Thursday, December 13, 2012

Fly Safe #13

Know Thy ships. Know what the strengths and weakness of your ship and not just yours but also the enemies.   

Federation Comet...The Gallente Dagger

The Federation Comet is becoming one of my favorite ships. I'm not used to flying kiting ships, mostly flying close brawlers like the Incursus. This ship has changed my mind about kiting and it's making solo PVP more fun for me than it has been is a long time.

 Federation Comet

Unlike a brawler that wants to be up in the face of its target, a kiter wants stay range from it. Using speed to stay out warp scram and stasis web range. Kite ships also have a different weapon system than a brawler using weapons that have greater range. The Comet is a great fit for this kind of fit with its natural speed as well as  7.5% weapon tracking bonus and 20% weapon damage per level. That with the ability to deploy 3 small combat drones makes it a natural kite ship. 
Kiting in game

It was hard for me to make the change from brawling to kiting. It took awhile understanding that I have to be at a greater range than I normally am and the speed of my ship is a lot greater than I am used to. The fit that I use for my Comet is shown below. I use two 150mm Railgun II that give me a good 20km range with heavy ammo. I can switch ammo and boost this range to 37km. This is nice but I run the risk of losing a point on the target. The damage is so so about 125 with Faction Anti-matter and 109 with Faction Tungsten including drones. While that is not going to when any awards it will get the good done against another frigate or destroy.  I also run Tracking Disruptor in to help with my tank. This mod also me to throw their guns and now missiles out of target. I am getting better at using this mod, as it was not a normal mod that I used. When I first started fly this fit I would often forget about it. The rest is basic for a kite Nano-fiber Structure, MWD, Damage Control Unit and Tracking Computer.
RG-NN-II

The Roam

Tonight started like any other roam, I just began to patrol the local Caldari-Gallente boarder looking for squid targets. I know that I am only going to be able to do 2 v 1 fights at the most, so if there are more that two war targets in a system then I just pass through. I also know that I am only going to be able to fight Destroyer class ships and down as larger hulls of all races tend to carry drones which could be the death of me. So with what my targets are in mind I go to the disputed system of Kedama and begin to run defensive plexs there to help secure it for the Federation. I will get my first target in this system a squid, Andrie Jeglow. He would be in a Corax destroyer, and new Caldari Missile boat that could be a lot of trouble for me. We would engage each other at a small outpost and the fight would end with him having to warp off. The reason was that his light missiles were unable to track my fast ship and I stayed out of their range, all the while my drones were dealing heavy damage to him. This is also where the speed of my ship was too great and I was unable to keep a point on him preventing him from leaving. He managed to get out. Several minutes later I would engage another squid in an novice outpost, Eugney. He would be in an Atron class frigate. Most of the time I have seen these ships kite fitted, so I think that this will be a good fight. He is not though, he is using blasters so I know that his max range is about 12km, so I am able to switch to a different ammo and still be able to stay out of his web and point range. Again the speed of my ship is a surprise to me and I over shot him on a turn and he is able to escape my point and gets away. 
Gallente Atron

I am feeling a little discouraged by these last two fights and my faith that I can fly a kite Comet is waning. That is when Andrie Jeglow and two more squids, Dipression and Petrowic h come into system. I know that this will be a hard fight, 3v1, but I really want to try. Pertrowic h, Condor is the biggest threat to me, because it is very fast and may be able to catch my Comet so that is the first ship that must go. After that I feel that Dipression's Thrasher is the next due to its very high alpha damage, but I know that Thrashers usually have poor tracking so if I stay 30k off him and the Corax then I should be fine. The battle begins and I start off really well, hitting the Condor and trying to separate him from the two destroyers but they act very well as a unit and stay together. My drones with their good damage did manage to drive the Corax off the field. Because I was scared of getting caught I am unable to get a point. This cat and mouse fight goes on for about 3 minutes when to my surprise Toshi Zawa, sends me a fleet invite and moment later his Vengeance Assault Frigate hits the field. Now the with fight 3v2 we in a much better position. So I redeploy my drones and grab tackle on the Condor as Toshi grabs the Thrasher. We kill both of them but not before Andrie another Corax, Enabrain Tain come back and are able to web and scam me. I would lose RG-NN-II
        
Caldari Condor Frigate                       Minmatar Thrasher Destroyer

Four jumps away though I had another fitted Comet with the RG-NN-II fitting and with in 5 mins I was back in Kedema and then Rakapas where I found my old friend Eugney, This time he would not get away. As I learned from my first encounters and 3v1 how better to pilot this fit.

After killing Eugney nothing else really happened except a weird duel with a pirate. Comet vs Comet not much happened in this fight that last about 10 mins with neither of us losing our ships. The interest thing about fight was that we both fitted differently. He was in a brawler Comet and I in the kite. So he was using blasters that where unable to hit me. What the said thing was in the first 4 mins of the fight we each killed off the other drones so it became a game of his single Armor repair vs my Railgun DPS. The advantage was to him in the begin and I did manage to get him to burn his repper out, but again I missed piloted my ship and he was able to break my point and get away. 

Kill Mails Linked Below



Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Fitting Management

Many people like to use their ship's name in EVE to express themselves, as some code of knowing who is on your side, or as a function of insulting one's mother.  These are all okay and as time goes on the names of ships change.  When I started flying in New Eden all my ships were named after Saints, "Saint Francis", "Saint Mary", "Saint George".  One of my friend named all his ships after Metallica songs and another used the word "Grey" to link all his ships together.
When I moved from being a carebear in High-Sec to a Low-Sec pirate I changes my ships names to Bleach Zanpakutos Shikai and Bankai forms. This was to show my more aggressive nature in game. What this lead to though was my fitting browser becoming clutter and often me saving two or three fitting with the same name cause I was not organized in what I was doing.  So what started as a rare from of OCD in my life, has turned into a full out war on my ships and how they are labeled in my fitting browser.
This is an example how many of my fittings were named in EVE, just the ship class. If you look at the top right hand corner you see the fitting's name "Brutix". What this lead to when I was asked to find fittings for corp mates or alliance members was me searching through 15 "Brutix" fits where five of them were the same fit.

 
At first I tired to counter this by simple naming the fit the same as the ship. As you can see here "Herpy Derpy" is the same fit as Burtix above. And this worked to a point, but I liked calling different ships of the same class, the same name so what happen is instead of five fittings called "Brutix" sharing the same the fit, I had five fittings called "Herpy Derpy" with different fits. 

It finally lead to this the name above  "AR-HEB-II". Using a form of crazy Jorkarese shorthand, I began to label and name the fits in my fitting browser by what they have fitted over their Ship Class and what I named them when they get into space. I did this because I wanted to be able to quickly find ship fitting for roams  in Faction Warfare and be able switch out of fitting fast as well. Once in the ship is in the hanger assemble I give it its fitting name, after undock I may change its name, but once I'm docked back up I switch the name back to the fitting name. That way if I have three Brutixs in my ship hanger I know without having to jump into them what they are fitted with at a glance.

I tired this before with just my Strategic Cruisers but it was confusing to me and not well planned and thought out. If you look at the bottom left you can see that I have Proteus fittings 7 of them labels to what they are used for.  But even here I have two fits that are copies of each other "Cov Opp Prot" and the "Cov Op Remote Rep". The names while telling me what they are used for are not telling me what they have fitted. Also this system of naming ships while it did kinda work for my T3s was not great in terms of how I should name other ship fittings. 

If you look at the bottom again you now see the all the Tech 3 Cruisers even the Legion and Loki share the same style of fitting names as the Proteus using my crazy shorthand. If you look you can see that the Loki and one of the Legions share the same name. This is because while they are two different ships they bother are fitted using the same key modals.

The very basics of my short is that I don't try to label all the modals on it. I only label those modals that I feel make that fitting what it is. I also only list at a max four modals and unit number that reflects how many of a mod listed is on the ship. So this can mean that two ships can share the same basic fitting just a different number of listed mod. 

This is still a work in progress as I have about 63 different ship fittings. Currently only 25 of the fitting names have been brought into line with the shorthand. Leaving 38 to go. The next step is in fact organized the Corporate's Fitting to follow the same fitting short. While it is a goal to get all ship fittings inline, this is something that I do while waiting on fleets, defensive plexing and just sitting in station. I hope that you find this post helpful in terms of setting up your own shorthand for naming the fittings in your fitting browser 

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

The Battle of Teimo...Stone Burner in Action

I posted in November about an EWAR heavy fleet that I would like to try using calling it Stone-Burner, on Monday EVE 00:30 I got my chance to fly in what I could call a Micro Stone-Burner.  There was not enough EWAR on the field to make it a true Stone-Burner fleet with only 6 EWAR ships, but with 7 Talos' and 7 more heavy hitting BCs and 4 logistic ships it made the fleet one tough nut to crack.  There real winner of this fight though was our FC from Monkeys with Guns., a smooth talking Aussie Larnkness.  Having flown with him a couple times before and after I know that I'll always trust my ships in his hands as in the heat of battle he gives good clear orders and is able to keep everyone on track with what is going on. He also doesn't panic as so FC and when many in the fleet thought we should flee, he got us turned around and flying our ships right turning the advantage back to us. 
  portrait  
Larkness Monkey with Guns Member

In my eyes Larkness had us winning this battle 20 minutes before it even began because he is such a good FC.  Even though many of the fleet members didn't understand how our fleet work he did was able to get us in a position to be the most effective for the fight.  He used strategy and tactics to win the day.  While looking at the battle report it shows that we out number the Squids 2-1, we are in shield battle cruisers and frigates and they are in heavily armored battle ships and Navy Faction Cruisers. We have 4 logistic ships one tech 2 and three tech 1 they have 4 guardian class Armor Logistics and 1 Oneiros all tech 2.  To match our EWAR they also have 4 EWAR ships, three cruisers hulls and one Bhaalgorn Battleship,  a nasty pirate faction ship that can suck the cap out of our fleet leaving us dead in the water. Also like us they have a Loki Tech3 Strategic Cruiser  providing them with Fleet Boost that increase their scram and web range. On the outside looking in we should win cause we have the numbers, but looking at ship types and what both fleets have it can be close fight and go either way if there are any slip ups. 
             
Minmatar Loki Tech 3 Cruisers               Blood Raider Bhaalgorn Battleship  
Our first goal is simple we want them to come to us. Here we can use our speed to our advantage. What happens is a war of attrition where we wait on our side, they on theirs.  This is where Larkness wins us the battle. Our coms are filled with cries of "Kill them all" and "We should go get them." but Larkness keeps us under control and on our side in position waiting. All the while he is telling our tackle frigs who they need to tackle and hold down. And with the Infrastructure Hub taking damage we know that the Caldari do not want to lose the system so they are going to come for us.  After 20 minutes they do come us, and we are ready. Our second goal is to burn off gate and pull them with us keeping our DPS and Logi out of range of their warp scrams while our fast frigs hold them. We know that if they get us webbed and scrammed we are dead. 

The plan comes together fast as they began to jump into us and decloak using three fast frigates to try and tackle us, we quickly counter by locking them up and sending our own frigates at them. As their battleships uncloaked Larkness was calling primaries, seconds and traceries, while we didn't pop any ship super fast and we needed to switch targets because of their reps. In the first minute of the fight we traded losses,  us Vexor, them a Myrmidon, we would also trade frigate losses. That would be our last loss. Larkness' skill of beginning a great FC would come into play as he regrouped us and we began pull range and use our speed to out track their guns. Second we began to work signaling out their ships pulling them out of range of their logistics, this and our fast switching of targets we were able to keep their logistics off guard, as well as being able to lay damage on to them killing one Guardian and the Oneiros.  This is where we missed up in the battle, our tackle which in the beginning was great began to breakdown and we lost points and ranges and they began to get ships warped out to saves.  If we could have kept that tackle then we could have killed off the whole field. 

One of the guys got the fight on video so I have it linked here. 

We came out of the battle only losing two ships and killing 11. It was a good fight all around and a great example of how a good and controlled FC can turn the tide. 

Battle Summary from Dog net  

To the Rescue...

In the universe of New Eden it is as I predicted the "fires of war" have came to the far reaches of the void, leaving little space for those that want peace. To help stem the tide of war the major races of New Eden recreated four new logistics ships to help support the increasing number of combat ships. For the Gallente Federation it meant a retooling of an old mining ship the Navitas.
Gallente Federation Navitas Logistics Support Frigate


Like many unsung heroes of war the Navitas will not be winning any fashion or best looks awards, but she is a rugged ship that can change the tide of battle in small gang. small ship class PVP very quickly. When first talked about I wasn't a believer that these ships would helpful and not only clutter the battlefields. I was proven wrong in a battle in a Faction Warfare site that limited ship size to Cruisers and smaller when a team of Navitas were able to provided more armor repairs than the DPS that my ship was taking.  They  kept me alive long enough to not only score a kill but to continue the next round of fighting.  I was very interested in the ship after that fight, for a long time know I have been able to fly Logistic Ships and these frigs caught my eye to what the possibles of them could be. So I went a head and fitted on out. 
FITTING


This is a basic fitting for the Navitas that we can see working and being efficient on the battle field.
High Slots- Small 'Solace' Remote Bulwark x3
Med Slots- Cap Recharger II
                   Small Capacitor Battery II
                  1MN Micro Warp Drive II

Low Slots- Damage Control II
                  Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
                  Adaptive Nano Plating II
Rigs Slots- Small Anti-Explosive Pump  I
                 Small Capacitor Control Circuit I
                 Small Trimark Armor Pump I

I will have to play with the fittings to see what works best. Here we use a signal Warrior II combat drone to get onto killmails.  Without the MWD on it moves at a base 367km/s and with it a just over 2k. It carries a 3K EHP which will not win and awards but is enough for your other logi boat to lock it up and get some reps on it. The three Reps put out 216 hp a cycle from 28k away with the MWD active for one min, without the MWD active they are stable So it is advised to pulse the MWD to escape when needed. With the Retool of the cap batteries in Escalation now they now leach off of incoming Neutralizers and Energy Vampires helping to ensure that she stays cap stable in a fight if you have to get away. As I said I will do some fitting adjustments as I fly it more, but I feel that these ships are going to be right at home on the battlefield.
   

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Fly Safe #12

Make sure that your ship's weapon systems safe is turned off in low sec.  It does a pirate no good if he can't shoot.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

And let lose the dogs war....

In less than two weeks the whole of New Eden will be at war. The Retribution expansion is marking the 18th  free expansion of EVE Online and will prove to be on to the biggest in the history of the universe. While new ships are hitting the scene with the new destroyers, to me what makes this expansion so large is the "Tiericide" that is about to happen for T1 frigates and cruisers. This large ship re-balancing is going to be huge in the game and is going to open the door for more ships and mods.  The tier system that was in place really limited CCP from introducing new ships, because they had to follow a system that didn't make a lot sense, overpowered ships in the same class and made the Tier 1 ships less useful. Hopeful this expansion can change that given all ships a place in New Eden. 


New Class System of Ships

I will let you all read that Delvblog it is linked blow. What I want to talk about is the future of war in New Eden with the "Tiericide".  Currently we are seeing introduction of logistic support frigates and a revamp of the logistic support cruisers, now imagine a logistics battleship. While they would be slower yes with crazy tanks this could be great support for dreadnought fleets and carrier fleets who right now have to use the T2 logistics ships.  The E-WAR and disruption frigates and cruisers are also seeing a huge revamp, and with no battle-cruiser or battleships in this group except the Caldari Scorpion, the class is primed for a new ships.  These ships could change the tides of war very quickly, Bro-Fist and Alpha-Fleets would have to be retooled fast as Tracking disruption Battleships hit the grid making this turrets unless at long ranges. Or Fleets of heavy tanked energy neutralizing battleships and battle-cruisers sucked the cap out everything on grid. The possibilities of  these fleets would be endless. 

"Tiericide" also could bring in a new age of the Tech 3 Ships. Currently there is only one class of Tech 3 ship the  Strategic Cruiser. These ships have rapidly changed the face of PVP in New Eden in Low Sec and Null, New Tech 3 ship classes of Strategic Destroyers and Strategic Battleships could also change the landscape as fast. Tech 3 Destroyers that could be modded and tooled for all the roles that are shown above could allow a feeling of escalation in High-Sec or a fleets of high DPS ships with fast locking time that warp cloak. Even more interesting would be the introduction of the Tech 3 Battleships that could fit Siege Modules or Triage Modules, Battleships drone boats that could deploy 5 fighter drones, these ships would become instant favorites in High-Sec wars and too Low-Sec Pirates that want to remain mobile but carrier major DPS into battle. 


The new ships that I talked are not set in stone, but as I said could come into play in the future. Please read the new delvblog for all the details, the future of EVE is getting brighter with the fires of war.


http://community.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&nbid=73572

Monday, November 19, 2012

Fly Safe #11

When logging of in space without aggression your ship will stay in space for 1 minute 1,000,000km  from where logged from.  If you have log out while you have connection you ship will remain in space for 15 minutes.

Friday, November 16, 2012

The Stone-Burner Fleet

 I have been working on the Stone-Burner Fleet for sometime now. Stone-Burner is a proposed fleet doctrine that I believe would be very successful in small gang the PVP. The core ship that Stone-Burner is the Caldari Falcon. This Tech 2 cruiser with its fast locking speed and ECM can allow a two man gang engage a three to four man gang. The second ship that is needed is the fast heavy hitting Gallente Talos. This ship fitted with shields and Large Neutron Blaster Cannons can deal 750 dps with long range Null ammo. Its fast speed also makes it hard to other ships of it ship class to catch. The last ship in Stone-Burner is a hero Minmatar Scimitar. This is a nibble shield logistic ships that is able to operate with out a partner plus with its 150% to tracking links it also for the Talos to track smaller and faster ships at greater range.
Caldari Falcon ECM Boat

The real key to Stone-Burner is that you overwhelm your targets with E-WAR. If they are able to jam out and prevent your targets from dealing damage, ECM, or heals then you are in the clear to win. So the most important ship is the Falcon. Stone-Burner came out of the fact that in my small corp we rarely had the logistic ships for small gangs but we had a lot Falcon pilots. While E-WAR does not replace logistics, it is a force multiplier in battle. 
Minmatar Scimitar

When I say overwhelm I am not taking it lightly. Stone-Burner should have a 3-2 ratio of DPS to EWAR. Three Talos blaster boats and two Falcons then increase the number of EWAR boats with each increase of DPS ships. The fleet should easily be able to engage fleets of similar size to 2-3 ships larger. The major advantage of this type of fleet it that so much E-WAR is on the field that the targets lose 50-80% of their damage in a battle. The second is the fast rapid damage of the Talos is able to quickly destroy their ships before they are able to get a foot hold in the battle. 
      
           Gallente Talos                                                       Neutron Blaster Cannon

Stone-Burner is no cookie cutter fleet. It needs to be practiced and pilots have to know what the roles of the other pilots are. I would recommend that several training sessions on the TEST Server before running. The Falcon pilots have to know who the other is jamming out to prevent them from jamming out the same target and cause a waste. The fleet also has to be aware of distance of targets. There is little time for an FC to micro-manage this fleet.  But if ran correctly this fleet can be devastating to an enemy. 




Thursday, November 15, 2012

Fly Safe #10

After  a hostile action you must wait one minute before you can dock at a station or use a jump gate. 

Fly Safe #9

Make sure that combat and scanner probes are active on your overview. 

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Not always as planed....

Sometimes the best plans are the one thrown together at the last second...most of the time they are not. The plan that my wing-man and I came up with was to bait a former corp mate into a fight and kill him. What we got in was hard battle, but much more rewarding.  After watching the EVE Solo PVP video I decided that I would set up a couple of Myrmidons and try them out in Faction Warfare. I am going in excepting that I am going to be 2v1 or 3v1 most of the time. My wing-man Estella Osoka just happens to be on with me at the same time. Like I side we wanted to kill a different guy and were preparing for that fight when like many thing in EVE a good thing falls in you lap. 
                                 


                                                    Gallente Myrmidon Battle Cruiser
I am running a standard Triple-Rep Myrmidon like the one from the video. It is a solid ship and as long as you keep cap in your cap boosters, your repairing power is 1500 damage every 7 seconds. I am running special plus 3% implants to Armor repair that increase my repair amount, speed, and how much cap I use. Since I'm in Faction Warfare they come by cheap to me. 

The Stabber Fleet Issue is a formidable ship, solo and in gang. It has a lose signature radius and some good DPS. I have known SFI pilots to engage crazy things, but most do not engage a Myrmidon cause of it huge repair power and its large drone bay. But there is a second ship that does engage me that surprises me to say the least. That is the Caldari Tech 3 Tengu. This ships is as fast and nibble as they come and with great DPS and tank is not a ship that I would want to engage solo or with out a good fleet supporting me. 

            
   Stabber Fleet Issue  

      
Caldari Tengu

The battle starts before I even notice, the Tengu pilot, Shaun R, followed me from a station to gate. I was in Highsec and didn't notice because even in Faction Warfare most of the fighting takes place in Lowsec. I hit the gate and jump he follows and quickly decloaks so that he may target and point me. I see the Tengu and think that he is follow me to low then engage so I'll simply burn back to the gate and make my get way. I decloak and burn to gate but the speed of the Tengu is great and he gets a bump on me pushing me 15k off the gate engages me. Now I can keep trying to get to gate or I can engage him, I figure I'll let my tank work and keep going to gate, but it is no use. So I pop drones and re-engage him. I am using the Valkyrie II medium combat drone, cause I believe that this Tengu is going to try and pull range to get out range of my heavy blaster cannons, and the Valkyrie drone is fast enough to keep up with the Tengu.  But he stays in close where I am able to get a warp scram and stasis web on him, so I am about to switch to Hammerhead II medium combat drones, the highest DPS for that class, when the Stabber Fleet Issue, flown by Avako,  hits grid. Now I have two worries, while I was tanking the Tengu using two armor repair units, the Stabber has good DPS but a poor tank. I decided that I'll try to get at least one kill and not come out empty handed. I move my point, web, and DPS to the SFI.  He is fast but with the web and scram he is unable to pull range and I'm able to burn him down. All the while I am taking massive hits and have to overheat all three repair units and use nearly all my cap boosters. With the SFI out of the way I redirect to the Tengu that still around. 

Estella has since come in the fray, because with the SFI gone, the Tengu is of little threat using blasters. She is able to establish a point, and we begin the work of taking down its massive tank. Also to join us is a fellow Gallente Militia pilot, Jockz, in Vagabond, a Heavy Assault Cruiser, that lays out massive damage. With webs and scrams on it the Tengu is unable to move and we finally break its shield tank and eats it armor and DPS. 

In the end of the fight I had burnt out one armor repairer and the other two suffered major damage in the terms of 50% and 70%. I had no cap boosters left, and nearly lost my guns trying to break the Tengu's tank. The SFI kill would have been close to paying for my Myrmidon if i would have lost it, but the Tengu kill paid out greatly. This battle taught me a couple things first the Myrmidon is tough tough ship with great survivability. Second is in EVE sometimes when things don't go as plan, they work out so much better.  



Tuesday, November 13, 2012

When a Plan goes wrong...

The plan was simple and to the point. I was going to re-engage a Caldari pilot Super Chair. I have engaged him twice in a Minor Outpost once in his Navy Hookbill and once in a Worm (another faction ship). The first two engagements were close fight but with him warping away his Worm in structure the second with me breaking the engagement to refit with a different type of ammo. I give props to him on both engagements his is a good pilot. Lucky as hell but a good pilot.

             
Caldari Hookbill                                                            Gurista Worm

Now like I said I give credit where it is due and nothing against Super Chair but 2v1 when you out class your target should win.  So here it is, Super Chair gets out of the site and I have reloaded to new long range ammo. I warp back into the site, set on the warp in, and wait for the Navy Hookill to come back in. I have killed Hookbills with this fit before I just have to be in good position to grab him. I know that this will not be an easy fight and I am aware of the other War Targets in the system. But as of now they have been in Cruisers hull and unable to get into the minor site, so I am expecting a hard fought 1v1.

Super Chair does what I want him to do and re-enters the site, and the fight begins. My shields are quickly lost but that is to be expected as the Incursus is an armor tanking ship. The change in the fight this time compared to the last is my blaster are hitting him with more damage and my Warrior II is out pacing his rockets.  I feel that this is going to be a good fight up to the end.  That is when the second squid, Sean Parisi, hits grid in a Coercer class destroyer. Destroyers are frigate killers by nature with 8 small guns, they are meant to track a hostile frigate and rip it up. With an Incursus I am not shy about engaging a destroyer do to its huge armor repair bonus, but the high DPS of the Navy Hookbill and Coercer are a little much. I still manage to tank them for some time, but in the middle of cap Booster reload, my two small reps were over come.
                                      
                                                            Amarr Coercer


The kill mail is linked below. I would really like to engage either of them solo in the future.
http://eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=15188683

Fly Safe #8

In Faction Warfare know the sites and what you are allowed in each. Minor Outpost => t1 frigates and destroyers. Outpost => All Frigate hulls, Destroyers and t1 Cruisers/ Majors Outpost => All sub-cap ships. 

Friday, November 9, 2012

EVE-SOLO PVP

I wish could credit for this video...but I can't. This is one of the best solo-pvp videos I have seen.



What I like most about the video how he explains what he is doing and why he is doing it. Solo-PvP is an art form above all things and he is a good artist.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

The Gallente Brawler

I have only been flying it for a few weeks but I have to say that I have become a fan of the Gallente Brawler, the Incursus. While it doesn't have the huge DPS of the Tristan, (formally my favourite ship) it insteads boast a huge tank and power grid compared to other hulls its size.

Since I started flying it I will say that I am not scared of engaging some ships that a class above me and none that share the same class. There are a few different ways for fitting it out but I am enjoying the duel local rep and triple neutron blasters. I want to play with other Gallente Frigates while I am engaged in faction warfare, but it hard to pull away from the tank of the Incursus.  

The only major limitations on the ships is the weapon system. Since it is a brawler you have to be willing to get right into the face of those you are shooting. If they are kite fit then then the Afterburner will not be enough for you chance down targets and or pull range, but the advantage is not in fighting other Frigates but in fighting Cruisers and Destroyers as you are able to out track most of their guns if you are in close and the afterburner doesn't blow up you sig. radius making you a bigger target. 

My fit is very basic and as far as I'm concerned standard. 
High Slots
Light Neutron Blaster---Null
Light Neutron Blaster---Null
Light Neutron Blaster---Null

Mid Slots
Small Cap Booster---200 Large Navy Booster
1MN Afterburner II
Warp Scrambler II

Low Slots
Small Armor Rep II
Small Armor Rep II
Adaptive Nano Membrane
Damage Control Unit II

Rigs
Small Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Small Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Small Anti-Explosive Pump I

Drone-
Hobgoblin II

Fly Safe # 7

Never warp gate to gate in Null Sec. Use bounce points and spring points. 

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Two Squids Enter...No Squids leave

I have joined the Gallente Militia this past week. I have decided that I wanted a change of pace in New Eden. In a short time it has already lead to some fun times. My first time out I began to run Faction Warfare missions, but after running 7 of them I found that it was not the best and quickest way to make loyalty points and gain faction standing. So I began to run the faction complexes. They turned into some great LP shortly, but that is only a little part of what I was after. What I really wanted was the PVP and I got it tonight.

I was in my complex holding it for the timer when two Caldari (Squids) jump into the system. The both were in the fabled Caldari Drake BattleCruiser. A tough nut to crack by all means.  With 10 secs left they managed to get into the site and try to get me I  held the complex then warped out just in time. this left them to my joy displeased. I think was able to warp a second sight that restricted the size of ship they were allowed to bring in to a frigate class ship.

Wanting a kill they reshipped and came at me. the cam in the Navy Issue Hookbill which is fitted correctly is a nasty little frigate, and I should be on my guard in my Incursus class attack frigate. But when it comes to frigates I like to push the limits with them. I caught the first D-Scan and decided that it was worth the risk. A 5mil isk ship vs a 19 mil i'll talk my chances that my skills are better and I know what I'm doing.

So the first one came in, he came at me and I burnt away from him until the NPC rat in the pocket engaged him. Then I turned boosted back to him and began my attack. I have max skills points in both blasters and t1 Gallente Frigates, I also am using a Null ammo that gives a bonus to range and with the Incursus natural High tracking it makes for a deadly frig. I quickly tear the first Hookbill down without having to even turn on my second Small Armor repper. Then the second Hookbill comes in, because I burnt away from the first that the beginning of the first battle this second Hookbill has to travel 137 km to get me. This gives me time burst repp my seconded repper and burst my Cap Booster to charge on my energy supply.  I then turn on my afterburner two and make a direct line to him. Like the first I make quick work of this Squid and soon he is in his pod warping to the sun.

http://eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=15127853
http://eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=15127852

Looking at their fits I was not impressed and I felt quite sad that their ships even came out of the hanger.  In then got me wondering, if I was in my T2 frigate could I have killed their Drakes. The record stands Phox Jorkarzul 4 Squids 1.

I hope to get video up so that I can record some one these fights.

For the Federation

When I was a young man, I transformed my life took to being a capsuleer. While the first months were hard as I grow in experience I began to find my niche and livelihood in the Universe. I spent the first months flying freelance to other Systems aways from my home in Arnon. But I always keep it close in my heart and thoughts. My travel took me all over the known empires and then into the grim of low security space, and finally into the black void of the unknown null sec.

All the while I keep hearing the stories of the Caldari Gallente War, of  Tibus Heth and his radical ways. I knew that I could no longer hide from it. I was giving a gift of immortality I was a capsuleer and I would let the Cadari feel my wrath. While Heth thinks that he is doing what is best for them,  he is destroying the freedoms that the Gallente have fought for, for years.

So I came back to Placid and joined the Gallente Militia. I fitted up my  Incursus and took the stars. I sought out the Caldari scum that had infected our space, and took our lives. For my family I fight, for my race I fight, for my freedom I fight and for the Federation I fight. I am a Federal Soldier above all things, and to the Squids that think they can take our freedoms, then you have to take while blasters shoot holes in you ship.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Fighting the EVE Stall

Being the CEO of a New Eden corp sometimes is a hard thing to do. Unlike other games you have to decide what is best not only for you but for the 5-500 other people in your corp. You have to keep your active and in touch and make sure that everyone is fighting the EVE Stall.

The eve stale is what it sounds like. It when the game begins to get boring to the player. Everyone in EVE has to fight the EVE stall at some point.  Here are some tips to help you fight it.

1) Start over. Not your toon but game play if all you ever have done in EVE is mission run then try your had at exploration or pvp. But give you self something new in the game.

2) Remake your corp image. If all you have ever done as a cor is small gang PVP then move on to something else. Sov warfare or High Sec Wardecing, or even industry. The idea is to keep active.

3) Take a break. Once you feel the stall coming take a break and just train skills. I know that doesn't sound like fight the stall but it does. It help you get your head on strait about what you want to be doing in EVE.

4) Role play the game a bit. EVE Online does not lend itself greatly to RP. But it can be done. Join a faction warfare and decide that you hate one group of players on EVE. If there anything that I have learned in EVE its that hate is the driving force for many players.

The biggest thing is just keep skill training and playing off and one. I fly into many pilots that let skill ques lapse and they missed out SP for 6 or 18 months before they came back. They regret all the time. They think how much better they could have been. Do not let that happen you, take a break but keep your skills training. remember not-one ever really leaves EVE.

Friday, November 2, 2012

The Development of Small Gang Doctrine

In the beginning of EVE there was only Chaos and those that were brave went out and began to PvP and forced order on it.  As PvP became larger and more organized Fleet Doctrines began to come into place. These Doctrine Fleets at first were used only larger fleets, but as small gang PvP became more popular these fleets started to see that they needed fleet doctrines as well. The major developers of small gang doctrines weren't in LowSec or Null where small gangs were still using Kitchen Sink Fleets, but High Sec Merc Corps and Wardec Griefers.

These Alliances were dedicating themselves to combat that was very limited it what they could do. In Null and LowSec fleet battles have the chance of escalation due to cap ships, black op, and titian bridges. This is not possible in HighSec. So High wardecs required a fleet doctrine that could give them an advantage in limit space. Once one side formed a Fleet Doctrine then the countered doctrines were formed. As these Fleets began to show success more Small Gang PvP Corps took note. At first they would only mimic Highsec Fleets or even SovNull Fleets. But soon LowSec Pirates and NPC Null corps would create their own fleets and have their own flavors.

The need for organized fleets in EVE is greater than ever. This is driving the need for Small gang doctrines. Kitchen Sink Fleets are no longer cutting if for PvPers who want to not only want to blow up ships, but want to be extremely efficient at it. Another venue that a driving force in small gang fleet doctrines is the Alliance Tournament. While only major alliances get a real chance to play in it, smaller alliances take notes and use those tournament as base for their own doctrines and possible styles of play.

Small Gang PvP in EVE is the major factor developing new doctrines and fits. Capsuleers are always looking to turn more firepower, repping power, and tanking out of their ships.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Doctrine Fleet vs Kitchen Sink Fleet

In New Eden there are two types fleets types, Doctrine Fleets and what is known as the Kitchen Fleet Sink. Doctrine Fleets are those that have pilots fly certain ships with certain mods. These fleets can be very successful if done right. There have been many different fleet doctrines to pass through New Eden, Hellcat, Armor HAC, Tech 3 Blob, Brofist Alpha, and Drake Army. Many of the larger Alliances such as GoonSwarm, TEST, AAA, and Solar Fleet put these fleets to great use in Sov warfare. In smaller Alliances fleet doctrines are also becoming more and more popurual as PVP becomes more popular in EVE Online. using similar fleets as major alliance only sized down to fit their needs this smaller alliance are making small gang warfare more organized than it ever was before.

The Kitchen Sink Doctrine is not really a doctrine. It is a hodge podge of mixed ships from frigates to battlecruisers. Most of the time it is whatever the pilot wants to fly or feels the best at flying. While on the outside these fleets look like trash and easily counterable they can prove to tricky.  If the pilots have high skill points and have flow together a lot then they can understand what each other is about to. That said if they pilots are low skill point and not used to the style of play then the fleets usually ending horrible balls of fiery death. Kitchen Sink fleets are easily countered with just a simple addition to logi on the field or by a well doctrine fleet.

There are pros and cons of both Doctrine Fleets and Kitchen Sink. Doctrine fleet are usually well disciplined and well organized. Pilots know their roles and what they need to do. These fleets are also easier on the fleet's FCs as the FC understands the goal and role that the fleet as a whole is. Kitchen sinks have pros as well though not as many. First most of the time in a Kitchen sink the pilot is flying what ship that feel comfortable in leading to the be more bold than they would normally be. Kitchen Sink Fleets also allow pilots to join into fleets quickly.  Kitchen sinks are also unpredictable  the first time that they are encountered, so they have the advantage. That advantage is quickly lost the more those pilots take out a kitchen sink fleet.

In my opinion the only real disadvantage to doctrine fleets is the time it takes to train to it. While this doesn't seem like much, it is. Most pilots don't want to be told what kind of ships to fly and what skills to train. They like their independence. There many disadvantages of the kitchen sink fleet, starting with it requires more work and metagaming from the FC. It requires pilots to understand their ship more than in a Fleet Doctrine. Last in Kitchen Sink Fleets there is no clear roles of the ships because of this the Fleet Comms and then the Fleet usually break down as the roam or operation continues.

While there is a role of Kitchen Sink to fill, I have a hard time supporting them. Even basic Doctrine Fleets such as, Shield Battle Cruisers is better. Even at the small alliance and corp the level of competition is so high that very hard for alliances or corps to really on Kitchen Sink Fleets. And with the rebalancing of ships small gang pvp has become the ultimate testing grounds.  Many corps like my own are trying out new fleets and revamping old ideas that. Taking advantage of EWAR, DICs, and Gankboats. I'm a believer that as new Eden approaches new heights of PVP, it will not be large scale sov warfare that wins the day, but small gang pvp groups with new and exciting Doctrines fleets.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Fly Safe #6

NBSI= Not Blue Shoot Instantly

Fly Safe #5

NRDS- Not Red Don't Shot

What do I train !?!?!?!

A question asked by all people in New Eden. What to train, what to train, what to train. This the the follow up to my post Skill not Skills and I hope will give people some insight on what skill to train to improve themselves in the game.

Everyone in EVE Online needs a skill plan. If you don't have one then you are going to find that your time playing is filled with wasted dreams, heartbreak, and time. When I started I had two friends to play with that helped me with my first skill plan each one had been playing the game for longer so it seemed wise to follow their advice. For many though there is not real life friend to hold you hand as you go along so the first couple months can turn from bliss to a nightmare.

Step one in setting up a skill plan is getting a skill planner app. There are several really good ones to get, for you PC users EVEMON is a great tool. You will have to get your user API, but that part is easy. Once you get it setup, you can use EVEMON to look your skills and all skills in the game. It has a place for adding a skill plan. If you have an Android Phone then you should pick up AURA. It is similar to EVEMON, and works nicely on Android. Every phone and tablet that I have had has had AURA on in. It now has a great functioning skill planner on it. And for those iPhone users you can get NeoCom. A little bit different interface, but is a solid program for those that want use it.....take a few to download one of the programs above.

Now that you have EVEMON, Aura or NeoCom, you are on you way to getting a decent skill plan. First thing that you need to decide it what you want to do in EVE. There are many different professions that you can do and try but it will help you if you decide on one when you first start.  So say that you want to be a Pirate. Easy enough to plan, but get ready for some pain along the way.

First thing first is you want to look at what ships you want fly as a pirate. I would suggest Assault Frigates now what skills do you need to fly this ship to its basic potential. This is why I like EVEMON if you go into the Ship Browser just find the ship you want to fly click on it. If you look to the right it shows the required skill for fly the ship and then the recommended certification for flying it.  That is a good indicator on what skills you need to fly the ship. Click add to to skill plan and there is the start to you skill plan.

Other certifications that you should look at getting is in the Core tab in Certifications tab. I would start with Fitting , Integrity, and then Capacitor. At first I would train them to improved before looking at other skills. The main reason is that having those skills to improved will give you access to descents Cruiser and Battle Cruiser skills once you get all the taking skills to improved as well.  A good skill plan for a first time player should be roughly 190-240 days.

The most important thing about a skill plan is to follow it. Do not do make the same mistake that many young capsuleers do and train up you spaceship command skills higher than what  you can fit.  I see many young toons that have more spaceship command skills than they do other skills. While they feel that they can fly anything, they can not fit those ships properly and most ot the time lose them.

I hope that my suggestions help my fellow capsuleers.


Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Skill or Skills?

As a Capsuleer there is something you have to know and that is  the difference between skill and skills. When many people who start playing EVE Online and see that it takes time to train a skill to get into a ship or use mod, that think that once the 5 hrs of training time over thats it. They can use that mod like pro. I would count myself in that group. 

I remember as a young pilot training the Small Hybrid Weapons to 5 and thinking that after a 5 day train i was the King of Blasters. I fitted up frigate and took it out....engaged a target and about 30 secs I was back in my pod and back to the drawing board. I decided that the skill I needed wasn't Small Hybrid Weapons 5 but the Small Blaster Spec to 5 and then Gallente Frigates to 5. Each time I finished one I found that I was still lacking just one more to be great....boy was I wrong. 

In EVE you can have 5mil SP or 60mil SP but unless you have trained yourself in the ship and how to you use the mods you die. That is what it means to have skills. Pilots have to know their ships and how to fly them. As in the real world in New Eden it helps if you train with you ships. The more your train in with you ship and fly it the better you will be in it.

There are several ways to train yourself on EVE Online. The first is buy up a lot of ships and mods and go out and pew pew. This method is effective and I how I learned to PVP in EVE. But it will feel you with a lot of heartbreak as you lose ships. More than once I wanted to give up on EVE because I was losing more ships than I was killing. I encourage all that try to keep at it. 

The second method is to download the test server. First its a bit tricky to get on to. Second is you have to realize that your skill points in EVE and on the skill points won't match up. Depending on the last time two servers were mirrored you may be short a couple million SP. That is okay though, cause once you download the test server you can train you toon on there just like on the main, and if you follow Delvblogs to when there are Test event going on, on there you can get upto 1.5mil SP for free. I know several pilots whose toons on the test server have more SP than the ones on the main.  The test server offers a cheap way to test your skills and your ships, I would recommend it for anyone wanted to test out fits for Battle Cruiser class ships and above. For cruiser and lower the hulls are cheap enough the main server that you can use them there. 

In terms of getting skilled in how to fly the ship you just have to keep flying, fighting and dying. and that goes for either the test server or the main. Do not write of new fits the first time you take them out and die. Maybe you didn't test it for the right situation. Talk to other people who have been flying similar fits and how they used time. Ask if there minimum SP requirement to fly the fit. 

The last real thing that I can offer is find a training corp or a good group of guys to fly with. Have experienced pilots show you the ropes and help you out with fittings. I wish that this was something that I did when I first started PvPing in EVE. It would have saved me a lot of loses and wasted time training skills that I really didn't need at the time. 

I will do another post on skills in the near future to help guide some younger players. 

Fly Safe #3

Never take from a yellow Jetcan.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Fly Safe #2

Fly what you can afford. 

RETRIBUTION: Heating Up


The above video is owned by CCP

Retribution is kicking off with a back come Christmas and all you a capsulers better make sure your pod goo is warm and ready. Three topics I want to talk about, new ships, Logi Frigates, and Rebalancing.

First I want to say that I like the way all the new Destroyers look. They flow into their races designs and look great.  That said I am interested to see how they perform, mainly the Caldari and Minmatar.  To me what make the the destroyer class okay right now is that it is a solid quick alpha strike with no lag to the missile flight time. Destroyers have no tank and they are all about the gank. I feel while the new one will play a role I really wonder if it is a vital one. That said from watching the video and reading DelvBlogs I am going to say that the Amarr Destroyer sounds like a beast. To me the idea of a mini-Arbitrator that can out track turrets will be deadly to Battle Cruiser and Battleship gangs.

The next is the Logi Frigate, while this looks like a good idea, I have a hard time believe that it will be. The current Logistic Ships are Cruiser hulls that require Large Shield and Large Armor Reps to be useful in fleets. And then unless you have Logistic to V and your Logistic Chief Certification to Standard it becomes very hard to fit them properly. While I understand that CCP wants to give pilots a lot of opinions and choice to me this does not seem like a good on. I am sure that these ships will have some use to them in the game, but as of right now I don't see it.

Last is the Ship Rebalance. I want to say very loudly ABOUT TIME. All summer I have been looking forward to the rebalance and what it brings to EVE. That said I am very worried. With CCP launching 4 new ships plus Rebalancing 40 current ships I am fearful of the outcome. In the two years I have been playing EVE it seems that every time CCP tries to do something major like this it backfires or it was do sloppy. I still have nightmares of Incara. I remember the a DelvBlog and I will have to do back and search them, that said the Rebalance was going to be be a slow process and take some time upto next summer. While the Pirate and PvPer in me says "UUUHHHGGGG to long" the Pilot and CEO says "Okay, take your time make it right".   Launching what is basically going to be 44 new ships does not sound like "taking your time and making it right". I am both eagerly waiting and dreading Retribution.




Friday, October 26, 2012

Fly Safe #1

Fly safe post are simple post that explain some the rules that I, Phox Jorkarzul, believe all members of New Eden should fly by. Today's easy.

#1 Keep an eye on local at all times.

Virtal Economy Becomes Real



In my search to improve myself in EVE online, I find myself spending most of my time reading blogs and watching videos about the game. This is one video that I found to be very interesting to the State of EVE.

What makes EVE so differnet than any other MMO out there is the Econmomy of EVE is real and player driven. What I mean by real is that in EVE only the players can control the economy. If no one did any manufacturing then the economy would stop. Though there are few mods that are dropped, there is not enough to feed the market. Prices for mods would unattendable and CCP would have to seed the market with new mods every few days. Many games rely on these types of market, Guild Wars, WoW, Everquest and what happens that as time goes up the cost raises as well making it hard for peoples starting in the game to compete in it.

If we look at this graph of the Orca, the first real "cap ship" that many people get into, we see that when the ship was introduced in 2008 the price was just over 1bil ISK as time went on instead of the price raising like it would in a pure seeded market the price dropped and slowly makes climbs up but has even out at about 800mil ISK. This is because EVE is a true marketplace. As more people learn the skills that it takes to build and create ships and mod the prices drop to meet that demand that is being asked for.

I find that this an accurate example of how a computer game can imploy real life economics. In the lastest expansion of EVE CCP pushed the idea that EVE IS REAL...To me this bridge into real life economy makes EVE Online one of the most interesting games there is.

For more reading on the Eve Economy read these blogs.
http://community.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=607
http://eve-musings.blogspot.com/2009/07/economic-banter-1-plex-prices.html
http://jestertrek.blogspot.com/2011/11/pic-of-week-tanstaafl.html

First Post, It is what it is.

Never feed the Troll?

I know that you are looking at the title of the blog and wondering what it is all about. Well I will tell you. I am Phox Jorkarzul a Capsuler in the universe of New Eden in EVE Online. Here we are able to be whatever we want to be. Fly small frigates that race across the stars or become the conquerors of Star systems in Capital Ships. I myself have had many different jobs in New Eden. I tried mining, missions running, sought to explore the stars, then found my niche in PvP(player vs Player combat) and became a pirate. I also am a Director in my Alliance and my Corporations Deep Void Industrial Group CEO. I wear all of these titles proudly most days, but the one I wear most is troll.

That is a Troll? I would type it all out but wikipedia has done it for me. Link below
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(Internet)
To me this is what makes EVE fun. Nowhere in the world does so many trolls find their homes and continue to play. I remember watching a youtube video where a developer of the game said that the community was "too mean to new players." This made me laugh and think, Nah we just believe in education by fire.

Never Pheed The Troll  is a blog about EVE Online and Phox Jorkarzul's life in it. I want this blog to give an accurate look at the players in EVE, the politics of New Eden, and its economy. I will also post helpful tips for new players that want to start playing the game. How I got over some the humps that many players go through, entry level advice in Skill training and PVP.  I will never claim to be a pro or elite at EVE, but I do feel that two years of active playing has given me some insight into the game. I will also post some trollable moments.

Thank you for reading this first post

Phox Jorkarzul