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.