overall, thanks to some RL concerns I had come up for the first few weeks. March was also the beginning of R1FTA's holiday to my old stomping grounds of Citadel and Black Rise lowsec, the native habitat of the Caldari and Gallente militias. There wasn't a whole lot of activity for me thanks to my absence, but I did chalk up a kill during an engagement with a Crusader in my Thrasher, notable as my only solo kill of the month.
  
• April wasn't much more exciting than March in terms of the amount of PVP I engaged in, but it does stand out as being the first time I participated in a supercap kill. Full story is over at Dirty Protagonist's blog, ain't no sunshine. (Read it if you haven't already, it's funny.) Apparently Friday the 13th is bad luck after all...
  
• A few days before our Nyx kill, Peri Simone lead the weekly "Target Everyone, Somebody Fire" roam out of Heild on a Tuesday night. As we'd sort of expected, the trip ended with a skirmish with Gunpoint Diplomacy, and R1FTA didn't fare as well as we'd hoped. Spirits were somewhat low, but the Rebels were determined not to be outshone, and during a second round (in which Peri handed me the reins) we gave RANSM a GF. (Note: The battle report is kinda messed up because the two fights happened in the same system, despite being an hour apart. The final score for the second round was three Ruptures and a Thrasher killed, while losing two Ruptures, a Stabber Fleet Issue and a Jaguar.)
  
• The first two weeks of May opened with a couple of activities I don't normally avail myself of - Hulkageddon ganks and POS bashing. There was also a Jaguar which I hero-tackled with my Rifter (and survived!), an optimistic young player who engaged my Ishkur on a gate (and ended up being my first above-class solo kill), and a hilarious 2v2 guest-starring Naoru Kozan of the Tuskers (after which the Daredevil and Thrasher pilots refused to undock while we were in system). Of course, since this blog simply wouldn't be complete without one of my own fiery deaths, I'll include an account of my fourteen-minute frigate 1v1.

I do feel obligated to write a post about the upcoming FW changes at some point, since so much of my own PVP career has been as a member of the Caldari militia, but I'm quite frankly trying to avoid it - so much has already been said about FW in various venues that I'm not sure I can add anything new to it, and I feel a little too out-of-the-loop to be confident that I'd know what I was talking about. (Which I suppose has never stopped anyone in EVE before, but...) Still, I'm once again trying to renew my commitment to posting here regularly, so hopefully you'll see more out of me in the future.

In the meantime, fly dangerous! o/

FC Review: 21 February 2012

This post was originally put up on the Black Rebel Rifter Club's corp forums, as part of a series of weekly roams entitled "Target Everyone, Somebody Fire!" organised by a corpmate looking to gain more experience running gangs. Last night was the second in this series of roams, and I stepped up to FC for the event.

Start time: 22:00, including Rifter combat and general lazing about by the FC
Route: Heild > Otosela > Amamake

This week's episode of TESF, titled "This Can Only End Well!", was guest-hosted by Dian Lung. There were a number of excellent killmails to be had, but unfortunately, many of them were at the FC's expense. :P

More explosions!

After the sordid, emotional wall of text that was my last post, I'm sure some of you were thinking "Dian, I'm real happy for ya, and I'ma let you finish, but isn't PVP about making things blow up?" Well, fear not, because I've been doing exactly that. A selection:

• During a roam with the Tuskers out to 0.0, we happened on a Sin that decided to aggress us on station. At first blush, it's probably not surprising that our gang of battlecruisers - mostly of the new tier 3 variety, fitted with battleship-sized guns - was able to pop a black ops ship in four volleys. What the killmail doesn't show, however, is that the Sin was being remote-repped by three carriers at the time - an Archon, a Chimera and a Thanatos.
• In one of a series of AF 1v1s with SneakyBadger of Gunpoint Diplomacy, I accidentally his whole Enyo. It was a close fight, leaving me in half structure when he popped (though I realise that on a Gallente hull that's still a fair amount of buffer). Aside from it being a close fight, this kill is noteworthy because it marks the first time I've actually gotten a killmail from an evenly matched frigate 1v1, rather than forcing my opponent off the field or being popped myself.
• Another 1v1, this time with Olleybear (best bear), featuring shield cruisers. My shield-fit Stabber Fleet Issue narrowly prevailed over his shield Rupture. Olley's DPS at range was much better than mine thanks to his second tracking enhancer, forcing me to burn in, overheat my guns and pray. If he'd had a DCU fitted I probably would've lost this fight.
• Yesterday (as of this post), Huo and I went on an impromptu roam with Gunpoint Diplomacy, resulting in this skirmish in SL-YBS. I didn't really do much of anything besides run away and hold on things, being in a Lachesis. However, I still really enjoyed this fight due to the fact that Huo and I were actually in a gang together (still a rare occurrence, though we're working to change that), and because he had the most killmails of any individual pilot in the group. Hooray!
• In the midst of a furious bout of ship-spinning, I switched over to our local intel channel to see a RANSM member say, "Nomad in warp to a gate, I'll point him when he jumps!" This was the result.
• This past Sunday evening marked the birthday of Robert Mason, a member of the Tuskers. We had a drunken roam to celebrate, which lead to me going into full derp mode in the very first engagement and suiciding the Falcon that Rob had provided for me. (Don't mind the high slots; Rob made it clear that rainbow lasers were a requirement for the roam.) However, I did manage to stay alive long enough to get in on a juicy nullbear Loki kill. Yes, that is a battle Iteron in the third-to-last spot. Happy birthday, Rob! (I'd say I'm sorry about the Falcon, but... well, you know.)
• UPDATED: It's only fitting, given this opponent's influence on my PVP career, that I include this recent lossmail as an example of HONOURABLE RIFTER COMBAT.

Anniversary

Almost two years ago, I undocked a ship with the intention of using it to PVP, without any idea what I was doing. Realising this milestone has made me reflect on the changes that have come over the past two years, and the people I've had the pleasure of meeting and flying with (and sometimes against). PVP is mostly a social activity for me, so I think it's appropriate that I take the opportunity to offer my thanks.

I can't help but feel like this is some sort of troll.

But I still think it's pretty hilarious.

Changes of Pace and Taste

In my previous post, I gave a partial list of recent engagements I've taken part in, both as the hunter and the hunted. While dredging up examples of kills and losses to post to my faithful readership (all three of you :P), I started mulling over some of the differing trends between the engagements from my time in Caldari militia to the ones I've had since moving back to Molden Heath and joining R1FTA. Below the cut, you'll find some of my observations, as well as predictions on where these trends will lead in the future.

Note: I'm very much the sort of person who processes information through conversing with others, or failing that, by formatting it into a blog post. I can't guarantee that the content of this post will be coherent (or even particularly interesting) to anyone else, but commentary is welcome all the same.

Explosions!

Since this blog is about EVE Online, and the vast majority of the pilots I currently fly with are in the game for the "pew pew", I thought I'd give a summarized version of the spaceship murder I've recently been party to in the name of "good fites".

• A hat trick of firsts: my first night in R1FTA, my first kill as a member of that corp, and my first killmail as a member of the corp, all on the same Myrmidon.
• A brawl with RANSM at the Angel Creo-Corp plex in Heild. This was actually a series of four separate engagements: Haerod's Enyo and Duke's Wolf popping Dirty Protagonist's Coercer while my Jaguar and Ris' Enyo took Totera's Thrasher down (later joined by Haerod's Tristan and Aliaksandre's Rifter). Second, a group of us jumped on Titus' Bellicose after I had reshipped into a Stiletto. The third fight was a larger frigate and destroyer brawl that spelled the end of the same Jaguar that had killed Totera earlier. Finally, a little later that evening, I had a 1v1 against SneakyBadger's Thrasher that I lost by the skin of my teeth (Sneaky was at 6% structure when my Retribution popped). 
• A pair of 1v1s with Naoru Kozan of the Tuskers where I lost a Retribution and a Jaguar. Due to the comments left in the second lossmail, I suspect the surprise pointing incident was arranged by Jaxley. :P
• This Vagabond aggressed my Retribution on the undock of our home station while I was typing something to a corpmate. Though he managed to burn 40 kilometres away in the time that it took me to dock and reship, it wasn't quite enough to escape my Lachesis' point range.
• Unfortunately, not everyone who offers 1v1 fights has good intentions. This particular pilot offered a "friendly" duel in a Nighthawk, showed up on field in a Daredevil (which stood far less of a chance against my Hurricane's 720mm guns), and then proceeded to call in a gaggle of friends to gank my poor battlecruiser. I was miffed about the entire affair for about half an hour, but after that, it was more hilarious than anything.
• On the generous invitation of my friend anf fellow Woman Gamer of EVE Shalee Lianne (who sounds SO CUTE on comms!), I spent a few hours camping gates in The Forge lowsec with her and her corp, Imperial Outlaws. Among the results were a Talos (my first tier 3 battlecruiser kill), a Lachesis and a Ferox.
• Last but certainly not least, the only explosions to come out of a brief venture into Innsmother with my partners in crime Huo and Judge. We had just returned from a tour of 0.0 featuring some module lag shenangians and a frustrating lack of kills. On the lowsec gate from L4X to Skarkon, I saw a gate flash, and what popped up but a Vindicator? Unfortunately, contrary to Cyber Ten's assurances, it did not end well. (Despite that, though, we had a blast - pun definitely intended!)

While I try not to dwell too much on killboard stats, I'm pleased to note that in the past eight days since joining R1FTA, I seem to be on my way to setting personal records for both kills and losses - I'm currently at 21 kills for the month (with a record of 53 in March of 2011, primarily due to participating in the Wensleyday Roams), and 12 losses in the same period (with a record of 14 in March of 2011, likely also due to the Wensleyday Roams :P).

I certainly won't claim those as examples of prolific PVP activity - I know pilots who pull in as many kills in an average-to-busy month as I have in my entire four-year EVE career - but if I maintain the pace that I've set for the month so far, it'll represent significant changes in both the quantity and quality of my fights in New Eden. I'll discuss that in more detail in a separate post, so if you're interested, keep an eye out!

Rebel Yell

Lots of stuff going on since my last post, which probably isn't that surprising, given that it's been three months (ish). For the sake of keeping this entry relatively brief, I'll go through the broad strokes rather than minute details. Apologies in advance if things seem a little disjointed as a result.

Frustrational Warfare

With a post title like that, I think I've succeeded at both banishing any confusion about what the topic might be, and losing the interest of a significant portion of anyone who might read this blog. Since I've already managed to accomplish two things with this post, I reserve the right to present the rest of the content in an utterly pointless way. :P

My perspective on Factional Warfare is admittedly narrow; I haven't spent a great deal of time in the FW environment recently, and I've never really ventured into the Amarr-Minmatar side of the conflict at all. If you're interested in getting a broader view of things, I'd highly recommend a blog written by my awesome Amarr counterpart and fellow gamer-chick Shalee Lianne. You can find it over at Sovereignty Wars.

WARNING: This is going to be a long post, even compared to some of the wordier ones I've written here. I won't be offended if people don't read the whole thing, so don't expect me to come out and randomly start quizzing people on its contents or anything like that.

Back with a snap-crackle-pop!

Every time I'm away from the game and intend to come back with a vengenace (or more likely a Jaguar, but I digress), my burst of enthusiasm lasts for all of a week before some sort of external influence takes its toll. So, rather than loudly proclaiming how I'm ready to turn internet spaceships upside down, I'm just going to say that I'm here. Maybe the universe won't see it as a challenge that way.

Still, I can't say my EVE life has been entirely uneventful. I haven't made too much of a flap in the areas that I'm typically involved in, but I've slowly been getting myself re-adjusted to EVE. I don't know if I'd go so far as to call the happenings "exciting", but for the sake of putting a post up for the first time in ages, I'll share a few details here.