Rifter Drifter

Yesterday I logged on and, with no alliance operations planned for a couple of hours, grabbed a Rifter ready to head out and have some fun at the expense of Libertas Fidelitas alliance. It was good fun and I managed to find a couple of fights in their constellation where I was able to take down an enemy interceptor or two before they could mob my Rifter. Taking T1 frigates out and fighting outnumbered is lots of fun and I will be doing plenty more of it.

Those engagements had wet my appetite ready for the day’s main meal, part two of our attack on Providence after they rejected our truce offer. With D-GTMI secured there was a lot of talk about what we would do next. On the forums the Providence residents are expecting us to grind our way slowly through their 50 station systems. That is not how -A- do things, though. We formed up up on a titan and prepared for the order. The cyno went up and the order to jump was given. Our destination? 9UY4-H. The beating heart of Providence.

For those who don’t know it, 9UY4-H is a key strategic system. It is a crossroads at the centre of the region and provides access to three of their key empire entrance systems. It also splits the Holder alliances so that they have to pass through it in order to consolidate their forces. On top of all of this it is a key market system and losing it would be a major blow to the whole region.

The support fleet went to secure the gates as usual and our SBUs were anchored and the onlining process began. While this was happening the battleship fleet warped to they cyno jammer POS and began to take the jammer down. Once this was achieved the capital fleet jumped in and began to do their work. There was no resistance other than the odd ship that didn’t read its intel channels and the usual terribly inept bombers (this one even had a Falcon for support).

While we were waiting for our SBUs to online we got word of a CVA fleet forming up and moving towards D-GTMI. They anchored their own SBUs there and in HED-GP. Once our work was done in 9UY4-H we used our titans and jump bridge network to go back to HED-GP and purge the CVA SBUs from there and D-GTMI. This was done in time to jump back in and reinforce the station and infrastructure hub in 9UY4-H in a matter of minutes.

Now its a waiting game. The timers on both the station and infrastructure hub are very favourable for us and the week ahead should be full of good fights as CVA attempt to defend their key system. For now we will be roaming the area, locking down systems, and disrupting this key area of Providence as much as possible. Our hand is around CVA’s throat, let’s see if they can shake us off.

Edit: I forgot to mention that “Deliverance Reclaimed” station used to be Ushra’Khan’s “Unity Station”. Let’s just say that Ushra’Khan are foaming at the mouth with excitement about liberating their former home.

Footage is taken from The Battle for D-GTMI by Leon Mustapha. Music is “Uprising” by Muse.

Its been a while since I was out in a Rifter and it felt good to be back behind the controls of my favourite ship. Even though I was now living out in null security space I’ve stuck with the same fit I used in low sec. Most people out here say that a microwarp drive is mandatory but I think an afterburner is enough to keep me out of trouble most of the time and the advantages it gives me in combat are well worth the added risk. Of course, as I spend more time out here I might change my mind but for now I’m sticking to what I know.

My plan for the evening was pretty simple, I was going to harass Libertas Fidelitas. I’d just got back from a long range HAC roam that had turned out to be pretty uneventful even though I’d only caught the very end of it. We’d tackled a Proteus but it was able to escape our gasp and there seemed to be nothing else on the horizon. I swapped ships in GE-8JV and headed back to D-GTMI. From D-GTMI I set my destination for 5KG-PY, the deepest system in LFA’s pocket of Providence and I set off to find some trouble.

I’d already taken the opportunity to make myself on grid bookmarks at every gate so I was able to move through the pipe towards PI5-39, LFA’s key system, in relative safety. Once there I proceeded to make some scan spots and prowl the belts and planets. It was like the good old days in Hevrice. Pretty quickly the skills that I’d let go rusty over the last few months started to come back and I was getting proficient with the scanner again. As well as the planets and belts I made sure that I used my onboard scanner to check for any interesting anomalies that might harbour juicy targets.

My trip out was pretty uneventful and the only ship I came across was a Rapier that appeared to be scouting a hauler. I easily evaded him but I was unable to pin down the hauler.

In 5KG-PY I finally got a sniff of action. There was a Cerberus ratting in one of the belts and I instinctively warped in, switching my guns to EMP ammunition in the process, as I landed my tackle systems were primed but I was devastated to see that my target was 160 km from me. Despite this I began to burn towards him but, predictably, he warped off and I was unable to find him again. There were a couple of battleships in system and a pair of Sansha Sanctums on scan so I checked them out to no avail. Oh well, time to head back.

On the F-DTOO gate I found a Raven but he warped off to a safe spot before I could take a proper look at him. Never mind. While I was considering my options an Enyo jumped in and my eyes lit up. This was the perfect target. I set my navigation computer to maintain a wide orbit and waited to see what he did. He aggressed me and it was on! With Barrage loaded I could easily outrange his blasters and the inevitable microwarp drive would mean that his tank would struggle for capacitor unlike the tough Enyos I met in low sec. To my surprise he was hitting me, and pretty well at that. I checked my logs and saw that he had fitted 75mm railguns. A single command later and my orbit tightened and I began to circle him at close range. Now he was barely hitting me and I was able to power my way through his armour while I took very little damage myself.

As he hit structure a Nemesis stealth bomber decloaked. I quickly locked him up and put my warp scrambler on him while I moved to intercept. The assault frigate went down and I shifted my focus to the stealth bomber. The next thing to decloak was a Blackbird and, with the Nemesis about to break, he quickly locked and jammed me. Damn. A Taranis quickly joined the club. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem for me and would just mean another kill but with the Blackbird jamming me there was no way I could keep the interceptor at range. Instead I made the most of my forced deagression and burnt back to the gate. By now a Drake had joined the club and when I finally managed to jump out I had just 85% structure remaining. I warped away from the gate to safety and kept an eye on my scanner while I repaired my armour and fixed the heat damage to my weapon systems.

By now it seems that LFA had woken up and I was being chased by a couple of Crusaders and several more Drakes as well as the original defence gang. With the Blackbird there I didn’t have a chance, even if I could split the interceptors up. After getting lost a little bit I eventually made my escape, going via QO-SRI rather than adopting a straight line. They didn’t follow and I made my way back to QBL-BV where I decided to camp the PI5-39 gate. If only I’d brought a small bubble along with me.

It didn’t take long before a Claw jumped in but he didn’t seem interested. He warped off to the station without engaging and I settled back into my vigil. A couple of minutes later the Claw came back and I locked him up. This time he wanted to play and I applied my tackle modules while rounds of Republic Fleet Fusion tore into him from close range. He was fit with artillery and it didn’t take long to kill him. As he was going down a Brutix jumped in and I decided not to hang around.

I warped back to a spot a few hundred kilometres from the gate to see that the Brutix had now been joined by a Stiletto. I was in the mood for more kills so I warped down to 100 km from the gate and I was rewarded by the sight of the interceptor burning towards me. I powered up my afterburner and told my ship to approach him directly. He seemed to hesitate but kept approaching me. Lock, web, scram, autocannons. You know the formula by now. One dead Stiletto was the result.

This time I did hang around to loot and suddenly the reason that he seemed to hesitate dawned upon me. The Brutix was almost upon me. I tried to warp off but he had put his scrambler on me. Now I had two options, I could try and fight or I could attempt to burn back to the gate. This was a mistake. If I’d stayed to fight I could probably have got myself under his guns and at least killed off his drones. Instead I burnt off in a straight line and paid the price for my folly. What I should have done was apply my own web and scram, align to a celestial, and overheat my afterburner. I would have got out of range of his blasters in seconds and been able to warp to safety. Still, you live and learn – or at least die and learn – and two interceptors and an assault frigate is not a bad return for a Rifter.

Providence looks like it could be a fun hunting ground. In the future I’m going to take advantage of our new outpost in D-GTMI and set up a forward supply station with ships and ammunition. I’ll be back soon doing what I do best.

I’ve just been having a nosey through the Google Analytics readouts for Rifter Drifter and I thought I’d share some of the things it has taught me. If you don’t like random numbers and statistics then you should probably stop reading here.

• 10,829 people visited the site in January (161% more than typical for this size of site, according to Google). That’s 350 a day!
• With that said, I’ve and 986 visitors today thanks to a link on Eve Online’s official Facebook page. Before that my best was 389 when I posted the nullsec politics primer.
• The average readers spends just under three and a half minutes here and looks at 1.57 pages.
• 40% of visitors are here for the first time meaning 60% of you came back for some reason.
• On that note 11% are here for their second time, 7% for their third, etc, etc, down to 1.5% of you who have been here in excess of 200 times. Please stop stalking me! (In retrospect that crazy visitor is probably me, I should tell Google my IP.)
• Most visitors are, predictably, from the USA followed by the UK. It seems I’m popular in Scandanavia too with Sweden, Finland, and Norway in the top 10. It would be interesting to compare this to CCP’s numbers from one of the CSM elections.
• I’ve had sixteen visits from Iceland (Hi CCP!) but 24 from Lithuania, 22 from Malaysia, and 19 from Argentina. I’m going to have to whore myself out to the Devs more, it seems.
• 3% of visitors are using an iPhone and most of those are on Verizon or O2 – yes, Google knows everything about you. Can I have one, please?
• There are still 168 people out there who get their Eve fix over dialup.
• 25% of visits are made directly (through RSS readers, I guess) and 27% from search engines. 7.5% of visitors went to my old site first before being redirected.
• Most people got here by Googling “Rifter Drifter” but “rifter guide” and “Hulkageddon” were both pretty popular.
• 56 people who got here were looking for Skira Ranos while only 14 searched for me by name
• Star Defender, Spectre, 00Sage00, Kane Rizzel, Mynxee, and Helicity send me a load of traffic so here are reciprocal links for them.
• The most popular page is, not surprisingly, the Rifter Guide. My null sec stories seem to be incredibly popular, especially the politics primer, and the Pirate Academies post remains a favourite, too.

I’m pretty sure that none of you care about any of this but I found it kind of interesting. That and it was far more fun than what I’m actually supposed to be doing.

Guys, I have a dark, dark secret that I need to confess. Behind Wensley there is a secret army of carebear alts that provide me with the ISK that I need to PvP. Some of them have been around for a while but they only got together recently to make a serious effort at bringing in the cash. Its starting to go well now so I can finally reveal my carebear backbone. Let me introduce you to the An’Har family:

Allii An’Har

Allii was my original alt. She was made to be Wensley’s shopping and hauling buddy when we has pirate. I’ve always suspected that she might be Wensley’s girlfriend although these days she just sits in Jita placing buy orders for the materials that we need while Wensley swans around in Catch so I’m not so sure any more.

Grr’k An’Har

Grr’k is the head of the An’Har family and CEO of An’Har Family Industries. When I first created him the plan was that he would be a more serious hauler than Allii with the ultimate aim of training up for a freighter. Because of that he can currently fly the Mastodon and Prowler, both of which are useful for supplying Wensley in Catch and doing the basic logistics that the company needs. His main focus, though, is on Gallente ship invention and he can invent and build T2 frigates and cruisers as well as being able to produce the required components from advanced materials. Grr’k also sells the finished products on the markets in Amarr and Agil.

Maelae An’Har

Maelae is the most recent member of the An’Har family. She is also trained in research and industry but doesn’t yet get involved in the T2 side of things. She makes sure that all of our BPOs are researched to a good level and makes copies for Grr’k to invent. Hopefully soon she’ll start producing T1 ships to sell on the market.

Well, that’s the family. I’ve already spoken about Grr’k and Allii in earlier posts. When I started to create multiple alts I always had in mind that they should be a family and so all of the An’Hars are members of the Vherokior tribe. I’ve always half toyed with the idea of doing a little bit of roleplay so it was fun giving the family a bit of a back story and also trying to tie them in with Wensley. Like I said, I originally imagined Wensley and Allii as being in a relationship but now I like the idea that the An’Hars took Wensley in when he escaped from slavery. He is a Brutor so obviously not a member of the family but they support him heavily so there are strong ties somewhere.

The business itself is pretty simple. We have a small research POS in the Kor Azor region that we use for basic research and T2 invention. At the moment our focus is entirely on Gallentean ships and I have no intentions of expanding into other races for the foreseeable future. As well as building ships we also do a little bit of rig production but that is a sideline at the moment and is mostly to provide Wensley with what he needs in Catch. After a few weeks getting things up and running the business is starting to make a nice profit. I use a third party freighter service called Red Frog (highly recommended) to do a weekly run from Jita with the raw materials and then ferry the finished product around the local market hubs.

I have no intention of turning this blog into carebear stories. I’m sure none of you care that last night I put up ten Nemesis invention jobs or that at current market prices there is little point in inventing T2 cruisers. The main thing is that this means that Wensley shouldn’t have to spend too much of his spare time in belts and anomalies and that means more time for PvP. I have to say, though, that learning about science and industry in Eve has definitely been interesting and I am very glad I did it.