Invasion Halted: Fortress Nisuwa

The beginning of the month saw some new events in Black Rise. The rise of TEST in the West and in the SouthEast, Talons of Blood began an invasion of the Gallente Fortress of Nisuwa. What looked to be a full invasion was stopped in only in 7 days.  Thanks to the efforts of QCATs and DRACO.

It all kicked off when Talons of Blood put a staging POS in Nisuwa. Before the POS could be taken down they completely "DickStarred" it. Meaning put up ECM, warp Scramblers and Guns to the max. Inside the POS there was only Ship Maintenance Hanger. With all the CPU and Powergrid in defense the only thing left was to stock it with ships. And that they did fast. Within 2 days over 500 ships were brought into the POS and made ready for their invasion.
Seeing this QCATs and members of DV-MS  began to stockpile ships of their own in the Nisuwa Station. FC's called for standard Gallente Fleets of C*ckbags and derptrons. C*ckbags fully fitted only cost about 2 mil and derptrons cost 1.3 mill ISK. These fleet were also supported by three new fleets. Sniarpies, (rail harpies), Tweed Kestrels, and Win button Kestrels.  While the Sniarpies have a great tank, the two Kestrels fits were set up for attrition fits only costing 1.6 mil each.
On the first day of fighting the story in local made it look dire for the Federation in Nisuwa, as State pilots out numbered them 3-to-1 to even 5-to-1 at one point, do the fast reships and a great FC, the Gallente militia was able to hold Nisuwa stable after 7 hours on constant fighting.  As the EU TZ logged off the US and AUS TZ, kept chasing Squids out of plexes and set the stage for a round two.
On the second day the Federation employed a new trick. They would let the State take small complexes while hold both Novices and Mediums. This forced the Caldari to use only one fleet doctrine while the Federation was able to change into different doctrines to hold the different plexes. So with the State mostly in an expensive Cormorant fit costing 9 mill each, the Federation would simply  use cheap attrition ships camp the outside of the small complex gate and kill anything going it. all the while holding the other plexes.
The next trick was the FC called for everything to burn on the beacon once it hit a 1 min left on the timer. to force the Caldari close their site first. Once the Caldari closed the small the Federation was able to closer either the Medium or Novice resetting the contestion bar for the system. This type of deplex was a huge kick in moral for the Squids as all they could only watch as their work was taking away before they could mount a defense.
At the height of the Nisuwa Invasion, Talons of Blood pushed the system just over 7% contested, with the help of Dust Mercs on the ground. But without a strong US TZ, these gains were quickly lost. While I will not call the Invasion of Nisuwa over,  I will say that it has been Halted for now, and the that brave men and women of the Federation will continue to fight for control over Fortress Nisuwa.
FUN FACTS:
Leaders of the State Assault on Nisuwa are former Gallente Pilots and FCs
At one time Nisuwa was the most dangerous Low Sec system, seeing more than 500 kills in 24 hrs
Derptrons were only called for twice, both times leading to a successful fleet.

Happy Birthday: Never Pheed the Troll.

While I'm a few days late, I feel that it is still a good time to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Never Pheed the Troll.  In this past year it has had 8500 views, 92 different post, 27 comments and read in over 22 countries. Thank you all for reading and here is to the next year.

Gallente Militia: Excitement Grow

Now we wait.

TEST is coming, TEST is coming. When we do not know. Their internal mails suggest that they are waiting on one or two corporations to reach 0.5 standing with the Caldari State, which should happen then the next two days. So by the weekend TEST will be here.  Exciting times are head for us in Black Rise and Placid. 

If you are not excited, then you should be! TEST is going to bring a whole lot of people to the Warzone. This means more targets than we have had for quite a few months. But is it just not TEST, the CFC, N3, Black Legion, and every other person in space is going to come and try to rain on the TEST Parade. So get EXCITED!!! Black Rise and Placid are about to become the most dangerous places in New Eden and we are right in the thick of it.  

I was happy when I logged into a OMS Fleet today to hear the excitement about TEST. I was glad to hear Old Vets, Line Militiamen, and New Bros all talking about TEST and what ships we had to have. What we needed to do, tactics we should employ. It was more excitement on coms than I has heard in a long time. KEEP IT UP!!! We will need it. Just like with EV0KE this is going to become a war of attrition. We need keep fleets excited and active.
While TEST will surely learn somethings from us, there is something that we can learn from them. We have to keep the excitement HIGH. We have to fight burn out. If you want to know why TEST lost the Fountain War that was it. They couldn't keep excitement, they couldn't fight the burn out. Their FC became burnt out, then their line members lost the drive to fight. Sure they managed 1000 dudes at 6-DV, but who cares about 1000 dudes in one battle when it doesn't when the war. 

Steps to Fight Burn out 

1. New FC's need to rise: We need new bros or more line members to take up Fleet Commanding. It just has to happen. It does not take much to FC a 4-8 man gang. But we cannot relay on our Major FC to run every event. If our FC get burnt out then we will lose. 
2. Manage Expectations: Don't then that we are going to win every fight with TEST. We won't. Yes, I said it. While I would rather fly you than another other group in New Eden, we simply can't win them all. So expect to lose some, but learn from the engagement. 
3. Fleet Change Up: Change up the fleet. If all we do is run Armor Cruiser fleets then we become predictable. Stay fluid and stay flexible. We will need doctrines for ever ships class, and different ones. DERPtrons are a great doctrine because who cares if it lost C*CKBAG is another great one, but we need to have more. Rail-Cats, GankRax, Derptorn, lAHACs, S.AF, Scramkites, Kiterles and C*CKBAGs will all have a place to fight TEST. We need to keep changing it up. Talk to you Alliance and Corp leaders about which ships you should train into. 
4. Clearing Coms: While the excitement today on coms was great, at time it was bit Benny Hill. We need to clean up our coms for major Militia fleets. Listen to your FC. I'll repeat that, LISTEN TO YOUR FC. If he says align out, you align out. It is very simple to do. I know that we have been solo and small gang for the past two months, but we need to get better at being in fleet. This means cleaning up coms and humbling ourselves. 

This is an exciting time to be in Black Rise and Placid.  We need to keep the excitement up. Burn out will be our hardest enemy. We will lose some systems, we'll keep others. But no matter what we must keep move on. Where ever TEST pushes, we push back. We saw what Level Up did to EV0KE we can do the same thing here. Always remember, "We are Freedom, We are the Justice of Black Rise and Placid. WE ARE THE FEDERATION!!!!"

New Squids on the Block..Test to Join Caldari Faction Warfare.

Sorry for the image, my PS is down
so I had to use an online editor.

PSA to the Federation Militia:

First I want to say is do not panic, Nul alliances have come before and they will come again. All we have to do is unite and stand strong.  In the first State of the Alliance from new TEST CEO SkierX, he has announced two major operations for TEST. The first is TEST is going to join the Caldari State militia, the second is "Top Secret". This move is so they can make some ISK and train up some TEST FCs.  The two main points of this deployment are the Talwars are going to be their main fleet, and are staging our of Tamo.  TEST wants to use this time to build up some steam and while trying to get them secure in ISK as members. I can see the point of it, and I have to say that I like it. 

Some Thinking Points.

1. Don't panic. Nul blocks have come before and we have weathered them, we will do the same to TEST. SkierX has said that this is a short time goal for TEST ranging from weeks to months, so they won't be here for long term. 
2.  Be ready for deplexing. Home systems are always number one, but be ready to deplex systems. TEST is here to make money, so they will be Offensive Plexing like crazy, we have to be ready to hold the lines.
3.  Bend Don't Break. They may only do small scale 10-15 man fleets they may do 200 man fleets, it doesn't matter we need to bend and not break. We know the systems, we know the mechanics, and we know small gang. It is all about the long haul here. C*ckbags and A-Cats will win the day.
4. Have fun. It is not often that we get the chance, to have 4000 new dudes to come and play with us. We have been complaining lately that targets have been few and between; well that is not going to be case. While this DinoSquid is large in numbers, I'd rather fly with one Gal Mil guy than 10 of them. 

From the sound cloud it seems that at this time TEST does not have the standing to join FacWar. So they are beginning a Standing grind. Which is double awesome for them cause a grid for 4000 people is impressive.  They will probably lose some guys in the move, so don't expect all 4000 people to come to FW. I'm not going to pretend to know when they will be joining but I imagine it is going to be within the next few weeks.  I also imagine that other Nul groups will at least follow TEST here, not to join FW, but to rain on them every chance they get. I would expect to see CFC Harpy fleets around the Warzone once TEST gets in and settled a bit.

Black Rise and Placid had more kills it than the Fountian War in the last month. That is about to happen again and I'm excited about it. There is no better place in New Eden to be right now than Black Rise and Placid if you want fights, get your Comets, VNIs, and ENIs ready TEST is coming, Lets welcome our new overlords with overheated Blasters and more drones than a Pandemic Legion Super Fleet. 

Test SOTA sound Cloud

DV-MS Skill Training 104: Advance Cruiser Hull

DV-MS Newbie Skill Training 103

Advance Cruiser Hull

Editorial Note

This is a greater look at the DV-MS Skill Training. This training guide is requiring that you had looked at and completed DV-MS Newbie Training 101 and 102. This guide is to give pilots the support skills for their Tech One Cruiser Hulls. Remember that Deep Void Merc Syndicate is engaged in Faction Warfare, so there is not a heavy stress of getting new pilots into larger ship hull such as Battle Cruiser and Battleship. 

DV-MS Skill Training 102 preface

     Welcome back to Deep Void Merc Syndicate Skill Training. In DV-MS S.T. 103 we are going to be looking at some of the more advance skills that you'll need to fly the  tech One Cruiser Class Hulls. This skill plan will be a bit longer around 142-148 days, but as we all know EVE is a long term game. If you have not completed Class 101, 102 or 103 please go back to them and make sure that have the skill recommended there.  Lets get started.

Advance Cruiser Training

Normally here we would be looking at a list of pre-skill that you should train for your T1 cruiser hull. For our last lesson there are no pre-skill except the ones in the previous lessons. What this course is all about it stream lining you cruiser and getting you into a position to be effective in this class of hull. This means that we need to get you the support skills that will make you cruiser hit hard and tan more. Lets open up EvEmon and begin.

As you know we have already trained all the Certificates for our Blaster Thorax that we have been skilling for. Now all that is left is to give us more tank and gank. Go to you Certificate browser and click on Core. Here we need to click on Comp Competency and right click and train to standard. Now we want this to elite and I suggest that you do train it to Elite as soon as you can. but these skills are going to help you moving forward with fittings, your cap use, and even you tank to a small degree. Total time 50-59 days depending on settings.

Once you have Core Comp to Standard, then you want to go to you Defense tab in your Certificates. Now you have several different ones to choose from, but we only need three of them , Armor Tanking Improved (25 days), Armor Reinforcement standard, (included in Armor Tanking Improved), and Logistics Chief Standard.  Armor tanking Improved is giving you good skills, for both a buffer tank and active repairing. Armor Reinforcement is increasing the amount of resist that your ship gets with both passive and active armor hardeners. The four skills here are EM Armor Compensation, Explosive Armor Compensation, Kinetic Armor Compensation, and Thermic Armor Compensation. The Standard level puts all these skill to III, you need to update your plan to train them to IV.  Again having these to all to V would be great, but IV is okay for now. The Logistic Chief skill, will give you basic remote repping, shield transfer, and energy transfer skills for T1 Logistic ships. It is included to give you the chances to possibly fly Logi in fleets in future. We should be at 73-80 days on our train.

Now that we have built up some okay fitting and tanking skills we need to increase our DPS. In the Certificate tab go to turrets and right click Turret Control, train to Improved.  This will begin to give you the more advance support skills for your turrets, increasing your rate of fire, fall off, optimal range, tracking, and over all damage. Like Core Comp skills, and Tanking support skills, you can never go wrong with training the skills in this certificate. This should bring our total days to 96-100 days. 

Now we only need two more skills and this course is over. In the skill browser you need to find the Spaceship Command skill Gallente Cruiser train to V and then under engineering you need to find Advance Weapon Upgrades train to V. This puts your over all Skill queue up to 142-148 days. 

DV-MS Skill Queue

Advance Cruiser Training

Rember to Order Shortest to Longest

Capacitor Systems Operation IV

Capacitor Systems Operation V

Capacitor Management IV

Energy Grid Upgrades III

Energy Grid Upgrades IV

CPU Management IV

CPU Management V

Electronics Upgrades II

Electronics Upgrades III

Electronics Upgrades IV

Electronics Upgrades V

Long Range Targeting III

Long Range Targeting IV

Signature Analysis IV

Target Management V

Advanced Target Management I

Spaceship Command IV

Navigation IV

Evasive Maneuvering III

Warp Drive Operation III

Mechanics IV

Shield Management IV

Mechanics V

Repair Systems IV

Repair Systems V

EM Armor Compensation I

EM Armor Compensation II

EM Armor Compensation III

Explosive Armor Compensation I

Explosive Armor Compensation II

Explosive Armor Compensation III

Kinetic Armor Compensation I

Kinetic Armor Compensation II

Kinetic Armor Compensation III

Thermic Armor Compensation I

Thermic Armor Compensation II

Thermic Armor Compensation III

Shield Emission Systems I

Shield Emission Systems II

Shield Emission Systems III

Shield Emission Systems IV

Capacitor Emission Systems I

Capacitor Emission Systems II

Capacitor Emission Systems III

Capacitor Emission Systems IV

Remote Armor Repair Systems I

Remote Armor Repair Systems II

Remote Armor Repair Systems III

Remote Armor Repair Systems IV

Thermic Armor Compensation IV

Kinetic Armor Compensation IV

Explosive Armor Compensation IV

EM Armor Compensation IV

Rapid Firing V

Motion Prediction V

Surgical Strike I

Surgical Strike II

Surgical Strike III

Trajectory Analysis I

Trajectory Analysis II

Trajectory Analysis III

Trajectory Analysis IV

Gallente Cruiser IV

Gallente Cruiser V

Advanced Weapon Upgrades V

Closing Thoughts

This is the last of the 100 series classes for you skill training plan. Once you complete this training  you should have a good base of fitting, tanking, and damage skills for your tech one cruisers and down. Once you complete this training you all should have okay skills for your Battlecruiser hulls as well, allowing you to fly bigger ships while still using the your medium gun skills.  

Future Classes of Skill Training we'll look at plans for ship specific skills. In those classes we will look at each module and what we need the skill to be at for that fit. These classes will be based on our fleets that are on Fleet-up.  Please keep looking for future classes.