Rifter Drifter

A few weeks ago Against All Authorities finished off our mission in Providence and began to prepare for our next campaign. This time we were going to the north to help IT alliance and the rest of the anti-Northern Coalition bloc. A move like this is something that -A- have never done before so there’s a lot of learning to do.

Once I’d read my alliance mails I went out shopping and gave Allii the money to buy a range of ships for use in all the upcoming fleet operations. While she was doing that Wensley began to move some key assets from GE-8JV to his new home in Nonni. The main move began with a heavy fleet setting out and making a series of jumps through low security space until we ended up in Aunenen. This is going to be our main staging system and the first couple of operations were based around getting capital and supercapital ships into the area. As you can imagine this was hardly an exciting time.

Since coming to the north I think its fairly safe to say that Against All Authorities have yet to make a real impact on the conflict. Our first few forays either met with no resistance or the NC responded with overwhelming force and we were driven from the field. In order to have a fighting chance we have teamed up closely with Atlas and Cult of War and will be operating in tandem with them. With a bit of luck this will help us start to make a real impact.

The number of scheduled operations has been surprisingly low. We have had good fun camping H-W9TY, the NC’s main staging system, in cloaking HACs. There was also a large fight in E-OGL4 that I was able to log on in time to take part in. My time has also been pretty limited so I have been missing out on things. Here’s hoping that we get some more good action soon, its not fair that IT seem to have all the fun.

I’ve not actually been doing that much solo and small gang roaming of late. This is mostly because when I moved in ships I only brought fleet and gang ships with me. By the time I’ve jumped around and fitted up a solo combat ship my time and patience is almost used up and I’ve been tending to go out and die in silly and frustrating ways, the latest of which was forgetting to switch from my battleships only overview and being ambushed by a Dramiel.

Lastly, the more observant among you might have noticed that I’ve changed corporations. Because most of the DKOD leadership is away from game at the moment the decision was made to put the corp into hibernation and the membership have moved to other -A- corporations. Most people went to Havoc but I followed some friends and moved to Rionnag Alba, a corporation full of drunken Scots and good times.

I’ve tried about half a dozen different ways to continue my analysis of the war in Providence. I can’t find a single way to do it that is interesting to me or to you. Suffice to say that after the massacre of D-GTMI the morale of CVA and the Holders was effectively completely broken. Genos Occidere joined Sev3rance and fought a guerilla campaign against -A- for a few weeks but soon got bored once the offensive took up again.

In the wake of the fall of D-GTMI and the failure of peace negotiations the allies turned their attention to 9UY4-H, the historical home of Ushra’Khan, which fell almost without a fight. There was another hiatus in hostilities during which time there was a series of scuffles over systems that dropped sovereignty due to corporations leaving Holder alliances. The next targets to fall were the Empire border systems of R3-K7K, Y-MPWL, KBP7-G, and G-5EN2. With these systems lost CVA had pretty much had their supply chain shut down. At this point a mass evacuation began.

With CVA effectively neutered and resistance limited to them incapacitating the services of unused stations and small gang scuffles it was time to decide the future of Providence. Not wanting to end its nature as an excellent place for small gang PvP and also with an eye on maintaining stability, Manfred Sidious and the rest of -A-’s leadership came up with a plan. Rather than installing renters into the systems and taking ISK from them for protection we would pursue a different approach. New Providence was to be a place where small alliances could come, hold some nullsec space, and develop until they were ready to move out and seize some space for themselves. They would not be blue to -A- and would not be expected to fight alongside -A- in times of danger. The only rule imposed on them was that there is to be no sovereignty warfare without -A-’s permission.

Before too long there were several interested alliances and the first proper purge of Holders began. The initial targets were Sev3rance and Cold Steel Alliance who, over the course of a week, were booted out and replaced by Daisho Syndicate and Soliditas XX. After a week’s rest the allies mustered for the final push. During a single “Hell Week” every single station system in Providence (except those belonging to LFA and Paxton) was captured and CVA was effectively removed from the arena of nullsec sovereignty. They still hold (and pay for) a couple of non station systems but the new Providence residents are able to clear those at their leisure and make use of the CVA-funded upgrades while they do. When we initially embarked upon this campaign most people assumed that we wouldn’t have the patience and focus to get through the grind of capturing all those stations but I hope we have proved them wrong.

Providence now looks very different with a bunch of small alliances occupying it. While they will band together when faced with a threat, such as aggression from Paxton Federation, there will no longer be huge defence blobs moving around via jump bridge. In short New Providence should be a very fun place indeed.

I know that this post doesn’t really compare with the first couple but the lack of fighting and the grind to capture all of the stations has sapped my will to write about it. I can now close this chronicle and move on to telling adventures of -A-’s part in the Northern War (or whatever people are going to call it).

Seeing as plenty of people have been offering up the contents of their hangar I thought I should probably join in. My hangar in GE-8JV contains the following ships:

• Rifter: I have about 15 of these kicking around with a couple of fits that I am trying out. They are usually just called Rifter but at the moment I have one called Freki after the alliance tournament prize and one called Agincourt after its victory over the French in Curse.
• Cheetah: Called Peek-a-boo and used mostly for probing exploration sites. My probing skills are terrible and I use the exploration sites to get some practice. Honest.
• Claw: I have two of these both confusingly called Claw and it takes me a couple of attempts to tell them apart. One is fit with an active tank and the other with a buffer tank. Not a ship I regularly solo in so the active tank ship gets more use in interceptor packs.
• Stiletto: My staple fleet ship. I currently only have one of these because they die pretty often. She’s called Point! and my fit is pretty standard for a tackle interceptor. Sometimes I like to put on explosive shield resist rigs when I’m tackling for a small gang.
• Hound: When I run frigate gangs I tend to FC from the safety of my stealth bomber. Hound is fit to be able to use torpedoes and bombs and the cloak makes it a good ship to lead from.
• Republic Fleet Firetail: Currently unassembled my Firetail is waiting for me to come up with a fit that I like before I take her out hunting.
• Dramiel: I have two of these sleek and popular Angel frigates. The hefty price tag and status as flavour of the month has put me off flying them. I should really sell them while their price is at a peak but I like having them around.
• Thrasher: This is probably my favourite ship to fly at the moment and I have seven in my hangar. Three of them are fit; one with artillery, one with autocannons, and one with an experimental setup I have yet to try. All of them are called either Sabre or Thrasher except the test one which is called Brick.
• Sabre: This is the most recent addition to my hangar and one that I am just getting the hang of flying. She’s called Sabre and has been out on a couple of gangs now.
• Rupture: Another staple and a ship I have been flying in solo a lot recently. I currently have two fit in my hangar. Freki is fit as a nano ship for pretending to be a Vagabond in and Rupture is a pretty standard armour tank fit.
• Muninn: A pretty standard sniper HAC that hasn’t been used in far too long. Named Muninn in case you didn’t spot the general theme here.
• Vagabond: Another staple of any Minmatar hangar. Eponymously named Vagabond she comes out in small gangs.
• Rapier: I haven’t actually used her in anger but she’s there for when I need her. Until then Rapier still has the manufacturer’s shrink rap on some of her controls.
• Scimitar: Because I only have Logistics IV I haven’t played with Scimitar much. She’s fit for roaming PvP gangs but I’m still adjusting the fit until I’m happy with it. I do sometimes fly logistics for alliance fleets but in those cases I use official alliance-fit logistics ships.
• Hurricane: I have just one of these called, imaginatively, Hurricane. She’s fit for damage and hasn’t seen the light of day for quite a while.
• Tempest: Machariel is my fleet fit Tempest for when DPS is the only thing we need. I prefer to fly in support roles but lately there hasn’t been any point so the fleet battleship has been brought out. Despite being a small ship pilot in general I have had fun flying Tempests in small gangs with some of my old pirate friends. I tried a nano fit but it died due to over confidence or lack of ability. Hopefully I’ll try another before too long.
• Typhoon: This is my ratting ship. I lost her predecessor due to accidentally turning off all my hardeners so this one is called Pay Attention. I don’t use her much these days because my alts provide most of my income.

As you can see, Wensley’s hangar is fully focussed on PvP. The Wolf, Jaguar, and Cyclone are noticeable by their absence at the moment but I’ll probably buy some soon. I like to be stocked for any eventuality. In general I tend to solo in the T1 ships and use the T2 variants in gangs and fleets.

The An’Har family, by contrast, have a selection of shuttles, a Prowler, and a Mastodon to their name. They’re saving up for a Fenrir but that is probably a little while away because Wensley loses ships at a phenomenal rate.

The last Agony Basic Class had 3 Rifter Drifter scholars who had a great time. One of them has even gone so far as to join Agony Unleashed having done another two classes with them. PvP in Eve is great fun and, if you haven’t already, you should really give it a try. Agony are running another Basic class on April 17th. Enrolment opens on April 4th. All you have to do to claim a PvP scholarship is to say that An’Har Family Industries [ANHAR] will be paying for your class. Its fun, informative, and free. Simples.

Since I joined Against All Authorities I’ve been doing lots of solo roaming in Rifters and Thrashers. Most of what I’ve done has concentrated on finding fights and something that I’ve neglected has been to make myself bookmarks except when I’ve needed to safe up to avoid CVA defence fleets.

The way that I fight solo is to use fast ships and try and pick off the tackle from a fleet. In general what I’ve been doing is warping to gates, stations, and celestials at range and then attempting to lure their tacklers into chasing me. Without bookmarks this tactic is prone to getting me caught in bubbles or getting over-confident and getting killed. Over-confidence and boredom are probably the two main reasons that I die.

During the lulls in our campaign against CVA and the Providence Holders I have started a new project. I am going to make sure that I have a good range of bookmarks in all the systems that I regularly PvP in. For now this means mapping out Curse and Providence. Several friends think I’ve gone mad. I’m being very methodical in this process and making sure that I have a large selection of bookmarks at all of the strategic locations in each system.

This might sound like a tedious and dull activity and in some ways it is. One of the advantages, though, is that by spending time in hostile systems I find people to fight, or at least have fun not fighting. Having these bookmarks has already proven to be useful too so its definitely not time that I’ve wasted.

So while I might not have much exciting stuff to write about I have been up to something worthwhile. As well as making the bookmarks I’ve also been experimenting with Rifter fits, learning to hate rail Ranises, and failing to stay cool, calm, and collected when in charge of gangs.

Well it looks like the first round of PvP Scholarships were a success. Now I need to follow them up by doing a little interview with each of the students. Because the questionnaires are for you to read, what would you like to know about the guys going out an PvPing for the first time?

And yes, I know I owe you all a couple of posts. I’ve been very busy lately but Catch 22 Part 3 is starting to come together in my head.

Remember those PvP Scholarships that I wrote about? Well this weekend sees the next Agony PvP-BASIC class and enrolment is currently open. Why not sign up right now and be the first to use the Rifter Drifter PvP Scholarship. Agony classes are very informative and the roams afterwards are a lot of fun.

To claim your free Agony class all you have to do is sign up and say that the An’Har Family Industries [ANHAR] account is paying your course fee.

Do it now, before all the places fill up!

Just a quick note to say that I haven’t forgotten about the Catch 22 series. I’m just trying to come up with an angle for Part Three. Lots of stuff has happened since D-GTMI and I want to talk about the propaganda war, lack of defence of 9UYH-4, Genos and Exceed joining Provibloc, and random sovereignty shenanigans.

If you’re happy and you know it, pod Amarr.
If you cannot find Caldari, pod Amarr.
If the Minnie are too frisky,
The Gallente look too shifty,
And Jovians are way too risky, pod Amarr.

For me Eve is 100% a PvP game. There is almost nothing that you can do that is not driven by PvP. Traders compete on the market. Industrialists replace ships lost in combat. Miners supply those industrialists. Mission runners sell faction items to combat pilots… The list goes on. For me the most thrilling part is fighting other players. Whether its solo, in a small gang, or a large fleet, the adrenaline of a fight is why I log on again and again and again.

One of the things that I enjoy most about writing this blog and the Rifter PvP Guide is that it makes people who had never really considered PvP get up and give it a go. It seems that once people have had their first taste of the adrenaline surge that goes with a real fight, they rarely look back. Of course a lot of people are nervous about diving into PvP. Maybe they live in an industrialist, mining, or mission running corp. Perhaps their corporation just doesn’t have the experience to get them started. They might even just think that they lack the skills to give it a whirl.

Thankfully there’s a solution. Agony Unleashed runs an excellent selection of PvP courses including their PvP Basic class. All that you need to tag along is the ability to fly a frigate and the desire to learn. They will teach you the basics of ship fitting for combat, how to move around in a fleet, and of course fight. Once the main class is over there will be a roam that will take you out into nullsec space and hopefully get you some great fights. Just sign up when they announce a class, pay your course fee, and turn up to learn and have fun.

Wait… pay your course fee?! What if I can’t afford it?

Don’t worry. Thanks to a generous donation to get it started, the An’Har family are proud to announce the Rifter Drifter PvP Scholarship programme. We have the funds to sponsor ten students through Agony’s Basic class. If it’s a success then hopefully we’ll be able to find funds for more students.

All you have to do to qualify for the scholarship is to say that your course is being paid for by An’Har Family Industries (ANHAR). Agony will credit our account and you’re good to go! In exchange for this all I ask is that you write me an account of your time on the course, whether you enjoyed it, and – most importantly – if you’re going to go out and try more PvP. I’ll publish the reports here and hopefully it will encourage more people to give it a go. Oh, and I might drop you a message further down the line and find out how you’re getting on.

What are you waiting for? Give it a go!