After eight months in Against All Authorities it is time for a change again. I’m not sure if its the state of the game, a general lack of direction, or too long without a threat to its existence but life in -A- has become stale. In my time in the alliance my main focus has always been my corporation. I joined DKOD because I had friends there and because their regular small gang PvP really suited me. When the corporation was wound down I opted not to follow everyone into Havoc but instead moved to Rionnag Alba, a very PvP focussed corporation. Since moving here I have been very happy and we have lots of good FCs, lots of healthy debate over fits and tactics, and most of all lots of participation. At a meeting a few weeks ago we all agreed that we no longer wanted to be part of -A- and the decision was made to leave. Now all we need is a new home…

Rionnag Alba has been part of all of three iterations of Triumvirate, the alliance that terrorises the Northern Coalition. This time we had no intention of reforming the alliance but many of the corporations we have flown with and fought alongside in the past are in Pure Blind and having great fun. Joining them was a logical conclusion. Standings were set and the order was given to evacuate from Catch. Once all my ships were safely in high security space I had a good look at them and decided that it was time to slim down and focus only on the ships that I fly. Except for my faction frigates I sold off most of my possessions and moved the half dozen ships I had settled on to our staging system. Because I don’t fly capital ships I had to rely on a corp mate to jump them out for me but I now have a full hangar in X-7OMU and I am ready to join in the hell raising.

Life up here is pretty full. Back in Catch there were maybe two of three gangs a day at weekends but here, even in the week time, there seems to always be a gang forming up and going out to look for trouble. This is good because living deep in hostile territory does not make for good carebearing during quiet times. Thankfully I’ve built up a decent stock of ISK and have Grr’k making more for me to keep me in ships. One thing that I did overlook was the need for a battleship. Because I am used to flying in logistics ships I brought a Guardian along for remote rep gangs. However, because we fly with lots of carrier support there is little use for logistics ships so my Guardian is pretty useless. Time to ship up that Tempest I was trying to sell, then.

The only allied ops that I have participated in so far have been POS shoots with no kills to speak of so aren’t worth writing about. We did go out on a fast HAC roam last night which resulted in a good fight despite me losing my Vagabond fairly early in proceedings. At least I learnt a couple of things and have adjusted my Vagabond fit for more tank as opposed to the maneuverability that I had opted for previously. Unfortunately I had to head to bed reasonably early so I missed out on this fantastic piece of hotdropping when an NC fleet tried to attack one of our towers.

In between fleets there is still plenty to do. I am completely new to this area so I am spending my free time in my Dramiel exploring the area and making bookmarks. While this can be fairly boring and repetetive work it does often stir up the locals and I had an adrenaline filled scuffle with a Muninn that resulting in me running away with my tail between my legs. It turns out that 180 mm autocannons on a ship with tracking bonuses are very, very evil when you’re in a frigate, even one as fast as this.

At the time of writing we are still officially in -A- but that should change within the next 24 hours. I am definitely glad that I tried out alliance life but I am sure it is not something I will rush back to. Thanks to all of the leadership and FCs and everyone I flew with in my time there. Here’s to an exciting future, though. Let’s hope its full of explosions and that not too many of them are mine!

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.

Last night I began with my usual circuit in my Rifter. There was very little to see. Even Old Man Star was deserted. In fact, it was so empty that I actually got distracted on a gate while fiddling around with our communications systems. The quality had been poor so I was tuning them up for better performance. Anyway, bloedriver from the 22nd BRDU engaged me and, because I’d only been alerted to his presence by the fire of autocannons I jumped out rather than fight on the back foot. I never turn down a Rifter duel, though, so I quickly jumped back in and offered him a proper fight. He agreed and we went to a safe location. A short and brutal frigate duel followed. My guns hit his tank hard but he repaired the damage well. All the while my own systems were doing their best to limit the incoming damage. I eventually overcame his tank and his Rifter exploded. A very good fight and yes, bloedriver, I did catch it on film. Looking back at his fitting the high damage was due to a gyrostabiliser while his damage control unit gave him a good structure buffer while he tried to repair his armour. Sadly for him the extra plate I carried gave me plenty of buffer to make up for the fact my guns were less potent.

Later on I thought I’d mix it up by undocking my Rupture as part of a gang we had going. To cut a lot of running around missing targets short we ended up ganking a Myrmidon in Aeschee and in Adirain I engaged a Rupture and Thrasher only to bail when a Ferox arrived on the scene. The Rupture was later destroyed and I was kindly sent the killmail.

Back in Hevrice there were a Crow, Rupture, and Myrmidon hanging around and camping the station undock. Now I don’t like campers. Especially not ones with interceptors. There was only one way to deal with this pain. But first I needed some bait. My eyes drifted across my hangar as if drawn by some higher force until they rested on Angel Interceptor. My face lit up with a grin.

“I’m going to bait them boys,” I said into comms.

“Oh. What with?” came the reply.

“Just a little something I have lying around,” I responded.

Sure enough the Dramiel drew both the Rupture and Crow onto the station undock and a long, boring game as I tried to get them to aggress me. After a long time and a yawn in the local channel they finally started shooting. First the Rupture and then the Crow. Bingo. I docked up and grabbed my Rupture again. The seconds ticked down while my crew got the ship ready to undock and soon I was in the undock passage. Please please please let them be there still.

They were and I sped up and shot towards the Crow. He must have forgotten he’d aggressed me because he made no attempt to get safe. Autocannons, neutralisers, and warp disruption fields shot across the empty space between us and I vaporised the interceptor. Next up was the Rupture but he docked up as soon as he started to take major damage. Damn it. I hate station games. Yes, I know I use them to get aggro but that’s all. This popping in and out is just pathetic. Fight or don’t fight.

Anyway, I digress. This is when things get interesting. A Chimera undocked from the station and began neuting my cruiser. Hmmm. Now I was taking damage but Antilles had undocked his Archon and was repping me. Now the station games got silly. With carrier support there was nothing I could do against the Rupture or Myrmidon but equally nothing they could do against me. Our numbers slowly grew but without getting them do engage we’d have to deal with sentry aggro. Lots of bumping attempts followed and several Tuskers picked up sentry fire. Support for the campers arrived in the form of a Rokh and another battleship. By now their firepower and the sentries meant that Antilles was having real issues juggling his repair systems. I was in the process of heading back to dock up but it was too late. Having taken over 30,000 units of damage my Rupture gave up the ghost and exploded. Damn. Still, a Crow for a Rupture isn’t a bad swap.

I’ve never played around with carrier support. It was lots of fun but we were massively disorganised. If we’d stopped to think things through a bit more we’d have been able to come up with a more co-ordinated attack on our visitors.

Angel Interceptor
Apollo 21
Uri Gagarin
Flew into the sun

–Angel Interceptor, Ash

The Angel Cartel are feared across New Eden. They are the largest of the outlaw factions. One think that makes them stand out is their incredibly sleek ships. Many think that there is a strong Jovian influence on their starship technology. Whatever the truth is it cannot be denied that they are beautiful pieces of engineering.

I have a somewhat unfortunate history with Angel ships. Just before I became a full time pirate I was lucky enough to discover a Domination frigate and loot a Dramiel blueprint from its wreck. An alliance mate built it for me and it sat in high security space until I made my move to Hevrice. Rather than get Allii to haul it for me I rather foolishly decided to try and sneak her out myself. This proved to be a mistake. My spaceship command skills weren’t up to the task and the Minmatar navy took great pleasure in removing the pirate ship from my grasp. A month ago I decided to try again and bought another Dramiel on the open market. This time I entrusted the ship to Allii’s care only to discover that she was suicide ganked on the journey down from Jita. How could she be so careless as to autopilot with my precious cargo in her hold?

Despite this pair of rather expensive setbacks I haven’t been put off the Dramiel. Third time lucky after all, right? Last week I finally took delivery of my very own Dramiel. After a moment’s thought she was christened Angel Interceptor and I undocked her for a joyride around Hevrice. The comments when my fellow Tuskers saw her on scan justified every penny I’d spent on her and probably even the loss of her two siblings. She is, quite frankly, gorgeous and I could watch her gracefully carve out an orbit all day if there wasn’t killing to be done.

One of the things that 99 Problems taught me is that flying faction is fun. Lots of fun. If you’re going to buy it don’t keep it in your hangar gathering dust. These ships were born to fly, built to fight, and that’s exactly what you should do with them. Last night Angel Interceptor saw her very first action. n1231 had been hanging out in The Tuskers Academy so when I saw his Rifter on my scanner I quickly offered him the chance to test his mettle. The presence of my faction ship didn’t put him off and as my frigate curved elegantly into orbit around his Rifter under the watchful eyes of the station’s sentry guns he locked me and engaged. Game time. My scrambler engaged while my rocket launchers opened up and the enhanced autocannons span into life. Before long my Dramiel emerged victorious. Her first kill of what I hope will be many.

With one fight under her belt I took her for a roam. In Costolle I found a Rifter and Tristan that I was keen to engage (see, caution has already gone to the wind) but as I tried to separate them at a planet an Arbitrator came along and spooked them. Never mind, there’ll be more good fights I’m sure. After all, who wouldn’t want the prize of killing such a stunning ship?

Images from Red Sector.