One of the things I plan to do more of is nullsec roaming. There are lots of rich, foolish people out there and its my duty as a pirate to separate them from their ships. I decided that Friday night would be the ideal time to go out and do some exploring. I mentioned this to Joc and he wanted to come along too. When I logged in on Friday night there was a whole host of Tuskers kicking their heels around Hevrice. I told them about our plans and all of a sudden the corporate chat channel was full of eagerly typed ‘x’s. Amongst those who signed up was a friend of a friend who had only graduated from the academy three days ago. He’d never faced combat and definitely not the certain death that was ahead of us.

I hadn’t really prepared for such a large scale operation so told everyone to bring cheap ships and implantless clones. There was only a slim chance that we were going to make it out in one piece. Ships were fitted up and without too much delay we set off for Cloud Ring. The fleet was instructed that we wouldn’t stop to hunt for targets along the way and we made quick progress to Alsavoinon. After a quick pause to allow stragglers to catch up we made the leap of faith and the fleet jumped into F7C-H0 without scouts. A battleship gatecamp waited on the other side and I quickly warped the fleet to our next waypoint. As we passed through we were greeted cheerfully in local. The campers admired our style running a frigate fleet through without checking our way. They informed us of a large Triumvirate gang further into the region and we thanked them accordingly.

On the O-ZXUV gate we landed on a Hawk. Without a moment’s thought I gave the order to attack and the fleet opened up on the lone assault frigate. Only it wasn’t so alone. As the Hawk exploded and we began to loot the wreck the stargate began to flash. A fleet was incoming. The Hawk was scouting for a gang and they were coming to his rescue. I called for the fleet to jump out but we couldn’t use the stargate right away because our weapon’s systems were interfering with the subspace systems. We lost several members of the gang but half of us got out okay. The remaining fleet regrouped on the FD53-H where a Crow jumped into the system. I fired up my microwarp drive and burnt for the Crow. He must have been shocked to see a frigate coming for him at such great speed and I easily scrambled his warp systems. With his microwarp drive shut off the rest of the gang caught up and we blew him away.

With limited resources I turned the fleet around and we returned to Alsavoinon while those who had been killed went back to Hevrice to fetch new ships. With fresh ships we made a second foray into nullsec. This time we chose Syndicate. This time we were unable to make any kills and once again suffered heavy losses. Despite the fact that we didn’t cover the killboard in glory the operation was a huge success in that all involved had massive amounts of fun. As well as having a good giggle I also learnt that commanding fleets in nullsec takes far more preparation and organisation than lowsec fleets. Joc has also written about our adventures and I recommend you read his account.

After a brief rest from the excitement of getting everyone killed I decided it was time to come up with another way of losing ships in a fun way. The obvious answer was a suicide gank. I told the remaining Tuskers what I was considering and once again they all signed up without a moment’s hesitation. Organising the gank took a while. I ran out to Alentene to buy a range of cheap fittings and brought them back to Hevrice. The next challenge was finding a target. I saw some Hulks in Ranielles as I passed through and told the guys what I’d seen. At this point one of our friends began to get anxious. It seems that the Hulks were those of his CEO and his alts. To keep our friend happy I sent my alt off to find other targets. It didn’t take long to find a Retriever in Vey and I quickly pulled up alongside it in my mining Vexor. The trap was set. The Tuskers leapt into action and we flew through high security space laughing at the Gallente police’s threats. Upon landing in Vey I warped the squad to Tigre. Or so I thought. It seems that I left everyone else behind. They quickly caught up and we landed alongside our happless victim. Each of our four destroyers (and one Reaper) got off a single volley before CONCORD came to destroy us. It wasn’t much but it was enough. The Retriever was destroyed. It was brilliant. We will be doing this again before too long.

So there you have it. A night of dying in horribly fun ways! How are you going to have fun dying next?

Fan mail: “Do you even PLAY the game anymore? You never login. How am I supposed to pod the ‘Hero of the Republic’ if he has no balls to even leave a station? – Not Wensley

(Via Roc’s Ramblings.)

Oh Colonel, you really shouldn’t have said that. It turns out that I have a jump clone sitting in Amamake for just this purpose. In fact said clone has spent the last three weeks carving your name into every round of Barrage ammunition in my hangar. You see the thing about soldiers is that they can’t see that they’re just like us. Sure they talk about higher purposes and honour and preventing tyranny but at the end of the day they get off on exploding other people’s ships. I feel as strongly about the freedom of my people as any Brutor but being a capsuleer makes things different. Immortality changes things. Its only when you accept this and embrace that lust for violence that you see the depths of your own soul and become truly divine. Hmmm… where was I going with this? Oh, right, I was going to make that damned grunt eat his words by feeding them to him from the barrel of an autocannon.

On Sunday night the Colonel hailed me again. As usual he spewed his anti-pirate rhetoric but I recognised it for what it was; the usual military pomp and bluster that goes with the uniform. I’d had enough of his taunts and left my business interests in Hevrice behind. Upon waking in Amamake I leapt from the clone vat and stormed to my hangar. I keep my ships in a constant state of readiness and I was soon in space and burning towards the Dal stargate. If he wanted a fight he was going to get one.

As the glow of the stargate faded behind me I checked my surroundings. This was Roc’s home turf and I needed to be cautious. I headed for a safe location and told the Colonel to come and fight me whenever he was ready. He didn’t take long and before I even realised what was happening he had me targeted and taking damage. The sneaky bastard. That’s my trick. Told you we were the same. I’ve done this before, though, and I didn’t panic. I calmly returned his lock while getting in close to his ship. My rounds of Republic Fleet EMP ammunition began to chew rapidly through his defences as my overloaded guns span into life. First his shields and then his armour crumbled while my own armour maintained good integrity.

This was an arranged fight and terms had been agreed. I ceased fire once his hull began to take damage and smugly looked at my own readouts. I had enough armour left to fight him again and still win. He was impressed and so was I. My scans of the intelligence database had shown that last time he flew a Rifter he’d opted for a shield tank and hence I’d decided to get in close and fight at point blank range. It turns out he’d been reading my advice and fitted the same way as I had. Further conversation showed that we actually had almost identical skills. My decision to go point blank and his failure to counter it had been the deciding factor in this fight.

Humbled he asked if he might try another ship. I agreed and shortly he returned at the helm of a Republic Fleet Firetail. This ship embodies all the design characteristics of the Republic with speed being its main strength. It was by no means as good as an interceptor and could not maintain capacitor stability with a microwarp drive but with an afterburner would prove to be a troublesome foe. Approaching this like so many fights I burnt towards the Colonel as fast as I could. I needed to get my stasis webifier on his ship if I was to have a chance of destroying it. He knew this too and evaded my thrust. We then settled into a steady orbit as I tried to approach and he chipped away at me with artillery and missiles. Realising I couldn’t catch him I decided instead to minimise his damage and turn the fight into a stalemate. I commanded my ship to counter-orbit his at the current range and the transversal velocity of our combined speeds meant his guns could no longer hit me while I could easily tank the damage of his missiles. Eventually he switched off his afterburner to try and get hits on me again. I pounced and my Rifter streaked across the space between us looking to get up close and personal. By the time he reactivated his microwarp drive it was too late and I had removed his shields and was already working on his hull. Once again I stopped before destroying his expensive faction frigate.

As I spoke to Roc after these fights I realised that my initial assessment of him was wrong. The pomp and circumstance didn’t sit comfortably on him and he was an honest man trying to come to terms with the destructive forces he could unleash. Rather than following his ego and seeking fame and fortune like so many capsuleers he was desperately clinging onto his mortal life. Somehow I don’t think it will be long before he leaves the theatre of the Empires and moves out into capsuleer space where he can find a stage fitting for his talents. Until then we have agreed to do this more often. Not only will he learn more about the art of frigate combat but I will be able to test new ships and tactics against a well-matched opponent.

I salute you Colonel Wieler. Well fought, sir. Well fought.

Edit: You can read Roc’s account over on his own blog.

After our engagement and a few quiet beers in station followed by quiet a lot of much louder ones I got some of the Dal locals to pod me home so I could take part in Ronan’s drunken nano op. Ronan wasn’t drunk but we sure as hell were. Caster has all the gory details.

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.

A while ago I wrote about trying to kill ‘ceptors in my Rifter. Since then it turns out that I’m starting to get pretty good at it. So many interceptor pilots rely upon their ship’s navigation computer to approach targets or are overconfident about the invulnerability that their speed gives them. Even a standard afterburner-equipped Rifter with a warp scrambler can ruin their day in pretty short order.

Last night Joc and I had a nice little skirmish with some guys from Blood Money Bootcamp. We’d been chasing two Rifters and a Crusader around Adirain for a while. Joc’s Punisher and my Rifter kept narrowly missing the Crusader until I sat and waited at the gate to Aeschee. Eventually Joc was going to flush him in my direction (he’d been bouncing around between planet ten, a belt, and the gate). As I predicted it happened and I quickly began burning towards the interceptor with my afterburner and scrambler overloaded. If I missed the tackle I would at least not get aggro and be able to burn to the gate and jump out. I didn’t miss the tackle though and scrambled the interceptors microwarp drive. My webs were applied and my guns opened fire. The fragile ship didn’t last long and exploded as Joc landed next to me in his Punisher. We pointed the pod and I considered a ransom until I remembered that he probably had fleet mates so popped the pod to deny them a warp in. I was too late popping the pod and a Rifter dropped out of warp next to us. Joc and I both turned on him and he melted under our combined fire. A second Rifter landed as we finished off the first and he met a similar fate. We scooped the loot and headed to a safe before reinforcements arrived.

So how do you kill interceptors when you only have an afterburner fitted? Part of me wants to keep this close to my chest because I don’t want my targets knowing my tactics but all of this information is already out there so I might as well share it. The other week I had a lot of fun and was able to kill a Malediction, Crow, and Taranis all in one day. Each one required a slightly different trick.

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A little less conversation, a little more action please
All this aggravation aint satisfactioning me
A little more bite and a little less bark
A little less fight and a little more spark
Close your mouth and open up your heart and baby satisfy me
Satisfy me baby

A Little Less Conversation, Elvis Presley

It seems that since my little holiday things have started to heat up in low security space again. Until recently things had been pretty quiet but over the last week or so the fights have been coming thick and fast and that’s how I like them.

Last night was no different. I woke up in the sleeping quarters of my Rupture class cruiser. The Rupture is a ship that will appeal to any Brutor. It packs a rack of medium autocannons and can fit a mean amount of armour. Being the blood-thirsty killer that I am I optimise mine for massive amounts of autocannon damage. It really is a veritable space galleon. Anyway, I digress. My Rupture was stationed in Adirain following an alert the previous day. Although I missed the kill I’d stayed in Adirain and powered my ships systems down in deep space.

As my systems came online I spied a Vagabond in the local system. Because my ship was in orbit around a planet he scanned me down and warped towards me but I wasn’t to be caught off guard. For a while I toyed with the idea of trying to pin down the high speed Minmatar cruiser and take it down but I didn’t have enough confidence in my own ship’s defensive systems. Maybe I should invest in some of those implants I’ve heard about Sansha pilots flying with. Either way I decided that Adirain was too hot and set my computer for home.

As I jumped into Hevrice I was greeted by the sight of an outlawed Jaguar sitting just off the gate. This was too juicy a target to ignore and I primed my guns and tackled systems before bursting out of the cover that the gate’s cloaking system was providing me with. The assault frigate pilot, a member of the Black Rabbits, was caught off guard and my ECM drones prevented him from responding while rounds of Republic Fleet EMP tore into his advanced shield systems. While I was settling into orbit an Ishkur landed in support. This didn’t look good and I began yelling for support in the corporate communications channels but no-one was able to respond. A Rifter landed at range but bugged out leaving me with just the Jaguar and Ishkur to worry about. Surprisingly it seemed that the two ships were concentrating their damage on my ECM drones and I melted the Jaguar for minimal damage to my own systems. Next up was the Ishkur which met a similar fate. Between the two of them they’d barely been able to dent my shields. It was a pleasant surprise. Either ship should be able to give me a run for my money and both were piloted by pirates. It was a good way to start the evening’s killing.

I docked up the Rupture and had my technicians dispose of the loot while I prepared a Rifter. My plan was to head over to Old Man Star and see if I could find any trouble. That place is a hotbed of action with peaceful pilots, militiamen, and pirates aplenty. I wasn’t surprised at all to see another Tusker lurking in the system. Caster Rom was cruising around in his Taranis looking for a fight too. Pretty soon we were joined by PreZidenT and Alex Rudd and had a force capable of looking for a proper target. That came along when PreZ decided to tackle a Scorpion that was obviously playing bait in a belt. Confident that we could get out if a trap was sprung we all followed into the fray and began chipping away at the Scorpions shields and then armour. His ECM units occasionally broke our locks but we had enough ships to keep him pinned down. He had been assigned fighters from a carrier which couldn’t hit us but kept us on high alert for reinforcements. The Scorpion’s armour was dropping to critical levels when a Cerbereus and then Navy Issue Megathron warped in. The Tusker fleet aborted and warped out but Alex’s Thrasher was lost. It was a close call for the Scorpion pilot and with maybe one more frigate we’d have been able to take down the powerful ECM battleship. Good work, Tuskers.

While looking for my next good fight I scanned down a Catalyst in a belt. The pilot was fresh out of the academy and it didn’t take long to kill his destroyer and pod. During this time local was full of greetings and banter. It seems that in addition to my Rifter guide the release of my first combat film has made me even more well-known. One of the members of Space Perverts and Forum Warriors challenged me to fight his Vigil and capture it on film. Frigate on frigate? Well, the fight seemed pretty balanced so I was keen but aware of the fact he had friends in local. I was flagged as a criminal from engaging the Catalyst so I warped to the gate that he was camping at long range and then warped off to a planet in the hope that he had seen me and would follow. Now all I had to do was prime my weapons and wait…

Sure enough the Vigil landed 30 km from me and my camera drones were set to record. Now the Vigil is an electronic warfare support frigate and its main strength is its sheer speed. It can’t fit much of a tank so my plan was to fight it like I would an interceptor. To that end I had loaded my guns with close range ammo with the plan to get in close and orbit under his guns. The Rifter has a bonus to autocannon tracking which the Vigil lacks. I sped towards my opponent and he did the same to me. As I hit lock range I gave the command to begin targeting and as my systems resolved I was greeted by the gentle glow of my overloaded tackle systems coming to life. But not for long, though. The Vigil was soon out of my range. What?! Damn. He had an afterburner fitted. Still from that range he would be hard pushed to do me damage. Sure enough my shields and then armour were being slowly but inexorably chipped away despite my repairer. I concentrated on trying to manoeuvre into range and completely forgot to change my ammunition over to a long range variant. By the time I rectified this mistake it was too late. My stasis webifier had burnt out and my armour levels were critically low. I braced myself as my Rifter exploded and quickly warped my pod to safety. Looking at the killmail it seems that my opponent had taken advantage of the Vigil’s excellent capacitor to fit lasers. These long range weapons would allow him to chip away at me out of range of my own guns. I wonder what would have happened if I’d had Barrage loaded. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. Well played, Tosi. That’s an excellent fit and the fight will definitely feature in my next film.

Back in Hevrice I docked my pod and went away to do some chores while my criminal status wore off. Thankfully I have a hangar full of Rifters so I was back out in space almost immediately. On the station undock I was greeted by the sight of a war target! Did I not mention that The Tuskers are at war again? The Wolf was engaging PreZ’s Thorax and I burnt back to the station to get something with a bit more punch. There was a report of a hostile fleet camping the Hevrice gate in Muetralle so I would have to act quickly. My hangar crew made the change in record time and I was soon back out in my Rupture. I locked down the Wolf and began firing, rejoined by PreZ. He didn’t stand a chance and we soon destroyed him. I locked down the pod for good measure and was about to begin ransom negotiations when I saw the system population rise rapidly. I span up my autocannons and aligned to warp to safety, not even stopping to loot the wreck. This was a good decision. The hostile fleet landed as I entered warp. On my return the wreck was already looted and the station camped so I made for the docking ramp without hanging around.

My mood was buoyant. So far I’d made four good kills for just the loss of a single Rifter. I wasn’t going to stop now so I hopped back into my favourite ship and undocked. I waved at the camping fleet as my nimble ship entered warp before they could even respond at my presence and went about my business unimpeded. This is one of my favourite things about the Rifter. You can’t camp me in and its almost impossible to disrupt my activities if I’m careful. I set my navigation system for Adirain and went to see if I could find any targets in this border system rather than stay around Hevrice and be hunted by this fleet.

In Adirain I quickly scanned down a Thorax ratting in a belt. The pilot was young and inexperienced so I should be able to take him on in my Rifter. I engaged my warp drive and pounced into the fray. My ship landed 30 km from my target and after an initial miscommunication with my navicom I was soon burning towards him. He had a handful of low tech medium drones out so I shrugged them off and concentrated my fire on the cruiser instead. My guns made good progress through his shields and armour and as he began to take hull damage I opened up a ransom channel. As soon as I’d offered him the chance to save his ship a hostile Punisher landed in the belt. I didn’t have time to hang around and negotiate so I finished off the Thorax and apologised to the pilot. My focus was now on the Punisher and I burnt towards it at full speed reloading my guns as I shot through the black of space. I was soon upon him and my guns tore through his defences. Incredibly quickly, in fact. Destroying him was the work of moments and it needed to be because as his hull buckled a Sleipnir landed in the belt as well. I didn’t hang around and gave the command to warp out while instructing my navigator to bookmark the location of the Punisher’s wreck. I was coming back for that. As soon as I landed I turned my ship around and headed back to retrieve my winnings. I came out of warp just out of cargo transfer range and had to burn towards to wreck to obtain my prize. With the loot scooped I hit the warp command again and made it out to safety but not before the mighty command ship had hit me with a powerful volley from its vulcan autocannons, stripping my armour down to half integrity. Luckily the Sleipnir moved off and I was able to loot the Thorax’s wreck in peace. It was a shame that his valuable armour repair system was destroyed in the explosion but that’s life.

With six kills under my belt I was finally done for the evening and I headed back to Hevrice to dock up. Back in my quarters I caught up with a few old friends and spoke to Allii about some things I wanted buying. She reported back that my loot was selling well and that our account was currently flush with ISK. I began fantasising about what to spend it on. While I was day dreaming reports came in of a fight against a Hurricane, Manticore, and pair of Eagles but I was half asleep and left my corp mates to dispose of the threat in true Tusker style.

After plugging various videos that I’ve enjoyed watching, its time to reverse the trend a bit. May I present to you ‘Inconceivable’, my first foray into proper Eve video making.

Ships featured: Rifter, Claw, Stabber Fleet Issue

Download Here

Also available to stream on DamageDealer (was EveTube).

Soundtrack:

• D.A.N.C.E. – Justice
• A Cause des Garçons (TEPR Remix Edit) – Yelle
• La Musique – Riot in Belgium
• Stay the Same – AutoKratz
• Outversion – Mark Ronson

Details: 20 minutes @ 1280 x 720, 573 MB AVI

Thanks to Ka Jolo for creating The Tuskers and fostering such a brilliant corporation, all of The Tuskers for being great guys and top pilots, Ess Erbe for the donation of the Stabber Fleet Issue, Chribba for hosting at Eve Files, and everyone that I fought regardless of whether I lost or won. Sorry I didn’t remember to start record for all the fights that don’t feature in this.

Please head over to the thread on Eve Online and leave a comment so I know what you thought of it. If you liked it and want to see more then donations are always very gratefully accepted.

I donned my FC hat again today and lead another Tuskers fleet out on a corporate operation. Ten Tuskers reported for duty and a pretty epic fight ensued. Read all about it at The Tuskers Public Relations.

After a relaxing week away from the front lines I’m back in Hevrice and ready to kick some arse. To make my return even more momentous I thought I’d mix up the ships I was flying so Monday night saw me cruising around Obray constellation in a Claw.

Pretty much as soon as I undocked there was a target in system. PreZiDent was already out in his Thorax hunting for a Catalyst running missions for the Caldari milita. The destroyer pilot was on the ball and the slow cruiser was unable to get a good lock on him. Hopefully the advanced electronic systems of my interceptor would change this around. After I’d chased him out of his deadspace complex a couple of times PreZ and I settled in on the acceleration gate to try and camp him down. If I could get a scramble on his warp engines he’d be unable to activate the gate and we’d have him pinned down. (For those who don’t already know acceleration gates use your warp drive not an anchored wormhole like stargates so you can’t use them when your warp drive is disrupted.)

The Catalyst warped in and I quickly got a lock and settled into a tight orbit. My afterburner and reduced signature radius should keep me safe from his railguns. He returned lock on me and fired. By heck that hurt. And another volley. Shit. He was blaster fitted. Time to quickly get out to a safe range. As my ship began to take structural damage I was finally able to get out to a relatively safe orbit. By now PreZ had got his lock and his additional firepower melted the Catalyst. That was far too close. I got out with 20% structural integrity remaining.

For a while things were pretty quiet. There wasn’t much to be seen in Hevrice so I hopped back into my customary Rifter and went for a roam. On the Aeschee gate in Adirain I spotted a Helios sitting uncloaked. Now frigates really aren’t designed to operate under gate guns but covert ops ships are extremely fragile. I approached him and once sitting right next to him aligned to a planet, locked, and fired. I had him down at about half armour before I had to warp off to the safety of a planet. Never mind. He stayed uncloaked but ran off to hide at a POS. Not long after I scanned down a second Helios, this time sitting uncloaked at the sun. Again I warped in but this time he was 100 km from me and was able to warp out before I could close the gap. He stayed uncloaked but not at any celestial I could find.

Meanwhile back in Hevrice a cluster of ships were being reported including a pair of Ishkurs and a Kitsune. After a bit of debate the decision was taken to engage and I undocked in my Hound. The plan was simple. PreZ’s Thorax would act as bait with the Hound and Joc’s Pilgrim cloaked and ready. Suffice to say the bait was taken and the covert ships uncloaked to spring the trap. The Kitsune focussed on Joc initially allow PreZ and I to pop the first Ishkur before I turned my attention to the Kitsune while the others got their drones on the second Ishkur. As I got my first volley off the Kitsune jammed me and I retreated from the field in order to break his jam. By the time I returned the second Ishkur was down and the Kitsune had fled with heavy armour damage from my cruise missiles. My Hound is going to be having its systems updated soon so it can warp cloaked and fit siege launchers to better engage battleships. I definitely want to experiment with these new capabilities in gangs soon.

That was all the action I saw that night. After the fight I docked up and headed to one of the station’s bars to catch up with some friends. Tuesday saw me back in space and back in a Rifter.

I was able to scan down a Rifter but as I warped to its location it warped in to the planet I was scanning from. Damn. It was an outlaw too. I turned my Rifter round as a Tristan landed in my belt but by the time I got back to my original location the Rifter was gone. Never mind, the Tristan was where I left it so I warped back to the belt. The pilot was a young cadet who had already made contact with us on our forums. Unfazed by the fact I was a seasoned combat pilot he began to make a beeline for my Rifter. I returned the favour while telling my navigation computer to settle into a nice wide orbit, well out of the range of his blasters. Pinned down by my tackle systems the Tristan didn’t stand a chance and I tore it apart. As the smoke cleared and his pod warped to safety the pilot hailed me over comms and we discussed the fight. He was keen to learn more so I introduced him to the rest of my corporation while I continued my hunt. A Rifter was on scan but when I warped to his location he was 100 km away and he warped off to the Adirain gate.

I like hunting in Adirain and this guy wasn’t going to shake me off. I warped to the gate and jumped through myself. I warped to my favourite safe spot and began scanning. As well as a background of mission runners I saw an Arbitrator and the Rifter bouncing between planets. After warping in on them a couple of times with the Rifter at 100 km and the Arbitrator at the warp in point I decided that I could probably split them up and engage. I headed for the Rifter which promptly warped off and the Arbitrator gave chase. Interesting. Maybe they weren’t together and the Arbitrator was hunting too. I taunted the Arbitrator a couple of times, orbiting it outside of its warp disruption range to get a measure of its speed and capabilities. Each time he warped off I followed. Eventually I saw him with drones out and seeing that he had Hobgoblins I decided to engage. I tucked into a nice orbit at 7,500 m to make sure I was safe from any small energy neutralisers that he might have. Without my capacitor I didn’t have a chance to dispose of the drones. With his ship scrambled the fight was on. I engaged his flight of Hobgoblin IIs using my web to slow down each one while my guns popped it. Without his drones I’d neutered his damage potential and closed in for the kill. He unleashed a pack of Hammerhead IIs but the medium drones had a hard time hitting me. His defences couldn’t cope with my onslaught and I was able to destroy the cruiser but his pod escaped.

Overall a nice bunch of fights to ease myself back in from my holidays and a nice bunch of ISK in my pocket from the loot. I hope you all had a good Easter. See you in space.

Oh, and Roc, watch out… I’m heading in your direction…

As The Tuskers grow and evolve as a corporation our abilities have changed, too. In the early days we only really flew frigates, interceptors, assault frigates, cruisers, and the odd battlecruiser. These days not only have the original members developed their skills into larger ships but we’ve also attracted much more experienced, older hands who can field everything up to capital ships. Lately this has meant that recons and heavy assault ships have become a regular sight in Tusker squads and this week things cranked up another notch.

Toady11 has started to bring his Dominix out to play. This doesn’t mean to say he’s the first Tusker to have a battleship, far from it. But it is the first time that I know of us fielding them. What’s he doing with it? Well he’s trying to step the endless flow of haulers running courier missions that floods our system. To this end he has racked up a fearsome number of kills so far this week.

While Toady has been interfering with the day to day activities of mission runners Castor Rom, another Tusker, was able to down a Megathron using only his Taranis. Between the two of them they have managed to knock my Providence adventure off the top of the killboard for both number of kills and point scored. This just won’t do. Something must be done!

I was going to have to do some pretty serious damage in order to even things up a bit. The evening began well with a Hurricane running a mission in our system. I called upon my friend with the covert ops to see if he could master the changes to the scanning system and pinpoint his position. After a bit of trial and error – luckily the Hurricane was taking his time – we were able to pin down his location and the troops swept in for the kill. Our Taranis, Incursus, and Claw were easily able to destroy the battlecruiser and we ransomed the pilot’s pod for 10,000,000 ISK. A good start, I’m sure you’ll agree. Content with my work so far I hopped into a destroyer and cleaned up the mess that the mission had left behind before retiring to a bar for dinner and a couple of beers. There was a game on that I wanted to watch.

After the match (my team won) I made my way back down to the hangar. I’d enjoyed flying the Claw so I decided to take her out again. A report came through of an outlaw Drake in Costolle. I leapt into warp and raced up the pipe to see if I could find him and make the tackle. Unfortunately he was gone without a trace but in Melmaniel I saw a Rupture on scan that I couldn’t track down with my onboard systems. While I waited for a prober to arrive I scanned around the system and began to see a Thorax, Breacher, and Merlin on scan. My instincts kicked in and I began to narrow them down. A couple of times I just missed the Breacher before I eventually managed to land in a belt with all three of them.

The Merlin engaged first and I quickly locked it and returned fire. The Breacher and Thorax also locked me and began to fire. A quick look showed that the Thorax was using medium Hammerhead I drones and I was happy they would pose no threat to my interceptor. The Merlin had me webbed and my priority became to remove the irritation from the field. I overloaded my guns and closed in as quickly as I could. My shields were gone and my armour was starting to take a hammering. I fired up my repair systems while the Merlin was despatched. The next threat to remove was the Breacher. I was already on top of him and it was the work of moments to lock and destroy the fragile frigate. By now I’d called for support as the presence of the cruiser had alarmed me but with the frigates gone I was able to settle into a tight orbit and chip away at his defences. I popped a couple of his drones for good measure before focussing my efforts on the cruiser. As he reached half armour support arrived in the form of Robert Mason in an Incursus and Avan Sercedos’ Rupture. The last remaining defences of the Thorax crumbled and I quickly locked and scrambled his pod. My ransom demands were refused and I sent him home via clone vat express. As I docked up I saw the Merlin pilot undocking in an Ibis. He was still flagged to me so I engaged and destroyed the rookie ship and his pod.

Feeling good that I’d closed the gap on Toady and Castor I sat in station to wait out my criminal timer for destroying the pod. Suddenly corporate communications lit up with reports of a Myrmidon in Hevrice. Forgetting about my timer I undocked and set out full speed for home. In Hevrice probes were deployed and we waited for a hit. As our scouts narrowed down the target we began to get ready only to be told that just before the final scan resolved the target had gone. The system was empty. Or so we thought.

An expected beacon appeared on our overviews. Someone had lit a cynosaural beacon outside our station. An Archon class carrier appeared on scan accompanied by a Vagabond, Eagle, and Taranis. It looked like we had new neighbours. A couple of scouting flybys revealed that they were not outlaws and that the beacon had been lit 30 km from the station. The heavy assault cruisers and interceptor were warping too and from the station at various ranges, obviously covering the carrier. I eventually warped my Claw to the station and hovered just long enough for the Taranis to engage me before docking. He was now flagged as an aggressor and I could engage him on my own terms without the station guns getting involved. While I was negotiating my way through the docking lanes I noticed the local comms channel flashing:

[22:46:55] Goreth Ra’ak > for you bunch of -.10s you guys never fight

I parked up the Claw and hopped into one of my trusty Rifters. I hadn’t had the chance to engage a Taranis for a good while now and with my new skills, greater experience, and the changes to warp scramblers I was sure that I could beat him. I undocked to find that the Taranis had moved well away from the station. I engaged my afterburner and told my navigation computer to settle into a 7,500 m orbit around the target. The Taranis sped towards me. It seemed he was keen to engage too. The Eagle was about 60 km away and there was no sign of the Vagabond. All systems go!

The Gallente interceptor locked me and I locked back. His web slowed my ship and he closed in tight, his blasters hitting me hard. My own web and scrambler took effect and shut down his microwarp drive. All of the sudden the balance of power had switched. I now had the power to dictate range and before I took much damage I was able to glide out into my planned orbit. His blasters were unable to hit me here and my shields began to recharge while my autocannons spat Barrage into his shields, armour, and eventually hull. He was able to repair chunks of his armour while I slowly ate into the Taranis’ massive structure. Keen to finish this I told my ship to approach and then really began to eat into him. Before he’d even broken through my shields his ship exploded and I punched the warp command. The Vagabond had undocked and it was time to get out. Even as my warp engines began to power up I bookmarked the location of his wreck. The powerful warp drive engaged and I shot away from the battlefield just as the Vagabond’s targeting computers resolved the lock. At my safe spot I turned around and warped back to the wreck. I landed a small distance away and burnt to what remained of the once proud ship. As I transferred the loot to my cargo the Vagabond opened fire and I quickly ducked into the safety of the station.

[22:49:18] DeimonX > POP!
[22:49:22] Wensley > gf
[22:49:28] Kyrie Asada > lol
[22:49:29] DeimonX > gf

Yet another interceptor kill under the eyes of the enemy. This is becoming a habit, and a good one at that. As our numbers rose we undocked heavier ships and began to chase around the Vagabond, Eagle, and a Sentinel that had undocked. After I’d eventually retreated wearily to my bunk it seems that we were able to pick off the Eagle.

When will people learn that we engage on our own terms. We don’t respond to smack. While you’re smacking us we’re forming a plan to pick off your ships one at a time. We are pirates. We won’t fight you for honour or to defend our system. We don’t need to defend it. It isn’t ours. If you try and set up shop here we will just use small ships and go hunt in other space. Many before have tried to kick us out of Hevrice. All have failed and all have left to go find fights elsewhere. We are The Tuskers. We strike silently and then fade back into the night. You have been warned.

Oh, and Toady and Castor… I’m catching up!

Because The Tuskers had been set to kill on sight by CVA overnight I woke to find myself in a suddenly hostile environment. At the end of my roam I had docked up in H9-J8N. Its a back corner of Providence but my presence had caught the locals’ attention. I tried to undock only to find my station camped by a Broadsword and Stiletto. Moments later a Falcon undocked too and I fled back to the safety of the station. Looks like I was going nowhere. Never mind. I left my ship and had a wander around the station. Thankfully I could attend to my other business here without interruption.

Eventually I received a conversation request:

[ 2009.03.31 20:30:39 ] Lord Godness > hi
[ 2009.03.31 20:30:43 ] Wensley > hi there
[ 2009.03.31 20:30:49 ] Lord Godness > how r u
[ 2009.03.31 20:30:58 ] Wensley > pretty ace, ta. yourself?
[ 2009.03.31 20:31:06 ] Lord Godness > thx me too
[ 2009.03.31 20:31:33 ] Lord Godness > its my last day in provi and i want to have a good fight … interested on a 1 vs 1 ??
[ 2009.03.31 20:32:01 ] Lord Godness > i will talk to everyone that noone engages u
[ 2009.03.31 20:32:12 ] Wensley > hmmm….
[ 2009.03.31 20:32:14 ] Lord Godness > kill me and it is ok
[ 2009.03.31 20:32:23 ] Lord Godness > but please
[ 2009.03.31 20:32:24 ] Wensley > see, i don’t trust people that bring a falcon to fight a rifter…
[ 2009.03.31 20:32:27 ] Lord Godness > give me a good fight
…
[ 2009.03.31 20:36:15 ] Lord Godness > ok fudge is on station with a damnation
[ 2009.03.31 20:36:20 ] Lord Godness > he will not attack
[ 2009.03.31 20:36:27 ] Wensley > what are you in?
[ 2009.03.31 20:36:33 ] Lord Godness > zealot
[ 2009.03.31 20:36:41 ] Wensley > lets see… zealot vs rifter…
[ 2009.03.31 20:36:46 ] Lord Godness > lol
[ 2009.03.31 20:37:05 ] Wensley > looks like i’ll pass and go afk for a bit longer. thanks for the offer, though. good luck finding some fun
[ 2009.03.31 20:37:05 ] Lord Godness > hmmm if u want
[ 2009.03.31 20:37:18 ] Lord Godness > thx bud nice day

During this exchange he’d hailed the locals and asked them not to engage. I was still being cautious. Even if I was solo in something bigger than a Rifter I could be sure that he’d be getting gang boosts from the Damnation and I don’t think the other residents would have taken too kindly to my presence. I went back around my business.

[ 2009.03.31 20:48:08 ] Lord Godness > so my last day is this fucking sector and no fight
[ 2009.03.31 20:48:26 ] Lord Godness > u can go out of this system
[ 2009.03.31 20:48:32 ] Lord Godness > no one will engage u
[ 2009.03.31 20:48:42 ] Lord Godness > and if they do i will assist u
[ 2009.03.31 20:51:39 ] Lord Godness > a damnation and a hyperion is in front of the station
[ 2009.03.31 20:54:58 ] Wensley > very kind, sir

At the same time the following appeared in local:

[ 2009.03.31 20:44:09 ] Lord Godness > yes … i talked to him
[ 2009.03.31 20:44:13 ] Lord Godness > nice guy
[ 2009.03.31 20:44:23 ] Lord Godness > so pls let him go out of this system
…
[ 2009.03.31 20:55:23 ] Lord Godness > let him go
[ 2009.03.31 20:55:27 ] Lord Godness > go
[ 2009.03.31 20:55:43 ] Lord Godness > thx buds

Curious to see if the camp had dropped I undocked and sure to his word there was a Damnation, Hyperion, and Zealot on the station. Even if they had malicious intentions none of them had a chance of locking me so I made good my escape.

[ 2009.03.31 20:55:43 ] Lord Godness > thx buds
[ 2009.03.31 20:56:06 ] zama118 > hehe dont think i didnt try
[ 2009.03.31 20:56:22 ] Lord Godness > i gave him my word friend
[ 2009.03.31 20:56:37 ] zama118 > and i would of given him my ammo
[ 2009.03.31 20:56:51 ] Wensley > o7
[ 2009.03.31 20:56:57 ] Lord Godness > o/

In the next system I found a Drake ratting but in light of the hostiles baying for my blood I decided that prudence might be the better part of valour and kept moving. All the while I was chatting to my new friend in our private channel.

[ 2009.03.31 20:57:31 ] Wensley > it would be wrong to attack a drake in the next system over, right?
[ 2009.03.31 20:57:47 ] Lord Godness > do what u want
[ 2009.03.31 20:57:54 ] Lord Godness > but they want to catch u
[ 2009.03.31 20:58:06 ] Wensley > i know

And then a few systems later…

[ 2009.03.31 21:00:55 ] Lord Godness > they know ur position
[ 2009.03.31 21:01:31 ] Wensley > i just attacked an atron, that’s why
[ 2009.03.31 21:01:55 ] Lord Godness > lool
[ 2009.03.31 21:01:57 ] Lord Godness > good bud
[ 2009.03.31 21:02:08 ] Lord Godness > there r only noobs in this sector

Unfortunately for me the Atron jumped before I could finish it off. Still, it was useful to know that they were aware of my position. I could count on a reception committee waiting for me at some point.

In G7AQ-7 I eventually found it. My plan had been to head out of Providence into Catch through the D-GTMI system. I knew that the defence force knew my general direction. Following my usual protocol I warped to a celestial in G7AQ-7 to scan the FSW-3C gate before making my move. Waiting on the gate were a Crow, Drake, and Malediction. The Drake jumped through and I decided to pounce on the interceptors and see what happened.

I landed on the gate and the Malediction was right beside me. The Crow jumped as I landed, waiting for me on the other side I assumed. Never mind. One at a time. I locked and scrambled the Malediction and it began to melt under my guns. As it entered structure the gate flashed and I began to get ready to make my escape. The Malediction exploded and I was already hammering the warp command. But it was too late. The Crow and a Stiletto had me in their grasp and an Arbitrator and Pilgrim were hammering away at me with their drones. I overheated everything in one last, futile bid for freedom. As my ship exploded I gave my pod the instructions to get safe and it quickly did. Even though I lost my Rifter I was definitely ahead in the exchange so I didn’t mind in the slightest.

I bounced around a couple of safe spots before returning to investigate the gate. It was clear. Brilliant. I warped to it and jumped, crossing my fingers that the other side would be clear to. It was and I warped away to a moon to collect my thoughts. Being alone in a pod in null security space is a very dangerous business and I had to get myself a ship as soon as possible. The next system in line was D-GTMI and I would be able to find a station there.

My scan revealed that there were ships on the D-GTMI gate. Caution was advisable. Being an all or nothing kind of guy I hit the warp command and braced myself. As my pod slowed to sub light speeds I saw to my dismay that I was 42 km from the gate on the edge of a bubble. The hostile camp was moving toward me and I instantly hit the warp command and fled to a belt and then a safe spot. None of them were able to lock me and I made it out safely. I was lucky. They should have got me. I need to add bubbles to my scan overview.

[ 2009.03.31 21:13:52 ] EVE System > Channel changed to FSW-3C Local Channel
[ 2009.03.31 21:15:21 ] Societas Jesu > lucky little bugger
[ 2009.03.31 21:15:23 ] Societas Jesu >

This time I exercised caution and warped to an off-axis belt to scan the gate. It was clear and I warped in without getting caught by the bubble. Relieved to be alive I told Lord Godness what had happened and he laughed.

[ 2009.03.31 21:06:54 ] Wensley > mwah ha. they got me
[ 2009.03.31 21:07:42 ] Lord Godness > lol
[ 2009.03.31 21:08:00 ] Wensley > took out a malediction first
[ 2009.03.31 21:09:41 ] Lord Godness > hehehehehehe
[ 2009.03.31 21:11:49 ] Lord Godness > lol they hate me that i have u let alive
[ 2009.03.31 21:12:21 ] Wensley > ha ha
[ 2009.03.31 21:12:31 ] Lord Godness > hehehehe
[ 2009.03.31 21:12:41 ] Lord Godness > smack talk with blues lol

The other side of the gate was clear and I docked in the D-GTMI station after a hairy few moments when my pod landed about 500 m short of the docking ramp. The ships assembled around the station locked me and their guns began to shred my pod’s armour. I docked before it lost structural integrity and breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at the local market it would be possible to buy a Rifter but not to fit it in the manner that I was accustomed to. After quite a lot of deliberation I decided to go away and come back when things had calmed down on the undock ramp.

When I returned I saw that Adrinak, a former Tusker, was in the local channel. I hailed him through Tusker comms and we chatted about my predicament. Unfortunately he did not have the supplies that I needed to fit my Rifter so after a bit of consideration I decided to make a run for it in my insurance-issued Reaper. The undock ramp was clear and with some trepidation I jumped into F9E-KX. I was no longer in Providence and no longer under the watchful eye of CVA and their lackeys. I could breathe easily.

Not too easily, though. F9E-KX and the rest of Catch is under the control of Against All Authorities (-A-). They are a large, powerful alliance and several good friends now rank amongst their numbers. Thankfully two things were working in my favour. Most of -A-’s fighting forces were in Delve and Querious helping KenZoku with the re-conquest of their fallen homelands. Secondly I used to live in this area already had a good collection of bookmarks to help me make my escape.

F9E-KX is just two jumps away from the notorious border system of HED-GP. This system is famous for almost always being bubble camped. If this was the case I’d have to look for another way out but I wouldn’t know until I got there. En route I passed a small fleet including interceptors also making their way towards the safety of Empire space. I don’t know if they tried to lock me but they at least hailed me as I decloaked and warped past them.

The gate at HED-GP was uncamped and I was able to safely jump out into Kerberz and the “safety” of high security space. Safety is relative and while I no longer had to worry about the capsuleers of 0.0 space, I needed to pay close attention to avoiding the forces of the Amarrian Imperial Navy. Moving through high security space is something I do regularly and as I write this I am safely docked up in the familiar CONCORD Logistic Support station in Agil. Now all that’s left is to get back to Hevrice and regale The Tuskers with stories of my victories, defeats, and close encounters.

Thanks so much to Lord Godness for helping me out and being such a good guy. I hope you find something more fun that being part of the Providence defence blob.

Fly safe!