Take Me Out to the Black, Part Two

Logged on this afternoon to find that Jim has finally returned. Before I describe what followed, first a little back-story; Jim (Rossignol) is an ex-PCG staffer and currently writes for Rock, Paper, Shotgun as well as other assorted freelance stuff (he’s written a book, too; This Gaming Life). After seeing me comment on some of his EVE related articles in November when I started playing, he sent me an email asking if, assuming I was still playing after a few months, I’d like to join his Corp (the aforementioned StateCorp). I replied, saying sure, if I was still around.

Of course, time, money and repeated deaths conspired against me, and I stopped playing in January. However, a couple of weeks ago he sent me another email, so I took him up on the offer and reactivated my account, eager to try out the other side of EVE Online. Ironically, just after I joined StateCorp, he moved house and was without internet for a while, leaving me kind of drifting (as he’d suggested he’d teach me the ropes). Except now he’s back, and seemingly has great plans for the State. And with that out of the way, details of today’s op are after the cut.

Aaaaanyway. What was I talking about? Oh yes, logged on to find Jim was back, and he was planning an Op. So, logged on to TS, jumped in Kalendra-ICm Mk2 and undocked.

Patrolling the J-CIJV Stargate in G95-VZ

First stop for me was G95-VZ, one of J-CIJV’s (a small note: not all systems are so imaginatively named. Systems in Empire space have proper names, while those in lawless 0.0 space are just given designations) neighbouring systems. I was tasked with keeping an eye on the local traffic, quite a humdrum assignment, but necessary for a fleet when planning their next move.

Jim’s Apocalypse in J-C

Whilst I was doing this, the bulk of the fleet was waiting patiently in J-C. There was a neutral pilot in an Arazu (a small recon cruiser) somewhere in the system, and bait had been laid in an attempt to get him to show himself. Eventually, he did, and foolishly engaged Jim’s Apocalypse. However, once he realised Jim was not alone, the Arazu warped off before I could tackle him.

Waiting patiently in station for our next order

Clearly, the Arazu pilot wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice, so we had to go looking for other targets. First, we redocked and weighed up our options. We could either continue to camp J-C, follow up reports of two battleships in a nearby system, or go for a roam. Due to lack of numbers or fire power, we settled on the latter course of action.

As with the op on Thursday, we set a destination and moved slowly from system to system. On the way I learnt a new tactic; bursting. Most systems contain asteroid belts which can be mined for fish precious minerals. The more low-sec (dangerous) the system, the more valuable minerals there are present. This, coupled with the randomly spawning rats (pirate NPCs, usually in frigates/cruisers that have high bounties and can drop useful loot) mean that belts are the likely place (outside of stations) to find pilots in a given system. Obviously, you want to catch a target as quickly as possible, so rather than having a fleet warp from belt to belt, each pilot will check an individual belt, and tackle any potential targets whilst waiting for re-enforcements. The fleet jumps into the system simultaneously, literally bursting in.

We eventually met with some success in RQH-MY. D’jannek had encountered a Cerberus, so we warped to him and engaged. At this point, however, I realised I was once again useless in the group. Due to the fragile nature of my ship, I had to stay out of range of any nasty tricks the Cerberus may have. This meant that my weapons were doing no damage. Due to CPU issues, I had three rocket launchers mounted. Rockets, unlike missiles, have a very short range (in my case, about 5km), leaving them rather useless if I wanted to stay out of trouble. Not that it really mattered, as the two Zealots in the fleet made quick work of the target.

After a few more jumps, we bumped into a Sacrilege at a gate in ZKYV-W. We engaged, but he jumped before we could take him out. We followed him through into FWA-4V and gave chase, eventually catching up with him and taking him out. I say we, I wasn’t actually involved, as I was still stuck in ZKYV-W, unable to jump due to my “recent acts of aggression”. By the time I got through and reached the rest of the fleet, the target had been destroyed. At this point, we decided to head home. Good timing, actually, as I’d just finished training a skill and the book for the one I was planning to train next was in the station.

Another successful op, even if once again I didn’t really contribute much (but hey I didn’t die either). I’m slowly picking stuff up, soaking in tactics and whatnot. Still awfully daunting, and I’m still making a lot of mistakes. Getting there, bit by bit. Look forward to Wednesday’s op (assuming the servers survive the patch), now that I think Kalendra-ICm Mk2 is combat ready, having replaced the old rocket launchers with missile launchers instead.

Also, apologise for the lack of interesting pictures in the latter half of the entry. Turned into a bit of a wall of text, didn’t it? I’m still getting to grips with the combat, so it’s hard to think about that and taking engaging action shots. To make up for it, here is my latest background:

~ by Seniath on June 7, 2008.