DO NOT CLICK ON ANY OF THE HYPERLINKS LINKING TO MY ALLIANCE'S KILLBOARD UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!!!
I'm sorry to have to address this, but it appears a former alliance member who also was the site admin for my alliance's killboard has decided to be childish. If you click on a hyperlink to my kills on my alliance's killboard, when your browser tries to load it you will be bombarded by a series of pop-ups with some rather disgusting pics. According to another alliance member it appears that not only are there these unpleasant pop-ups, but it appears that the site attempts to install a worm onto your pc. The fact that someone would do something this low speaks to what type of person he is. So, please, do not click on any links to my kills I've hyperlinked in ALL of my previous postings until further notice. We are working on getting a new killboard, until then I need to go through all my posts and remove the hyperlinks, this will take me sometime, but I wanted all too be warned of this until I can get them all removed.
If you clicked on one of the hyperlinks to the killboard in the last 48hours or so please update your anti-virus and run a full scan for yourself.
I'll edit this post when I have removed the hyperlinks. Once the new Killboard is up, I'll link to the new KB.
Again, DO NOT CLICK ON ANY OF THE HYPERLINKS!!!
Fun times on the internetz.
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Update: Okay, I've gone through the blog and removed the killboard links I had placed in my previous posts. I'm pretty sure I didn't miss any. If you see one that looks related to a kill just leave me a comment refering to the post title and I'll look into and get it taken care of. I believe the alliance is still trying to get a new killboard up and running - will start linking to new killmails when we have one in place.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
I've Been Baited!!
Directional scanner was sweeping Klingt for potential targets. I'd been hoping around the system for only a short time when I obtained a return that peaked my interest. Another Rifter in the system. I began to narrow my scan radius down. 180 degrees, 90 degrees, 60, 30, 15, and finally 5 degrees sweep. The Rifter was at a cluster of celestial objects less then 3AU from the safe spot I was quietly scanning from. I set the coordinates into the navi-computer, and checked local to see if there were any known pirates in system. All pilots in system were either friendlies to my alliance, or neutrals. I felt good about proceeding to engage this pilot.
The Rifter on my scanner was either orbiting a planet, at the station next to the planet, or in the single asteroid belt next to that planet. I decided to check out the planet first, and scan from that vantage point. I reset the navi-com to exit warp 20k away from the zero point of the planet and engaged the warp drive.
As I warped in, I double check my weapons systems and tageting computer to make sure they were in good order (something I should have done prior to initiating the warp to the planet - I know). My Rifter started slowing down, coming out of warp, space began to come back into focus. The planet grew larger and larger as I closed in on it. Just as I'd suspect, there sat a lone Rifter, orbiting the planet. I quickly engaged my afterburners, I needed to close distance between me and the other Rifter fast before he had the opportunity to align and warp away.
As I closed the distance I primed my tackling gear and my weapons. My scrammer, and webbifier were ready to pounce on my target the moment my targeting computer resolved the lock. My auto cannons and rocket launcher were ready to spool up and start throwing pain towards the other Rifter. I closed to just under 9,000m and commanded the targeting computer to lock on to the other frigate.
Target lock was resolved quickly and my target was pinned. The fight was on. My auto cannons and rocket launcher blazed to life. Lead and warheads screamed through space to their mark. The other Rifter pilot returned in kind. We both started to take damage. I was out pacing his damage though and felt confident, from the outset, this would not end well for him. Just as my fire had reduced his Rifter to half it's armor, in warped a Stabber.
"Shit! I've been Baited!"
Enraged by this, I decided to ignore the Stabber. I had the other Rifter pinned, he had me pinned as well. Neither of us was going anywhere. My only hope (despite knowing how slim the chances were) was that the Stabber pilot would honor the 1v1 going between me and the other Rifter - wasn't going to happen though. As soon as I was alerted that I was now being targeted by the Stabber also my rage at this other Rifter pilot reached new levels I'd not experienced before.
I turned all my attention to the Rifter pilot that had baited me, his armor was now almost completely gone. I pushed my Rifter as I started taking heavy fire from the cruiser and the Rifter. I pressed hard. I had accepted that my Rifter would never see a station dock again, but I'd be damned if I was going to let this chicken shit get out of here with his Rifter. Hell bent on destroying his ship before mine gave way to the heavy onslaught, and hell bent on trying to pod-kill the pilot inside I refused to go quietly.
It didn't take long to chisel away the little bit of the armor he had left. The other Rifter was into armor, and it didn't take long for me to melt away what little bit of structural integrity remained of his limping frigate. He soon exploded, and his pod ejected. I attempted to lock him up. I wanted this pilot dead. Absolutely dead. To hell with the security status hit I'd incur. It wouldn't be though as he managed to warp his pod away before my targeting computer could resolve the lock.
My own Rifter, despite enduring the heavy fire from other Rifter and this new Stabber that joined the scene, was down to a 1/4 of it's own armor. I prepared myself for the pod cruise I knew I was about to be forced to take as well. The Stabber had me pinned, and I couldn't warp away to save my Rifter. My frigate eventually blew, and up my pod ejected. Prepared for this, I quickly warped away, and set about fitting a new Rifter.
Despite the loss of my Rifter, I was proud of the fact I destroyed the frigate that baited me.
The next day, I set out. I had a new shiny Rifter. No blood and no wreckage to it's credit. I set out to hunt again. I jumped through several systems and had trouble finding anything to fight. Eventually, I found another Rifter. We both seemed to have located each other on our scanners. We jumped between two different planets back and forth for what seemed like 15 minutes. Finally, I found the frigate in a belt. A fight quickly ensued. 1v1 for this time. We traded blows back and forth. At times it seemed I had the upper hand, and then all of the sudden he would get in a sizable blow on my Rifter and I'd take some pretty heavy fire. So the fight went, both of us change lead in who was doing more damage.
Before long, I had him well into his armor, and then into his structure. I had just a sliver of armor left protecting my structure. Soon, the other Rifter's structure gave up and collapsed. The rewarding sight of an explosion in space. Legs of smoke arching out from the point in space the other Rifter used to occupy. This was a very satisfying kill against an opponent that deserved respect.
I hailed him over private comms and he obliged my invitation. We had a very pleasant conversation, and actually discussed the fight and over all tactics that we'd learned through our separate experiences. I honestly would love the opportunity to roam with this pilot some day.
The rest of the weekend proved to be pretty quiet from here on out. I went on a roam with a couple fellas in my corp. Unfortunately, the one target we found on our roam warped off before we could close in on him to get him pinned. He had gone off into safe spot so we didn't spend much time tracking him down. Despite not getting any kills with my corp mates, it was an enjoyable roam as it was the first time I'd gone out with Ochura and Hoarde. I look forward to the next roam with the guys.
The Rifter on my scanner was either orbiting a planet, at the station next to the planet, or in the single asteroid belt next to that planet. I decided to check out the planet first, and scan from that vantage point. I reset the navi-com to exit warp 20k away from the zero point of the planet and engaged the warp drive.
As I warped in, I double check my weapons systems and tageting computer to make sure they were in good order (something I should have done prior to initiating the warp to the planet - I know). My Rifter started slowing down, coming out of warp, space began to come back into focus. The planet grew larger and larger as I closed in on it. Just as I'd suspect, there sat a lone Rifter, orbiting the planet. I quickly engaged my afterburners, I needed to close distance between me and the other Rifter fast before he had the opportunity to align and warp away.
As I closed the distance I primed my tackling gear and my weapons. My scrammer, and webbifier were ready to pounce on my target the moment my targeting computer resolved the lock. My auto cannons and rocket launcher were ready to spool up and start throwing pain towards the other Rifter. I closed to just under 9,000m and commanded the targeting computer to lock on to the other frigate.
Target lock was resolved quickly and my target was pinned. The fight was on. My auto cannons and rocket launcher blazed to life. Lead and warheads screamed through space to their mark. The other Rifter pilot returned in kind. We both started to take damage. I was out pacing his damage though and felt confident, from the outset, this would not end well for him. Just as my fire had reduced his Rifter to half it's armor, in warped a Stabber.
"Shit! I've been Baited!"
Enraged by this, I decided to ignore the Stabber. I had the other Rifter pinned, he had me pinned as well. Neither of us was going anywhere. My only hope (despite knowing how slim the chances were) was that the Stabber pilot would honor the 1v1 going between me and the other Rifter - wasn't going to happen though. As soon as I was alerted that I was now being targeted by the Stabber also my rage at this other Rifter pilot reached new levels I'd not experienced before.
I turned all my attention to the Rifter pilot that had baited me, his armor was now almost completely gone. I pushed my Rifter as I started taking heavy fire from the cruiser and the Rifter. I pressed hard. I had accepted that my Rifter would never see a station dock again, but I'd be damned if I was going to let this chicken shit get out of here with his Rifter. Hell bent on destroying his ship before mine gave way to the heavy onslaught, and hell bent on trying to pod-kill the pilot inside I refused to go quietly.
It didn't take long to chisel away the little bit of the armor he had left. The other Rifter was into armor, and it didn't take long for me to melt away what little bit of structural integrity remained of his limping frigate. He soon exploded, and his pod ejected. I attempted to lock him up. I wanted this pilot dead. Absolutely dead. To hell with the security status hit I'd incur. It wouldn't be though as he managed to warp his pod away before my targeting computer could resolve the lock.
My own Rifter, despite enduring the heavy fire from other Rifter and this new Stabber that joined the scene, was down to a 1/4 of it's own armor. I prepared myself for the pod cruise I knew I was about to be forced to take as well. The Stabber had me pinned, and I couldn't warp away to save my Rifter. My frigate eventually blew, and up my pod ejected. Prepared for this, I quickly warped away, and set about fitting a new Rifter.
Despite the loss of my Rifter, I was proud of the fact I destroyed the frigate that baited me.
The next day, I set out. I had a new shiny Rifter. No blood and no wreckage to it's credit. I set out to hunt again. I jumped through several systems and had trouble finding anything to fight. Eventually, I found another Rifter. We both seemed to have located each other on our scanners. We jumped between two different planets back and forth for what seemed like 15 minutes. Finally, I found the frigate in a belt. A fight quickly ensued. 1v1 for this time. We traded blows back and forth. At times it seemed I had the upper hand, and then all of the sudden he would get in a sizable blow on my Rifter and I'd take some pretty heavy fire. So the fight went, both of us change lead in who was doing more damage.
Before long, I had him well into his armor, and then into his structure. I had just a sliver of armor left protecting my structure. Soon, the other Rifter's structure gave up and collapsed. The rewarding sight of an explosion in space. Legs of smoke arching out from the point in space the other Rifter used to occupy. This was a very satisfying kill against an opponent that deserved respect.
I hailed him over private comms and he obliged my invitation. We had a very pleasant conversation, and actually discussed the fight and over all tactics that we'd learned through our separate experiences. I honestly would love the opportunity to roam with this pilot some day.
The rest of the weekend proved to be pretty quiet from here on out. I went on a roam with a couple fellas in my corp. Unfortunately, the one target we found on our roam warped off before we could close in on him to get him pinned. He had gone off into safe spot so we didn't spend much time tracking him down. Despite not getting any kills with my corp mates, it was an enjoyable roam as it was the first time I'd gone out with Ochura and Hoarde. I look forward to the next roam with the guys.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Low-Sec Stroll
This weekend was a fairly quite one for me in New Eden. Friday evening I sat down to get sometime in with my Rifter. I did some quick salvaging runs through high-sec to get some quick isk as I fully expected to be loosing my Rifter at some point this weekend, and I wanted to have some cash on hand for new modules when it happened. I'd had several successful engagements with my Rifter through the week, so I knew Lady Luck was about to piss all over me and end this Rifter's reign. There is only one guarantee I've found in the world of New Eden: Your ship will be reduced to a pile of scrap metal.
After finishing with the "garbage cleanup" around high-sec, I refitted my Rifter for PvP. I set for the first system of my evening solo roam. Navicomputer set for Illamur, and off I went to start my Friday evening hunt. Illamur, in true Illamur tradition, was dead. No one in system. For being a border system, I've always been surprised at how dead this system is. Anyway, I headed on to Atlar. Atlar was quiet as well. I pressed on into several other systems and it was dead everywhere. I began to question whether it was really Friday evening. Where was everyone? Suffice it to say, after roaming a couple hours, I docked up for the evening, disappointed that there was no pew-pew to be had.
I wouldn't be strapped back into my pod until Sunday morning. Family affairs kept me busy all day Saturday and Saturday evening. I set Sunday morning and mainly just stuck to some pve "care-bearing". My wallet was still feeling too light. After I'd had all the "care-bearing" I could stand, I docked up. More family affairs to attend to for the afternoon. Once those had been attended to, I planned for my Sunday evening roam.
I had finished training Hull Upgrades 4, so there were some new fittings I wanted to pick up for my Rifter. Items I hope will aid in it's longevity. I picked up a new armor repper, and new dmg control module. I refitted my Rifter with my new mods and set out for the evening. I hopped around low-sec. It was the typical roam path for me. Low-sec was much busier then it had been Friday evening, and I got a lot more practice at using the directional scanner - it really does start to become second nature rather quickly.
Most of what I was finding was too much for my Rifter to try to chew up solo. So, I continued on with the roam searching for other frigate pilots roaming about - hoping I'd scan down some poor frigate pilot foolish enough to by ratting in a belt, or sitting idle at a planet.
I completed my entire solo-roaming "circuit" without any potential targets popping up on the scanners. Disgruntled at how slow things had gone for me this weekend, I decided to turn in for the night. On my way back to my home station, I decided to give things some more time to heat up.
I found myself sitting in Atlar, sitting in a safe spot, I scanned down a couple other rifters in the system. Elated by their presence, I quickly tried pinpointing the location of the first rifter. I had his potential location narrowed down. This Rifter pilot was just passing through the system however, and I would not get to him before he jumped out of the system completely. I returned to my original Safespot, and started scanning down the other Rifter.
I scanned him down to an astroid belt that was very close to my safe spot. I set my navicomputer to warp me into the middle of the belt, in the hopes I'd find this pilot ratting in the middle of the belt. My Rifter threw itself into warp, and just as quickly as I'd entered warp I began to exit as the belt started to come into view.
My weapons, and tackling gear primed, I landed in the middle of the belt as planned. However, the other Rifter was fighting some rats off at the perimeter of the belt. I turned my frigate towards my prey, and hit the Afterburner. Just as I reached the full power of the afterburner the other Rifter warped out of the belt. My eyes followed him as he warped away. I had a pretty good idea of where he went - a station just a few AU from this belt we were in. I followed in pursuit (fully knowing I wouldn't be able to engage due to the sentry guns at the station).
I warped in to the station, and there he was, sitting right outside the station. I decided to orbit him just to see what he'd do. He very quickly docked up at the station though as soon he noticed my Rifter closing in on him - I expected nothing short of this.
I warped back to the safe spot I'd been scanning in. I was watching for him to undock. Eventually he reappeared on my scanner, but in a different belt then the one I'd found him in the first time. I warped to the belt, this time planning on exiting 10k from the middle of the belt - hoping this would put me closer to him as I expected him to be fighting the rats around the perimeter of the belt again.
Sure enough, as I came out of warp at this belt, I landed closer to his position, but he was still 15k away. "Damn it!" I shouted. I fully expected him to warp out of the belt before I could get my Rifter in range to tackle him. I had turned my Rifter to close in for the engagement. Again, tackle gear primed. The afterburner cooking behind me. Within a few more seconds he was with in tackle range. I engaged the targeting computer and they resolved the locking solution in short order - as they always do. He wasn't getting away free this time.
I closed to within falloff range of my auto cannons and started pouring lead into the other Rifter. The damage was minimal but I was still pretty far out of falloff range. I settled into orbit, just at my auto cannons falloff range. My targeting computer kept reporting minimal damage inflicted on the Rifter. "What the hell is going on" I thought to myself. I checked out my weapon systems. The other rifter had me webbed, and was firing on me now as well. Where I was once ahead in damage dealt, he was starting to catch up.
I quickly analyzed what my targeting computer was reporting, comparing it to my weapon systems set-up. "Holy F-ing Shit," I said as my face met my palm. I'd accidentally loaded Hail S instead of the Barrage S I'd had my orbiting range set at! "F-ing noob," I thought to myself as I quickly ordered auto reloaded with Barrage S.
By now, the other pilot was quickly gaining the upper hand. Just as I needed it, the auto cannons were finished reloading with Barrage S. I reengaged my turrets and they quickly span back to life. The Barrage S tearing deep into the other Rifters haul. "Now, that is more of what I expected!" I exclaimed.
In very short order the other Rifter was almost completely through it's armor. I still had over half of mine. For good measure, I throttled my repper once and repaired a healthy chunk of damage - that would be the only time for the fight I'd use it.
Within a matter of seconds, my prey was into structure, which quickly melted away under the onslaught of my cannons. The once proud Rifter exploded into that beautiful spider leg explosion us capsuleers love to see.
The other pilots pod quickly warped away and I moved into scoop up what was left behind in his wreck. There were a couple decent defensive modules that dropped so I scooped those into my cargo. Inevitably, I'll have to fit yet another Rifter, and at least I'll save a little isk since I can reuse these parts.
I offered "gf" in local comms to the pilot I'd just sent to shop for a new Rifter. Which, suffice it say, wasn't received well by the other pilot. He'd been ratting right before I jumped in on him, so his shields weren't at 100% integrity when I started to attack (his shields were down by about 25%). So, he didn't really feel it was a fair fight. Meh, whatever, it's what you risk by ratting in low-sec mate.
After this, I docked up for the night, satisfied that weekend had finally yielded at least 1 kill. Next weekend, I hope to rack up a few more.
After finishing with the "garbage cleanup" around high-sec, I refitted my Rifter for PvP. I set for the first system of my evening solo roam. Navicomputer set for Illamur, and off I went to start my Friday evening hunt. Illamur, in true Illamur tradition, was dead. No one in system. For being a border system, I've always been surprised at how dead this system is. Anyway, I headed on to Atlar. Atlar was quiet as well. I pressed on into several other systems and it was dead everywhere. I began to question whether it was really Friday evening. Where was everyone? Suffice it to say, after roaming a couple hours, I docked up for the evening, disappointed that there was no pew-pew to be had.
I wouldn't be strapped back into my pod until Sunday morning. Family affairs kept me busy all day Saturday and Saturday evening. I set Sunday morning and mainly just stuck to some pve "care-bearing". My wallet was still feeling too light. After I'd had all the "care-bearing" I could stand, I docked up. More family affairs to attend to for the afternoon. Once those had been attended to, I planned for my Sunday evening roam.
I had finished training Hull Upgrades 4, so there were some new fittings I wanted to pick up for my Rifter. Items I hope will aid in it's longevity. I picked up a new armor repper, and new dmg control module. I refitted my Rifter with my new mods and set out for the evening. I hopped around low-sec. It was the typical roam path for me. Low-sec was much busier then it had been Friday evening, and I got a lot more practice at using the directional scanner - it really does start to become second nature rather quickly.
Most of what I was finding was too much for my Rifter to try to chew up solo. So, I continued on with the roam searching for other frigate pilots roaming about - hoping I'd scan down some poor frigate pilot foolish enough to by ratting in a belt, or sitting idle at a planet.
I completed my entire solo-roaming "circuit" without any potential targets popping up on the scanners. Disgruntled at how slow things had gone for me this weekend, I decided to turn in for the night. On my way back to my home station, I decided to give things some more time to heat up.
I found myself sitting in Atlar, sitting in a safe spot, I scanned down a couple other rifters in the system. Elated by their presence, I quickly tried pinpointing the location of the first rifter. I had his potential location narrowed down. This Rifter pilot was just passing through the system however, and I would not get to him before he jumped out of the system completely. I returned to my original Safespot, and started scanning down the other Rifter.
I scanned him down to an astroid belt that was very close to my safe spot. I set my navicomputer to warp me into the middle of the belt, in the hopes I'd find this pilot ratting in the middle of the belt. My Rifter threw itself into warp, and just as quickly as I'd entered warp I began to exit as the belt started to come into view.
My weapons, and tackling gear primed, I landed in the middle of the belt as planned. However, the other Rifter was fighting some rats off at the perimeter of the belt. I turned my frigate towards my prey, and hit the Afterburner. Just as I reached the full power of the afterburner the other Rifter warped out of the belt. My eyes followed him as he warped away. I had a pretty good idea of where he went - a station just a few AU from this belt we were in. I followed in pursuit (fully knowing I wouldn't be able to engage due to the sentry guns at the station).
I warped in to the station, and there he was, sitting right outside the station. I decided to orbit him just to see what he'd do. He very quickly docked up at the station though as soon he noticed my Rifter closing in on him - I expected nothing short of this.
I warped back to the safe spot I'd been scanning in. I was watching for him to undock. Eventually he reappeared on my scanner, but in a different belt then the one I'd found him in the first time. I warped to the belt, this time planning on exiting 10k from the middle of the belt - hoping this would put me closer to him as I expected him to be fighting the rats around the perimeter of the belt again.
Sure enough, as I came out of warp at this belt, I landed closer to his position, but he was still 15k away. "Damn it!" I shouted. I fully expected him to warp out of the belt before I could get my Rifter in range to tackle him. I had turned my Rifter to close in for the engagement. Again, tackle gear primed. The afterburner cooking behind me. Within a few more seconds he was with in tackle range. I engaged the targeting computer and they resolved the locking solution in short order - as they always do. He wasn't getting away free this time.
I closed to within falloff range of my auto cannons and started pouring lead into the other Rifter. The damage was minimal but I was still pretty far out of falloff range. I settled into orbit, just at my auto cannons falloff range. My targeting computer kept reporting minimal damage inflicted on the Rifter. "What the hell is going on" I thought to myself. I checked out my weapon systems. The other rifter had me webbed, and was firing on me now as well. Where I was once ahead in damage dealt, he was starting to catch up.
I quickly analyzed what my targeting computer was reporting, comparing it to my weapon systems set-up. "Holy F-ing Shit," I said as my face met my palm. I'd accidentally loaded Hail S instead of the Barrage S I'd had my orbiting range set at! "F-ing noob," I thought to myself as I quickly ordered auto reloaded with Barrage S.
By now, the other pilot was quickly gaining the upper hand. Just as I needed it, the auto cannons were finished reloading with Barrage S. I reengaged my turrets and they quickly span back to life. The Barrage S tearing deep into the other Rifters haul. "Now, that is more of what I expected!" I exclaimed.
In very short order the other Rifter was almost completely through it's armor. I still had over half of mine. For good measure, I throttled my repper once and repaired a healthy chunk of damage - that would be the only time for the fight I'd use it.
Within a matter of seconds, my prey was into structure, which quickly melted away under the onslaught of my cannons. The once proud Rifter exploded into that beautiful spider leg explosion us capsuleers love to see.
The other pilots pod quickly warped away and I moved into scoop up what was left behind in his wreck. There were a couple decent defensive modules that dropped so I scooped those into my cargo. Inevitably, I'll have to fit yet another Rifter, and at least I'll save a little isk since I can reuse these parts.
I offered "gf" in local comms to the pilot I'd just sent to shop for a new Rifter. Which, suffice it say, wasn't received well by the other pilot. He'd been ratting right before I jumped in on him, so his shields weren't at 100% integrity when I started to attack (his shields were down by about 25%). So, he didn't really feel it was a fair fight. Meh, whatever, it's what you risk by ratting in low-sec mate.
After this, I docked up for the night, satisfied that weekend had finally yielded at least 1 kill. Next weekend, I hope to rack up a few more.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Trial by T2
Fangs out.
I slid into the seat of my Rifter's pod. I was becoming more and more comfortable inside her womb. I started running through my pre-start checklists. Everything was in order, and I powered up the Rifter's systems one by one. Once the navi-computer was fully powered up and aligned I punched in the cords to the station my new Autos were located at. Luckily, it was just a few jumps away.
I undocked my Rifter from where I'd parked her the night before. I moved into the traffic pattern, and slowly taxied out into the coldness of space. I aligned with the first jump gate, engaged the warp and started my journey. I would be passing through a couple low-sec systems in order to reach my destination, but it would be no problem - I wasted no time inside them. I'd jump in and immediately shoot off, warping to the next gate.
Once I'd arrived, picking up my new Auto Cannons was as simple as showing my Bill of Sale and the certification as proof I was "competent enough" with the weapon system to use it properly. The Autos were quickly fitted to my Rifter. Shiny, new 200mm T2 Autos just waiting to be spun to life. They wouldn't wait long. After finalizing all the paper work for the order, I headed back to the hangers. Sliding back into the Rifter, powering her back to life, I set out for the evening eagerly anticipating the new weapons' first test - it wouldn't take long.
I set a course for Illamur, just a few jumps away. I entered the system to find it fairly empty. Only a few pilots using/monitoring local comms channel, and nothing but abandoned drones appearing on the scanners - left overs from previous fighting. I continued on my roam and jumped into Atlar. Things got interesting here (see I told you it wouldn't take long).
I entered Atlar, and the system was slightly more busy then neighboring Illamur had been. I jumped around the system running through my scanning routines. Nothing of interest (read not a good idea to engage) showed up on the scanner. After running around the system a couple laps, evaluating the scanner returns over and over again. I decided it best to move on in my roam. Pointing my Rifter towards the Odde gate, I warped and arrived within a matter of seconds.
As my Rifter came out of warp I approached the jump gate ready to initiate the jump sequence. Once I was in range, I punched the jump sequence commands. The jump gate lit up prematurely. "What is this???" I thought to my self, curious indeed. Then appeared a neutral Rifter - Flashing red in my scanner overview...and then it happened. The jump gate ignited and I jumped into Odde.
"F-ing Shits!", I screamed. Perfect opportunity, probably gone now. I sat there for a few seconds debating about whether to jump back through, back into Atlar on the off-chance that flashy Rifter would still be sitting at the gate. I figured he surely would have moved. Being flashy, surely he wouldn't want to wait around to see if anyone noticed his presence.
I decided to check it out. A flashy Rifter was just too good an opportunity for me to ignore. I realigned with the jump gate I'd just came though and started closing back in on the gate. Just as I was about to get within jump range, that flashy Rifter reappeared on my overview! "Oh my, the luck!" I thought. I quickly spun my Rifter around as the other Rifter had jumped in behind my present position. I hit my Afterburner and start racing to close range, hoping on top of hope, that other Rifter pilot would see me closing and be bold enough to stick around for a fight with another Rifter. Sure enough, he was bold enough. Rax, the other pilot, and I began a deadly Rifter dance.
Once I was within range of my scrammer and web, I commanded the targeting computer to lock on to this rifter. The scrammer and webber, being already primed, came to life immediate once the targeting computer resolved the locking solution. I screamed to within my new T2 Autos' falloff range. Once I had my Rifter where I wanted her, my new toys roared to life.
The other Rifter quickly had my warp scrambled and webbed as well. In the little bit of distance between us, I could clearly see the fires of hate spewing forth from his auto's as well.
As my Auto Cannons did their work I activated my rocket launcher. The launcher responded immediately, hurtling sticks of Boom-Boom at the other Rifter. It wasn't long, and I had the other Rifter into his armor. I still had a little bit of shield left, but this fight was going to be close. At this point, it seemed like it was all about our individual Rifters' tanks and damage control mods doing their work.
My Autos and Rockets tore into the other pilots' armor. I could see he was trying to mitigate the damage by using his armor repper. I too was getting to the point where I needed to do the same. We continued this dance. The lead from both our Autos passing each other's volleys in space as they screamed towards their mark.
Soon, we were both into structure. Both Rifters leaving trails of smoke behind. His structure was in worse shape then mine and it was soon obvious this duel was about to be "Fin". He exploded, and my Autos and Launcher span down. Silent again. His pod had ejected successfully, and he quickly warped away. I approached his wreckage to look for anything of value to loot. We exchanged "gf" over private comms and I acknowledged to the pilot this was by far my best combat experience. Investigating his wreck I found a repairable T2 150mm Auto Cannon, T2 Afterburner, and a few other T1 parts and pieces. I looted what I could carry and set out for my home station to drop the loot off.
After dropping off the loot, I was about to head out again, but my Corp-mate Sigo stopped me in the hangers. He expressed that he wanted to test out a Wolf he had, but hadn't really been able to use quite yet. We agreed to set out together for a small roam.
We formed up, and set out. We passed through Illamur and Atlar. We pressed on, heading further and further into low-sec.
We had been roaming for about a half hour when Sigo came over comms and said, "Rax is in system". I'd told Sigo about my kill before we'd set out together. Sigo had picked up on Rax in the local comm channels now. I quickly checked out local comms for myself, and started scanning for another Rifter in the system. It didn't take long before one showed up on my scanner, and it didn't take long to pin point his location.
I pointed us to the asteroid belt I'd pin pointed the other Rifter in. We warped together, and landed in the belt not more the 5,000 meters from the Rifter. It was indeed Rax. "Holy shit!", I thought to myself. Rax was, again, flashing on my overview - flagged criminal again. I quickly initiated the targeting sequence in my targeting computer, and the lock was quickly resolved. Again, I'd primed my scrammer and webber so as soon as the targeting computer resolved the lock my target was pinned. Not going anywhere now.
Rax and I danced again. To save you from the long narrative, Rax popped again. After the engagement Sigo and I warped to a safe spot. My armor tank had held much much better throughout the duration of this engagement with Rax. I had changed up my orbiting range for this one though, so perhaps that's what made the difference.
I had to make my way back to home station quickly, as it was getting quite late and I needed to be rested for the following days work. Sigo decided to stay behind with another Corp-mate, Hsan. So, I wished them both luck, and started my journey back to the station.
Once I arrived, and had docked. I asked that the cargo hold be emptied of the modules I'd just scooped up from Rax's second wreck. They were repaired, and placed on the market. Hopefully these spoils sell soon. I wont get rich off of this stuff, but every little bit helps.
Currently, my alliance's killboards appear to be down. Once they're back up, I'll reference the killmails I received from CONCORD regarding these two engagements. Sorry I don't have them to reference at the time of this post.
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Update: Killboards back up and running. I've been able to link to the first kill I posted about, but the second one hasn't been posted by my Corpy who go the final blow. If I see it, I'll update this post again.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
The Quiet Subsides
Rifter spooling down after a successful patrol.
It all ended last night. The last couple days, my Rifter's auto-cannons sat on my frigates hull. Silent. Cold. Last night, as I patrolled MH late into the night, I picked up a potential target on my scanners in the Egbinger system. It was a ship I'd yet to tangle with - the Minmatar Scythe. I worked the scanner around, lowering its scan radius until I'd pin-pointed the targets location 3.0AU from my safe spot. He was either at the planet, or at the belt. I decided to check the planet first.
I punched in the coordinates to the planet and my Rifter quickly aligned to the planet. I engaged the warp drive. Almost as quickly as I'd entered warp the planet that had been just a blip on my overview was now, quickly, coming into view. My Rifter exited warp and settled into orbit. The area around the planet was clear. The Scythe was not here.
Reactivating my scanners, I quickly pin pointed the Scythe to the neighboring asteroid belt. "Gotcha!" I thought as punched in the new cords and initiated another warp. Knowing exactly where my prey was, my body quickly filled with the adrenaline that is becoming an all too common high right before the fight. My Rifter screamed into the belt, my auto-cannons that had for so long been sitting silent and cold were about to become very loud, and very very hot.
I came out of warp right in the middle of the belt, I reviewed the scanning system and overview. There he was, about 35k from my warp-in point. He was burning away from my position, being chased by and Angel rat to the perimeter of the belt. I aligned towards him and started my approach. My afterburner cooking. Disappointment started to prematurely come over me. As I watched the distance between me and this Scythe start to dissipate - my intentions had to be obvious. Surely, he wasn't betting on me coming to his aid. I'd followed him through Egbinger, and through a few more systems until we arrived where we are now...Untrek.
Nonetheless, I continued my approach, double checking weapon systems, propulsion, repper systems, and damage control. Everything was in order. It was just a matter of closing the distance. Once I was within 15k of him, I decided to hold off targeting his ship. He hadn't tried to warp away yet, "perhaps he doesn't realize I'm here to turn him into scrap???" I thought.
I continued to close, and once I was within 6,000 meters I activated the targeting computer. I immediately activated my tackle gear - warp scrambler initiated, statis webbifier active. Successfully pinned, settled into a close orbit around the crusier. The Angel rat was still plugging away at the Scythe, and had almost gotten my prey into his armor when I activated my auto-cannons.
They roared to life immediately, spewing hot EMP charges into the last little bit of shields this Scythe had left. Quickly, he was into armor and I continued the onslaught. His armor quickly melted, and I also made short work of structure. I really ship send that Angel pilot a thank you for his added DPS. This deadly dance was almost over.
I watched, with immense pleasure, as his proud Minmatar Scythe exploded in grand fashion. May auto-cannons, having seen their work complete, slow span silent. The pilots pod ejected as the Scythe popped, and anticipating this, I was already waiting to lock-on and apply the warp scrambler to him. My targeting computer achieved a lock very quickly, and I had the scrammer primed so it would immediately activate on the new target. "Gotcha, again!" I screamed in my pod. Now, he was really under my mercy...I could only imagine what he was thinking. My mind had already been made up before his former Scythe popped.
I didn't even bother to open comms with him. My corp has a policy against ransoming. We aren't really pirates - even though some would like to label our actions as such. We operate under Not Blue Shoot It policy, sure. That doesn't make us pirates though. So, there was no reason to converse with this poor-sap, floating helplessly in his pod. I reactivated my turrets, and watched the rounds pummel the shell of his pod. I had to chase him through 4 systems or so (I didn't really keep track) and for this he would pay for running. I also didn't have a pod-kill to my credit as of yet.
His pod exploded, albeit less dramatically so then the Scythe he was just in, and a new sense of combat euphoria came over me. It was a similar sensation as I experienced with my first ship kill. At about this point, a neutral Drake entered the belt over 70k away. Knowing I was flagged criminal, I didn't wait to see what this Drake pilot's intentions were. I quickly threw my Rifter's nose towards a safe spot. Engaging the warp drive, I quickly left the now quiet battlefield behind me. I stayed and waited for the criminal timer to expire before proceeding any further.
Eventually, I made my way back to the station I've been based out of. I docked up the Rifter, shut the systems down, unstrapped myself and lept out in celebratory glee. I made my way for the bar - time to celebrate a long overdue victory. I eventually sat down to review the killmail, and normally this is the exciting part, however, this time...I actually felt a little guilt over my actions.
According to the CONCORD killmail, this poor bastard was only fitted with 3 mining lasers, 3 cargo extenders, and one afterburner. [Insert sad face here]. I've since come to feel not quite so bad about it. What this idiot was doing out in low-sec, by himself, with no weapons, in a belt (did I mention with no back-up??) and not even 1 little light scout drone I have no idea. After waking this morning, I've come to the conclusion he got what he deserved for his foolishness, including being punished by the pod kill. And a little evil part of me sincerely hopes he had implants he lost as well.
While it wasn't a challenging fight, at all. *Shurg* A kill is a kill. Being so fresh to the game, I'll glady take what I can get. If nothing else, it was good practice in getting more experience with my Rifter and it's mods. Plus, I'm less and less jittery during the fight and much more focused then I first was.
So, I sat this morning, drinking my morning brew, reflecting on the recent kill. I caught up on some recent news in the system, and it hit me. I'd achieved something else and not realized it. I now get to fly around with a shiny new skull and cross-bones thanks to that Scythe pilot - he placed a bounty on me. Naturally. So, I feel slightly confirmed, almost like being baptised in the twisted world of New Eden. Now when I appear on someone else's overview, it will be immediately known - Yes, I am a Killer.
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