So. This is a first for me, but, here we go.
Somedays, I have off days, as I stated in an earlier post. It happens. I do dumb things, run into people who are simply better than me, or both. I dont claim to be an expert; as a matter of fact, at the beginning of this blog, I explicitly stated that I am learning as I go, and the blog's entries reveal that.
I lost a 1v1. It happens, right? Korvus Falek, a member of Black Rebel Rifter Club, was so proud of it he posted about it on his blog... if you want to read the entry, its here so you can see for yourself. Hey, thats ok, I have a blog and post stuff about my fights too, right? Well... please read the entry. You may notice some differences.
I decided to reply, and dispel a few of the inaccuracies in his post, with regards to my wolf, myself, and what I do in EVE.
First. Lets compare fits....mine. This was my actual lossmail from the fight.
I was heading to null to rat/pew, so I was running an MWD, which is not my normal choice; an AB allows me better range control and permits fitting a T2 DCU. My TE/Gyro combo gives me good range vs those who kite at the edge of scram range and gives me more damage beyond about 6k than 2 gyros. I was also in a 10 million isk clone, running 2 +2s and a 3% small projectile damage implant.
The fight itself? I started off dealing early damage, and let him catch me... you know, like I have stated several other places in this very blog that I always do. I wasnt trying to "Kite", I have a scram. Even if i could do so (Which i have said elsewhere, in this blog, that I am bad at) I likely would have had a long point fit, eh? Yes, the blog he says I he read through, and wouldnt point out all the stuff I write that is "wrong". Must have been a thorough read. When I went down, he was in low armor, repping well... I suspect he used Exile, though it may just be the normal repping rate of an A type SAR.
So. By KITERS, i mean those things, such as Hawks and Vengeances who tend to stay at the edge of scram range, 7-8k, beyond the effective range of a fit without a TE.
Now... his fit.
Sheesh! Thats stout! 330m isk frigate, with im guessing a head full of slaves and possibly, as i mentioned, Exile.
I dont know that this was the exact fit, but similar; web/scram/AB, and definately a faction fit.
I had an MWD, which makes my ability to counter rocket damage, already basically horrid when webbed, even worse. It was a bad matchup, but a fun fight nonetheless. I was in a convo with him (we had fleeted, so he didnt have boosts or anything ) and he mentioned to try an AB. Yeap. I know. Anyway, he says I got "mad" and left when he started "epeen waving"... lets see....
---------------------------------------------------------------
Channel ID: (('fleetid', 1122610806817L),)
Channel Name: Fleet
Listener: Ava Starfire
Session started: 2012.05.14 14:31:42
---------------------------------------------------------------
[ 2012.05.14 14:31:56 ] Ava Starfire > SS?
[ 2012.05.14 14:31:56 ] Korvus Falek > rdy for warp in when you are
[ 2012.05.14 14:32:02 ] Korvus Falek > roughly
[ 2012.05.14 14:32:03 ] Ava Starfire > Ok, warp to you?
[ 2012.05.14 14:32:22 ] Korvus Falek > yeah
[ 2012.05.14 14:32:25 ] Ava Starfire > ok
[ 2012.05.14 14:32:30 ] Ava Starfire > if is dualrep
[ 2012.05.14 14:32:31 ] Ava Starfire > i will cry!
[ 2012.05.14 14:32:36 ] Korvus Falek > lol
[ 2012.05.14 14:37:09 ] Ava Starfire > =(
[ 2012.05.14 14:37:51 ] Ava Starfire > Well
[ 2012.05.14 14:37:53 ] Korvus Falek > hehe gf
[ 2012.05.14 14:37:58 ] Ava Starfire > Just means I dont fight vengeance anymore
[ 2012.05.14 14:37:59 ] Ava Starfire > meh
[ 2012.05.14 14:38:08 ] Ava Starfire > 2nd wolf i lost today and nothing to show
[ 2012.05.14 14:38:22 ] Ava Starfire > how about fight in something that isnt a veng?
[ 2012.05.14 14:38:33 ] Korvus Falek > only ship i fly tbh =P
[ 2012.05.14 14:38:37 ] Ava Starfire > Well
[ 2012.05.14 14:38:43 ] Ava Starfire > I just wont fight it anymore
[ 2012.05.14 14:38:52 ] Ava Starfire > MWD wolf simply cant beat it
[ 2012.05.14 14:39:05 ] Ava Starfire > dosent help im in a shit 10m isk nullsec clone atm either
[ 2012.05.14 14:39:47 ] Korvus Falek > hehe use something other than mwd =P
[ 2012.05.14 14:39:59 ] Korvus Falek > a wolf can beat a vengeance
[ 2012.05.14 14:40:06 ] Ava Starfire > I was heading to null
[ 2012.05.14 14:40:06 ] Korvus Falek > but not my vengeance =P
[ 2012.05.14 14:40:07 ] Ava Starfire > =P
[ 2012.05.14 14:40:11 ] Ava Starfire > You all distracted me
[ 2012.05.14 14:40:18 ] Ava Starfire > Ok, epeen measuring time i guess
[ 2012.05.14 14:40:20 ] Ava Starfire > bye
Hmm. I said "MWD wolf cant beat vengeance" (which it may or may not be able to) but lets call attention to this line:
[ 2012.05.14 14:39:59 ] Korvus Falek > a wolf can beat a vengeance
[ 2012.05.14 14:40:06 ] Ava Starfire > I was heading to null
[ 2012.05.14 14:40:06 ] Korvus Falek > but not my vengeance =P
That's pretty smug, and is the reason I left the convo. Now, looking back, I admit I was in a mood, and as eve smack/chestbeating goes, this wasnt that bad... however, the blog post he wrote is much, much worse than just about any local smack I have ever seen. I dont smack, denegrate people, or point out anything wrong they do in a negative way, and I certainly dont make any sort of claims that I am some sort of frigate savant. After killing someone, I will usually (if they seem new to pvp and/or eve) offer some tips. Often, I give new pilots isk for frigs. I try to encourage people. I dont see any reason to chestbeat or proclaim awesomeness OOCly in a video game; it's a video game, after all. I suppose not everyone does that. Hey, its ok, its a big game.
I refit (with an AB and plate, a fit i run sometimes) and returned to fight him again, only getting intercepted (And losing, ack! My luck!) to a rail daredevil, only due to my own stupid; the DD had dipped into struct when I died, had i loaded barrage, would have forced him off. Korvus was at the sun during the fight, watching.
I noticed he didnt mention that in his entry?
RL intervened, I didnt have time to come back a third time to try again. I plan to soon.
So, lets recap; I lost a fight. Someone makes a rather condescending, smug, and sexist post about how awesome he is, and how dumb I am, on his blog. I replied. I'll let you readers be the judge; please, read both entries, and just decide for yourselves. Yep. I lost the fight.
Im pretty sure I know which one of us is the loser.
Ava
Oh, and Korvus? I excuse you, hun, you're a man. Or male of some sort, anyway.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Nullsec and Me (And impending FW changes)
How time flies!
Having gotten my fill of 1v1s in Angel Creo-Corp Plexes (and other places) the last 2 or so months, I began to get a little bored. Faction War is in a somewhat sad state; unpopular impending changes will make it so that enemy militia cannot dock in space controlled by the opposing force (pretty dumb) that one can earn FW LP for plexing (I am ok with this change) and a few other tweaks, such as upgrading your controlled systems by spending LP... basically, its gonna be sort of like sov null. I think. Anyways, yeah, its unpopular... but militia combat has degenerated into blob vs blob of the worst sort, and it is very, very difficult to solo, at least without a lot of frustrating losses. Ill have to work on this.
Anyways, enough complaining about FW. I decided to begin poking about in nullsec, so I fitted up my trusty wolf and headed off to Great Wildlands, for a bit of good-ol roaming. My standard fit, with an MWD, of course, a fit that I now fly virtually all the time. A wolf with an MWD has a tough time vs scram fit cruisers (Most of them) so I narrow my target selection some, but I gain a lot of kiting ability, the ability to counter kiters much easier, and the ability, most importantly, to pull gangs apart and/or GTFO.
1st trip in, I spot a wolf and thrasher at the 9SNK gate in BVIP. I figure theyre together, camping the small bubble i see on Dscan, when I see GFs in local and the thrasher pilot's pod! Hmm. I debate for a moment, and during that moment the Wolf must have repped up, as he was at almost full SHIELD by the time I landed (I debated for a while... first time in null, haha)
I warp to a safe above the gate, and see the wolf sitting next to the bubble... and right next to the thrasher wreck. I load fusion and warp down to the wreck, scramming him and lighting him up, pulling to 8k range. He was pretty slow responding, and he exploded before I hit armor. I pop the pod for good measure, and scoop up my loot... quite a haul, better than I am used to! I drop my loot in Egbi and roam around, but everyone i meet is either in vagabonds/canes/cynabals or in cloaky haulers or bombers.
Here is a funny part of null. Its very empty. Like, emptier than losec. At least GW is. I guess M-M and the other station systems have more activity, and I will begin poking around there shortly, but 99% of the time, I was alone in each system, leisurely ratting and making safes to evade bubbles. Yes, safes.
Bubbles come in 3 flavors; 1) a Warp Disruption Field generator attached to a heavy interdictor. These mean burn out, or back to the gate, as hictors mean gangs. I have yet to see one.
2) A probe that a Sabre (or other interdictor, though no one flies anything but sabres) launches. These mean burn back to the gate, burn off... or kill the sabre. That last option is almost a certain pod loss if you lose, but we're in null, we should be in cheap clones anyway. No guts, no glory! Load EMP or plasma, heat everything, and see what happens. The standard kite at edge of scram range dosent work vs sabres, so try to get close for max gank. Sig radius, fit, and a bit of luck will decide this fight.
3) Drag bubbles. These are bubbles that people place in line with celestials (like other gates) so that when someone warps to the gate, they are "dragged" 50-60k off the gate, into the bubble. NEVER warp directly to a gate unless 1) youre sure it isnt bubbled 2) no one else is in system or 3) you want to kill whats camping the bubble. Make safes at odd angles near gates; 150k is too close, i preger 250-300. We shall see why in a few minutes. Warp to the safe, THEN down to the gate... or down to the bubble, if you want to kill what is camping it!
Later on, I engage a thrasher in a belt, and what do you know, I lost? I started my repper late AND this person had fit a TE and loaded barrage; methinks he read up on me. Wonder where he could have done that... GFs were shared, and I skulked off home.
A few days later, I see a Claw, Catalyst, and Drake in OPI. Hmm. There are 3 gates in this system... and one was camping each gate. Now, I could have slipped past that Drake easy as pie, but we're not here to slip past anyone, are we? I wanted that Claw and Cattie. I warp to within 30k of the gate the cattie was on, and aligned, MWD off, to the sun. Predictably, the Claw lands, burns toward me, and dies gloriously, getting WAY too close to me on his approach. He popped in 2 shots. The Catalyst, strengthened by the company of his corpmate on field, had also by now burned toward me, and I opened up on him, reducing his ship to slag. Terrible fit, by the way... by now, the drake has landed, and I quietly ignore it as i scoop the loot and bounce, not wanting to chance a drake that wasnt pointing me from 20k in an MWD fit wolf. 2 down, off I go home. Good fight.
This trick with picking gangs apart and isolating tacklers or members with gate aggro/warping at ranges is one I am loving, and the fights are far more fun than old fasioned 1v1s in losec. Can I do it? How long should I stay around? What should I kill first? How do I split them? Do they have something that can web/scram/ecm me? These questions and many more run through my head, but I am loving every second of it. And I am getting a bit more confident....
I am ratting and a Capital Punishment Cyclone keeps following me. For hours. Sigh.
Ok. Pirates. Im going to share a tip. If, in the first 2 hours, someone hasnt commited to fighting you, because your ship is blatantly something they cannot fight (Most cyclones are active tanked with scrams, yuck!) maybe ship down and/or go find someone else. Im glad he didnt... he called a friend!
I jump into UNJ, with the intention of leaving him behind, when I see he has a corpmate in a dramiel on the gate... oh! Hmm... cant fight this close to gate. I pray and warp to my bubble evasion safe, 250k above the gate. I manage to warp off as the Dramiel begins to target.
And then it merrily burns at me at 4700 msec.
Oh, happy day. I align to the gate and light my MWD. Dram is coming closer... closer... and points me when I am 180k or so off. The cyclone still has not jumped in. At this range, I know he can jump and warp to his corpmate as soon as I redbox (As this dram was in no danger of killing me anytime soon) so I wait until i see her straight behind me... 27k away.
Perfect.
Stop my ship, wait for speed to hit 75%, and immediately reversed direction and burned straight at her. Scram on! I open up with plasma, the cyclone jumps in... she is dualproped, which means her AB is still on... gotta leave my MWD on or she will get away. Her shield evaporates, followed quickly by armor and hull, and a Dramiel Goes to heaven! The cyclone is landing... ack! I align to the sun and burn away, warping off, leaving the bewildered duo behind. Dram killed, Cyclone evaded, though I was unable to get the somewhat meager loot, it was a pulse pounding, if short, fight.
I am loving nullsec, folks. I recommend you hop in a cheap JC, grab your favorite MWD inty or AF, and head out there. Who knows... maybe we'll meet each other, eh?
Having gotten my fill of 1v1s in Angel Creo-Corp Plexes (and other places) the last 2 or so months, I began to get a little bored. Faction War is in a somewhat sad state; unpopular impending changes will make it so that enemy militia cannot dock in space controlled by the opposing force (pretty dumb) that one can earn FW LP for plexing (I am ok with this change) and a few other tweaks, such as upgrading your controlled systems by spending LP... basically, its gonna be sort of like sov null. I think. Anyways, yeah, its unpopular... but militia combat has degenerated into blob vs blob of the worst sort, and it is very, very difficult to solo, at least without a lot of frustrating losses. Ill have to work on this.
Anyways, enough complaining about FW. I decided to begin poking about in nullsec, so I fitted up my trusty wolf and headed off to Great Wildlands, for a bit of good-ol roaming. My standard fit, with an MWD, of course, a fit that I now fly virtually all the time. A wolf with an MWD has a tough time vs scram fit cruisers (Most of them) so I narrow my target selection some, but I gain a lot of kiting ability, the ability to counter kiters much easier, and the ability, most importantly, to pull gangs apart and/or GTFO.
1st trip in, I spot a wolf and thrasher at the 9SNK gate in BVIP. I figure theyre together, camping the small bubble i see on Dscan, when I see GFs in local and the thrasher pilot's pod! Hmm. I debate for a moment, and during that moment the Wolf must have repped up, as he was at almost full SHIELD by the time I landed (I debated for a while... first time in null, haha)
I warp to a safe above the gate, and see the wolf sitting next to the bubble... and right next to the thrasher wreck. I load fusion and warp down to the wreck, scramming him and lighting him up, pulling to 8k range. He was pretty slow responding, and he exploded before I hit armor. I pop the pod for good measure, and scoop up my loot... quite a haul, better than I am used to! I drop my loot in Egbi and roam around, but everyone i meet is either in vagabonds/canes/cynabals or in cloaky haulers or bombers.
Here is a funny part of null. Its very empty. Like, emptier than losec. At least GW is. I guess M-M and the other station systems have more activity, and I will begin poking around there shortly, but 99% of the time, I was alone in each system, leisurely ratting and making safes to evade bubbles. Yes, safes.
Bubbles come in 3 flavors; 1) a Warp Disruption Field generator attached to a heavy interdictor. These mean burn out, or back to the gate, as hictors mean gangs. I have yet to see one.
2) A probe that a Sabre (or other interdictor, though no one flies anything but sabres) launches. These mean burn back to the gate, burn off... or kill the sabre. That last option is almost a certain pod loss if you lose, but we're in null, we should be in cheap clones anyway. No guts, no glory! Load EMP or plasma, heat everything, and see what happens. The standard kite at edge of scram range dosent work vs sabres, so try to get close for max gank. Sig radius, fit, and a bit of luck will decide this fight.
3) Drag bubbles. These are bubbles that people place in line with celestials (like other gates) so that when someone warps to the gate, they are "dragged" 50-60k off the gate, into the bubble. NEVER warp directly to a gate unless 1) youre sure it isnt bubbled 2) no one else is in system or 3) you want to kill whats camping the bubble. Make safes at odd angles near gates; 150k is too close, i preger 250-300. We shall see why in a few minutes. Warp to the safe, THEN down to the gate... or down to the bubble, if you want to kill what is camping it!
Later on, I engage a thrasher in a belt, and what do you know, I lost? I started my repper late AND this person had fit a TE and loaded barrage; methinks he read up on me. Wonder where he could have done that... GFs were shared, and I skulked off home.
A few days later, I see a Claw, Catalyst, and Drake in OPI. Hmm. There are 3 gates in this system... and one was camping each gate. Now, I could have slipped past that Drake easy as pie, but we're not here to slip past anyone, are we? I wanted that Claw and Cattie. I warp to within 30k of the gate the cattie was on, and aligned, MWD off, to the sun. Predictably, the Claw lands, burns toward me, and dies gloriously, getting WAY too close to me on his approach. He popped in 2 shots. The Catalyst, strengthened by the company of his corpmate on field, had also by now burned toward me, and I opened up on him, reducing his ship to slag. Terrible fit, by the way... by now, the drake has landed, and I quietly ignore it as i scoop the loot and bounce, not wanting to chance a drake that wasnt pointing me from 20k in an MWD fit wolf. 2 down, off I go home. Good fight.
This trick with picking gangs apart and isolating tacklers or members with gate aggro/warping at ranges is one I am loving, and the fights are far more fun than old fasioned 1v1s in losec. Can I do it? How long should I stay around? What should I kill first? How do I split them? Do they have something that can web/scram/ecm me? These questions and many more run through my head, but I am loving every second of it. And I am getting a bit more confident....
I am ratting and a Capital Punishment Cyclone keeps following me. For hours. Sigh.
Ok. Pirates. Im going to share a tip. If, in the first 2 hours, someone hasnt commited to fighting you, because your ship is blatantly something they cannot fight (Most cyclones are active tanked with scrams, yuck!) maybe ship down and/or go find someone else. Im glad he didnt... he called a friend!
I jump into UNJ, with the intention of leaving him behind, when I see he has a corpmate in a dramiel on the gate... oh! Hmm... cant fight this close to gate. I pray and warp to my bubble evasion safe, 250k above the gate. I manage to warp off as the Dramiel begins to target.
And then it merrily burns at me at 4700 msec.
Oh, happy day. I align to the gate and light my MWD. Dram is coming closer... closer... and points me when I am 180k or so off. The cyclone still has not jumped in. At this range, I know he can jump and warp to his corpmate as soon as I redbox (As this dram was in no danger of killing me anytime soon) so I wait until i see her straight behind me... 27k away.
Perfect.
Stop my ship, wait for speed to hit 75%, and immediately reversed direction and burned straight at her. Scram on! I open up with plasma, the cyclone jumps in... she is dualproped, which means her AB is still on... gotta leave my MWD on or she will get away. Her shield evaporates, followed quickly by armor and hull, and a Dramiel Goes to heaven! The cyclone is landing... ack! I align to the sun and burn away, warping off, leaving the bewildered duo behind. Dram killed, Cyclone evaded, though I was unable to get the somewhat meager loot, it was a pulse pounding, if short, fight.
I am loving nullsec, folks. I recommend you hop in a cheap JC, grab your favorite MWD inty or AF, and head out there. Who knows... maybe we'll meet each other, eh?
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